17

 

Ron Desocarras woke up to find Vera and the surgeon who’d operated on his spinal cord at the foot of his bed.

“Doctor! He’s awake.”

Dr. Mackie moved around the bed until he was beside Ron.

“Good morning, Ron. How are you feeling?”

Ron thought about that.

“I feel pretty good, doctor, considering that the last thing I clearly remember, I was in a field with a bullet in my chest.”

“We took care of that last night.”

“We?”

“There were two of us operating on you last night.”

Another doctor entered the room while Dr. Mackie was speaking and approached Ron’s bed.

My name is Dr. Mackie. I’m an orthopedic spine surgeon. I operated on damaged spinal tissue; where the bullet exited your body.”

“I’m the other doctor who attended you. My name is Dr. Hakeem.”

Ron looked from one to the other and smiled.

“I operated on injuries to your internal organs caused by the bullet, including a small blood vessel and your spleen,” said Dr. Hakeem. “The surgeries went well.”

“Thank you,” said Ron.

Dr. Hakeem smiled broadly.

“I was hoping you’d wake up while I was here,” said Dr. Mackie. “I’d like to check how well your body is receiving messages from your brain.”

“That sounds ominous,” said Ron.

Vera couldn’t hide her concern.

“It’s okay honey,” said Ron.

“Are you in any pain right now?”

“None. I guess that’s courtesy of the pain meds.”

“It’s good to see they’re working. Can you move your head a little from side to side.”

Ron did so.

“Can you move your right hand?”

Ron wiggled his fingers a little, raised the hand an inch and let it drop.

“Excellent, now the left hand.”

Ron did the same with his left hand.

“Excellent.” Dr. Mackie moved to the foot of the bed and stood beside Vera.

“Now, Ron, can you move your right foot for me.”

Ten seconds went by, and nothing happened.

“Try moving the left foot now.”

Ron was able to move a few toes on his left foot.

“Okay, Ron. Try the right foot again.”

“He moved his toes that time,” said Vera, nearly breathless.

“Yes, he did,” said Dr. Mackie with a smile. “That was quite the patch-up job I did last night, and I’m pleased to see how well you are doing.”

“Does that mean he’ll be able to walk?”

“Walk? What do you mean, walk?” said Ron.

“Ron,” said the doctor, “you will be able to walk, but first, you will be undergoing weeks, possibly a few months of physio before you regain full use of your legs. There is some nerve damage along your spine that the body has to repair. That will take some time, but it will happen.”

Vera moved to the side of the bed and took Ron’s hand in hers. Big tears slipped down her cheeks.

“Why are you crying, honey,” he said.

“Because I’m so happy.”

“You shouldn’t be that happy,” said Ron.” You’ll have to do all the cooking and cleaning.”

Both doctors laughed.

“I’ll wait on you hand and foot,” said Vera.

“I heard that, Mom,” said Alex, as he and Manny walked into the room in gowns and masks.

“This will definitely be a first,” said Manny.

“Stop it both of you,” said Vera, but she was smiling.

“Make them both help you, Vera,” said Gwen, right behind them. “You have my permission to keep Alex here as long as you want.”

“Honey, Gwen’s here!”

Alex turned in surprise and pleasure.

“I could have picked you up.”

“I wanted to surprise you,” she said quietly, as he kissed her on the cheek. She took in his bandaged arm and the layer of black dust he was coated in and said nothing.

Alex knew the look on her face, only too well. It was her ‘we need to talk’ look.

 

 

Al Bannon and Angie Strickland were at Al’s sister’s place. It was Saturday evening and Angie’s brother had arranged a birthday party for his wife. Family was important to Angie, but sometimes, she admitted, only to herself, it got somewhat claustrophobic.

Angie had been Al’s partner for almost three years, and she spent a lot of time with him during the week. The weekend was always a welcome break.

“Munroe gave his notice,” said Al. “He’s done at the end of the month.”

“Is he moving to another detachment?”

“No. He’s leaving the Force.”

“I’m not surprised. Did Knightley tell you?”

“Yeah. He came looking for us, after we interviewed Paul Mistry. You’d already left for the day.”

“Paul Mistry. Now there’s a slimy piece of work. He threw Ray Palmer under the bus. How convenient for those bastards at Mountain Metals that he’s no longer around to protest.”

“I can’t believe he’d put his own niece in harm’s way. I mean, I’ve never met the guy, but still; putting a family member in jeopardy, and for what? To protect your business? He was an employee, for chrissakes!”

“I agree, Al. I think Palmer got the short end of the stick but didn’t realize it till it was too late. I wonder what concessions The League squeezed out of Mountain Metals in exchange for backing off?”

“The gang unit will be watching this one closely.”

Angie’s thoughts went to Eugene. She’d suspected that he was unhappy with the job, although he’d never come right out and told her that. Her observation was that he wasn’t a good fit, and she didn’t think it was just the detachment.

