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Emergency Waiting
Felinus was pretty sure the veteran ER nurse was now just being difficult on purpose. At first, he was willing to understand her concerns.
He had used the ambulance spot to get into the ER and the amount of blood splatter on Felinus and Issac alone must have made them a sight for the EMTs that had been loading their ambulance.
They had at least been helpful. That urgent calm that Felinus had always respected in honest men as they got Issac on their gurney; one started working immediately to try to get Issac’s air clear while the other asked Felinus questions about Issac’s history. As they entered the hospital Felinus was unable to fully let go of Issac’s hand until the pressure of bodies, more hospital staff swelling in to save him, pushed Felinus back.
The EMT who had been talking to him the entire time pulled him to a stop, gripping Felinus’s shoulder. “You need to let them work. As much as holding his hand might feel like it’s helping, it won’t do anything but get in the way. You’ve done all you can right now. You gave us information that will make it easier to help him. Go park somewhere legal before you get towed, then come back in. Someone will tell you what is going on and let you back to him when he’s stable.”
Felinus had done what he was told. He moved his car into the nearest visitor parking he could find. He waited patiently for injured and sick people to talk to the nurses about what they needed. And he was told that because he couldn’t prove he was Issac’s next of kin or emergency contact, they wouldn’t tell him anything.
“What part of there is no next of kin do you not understand,” he growled at the older woman staring him down. If he wasn’t so pissed, he’d be impressed that she was standing her ground with him. He’d seen much scarier men back themselves into a corner when he turned his ire on them, and he hadn’t been splattered in blood then. “I’m all he’s got!”
“Only family is permitted to know anything about patients,” she repeated for the fifth time.
“He doesn’t have any family,” he shouted at her, taking a step forward and feeling a hand press into his chest.
Snake pushed him back a step, his rather childish grasp on Italian reminding him that nothing would come from getting thrown out by security, and pushed him back another step as the idiot woman repeated herself again.
“Fine,” Felinus snapped. “Fine, we’ll be in the waiting room.”
“The waiting room is for-”
“Waiting,” Felinus finished, turning around and walking to a corner of the room where he could watch the desk and stay out of the way of people being seen. He sighed and scrubbed at his face as he sat down. “What are you doing here?”
“Adrian asked to handle clean up,” Snake said, standing in front of him with his fabric mask in place. “The kid was taken by O’Hare to a doctor to get checked out, but from what Bat said, he seems physically okay other than a fresh cut on his arm. He wouldn’t tell them where it came from. He’ll need some mental help, but O’Hare seemed ready to deal with that. Dog said to check in with you since you didn’t reconnect.”
“What was a teenager even doing there?” Felinus asked, looking up at Snake. “There’s no way he’s legal.”
“He’s not.” Snake took a laptop bag from his shoulder and held out one of the grab bags they kept in each other’s apartments. “You remember that mentor program I told you about?”
Felinus froze as he reached for the bag, rage filling him. “O’Hare-”
“Not O’Hare,” Snake said, raising his voice to cut him off, then dropping it as he sat next to Felinus. “O’Riley. I haven’t been able to look into it fully, but I looked up the kid before I headed over. His dad died about four years ago, but even before that, he was in and out the kid’s entire life. He’s been with his aunts- his dad’s sister, and her wife- since his mom died when he was a toddler. Dear old dad was a piece of work but the kid was pretty stable and honest until his death. Right around the time his dad died, he got arrested for shoplifting and part of his plea to stay out of juvie was to enroll in the mentor program where he was given the big brother, Jake Conroy… who was caught on video at the university and he was identified in the pub. He’s not making it home.”
“He was part of O’Riley’s crew,” Felinus said, seeing him nod. “So, what? O’Riley puts his men as part of the mentor program to get underaged kids without being noticed by O’Hare?”
Snake shrugged. “That does seem to be the long and short of it,” he said. “I talked to Bat who stuck with the kid until O’Hare came around to collect him. He said O’Hare was a mess. At first, he thought it was because of the reality of just how many people he lost in open season but… sounded like something broke when he saw the kid. Just kept apologizing to him. Bat can tell you more when he gets here. Dog is staying a bit longer to make sure our things are secure, but Bat and Tiger are going to stop long enough to get a shower then head over.” He put the bag in Felinus’s lap. “Go get cleaned up, Boss. I’ll watch for news. See if I can’t do something to get through the red tape sooner.”
It was midnight when Felinus’s enemy in scrubs left, but not before she made a point to show every new shift the men that had taken over the corner of the waiting room. There were a dozen of them now. Bat and Tiger had turned up about an hour after Snake had, dressed in more casual clothes for the cold fall weather outside, alternating trying to talk to Felinus as he continued to stare down the nurse’s station and leaving him be when he didn’t give them more than short answers. About half of the Russian hunting party turned up about an hour before the shift change, Adrian and Brutus with them. The two sat on either side of Felinus.
Felinus gave Adrian the untouched coffee in his hand when Adrian mentioned it. “Everything clean?”
“Of course,” Adrian said, taking a sip of the coffee and making a face. “Uzhasnyy. Do we know anything?”
“No,” Felinus said shortly, his hands turning into fists. “Family only.”
Adrian sighed, glancing at the nurse who was glaring right back at Felinus. “So we wait until he wakes up and tells them we can see him.”
“If he wakes up,” Brutus said softly, then raised a hand when Felinus’s glare turned to him. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m praying for him just like everyone else but- I heard his breathing, Felinus. We both know that is a bad sign. He’s fragile. If he was healthy then that would be one thing, but in his condition…”
“He’s stronger than that,” Felinus snarled, looking forward again. “This isn’t going to kill him. Not when he’s just starting to live for himself.”
Brutus didn’t say anything and they sat in silence as the minutes ticked by.
Nikola turned up about an hour after sunrise with a handful of men with coffee and breakfast pastries from the Don’s favorite bakery. “Do you have news, Gatto,” he asked, as his men passed around the goods to the others.
“No,” Felinus replied, taking the cup that was given to him.
