Cuban Sun (21 page)

“Here. I brought you some from the Doctor’s lounge. It’s much better than this gunk.”

She nodded in thanks but didn’t drink. She couldn’t wait for the news.

“How is he? Were you able to remove the bullet?”

“Yes, but it’s early yet.” He hurried on as if to cut her relief short. “As I say it’s early. The bullet did a good deal of damage to his lung tissue and he lost a lot of blood.”

“But, he made it through surgery.” It came out as a statement as though avoiding a question would prevent the possibility of doubt. Sofia needed something to hold on to. Something to give her hope.

The doctor’s mouth turned up in a small crescent like a sickle moon. “Yes, he did.”

Sofia moaned in relief and the doctor motioned to her to follow him. “You can come see him if you’d like.” Knowing she would follow, he started down the hall continuing his explanation.

“Aside from the tissue damage, there’s a strong risk of infection. The wound was open for an awfully long time before he arrived. Also, we couldn’t get all of the shell out. It must have ricocheted off of his collarbone and shattered. Some of the smaller pieces are too close to his heart to get. It’s more of a risk to extract them than to leave -”. He was interrupted by an alert on his phone. Down the hall Sofia could see staff rushing into a room. The doctor began running.

Oh no
thought Sofia,
no
. And she began running too.

The crush of people inside the room gathered in organized chaos was intense and prevented Sofia from entering but between the rushing bodies, she could see them hooking up electrodes to Quint’s body. She heard the command, “Clear!”, and then saw Quint’s body jerk with the jolt electricity. It was like watching an episode of a medical drama on TV except in those, the person almost always lives…almost. Again, and once more and Sofia’s heart jumped at hearing the heart monitor beep and then beep again and then resume its rhythm.

As the hospital staff cleared the room, Sofia came to Quint’s bedside. After a few moments, she noticed the doctor was still in the room.

“We’ll give him a whopping dose of antibiotics, that should help.”

Seeing that he was about to leave, Sofia gathered her courage to ask the question that had been bothering her like a rock in her shoe. “What are his chances?”

“About fifty-fifty. But we’ll do everything we can.”

Sofia sat down quite suddenly on the chair beside the bed, buried her face in her hands and began to cry in earnest. All her grief and worry came tumbling out in salty rivulets covering her face, hands and clothes. Sofia turned towards a noise in the hallway and saw the clock, only forty-five minutes had passed since Quint’s shock back to life. Only forty five minutes? Sofia was so focused on each of beat of his heart that it had seemed like hours. Each beat contained such risk and such success. Still focused on the monitor, willing the next beep to sound when she heard a nurse enter the room to change some of Quint’s dressings and drip. The nurse eyed Sofia and spoke in a soothing Caribbean accent.

“You look like you’re about to drop. Why don’t I find some scrubs or something for you to wear until you can get some clothes? Then you need to lie down and rest. You won’t be any good to him if you wear yourself out.”

Sofia laughed but had to stifle it lest it grow into maniacal cackling. Wear herself out? After what she had been through? She was well past that point, but appreciated the gesture. The nurse gave an all too understanding look. “You haven’t rested much have you?”

“Not unless you consider being knocked unconscious resting, and I don’t. Scrubs would be great, thanks. I believe I
do
need a rest.”

As the nurse left, Sofia realized she had been without sleep for two days. Adrenaline had kept her going through the night and then anxiety for Quint kept her eyes open during the next day, but those effects were rapidly wearing off. She was still anxious for Quint and what they would do after leaving the hospital, but her body had almost become immune, forcing other needs to the surface.

In the tiny bathroom, Sofia tried to wash her face, hands and neck as best she could. The cool water was manna from Heaven to her aching skin. She changed into the worn cotton scrubs. They felt wonderful after wearing the corseted top and binding skirt, now in ribbons in the trash can. She went to Quint’s bedside and clasped his hands.

“I’m going to try and sleep now”, she said to him in a mothering tone. “Don’t you dare die while I’m asleep. Do you hear me? Don’t you dare die!” If you do, I’ll kill you.”

Sofia thought she saw the corners of his mouth lift, but in the next moment, was sure she had imagined it. Gratefully, she sank down on the reclining chair and dropped into a nearly comatose slumber, still holding Quint’s hand.

