Chapter 3

?

Amber worked tirelessly for the next few hours, until her shift was over. She checked in with Tesla several times, brought her a little bit of food from the staff's break room and made her more tea. When she saw the woman flagging, she suggested, "I know you want to stay here, and I know that you're all about looking after Mason and making sure you stay connected to your husband. I completely understand." Still, Amber felt that Tesla needed to see reason. "He's due to come out of surgery anytime now, but you need to look after yourself, and you need to look after the baby."

Tesla blinked slowly and nodded. "I was planning on going home, as soon as I find out how he is," she murmured.

"And yet you could be at home, feet up, resting, and I could call you." She gave Tesla a reassuring smile. "You also seem to have some men keeping an eye on you." Amber's gaze wandered over at the two men standing guard. "Apparently we're still in danger."

Tesla shrugged. "Until it's solved, they will make sure that I don't become the next victim."

"Ouch." Amber frowned. "I don't want to even think of that."

Just then the surgeon walked toward them, fatigue on his face, but a somewhat cautious smile. Amber was happy to see that Dr. Charles had been on Mason's surgical team.

When Tesla struggled to rise, the doctor rushed to her side. "Don't get up," he murmured.

At that point, Amber stepped away and spoke to someone else.

The doctor took a deep breath. "Mason is out of surgery, and he's doing… okay, considering. His vitals are poor right now, but we expect them to pick up."

Tesla sighed in relief, yet Amber heard a but coming.

"He bled pretty heavily through the surgery," the doc explained. "So that is an issue, but we've got lots of blood for him now, and we've put out the call for more."

"Thank you."

"We can call upon lots of people on base, if necessary," he shared, "and I've been told the phone has been ringing off the wall with people who want to donate blood, so that's always a good thing."

She looked up at him gratefully. "That's very sweet. Thank you for sharing that."

"I can only tell you that, for the moment, we're cautiously optimistic," he added, "but please understand. He is definitely not out of the woods, and recovery will be slow."

"That's fine," she whispered, with a nod. "At least he's alive, and he can work at recovering.… The alternative is just too hard to even imagine."

"I understand that. Obviously it's a tough scenario, but again, we're cautiously optimistic. Now, please go on home and look after yourself."

She nodded, then slowly got up with his help. "I may run home for a bit of a break, but I need to see Mason before I go."

"You won't see him for a few hours at least."

"Considering the severity of his wounds, I plan to stay with my husband. Can I have a cot delivered to his room?"

"Because you're pregnant, I wouldn't advise that," he replied bluntly. "I don't want a second patient."

She stared at him for a long moment. "If your wife was in that hospital room," she argued, "would you say the same thing?" When he frowned, she nodded. "Exactly, you wouldn't. If our situations were reversed, you would be camped out in her room for the duration, and you know it."

He cast a glance around the room and saw Amber. Their gazes locked for a moment, and then Amber came to Tesla's aid, promising the doctor, "I can arrange it, and I will get her to stretch out and to rest."

He frowned, not liking the idea, but Tesla was undeterred.

Amber had to admire the tenacity it took to stand her ground, especially when she was so obviously exhausted.

Tesla added, "If he doesn't make it, at least… I, I would have spent his last few minutes with him," she whispered, tears clogging up her throat. "Please don't take that away from me." The doctor opened his mouth to protest, but she shook her head. "Again, if our positions were reversed, where would you be staying the night?"

He groaned. "Fine." Then he looked at Amber, with a frustrated glance. "You will handle setting this up?"

"I will, Doctor," she stated, with a smile. "I'm off duty anyway."

At that, Tesla turned and said, "No, in that case you need to go home."

Amber shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere. We're in lockdown. Remember? Just give me a minute and let me go find out which room Mason's been assigned to. Once they've got him moved in and settled, I'll arrange to get another bed in there for you."

Tesla smiled and nodded. "Somehow I'm sure it will work out."

"However," the doctor interjected, "the minute you become a patient, all deals are off."

"Got it." She smiled up at the doctor. "Thank you."

Shrugging in resignation, he muttered, "This is against my medical advice."

"Objections noted," Tesla murmured. "You and I both know that I need to do this."

He sighed. "I hope your husband is half as stubborn as you are," he grumbled. "It will bode well for his recovery."

