know about damage to his other limbs for a while. Mr. Tilman asked about his chances of survival, and the doctor wasn’t encouraging. He would be in a controlled coma for some days. Depending on his outcome (if he lived), there could be more surgeries and a physical therapy program. He was sorry.
After the Tilmans left, an hour passed before a second surgeon came out and approached them, “Mrs. Stokes?”
Carolyn stood rigidly as he approached. “We think all the bullet fragments are out. The bullet probably ricocheted before hitting him because there was other debris in the wound. Fragments perforated his bowels and did some damage to his stomach and liver. When we x-rayed, it looks like we got it all. Our concern now is organ function and infection.”
Peter asked, “So what does that mean for his recovery?”
“It’s never easy to know, but he’ll be in ICU under heavy meds for several days.”
“What about his arms and legs?”
“Well, that’s another matter. We had an Orthopedist relocate his shoulders and checked blood flow. There could be tissue damage from oxygen starvation. We just don’t know at this point.”
Following the meeting with the doctor, they were allowed to see John in the ICU briefly but were told he would not be conscious for at least twelve hours.
Peter suggested that they find a nearby hotel for Carolyn to rest and call the kids. She had rented a car, so they drove less than a mile and rented two rooms at a cheap hotel. Josh brought Peter some new clothes and domestic articles.
He collapsed on his bed immediately after showering and slept for several hours. It was past nightfall when a knock on the door woke him. Still groggy and wearing only boxer shorts, he opened the door. “Rachael!”
Stepping through, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“Am I dreaming? What ... why ... ?”
“I couldn’t be away from you, Peter. I was worried about you. I was sick when you left. John’s hurt, and I knew I should be with you. Are you disappointed?”
“What! How could I be disappointed? I ... I (he wanted to say ‘I love you’), I don’t know what to say.”
“How about, ‘I love you’.”
He choked and stepped back. He paused, staring at her, “Of course, I love you, but I thought, I don’t know, you didn’t love me anymore.”
She took his hand and sat on the bed, which was the only furniture in the room. “Peter, I told you that I would always love you. I had to work out some issues, that’s all. It all made sense when you left.”
He placed his hand gentle behind her neck, feeling her soft hair, “Rachael, I love you with all my heart. These months have been hell for me. I could never stop thinking about you.”
“Look, Peter, I’m still not happy with some of the things you’ve done, but it makes more sense to me now. You came here for John. It wasn’t some stupid macho thing. I understood it this time, and it changed the way I want our relation to go in the future.”
He looked into her eyes, “I only ever wanted a future with you.”
She smiled gently, “Me, too. Josh told me what you guys did down there. It’s amazing. What’s more amazing is that I wasn’t scared when he told it.”
“It’s what I do best, Rachael.”
“I know that now. Now, let’s get some rest.”
It was still before dawn when the phone rang and Peter answered. Her voice was amazingly calm, “Peter, John’s awake.”
“Carolyn, go to him, and I’ll be right there.”
He felt incredibly rested, turning to Rachael who was looking at him. He kissed her gently, and they both got out of bed and followed Carolyn to the hospital several minutes later.
When they arrived, only one person could visit John in the ICU, and Carolyn was standing beside his bed holding his hand. She turned and signaled Peter through the glass doors to come in and passed him, leaving the two men alone.
Peter had never seen John pale and gaunt before. “Hey, buddy, how’s it going?”
John was too weak to turn his head completely, “Peter, I feel like shit, but they keep me too doped up to complain. I’m just glad to be alive. I don’t remember much except your voice telling me to hang in there and think of Carolyn. Thanks, pal.” He was gripping Peter’s hand weakly.
“You’re the hero here, pal. You made us get Corporal Tilman also.”
“How’s he doing?”
“I don’t know, I thought he’d be in here with you.”
“I was the only one in the ICU when I woke up.”
“Well, we got him out alive, that’s all I know, John. Now rest, and I’ll let Carolyn back in here.”
Stokes held on to his hand for another moment, “Peter, don’t let Carolyn suffer too much if I don’t make it.”