She woke to find sunlight streaming in from the room’s slit of a window. She rubbed a hand over her face and through her tangled hair trying to wake herself up. Her eyes felt as though they had glass in them; they were red, swollen and scratchy. She sat up and peered over the bed rail at Quint. It may have only been the sunlight, but she thought his color looked better. The grayish, chalky tinge was gone, replaced by a slight rise of healthy pink. There had been no issues during the night.

A knock at the door prevented further examination. Sofia turned to find Gloria, a woman of fifty and her father’s senior aide. Gloria had worked for her father since Sofia was six. Gloria’s face broke into a wide smile, her smoky quartz eyes crinkling at the edges. She hurried forward and hugged Sofia ferociously. After releasing her, Gloria held her at arm’s length.

“What have you been doing girl? You look awful! How could you go and worry your father like that? What could you have been thinking of?”

Sofia sighed, half exasperated, half tenderness for Gloria’s clucking. The only way to handle Gloria was to prevent her from getting into her stride. Sofia cut her off.

“It’s so good to see you Gloria. Is my father still expecting me this morning?” Her father had asked her to come to Koury Communications today to arrange for her transportation home. Sofia also expected that she would be interrogated and scolded in turn too. Gloria grimaced a bit.

“No, he’s been called away urgently.” Then brightening she said, “But he has arranged transportation for you. And these.” She held up an overnight bag containing fresh clothes, shoes, and toiletries. The fresh, lavender scent that wafted from the bag was welcome after the reek of her unwashed body and antiseptic hospital smells.

“Thank you! I haven’t bathed for days.” Gloria eyed Sofia speculatively.

“To look at you, I would have said months, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Look, just between you and me, I don’t think Mr. Koury needed to leave so urgently.”

Sofia looked away. “I didn’t think so. I know he’s furious.” Gloria sat and pulled Sofia down to sit next to her before continuing.

“No, that’s not what I mean. You should have seen the look on his face. I’ve never seen him look worried or scared. Never. I think you scared the hell out of him. He just doesn’t want to take it out on you. You should have heard him storming up and down the halls.”

“But he can take it out on you?! That’s not right either!” Gloria made a shushing motion to quell Sofia’s outrage.

“No, he was raging and storming to mobilize everyone. To get you back.”

“Oh. I…oh.” Sofia was speechless. She had always supposed that she was a necessary inconvenience to her father. And she truly had never suspected that he would react in such a way. Sofia straightened. Not that it changed her mind about him. He still had her mother’s death to answer for. But, she noticed that some of the vehemence of her dislike had faded and the ice around her heart melted a degree or two more.

“Alright. You go get ready, and then we’ll talk about getting you back to Charleston to pick up your things.” She saw Sofia’s glance at Quint. “Don’t worry; Mr. Koury arranged transport for him too. I’ll stay with him until you’ve gotten yourself together.”

Huh
, thought Sofia. She didn’t know if she’d ever be “together” again. She wouldn’t go back to law school, that she was sure of. After the experiences of the last few weeks, the good and the bad, Sofia knew she would never be able to work in an office. As the steaming water in the shower beat down washing the grime and dried blood away, Sofia thought about what she might do. Government work? Maybe she would go back to Outward Bound. But none of her ideas sparked the interest as thinking of doing this kind of work, even with all she had been through. She was good at it and felt good doing it.
Well
, she thought, wincing when the washcloth touched a particularly bad cut,
most of the time
.

The more she thought about it, the surer she was about continuing in this type of career. Her background, connections and her instincts all lent themselves to clandestine operations. But how would she get another job like this? It’s not as though these organizations posted on the Internet. If Quint got better…no,
when
Quint recovered, he might be able to tell her. She wouldn’t take the chance of working with unknowns again though. She had learned that much.

Having new clothes and being clean for the first time in three days vastly improved Sofia’s outlook though it had done little to diminish her grief for Helena or worry for Quint. But she did feel better able to meet it. Emerging from the sterile hospital bathroom, she found Gloria talking a streak to Quint. She was telling him all about Sofia’s childhood antics. Sofia laughed and addressed Gloria.

“If you keep telling him that stuff, he’ll wake up and walk out just to get away from me, tubes and everything.”

Then she heard a grunt of amusement from the bed and was shocked to see Quint, awake. She rushed towards him but glowered at Gloria.

