50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Seventy-One

    In and out of consciousness. In the middle of "0 to 100/The Catch Up," Aubrey passed out. When he next opened his eyes, he was in a hospital room. Hushed voices talked back and forth just outside of his room. One of those voices had a deep Jamaican accent.

    "It all started because I forgot to take off my badge when reporting for duty at Palmer's residence. He spotted my badge and demanded to know what it was. We got into a shouting match, and he called his men to back him up. My partner was conducting surveillance outside, so I called him in. He called for backup and came to my aid. Palmer's men started shooting. We started shooting back. When most of his men were taken down, I went to check on the hostage. The hostage was in horrible shape - he was poorly fed, not given much to drink his entire time there."

    "You brought him in yourself, instead of waiting on the ambulance? Why?"

    "The environment was hostile when I left it. Palmer was down, but I wasn't sure that it was safe for us to stay and wait while an ambulance arrived. My partner requested ambulances for those who were shot, but I made the judgment call to bring the hostage in for treatment."

    "You broke protocol. More than once."

    "I made a judgment call."

    There was a heavy sigh. And then, "Is the hostage conscious? Can he answer questions?"

    "He's completely out of it. There are times when it seems like he's completely lucid and aware of who he is and what is going on. But there are other times..." The Jamaican hesitated.

    "Yes?"

    "There are times when he seems confused. I asked him for the phone numbers of those closest to him. I couldn't find his phone amongst Palmer's belongings, even though I know Palmer had it. So I asked Mr. Graham for the phone numbers of the family members whom he wanted me to contact."

    "Did he give them to you?"

    "He told me that I had to make sure to call his wife and children, to let them know he was okay. But Mr. Graham isn't married and to our knowledge, doesn't have any children."

    "Shit."

    "I have Kim grabbing his mother's and father's phone numbers for me. We can't put a phone call into anyone else before contacting his parents."

    "Are we sure we want to contact the parents right away?"

    At those words, Aubrey's brows furrowed. 

    The Jamaican was slow to respond. "Why wouldn't we?"

    "The immediate situation has been resolved, but going off of your reports, Palmer has hinted more than once that he is in association with other politicians with secrets to hide. Other politicians who have motive to make sure that Mr. Graham never makes it outside of this hospital room. We can't be sure that Mr. Graham is out of the woods yet. As such, we need to keep Mr. Graham's presence here under wraps."

    "We can still contact his family to let them know he's okay."

    "His family is already under the impression he's okay, aren't they? According to the rest of the world, he's on some fancy vacation living the good life. For now, we need to keep it that way. Let him get some rest, let him recuperate. We still need to question him, to determine what he actually knows about Palmer and Palmer's involvement in criminal activity."

    The Jamaican hesitated again. "Are you sure that's necessary?"

    "With the body count reported to us from Toronto? Yes, I'm sure."