It wasn’t like she had a choice in the matter; she knew he had made up his mind, so she moved toward the chairs.
Emma wished she were as calm and collected as the chief seemed to be. But he was trained for this sort of thing, and she wasn’t. She was just a graphic artist. This kind of thing didn’t happen in her line of work. Or, her life. Until now, that was.
She nervously rubbed her hands together.
Chief looked at her. “We’ll know more soon.”
She noticed he didn’t sugarcoat the situation and tell her everything would be okay. His calm tone brought some comfort to her.
The chief stood, and she looked to see where he looked. Jerry walked toward them.
“Captain Tomie is with him. The doctor did a quick exam and is sending him for a CT scan.”
“So he’s alert?”
“Yes, he came around a bit in the ambulance, but he’s pretty groggy yet. The oxygen and fluids helped some.”
Jerry fixed his gaze on her. “He was alert enough to ask where you were. He’s worried about you. I informed him you were with the chief.” Jerry chuckled. “He said to tell you to do what the chief says and not give him any grief.”
With a sideways glance, she caught the chief’s smile.
“The CT scan, what are they looking for?” Chief Mertz asked.
“Ruptured spleen, maybe.”
“How bad is that?” Emma asked.
“Well, if it is that, and I’m not saying it is, sometimes it can heal on its own, and other times surgery is required. Again, we don’t know for sure if it is his spleen. The CT will tell us more.”
“Thanks, Jerry.”
“You bet.”
Jerry walked away and tucked himself behind the nurse’s station.
“Should we call his family?” Emma asked.
Chief Mertz seemed to debate the answer to her question.
“The danger is still real. If I call them and they come here, it could bring too much attention. Yet, it’s their son.”
The chief silenced and thought for a moment.
“I’m going to call Hunter. Figure out what to do about their mom and dad. See if we can’t inform them but keep them away. Though experience tells me there will be no keeping parents away from an injured child, even an adult one.”
Chief tapped his cell phone screen.
Emma stood next to him, listening to his side of the conversation with Cap’s brother. They spoke for a few minutes before the call ended.
Chief turned his attention to her. “Their parents are out of town. They’re up north visiting Cap’s Uncle Lee and Aunt Heidi. It’s about a three-hour drive away. That will buy us some time.”
“Huh?”
“In case the Colombians have eyes on them, they won’t lead them to us here for at least three hours.”
“They’re watching Cap’s parents?”
Chief shrugged. “They could be watching all of us.”