“Why didn’t you come and get me?”

“He only woke up a few minutes ago and you needed a little time to yourself.”

Quint turned his eyes to Sofia, bright with amusement as he spoke. His voice came out as a rasp, hoarse with strain and disuse.

“I especially liked the story about you parading through the gardens in your underwear with a Miss America sash when you were six.” Blood rose to Sofia’s face.

“Gloria! You didn’t!” Gloria didn’t reply except to continue laughing and wipe tears from her cheeks. Quint reached for Sofia’s hand. She saw the IV lines webbed along his arm. He laughed and then stopped abruptly with a grunt and rubbing a hand on his chest. Sofia automatically moved her hand over the call button, but he waved off.

“Don’t worry Sofia; your antics let me know you’re human. You were amazing yesterday. I knew you were up for the job, but you did more than anyone could ever have expected.”

“You mean except for not finishing the job, letting Helena get killed, letting you get shot and…and…” She trailed off and looked out of the window to hide her face. His voice was stronger now, stern.

“Sofia, none of those things were your fault and you know it. Nor was it your role to finish the job in the first place. You far surpassed what I brought you to Cuba to do. I’ve known Joe for ten years and I only just started to suspect something was up yesterday. I knew something was off, but I would never have guessed he was in that deep or that he was prepared to kill.”

The weight lifted somewhat from Sofia’s shoulders, but not completely. She still felt as though she had pushed her way into the operation. She kept insisting to continue, to be in the spotlight. If she had just stepped back… Sofia was brought back to the conversation by Gloria’s voice.

“You did it Sofia. Castro died at the hospital yesterday morning.”

Quint and Sofia both gaped at her. Quint broke the silence.

“How do you know? Are you sure?”

“Of course. The communications business encompasses many modes and we have them all Mr. Quintis.”

“Do you know anything about Joe Canvar? Where he is?” She shook her head.

“No, we have our eyes and ears out of course, but there’s nothing after he left the old prison.” Seeing their concern, Gloria continued.

“We also haven’t had any sign of him in the U.S. No movement at all.” Sofia relaxed slightly at that news.

“Ok. So how do we get back to Charleston?”

As it happened, the plan was for Sofia to go ahead of Quint as he wouldn’t be released for a few days. Speaking to Sofia, Gloria said, “You’ll travel with a security detail via car up to Charleston and then you can choose where to go.” Sofia nodded, but rankled at the idea of a security detail. She knew it was necessary but moving several people took much longer than moving one. It would take them three days to reach Charleston with that many people and that much equipment. Gloria knew Sofia well and anticipated her independent streak.

“Sofia, you’ll have your own car and your own room for the trip up.” Then she wagged a finger. “But only if you are a good girl and do as you’re told!” That did make Sofia laugh.

“I know that wasn’t my father’s idea. Thanks Gloria, having my own space will make the trip much easier. Did he put up a fight?” Gloria shrugged good naturedly.

“Well, the benefit of having worked for Mr. Koury for so long is that he listens to me, if only occasionally. I’m just lucky this was one of the occasions.” She then turned to Quint. “Assuming you keep on the mend, the docs say you can get out of here in a few days. Koury Communications will fly you up to Charleston then.”

“You mean I’m not as important? No caravan for me?” It was heartening for Sofia to hear Quint’s sense of humor return. Gloria turned to him.

“You’ll still probably need some medical equipment and support. Those things don’t travel so well over roads that have potholes which could swallow a bus. But to answer your question, no Mr. Quintis, nobody is more important to Mr. Koury than Sofia.”

NINETEEN

The road to Charleston seemed endless. She had to endure stops almost every hour and interminable waiting for security sweeps of hotel rooms and restaurants. Sofia hadn’t realized that ‘security detail’ meant going to defcon one. She wasn’t the President for Christ’s sake. Still, this parade must have cost her father dearly. She wasn’t thinking of money, he wouldn’t bat an eye at spending millions, but it must have cost him a good deal of political capital which was much more valuable. This level of security was beyond what Koury Communications would have on hand. And these folks were the best. Sofia could judge that now. They knew what they were doing and had every gadget possible to ensure her safety. Rayan Koury must have had to call in favors from very influential people. That’s what touched her. He hadn’t hesitated to give up political leverage to help her.