Tommy stepped in and dragged Nick out of the cubicle before he lost his temper.
'Let him examine her,' he said. 'He’s a good doctor. Come and sit down in the waiting room. If you sit near the door you can see the curtain from there.'
'Yeah, all right,' Nick said, but he couldn’t sit down. He paced instead.
'Why don’t you go upstairs and wait,' Nick suggested. 'Have the nurse page me when Noah comes out of surgery. I want to talk to the doctor.'
'I’ll go up in a minute,' Tommy said. 'But I want to stay here until Benchley finishes with Laurant. She’s gonna be okay,' he added, more of an assurance for Nick. 'She looks bad, but she’ll be all right.'
'What if she isn’t? Tommy, I damn near got her killed. He had her. The bastard had her pinned up against him with a knife at her throat. I’ve never been so scared in my life. One second. That’s all it would have taken to cut an artery. And it’s all my fault. I should have known.'
'Known what?'
Nick didn’t immediately answer. He was reliving those terrifying moments when he’d crept out onto the balcony and had seen Laurant down below.
'I should have figured it out before he had a chance to grab her. And he never should have gotten that chance. Because of my incompetence, Laurant almost lost her life, and Noah got hit.'
Tommy had never seen Nick so shaken. 'Stop beating yourself up, and tell me what happened. What should you have known?'
Nick rubbed his brow and leaned back against the wall. His gaze was glued to the curtain. He told Tommy everything, and when he was finished, Tommy needed to sit down.
'My God, you both could have been killed.' He expelled a long breath and then stood. 'You know I’d tell you if I thought you screwed up.'
'Maybe.'
'You didn’t screw up,' Tommy insisted. 'Pete didn’t figure it out either,' he pointed out. 'You did your job. You protected my sister, and you saved her life.'
'No, she pretty much saved herself. There I was, armed to the hilt, and she nailed the son of a bitch with a safety pin. Drove it right through his eye.'
Tommy flinched. 'She’s going to have nightmares.'
A nurse came to get Nick. There was a phone call from Agent Wesson. Tommy stayed in the waiting area. He happened to look down and only then realized he was still wearing his white robes and that Noah’s blood had saturated the garment.
'Wesson found the detonator. It was inside a garage door opener,' Nick said when he returned. 'What about the bomb?'
'The abbey’s blocked off, and the bomb squad is coming in by helicopter.'
'You know, Nick, we’re fortunate that no one else was hurt.' He was trying to keep his friend occupied because he knew Nick had about had it with waiting. He didn’t want him to go charging into the exam room.
'Why is the doctor taking so long?'
'He’s being thorough.'
'You’re awfully damn calm.'
'One of us has to be.'
'You’re her brother, and you saw what she looked like. If I were you and it was my sister in there, I’d be going nuts.'
'Laurant’s a strong woman.'
'Yeah, she’s strong, but a body can only take so much.'
The curtain parted, and the nurse who had been assisting the doctor came out. She went to the desk and picked up the phone.
The doctor stayed with Laurant. One-on-one with his patient, his bedside manner had vastly improved. He was kind, soft-spoken, and gentle. He numbed the arm and cleaned the wound. Then he wrapped it in gauze to keep it protected until the plastic surgeon arrived to stitch it. He probed the area around her left eye but stopped when she winced. 'You’re going to have a doozy of a shiner.'
The doctor told her he was sending her to radiology. The swelling at the base of her skull worried him, and he wanted to make sure she didn’t have a concussion.
'We’re going to keep you overnight for observation.'
He put another strip of tape on the gauze to hold it in place as he remarked, 'I heard what happened at the church. Bits and pieces anyway. You’re lucky to be alive.'
Laurant felt numb and a little disoriented. She was finding it difficult to concentrate. She thought the doctor had asked her a question, but she wasn’t certain, and she was too weary to ask him to repeat it.
'The nurse will help you get into a hospital gown.'
Where was Nick? Was he out there with her brother, or had he left? She wanted him to take her in his arms and hold her. She moved her leg and bit her lip to keep from crying out. It felt like it was on fire.
The doctor was turning to leave when he heard her whisper, 'I think it’s bleeding again. Could I have a Band-Aid, please?'
Benchley turned around. 'You need stitches in your arm. Remember I told you that the plastic surgeon was on his way?'
He was talking to her as though she were a child. He held up two fingers and asked her how many she saw.
'Two,' she answered, squinting against the penlight he was shining in her eyes. 'I was talking about my leg,' she explained. 'I fell down, and it’s bleeding.'
The queasiness was getting worse, and deep breaths didn’t seem to be helping.
Benchley lifted her skirt and saw the blood on her slip. 'What have we got here?' he asked as he gently pushed the slip up over her knee and then lifted her leg. He examined the bloody wound.
She couldn’t see the injury. The skirt was in her way. 'I just need a Band-Aid,' she insisted.
'You sure do,' he agreed. 'But first we’re going to need to remove the bullet.'
The surgeon had a busy evening. Pulling his cap off, he walked into the waiting room to report that Noah was in recovery. He assured Nick and Tommy that there hadn’t been any surprises or complications and that the agent was going to be fine. Then he turned around to scrub again and operate on Laurant. While he worked on her leg, the plastic surgeon stitched her arm.
A nurse gave Tommy his sister’s watch and engagement ring. Without a thought, he handed them to Nick.
Laurant wasn’t in the operating room long, and for a short while she and Noah were in recovery together. She was still unconscious when she was wheeled into a private room.
After checking on Noah, Nick went to Laurant’s room and stayed with her all night. As soon as Noah was taken to ICU so that he could be closely monitored, Tommy went back to the abbey to change clothes. Then he returned to the hospital and sat with Noah.
Pete Morganstern arrived around two in the morning. He went to see Noah first. Tommy had fallen asleep in a chair, but he woke up as Pete was reading Noah’s chart. They went out into the hall to talk, and then Tommy told him where he could find Laurant and Nick.
Laurant slept fitfully. In those random moments of consciousness she called out to Nick. The anesthetic was slow to wear off. She couldn’t quite manage to open her eyes, but she felt him taking hold of her hand, and she would fall asleep again comforted by his soothing voice.
'Nick?'
'I’m right here.'
'I think I threw up on Dr. Benchley.'
'That’s my girl.'
Another hour passed. 'Nick?'
'I’m still here, Laurant.'
She felt him squeeze her hand. 'Did you tell Tommy we slept together?'
She heard a cough, and then Nick answered, 'No, but you just did. He’s standing right here.'
She fell asleep, but this time she didn’t have any dreams or nightmares.
