Fallen Hunter (Jesse McDermitt Series) (33 page)

“I bet you a steak dinner you can’t stand up,” she said as she lowered the bed rail.

I looked sharply at her and felt my belly rumble again
at the mere mention of food. Another challenge? I wasn’t about to let it slide. I flung the sheet off, swung my legs toward her and slowly stood up to my full height of 6’-3”. I stood in front of her, completely naked and said, “I like my meat rare.”

She looked me up and down, lingering on the other bullet scar on my shoulder, the knife scar on my chest, and the shrapnel scars on my hip. “I like mine rare, too. Good thing that shrapnel wasn’t three inches to the left.”

My three friends burst out laughing. I turned my head and glowered at them. Then my knee’s started to tremble and just as I started to collapse, the doctor caught me and eased me back down into the bed. “You’re every bit as rugged as you look, Jesse,” she said with a smile. “But, you’re not going home today. If you don’t mind a wheelchair, the Runway Grill serves a great New York strip. Pick you up at 1900?”

She didn’t wait for an answer, she just tossed her lion’s mane of red hair over her shoulder and said, “Get some rest.
Becky will bring you some lunch in a few minutes. And the deals off, if you don’t make it to the head by yourself and take a piss in the next two hours. Plus, I’ll come back and make you ride that silver stallion again.”

My friends whooped with laughter at that. I couldn’t hold back a grin myself and said, “You’ll need those two orderlies to hold me down, before that happens.”

As she left the room, without missing a beat she said, “Don’t ask, don’t tell, Jesse.” Then she was gone and my friends were doubled over, they were laughing so hard.

“I told ya,” Tony said. “Wait till you check her out, I said. Wasn’t wrong was I?”

Becky was still in the room and said, “She’s only like that with the patients she likes.”

“I’d hate to think what she’s like with the real assholes,” I said.

“Oh, you’re a real asshole,” Deuce said.

“Y’all get the hell outa here,” I yelled. “The doctor said I gotta get some rest.”

“Yeah,” Tony said. “For tonight. She likes her meat rare.” He started laughing even harder.

Lawrence knocked on the open door and stood there with his hat in his hand. “We’ll be back later, Jesse,” Deuce said and the three of them walked out of the room.

“Come on in, Lawrence,” I said.

“
Don mean ta bother yuh,” he said. “How are yuh?”

“Seen better days,” I said. “Have a seat.”

He sat down in the chair next to the bed, leaning forward and turning his hat in his hand. I let him sit there and gather his thoughts.

“Miss Tina went to har home,” he said. “Back up nort. She tole me wha happen down dere in Cuba. Bout you getting hurt. She was toe up, sar. I sit wit har at di airport.
She cried and cried. Say she wunt strong nuff, sar.”

I sat there in the bed, thinking about all that had gone on. Months ago, Deuce had asked me about his relationship with Julie. I told him about my first two wives and how Julie wasn’t weak like them. She was strong like Alex, I’d told him. Tina was right, she wasn’t strong enough to handle the worry and pain of what my life would do to her. I should have seen that early on.

“I’m sorry I put her through that,” I told Lawrence. “She’s right, though. She’s a woman that wears her heart on her sleeve. My life would make a wreck of her that couldn’t be put back together.”

“She dat, awright,” he said. “But dere’s a place fer dem soft womens
. It jest ain’t with a man like yuh, sar. No disrespect, sar. But yuh are what the Lawd made yuh.”

“Thanks, Lawrence,” I said. “I wish I could
have seen it coming, but I didn’t.” I am what I am, I thought. Now, more than ever, I realized that. While we were down there in Cuba I had an adrenaline rush like I hadn’t had in years. The jazz.

“Ave nah seen Santiago round, lately,” he said. “Would yuh know any ting bout dat?”

“You won’t be seeing him around anymore,” I said.

“I tink
yuh a good mon, Cap’n,” he said. “Liked yuh from di staht. I got ta git back to work, now. Take care, Cap’n.”

