Wings of Deception (37 page)

Thinking he meant the men she assured him,
“
They are all gone
Jacks
, you are safe now.
”

“Carol’s angels….they are real….
I
see
them….
”
He let his eyes look past her
,
“I…”

“Yes Jacks?”

“I….” His eyes closed and his body went limp.

Honey thought he
was
gone
but the medics said he was still alive when they put him in the
ambulance
and
took
him
away
.
She tried to go with him but the officers
who
responded to the 911 call
,
insisted they go to the station and talk with the detectives while the assault
,
as they labeled it, was fresh in their minds.

The three of them
were taken to the police department where they were questioned extensively while Honey pleaded with them to let her at
least call
to check on
Jacks
. For all she knew
,
he was already dead
,
for his wound was deep and she was wearing blood that had seeped from his body.

After an hour of answering the same questions over and over she was allowed to call the hospital
while the detectives continued to go over Dwight and Sheila’s account of what had happened. Dwight was calm and patient but Sheila was getting irritated at them and in exasperation exploded.

“Are you idiots or what? We have been here for over an hour and you keep asking
us
the same stuff like you do not believe us or something. Don’t you think you need to be looking for the
slime
that did this?
Jacks could be dead!
We are not going to change our story
,
no matter how long you keep us here!
Everything we have told you is the truth
,
believe it or not.
”

Dwight tried to soften the atmosphere by adding calmly,
“Officers, it has been an ordeal for us and it is
getting
late. Don’t you think we can continue this tomorrow? I promise we will be at the hotel
if not at the hospital
.
Please
,
let us go see about our friend. He has no one there with him.
”

The two men looked at each other and the one who had done the less talking said, “Okay, leave your contact information at the desk on your way out.”

He looked at the other guy. “Let them go.”

“Thank you.” Dwight led Sheila out
to the hall
where they ran into Honey who was visibly upset.
Sheila’s heart almost stopped
when she saw her,
thinking the worst
had happened
and she whispered, “He’s not….Jacks is…”

“No, I do
not
know. They would
not
tell me anything because I am not family. We have to go
in person to
see. Can we leave now?”

“Yes, they want to see us again tomorrow, probably to ask the same questions over again, like
we could make up something like this
.” Sheila was still annoyed.

“
It was
all
so horrible!
” Honey
put her hand to her mouth
still
feeling traumatized
thinking about the gleaming metal blade coming at her
,
with Jack’s blood dripping from it.

“Honey
,
would you like to change before we go to the hospital? They might think you need medical
attention
with all that blood
on you
. I can run by the hotel if you like.”
Dwight offered
,
wanting to take her mind off the ugliness he knew she was remembering.

“No, we have wasted enough time
here
as it is, I have to see Jacks and
know one way or the other.”
They all knew she meant that she wanted to see if he lived and in
silent
agreement
they
left to go find out.

It was late
,
so
they
had to
enter through the emergency
room
entrance
. A
s Dwight had warned with the blood on her clothes
,
the medical personnel were alarmed that
Honey
was injured. When they understood
that
was not the case
,
they found out for them where Jacks was and that he was at least alive.

He was in a
critical
care unit and all they could get out of the doctor in charge was that he had come out of surgery
but it did not look good for him.
After asking them a few questions
,
h
e suggested they go home and check back the
next
morning but Honey would not hear of it.

“I will not leave him here alone. You two can go back to the hotel, I will stay.”

Sheila was adamant about staying too
,
so
Dwight
said
. “We will
all stay.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable
myself
if we didn’t.
He has no family.
”

The doctor looked at his watch. “It will be a long night but if you
want
, there is a waiting room down the hall
you can wait in and
I will keep you updated.
If he makes it through the night he can have visitors for fifteen minutes at seven in the morning.
”
He left them after directing them where to go.

After they settled themselves in the deserted waiting room
,
they talked about what
occurred on the rooftop
for the first time among themselves
.

