BLACK Is Back (37 page)
Authors: Russell Blake
Tags: #Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, #Mystery, #Hard-Boiled, #Private Investigators
“So he’s in a coma?”
“Precisely. His brain has been deprived of blood for at least an hour and a half, maybe more. Blood carries oxygen. Human tissue requires oxygen to live. If it was totally deprived of blood for that long, or longer, it doesn’t look good for him.”
“Then what’s the prognosis?” Cruz asked.
“Poor. It would be a miracle if he ever regained consciousness. But in the end, we’ll just have to wait and see. I’d normally do a positron emission tomography scan of his brain to see what level of activity the area the clot-affected portion retains, if any, but it would be a waste of time at present. Maybe in a few days, but right now, he’s in God’s hands,” the doctor concluded.
“Or the devil’s. The man is a major
narcotraficante
, Doctor, and probably snorts kilos of cocaine every week.”
“That would make the chronic heart condition much worse, of course. It would explain a lot.”
“One thing I don’t understand. How does the clot form – from his heart beating, what, faster?” Cruz asked, genuinely curious.
“Atrial fibrillation isn’t necessarily tachycardia – a racing heartbeat. It can also be where the heart skips a beat, sometimes a lot of beats, which has a tendency to allow blood to pool in the enlarged heart chamber instead of pumping through. A little sticks to the valve, and then a little more, and pretty soon you have a clot the size of a pencil eraser headed for your brain, and, bam, game over. Once it lodges, more blood begins to clot behind and in front of it, so it’s a downward spiral from there. We went in through the femoral artery into the brain and sucked out as much as we could get, and pumped blood thinners through him to get the remaining clotting to dissolve, but the damage already done after such a long period without oxygen…well…” The doctor held out his hands in a show of helplessness.
“Then there’s nothing that could have prevented this?” Cruz asked, seeking to clarify how the stroke would be reported by the doctor.
“Not really. If he was on medication, and he didn’t take it, that could have caused problems as his blood thickened over time. Of course, the shock of being in a gun battle and being captured and, er, questioned…my official position is that this was just an unfortunate occurrence that was the result of an underlying medical condition, and couldn’t have been realistically prevented.” The doctor assessed Cruz frankly. “Although you might want to avoid putting cigarettes out on prisoners, or bludgeoning them,” the doctor said quietly, glancing at the guards to ensure they hadn’t heard him.
“Thank you for all your help and explanation. What happens to him now?”
“We’ll transfer him to a private room in the intensive care wing, and watch and wait. That’s all we can do.”
Cruz joined Briones, who stood talking quietly with several of the other officers.
“He’s in a coma. Probably forever. But I still want a guard on him in case there’s some kind of divine intervention and he comes to. I do not want this asshole having a miracle escape on our watch, do you read me?” Cruz ordered.
“Loud and clear, sir.” Briones stepped away from his companions, and they wandered a few feet down the hall. “Do they know what caused it?”
“He’s got a bad heart, and it shot a blood clot to his brain. He stroked out. Nothing we could have done about it, the doctor tells me,” Cruz said, holding Briones’ gaze.
“He seems awfully young to have a bad heart,” Briones observed.
“Santiago’s two years older than I am. But this was a congenital condition. So it’s not the same as a heart attack, or coronary artery disease. It’s a combination of Hoovering coke, and God knows what else, and inheriting lousy genetic material.”
“So yo – we’re in the clear.”
“Yes. But I want him guarded twenty-four-seven for the duration. He’s too high profile, and he’s got nine lives. I don’t want him strolling out because he beat the odds yet again.”
“I’ll schedule a detail. What are his chances?” Briones asked.
“About the same as Shakira being at my house when I get home.”
“So don’t hold my breath,” Briones concluded.
“I think we’ll be okay if we station four men at the hospital in eight hour shifts. I want one outside his door, and another at the entry to ICU, and then two more downstairs outside the lobby doors. The last thing we need is his gang trying to break him out. We know he’s a vegetable, but they don’t, so I could see one of their bright young bulls thinking it would be a great idea to come into the hospital shooting. These pricks have no fear, and even less sense, so anything could happen,” Cruz warned him.
The stainless steel double doors of the OR opened, and two nurses wheeled Santiago down the hall, an IV drip attached to his inert arm. Cruz motioned to them to stop.
He approached Santiago’s bruised and battered face, now deathly pale.
Cruz leaned over his head and whispered into his blood-caked ear, “Looks like you didn’t win this one, did you, you piece of shit? I hope you come out of the coma, and live a very long life in excruciating pain. Consider it my promise to you that I will make that happen. Now, get well soon…” He straightened, smiled at the nurses, and allowed the gurney to continue its journey along the antiseptic halls.
Visit Russell’s salient website for more information
About the Author
Russell Blake lives full time on the Pacific coast of Mexico. He is the acclaimed author of the thrillers
Fatal Exchange
,
The Geronimo Breach
,
Zero Sum
, The Delphi Chronicle trilogy (
The Manuscript
,
The Tortoise and the Hare
, and
Phoenix Rising
),
King of Swords
,
Night of the Assassin
,
Return of the Assassin
,
Revenge of the Assassin
,
Blood of the Assassin
,
The Voynich Cypher
,
Silver Justice
,
JET
,
JET II – Betrayal
,
JET III – Vengeance
,
JET IV – Reckoning, Jet V – Legacy
,
Upon a Pale Horse
,
Black
, and
Black is Back
.
Non-fiction novels include the international bestseller
An Angel With Fur
(animal biography) and
How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks (while drunk, high or incarcerated)
– a joyfully vicious parody of all things writing and self-publishing related.
“Capt.” Russell enjoys writing, fishing, playing with his dogs, collecting and sampling tequila, and waging an ongoing battle against world domination by clowns.
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