He stood up and I offered him my hand. He took it and smiled, then he left the room. I was tired, so I closed my eyes and was soon fast asleep.

I woke about several hours later to the sound of voices outside the room. The sun was pouring in through the window, now. Heading towards sunset. Doc and Rusty walked in. “Hey Rusty,” I said. Then to Doc I said, “Glad to see you, Doc. I didn’t get a chance to thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,
Skipper,” he said. “Glad I was there.”

Rusty sat down next to me and said, “How ya feelin’?”

“Like I just went four hours with 600 pound tuna,” I replied.

“Yeah,” he said. “Ya look like shit.”

“Thanks, buddy,” I said. “Good to know I can count on my friends for a little pick me up.”

“Speaking of friends,” he said. “Julie told me about that gal, Tina. She wasn’t right for you, bro. Fun little package, I expect. But no stomach for the long haul.”

I looked over at him. Rusty and I had known each other all of our adult lives. We could get away with saying things to one another that we wouldn’t tolerate from anyone else.

“You’re right, bro,” I said. “I should have seen it early on. Could have saved her the grief.”

Rusty laughed and said, “Julie also told me you’re a quick rebound.”

We both laughed and Doc asked, “Am I missing something here?”

“Probably not,” Rusty said. “Ole Jesse’s got a date this evening. Why I timed this visit for right now. She oughta be along any minute.”

“A date?” Doc asked. “You just came out of a coma and you have a date?”

“You know what they say about Jarheads in a Squid hospital,” Rusty said.

“What’s that?” Doctor
Burdick asked as she came through the door. Rusty was quickly to his feet, taking his fishing cap off. He just stood there for a second staring, with his cover in his hand.

“Doc,” I said. “Meet a couple of friends of mine. The one with his mouth hanging open is Rusty and this tall skinny guy is Doc Talbot.”

“So,” she said, “You’re the Corpsman that saved this man’s life?”

“Just doing what I was trained for, ma’am,” he said.

“You’re not active duty are you?” she asked.

“No ma’am,” he replied.

“Too bad,” she said. “I’d have you transferred here, in half a heartbeat. And since you’re not active anymore, knock off the ma’am, okay. Call me Jackie, all of you.”

Rusty finally stopped gawking and said, “Pleased to meet you, Jackie.”

“Hide the nurses?” she asked, looking at Rusty.

Rusty looked at her puzzled and she said, “W
hat they say about Jarheads in a Squid hospital?”

“Oh, um, sorry
,” Rusty stammered. “That wasn’t meant for delicate conversation.”

“I’m far from delicate, Rusty,” she said. “Now, if you two will excuse us, it’s time for Jesse’s sponge bath.”

Rusty was gawking again. “She’s kidding, bro,” I said. “Close your mouth before you swallow a bug.” Then to Jackie I said, “You are kidding, right?”

“Got the economy sized sponge,” she said with a wicked grin. “Made especially for Jarheads.”

Rusty and Doc left in a hurry. “You have a wide assortment of friends, Jesse. I just had a very interesting telephone conversation with one of them just a few minutes ago.”

“
A friend of mine?” I asked. “Who was it?”

“Secretary Chertoff,” she said. “The highest government official that’s ever called me on the phone.”

“Don’t know him,” I said. “Met one of his flunkies a couple of times and wasn’t impressed.”

“Well, he’s certainly impressed with you,” she said. “He wanted to know when you’d be back on your feet, he’d like to go fishing with you. He and a friend.”

I gave her a puzzled look and she said, “He wouldn’t say exactly who it was, but that he used to fish a lot on the Texas coast where he used to live. Now, let’s get you dressed.”

She helped me get out of the bed and I was able to get a tee-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts on, without too much trouble.

“Still stiff in the joints?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “But I’ve had worse days.”

“Well, judging from the many scars,” she said, “I’d not argue that point. However, you need to understand something. You were in a coma for two weeks, to allow the damage to your spine to heal. You haven’t moved a muscle in all that time and you probably have mild atrophy. What’s your normal body weight?”