Honey mused, “
I thought I was gone! What do ya’ll think they were doing up there anyway? Jacks said it was to commemorate his inheritance but remember
how those men were all dressed? It was as if they were
some sort of priest
s
or something.
It looks to me like an inheritance would be handled in an attorney’s office
in business suits,
not on the rooftop of a dilapidated old church.
”

Dwight was cautious in his answer for he did not want to
upset
the women
further
.

“
Just thank
God
Honey
,
that
you sensed something was wrong and
called Sheila
,
because I hate to think what might have happened if we had not show
n
up there tonight
.
It was a ritual of some sort and you can believe it wasn’t anything good about it.
”

Honey remembered Jacks words as he lay in his blood.

“
Hmmm, you heard
Jacks
say
he saw
Carol’s angels. Do
you
remember Carol’s drawing I showed you
of
the men with a knife? Well
,
there were angels all over the picture and
I know
Jacks
saw
those angels
on that roof
!”

“Then how come
he
was nearly killed?” Sheila wanted to know.

Dwight answered her. “Jacks
’
is not a believer
and
angels only have so much power over the evil that surrounded him, unlike Honey
,
or us for that matter. Our belief in Jesus unleashes power you cannot even imagine
. I believe everything happens for a reason and I believe Jacks will survive this. I know it does not make much sense but we should be grateful that
he
did not enter that circle.”

He
was thinking back as he
watched
Garrett
fl
ing
himself into the ring and beg to be the ‘one.’
He shook his head
.
H
e believed they had witnessed a
transfer of
possession and it almost was Jacks who
made
the sacrifice.

“You girls get some rest if you
can;
I am going to go
get
Honey
’s
bag. I won’t be long.”

“That
would be
great
Dwight
.
I appreciate it. Thanks.”

When he returned, she washed up, put on fresh clothes, and felt much better.

Jacks had a rough night and once coded on the staff
,
close to three
in the morning
.
T
he news sen
t
his friends to the chapel in despair and no one slept.
Dwight kept the women from falling apart by remaining calm throughout the night himself.

Finally at six
in the morning,
the doctor came out and told them that
Jacks
was
finally
stable and resting well.

“He is a strong man to have survived a knife wound such as the one he took on. Surgery repaired most of the damage but
he
will need a second one later on
,
to
do further repairs. He is lucky to be alive.” He went on to explain in more detail so that they had a better understanding of the seriousness of Jacks dilemma and when he finished
,
he told them that they could see him as soon as the shift change was over.

With spirits somewhat lifted
,
Dwight
brought
up
coffee for the three of them and by the time it was seven they were ready to see him. Generally
,
only two visitors were allowed at a time but the doctor allowed all three
of them
to go in
together
.

Jacks was
sleeping
and a nurse was adjusting his drip when they went in. She smiled a friendly smile before leaving the room. Dwight stood back while Honey and Sheila hovered over him as if examining a newborn baby. He was bandaged from his ribcage down to his lower
abdomen
and they were alarmed to see that there was still some bl
ood
seeping through
. While they were engrossed in checking him out
,
he opened his eyes and said wonderingly, “What are you doing?”

Honey shook her head and told him, “We are making sure these people are doing their job right.” She smiled at him. “Welcome back
, w
e thought we had lost you for a while there.”

Sheila added, “Yeah boss, you scared the daylights out of us!”

“Hold on. Where am I….what happened and….” He was looking around. “This is a hospital, why am I here?” He tried to sit up but the pain gripped him and his eyes reflected the
panic
he saw in theirs.

“You do not remember
what happened
last night
?
”

“
No
.
Y
es….
I was meeting
Asa
.
W
as I mugged or something? And Sheila, why are you and Dwight here
? H
ow did you get here
?
We are in New York aren’t we?”

Sheila moved to where Dwight was still standing to
permit
Honey
to
answer him.

“They are here because I called them. Jacks, something went terribly wrong last night and one of
Asa’s
men almost killed you. You are just confused
and you should not be worrying about anything but getting better
so
do
not
even think about it right now
.”