Enough Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

For the second time in less than a year, I regained consciousness in a hospital room. It took me a while to focus and then realized I was handcuffed to the hospital bed. It took me several seconds to process what had happened but there was no way I should be in restraints. I pressed the button for the nurse who showed up in a minute or so.

“Hey, how are you feeling?”, she asked.

“I think I’m ok, but I hurt all over.”, I replied.

“I’m going to call the doctor immediately and there are two police officers in the hall waiting to talk to you.”, she answered, leaving quickly.

Within a minute, two men in suits came in walking quickly over to the bed. No doubt they were both detectives from the department. One of them stepped to the left side of the bed.

“Mr. Williams, can you tell us what happened?”, he asked.

I slowly began to tell him that I was driving by when I witnessed the deputy being wrestled to the ground. I recalled how I had stopped and began to fight the men. After I got through the first two and then my encounter with the last man. Then being stabbed in the back and the female deputy shooting the suspect who stabbed me. I also asked how the female deputy was doing.

“Officer Dugas has still not regained consciousness, but she is stable.’, he answered.

“What about the three men?”, I asked.

“They had just committed an armed robbery about thirty minutes before Officer Dugas pulled them over for a traffic violation. They are all wanted on other charges as well. The three of them have three felonies on their record and will be going to prison for life now that you add aggravated assault on a police officer.”, he stated.

“Good to know.”, I responded.

“You fucked up those guys…… broken bones, one has a fractured jaw and one shot in the back.”, he laughed.

“I guess we can get rid of these.”, the other detective said, unlocking the cuffs.

They both thanked me for what I did and exited the room closing the door behind them. A few minutes later, the doctor came in and explain my injuries. I had been cut on my upper chest down and across to my stomach. Although it was deep in some spots nothing was serious only requiring a lot of stitches. I had also been stabbed in my left shoulder and exploratory surgery had been done. There was severe soft tissue, some muscle severing, and one tendon had been nicked. But all in all, nothing more would have to be done and it would all heal on it’s on. He promised the nurse would be back with some pain medication.

The next morning, I was feeling somewhat better but sore as hell. The nurse informed me that the female police officer had regained consciousness and was alert. She had suffered a bad concussion, a hairline fracture of her jaw and two broken fingers. The nurse told me that Officer Dugas asked to see me, but she was not yet mobile. The nurse told me after breakfast she would get a wheelchair and take me to her room.

True to her word, just past nine o’clock I was wheeled to Officer Dugas’ room. As we entered, it appeared she was sleeping but there was an older man sitting in the chair. The nurse wheeled me over to the bedside when the man introduced himself as her father.

“Are you the guy who stopped to help her?”, he asked.

“Yes sir.”, I replied.

“You know son, you probably saved her life.”, he stated, grabbing my hand.

“She just as heck saved mine sir. I was about to get stabbed again when she put that animal down.”, I responded,

Just about that time, Officer Dugas opened her eyes and saw her father next to the bedside. She gave him a quirky look and then smiled.

“Dad, have you been here all night?”, she asked.

“Riley, don’t you dare lecture me…… I’m your dad. It’s what dad’s do.”, he said, leaning over and kissing her cheek.

Then she looked in my direction and squinted her eyes at first but them opened them wide. It took her a minute, but she figured it out.

“And you must be my hero….”, she smiled.

“No ma’am, I’m Chris Williams.”, I replied.

“If you would not have stopped that night, I might not be here. I saw you attack the first one and then I blacked out. When I came to, I saw another guy down and the one standing over you with the knife. I was able to pull my weapon and fire at him then I guess I blacked out again.”, she admitted.

“Well, I am sure you saved me as well. Your shot put him down.”, I replied.

“They told me when they got there you were holding me and had my weapon in your hand.”, she said, smiling.

“Something like that……. It’s kind of hazy to me too.”, I admitted.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”, she asked.

“I work at a gym and teach Krav Maga. I also am a student of Muy Thai although not an instructor yet.”, I answered.

“Well, well well……looky here. The princess and the white knight.”, a female said, walking in the door.

I turned to see it was Lexie Thomas in her uniform walking towards us. She leaned over and kissed Rylie Dugas on the cheek and squeezed her hand.

“Glad to see you awake, Rylie. You gave us all a scare.”, Lexie said, softly.

“And you……. Where did you come from?”, Lexie asked, walking over and kissing my forehead.

“Lexie, you know him?”, Rylie asked.

“Yes, we dated a while back….”, Lexie replied, looking me dead in the eyes.

“Oh…… then we must talk.”, Rylie answered.

Just about that time my nurse came back and informed me it was time for me to go back to my room. I said my farewells and I was wheeled back to my room. About thirty minutes later Lexie walked into my room and sat in the chair next to the bed.

“Chris, you could have died that night.”, Lexie said, taking my hand in hers.

“I wasn’t thinking Lexie, I saw her in trouble and reacted.”, I responded.

“Reacted. One perp has a broken jaw, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, the second also has a broken jaw and a bullet in his back, the last one has a broken nose, broken eye socket, fractured jaw and a dislocated back. That’s a bit more than a reaction.”, she stated informing me of their injuries.

I was released from the hospital two days later. The following day, Officer Rylie Dugas was released as well. I watched a news conference on television as she was being released. She said some really nice things about me but never mentioned my name which was a good thing. Just in case these guys had any friends lurking about.

After several weeks, I was allowed to go back to the gym and train. My shoulder was still sore, and I was told to take it easy. Master Garcia was elated to see me back and commend me for how I had helped the policer officer. He said that even though my name had been left out of the news, everyone knew it was me.

Several weeks later, I was sitting in Moe’s Pizza waiting for an all-meat pizza when Lexie Thomas walked through the door. She was in uniform which quickly put a damper on the younger crowd. She scanned the room and saw me at one of the booths and headed in my direction. She came over to the table and asked me if she could sit down.

“Of course, Lexi.”, I offered.

She sat down on the bench across from me and leaned back against the cushion sighing deeply. I had seen that look and face before, she was just coming off the day shift.

“What a day……”, she mumbled.

“Lately, I can relate to that.”, I replied.

Just at that point, Mark Boudreaux and Chrissy Haynes walked through the front door hand in hand. Living in a small area really sucked. Sometimes you just couldn’t get away from certain people. They started walking in my direction, I had no idea what was coming. Mark spoke first.

“Hey Chris, I just want to say….um, that was awesome how you helped out the police lady.”, he stated.

“Thanks Mark…. Seemed like the right thing to do.”, I answered.

“And, I also took your advice about that other thing…….”, he said, nodding toward Chrissy.

“He’s being good, Chrissy?”, I asked.