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	#Post#: 3028--------------------------------------------------
	Haunted by the Past - Chapter 30 - Deep Freeze
	By: RampageSports Date: April 9, 2016, 10:54 pm
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	Author's Note: The Spenser, Hawk, Susan Silverman, Vinnie Morris
	and Ives characters belong to mystery novelist Robert B. Parker.
	Mr. Parker is one of my favorite authors, and his work is a
	major influence on the the way I write. Whether I even come
	close to mimicking his style is open to considerable debate, but
	I have chosen to use his characters in this story as something
	of an homage. My goal is to handle them as lightly as possible
	and to maintain them as Mr. Parker created them. Any failure on
	that front is completely my own.
	[hr]
	Haunted by the Past - Chapter 30 - Deep Freeze
	Beep. Beep.
	Too many trips to the hospital and too much damn TV made the
	sound of the heart monitor subconsciously recognizable to me,
	and I knew where I was before my eyes fluttered open.
	For just a moment, there was peace. The rhythmic beeping
	telling me I was still alive. Sunlight streaming through the
	window and warming my room. A glimpse of the river below
	telling me I was in the familiar surrounds of Oceanview Medical
	Center.
	Then I remembered how I got here.
	I thought of Danni, blue and lifeless.
	I thought of Meghan, collapsing before my eyes.
	I sat bolt upright and clawed feverishly at the tape keeping the
	intravenous line attached to my right hand � desperate to be
	free. To go and find them.
	A small, but strong pair of hands appeared and latched onto
	mine.
	I pulled and tore, trying to wrench myself free. The hands held
	firm.
	Finally, I got hold of myself, and looked up into the sad, but
	serious eyes of Emma Watson.
	"Stop," she said gently. "Just relax. You're going to be
	fine."
	I tried to speak � to get answers to the questions burning in my
	mind � but the mask on my face made it sound like I was mumbling
	through a tin can.
	"Danni's fine, too," Emma said, "She's across the hall."
	Deep breath. One down.
	I relaxed my hands, and Em studied me for signs I was going to
	do something stupid. I nodded my head gently, telling her it
	was safe to release me... for now.
	She let go and I pulled the mask from my head.
	"Can I see her?" I asked.
	"Probably not," Emma answered. "I don't think you're supposed
	to be getting up. Besides, she's not awake yet."
	"I need to see her."
	"I know," she said, "but not yet. Just relax. Steph is there.
	We've got her."
	I worked to push my fear down further. I felt better knowing
	help was here and that someone was with Danni, but I wouldn't
	feel right until I could see her for myself. Until I had
	something new to force that lasting image of her on the dock
	from my mind.
	"What about Meghan?" I asked, my voice strained by emotion that
	had seemingly come from nowhere.
	Emma produced a cup of water and handed it to me.
	"Who's Meghan?"
	"Cop," I said, barely managing to squeeze the word from my
	throat.
	Emma mistook my difficulties for something physical.
	"You need to go easy," she said. "You've had a very busy day."
	I drank hard from the cup while impatiently circling my hand �
	imploring her to get on with the details, while also buying the
	time I needed to pull myself together.
	"I don't know everything," Emma said. "There's cops everywhere,
	and they don't share much. From what I can gather, she's hurt
	pretty bad, but she's going to live."
	She's going to live.
	Meghan had probably started this day with higher goals than mere
	survival, but living to see tomorrow was a big step up from what
	I'd feared.
	While continuing to drink in huge swallows of water, I realized
	Emma's details weren't going to do it for me. I needed more
	information... about everything. I needed to know exactly how
	my friends were. I wouldn't be satisfied until I did.
	My wish was granted almost instantly, as the keeper of such
	information appeared in the doorway.
	"Well, you're still not dead," said Dr. Patricia Leon, head of
	the RSI training staff and attending physician here at
	Oceanview.
	Trish and I go back a long way... back to my days on the
	underground circuit. We met in the emergency room of a hospital
	much like this one, under less than ideal circumstances. And
	that wasn't the only time we ran across each other that way.
	In other words, she's had to put my pieces back where they
	belong a few times over the years.
	Whatever power she gave away due to her small stature, Trish
	more than made up for with presence and a stern, disapproving
	gaze. The ferocious stare the olive-skinned Italian woman bore
	into me with now was on the verge of being physically painful.
	That'll teach me to be more careful about what I wish for.
