The Court Chronicles (A Blog Novella) - Part III, Chapter 19

Chapter 18

Garret rushes over to Veronica’s side to confirm what Jay has just told him. He was right, there was a small drop of blood seeping out of Veronica’s ear. Garret knew there wasn’t much time left and they needed to do something now. He looked at the CB radio to call for help, but that was risky because he knew Vazquez and his men would be listening.

“Here,” says Jay as he hands Garret his cell phone. Garret didn’t know whether to hit him for not suggesting this earlier or hug him for being able to hold on and keep track of his cell phone for this long.

No time for that, Garret dialed the International Operator, it rang once, twice. Come on, pick up! The operator finally picked up and Garret cut her off mid speech. “We need help, fast! I have an unconscious woman and she’s bleeding from her ear.”

“I’ll patch you through to Emergency Dispatch.”

“What is your emergency?” the operator took what felt like forever to get on the line.

“We need help, she’s unconscious and bleeding!”

“Sir, slow down, where are you located?”

“Shouldn’t you know that?!? All I see is miles of sand! Please send help!” the Operator was testing Garret’s patience.

“Okay, I’m sending your coordinates to our air unit. ETA 10 minutes,” responded the Operator.

“What do I do? Is there anything I can do to help her?” asked Garret.

The Operator goes into a series of questions: Is she breathing? Have you moved her? Does she have a head injury?, etc.

Garret answered them all, but he just wanted to help Veronica.

“Okay, put her in recovery position until the paramedics arrive and cover her with a blanket or jacket.”

As the Operator walked Garret through how to put Veronica into Recovery Position, Jay felt helpless. He sat there looking at his best friend and boss do everything in his power to save this woman. It wasn’t supposed to go down like this; they were supposed to be at The Hideout having half off drinks and free tacos right now. Jay should be signing himself up to sing “Baby Got Back” karaoke.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

Just as Jay started to drift more and more into his daydream, a helicopter headed towards them interrupted his thoughts.

The helicopter ride went by in a flash and it seemed like they were at the hospital in no time. Garret and Jay waited in the lobby for any kind of news. Jay sat on a chair and watched the small television with some Spanish novella he didn’t recognize. Garret paced back and forth, not knowing what else to do.

“Boss, you have to relax. They’ll come give us an update when there’s something to update on. Sit down.”

“I know, but I can’t just sit still knowing that she’s unconscious. Who knows what she’s going through right now,” Garret wasn’t the most patient man in the world and this hospital was not working with him.

Finally the doctor came out to the lobby and Jay and Garret stood up. Garret tried to read the doctor’s face to see what kind of news he was about to get. The doctor had one of the best poker faces Garret had ever seen.

“¿Quien es el esposo?” asked the doctor.

“English is better for us, doctor,” responded Jay.

The doctor looked slightly annoyed and spoke in broken English, “Who is husband?”

“Um, neither one of us is,” answered Garret.

“I sorry, but I can only give information to family.”

“Wait, you can’t tell us anything because we’re not family?” asked Garret.

“I’m so sorry, it’s policy,” responded the doctor.

Garret couldn’t believe his ears, the woman he had just become so close to was lying in the hospital and he couldn’t get a simple update on her. “Please, doctor, you have to tell me something.”

“Bring family and then I can tell them,” the doctor turned and left Jay and Garret in the lobby with no answers.

“That’s such bullshit!” said Garret.

“Relax, boss, let’s stay positive and see where we go from here. We at least know she was breathing when she was admitted, right?” Jay was trying to keep Garret calm and rational.
Garret sat down and tried to relax himself, “You’re right, we need to think.”

Jay knew that was an understatement. They were in a foreign hospital and had no way of getting back to the States. There was a woman they barely knew in a hospital hanging on to her life by a thread and they had no money.

“Boss, I think it’s better if we just split,” Jay was expecting Garret to go off on him, but nothing happened. Garret just sat there and said nothing at all. “Boss, you okay?”

“I think you might be right, Jay. The best thing for us to do is leave her here. They won’t release her into our care anyway.”

Garret knew that they had to leave and get themselves situated. Veronica, as much as it hurt him, was on her own at this point. He did everything he could, right? He got her to a hospital and she could get help here. He’ll catch up with her when she gets back. The longer they stay in Mexico the more danger they’re putting themselves in.

Garret walks up to the receptionist and asks for a pen and paper. He jots down a note to Veronica and asks the receptionist to deliver it for him.

“Gracias,” then Garret turns to Jay and says, “Let’s go.”

Jay and Garret walk out the hospital doors and disappear.

The hospital was quiet and the only thing to be heard was the clickity clack of the computer keyboards.

The doors to the hospital opened and the receptionist looked up. As soon as she saw who had just came in to the hospital, terror washed over her face.