Tesla burst into laughter at that, and the doc even grinned back at her. "And thank you for that laugh. I hadn't realized how much I needed the relief and the chance to breathe."

"That's part of the problem with you hanging around the hospital," the doc pointed out. "The stress and this tension is not good for you. You'll put yourself into early labor, and we'll have two of you here, with a newborn in the nursery or an incubator."

"If it happens, it happens," Tesla declared, "but not because I'm not looking after myself. So let me go lie down on a bed beside my husband, and I will work whatever mumbo-jumbo magic I can dream up. You've done your part, for which I am very thankful. Now let me get in there and let him know that I'm here for him."

"Pretty sure he knows already," the doc replied. "Tesla is your name, I presume."

"It is, but why do you say that?"

"Because he was hollering about looking after Tesla every time he surfaced. I kept telling him that we would do just that and that he needed to focus on getting better, so he could take over the job. That seemed to calm him down."

"He probably thought he was dying," she whispered.

"Oh, I imagine he was, and I can't guarantee that he isn't. However, it is a good sign, with that head injury of his, that he remembers you and that he called you by name." And, with that, he nodded to the two women and left.

Amber held up one hand and addressed Tesla. "Give me a few minutes." And, with that, Amber quickly walked over to find out what room Mason was being transferred to. With that done, she headed up to check the status of the preparation of his room in the ICU. As she strode to the room, the attending nurse frowned. "It's already been cleared with the doctor and promised," Amber shared. "Plus, she's pregnant."

"Oh great. So what then? You think we need another patient to look after?" Amber just waited for the nurse to blow off some steam. The attending nurse sighed. "Fine, whatever. You know the rules as well as I do."

"I do, but, if we can get a cot in here, Tesla promised that she'll be quiet as a mouse in the corner."

At that, the other nurse rolled her eyes. "Sure, until chaos erupts, and she's in the way, and we need to move her."

"If that's the case, we move her, and that's the consequence of being right here on the spot. You and I both know that, if our husbands were in ICU, we would be here too."

The other nurse winced and nodded. "Unfortunately I had to be here for mine not all that long ago, so I hear you, and that's fine. Just give us a few minutes to get the patient set up."

"Will you bring in a cot, or do you want me to handle it?"

"We'll deal with it," she offered, "just give us some time." And, with that, she turned and walked away.

Amber waited until Mason was brought in and settled. Then, once everybody had given him a full check of his vitals and his wounds, the orderlies brought in a cot. She smiled her thanks at them, and they quickly disappeared. She studied the layout of the room, happy a private room with a bathroom had been assigned, which included a little bit of extra space, where they could hopefully get Tesla set up in a fairly comfortable way.

And, with that, Amber returned to the ER waiting area and smiled at Tesla. "Let's go." She noted the relief on the Tesla's face, as she slowly got up, and they moved to the ICU, along with her two bodyguards. "You might have fooled the doctor, but you haven't fooled me. You're in a lot of physical pain, and we can't have that."

"I won't lose my baby," she declared. "Pain? Yes, but mostly because of that damn chair."

Amber nodded. "You're right. The chairs in the waiting rooms are not geared for people to sit in very long. Unfortunately sometimes people must stay way longer than we would like them to. Reducing the wait times in the ER would be a lovely thing. We had been doing pretty well, but then, with COVID and the usual ER chaos affecting staffing, it's become a problem again. We'll need to take another look at it," she noted. "Like the rest of the country, we've been dealing with staffing shortages right along with a host of other problems. So, considering all that, I suppose we should be grateful that we have what we have."

"I, for one, am grateful," Tesla said, "particularly knowing that Mason is alive."

"He's alive but still in danger."

"Yeah, well, it seems like we all are in danger at the moment."

At that, Amber asked sharply, "Don't suppose you've heard any update on that?"

"No, nothing. You know the way this stuff works," Tesla murmured, taking a moment. "We're not likely to get an update until it's already over."

"In that case, let's keep you close to your husband. I presume your security duo will remain nearby as well?"

"Yes, they will be here in pairs in rotating shifts. However, I'm more concerned about making sure that somebody is here for my husband. Obviously I'm staying, but if a gunman were to come in,… I'm not exactly in the best position to argue."

