Backfire (26 page)

Clumsily, she walked to the intercom and mashed the button, pissed at whoever had woken her from her finally restful sleep she had been missing.  “Yeah? Who the hell is it?” She kept the blanket wrapped around her, one eye open, the other shut. 

“It’s Betty!  Eva, let me up! It’s urgent!”

What was Betty doing back in Hell’s Kitchen after midnight? Eva immediately thought the worst. Did they find Mikey’s body?  Was it actually official that he was dead? She didn’t think she could take any more bad news.  She began to panic and had
to tell herself to calm down.
Did Betty sound frantic? Eva dissected the sound of her voice over the tinny speaker, flustered that she couldn’t make out the tone of her voice from it. She hadn’t even heard yet.  She buzzed Betty up and paced as she waited for her.  She felt as if she was going to vomit.  Her tired, medicine induced stupor had quickly dissipated and suddenly, her pulse was racing and her palms were clammy.  Whatever the news was gonna be, she had to be prepared.  Now was her time to be strong. 

Betty only had to knock once and Eva was there, swinging the door open.  She tried to read her body language.  “I’m so sorry for cussing at you.  What are you doing here so late? Did they find his body? Is he really dead?” Her voice shook and again, she had to stop jumping to conclusions. 

Betty came into the apartment and Eva shut the door behind her, wishing she would just spit it out.  What if there was no news at all?  A smile parted Betty’s lips.  Eva let out a laugh before she could even get the words out.  This had to be good news.

“They found him, Eva.  They found him alive!”

It took a second for Eva to register it.  This had to be a dream.  She did take a sleeping aid and they were known for causing things like this.  Stepping forward, she smirked.  “Slap me, Betty.” 

“What?” She arched her eyebrow, her expression switching from excitement to confusion.

“Slap me!  I have to make sure I’m not dreaming this.”

Betty put her hands on Eva’s shoulders.  “This is real.  I’m here at twelve thirty in the morning to tell you that Mikey is ALIVE! Lieutenant Harlan called me and I rushed over here.”

Eva put her hands over her mouth as tears fell.  This time, they were happy tears, an unknown feeling to her lately.  “Oh my God, Betty.  Is he okay?  Do you have any details?”

“He didn’t have much.  Just that he was severely dehydrated and malnourished, and had some injuries.  He was taken to a hospital in Austin and is in ICU.  Other than that, the details are sketchy. He’s gonna be okay.  If you haven’t already noticed, he’s a fighter.”  Betty grinned and hugged her.  “I knew he was alive.  I just knew it.”

“You were right.  I can’t believe it.  I just can’t believe it.” She pulled away from Betty.  “I guess we better get tickets on the next flight down to Texas.  Nothing is going to keep me away from him now.” It still all felt so unreal to Eva.  Now they had to worry about the extent of his injuries. She was on an emotional rollercoaster that she wanted off of as soon as possible. 

Chapter Twenty

The quickest flight that Eva and Betty could book was for one at seven A
M the next day.  After fighting
with the ticket agent over the phone, Eva was able to talk them both onto a flight that had already been completely booked.  She wasn’t sure how that would work out, but they would cross that bridge when they got to it.  Betty had made a quick call to Casey.  She was hoping this would help his recovery.  Betty had vaguely mentioned how Casey was having some hard struggles and that a relapse was almost imminent.  Apparently he had taken the good news well and woke up almost the entire center to let everyone know that his brother had been found alive.  To Eva, this proved that Casey really had changed this time.  The old Casey would have used immediately. 

They got to the airport early and the flight down to Austin seemed to take forever.  It still baffled her at the fact that they had to connect in Dallas.  Their layover was only thirty minutes, but she still found that the time was creeping by slowly. 

Neither she
nor Betty talked too much to each other.  She was lost in thought on how critical Mikey was.  They didn’t get many details at all, not even any information on whether or not his injuries were life threatening.  The dehydration was a serious matter, but could be an easy fix. 

