Chapter 29 - What happens next

Keegan's POV

Normally when I was this nervous, I had a few drinks to calm myself down, but I wanted to be clear-headed. The only reason I left the police station last night was because Marcus forced me to. I wanted to be there raising all levels of hell, so I knew they were working as hard as they could to find Keegan until he reminded me that I had Faith coming home tonight. When I got back to the house, Faith was already home, and I had to tell her what had happened. I spent the rest of the night comforting my distraught sister until she fell asleep with her head on my lap on the couch in the media room.

I let her stay home the next day because she was in no condition to go to the school and took her with me to the police station. I had wanted her to stay at home, but she pitched a massive fit when I even suggested it. We waited for what felt like hours before everything seemed to be happening at once. Officers and detectives all over the squad room were all starting to get ready to move out.

When Detective Foster walked over, strapping on a bulletproof vest, “Detective, what is going on?”

“We’ve tracked Dale Marshall to a small private airport, the same one that Komarov is supposed to be coming into. SWAT has been notified, and we are going to meet them there.” He advised me.

“Okay, I’m coming with you,” I replied without hesitation.

He shook his head, “You need to stay here. We will let you know when we know more.” I was about to protest, but he gave me a stern look as if he knew what I was thinking, “You need to let us do our job Mr Masters, and if you try to follow us, I will have to handcuff you to this bench.”

So I waited and waited, watching the seconds on the clock turn into minutes and the minutes turned into hours. It was driving me crazy. After what felt like a lifetime later, the officers were coming back into the squad room led by the detective with a very solum look on his face. I had seen that look before once when the doctor had come out to the waiting room to tell my dad there was nothing they could do for my mother except keep her comfortable and from the cops when they came to the school to tell me that my father had died. Nothing good that has happened in this life started with that look.

My heart was racing faster with every step toward me that the detective took towards me.

“She’s alive.” He promised me, and I was finally able to let out the breath I was holding, “But she’s in pretty rough condition, so she’s been taken to the hospital.”

“Which hospital?” I queried, anxious to see her.

He sighed, “She’s in critical condition. They’ll only speak to family right now.”

“Which hospital?” I asked again through my gritted teeth.

When he finally caved and told me, I asked Marcus to take Faith home until I knew more. It was one thing having her at the precinct with me. It was another to take her to a hospital where I wasn’t sure what Keegan’s condition would be. I made it there in record time, leaving my car with a security guard who was happy to park it for me. It turns out he was another Lakers fan, and I made my way to the main desk as quickly as possible.

“I need to know where Keegan Marshall is. She would have been brought in by ambulance a little while ago.” I asked, trying to catch my breath.

“Are you family?” She inquired, typing something into the computer.

I swore internally, trying to figure out what I could tell them to make them give me information.

“He’s her fiancé, and I am her grandmother and next of kin. So please tell us where my granddaughter is.” Trixie called out from behind me.

I had never been so happy to see her face as I was right at this moment.

The nurse gave us the information we needed, and we both headed up to the intensive care unit, waiting for a doctor to come out to see us. Once again, I felt like we were waiting forever for answers. While we were waiting, Detective Foster came to give us more information about what had occurred during the airport raid. When they breached the building, they had to shoot Viktor as he had a gun on Keegan and he didn't make it. To be honest, he had gotten off easy compared to what I would have done to him if I got my hands on him. Keegan’s father had bolted but was picked up not long after the raid and was currently in lock-up, being charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment. They had to wait for a statement from Keegan to see if they could make any other charges stick.

It was nice to hear, but I was more concerned about what the doctors had to say about Keegan. Thankfully it wasn’t long until I had my answer, a doctor strolled out from behind the closed doors, and it was time to hold my breath again.

“Mrs Marshall?” The doctor called out, looking around the room, making his way over to us as we stood up, “My name is Dr Avery, and I’ve been looking after your granddaughter today. Can we go somewhere and talk in private?”

I was about to tell him to go to hell when Trixie gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, “Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Ryder he’s family.”

Doctor Avery nodded, “Your granddaughter was in pretty bad shape when she was brought in, she was unconscious and non-responsive, and we had to take her into surgery straight away. On top of some surface bruising, Keegan suffered a cracked cheekbone, a broken wrist, four broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a lacerated kidney and spleen. We were able to reset her wrist with a few pins, and it should heal fine and repaired the damage to her organs. Unfortunately, we can do nothing for her ribs apart from letting them heal over time. She’s still asleep at the moment, but we are hoping she will wake up in the next few hours.”

“Can we see her?” I queried. I didn’t care if she wasn’t awake at the moment; I just needed to see her.

“Immediate family only. I’m sorry, Mr Masters, but it’s the rules.” The doctor informed me.

“Come on, Doctor.” I pleaded, “Please, I just want to make sure my girl is okay. I will do whatever you want, just name it. Do you need a donation to the hospital? Some signed lakers stuff to auction? I can even get the guys to come in to visit the kids ward. I’m just asking for little time.”

He sighed, “I’m going to go on my break now, I will be back in ten minutes to check on Miss Marshall, and I expect to find no one in there but her next of kin. Understood.”

I really had to fight my urge to kiss the doctor on his lips as he walked away. Trixie told me to go in and visit and that she would take my place once my time was up. I was grateful to the doctor for bending the rules was breaking the rules for me, and I wasn’t going to waste what little time I had.

I made my way into her room quickly, and the first thing I realised was how eerily quiet it was. Apart from the constant beeping from the machines, the room was silent. Seeing Keegan laying completely still on the bed with all the tubes coming out of her was heartbreaking. Her right arm was covered in plaster up to just underneath her elbow and resting at her side. As I got closer, my blood started to boil. The entire left side of her face was a dark shade of blue and black bruises. I could see that she had been hit with enough force to split the skin under her eye. It was only being held by butterfly strips. She looked so small and helpless in the bed, and I would do anything to have her open her eyes right this second.

Sitting on the edge of the bed and took her left hand, bringing it to my lips, being careful to avoid her IV as I placed a kiss on it. “I’m so sorry, baby. This is all my fault.”

My ten minutes went way too quickly, but I left when I was supposed to so that I didn’t get the doctor in trouble when he had gone out on a limb for me as it was. Trixie was going to stay the night and urged me to go home and be with my sister. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew I had to.

On the drive home, I thought about all the people in my life that I had cared about somehow, someway, they had all gotten hurt. My mother had died from cancer, my father had a heart attack when he was the picture of health, Faith got sick and lost her hearing, and now Keegan had been beaten within an inch of her life. Today could have ended completely differently, and I could have been adding her to the list of graves I visited every year. It was like I was cursed. I had to do something and do something now. I didn’t like it, but it was for her own good.

When I got to the house after driving around for a bit to clear my head, Faith had already passed out, but that was understandable. She was exhausted. Marcus and I sat in the kitchen for a while to update him on Keegan’s condition, sharing a bottle of bourbon between us.

After my third drink, I finally had enough liquid courage and looked over at Marcus, “We’ve been friends for a very long time, Marc. You’ve gotten me out of a lot of situations that I am not proud of, and when you hear what I want you to next, you might hate me, but I still need you to do it, okay.”

He nodded carefully, “I’m here for whatever you need.”

It was now or never.