Amber laughed at her. "You may say that, but I highly suspect that a mama tiger like you won't let anybody get close to her husband."

"Normally that's very true," she said, with a smirk. "Just not right now, not after this emotional trauma and the physical drain on my body. I'm not quite in fighting shape at the moment. However, when push comes to shove, I would definitely do my very best."

"I have no doubt about that," Amber agreed, as she pushed open the ICU door and ushered Tesla in. "The current nurses on this shift have been alerted that you're coming, but they're also worried about you being pregnant during this stay with your husband. They don't want you to end up as a patient yourself, so they'll be quite concerned about your condition."

"I'm pregnant, not fragile, and I am quite capable of looking after myself," Tesla declared. "I just want to be as close to Mason as I can be."

And, with that, Amber led her to the area where Mason had just been settled, noting the two men following in their wake.

As Tesla walked inside Mason's hospital room, she stopped, her hand going to her mouth.

Amber stepped up beside her. "You can hold his hand, but please don't move his arm or any of the tubing in any way."

Tesla whispered, "I promise. I do want to hold his hand though."

"You can kiss him too, but he's hooked up to an awful lot of critical wires and tubes right now. So I need you to be extra careful that he is not unplugged from any of them."

"I'll be careful," Tesla promised, tears pooling in her eyes.

Amber winced. "I'm not being hard on you. I'm just out on a bit of a limb here."

"I appreciate that so much," Tesla muttered, without even looking at her. "And I don't mind your being hard on me. I'm a lost wife and a devastated partner, so my brain isn't working as it should. Thus I appreciate any attempt to keep me on track."

Surprised at that response, Amber replied, "Too bad everybody doesn't feel that way."

Tesla shot her a look and then nodded. "We're never at our best when we're up against something like this," she admitted, "and I appreciate everything you've done to keep things moving in the way I want them to."

Amber added, "After seeing what Mason's been through and has survived so far, I don't see any reason why his condition won't improve, especially knowing you're here. I believe that patients do know we're there. So remember that when you're spending time with him. Talk to him—tell him to rest and heal, tell him that you're here, tell him that you love him."

Tesla chuckled. "Yeah, he'll probably be quite irate at the idea of me thinking that he needs to rest, when he's always been a power machine."

"And he will be again," Amber reassured her. "Don't forget that, no matter how tough it gets."

"Thank you." She looked over at Amber with a smile. "It's so much easier to face this when you have all that confidence."

"I've been in this medical world for a very long time, and I've seen patients like Mason before. We need to give him as much of a chance as we can to survive, despite how bad it might look. We can never count him out because he has the power and the ability to surprise us. I can already see Mason is like that," she shared. "So you continue to talk to him, and we'll do our best to look after him."

And, with that, Amber pointed to the cot tucked in the corner, as well as the three-drawer chest and the closet nearby. "Get somebody to bring you whatever you need to be a little more comfortable," she suggested. "I'll arrange to get some meals brought in for you."

When Tesla argued, Amber shrugged. "No, it's not my department, but that's okay. I can help and will, as much as I can, but you need to do as I ask and take care of yourself. So, go spend a minute talking to Mason, give him a kiss without disturbing his tubes and monitors, then lay down and have a nap."

"I know. I know," she muttered, with a nod.

Between the oxygen tubes, the drainage tubes, and the IVs, Mason was hooked up to machines that beeped and whirred all around them. Tesla's eyes filled with tears at the sight of him. "Looking at him like this is a shock, yet I am so thankful that he is alive."

Knowing the emotional and physical pain Tesla was in broke Amber's heart, but she also had to remember how strong this woman was and that she had the ability to survive this, no matter what happened. They all wanted a positive outcome, but certainly had no guarantee.

She'd seen Mason upon his arrival. Amber had seen cases that seemed to be absolutely no problem yet turned completely ugly in a very short time. And she had seen dire circumstances work out into miraculous healings. As soon as she was sure that Tesla would rest and relax, Amber added, "I'll leave you for now, but don't hesitate to ask for help." And, with that, she quickly left.

As she stopped at the open door and looked back, Tesla stood there, holding Mason's hand, tears streaming down her cheeks, as she softly spoke to him. Amber smiled because she knew that the power of love was absolutely unmatchable when it came to healing. Mason appeared to have a massive team behind him, but the biggest thing he had going for him was the woman standing at his side.

