JS06 One of Their Own by John C Dalglish

Author:John C Dalglish [Dalglish, John C]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Religion & Spirituality
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2015-04-10T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Chapter 12

Lieutenant Patton had not made it to the scene before Nina was found. Jason called him.

“Hello?”

“Lieutenant, it’s Jason. They’ve found her.”

Patton looked at Nate Jefferson, sitting beside him, and nodded.

“Thank God. How is she?”

“Not good.”

“What does that mean, Jason?”

“She was semi-conscious, suffering from exposure, dehydration, and multiple injuries.”

“Where was she?”

“They found her along the bank of the river, about a hundred yards upstream from where that couple found her shirt.”

The lieutenant looked over at Nate, covering the phone with his palm. “They found her along the river, but she’s in rough shape.”

He took his hand off the phone. “Where is she now?”

“She’s on route to SAG. We’ll meet you there.”

Patton hung up and pulled into a gas station. Turning around, he headed for San Antonio General. When he looked over at Nate, the young man was staring straight ahead, tears filling his eyes.

*******

San Antonio General, or SAG as the locals call it, was a sprawling campus in South San Antonio. The main building was three stories, with Emergency, Trauma, and ambulance bays, taking up the ground floor.

When Jason and Vanessa arrived, they went directly to the Trauma wing. A young nurse, who seemed to be doing three things at once was the only one at the desk. Jason took out his badge.

“Miss?” He waited for her to stop long enough to look at him.

“Yes?”

“I’m Detective Strong. Do you know where Nina Jefferson has been taken?”

“The female officer they just found?”

“Yes.”

“She’s in surgery. Go up to the third floor nurse’s station, they can help you.”

“Thank you.”

Jason and Vanessa were both familiar with the surgical floor. They’d been there with Dave Connor, a fellow officer, after his wife, Vicky, was shot.

When the two detectives arrived at the third floor nurse’s station, they were directed to the waiting room across the hall. Lieutenant Patton and Nate Jefferson were already there, sitting in silence.

The room had white walls, which stood in stark contrast to an emerald green carpet. Hanging in one corner, a TV tuned to the Weather Channel, played without sound. A bank of windows ran the length of the opposite wall, sunshine filtering through vertical blinds.

The lieutenant was sitting next to Nate, over by the windows. When he saw the two detectives, he rose and met them near the door.

“She’s in surgery. Her leg needs to come off immediately.”

Jason sat down. He’d seen the leg when they’d brought Nina to the shore. He’d hoped it could be saved, and knew it meant Nina was likely done being a detective. Her recovery would take months, if not years.

Vanessa sat down next to him, probably thinking the same thing. Jason looked over at Nate, then at the lieutenant. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s been pretty quiet since we got here.”

Jason thought back to how Nina looked when she was found. “Is she strong enough for surgery?”

The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders. “Apparently, there was no choice. Infection was ravaging her body and needed to be stopped.”

Vanessa got up and went over to Nate. Jason watched her go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.