Voices of Conflict

Chapter 11

Thoughts raced through Gary's mind. Something Jimmy said struck a chord in his memory. Jimmy had that sound in his voice. He'd heard it before. "She's my life, my savior." The way he spoke to Gail now had that same inflection and tone. He tried to remember where he'd heard those words. He tried desperately to place Jimmy. He and Charlie handled hundreds of rescue calls a month. Only a few stood out. Usually the miraculous saves, or the tragic losses, or of course the ones where he or Charlie ended up injured. Something about this man and the call had stuck in his memory. Slowly the circumstances came back to him of the fated rescue where he met the man before him. 'It was a woman down call.'

When he and Charle arrived on the scene, what they found was heartbreaking even to two strong firefighters.

Jimmy leaned over his wife's body crying out to her begging her to wake up. He acted more like a dazed little kid than a grown man. Then he started babbling as if he were talking to someone else, but there was no one there. He kept saying that he had to call for help. That they couldn't stop him from helping his wife. He needed her. He loved her. He kept saying the men in the red truck would help her…make her better like the doctors had. He kept saying the side of the red truck said Rescue. 'Charlie had to help him over to the sofa. He didn't seem to be able to think for himself. He kept asking the woman what to do.'

The woman lay on the floor comatose, barely breathing. She looked frail and her body appeared much older than he said she was. They didn't know it at the time, but cancer had stolen her beauty and left her body wasted away to near nothing. There wasn't much they could do for her but get her packaged and transported to Mercy where her life slipped away. They hated losing a patient, but in times like that it was almost a relief to know the patient no longer suffered.

'I thought we were going to have to call him in as a second patient, but then he seemed to calm down. We loaded him into the front seat of the ambulance, and he rode quietly. He didn't say another word until Dr. Bushard told him she had passed away. Then he lost it. He acted strange…confused. I can understand that, but he kept talking to someone, arguing really. He got so violent they had to give him a sedative. I remember they admitted him to the psych ward. Think Gary…what was it they said was wrong with him?'

"What are you looking at?" Jimmy glared at Gary.

"I…I can't…" He tried to think of what to say. Jimmy wanted him to see him so he could do something to him. He had to make him believe he couldn't see at all. "It's too blurry, dark." Gary moved his gaze to his hands hoping he looked as defeated as he actually felt. Here he was stuck in the wheel chair with the busted leg. His vision impaired, and Gail caught up in the middle of this nightmare because of him.

"Gary, maybe we need to reapply the bandages to your eyes." Gail suggested soothingly. She reached over, smoothed the hair from his forehead and placed her hand on the side of his face careful of the bruises.

He moved his head as if he looked up at her, "I don't know." He conveyed a lot in the quick glance.

"NO!" Jimmy yelled. "You will not cover his eyes. He has to see us. He has to see. Make him see."

Gail looked over at him. "I can not perform a miracle at your demand. He can't see. His eyes are not healed. The burns were serious. Unfortunately he may never have clear vision again." Her voice trembled with emotion. "Don't you see? His career could be over. His life as he knows it could have ended with this injury. Why are you doing this?" She sat down in the chair next to Gary and covered her face with her hands sobbing.

Jimmy didn't like upsetting the pretty woman. He didn't like seeing Amber cry. "Hush now sweetie, don't cry. We'll make everything better." He moved over next to her and rubbed small circles on her back in a tender way that made her skin crawl.

Gail peeked from between her fingers at Gary. Their eyes met and they held each other's gaze for a moment.

'Don't be caught up in her female games Jimmy. She's not that upset. She's just his nurse. They work together. She doesn't love him like Amber loved you. It's time Jimmy, time to get this over with. You need to do it before morning. Before someone notices that they are missing.' Jimmy stopped trying to comfort Gail and backed away. His eyes were wild looking and his mouth hung open. The vision of her hand lovingly placed on the side of Gary's face flashed in his mind. "What are you trying to do? Are you having an affair with this man Amber?"

Gail's head shot up, she looked from Gary to Jimmy. This was not going the way she wanted it to. "I'm not. He's hurt. I'm a nurse. I care about all my patients." She stood up and took a few steps toward him. "I promise…I'm not."

"She's not." Gary confirmed.

"Shut up! Both of you shut up! All of you just shut up! I need to think. I have to think. I have to figure this out. Amber why won't you help me figure this out?" He looked at Gail.

"I'll help you. Let me help you." She held out her hand to him.

Gary took advantage of the distraction to look around the room and try to devise his own plan.

Jimmy backed away from Gail. A moment of clarity wrapped around his thoughts. "No…no you're not Amber. I…I thought you were, but you're not. You're just a nurse. You were there at the hospital. He was there. He came to our house. He killed her."

Those words stung when Gary heard them.

He knew in his mind that they couldn't help her.

He knew in his mind that she had suffered enough.

He knew the cancer had ravaged her body, but in his heart, he still mourned his inability to beat death.

In his heart, he still mourned the loss of life.

In his heart, he saw only failure.

In his heart now knowing who had kidnapped he and Gail he felt a strong desire to help the man, to get him to Mercy where they could help him. The paramedic in him wanted to save the victim. He found it hard to feel any animosity toward his kidnapper.

But in his mind, he knew that protecting Gail from further harm had to be his first priority. Whatever happened to Jimmy would depend on Jimmy. If he attempted to hurt Gail, Gary would stop at nothing to protect her. Nothing.