She rested her head on the window of the plane and stared at the ground below.  The flight was short and she could tell that they were close just from the view of the fires below.  And to think, Mikey was trapped down inside that.  When she was down here before, she noticed it, but this time, seeing the fires like that was like a punch to her stomach.  The fact that Mikey endured it head
-
on sent a chill down her spine. 

“I called a cab when were on the ground in Dallas,” Betty said.  “There should be one waiting for us at pick up.  Good thing we didn’t check bags.  I don’t want to wait around any longer than we have to.”

“Good idea in calling the cab.”  Eva was amazed she was able to pack as lightly as she had, filling up one small suitcase that was tiny enough to qualify as carry on luggage.  She was certain she had forgotten stuff, but it didn’t matter.  She’d be at the hospital most of the time. 

The plane landed and they exited.  Eva tried not to walk too fast to leave Betty behind, but was surprised to see the older woman keep up
a
good pace with her.  They were oblivious to everyone around them.  Their mind
s were
set on Mikey and getting to the hospital.  Everything else didn’t matter. 

There was a cab right on the curb, as Betty had planned.  They shoved their suitcases in the trunk and got in.

Without skipping a beat, Betty said, “Get us to Brackenridge UMC.”

The traffic was pretty light since it was earlier in the morning, and the drive didn’t take too long.  They got out of the cab and took their luggage in, not even taking the time to stop at a hotel first.  The hospital was good sized and Eva had no idea on where to even begin.  She stopped at the first information desk she came across.

“Can I help you?” The lady cupped her hand over the phone receiver.

“I need to find out where Michael McGinnis is at. All we’ve been told is ICU and that’s it.”  For some reason she was growing frantic again, and she had to take a deep breath to try and calm her nerves.  It felt like it had been years since she had seen him.  He was in this very building, and she had to get to him.

The lady looked him up on her computer and gave them directions on how to get to the ICU area.  Eva felt as if she were sprinting and she looked back to check on Betty, who was right along side her every step of the way.  She couldn’t read her face to see if she was as worried or hyped up as she was.  She looked hopeful and Eva found that inspiring.

It was almost as if things were in slow motion as they reached the ICU waiting area.  Several men were standing around, but she didn’t recognize anyone.  A few had bunker gear on and others w
ore navy blue shirts that showed
what fire company they belonged to.  Her eyes s
canned the room in hopes of finding
someone to talk to.  She recognized one of the men in the back corner, but couldn’t put a name with his face. 

“You’re with Manor Fire Department, right?”  She pointed toward him, causing the room to go silent.  She felt awkward with all eyes turning to her, but she knew that they all probably had an idea of who she was. 

The man pushed himself off of the wall and walked toward her.  “Yes ma’am.  I’m Lieutenant Harlan.  I think we met the other day when you and McGinnis stopped by for that firehouse visit.  Eva, right?” He extended his hand for her to shake, and she obliged the gesture. 

“Yes, I’m Eva Crisante.  This is Betty McGinnis, Mikey’s mother.” 

Lieutenant Harlan took his baseball cap off and shook her hand as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. McGinnis.  I’m glad you two could make the trip down here again.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Betty replied.  “What’s the news on my son?”

The Lieutenant took a sip of coffee.  “The doctors haven’t really been in much, but one did come talk to us about an hour ago.  He’s got a concussion and they were concerned because he hasn’t been conscious.  But my other man who was trapped with him has said that he was alert and coherent after getting the injury, so they have pretty much ruled out any kind of brain damage.  He’s also got a punctured lung.  They had to put a chest tube in and he’s also got a wound on his left side.  It damaged his spleen.  The last we have heard is that he was up in surgery to get the spleen removed.  He’s also really dehydrated.”

Eva pulled her hair back away from her face.  “Have you seen him?”

Harlan shook his head no.  “They brought him in through the ER on an ambulance and took him back before I even got here.  They haven’t let anyone back yet.”

