Page 34
CHAPTER 33
B EN
My stomach drops when Rachel and I pull up first on the scene, one of our patrol cars right behind us. Trina’s mangled car sits smashed against the massive wall of rock on the passenger side and the driver’s side—fuck, the driver’s side is absolutely destroyed. The metal of the door panels cave inward.
I slam my SUV in park and jump out of my seat, not even bothering to close my door as I take off running to the car. My ears are ringing, but in the background, Rachel calls for me to stop. I ignore her. When someone tugs on the back of my shirt to stop me, I don’t even bother to look back to see who it is before I swing my arm back to free myself from their hold.
I don’t stop until I get there. To her. My wife, my everything. My heart skips a beat and then slows. The heavy thump felt in my throat, heard in my ears as I see that she’s not moving and is unconscious. I glance over at Emily in the passenger seat. She appears hurt but is at least intermittently opening her eyes. But Trina, she’s pale as a ghost, and even me yelling her name, gets no response.
Unable to wait for the Fire Department to arrive, I try Trina’s door and can’t get it to open. I prop my foot up against the rear door and pull with all my might on the front door handle, fighting to get to her. I don’t know how long I do that before I’m being pulled off by my colleagues after the Fire Department arrives.
Fighting to catch my breath, I watch helplessly as two men I recognize from Jack’s crew work on the door with a hydraulic extrication tool. Finn and Reynolds rush past me to the back of the vehicle. They use a tool to remove the glass from the rear window and Finn slips into the vehicle through it. Reynolds hands him equipment.
“Ben, are you listening to me?” I turn to see Rachel, a somber expression on her face. “I said I made the calls, and we’ve got the road closed in both directions. They’re turning the backed-up traffic around so we have a clear path for emergency vehicles. A dark SUV with heavy damage was spotted speeding toward Meadow Creek. Meadow Creek is shutting down all exits for several miles and setting up roadblocks.”
“Shit. Thanks, Rach. I’m sorry I’ve been useless. I just… I can’t…” I give up trying to talk—it’s in vain right now. As I run my hand through my hair and look back at the vehicle, I notice Fitz and Jack have arrived and are setting up two stretchers near the driver’s side of the vehicle.
It feels like forever, watching the crew try to get Trina’s door open as the medics work from the rear of the car. At one point, Jack steps away from the noise of the vehicle, nearer to Rachel and I, and when I hear him on the phone with the Emergency Department alerting them to have trauma surgeons on standby for a critically injured female with suspected internal bleeding, my chest caves inward as my shoulders curl forward.
This can’t be happening. I just got her back.
When the sound of screeching metal as it pulls away from Trina’s car fills the air, relief floods me and I’m able to breathe a minuscule amount better. Several of my fellow police officers help the firefighters move the heavy pieces of metal out of the way and my stomach roils as I catch a glimpse of how pale Trina is, how lifeless she looks. Without thinking, I surge forward on instinct to get to her. Rachel is able to stop me this time.
“Let them work, Ben.”
Reynolds moves in front of my line of vision, and I can’t see her any longer. I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse. When there’s suddenly a flurry of activity, some shouting for something over at the vehicle, dread fills my chest. But, within a few moments, things become less frantic again. A few minutes later, I watch as firefighters pull the woman I’ve loved for over a decade from the wreckage of her vehicle.
“I’m going with her,” I tell Rachel.
She nods. “Of course. I’ve got the scene. I’ll send you updates on her sister as I get them.”
The crew taking Trina to the hospital agree to let me ride up front with them in the ambulance. When we pull up to the ER after several long minutes, I jump out of the ambulance but stand off to the side for a minute to give Reynolds and Finn time to get Trina inside. I need to be strong for her and to do that, I need to pull myself together. When I’m ready, I practically run inside.
I’ve been here on too many of these types of emergencies, so I know exactly where they’ll have taken her, and I make my way to the trauma rooms. I know I’m right when I come upon Reynolds speaking to a nurse outside the room, where I assume Fitz is inside giving a hand off report to the physician and nurses at the bedside.
“Do you know if someone notified her family about the accident?” the nurse asks.
Reynolds shakes his head. “No. Her sister was also in the accident with her?—”
“What about parents? We can call them,” the nurse says, after cutting him off.
“No.” My voice is commanding. But that’s the last thing Trina would want and if preventing her parents from showing up here is the only thing I can do for her right now, I’m doing it.
The nurse looks at me, unimpressed. “And who are you?”
“I’m her husband.” I narrow my eyes at her. “Can I see her?”
Reynolds’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head, but he has the good grace not to say anything.
