Keeping It in the Family (Linstead)

Chapter 90

"Ms Vega was brought in with a severe bullet wound to the back, as you may be aware," the doctor began.

"Is she alive, damn you?" Gonzalez thundered, looking like she might tear his head off his shoulders.

"Yes, she's alive. Calm down, please."

"Raquel, take a breath and take a step back," Lindsay ordered, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Ms Vega is Detective Gonzalez's fiancée," she explained. "As you can imagine, she's having a hard time here."

"I understand," the doctor said compassionately as Gonzalez took the step back that had been requested of her. "If you let me give you the full update I've got, I'll allay the worst of your fears. Zelina was bleeding quite badly due to the bullet tearing her trapezius muscle. I had to get the bullet out, stop the bleeding, and repair the muscle. The surgery went well, and she should make a full recovery. That's the good news."

"What's the bad news?" Gonzalez demanded immediately.

"The bad news is the trapezius is one of the main muscles in your back. Recovering from one as badly damaged as Zelina's will be a long, painful process. And I do mean long, and I do mean painful."

"I'll be there for her," Gonzalez promised. "When can I see her?"

"She's in recovery, so you can see her now. It'll be a while before she wakes up, but you can sit with her. The maximum is two visitors per room though, so I'm afraid you can't all go in."

The entire team had been assembled near the doctor to hear what he had to say. They had gotten the most important news, that they would not be losing a colleague and a friend today. Now Lindsay took charge of the situation. "I'll stay here with Raquel until Z wakes up. The rest of you get out there and find AJ Styles. I want him off the streets by the end of the day, and I want to be told the minute he's located. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sergeant," Purrazzo said on behalf of herself, Halstead and Atwater.

"I can take you through now," the doctor said to Gonzalez and Lindsay.

"Thank you. And sorry about before," Gonzalez said.

"Don't worry about it," he said as they walked with him. "I totally understand how upsetting this is for you. We're quite lucky the injury wasn't worse. She could have bled out, or she could have been hit in the spine and paralysed."

"Thank God none of that happened," Gonzalez said quietly.

They were passing rooms with patients in them. Lindsay didn't pay any attention to them. Only one patient interested her.

"This is her room," the doctor announced.

The door of the room in question had been left open, as had the blinds at the window. Following the doctor into the room, Lindsay saw Zelina lying unconscious in the bed. Her olive skin looked paler than usual, but other than that she looked okay. The damage was under the bed cover of course. Who knew how much bandaging she was wrapped in. There was a morphine drip going into her left arm, and a heart monitor connected to her, bleeping away. Lindsay imagined that it had to be a pretty horrifying sight for Gonzalez, although it could have been a lot worse.

"Z," Gonzalez cried, rushing over to the bed. She took her fiancée's hand and sat down in the single chair that had been left next to the bed.

"She may not wake for a while," the doctor reminded them.

"Can she hear me? Does she know I'm here?" Gonzalez asked.

"Possibly. There's no way to know. Talking to her can't do any harm."