Part 7
Kermit sat with Caine in his office. He sat waiting for his search on Travis to come through. Just then his computer blinked saying that he had gotten an e-mail. He opened it up and read it " How about we play a little game. You want Peter Caine back, and I have him. Why don't we make him the prize at the end of our little scavenger hunt. First clue is: Trace this e-mail back to the point of origin, and you will find a clue as to where we are."
Kermit traced the e-mail back and found that it led to an old warehouse on 10th street. Kermit checked the records and found that it was the same place where Peter had been shot a few months ago.
"Caine lets go. I think I may have a lead on Peter."
"Should we not tell someone else where we are going?"
" I was going to tell the Captain on our way out." With that they turned and left.
**********
Travis returned to where Peter lay. He noticed that Peter was awake and saw the pain in the younger man's eyes.
"Oh good! You are awake. Now we can continue with our little game. You see, I have to get you ready to greet your friends when they arrive. So let's go. Up and at 'em. We want you to look good for your public." Travis turned and Peter saw that the two goons from earlier were back. They roughly picked him up. Peter cried out in pain, and received a slap to the face. This caused him to cry out again and
then slip into unconsciousness.
"You idiots. I wanted him awake when his friends arrive. Oh, well. Go and get him ready. His friends should be here by now."
**********
Kermit and Caine slowly entered into the old warehouse. They slowly searched the building. Caine suddenly took off, and Kermit took off after him.
"Caine wait. Let me check first. Caine!!!" Caine never stopped but continued to run. Kermit had no choice but to follow him. He turned into the room and slammed right into Caine's back.
"Wow. What is wrong?" Kermit looked into the room and saw what had made Caine stop. There hanging in the center of the room was Peter. Caine rushed forward and found the switch that would lower Peter down to him. When they lowered him to the floor, Caine checked for the extent of the
injuries. He used his chi and began to check Peter. He found that Peter had broken ribs, and that one of them had punctured Peter's lung. It was causing them to fill up with fluid. Just as he was about to turn to Kermit to tell him to call 911, Peter suddenly began to shake and gasp for breath. Caine tried to help
Peter but couldn't. That is when Peter stopped breathing.
Part 8
Caine quickly grabbed Peter and began to transfer his chi to him. Kermit came from behind to start CPR on Peter. "Come one kid, stay with us. I didn't come all this way to have you die on me. My friends don't die on me unless I kill them first, or of old age. Now breath." Peter must have heard him for that is exactly what he did. Kermit sighed with relief. Just then the EMT arrived.
"Does any one know what has happened to this man?" asked one of the paramedics. " This man has been beaten and left here as a message to me and his father. Other than that we don't know." Kermit said. "Well, let's get him to the hospital. Mark keep giving him oxygen. He is still having trouble breathing on his own. I am afraid that he may go flat line again. He may have internal bleeding as well. I am surprised that he has made it this far." Kermit felt fear creep into his heart as the paramedics continued to work on Peter.
Caine stood in the shadows watching as they worked on his son. No one saw the small tear slip down his cheek and no one heard his silent prayer. "Please Peter. You must fight this. I do not want to lose you now. I know that together we can win this. Please fight."
Peter was rushed to the trauma room and was being treated for his injuries. Kermit had called the Captain and told her what had happened. She said that she would be down once she got off work. Kermit asked if Jody could go pick up Annie and bring her to County General. Now he and Caine sat in the waiting room.
"Thank you Kermit for waiting here with me. But now I sense that you want to get back to your office to find the man that did this to Peter." " Yeah, but I will wait till we hear any news on Peter. I don't want to leave you alone." Actually he wanted to be here to hear the news on Peter, good or bad. He would never forgive himself if he were to leave and find out that Peter had died and he never got a chance to say good bye to him. Caine bowed and then sat back down. Just then Jody and Annie came into the waiting room.
Caine, has there been any news?"
" No, there has not. He is still in surgery." Just then the doctor approached them.
"Are you here for Peter Caine?"
"Yes, I am his father and this is his mother. How is our son?"
" He has just come out of surgery. He is in critical condition. We almost lost him again, but we have managed to stabilize him for now. He has been put on a respirator to help him breath. A rib had punctured his lung, and we still have some internal bleeding that we can't fix until he is stable.
These next couple of hours will be critical. I am sorry that I don't have better news than that."
"We understand doctor that you are trying your best to help our son. May we see him now." Asked Annie.
"We are moving him to ICU now. Once he is settled, you may visit him for a few minutes only. But I must say that only family may enter."