They sped through the streets, the blaring sirens only serving to amplify Isaac’s sense of helplessness.
He followed the ambulance into the emergency bay and barely got the car into park before he leapt out and rushed inside behind the gurney. He could hear the paramedics rattling off their report to the attending doctors and nurses, but fear fogged over his brain. He couldn’t comprehend any of it.
“We need to get him to an O.R. stat. And get me two units of O Neg, just in case. Let’s go, people!”
The doctor moved to hurry after the team rushing Pete toward the elevators.
“Wait! Doc, is my partner going to be okay?”
The doctor turned and looked him in the eyes, and Isaac didn’t like what he saw in them.
“We won’t know anything until we get him on the table, Detective. You might want to call his family. Just in case.”
The doctor turned and rushed off and Isaac stood, rattled and in shock. He pulled out his cellphone, realizing again that his hands were still covered in Pete’s blood. He tried to clean them with the yellow bandana-style handkerchief he pulled from his pocket, but it was no use. He looked at his phone and sent a quick text.
Ike:
Sidney:
“Ike!”
He looked up and saw Gavin Hayes rushing toward him. He wasn’t alone. Roger Beckett, the new Captain over the detective section, was hot on Gavin’s heels, as were a small army of other cops.
“Lieu.”
“Pete was shot?” Gavin sounded shocked.
“Yes, sir. We’d just gotten out of the car and began approaching the suspect’s house. It was like they’d been lying in wait. Like they knew we’d come.”
“You think it was an ambush, Sergeant?” Beckett sounded horrified at the prospect. “Like the anonymous tip was a set up?”
Isaac stared at him for a second. “I hadn’t made that leap, sir, but it did feel like they were waiting for us.”
“Well, how bad is it, Ike? What did the doctors say?” Gavin asked.
“Said they won’t know anything until they get him in the O.R. Then they rushed him off to surgery. I need to call Pete’s fiancée. Excuse me.”
He turned away and tried to focus on the cellphone in his hand.
Shit.
Were his hands shaking?
He located the contact and tapped the screen. His heart ran a marathon while he listened to the phone ring.
“Isaac?”
He could hear the trepidation in Jada’s voice. It was like she already knew she wasn’t going to like whatever he was about to tell her.
“Jada, Pete’s been shot.”
Silence.
For the longest time there was only silence on the other end of the line.
“Jada?”
“I heard you. Is he…”
Her voice trailed off and Isaac rushed to fill the dead air.
“He’s in surgery. The doctors took him straight to surgery and they’re doing all they can. But um… you and Julieta, you should probably come. Just so that you’re here when he gets out of surgery, you know?”
Was he making any sense?
Did he sound as scared as he felt?
Because he didn’t want to sound scared right now. Not while he was talking to the woman Pete was set to marry next Saturday. He needed her to believe that Pete was going to be just fine.
“I’ll send a car to come get you right now. That way you don’t have to worry about driving. Are you at work?”
“Yes.”
That one word held such tearful emotion, and it nearly sliced him open.
“Okay. I’m sending a uniformed officer to come collect you. He’ll be there soon.”
“Thank you, Ike.”
The line went dead, and a pervasive cold settled into Isaac’s system. He quietly cleared his throat and pointed to one of the uniformed officers. He gave him the address of the doctor’s office where Jada worked and sent him on his way. Then he folded his arms over his chest in an attempt to battle the cold.
* * *
Jada Lopez stood in the middle of the reception area of the gynecologist office where she worked as head nurse and office manager.
She couldn’t move.
She could barely breathe.
Pete had been shot.
He was in an operating room right now, possibly fighting for his life and she couldn’t make her body move forward.
You heard people talk about it. And it had to be a medical myth, not something that really happened. It was a cliché to be paralyzed with fear, wasn’t it?
But when it actually happened to you it was no longer a cliché. Medical myth or not, Jada was frozen with fear.
Paralyzed.
She couldn’t even say for sure that her heart was still beating.
“Jada? Sweetie you okay?” Gloria, one of her fellow nurses asked as she brushed past her to put away a few patient files.
“Oh, my God, Jada you’re shaking,” Bethany, their receptionist, chimed in. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Can you speak?”
“Dr. Bailey!” Gloria called out as she helped Jada to sit down.
Dr. Bailey came running out from the back office. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Something’s wrong with Jada. I think she may be having a stroke or something.”
“Jada?” Dr. Bailey knelt down in front of her and took both of her hands. Her tone was full of concern. “Can you talk to me?”
“Pete’s been shot.” It was all she could get out, and the girls around her exploded with exclamations and questions. Questions she wasn’t equipped to even begin to answer.
“All right, all right. Everyone calm down,” Dr. Bailey gestured with her hands and then patted Jada’s knee. “Jada, honey. Tell us what’s going on.”
“That was my fiancé’s partner. He said Pete’s been shot.”
“Okay, and did he say anything else? What’s Pete’s condition?”
Jada shook her head. “No. He doesn’t know. They’ve taken Pete straight to surgery. He doesn’t know anything more.”
Oh, God. Pete had been shot.
Jada burst into tears, her sobs sounding like huge waves of sorrow even to her own ears. But she couldn’t figure out how to make them stop.
An image of Charlie and Mateo laughing and joking around with Pete sprang to her mind’s eye.
“I can’t fall apart,” she whispered. She sat up straight and wiped her tears. Her voice was more forceful when she repeated, “I can’t fall apart. I have to be strong for our boys. And I’ve got to go. I have to get to the hospital.”
She stood and began gathering her things.
“Oh Jada, I don’t think you should be driving right now,” Bethany said.
The front door opened and a uniformed officer stepped into the waiting area.
“I don’t have to drive,” Jada stated.
“Ms. Lopez?” the cop asked.
“Yes, that’s me.” She accepted hugs and offers to pray for Pete and her family from Dr. Bailey and the rest of her coworkers as she rushed out of the building. She slid into the passenger seat of the marked cruiser and looked at the officer.
“Pete’s mom. I have to tell her. Can we stop there?”
“Yes, ma’am. You just tell me where.”