“It fluctuates between 225 and 230,” I said.

“Step over here on the scale,” she ordered.

“Aye aye, ma’am,” I said jokingly.

I stepped on the scale and she leaned in and moved the little weights, to get an accurate reading. I could smell a faint coconut scent coming from her hair and just a hint of jasmine, maybe. Not perfume, probably her shampoo.

“Well,” she said, “You’re down to 218 pounds. You’ll probably feel tired with mild exertion. I’m going to schedule you with our in house physical therapist. Do you swim?”

“At least once a day,” I said. “Usually a mile or two.”

“A mile or two?” she asked. “Every day?”

“Well, sometimes I can’t,” I said. “But I try to. There’s a little island not far from the one I live on. It’s about a mile and a half to swim around it.”

“We have a pool
in therapy,” she said. “But, it’s not a lap pool.”

“Just let me go home, Doc,” I said. “I’ll get all the exercise I need and be back in shape in a couple of weeks.”

“Let’s wait and see how tonight’s therapy session goes. If the therapist says you’re good to go, I’ll discharge you tomorrow. Right now, I think I want you to stay here one more night.”

I sat on the chair for a few minutes
while she went out in the hallway and got a wheelchair. Rusty and Doc followed her back in.

“I’m a woman of my word, Jesse,” she said. “The
steak house is just a couple of blocks away, I have a car waiting at the entrance.”

“If it’s all the same to you,” I said. “I haven’t seen the sun set in over two weeks. Can we walk?”

“I can walk,” she said. “Your ass isn’t getting out of this chair. If your friends would like to join us, maybe one of them can push.”

“I can’t,” Rusty said. “Gotta get back to the bar.”

“Bar?” she asked.

“I own the
Rusty Anchor
, up in Marathon,” he said.

“What about you, Doc?” she asked. “My treat.”

“Sure,” he said. “Never been known to turn down a steak dinner.”

After hitting the head, I
got in the chair and Doc wheeled me out into the corridor. The four of us went down three floors in the elevator and Rusty said his goodbye’s at the door, before climbing into his old Chevy pickup to head back to Marathon.

“How are you feeling,” Jackie asked.

I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I was just glad to get out of the stuffiness of the hospital room. The big red sun was nearly to the horizon and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. “I feel a lot better now,” I said.

“Thought you might,” she said. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up on my operating table?”

I grinned up at her and said, “I would, but then I’d have to kill you.”

“I’ve encountered men like you before,” she said. “All of you. I know a spook when I see one. I won’t ask anything more.”

When we got to the restaurant, Jackie made sure we got a table on the west side, to watch the last of the sun disappear. Doc parked my wheelchair next to the wall, facing the door and took the chair next to me, forcing Jackie to take one of the two remaining, with her back to the door.

“Yep,” she said, “Spooks.”

We had a great supper. The steak was thick and perfectly prepared. Jackie turned out to be a very good conversationalist, once outside the hospital. I told her about my island home and making a living pulling fish from the sea. I told her a little about how Doc and I met, while I was running Trent’s boat out of Key West. She said she’d been in the Navy for twelve years and her dad had been a career Navy Officer.

When we finished our meal, Doc wheeled me back to the
hospital. Jackie said goodbye at the door to the hospital, adding that she had to get home.

“Worried husband?” I asked.

She laughed and said, “No. A worried dog.”

“A worried dog, that maybe the boyfriend forgot to feed?” I asked with a grin.

“You’re not one to beat around the bush, are you?” she said. Before I could answer she added, “I like that quality. No boyfriend, no husband, just a dog. I was married once years ago, but have been single for almost a decade. Why are you asking? You planning to ask me out to repay the dinner?”

“It crossed my mind,” I said.

“Well,” she said, “Don’t wait too long. Now go get some rest. Your therapist will come and get you in two hours.” Then she placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”