Page 44 of Bernadette
“Who did this asshole come to see?” Lucas demanded. “If it’s the man in this room, he…” Lucas pointed to the man Dillon held, “Or them…” He pointed to the other two men the J’s had restrained. “Are no relation to the man in this room.” Lucas opened the door and looked in. “Get a fucking doctor in here to check on him.”
Bernie heard that and hurried past the commotion, and went to the side of the bed to see Chuck. The first thing she noticed was a needle sticking out of his IV and hustled back out, grabbed the nurse, and dragged her in the room.
“Is that supposed to be there?”
“Oh, my,” the nurse said and quickly did something, and suddenly a bunch of beeping sounds began, but were suddenly stopped. “No, that’s not supposed to be there. I pulled his IV, we’ll have to check to see what he was given, then go from there.” They both looked up as the door opened, and several people in scrubs rushed in. It impressed Bernie when she saw the nurse bark out orders to the others. She stayed back and watched them work. When a doctor entered, the nurse quickly told him what happened, and he took over to bark his own orders. Bernie sighed in relief when they started drawing blood from his arm.
She was able to look out into the hallway, and giggled when she saw the three men seated against the wall with their hands tied behind their back. At least she assumed they were tied. She based that on the fact there were no shoelaces in their shoes. She smirked at Ava who joined her, and nodded, giving her silent permission to speak.
“Turns out two of those men are George and Paulie, two ranch hands on the Flying E.”
“The missing ones?”
“Yes.”
“The other guy?”
“No clue, Dillon said he reacted the way he had, because he recognized George right away. They aren’t saying a word, but Lucas was able to call it in.”
“Who did he call?”
“Stokes.”
“Remind me again, who he is, and what agency is he with?”
“Mikel Stokes with the local FBI office.”
“Wow,” Bernie heard someone say and she whipped around to see the nurses and doctor staring at her and Ava. “They really weren’t his brothers?”
“No, if you want an honest answer, he’s an only child,” Justin said as he walked in the door. Bernie looked over and saw Dillon talking with three security guards, and they were writing notes and exchanging shoelaces with handcuffs.
“Why are you guys here then?”
“Because Chuck Dryden is our best friend. We’ve known him since our first day of kindergarten. He was out in the middle of nowhere when someone shot at him, his ATV went ass over tea kettle with him on it, and he landed on his back, with the machine on top of him. He was out there helping us find our sister and her husband who had been ambushed hours earlier and being held down with gunfire every time they tried to leave their hiding spot. Chuck went back to call for help when he was attacked.”
“Shit,” the doctor said. “Was the younger man out there with him?”
“Yes, as well as a federal agent from the local BCI office. They caught the shooter and I’m assuming he was taken into custody. Lucas rode in the helicopter to stay with Chuck until we could arrive.”
“Is his name Charles Dryer?” one of the nurses asked when she looked at the chart. “That’s the name those three guys gave me, and it was close to this guy’s name, I’m sorry, I just assumed they had the named mixed up.”
“If they were really his brothers, why would they have his name wrong?” Bernie demanded.
“His name is Chuck Daniels, that’s with an ‘s’ at the end of it, Dryden.” Justin said. “He is thirty-seven years old, his birthday is October 31st, he’s six foot three, and weighs in around two thirty. His blood type is AB neg. Is there anything else you need to know?”
“Don’t forget my shoe size,” came a giggle from the bed, and everyone turned to look at the man lying there with a gigantic grin on his face. Bernie took a step toward him, then laughed at how large his pupils were.
“Your higher than a kite.”
“Yep,” Chuck laughed. “If you mean that I’m floating on air with nothing under me, then yep, I’m higher than a kite. Come give me a kiss, beautiful.” Chuck held out his arm, and because of his boyish looks, Bernie couldn’t resist. She hurried up to him and bent down to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head at the last minute, so their lips locked. When they broke apart, they only had eyes for each other.
“We’ll get the results from his blood stat, so we can counteract what he was given. By the looks of it, it wasn’t enough to kill him, but he’s on other medication here, so we’ll check to make sure.”
“What’s all wrong with him, doctor?” Bernie asked as she turned to talk to him and saw him at the foot of the bed. The J’s were on the other side, with the girls, and Lucas stood in the doorway, keeping an eye on both what was going on in the room, as well as in the hallway with his father, and the three men who had tried to harm Chuck.
“For the most part, he has a lot of bruising and contusions, which encompass about seventy percent of his body. He’s going to be sore for a long time. I hope he doesn’t do anything strenuous for work.”
“He’s a construction worker,” John said.