	"Miss Watson," Trish said in a commanding tone, "could you give
	us a moment?"
	Emma gave me a look that said, Been nice knowing you, and headed
	for the door.
	Trish's eyes never wavered � not even for an instant � and I was
	beginning to feel the heat on my forehead.
	"I didn't do anything," I said defensively.
	"And yet, here you are."
	"I was being shot at," I said. "What was I supposed to do?"
	"Do you hear yourself?" she asked. "Who else do you know that's
	been shot at?"
	I didn't think saying Danni was going to help my cause, so I
	stayed quiet.
	Speaking of which...
	"How's Danni?" I asked.
	"Same as you," she said.
	"Okay then, how am I?"
	"Well, to start with, you're a d*mn idiot..."
	"Trish!" I snapped. "I've been shot at and half frozen to
	death, and Danni was right there with me. The woman who was
	there to protect us... who saved our lives... is... well, she's
	God knows. So, stow the guilt trip and tell me what the h*ll is
	going on!"
	I guess I sounded desperate enough, because her stony expression
	turned marginally sympathetic.
	For Trish, that represents an effusive outpouring of
	understanding and concern.
	"When they brought you in here, you're body temperature was
	eighty-nine degrees," she explained.
	I knew normal body temperature on the Fahrenheit scale was
	somewhere around ninety-eight or ninety-nine. So, eighty-nine
	did not sound good.
	"How bad is that?"
	"The science says that organs begin to shut down at eighty-six."
	Oh.
	"That's pretty bad."
	She shrugged.
	"Nothing drains body heat the way water does."
	"Danni was the same?"
	"Almost identically," she said. "You're both of similar size
	and build, so it makes sense. But, it's a d*mn good thing
	you're both so fit. Otherwise..."
	"Do me a favor and don't finish that sentence," I said. "What
	about Meghan?"
	"The detective," she said. "She's going to be okay, but she's
	got some work ahead of her. Her worst injury is a fractured
	fibula suffered in the accident, which is a miracle considering
	what she went through. She's in surgery now to set the leg and
	to clean up the bullet wound."
	"Bullet wound?" I said in surprise. "I thought you said the leg
	was the worst of it."
	"Bullet went in the front of her left arm and straight out the
	other side," she said. "A few stitches, then some rehab. She
	was very lucky."
	I breathed another sigh of relief as my thoughts drifted a
	little.
	We were all here. All alive. The best news I could possibly
	have hoped for, and the relief that brought collided with the
	fear that had preceded it... leaving me with a bag of emotions I
	struggled to control.
	"I think," I began, stopping to figure what I really did think.
	"There was so much happening. I didn't have time to really make
	sense of it all. But, there were moments when I thought she was
	dead."
	That was something of a lie. I hadn't thought she was dead. I
	was sure of it.
	"She should have been," Trish said. "Any one of the bullets
	that tore across her chest could have killed her."
	"What?" I breathed. "You said it was her arm."
	Trish nodded solemnly.
	"One in the arm," she said. "Her vest caught the other four.
	The force of the impacts probably cracked a few ribs. X-rays
	will tell for sure, but there's no question � she'd be dead if
	she hadn't been wearing it."
	I tried. I really tried to spin it positively. Meghan had her
	vest on. Not only had she saved my life and Danni's, but she'd
	saved her own.
	Good girl, Meghan.
	But the truth could not be avoided so easily, and I swallowed
	hard as my eyes moistened.
	Four bullets, stopped only inches from entering her body. Just
	a little variation � a small change in direction or angle � and
	any one of them could have gone where the vest wouldn't have
	protected her.
	Trish had called it a miracle, and maybe it was. Or maybe it
	was just luck. Either way, nothing I had done had saved her.
	No... I had been the one that had almost gotten her killed.
	A tear slipped out, and I wiped it away with a sniffle.
	"When can I see Danni?" I asked wetly.
	Trish glanced up at the monitor beside the bed.
	"You're temp is up," she said, "and a little walking around
	would do you good. I think it would be alright to let you go
	unmonitored for a few minutes."
	She left to check on Danni, and to find a nurse to unhook me.
	While she was gone, Spenser dropped in and brought me up to
	speed on the non-medical stuff. Rat Boy was dead. Mr. Clean
	was in the wind, though evidence suggested he was wounded in the
	exchange with Taylor. Vinnie was down south keeping an eye on
	Powers, who was still operating from the house in the ghetto.
