KILTED DESIRE - Sands of Betrayal (23 page)

“Right. I’m going to go now. I have to call his fiancé and
let her know what has happened. She’s going to want to speak to you, though. May
I take your number for her?”

“Absolutely! Tell her she can me call anytime.”

He wrote his number on a piece of paper and handed it to Tom.
The two men shook hands and parted ways. Dr. Hamilton had given Scott’s
personal belongings earlier to Tom. His keys, wallet and passport were in his
pockets when he was brought in. He thought they were safer with Tom, rather
than keeping them at the hospital.

It was after 2:00 a.m. as Tom drove back to pick up Britney.
He called to let her know all the details. She was upset, but glad Scott was alive
and told Tom she wanted to visit him. Tom agreed to take her later after they had
gotten some sleep since the doctor did say any familiar voices might help. They
went back to the hotel suite and Tom convinced Britney to go get some sleep. He
knew it would be a difficult phone call to Katie and he didn’t want anyone else
around when he made it. He sat waiting on the couch to be sure Britney went to
sleep and pondered what he was going to say to Katie.

It was early evening in Ohio. Katie was cleaning up after
dinner. She was trying to stay busy and keep her mind off all the things that
had transpired. She was extremely upset about what had happened when Scott left
and she was getting worried. With each missed call on her phone, she wondered
why he didn’t leave her a message and why he hadn’t called her again. No matter
what she did, it stayed in the forefront of her mind. He may have thought she ignored
his calls and gave up, but then again, she knew that he would not do that. It
was just a silly fight. She checked her phone to make sure it was still on. She
was sure he would try again soon. A few minutes after she finished washing the
dishes, she sat down and helped Sophia with some math homework when her phone
rang.

“Hello,” she answered, with relief in her voice.

“Hello Katie, this is Tom Schultz.”

“Hello Tom. Where is Scott? Is everything okay?” she asked.
The tone of her voice turned from relief to one of concern.

“I’m sorry, Katie. I have some bad news.”

“Oh, my god, what’s wrong?”

“Scott was the victim of a car bomb attack. He’s in hospital
in a coma. I’m so sorry.”

“Nooooooo!” she screamed. She dropped the phone and
collapsed to the floor. Tears streamed down her face.

“What is it Mom?” said Sophia. She crouched down, trying to
help her mother, before running to get her sister.

“Katie….Katie, are you there?” Tom asked. He heard her
sobbing and tried to get a response. He hung up the phone after a few minutes.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” said Madison, who desperately tried to
help her mother.

Katie continued to cry. She scared her daughters. She
wouldn’t answer them and refused to get up off the floor. Madison quickly called
her grandma. Within a few minutes, Katie’s parent’s arrived and managed to get
Katie off the floor and onto the couch, but she still hadn’t spoken. She was in
shock. Her father took the girls out while her mother stayed and tried to get
her to tell her what happened.

Eventually, Katie told her mother that Scott was blown up by
a car bomb. When her mother asked her for the details, she said she didn’t know
any. She said that after she heard Tom say Scott was the victim of a car bomb,
her brain just shut down and she didn’t hear anything else.

Tom tried to call back a few times, but there was no answer.
He kept trying and finally, Katie picked up the phone and handed it to her mom.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Hello, Katie?” Tom asked.

“No. This is her mother. This is a not a good time. She
can’t talk right now. Who is this?”

“This is Tom Schultz in Baghdad. I’m afraid I just gave
Katie some bad news about Scott. I’m glad you are there with her.”

“Yes, I’m here. She said he was blown up by a car bomb, but
that’s all she said. What else can you tell us? Was he killed?”

“No. He is alive. I didn’t get the chance to tell her
everything. He is hurt very badly and is in a coma, but he does have a chance.
I spoke with his doctor and he said they’ve done all they can, for right now. It’s
now just a waiting game.”

“Thank you for calling back. I’ll let her know. I can’t get
her to talk at the moment. She is very upset, but maybe this news will give her
some hope.”