*

Jasper walked outof the department meeting and pumped his fist in success. He made it back outside to his vehicle and found Masters standing there, waiting for him.

"And?" Masters asked.

"And what?"

"Did you get on the team?"

"I did," Jasper confirmed, "although I'll be operating independently."

Masters stared at him for a long moment. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I think they're planning on doing a couple arms in this investigation."

"Are you sure they didn't just tell you that so you could feel like you were doing something?"

Jasper stopped for a moment and frowned. "That would suck."

"It would also be typical brass."

"Maybe," Jasper conceded, taking a moment to let go of the sting. "Either way, I won't let it get to me. Believe me that I'll be diving into this investigation in a big way."

"And it would be stupid of the brass to ignore your skills," Masters noted in that studiously quiet tone.

At that, Jasper turned to look at him. "What does that mean?"

Masters raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "I've kept track of you over the years."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because you're settled into an interesting field that I also considered."

"Investigative work?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to ever investigate our own people, but, if ever an avenue outside of that came up," he shared, "I must admit I find it very interesting."

"I did very specialized jobs," Jasper explained, "so, yes, you're right. The brass would be foolish not to take advantage of my skills, but I acknowledge there's a lack of trust on both sides," he admitted.

"Of course there is. They're the brass, and this sniper shooting happened on their turf, and you're new, so nobody'll want you here."

"And yet you're new yourself, aren't you?"

"New enough that I recognize the challenges you'll face."

Jasper laughed. "Yeah, I can see that. On the other hand, I don't give a shit," he declared. "I'll get the answers I need,… for Tesla's sake, if nothing else."

"You guys are close, huh?" Masters asked, as he stepped up beside him, while they walked over to Jasper's car.

"We are, and I was in rough shape after one of my jobs finished not all that long ago. The two of them were there for me. I don't know another man I respect more than Mason. So to see some asshole do this to him does not make me happy."

"That's good to know," Masters noted, with a smile, "because none of us wanted to see that happen."

"Having a man down is one thing, but having a man down and being happy about it is a whole different story."

As they approached Jasper's truck, he hit the key fob to unlock it, turned to look back at Masters, and asked, "What are you doing over the next few days?"

Masters crossed his arms and declared, "Helping you."

Jasper frowned. "How do you think that'll work?"

"We'll see, but I owe Mason too."

"Sounds like half the base does."

"Maybe, but I'm the most recent addition to his team," Masters shared, "and I'm not impressed with somebody taking away from me the opportunity to work with Mason."

Jasper considered the man before him for a long moment and then nodded. "In that case you better hop in."

"Where are we going?" Masters asked, as he walked around and got in on the other side of the truck.

"We have a couple things to check out, but one of the first is knowing exactly where the sniper was and what skill it took to make that shot."

"I know the building because I've already been up there." When Jasper raised one eyebrow, Masters shrugged. "You were looking after Tesla, and the ambulance had left with Mason. So I was free to take a look at the spot myself."

"Good, in that case you can show it to me. Did you get any insights?"

"Highly skilled is how I would call it. Wind was going crosscurrent, plus a tricky shot already, which is probably why Mason's still alive."

Jasper nodded. "That was my take too. Bastard."

"Yeah, I'm glad we're on the same page with that one."

"Now the next thing I want to know is whether this is something that's just targeting Mason, or is it more widespread?"

"We won't know that, not until we find out more."

"I'll agree with you there too," Jasper agreed, "but we'll also have a problem finding people who will talk. Everybody loves Mason, but nobody'll know anything about this."

"You think they will all go silent?"

"Not sure if it will be so much going silent as not understanding motive. This was a pro job."

"As in a professional hit?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, and neither will I be surprised if somebody who once was here at Coronado, who knows the lay of the land, had already scoped it out. Somebody who knew what would make the biggest bang for the buck and how close the hospital was. Even more than somebody who just would have done some online research. I think this was somebody who spent a lot of time here, but I would also hazard a guess that he's not active here anymore, so somebody who's gone private."

Masters thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "Works for me."

"That'll make it that much harder to find him."