	Hawk was out in the hallway, entertaining the nurses.
	"Aren't there cops out there?" I asked, thinking, Hawk plus cops
	equals bad.
	"They're a little distracted," he said. "Detective Taylor's
	condition is their only concern. That, and finding whoever did
	this to her."
	"They don't know?"
	"O'Rourke is playing things close to the vest. Emotions are
	running high, and I think he's trying to keep a handle on the
	situation."
	"Pat is here?"
	There was a level of understanding in his nod. We both knew I
	could expect a visit from the good Major shortly, and that would
	be about as much fun as talking with Trish.
	"They're calling her a hero," Spenser said of Meghan.
	"Damn fcking right. The hll with Pat. I'm telling this story
	to anyone who'll listen."
	"I don't think he's trying to hide anything," Spenser said. "I
	think he's just worried about the timing. Those cops are
	looking for revenge."
	"Would that be so bad?"
	"For O'Rourke? Probably. He can't have his people running
	around like vigilantes."
	"I guess," I grudgingly allowed.
	I made a mental note to seek out Gavin and Vince, and share all
	the details I could piece together for them. Not only did they
	deserve to know just what their team leader had done out there,
	but they would be the ones to quietly spread the word to their
	brethren.
	Never again would Meghan Taylor be viewed as undeserving of her
	rank and standing in the department. I would see to it.
	A quick knock and Trish was back.
	"Your friend is awake," she said.
	[hr]
	Character Reference
	http://s19.postimg.org/x7gm9w22n/Richelle_100x120.jpg
	Name: Richelle Winterfeld
	Nickname(s):
	Background: Owner of the RSI stable, former underground fighter
	http://s19.postimg.org/9av3z511b/Danni_100x120.jpg
	Name: Danneel Harris
	Nickname(s): Danni
	Background: RSI stable leader, reigning DEF welterweight
	champion
	http://s19.postimg.org/cj46pxcov/Emma_100x120.jpg
	Name: Emma Watson
	Nickname(s): Dr. Watson
	Background: Reigning FAC featherweight champion, training
	partner and romantic partner of Tiffany Mulheron
	http://s19.postimg.org/dsafuiy67/Stephanie_100x120.jpg
	Name: Stephanie McMahon
	Nickname(s): Steph
	Background: RSI's fighter development coordinator, former SCQ
	super heavyweight champion
	http://s19.postimg.org/lhcc3d4zj/Trish_100x120.jpg
	Name: Dr. Patricia Leone
	Nickname(s): Trish
	Background: Head of the RSI medical staff
	http://s19.postimg.org/kmg56h1fj/ORourke_100x120.jpg
	Name: Patrick O'Rourke
	Nickname(s):
	Background: Major with the New Jersey State Police, family
	friend of Richelle's
	http://s19.postimg.org/bwegrvukf/Meghan_Taylor_100x120.jpg
	Name: Meghan Taylor
	Nickname(s):
	Background: New Jersey State Police Detective, works for Major
	O'Rourke
	http://s19.postimg.org/e0pn1hhfj/Gavin_Brown_100x120.jpg
	Name: Gavin Brown
	Nickname(s):
	Background: New Jersey State Police Trooper, works for Major
	O'Rourke
	http://s19.postimg.org/zdkkf918f/Vince_Jordan_100x120.jpg
	Name: Vince Jordan
	Nickname(s):
	Background: New Jersey State Police Trooper, works for Major
	O'Rourke
	#Post#: 3029--------------------------------------------------
	Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 30 - Deep Freeze
	By: Dragons Den Date: April 11, 2016, 2:01 am
	---------------------------------------------------------
	Well, that last chapter had me right on the edge of my seat. I
	have been enthralled throughout this entire story, but that last
	chapter really kicked it up a gear. Awesome to read, and I'm
	still enjoying it immensely. Can't wait for it to continue.
	We're super glad everybody is okay, and damn fuckin' right that
	Meghan is a hero! Lol, good luck with Pat!
	#Post#: 3030--------------------------------------------------
	Re: Haunted by the Past - Chapter 30 - Deep Freeze
	By: RampageSports Date: April 11, 2016, 8:45 pm
	---------------------------------------------------------
	Thanks, as always, Dragon. ;)
	As for Richelle, she has bigger things on her mind than Pat.
	Come to think of it, Pat has bigger problems than Richelle, too.
	:-\
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