“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Can you meet me at the hospital?”
“It’s more a doctor’s office than a hospital, but, yeah, I can head there right now.”
“I need the address.”
He gave it to her.
“I still have to go through passport control, but I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Need to take off?” Daeng asked.
Nate nodded as he shoved his cell back in his pocket. “Do you mind staying here and keeping an eye on things?”
Daeng shrugged. “Someone has to.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Go make sure Quinn’s doing all right. I’ll call you if anything happens here.”
Nate nodded his thanks, then made his way back to where their car was parked.
Forty-five minutes later, he knocked on the door of Dr. Pelligrini’s clinic. The woman who answered wasn’t the doctor’s wife.
“You are here to see your friend,” she said, not a question. “My sister said you would be back.”
“Sister?”
“ Signora Pelligrini.”
Nate looked at the woman anew, and though she and the nurse he’d met earlier were nowhere near identical, he did notice a few, subtle common characteristics.
“You’re a nurse, too?”
“No, uh, just help.”
He entered the building and she shut the door.
“Is the doctor still here?” he asked.
“ Si, but, um, he sleep in his office. You want me to wake him?”
“Not yet.” Nate took a step toward Quinn’s room, then stopped. “There’s another friend who should be here soon. A woman. Asian.”
“If you hear knock, you can answer.”
“Okay.”
He entered the room and the woman followed. Quinn now lay on a narrow bed that had replaced the examination table he’d been operated on. His eyes were closed, but other than the tube running under his nose, and the bandages that covered the left side of his neck and shoulder, he looked almost normal.
“Any change?” he whispered to the woman.
“No, everything same. Good and, um…stead.”
“Steady?”
“ Si,” she said, brightening. “Steady. That what doctor say. Steady.”
That was good news.
“You want coffee? Tea?” She paused. “ Acqua?”
“I’m okay. Thank you,” Nate said.
“ Acqua,” Quinn whispered.
Nate whipped around.
“ Signore,” the woman said, moving quickly to the bed. “How you feel?”
His eyes slits, Quinn repeated, “ Acqua.”
“ Si, si.” She ran out of the room.
“Good to see you awake,” Nate said, smiling.
“What…happened?”
“What do you remember?”
“Getting shot.”
“We got you out of there, brought you here. Doctor fixed you up.”
“How long?”
Nate looked at his watch. “Since you were shot? Almost sixteen hours.”
“Worried it was…longer.” Quinn took a few breaths. “What about Mi-”
The door opened and the doctor rushed in. Pushing Nate out of the way, he pulled a light out of his pocket, and leaned over Quinn. “Your head, it hurt?”
“It’s…fine.”
“Open your eyes.”
“They are open.”
“Like this.” The doctor opened his eyes wide.
Quinn’s slits doubled in size, but apparently it wasn’t enough. The doctor spread the lids of one eye apart with his fingers, shined the light in, then did the same with the other. As he finished, his sister-in-law entered carrying a pitcher of water and an empty glass.
“ La porta,” she said.
Nate assumed she was talking to the doctor so he didn’t pay attention to her.
“ La porta. La porta,” she said again.
“The door,” the doctor told him.
“Oh. Oh, right,” Nate said, the words finally sinking in.
He jogged to the back door, and pulled it open to find an impatient and worried-looking Orlando.
“He just woke up,” he said, moving out of the way so she could enter.
When they reached Quinn’s room, the doctor was still doing his examination so they paused near the door.
“Exactly where was he hit?” she whispered to Nate.
He touched the spot that corresponded with Quinn’s wound.
“Ligament damage?”
He shook his head. “Not as far as I know.”
At the bed, Dr. Pelligrini peeled back a corner of Quinn’s bandage and looked underneath. With a satisfied nod, he taped it back down and took a step back.
“Now, rest only. Let the wound heal, you understand? And you be okay.”
“Right. Rest,” Quinn said.
The doctor looked at Nate. “You make sure he does. No rest, no good for heal. Si?”
“ Si,” Nate said.
The doctor headed for the door. “I go back to sleep. You need me, you come get me.”
As he passed his sister-in-law, he motioned for her to leave, too. Reluctantly, she followed him out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, Quinn tried to sit up.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” Nate blurted out as he rushed over, Orlando only a half step behind. “You need to lie down.”
“I’m fine,” Quinn said, his voice strained.
“The hell you are,” Orlando said.
Quinn jerked in surprise, then winced in pain from the effort. “What are you doing here?”
“What do you think? You get shot so I should just stay in San Francisco drinking espressos?”
He said nothing for a second, then, “You don’t like…espresso.”
She pointed a finger at him, jabbing the air with every word as she said, “Do not try to lighten the mood.”
“Sorry.” He paused. “It’s good to see you.”
“You bastard. You disappear for six months, and when you do finally show up, you get yourself shot. I should kill you myself.”
“Getting shot wasn’t exactly…part of the plan.”
