I felt my heart racing as I jumped up from the chair and ran over to the group of people gathered around the doctor. All the men turned to look at me as I pushed my way through them. I had to admit my surprise as they stepped aside and let me get close to ask what was happening.
“Doctor?”
The captain looked at me and then the doctor. “Doctor Wilson, this is Cachi Adams, Rex’s good friend. You can include him in this conversation.”
The doctor—a small, older man—had kind eyes. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Adams,” he said. “I was just telling Captain Sorensen that Mr. Monroe is out of surgery.”
“Rex…he is okay?”
“We don’t know yet. As you were probably aware, he was shot in the back. I removed the bullet but it was lodged perilously close to his spinal cord…well, in fact, it was butted right up against it.” He shot a cautious glance at the captain before looking back. “The truth is, until Agent Monroe wakes up, we won’t know how much feeling, if any, he’ll have.”
“Feeling? What means?”
“It means that Rex may be paralyzed from the waist down, Cachi,” Joshua said, frowning.
The doctor was nodding. “I’m a skilled surgeon, Mr. Adams, but this is one of those things that we just won’t be able to tell until he wakes up. Sometimes, if the damage was minimal, there will be a simple recovery, but an injury to the body in that area is very dangerous and unpredictable. The blood supply to his spinal cord was compromised. And there’s a lot of swelling.Right now, we can’t know the extent of the feeling your friend, Rex, will have and if there is too much damage, whether any feeling will come back at all.”
“So, you cannot tell me if Rex will be—” I searched for the word, settling for the Spanish. “Rex, he maybe paralizado?”
The doctor stared grimly at me. “Paralyzed, yes. We just don’t know right now.” He glanced around at everyone. “I suggest you all go home and get some rest. My patient will be out for several more hours and at that point, I’ll evaluate him. We can’t know anything more until then.”
“I stay,” I said immediately.
“We can take you to where you’re staying, and—” the captain began.
I shook my head. “No. I stay and see Rex.” I suddenly thought of Rex’s little dog at home all alone. She was probably terrified. “Capitan…please someone go to take care of Lola? Rex’s little dog? She is also—” I felt my eyes well up with tears as the irony wasn’t lost on me. “She paralyzed.”
The captain looked sick as he nodded. He glanced at a big, black man who was almost as tall as Rex. “Napoleon, will you check on Lola? Rex’ll skin us alive if anything happens to his girl.”
The big man nodded. “Yeah, boss. I’ll go now.”
“Thanks.”
“Cachi, are you sure you want to stay?” Marcello asked.
I noticed how sad my friend was. I was positive he still felt guilty for not telling me the truth about everything he’d done and that he was an FBI agent. I reached out, and he immediately took my hand. “Marcello, you go to mi mamá. I worry about her.”
“Mr. Adams, your mother, aunt, and uncle are in protective custody,” the captain said.
I looked over at him. “What means? You protect them from the cartel?”
He nodded. “Yes. We’ve arranged for your family to be in protective custody. The FBI is putting them in a safehouse until the threat from the cartel is gone and if it takes a long time, then the U.S. Marshals Service will arrange for all of you to go into WITSEC long term. You should go join them. It’ll be perfectly safe. You’ll be guarded by U.S. Marshals.”
I shook my head. “I stay here with Rex.” I looked at Marcello. “You go to Mamá? You tell her I safe and I come later?”
Marcello exchanged a glance with the captain who nodded his permission. “Okay, Cachi. I’ll go tell her what’s happening,” he said.
“Gracias, Marcello.” I felt my eyes beginning to burn with tears and since I didn’t want to cry in front of all these strong men, I turned on my heel and went back to the other side of the room to retake my chair. I couldn’t possibly know the future, but at least Rex was alive. If he was paralyzed or if he wasn’t, as the doctor said, only time would tell.
Chapter Fourteen
REX
The sound of machines seeped into my consciousness before I opened my eyes. Somewhere close by, I heard the low murmurs of people talking.
“As I’ve said, Captain Sorensen, we won’t know anything until Mr. Monroe wakes up and I can do a thorough neurological examination.”
“And that’s when you’ll be able to tell us if he’s paralyzed?” Candy’s voice.
