Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) (42 page)

“Pull her up!” yelled Jack. Rocks fell from the ceiling of the mine as the hole that used to house the Bone Tree expanded. The earth was opening up and it was swallowing the Forest of York down into the mines. 

“You’re next!” Jack yelled at Cole and Adam as the paramedics hoisted them up.

The rumbling sound that had begun only moments earlier intensified as the ground above caved in upon them. When the smoke cleared, Jack’s eyes went wide at the sight before them. Sliding before them at break neck speed, the Bone Tree was crashing down into the mine.

“Move!” yelled Jack as he pushed Frank out of the way.

The tree missed hitting Frank by only a few inches. He would have been dead if not for Jack. The white tree crashed to the mine floor with a tremendous bang as the entire contents of the Forest of York fell towards Jack and Frank. They had to act fast if they didn’t want to be swallowed alive by the swiftly deteriorating mine. 

“Grab hold!” yelled Nick the paramedic as the rope began pulling upward.

Seven firefighters fought to pull the remaining survivors of the mine accident up on an old fraying rope.Jack, Frank, Joe and Nick held on tight as Ladder 42 pulled them out of the abyss.

As his feet left the ground, Jack watched as O’Mara and Bone Tree were swallowed whole by the collapsing mine of Wilhamette.

Chapter              29

June 21, 2000

Emergency Room

Grier Mountain Medical Center

101 Mountain Road

Elkhart, PA

3:14 A.M.

Jack batted away his father away as Angus tried to stitch up a gaping wound on Jack’s head. Grier Mountain Medical Center was woefully understaffed for an incident such as the one that occurred in the Wilhamette Mines. The on-staff Emergency Room physicians were needed in the Operating Room for multiple patients with gunshot wounds and a patient with a particularly nasty stab wound. Angus, though he hadn’t worked at the hospital in years, still had privileges at Grier Mountain and he was doing what he could to help out. He and Moira had just returned home when they got an urgent call from Blake saying that they needed to get down to the hospital right away.

“I don’t need stitches! I just need to see if everyone is okay!” Jack protested as he received a heated glare from Angus.

“Like hell you don’t need stitches! I can see your skull. Now hold still!” Angus barked as he continued stitching up his son’s head.

“How are you making out over there kid?” Angus asked Cole who was being treated for rope burns on his hands. His palms were rubbed raw from moving the rocks earlier and holding onto a fraying rope for dear life.

“I’m fine… Is there a status on Tristan yet?”

“Not yet. Hold tight.”

“Lay still!” Angus yelled at his son as Jack tried to get up off of his gurney to see what was keeping the nurse. He had asked Nurse Wendell for a status on everyone over a half hour ago.

“I need to know if they are okay,” pleaded Jack with a worrisome look on his face. 

“Listen to me very carefully,” Angus said in a firm but calm tone.

“That is my daughter and my grandchildren in there. I want to know just as much as you do that they are okay. But three out of the four are in surgery. You have to wait.”

***

Frank Kilpatrick dropped his head into his hands as he simmered in the waiting room. He was desperate to hear some news from the other side of the double doors of the ER, but so far, he had heard nothing. Joe Piedmonte was sitting next to Frank. He laid a heavy hand on Frank’s back in a show of support.

“Hang in there, bud…”

Despite all his physical strength, Frank was the first to admit that he was nothing without Bridgette.

“What if she doesn’t make it?”

“She will.”

“How do you know?”

“She’s a fighter. You saw her down there…”

Frank shook his head as he fought off the nausea that was rising in his throat.

***

“Is this really necessary?” complained Jenna as a nurse attempted to put a breathing mask over her mouth. Adam already had one over his own face and he was already starting to feel better.

“Absolutely! Lord only knows what you breathed into your lungs down there!” scolded Nurse Wendell as she slipped the mask over Jenna’s face. Both she and Adam had come into the emergency room choking from the dust and debris that they had inhaled in the mines.

“Now try to relax and your breathing should get easier.”

***

“Tommy Morrow, you are one lucky kid…” remarked Dr. Stern as he continued to stitch up his belly. “Just two centimeters to the right and she would’ve punctured your kidney.”

Tommy Morrow was still unconscious on the operating table, but it was an old habit of Dr. Stern’s to talk to his patients while undergoing a life saving operation. He firmly believed that on some level that they could hear him.

Dr. Stern had gotten Tommy’s bleeding under control fairly quickly. Only two hours after the emergency surgery had begun, Dr. Stern was sewing Tommy back together, layer by layer.

“Nurse Beatty, will you please give the patient’s family an update?”

“Of course,” said the nurse as she removed her gloves and backed out of the operating room with haste.

***

“Okay, young lady. You’re good to go,” said Nurse Garrett as she signed Natalie’s chart. “Do you have a ride home?”