“She has my number. You or she can call me any time you
want.  Also, the doctor said she could call him too. He’s an American doctor,
so she doesn’t have to worry about understanding the language. I have his
number if you want it.”

“Yes, that would be good. I’ll take it.”

Katie’s mother wrote the number down and thanked Tom again
for getting back in touch. She put the cell phone down and looked closely into Katie’s
eyes, holding her shoulders.

“He’s alive, Katie! He’s in a coma, but he’s alive! I even
have a number for his doctor. You can call and speak directly with him to get the
details. Now, you must pull yourself together. He’s going to need you.”

“He’s alive? Really? How bad is he hurt?” she questioned,
clinging to the glimmer of hope. When she’d heard Tom say “sorry” and that Scott
was the victim of a car bomb, she assumed he was dead and everything after that
was a blur.

“He’s in a coma, but Tom said he has a chance. Katie, you
need to talk to his doctor, now, to find out more details. Here’s the number. Come
on, you can do this,” she said, as she handed Katie the piece of paper.

“Dr. Hamilton, that doesn’t sound like a local doctor.”
Katie said, as she dialed.

“Tom said he is an American doctor. Maybe he’s in a military
hospital or something.”

Katie’s hands shook as the phone rang.

“This is Dr. Hamilton.”

“Hello, Dr. Hamilton. My name is Katie Johnson. Tom Schultz
gave me your number. He just called and told me my fiancé is injured from a car
bomb and that you are his doctor.”

“Hello, Katie. I presume we are talking about Mr. Maclaren.”

“Yes, Scott. How is he?” Katie asked, nervously awaiting his
response.

“I’m not sure how much information Mr. Schultz gave you.”

“All I know is, he was hurt by a car bomb and he’s in a
coma.” Katie was trying her best to stay calm. She was shaking terribly and her
voice was breaking up. Her mom held her hand tightly while she spoke with the
doctor.

“Yes. That is correct. He is currently in a coma and has suffered
a major head trauma and a probable skull fracture. As with any brain injury
there’s a lot of swelling at the moment. We will know more when the swelling in
his brain goes down. He also has fractures to his lower tibia, his radius, two
ribs and his clavicle. We have a cast on the limb fractures, but the ribs and
collarbone will have to heal on their own. He also has first degree burns to many
areas on the left side of his body. Considering what happened to him, the burns
don’t appear to be too bad. As I told Tom, we’ve treated and bandaged the
affected burned areas and I don’t see any problems or long-term scarring from
them. There are numerous cuts and lacerations to his face and neck from flying
glass, but again, we’ve treated those as well, and those will not cause any
further problems. The major injury right now, that concerns me, is his brain
injury.”

“I can’t believe this is happening. Is he going to wake up? I
have to come and be with him. So what do you think about his brain injury? In
your opinion, Dr. Hamilton, do you think he’ll be okay?” she was confused, in
shock and not able to sort out all the information she was handed.

“I honestly can’t answer that, Katie. There is one very positive
thing right now. He is breathing on his own and that is a good thing at this
point. We don’t have him on any type of life support or anything, but with
brain injuries like this, we just don’t know. For now, we have done all we can.
Katie, I don’t want to mislead you. He is in critical condition. We are looking
at about a 50/50 recovery rate right at the moment. I would like to see some
form of movement or signs of brain activity in the next couple of days for me
to be more optimistic about his outcome.”

“What can I do, Dr. Hamilton?”

“Like I mentioned earlier to Mr. Schultz, all we can do now
is wait and hope he comes out of the coma. I did tell him that it could be
beneficial for Scott to hear familiar voices to try and draw him back to
consciousness. We’re just going to have to be patient and hope the swelling
starts to go down, soon. We have very limited resources here! I don’t have any
way to do a CAT scan or an MRI, so I must wait for the swelling to subside
before I can see anything on an x-ray. I can tell you, he would be much better
off in a more modern facility, but I believe it would be extremely dangerous to
move him at this time.”

“This is terrible. I wish we could just transfer him here,
but I don’t want to if you think it would be dangerous to move him.”

