Chapter Thirty-Three
felt like I was swimming up through murky water even though I could feel my lungs struggling to pull in air. As I raised my hand and tried to push whatever it was that was obscuring my vision out of my way, someone pushed my hand back down.
"Easy, Lieutenant," a firm voice said. "You're okay, you're just waking up from anesthesia."
"Huh?" I said as I again tried to raise my hand to push the darkness away from my eyes. Again, I was met with resistance. "Stop it! What are you doing?"
"Just take it easy," the voice said as a hand held my wrist. "I'm checking your pulse right now. You've had surgery, Lieutenant. You're in recovery."
The voice waited a few seconds for the words to sink in and then let go of my arm. I lay still trying to process what I'd heard.
"What happened?" I croaked as I tried to open my eyes again. "Where am I?"
"You were shot, and you're in the hospital," the voice replied as it started to sound clearer. I could tell that the person speaking to me was a woman, a nurse.
"Who shot me?" I groaned as a wave of pain washed over me.
"We have no idea," she said as she adjusted something near my right arm. "What's your level of pain, Lieutenant?"
"Ryan," I croaked. "Call me Ryan. I'm off duty."
"Okay, Ryan," she said and I could hear a smile in her voice. "Then tell me what your level of pain is, Ryan."
"Not too bad," I replied as I wondered how I could get myself out of here and back to finding Echo. "Where's Echo? Where's Cece?"
"I'm sorry?" the nurse said. "Who are they?"
"With me," I groaned as I tried to move my arms so that I could push myself up into a sitting position. I quickly discovered that my arms were not working. "They were with me. Where are they?"
"I don't know," the nurse said. "But I'll try to find out if you promise me that you won't keep moving around. You just got out of surgery, Ryan. You were shot and they had to remove a bullet from your abdomen. You're so lucky that it didn't do any major damage. You must have an angel on your shoulder."
"I need Echo," I said staring at the nurse.
"Promise me that you will not try to move around and I'll go get someone to find her," she said returning my laser like stare. She waited and then said, "If you get up and try to move around you will pull out the stitches the surgeon put in and you'll bleed out before I can get back and help you. Promise me."
"Fine," I groaned as I lay still. "I promise."
"I'm taking you at your word, Lieutenant," she said as she headed for the door.
"Ryan, it's just Ryan," I called after her.
A few minutes later, the door opened, but instead of the nurse it was Commander Donnelly.
"Lieutenant," he said as he walked toward me.
"Sir," I replied as I tried to salute out of habit and found the pain too intense. "I'm sorry, sir."
"Son, you're in surgical recovery, there's no sorry necessary," he chuckled as he pulled up a chair and sat down near me. "How are you feeling, Lieutenant?"
"I'm fine, sir," I said. "Never been better."
"Ah, still have your sense of humor," he smiled. "That's good because you're going to need it as you recover. What were you doing, Lieutenant?"
"I'm sorry, sir?" I asked knowing what he was asking but stalling for time in order to figure out how to respond.
"You heard me," he said. "What were you doing when you got shot, Lieutenant?"
"Trying to help a friend, sir," I admitted. It was an honest answer, but one that didn't give much away, and he knew it.
"Son, I have heard a whole lot of bullshit in my career, so you can cut out the evasive maneuvers and get to the truth," he said sternly. He reminded me of my father the way he cut to the chase and somehow already knew the truth. I didn't want to tell him what I'd been doing because I was afraid it would get me kicked out of the Navy.
"Sir, I was helping rescue a friend who'd been kidnapped," I said in a voice as official as the circumstances would allow, then groaned as I felt the pain returning to my left side.
"Lieutenant Powell, we can sit here and go round and round with me asking questions and you barely answering them," he said leaning forward. "Or you can spill the entire story and save us both the time and breath. Which is it going to be?"
"Sir, my father left information for a friend of mine and someone kidnapped her to try and get it," I said trying to give him the story in as few words as possible. "In the process of rescuing her from the kidnappers, I was shot by one of them. That's the whole story in a nutshell."
"Where is this friend now?" the Commander asked.
"That's what I keep asking," I winced as I a sharp pain shoot through my left side again. "I don't know where she is. I'm worried that they did something to her."
"What is your friend's name, Lieutenant," he asked as he pulled his cell phone from the inside of his jacket.
"Echo," I exhaled trying to keep the pain at bay, but failing and emitting a groan.
"Echo? Echo Frost?" he asked in an urgent tone. "Is your friend Echo Frost, Lieutenant?"
"Uh huh, that's her, sir," I grunted as the pain swept over me and I began to moan. The nurse returned as the first sounds left my lips.
"Ryan, I told you not to move around!" she said moving toward the pump that held my fluids and pain medications. She fiddled with the dials and suddenly the pain receded a bit, like the tide moving back out. "Is that better?"
"Uh huh," I nodded as I felt the pain medication flowing through my veins and loosening my clenched muscles. "Much better."
"You've got a button here," she said shaking her head as she dug the sensor out of the sheets and tucking it into my right hand. "Press the button when you need more pain relief. Don't be the hero right now. Pain will not help you recover more quickly."
"But Echo..." I began.
"Son, I'll find her," the Commander said as he tapped the screen of his phone and dialed a number.
"I've got someone looking for her, too," the nurse added. "Between the two of us, we'll find her."
"I...," I said as the pain relievers did their job and carried me out like the tide.