"Yes, you can. Do you understand me? Get with the program, Mrs. Bailey. Get pissed off." His tone left no room for arguing.
"I hate you!"
"Terrific, now push!"
Austin Thomas Bailey Jr. was born on Sunday, July fourteenth at 2:39 am, weighing seven pounds, six ounces, and twenty-one inches long.
"You did it, Janey. Austin, can you see him?" Martin took his own cleansing breath. Doctor Massey held up the newborn baby boy and helped Martin cut the cord.
Martin watched the pediatrician examine Austin Jr. from outside the newborn nursery. Lois joined him and smiled. "You were as cool as could be. We were running out of choices."
"Thank you." Martin nodded, never taking his eyes off his godson.
"I'll be right back." Lois returned, cradling the newborn in her arms. "C'mon, somebody needs to meet his daddy.”
Martin opened the glass door to Austin's room. "Hey, Daddy." Martin nudged his brother's foot. "Sorry to wake you up, but I need to show you something." Austin's eyes teared up.
"Do you feel well enough to hold your baby boy?" Lois Massey brought the baby into the room.
Lois and Seth worked together to place the baby in the crook of Austin's arm. Five tiny fingers wrapped around his thumb, and the baby's other hand found its way to his mouth. The little gummy sounds made the room laugh.Eat,Austin signed.
Lois supported the hungry little man as he consumed a quick two ounces. Janey would nurse at the next feeding. She advised Martin she wanted Janey to sleep. Austin pointed at Martin to take the baby. Like a pro, he patted the baby's back. The room laughed again when the newborn let out a man-sized burp. Martin swallowed hard as what-ifs swam in his head.
Talbot Reed cuddled with Celine Moody McAllister in his Silverton home watching the ten o'clock news. The lead story pertained to a hostage situation at the hospital. Reporters focused on the connection between Austin, Elizabeth, and Martin.
A plastic-faced correspondent continued, "Tonight, in a disturbing clerical error at the Silverton Jail, Jasper Satanta, instead of being transported to a drug treatment facility, was released from the jail infirmary instead. Silverton police and the Silverton Sheriff's department are searching for him as this is the third major error committed in as many months. Clay Jenner, Director of the Department of Corrections promises a thorough investigation. In other news..."
"Talbot, how unfortunate is this for us?" Celine smirked.
"Contact Tibby and Alden. Make sure this is fixed."
Two hours after the broadcast, the killer, dressed head to toe in black, parked behind the double-wide trailer that belonged to Jasper Satanta's mother. Satanta laughed with a young girl, who waved as she carried a baby inside the adjoining trailer. The killer waited for the light in Satanta's trailer to go off. It didn’t take long to gain entrance to the festering home. The assassin slithered through the cluttered living space wearing night vision goggles. Satanta was snoring on his back in a rumpled bed, his yellow teeth glowing in the night.
The point of the scalpel anchored against his jaw. Satanta's eyes flew open as the knife slit him from ear to ear. Within seconds, life left him. A satisfied smile bloomed beneath the killer’s mask.
A kerosene heater was tucked in a corner. The killer turned it on with a press of a button, and a kick to the connection behind the stove allowed propane to flow into the confined space. Pieces of aluminum foil were scattered about the floor from used meth. An investigation would show the fire was caused by a drug-induced accident.
The murderer slipped back into the night and drove outside the park gates to wait for the heater to cycle on. It was a short time before Satanta's trailer exploded, creating day from night. Cries for help peppered the air as the killer drove away. Other nearby trailers ignited and exploded in short succession.
"Oops. Didn't mean to do that."
Patrick and Martin dozed in the on-call room. When Patrick's shrill pager fired, Martin jerked awake. "What's wrong?"
"Explosion. Multiple injured. Burns and broken bones." Patrick was out the door.
The cries from the ER filled his ears before the elevator doors opened. Patrick moved to the ambulance bay to assist in the triage of the incoming patients. An ambulance backed in, slamming on the brakes. The driver ran around and yanked the doors open. "Doc, it's a baby. Cardiac arrest."
Patrick saw the medic performing CPR on a teeny infant covered in black soot. "Inside." Thankful for the coursework necessary for a Chase Group Medical Director, he rushed them into a treatment room. "Continue CPR," he said, attaching the monitor in time to see the little one's heart was vibrating. One of the medics connected oxygen to the tiny device used to fill the infant's lungs. "Clear." Patrick shocked her, and tiny blips appeared on the monitor.
"Way to go, Doc.” The second paramedic continued breathing for the baby.
"Okay, princess, we’re going to do this." The small needle pushed through the fragile skin on her hand. Withdrawing a few ccs to fill the blood tubes, Patrick secured an IV. "Change over to a mask." The soot all over her face worried him that her airway was burned. He was contemplating his next step when he was greeted by a succession of tiny sneezes. Two blue eyes opened and right away closed against the bright lights.
The paramedic lifted the mask from the baby's face, and she gave out a raspy cry. "You're a pretty baby." Patrick gave treatment instructions to a nurse. "I'm sorry, precious, I need to look in your nose. You have a little ick." The nurse handed him a bulb syringe to suck it out. He lifted her into his arms to settle her.
Patrick swayed with her in the crook of his elbow. "Where did you find her?"
"Underneath a dead woman, likely her mom. I think the pressure of her mom's weight, not the smoke, caused the respiratory arrest. We scooped and ran. Doc, we have to go back in service."