“Who was with him when they got lost?”  She wanted to talk to the other man.  For some reason, it was imperative that she get as many details as she could.  This was the wait she hated.  It was almost a requirement that hospitals make the waiting party sit out in the waiting room for tremendous amounts of time.

“Jack Lawton.  He’s sitting over there where I was when you came in.”  He pointed her in the direction.  Betty followed and they both sat across from him.  His attention was down in a newspaper.  It looked like he hadn’t even had time to clean himself up from being out in the fires.  He was still in his turnouts and black soot was spread across his face.  

“Are you Jack Lawton?” Eva asked, pulling him away from what he was reading. 

Looking up, he nodded.  “Yes ma’am, I am.  You are Eva, right?”

“Yeah.  You were with Mikey through all of this?”

“Yes ma’am, I was,” he said.  His twang was thick and Eva tried not to cringe at being called ma’am.  It was a sign of respect.  “He has fought through this whole ordeal.  I’m sorry it has gotten as bad as it has.”

Eva shook her head and closed her eyes to try to fight back the tears.  She wondered how much more she could cry before her tear ducts ran dry.  “Don’t apologize.  It’s not your fault.  You got him out.  I can’t say thank you enough for that.”

Jack sat for
ward in his chair and pulled in
to a tight hug.  “He’s gonna be okay.  His whole concern the whole time was getting the child out that we had with us.  I’ve never seen someone so tough.”  He pulled away from her and hugged Betty as well.  “Ma’am, you should be proud of your son.”

“Believe me, I am.  Thanks for everything you did for him.”

He held his hand up.  “Don’t thank me.  I didn’t do a thing.”

Lieutenant Harlan interrupted their small meeting and placed his hand on Eva’s shoulder.  “The doctor just came out.  He said that the family can go back to see him.”

Eva and Betty stood up, and a nauseous feeling hit Eva blindside.  “You guys are his family, too.”

“They’re only letting a few people back at a time.  You and Ms. McGinnis go.  We’re not taking no for an answer.”

Eva grabbed hold of Betty’s hand and squeezed hard.  Everyone stopped to look at them as they went toward the ICU area.  The doctor was holding the door open for them, his expression emotionless as they approached. 

“I’m Dr. Jansen.  I was the ER doctor on duty when they brought Mr. McGinnis in.  He’s out of surgery and he’s doing okay, but he’s still not conscious.  The spleen has been taken out and we are monitoring everything else.  We’ll probably keep him in ICU so we can keep a close watch on everything until he stabilizes.” 

“Thank you.”  Eva and Betty walked past the crowd and down to bed eight where he was.  Pushing the curtain aside, Eva had to brace herself one last time before going in.  She had seen him in a situation like this before, and it was happening all too soon again.  It had killed her the first time.  This time wouldn’t be any easier.  She allowed for Betty to go in first.

His hair was a mess and he had oxygen on his nose.  His hospital gown was disheveled from the nurses coming in to check on things.  Eva eyed the monitors around the bed.  All of his stats seemed to be okay.  Eva went to the opposite side of the bed from Betty and grabbed his hand.  His palm was cold and it felt weird not to feel him respond to her touch.  There were calluses and cracked areas on his skin.  She grabbed some lotion and applied it to each hand, rubbing it in slowly.  The subtle gesture got a small response from him.  A low murmur escaped from his throat and his eyebrows arched. 

“Mikey, it’s me, Eva.  Your mom is here too.” 

She ran her fingertips over his hairline and down the side of his face.  His eyes were still closed, but his breathing changed and his brow creased.  A load of stress was raised from her shoulders.  At least he was responding to her, even if he wasn’t completely conscious. 

“Casey will be here later, Mikey.  He’s gotta take care of a few things at the center and then he’s coming.”  Betty leaned over the bed and helped rub in the lotion.  “You have no idea how happy we are to see you, hon.”

His head moved toward Betty’s voice and again, his eyebrows moved in response to their words.  Eva felt a genuine smile part her lips.  The paramedic in her wanted to take a look at his wound and see how bad it was, but she resisted.  The last thing she wanted to do was infect it.