“I won’t, buddy, but you’re gonna be all right.” Peter tried to shield his distressful feeling from his friend.
He walked away from his John as Rachael was hugging Carolyn before she went back to be with John. As she passed by Peter, she stopped and kissed him on the cheek, “Thank you for giving him back to me.”
He just nodded, not able to talk or look directly at her, then walked briskly to Rachael, “It’s breakfast time, and I’m starving. Let’s go find some Texas Huevos Rancheros.”
She smiled and they drove away watching the sun rise over the mountains. He called Josh to join them. During breakfast, Josh talked about more details of their raid than Peter wanted, but Rachael seemed okay with it. Josh had a noon flight and left them alone after an hour together. They all agreed to get together in Washington. Alone again, sipping coffee with Rachael, he said, “There goes the real hero.”
She smiled at him, “Yeah. Well, you two share a mutual admiration. I don’t know about you and your guy friends. I don’t have any girl friends that share the love as much as you all do.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda weird, I guess -- hard to explain.”
“No, it’s not.”
Hi smiled and looked down at his warm mug, “Yeah, well. It’s time to go meet the Colonel”
He paid the bill, and Rachael drove to the office. He invited her to join him in their meeting. As a director-level person from CIA, she would be indirectly involved anyway. It was unlikely that Colson knew about Jamie Montes, who only communicated with the DEA, Leo Moritz.
LTC Colson was in her office working on reports when they arrived. Peter introduced Rachael as his “friend” from the CIA, assuring the Colonel that her presence was as a friend to the Stokes’ family.
After welcoming them and exchanging pleasantries, she said, “Major, if you worked for me, I’d first reprimand you, and then recommend a medal. But you don’t work for me, and I’ll still recommend you.”
Peter smiled, “Thanks ma’am. I’ve got medals. I’m just happy that we got our guys out without any kind of international incident. I’ve created a couple of those in my past, but this was only bad guys, and they won’t be complaining to their President.”
“So, did you hear about the giant bust that went down while you were engaged in heroics?”
“No, I’ve been out of touch.”
Rachael had been traveling and also missed the news.
Colson went on, “Well, our guys snatched a couple billion worth of heavy drugs in the mountains. The guy who owned them is Hector Cardenas, so we gave him a really bad day.”
Rachael asked, “Was Cardenas caught?” She recognized the name from the Sandcastle file, which she couldn’t discuss.
Colson pursed her lips. “That would be icing on the cake. In fact, it would be glacial. The fact is that we don’t know. The DEA and Immigration guys are sorting through all the illegals, but most are undocumented here and in Mexico. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of Cardenas, so we might have him in lockup. We just don’t know.
“It was a pretty clever gig overall. They sent an empty decoy convoy screaming through our border gates in El Paso at exactly the
same time the bust was made in the mountains. We were ready for both of them.”
Peter looked at both women. “Sounds like a well prepared smuggling op, and an even better plan to catch the guys.”
“Yeah. The DEA gets full credit.” Colson admitted.
She continued looking at Rachael. “I think they had some help from your guys.”
She was in the middle of investigating Montes and had no knowledge of Jamie’s involvement, if there was any. “We’ve had pretty good intelligence in Mexico, but I can’t really comment.”
Peter and Colson both nodded.
Colson looked at Peter. “To keep piling on the good news, we got all our hostages back.”
He retorted, “We’re still missing a Border Agent taken weeks ago. Do you think he’s dead?”
“No, he’s alive and well. We found Juan Morales stumbling into one of the desert crossings last night. He escaped during the confusion with the big shipment. DEA and USBP are talking to him now. He’ll probably be back on patrol soon, after some leave.”
Washington
Rachael flew back to Washington later that day, content that she and Peter were moving in the right direction. He stayed behind to be with John during his recovery. She still had concern about his job, but the last few days had caused her to reevaluate things. Resting on the plane gave her the first chance to reflect on the events over the past two days. Something didn’t add up!
When she landed, she hit number one on her speed dial. He answered, “Hi, beautiful. I already miss you!”
“Hi, yourself, lover (his prospects were definitely improving). I was thinking