“Not yet,” the nurse says. “Let the trauma team finish examining her. I’ll take you to the family conference room and they’ll be in to talk to you in a few minutes.”
“I know where it is,” I tell her and walk away, toward the room. My phone dings and I look down to see a few missed texts from Rachel telling me Emily is on the way to the hospital. She might have a concussion and maybe some fractures, but, overall, she seemed more stable than Trina when she left the scene in an ambulance.
Though it feels like an eternity, I suspect it’s only fifteen or twenty minutes before there’s a knock on the door and two women walk into the room. One is a nurse I recognize, the other, I don’t know. I stand.
Please God, don’t let them be here with bad news.
“Is she okay?” I blurt out, unable to contain it.
“I’m Dr. Hinckley. I’m told you’re Ms. Flynn’s husband.” I nod. “Please, have a seat.”
I don’t want to, but I do. My hands shake as I wait for her to tell me something.
“Your wife is seriously injured, Mr…”
“Donley. Ben Donley.”
“Mr. Donley. Her spleen ruptured, and she’s losing blood from it. We are prepping her for emergency surgery. She has a collapsed lung—in her case it’s something we call a tension pneumothorax—and we’ve put a tube in her chest to help with that. Honestly, the paramedic who picked up on that at the scene and treated it may very well have prevented her from going into cardiac arrest. She’s lucky he caught it. She also has a broken wrist. In addition, she’s getting blood right now, but the best thing we can do for her is get her up to the operating room. If we find nothing else, I’m optimistic she’ll be okay, but she certainly isn’t out of the woods yet. Do you have questions?”
“Can I see her?” There’s a pleading in my voice, but I don’t care. I’ll do anything to see my wife.
“I’ll take you,” the nurse says.
When we walk into the room a minute later, I lose my breath for a second at the sight of Trina. The lack of color in her skin and the fact that she’s still not conscious, the IV and blood dripping into her veins, and the tube coming out of her chest all scare the hell out of me.
Annie and our friend Janie are working on her, checking her vitals and her IVs, but they both look at me when I approach the bed. The somber looks on their faces tell me even more about the condition she’s in.
“We can give you about thirty seconds alone with her, but then we have to keep prepping her for surgery,” Annie says, apologetically.
When they walk out of the room, I take Trina’s good hand and I lean over her, kissing her forehead. “I love you, Trina. I always have. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. Only you and me. You’ve gotta be okay, babe, because I want a chance to make all of your dreams come true. I want to give you everything you want. If you want ten kids, we’ll make it happen. Just don’t leave me. Okay? I’ll be waiting when you get out of surgery. There’s no way I’m leaving until I know you’re okay. I love you so much.”
I bend and give her another kiss, standing upright and releasing her hand just as Annie and Janie return.
“Thank you,” I tell them and step outside the room to find Reynolds waiting for an update. Before I tell him, though, I need to make sure he’ll keep what he heard earlier quiet. Trina wanted to tell all our friends about us when we’re all together and I don’t want to take that from her. “Listen, I know you heard what I said to the nurse earlier. But I’m asking you to keep that to yourself for now. Trina’s private and she’s not ready for people to know. Okay?”
“Of course,” Reynolds replies.
Before I can give him an update, I hear Fitz’s voice. “Ben? Any word on Trina? Is she awake?”
When I turn to look at him, Jack is there, too. This is going to be so hard for Fitz—both Emily and Trina injured. I grip a fistful of my hair and sigh as I prep myself to update them.
“She’s in rough shape, but they think she’s gonna be okay. Finn was right. She had a collapsed lung. The doctor says his assessment skills likely saved her from suffering a cardiac arrest. She’s got a tube in her chest. She has a broken wrist on the left side and they’re prepping her for surgery. Her spleen ruptured. A blood transfusion is going now and they’re about to take her up to the operating room.”
“Can I see her quick?” Fitz pleads.
“Yeah, go ahead. Janie and Annie are taking care of her, so I think they’ll let you.”
While Fitz is in with Trina, I get a quick update on Emily. She’s getting a CT scan of her head, but they hope it’s just a concussion, and she also broke her wrist. My veins throb with rage at the asshole who hurt these women we care about.
“Any word on the person who did this?” Jack asks.
“Not that I know of. Meadow Creek was setting up roadblocks and sealing off exits. My partner Rachel is waiting to hear from their lead officer.”
Just then, Fitz steps out of the room and joins us as Annie and Janie come out of the room with Trina. As I watch them wheel her further away from me, I know I’ll never be okay if I lose her a second time.
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