"Not necessarily, if you can get Tesla to give you a hand," Masters noted, with a sideway look. "Presumably you have some influence in that quarter. You can have her do a rundown of anybody who's been here and is now gone."

"Yeah, I was planning on it," Jasper stated. "I've already got her making a handwritten list of any potential suspects, people who didn't make the cut to be on his team and the like. I'll head back to the hospital and take her a laptop as soon as we get a few things done. She'll appreciate working on the computer instead of on paper. She's only thinking about Mason just now. However, as soon as she gets a chance to see him, and her brain wakes up a little, she'll realize she can do something here to help us investigate. So her help in this investigation will make a huge difference. That'll give her a purpose and something else to focus on."

"Exactly," Masters agreed. "In that case let's go take a look at the sniper's nest."

It took them only a few minutes to get to the base of the building in question. As they arrived, several other men hung around. Jasper noted each one of them, then, ignoring them, he walked into the building. Nobody stopped him; nobody even made an attempt to stop them or to ask for credentials. He just shook his head at that.

Masters snorted. "I guess nobody has any idea what the hell they're doing, do they?"

"Seems so, except they're all expecting the investigation team to sort it out."

"A team will sort it out," he murmured. "I just don't think they realize who the hell is on that team."

At that, Jasper laughed out loud. They quickly moved inside and, taking the stairwell, they headed up to the roof. With Masters at his side, the two men stood atop the roof and surveyed the angle that the shooter would have shot from. As it was, they had a bird's-eye view.

"Honest to God, there couldn't be a more perfect sniper position than here," Jasper noted ruefully.

"And yet the plane… could have pulled over somewhere else."

At that, Jasper turned and asked, "Are you saying the pilot's in on it?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all," Masters clarified, "but it's definitely something I would want to look into a little bit."

"It could have just been good timing and wonderful positioning."

"It's possible," he acknowledged, "but you know we don't like to leave things to fate."

"No, we sure as hell don't," Jasper muttered. With his eyes narrowed, he studied the distance, the current winds, and then turned back to Masters. "Best case, it's still a damn tricky shot, with a moving target, the possibility of a different landing spot, the wind at any given second, the number of others on the tarmac. Even with a silencer, people will notice when someone goes down, especially once blood is evident."

"And, if the sniper didn't make the kill shot, how would he correct the problem?"

"At this distance, he may have been able to make two or three attempts, if the first didn't do the job."

"But what we know is that he made one good attempt to kill Mason, in that Mason went down, and the shooter had surprise on his side back then, where he might not have another chance."

"He still got off two shots," Jasper stated, turning to look at Masters.

"Right, he did get two off, so the second one was probably… rapid fire, two shots pulled fast, both good hits, each could possibly kill him. Yet neither were fatal, and that's the problem right there."

"I presume his motive was an assassination, and, in order to make something like that work, he needed it to be fatal."

"Both shots weren't fatal, and I'm damn grateful for it," Masters muttered.

"You and me both, but right now we have a problem."

He acknowledged that with a nod. "That we do."

"What are the chances any cameras around here were pointed at the exact spot on the tarmac where Mason got hit?"

"This entire base should be covered in cameras, but what do you want to bet there won't be one single functional camera that we need to look at—or not one covering this particular area?"

"That's the next thing." Jasper pulled out his phone and took a sequence of snapshots of the area for him to peruse later.

Masters nodded. "It's almost like you're thinking about taking a shot yourself."

"No, but I do want to know what else the sniper had for choices, and this way I have memorized the scene. You know this base a little better than I do."

"Not by much," Masters replied, with a shrug. "I've been here a whole two weeks longer than you."

Jasper frowned at him. "Oh, is that all?"

He nodded. "Yeah, that's all. I was looking forward to the next step, joining Mason's team. Meanwhile I had been doing some investigative work and was torn on continuing to do that."

"You'll get that chance to learn from Mason," Jasper declared. "We just need to get Mason back on his feet."

"If that's even possible."

Jasper frowned. "You're damn right it's possible, and we're not talking about any other alternative."

"Got it," Masters said, with a grin. "I can see why Tesla likes you so much."

"She doesn't have much choice," Jasper noted, with a half laugh. "We're family."

And, with that, he led the way back downstairs.