“I believe that’s the case at the moment, but it’s still
very early. Hopefully, we’ll see some encouraging signs soon.”

“Okay, thank you,” she said, as silent tears rolled down her
face. She wanted to be with him and decided she would call Tom to find out how
she could get there.

“Katie, rest assured, I will call you if there is any change
in his condition and please, feel free to call me anytime you like. My
apartment is on the hospital grounds, so I’m never far away. I work most days
and I am here at least twelve hour shifts.”

“Thank you, Dr. Hamilton. I really appreciate everything.”

“You are welcome, Katie. Take care.”

Katie turned to her mother who wrapped her arms around Katie
and allowed her to cry on her shoulder. In one phone call, her life had fallen
apart. They had counted the days until being together forever. They were to
start their lives together and now it might not happen. She might have already lost
him. What made it even worse was that she let him leave for the Middle East on
bad terms. If Scott never woke up, his last moments with her were terrible! She
treated him so coldly. The tears continued to fall. She had never felt such pain
in her heart before. This was by far the worst moment of her life.

It was just before noon the following morning when Tom and
Britney left the hotel and headed for the hospital. They had not turned in until
nearly 6:00 a.m., so they were tired, but wanted to check on Scott.  

As they drove to the hospital Tom’s phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Tom. This is Katie Johnson,” she said rapidly, with tension
in her voice.

“Katie, how are you doing? Have you been able to sleep yet?”

“No, I can’t sleep, Tom. My mom is staying here with me, but
I can’t relax.”

“Have you or your mom spoken with Dr. Hamilton?”

“Yes, I spoke to him. He was very nice and he explained all
the details of Scott’s condition.”

“That’s good. He seemed like a good guy when I met him. I
believe he will keep us informed about what’s happening with Scott.”

“Yes, he told me the same thing.”

“We’re on our way to the hospital now to see if there’s any
change. I’ll call after our visit and give you an update.”

“Thanks, Tom. Oh, and what did you mean by
we’re
on
the way to the hospital?” she questioned. She believed she knew exactly who
else would be going.

“Britney and I are on our way to the hospital. She is very
worried about Scott and the Doc said it could help to have familiar voices in
the room with him.”

Katie hated the idea of her being there when Tom visited him.
It was Britney that caused the trouble between them and made them part on bad
terms. But, she remembered the doctor saying familiar voices could help, so she
tried to let it go for now.

“Okay, Tom. I’m just glad there’s going to be someone there
with him until I can get there.”

“What do you mean until you can get here?”

“That’s why I called you, Tom. I want to come to Baghdad and
see Scott. What do I need to do to get there?”

“Katie, that is not a good idea. It is very complicated just
to get here. Plus, you would need protection and I am low on guards at the
moment. You would have to have protection! Katie, to be perfectly honest, Scott
would be very angry if you came here. You know he would do anything to keep you
safe and away from a place like this. He would not be happy if you were in
danger.”

“But Tom, don’t you understand why I need to be there?”

“Of course I do Katie, but let’s give it a little time and
see what happens. You never know, he could wake up later today.”

“I have to do something, Tom! This is killing me just
sitting here.”

“I completely understand. I can’t imagine how hard this is
for you, but please just give it some time before you do something like fly
over here. It’s way too dangerous.”

“I don’t care about the danger, Tom. I have to see him.”

“Can I talk to her, Tom?” said Britney, from the back seat.

“Britney wants to talk to you, Katie. Is that okay?” He was
hesitant to interrupt their conversation, when she was set on coming over to be
with Scott.

“Sure,” she paused; Katie didn’t really want to speak with
her. But, she knew Britney was going to see Scott in the hospital. Until Katie
could work out a way to be with him, she was a link to him. Katie needed to somehow
let him know she was thinking of him, especially now, after their fight.

“I’m so sorry, Katie. How are you doing?” Britney asked. She
actually sounded genuine.

“I’m doing okay, considering,” she said plainly.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes, actually there is. When you get to the hospital, you can
tell Scott how much I love him. Please tell him I miss him and that he needs to
wake up and come home.”