Natalie had never heard more refreshing words in all her wife. She breathed a sigh of relief to finally be cleared to leave.

“Yes. Mrs. Morrow is going to take me home.”

Moira stood by Natalie’s bedside, ready to drive her back up to Morrow Manor away from the stress of the hospital. Shane and Blake had already retreated back to the house at Moira’s urging.
The less people involved in this, the better
, Moira thought. She desperately hoped that everyone else would be accompanying them soon.

***

Dr. Franklin hovered over Liam’s body as he frantically tried to remove the bullet from his chest. Liam was in critical condition and the doctors were fighting to save his life. What was initially believed to be a shoulder injury was actually a chest wound. The bullet was lodged dangerously close to Liam’s heart, and he had flat-lined three times already. Nurse Kelly and Nurse Teagues were waiting on standby with the paddles if a fourth occurrence presented itself. Liam’s skin had turned a sickly shade of gray from having lost so much blood.

“Don’t quit on me!” Dr. Franklin said sternly as Liam’s heart rate once again wavered out of control.

“Got it!” Dr. Franklin proclaimed as he removed one silver bullet from Liam’s chest. It clunked loudly against a metallic pan.

“Close him up, Dr. Fields. Hurry.”

***

Bridgette laid on the operating table fully conscious but heavily medicated as Doctors McKenna and Conrad saw to her care. They extracted the bullet with ease as Bridgette groggily told them all about her ordeal. They decided to only put Bridgette under a local anesthesia since she had managed to get the bleeding under control herself. The only thing that doctors had to do was remove the bullet, clean out the wound and stitch her up.

***

“Are you Jack Morrow?” asked Nurse Beatty as she approached Jack in patient room 3A.

“Yes. Do you have a status for me?”

“I do, sir. Tommy is coming out of surgery now. He will be in recovery for the next several hours, but he is stabile.”

“Oh, thank God!” Jack vented as both he and Cole breathed sighs of relief.

“Do you have any update on my sister, my son Liam or my daughter?” Jack said with worry.

“Your sister is in recovery. Her surgery went very well.”

“Oh, thank God. What about Tristan and Liam?!” Jack said nervously.

“Liam is still in the OR. There were some complications, but we will keep you updated.”

“And Tristan?” Cole demanded.

Why was this nurse being so difficult?

“I’m afraid Tristan hasn’t woken up yet. She is stabile but still unconscious.”

***

Frank saw Doctors Conrad and McKenna walking towards him and his stomach tightened unforgivingly. Frank rose to his feet and shook both of their hands.

“Ted… Carl…” Frank said warmly. He knew Bridgette’s colleagues well from the annual hospital Christmas party.

“Do you have good news for me?”

“Of course we do,” Dr. Ted Conrad replied. “She talked our ears off throughout the entire procedure.”

A tidal wave of relief overcame Frank’s body. The breath was taken away from him as he stood there in a happy state of shock.

“She had the wound under control. All we had to do was remove the bullet and close her up.”

Frank was speechless.

“She’s in recovery. You can go see her if you’d like.”

Finally the words came to Frank as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Guys. Thank you. Please lead the way.”

***

“She hasn’t woken up yet?!” asked Jack with worry.

“She sustained a major head injury. We performed a CT scan and there are no bleeds or injury to her skull. Her vitals are stabile. We are just waiting for her to regain consciousness. I expect it will be soon.”

“Can we see her?”

“Not until your own doctor has cleared you,” explained the nurse. Angus looked at Nurse Beatty with a speculative glare.

“He’s cleared. Show me to my granddaughter.”

***

“Are we free to go yet?” asked Jenna with an annoyed tone of voice. She had taken her breathing mask off yet again.

“Not yet... Please keep the mask on.”

“My breathing is fine… I have to go.”

Adam followed suit.

“We have an investigation to wrap up…” Adam reminded Nurse Wendell.

“Officers, I must insist!”

The nurse could insist all she wanted, but she wasn’t keeping Adam and Jenna stuck in the hospital. Not with a murder investigation to wrap up and an officer in the OR with a gunshot wound to the chest. With determined fury, Adam and Jenna bolted out of the Emergency Room and into the waiting room of Grier Mountain Medical Center. When they emerged, the tiny waiting room was packed, with very few empty seats remaining. Along with Joe, there were also five off-duty officers waiting for a status on Liam. They had heard what happened through their police radios. Jenna looked at her officers with shock visible on her face.

Officer Craig Fishel stood up from his chair, “We’re here to help. Tell us where you need us.”

Officers Jamal Burnes, Christina Parker and Will Oakman stood up behind Craig, all ready to assist. Meanwhile, Officer Ryan Sumter saw the shock on DiNolfo’s face.

“You didn’t think we’d leave you hanging, did you?”