Somewhere in His Arms (67 page)

             
When he answered she gave him the short and ugly version of what happened. He wanted her to meet him at the clinic but she didn’t think Gavin would survive the trip, as it was nearly an hour’s drive. He’d finally relented and promised he’d be there as soon as possible. All they could do now was wait.

             
Nearly an hour had passed since Gavin had collapsed and Lucy felt the IV was doing its job, but they needed to stop the bleeding and start him on antibiotics, not to mention a good dose of Demerol. Alec came out of the bedroom with a grim look on his face.

             
“What did she say?” Lucy glanced up from taking Gavin’s pulse and saw whatever he had to say wasn’t good. “That bad, huh?”

             
He sat down on a stool beside her. “How is he?”

             
“He’s stable if that’s what you want to know, but we need Carlos. An IV can only do so much. He probably needs a transfusion as well.”

             
“You’re the expert,” he muttered and hung his head. “She told me some stuff I only thought happened in nightmares.”

             
She leaned forward. “Spill your guts.”

             
After hearing the sordid tale of kidnapping, forced prostitution, and human trafficking, Lucy wished Rudy were here. But he wasn’t and she quickly wracked her brain for anyone Rudy might have mentioned at one time or another who might have the expertise to help the poor girl. She was about to mention a name, when the doorbell rang and Pat interrupted his drunken foray into oblivion long enough to answer it.

             
It was Carlos!

             
He hurried in carrying his black bag and was ushered into the kitchen by a stoic Alec. Carlos greeted Lucy who gave him the lowdown on the patient. “I started an IV.”

             
“Good girl!” he smiled and rolled up his sleeves. Lucy stood aside while Carlos took Gavin’s blood pressure and inspected the wound. “Why didn’t you call 911?” he said critically. “He needs a hospital.”

             
“We couldn’t.” Lucy told him, exchanging guilty glances with her husband. “He said that would be the first place they’d look.”

             
“They...?” Carlos frowned in confusion and began removing items from his bag. He laid them out neatly on a tray Lucy had pulled out for him.

             
“It’s a long story.”

             
Carlos removed the pads and duct tape from Gavin’s shoulder. “Tell me while I see if I can put Humpty Dumpty back together.” He motioned for Alec to hold Gavin’s legs down while he filled a syringe with Demerol. When Alec had filled him in, Carlos stood back and huddled with Lucy.  “He’s right,” he agreed. “They’d tear the hospital down brick by brick.”

             
“Can you remove the bullet?” Lucy asked anxiously and gave her husband a reassuring smile. Alec looked like he could use a shot too.

             
“I don’t know if I should try,” Carlos sighed at last and then peered at her questioningly. “You were a scrub nurse, right?”

             
“Yeah.”

             
“Good, you’re going to be my assistant.”

             
Alec stood by helplessly as he watched his wife and Carlos scrub up for the operation to remove the bullet. He watched in open admiration as they pulled on latex gloves and draped sheets over Gavin and the floor to catch the blood that was sure to flow. He felt useless and asked if he could do anything. Carlos glanced up and nodded. “Hold him down, this is going to hurt like a son of a bitch.”

             
“Get Pat,” Lucy added and prepared Gavin’s shoulder for the incision. “What if you can’t get it out?”

             
Pat had shook off his alcoholic stupor and now stood by Alec, holding Gavin’s other leg should he rouse during the procedure. Carlos raised his scalpel and prepared to cut. “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there,” he muttered mostly to himself as he made the first incision. Gavin jerked and moaned slightly, but the painkillers seemed to be working. Lucy sponged away the blood and hoped for the best. If it were near the bone, they would
have
to take him to the hospital lest they risk further bleeding.

             
The kitchen took on an eerie stillness as Carlos worked feverishly to find the bullet. No one said a word in fear of jinxing the good doctor. “Damn!” he swore. “I can’t find it. We might have to leave it in. I hope it didn’t bounce off the bone and into his chest.”

             
“I checked.” Lucy assured him, dabbing at his brow, and blotting up blood. “It’s got to be there. Check again.”

             
“You checked!” he muttered in disbelief and dug around some more. Finally his scissors hit something hard and metallic. He glanced up hopefully and Lucy smiled. “Hold him down you two, I think I found it.” Carlos got a good grip and pulled with all his might. He was about to ask the hulk with the worried frown to assist him, when with a final tug, the bullet relinquished its grip and Carlos fell back onto the floor with a thud. He held up the slug triumphantly. “I got it!”

             
Lucy staunched the crimson flow of blood and smiled weakly at her husband. “See?” she said to the two men who looked as if
they
might hit the floor any minute. “I told you Carlos would get it!” Alec and Pat looked at each other and laughed, mostly in relief.

             
They both stared in wonder as Lucy flushed out the hole and helped prepare the site for suturing. Pat nudged his stepson as Carlos did the internal sutures, and Lucy closed the wound. Finally she wrapped and bandaged the incision while Carlos gave Gavin a good dose of antibiotics and another dose of painkillers. When they were done, Pat put Gavin up over his shoulder and carried him into the spare bedroom to sleep it off.

             
Connie was there and looked up fearfully as the giant placed the young man gently into the bed and covered him with a blanket. He looked at her and asked if she wanted something to eat. “No, thank you,” she shook her head. “I’ll stay with him.”

             
Pat nodded and shut the door and went back out to them. “She’s not saying much,” he grunted as flopped down into a chair. “What do we do now?”