“Maybe Munroe doesn’t like being a detective,” said Al.

“No, Al, I think he loves being a detective, and he’s really good at it. He just doesn’t like the Force.”

“I guess that’s possible,” said Al.

Angie looked at him in surprise.

“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea,” said Al. “We could all learn to loosen up a bit.”

She nodded. “Did Knightly say anything to you about working the case after he forbade it?”

“Not a word,” said Al.

“Me either. I didn’t think he would, not after last night.”

“This whole bleeding mess really got to him,” said Al. “Do you think Desocarras is in the clear now?”

“I don’t know. I sure hope so, Al. He’s a good man.”

“I hope his dad’s gonna be okay. Helluva thing, that. As if we haven’t got enough on our plate already. Now we have to deal with private security firms.”

“No kidding,” said Angie.

“I talked to the gang rep,” said Al.

“What did he have to say about Palmer’s murder?”

“Like we figured, talk on the street is that Palmer’s murder was retribution for McGiver’s murder.”

“Maybe that’s the end of it then,” said Angie. “I hope so, for Desocarras’s sake—for ours as well. That was a scary few days.”

“Maybe Eugene will end up working with Desocarras.”

“I can see that happening,” said Angie. “You think Forensics will find anything in the truck?”

“They didn’t find anything at the neighbour’s house across from King. Not so much as a stray fingerprint!”

“But the truck was theirs. Maybe they weren’t as careful.”

“We didn’t get anything on the plates. Ditto with the VIN. Something tells me that forensics on the truck won’t bring us any joy. These guys are clever.”

“I wasn’t holding my breath, anyway. What about our perp?”

“Alain Grover’s his name. No record. No priors.”

“When can we interview him?”

“They moved him to a room at the hospital and there’s a uniform with him. But he’s out of it because of pain meds. Munroe really messed his leg up.”

“What about his arm? He won’t be doing much shooting, unless he’s left-handed.”

“The arm will heal up fine, so I hear.

“Maybe we can interview him tomorrow.”

“Not without his lawyer present. She showed up at the hospital this morning.”

“Court appointed?”

“He asked for one, and that’s who they sent.”

“So, no one helping him out at arm’s length?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” said Al. “But still…”

“Maybe Global Guard is throwing him under the bus.”

“Maybe. It kinda looks that way, doesn't it. We won’t get to interview him without his lawyer in the room, and you know where that’s gonna lead.”

“Nowhere and fast,” said Angie. “Unless he decides to spill.”

“They’ll get to him somehow, just you wait and see. I don’t like where this is headed, Angie.”

“Either do I. What’s the story on the dead guy?”

“His name is Gerald LePlant, and he was ex-RCMP. That’s how they ID’d him. He left the force ten years ago.”

“And went to work for Global as a mercenary,” said Angie. “Munroe’s boss up at 100 Mile said he took the work because of the increase in pay.”

They sat in silence for a minute.

“The only proof we have linking the mess up here to Global Guard, or anyone else for that matter, is LePlant and Grover.”

Those bastards pissed all over our town for twenty-four hours, and now they’re gone,” said Al.

“It makes me so mad,” said Angie.”

“Me too,” said Al.

“What do you wanna bet, that this whole thing gets swept under the rug?”

Al was quiet for a beat. “That’s a lot of sweeping, Angie.”

“Yeah, but there are a lot of people who would be happy to see this go away, and not just Global Guard.”

“Such as?”

“Think about it, Al. Our government supports the mining industry in a very big way.”

“Of course they do. What else can they do? We need the metals.”

“We do,” said Angie, “but do we need to allow the mining industry to put people’s lives at risk with shoddy practices in the process? Cell phones we do need, but do we need permanently contaminated water so that we can continue using them?”

“Sounds like you’ve been talking to Eugene.”

“I can think for myself, Al.”

Al liked Angie and he liked working with her. He did not want to piss her off. He quickly changed the subject.

“You haven’t heard about the bunker?”

“No,” said Angie. “What bunker?”

“Someone spotted it and posted a video online. It was called into the tip line. More freaking assholes for us to deal with. Want to see the video?”

“Sure.”

Al pulled out his phone and brought up the video. They watched it together.

“The guy’s parking a boat… in a bunker?” said Angie. “Maybe it isn’t a bunker.”

“Eugene and Alex think forensics should check out the boat; and the bunker.”

“I’ll bet they do. Where’s the so-called bunker?”

“About thirty kilometres north of the river, off one of the township roads.”

“Who owns the land it’s on?”

“Some corporation is listed as the owner. The weekend staff is trying to find out more.”

“Have we got a lead? Tell me we’ve got a lead.”

“It’s possible. If that’s the same boat that picked up the Global team after they tried to take us out at King’s place—and if it hasn’t been scrubbed clean.”

“Right.”

Angie blew out air and took a sip of her wine.

“Here comes your brother with the cake!”

“Let’s get back in there. I do love cake.”