Bex pulls the quesadilla out of her bag, unwraps it slowly, and takes a bite.
Phantom watches her eat for a moment and then he starts. "Marlena's out of surgery."
He says it first because he knows it's the one thing I've been wondering since we got here. Out of everyone, she looked the worst.
"The shot went through her right lung and lodged near the spinal column. They got it out clean. No nerve damage they could see. She's intubated. She's in the ICU. They've got her sedated and she's gonna be there through tomorrow at least. The surgeon said she's lookin' at six to eight weeks of recovery and breathin' therapy."
I make myself swallow the bite.
My voice comes out quieter than I want it to. "But she's gonna be okay?"
Phantom's eyes hold mine. "She's gonna be okay, sweetheart. She's gonna be home after some time."
I put the taco down because my hand is shaking.
Bex reaches across, takes the taco out of my hand, and sets it back on the foil for me.
Phantom waits. He goes on when I look up.
"Thunder." He says the name with the weight of a man saying a brother's name.
"The shot took him low in the abdomen, angled up through his hip. Bex held him together long enough to get him into the back of an ambulance with a pulse. They opened him up and found three fragments of the bullet against his pelvis. They got two out. The third one's against bone where they can't go after it without doing more damage than the fragment's doin'. They're leavin' it."
He looks at Bex when he says it. "You saved his life, honey. The surgeon said it twice."
Bex's eyes spill over.
She doesn't make a sound. She just nods.
"He's gonna walk with a limp," Phantom says. "Could be a while. Physical therapy might bring most of it back over the next year. He's the Sergeant at Arms. He doesn't need to run a marathon. He needs to be alive and on the property with the brothers behind him. He'll be all of that. I'd bet he'll be askin' the nurse for a steak when he wakes up enough to be a pain in her ass."
A small laugh comes out of Bex.
It surprises her.
Phantom catches her eye and gives her the smallest nod.
He goes on. "Banshee."
Bex's hand goes to her belly again.
"You been with him, sweetheart, you know most of it. The shot went through clean. Missed the artery by about half an inch. They washed the wound, repaired the tissue, closed him up. He's gonna be sore as hell for a few weeks, and he's gonna whine about it because that's who he is, but he's gonna be fine. He's gonna be on a porch with you in two weeks, holdin' your hand on your belly."
Bex puts her face in her hands.
She cries quietly.
Phantom waits.
He doesn't reach for her.
When she comes back up he keeps going. "Now, about Diesel…"
I make myself pay attention.
"Grace stayed with him at her clinic. The bullet took a piece out of his shoulder. Missed anything that would've killed him. She got the bullet out, got him stitched up, and he's on IV fluids and antibiotics. He's gonna be off the shoulder for a few weeks. Grace is sleepin' at the clinic with him tonight. She'll bring him home in two days."
I let out the breath I've been holding for the whole report.