             
Carlos had to hurry home, but made them promise if it were possible, to try and take Gavin to the hospital as soon as he came to. He’d check in with them in the morning.

             
“I think we should call Eustacia Hurst,” Lucy suggested over coffee. They looked at her like she’d just recited the alphabet backwards. “She’s an immigration attorney,” she clarified. “She comes highly recommended.”

             
“You think she’d help the lass?” Pat enquired over the last bits of Wensleydale. “Maybe we should call those Border Patrol chaps.”

             
“Those are the
last
people I’d call in a situation like this!” Lucy scoffed and drained her mug. “Alec, tell him!”

             
He nodded. “She’s right. They’re the right people to call in certain circumstances, but not this. It wasn’t her fault any of this happened. They’ll throw her in jail first and ask questions later.”

             
“And how did you come by such information, may I ask?”

             
Alec shrugged. “Javier tells me lots of things. He’d rather have his knuckles broken rather than deal with the lot of them.”

             
“Who’s Javier?” Lucy and Pat asked in unison.

             
“He’s a Sergeant Inspector for Interpol and a good friend,” Alec said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Why? Who’d you think
he
was?”

             
“Oh, I don’t know,” Lucy exchanged knowing winks with Pat and grinned at her husband, “I thought he was some underworld crime boss.”

             
“He’d love to hear that!” Alec replied gruffly and checked his watch. “We should get some sleep.”

             
Pat shook his head. “I think I’ll stay up a bit in case the lad needs me.” He motioned for the two of them to go on. “You two get to bed.”

             
“Not until I call Eustacia,” Lucy said firmly and went to find Rudy’s address book. She was on the phone and in a heated discussion with the woman and Alec decided he’d best stay up as well.

             
“I’ll stay up too,” he said reluctantly and turned on the TV. Maybe he could find out more about the goons who tried to off his brother. Besides, he couldn’t sleep without Lucy. He cast an admiring glance towards his wife, who was splattered with Gavin’s blood and sorely in need of sleep. She’d gone above the call of wifely duty, and he was again reminded of how unworthy he was of her. But as she returned his glance and blushed, he decided he was more than willing to prove himself wrong. He mouthed, “I love you” to her and she mouthed the words back.

             
He settled against the cushions and tried not to think about how his brother had nearly bled to death. It was sometime before dawn before he finally retired to the bedroom at his wife’s urging and fell into an exhausted sleep.

              Eustacia Hurst arrived the next morning to take charge of Connie, whose full name was Consuelo Esmeralda Amparo Barragan. And the knowledge that she was sixteen and a half by all accounts, was only worsened by the realization that not only was she still a child, but that there was nothing anyone could do to reclaim the innocence she had lost. But Eustacia was determined to try.

             
Connie was reluctant to leave her savior, who was still in considerable pain and groggy from the sedatives. She knew nothing about this small red-haired woman who said she wanted to help. But Gavin’s brother and his wife had assured her it would be all right and promised they would visit her the first chance they got and make sure she was safe. “You… promise?” Connie said, still clutching Gavin’s hand. “What about my mama and sister? They said they’d hurt them.”

             
“Not if we can help it,” Eustacia said kindly and offered a hand. “It’ll be all right. You’re safe now.”

             
Connie wasn’t so sure. But she felt a tugging on her hand and looked down. Gavin was awake, his blue-green eyes gleaming at her in amusement. “Best go on with her,” he advised in a strained voice and with considerable effort, raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. No man had ever kissed her hand before, and Connie was both touched and saddened. “Will you come visit me when you are better?” she asked shyly.

             
“Even if they have to wheel me in on a gurney, I’ll visit you,” he promised and winced at the effort it took to say those words. “You can write me if you want. We’ll stay in touch and you can tell me all about your adventures.”

             
“Okay,” she laughed and leaned down to kiss his scruffy cheek.
“Vaya con Dios,”
she murmured and rose to leave. Connie cast one last look at Gavin before she left and wondered if she would ever see him again.  

             
Eustacia assured Lucy and Alec that Connie was in safe hands and that she’d contact them as soon as possible. “What if they try to find her?” Alec said, gesturing to the shattered remains of the Porsche in their driveway. “They seem like the type who won’t take “no” for an answer.”

             
“I’d like to see them try,” the little woman said defiantly and ushered Connie into a waiting car. Lucy looked on as they drove off and closed the door.

             
“I should have asked her if she’d heard from Rudy.”

             
Alec wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “I’m sure he’s all right.” He kissed her hair. “You worry too much.”

             
“I know,” she sighed. “Carlos is supposed to be here at ten. I’m going to crash for a bit. Wake me up if you need anything.”

             
“Go on, wife.” he said. “I’ll go out later and get us lunch.”

             
She smiled and yawned at him and went to bed. Alec retired to the kitchen and commiserated with Pat over several cups of black coffee. “That’s some wife you’ve got there, laddie.” Pat told him as he buttered a croissant. “ And don’t you forget it!”

             
“You
think
I will?”

             
“If you do, I’ll just have to remind you of your stupidity!” Pat grinned at his stepson and finished off the roll. “I’d better call yer mum and tell her we got Gavin. At least someone will find joy out of all this shite!”

             
“Go on with you now!” Alec said irritably, and reached into the box for a croissant. He swore at Pat when he discovered they were all gone. “You ate the last one!”