“Would you like some water,” the nurse asked her. She went to talk but couldn’t move, the pain came quickly, so she just nodded. The nurse brought the cup up, letting her have a few sips through the straw that soothed her dry throat.
A doctor stepped up to the bed, looking at her chart and her vitals, he smiled at her. He ran her through some tests, starting with her eyes and tracking his finger, all the way to wiggling her toes. “You’re doing well, Treasure,” he said. “We’re going to move you to a room in a few minutes, and you Mom is anxious to see you.” Mom! Rea couldn’t imagine what she was going through now, first her husband and now her. “Would you like me to bring her back?”
Rea nodded quickly, and the doctor left and went to find her Mom. The press was camped out by the ER entrance, and he found her with a few other people in the conference room. “Mrs. Olson?”
She looked up from where she had been crying on her mother’s shoulder. “Treasure? Is she all right?”
“She just woke up and asked for you,” he said. “She’s going to be fine. We’ll be taking her to her room soon. I’ll let family talk to her for a few minutes, but you’re all going to have to go home and let her rest. Visiting hours start at eight,” he said.
“But she’ll be fine?”
“She came through the surgery just fine, and the X-rays didn’t show any brain injury. Her shoulder and face took most of the impact. Tomorrow the orthopedist can talk to you about her recovery and the therapy she’s going to need. We’ll be giving her some strong painkillers, she’ll sleep through the night. You won’t miss anything going home and getting some rest.”
He walked her through the door of the Recovery Room and she started crying again as she saw her baby in the bed, a cast on her left arm and shoulder, and her face swollen and bruised. She reached for her good hand, her left hand brushing her red hair off her forehead. “Hi baby,” she said softly. Treasure couldn’t answer, but her eyes told her how worried she was. “Jenny is going to be fine,” she said and she could see the relief immediately. “She’s here, her parents too. You saved her, she told them you gave yourself up so they would stop hurting her. You set off the panic alarm and it led the police right to her, fast enough they could save her. You’re my brave girl,” she said as she squeezed her hand.
The nurses disconnected a few things and they were on their way out, taking an elevator to the fourteenth floor of the hospital. “We have a few things to do, and we’re going to help her to the bathroom,” her new nurse said. “Why don’t you get the others, they can come up and say goodnight before we give her the pills. Once they take effect, she’s going to sleep until morning.”
Dawn kissed her daughter then walked out, while the nurses helped her get ready for bed. She was still awake when her Mom returned with Grandma, and a few minutes later the drugs took effect and she fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning as the painkillers wore off, the pain started to build again. Her Mom was in the room, but she held off on more pain pills because she needed to get this done. She’d put up with the pain if she could stop this from happening again.
In another room, a police sketch artist was working with Jenny, but Rea didn’t need help. Her Mom had brought her phone, computer and some of her art supplies with her this morning, and the pencil was flying on the sketch pad as she drew the two men. She was so thankful her left side had taken the brunt of the fall, since her left hand was not nearly as good to draw with as her dominant hand. The Detective had the first drawing already, this of the man who had choked out Jenny. She was starting to work on the second man, the one she had fought with, as he walked out of her room.
He took a picture of her drawing and texted it to the Chief, then called him. “Jesus, Boss, I wish all our witnesses have her talent,” he said. “She got this one done in about twenty minutes, now she’s doing the other guy.”
“She has talent,” he said. “Do you trust her?”
“I do,” he said. “She described the guy last night, but this is much better.”
“OK. Get the second drawing when she’s done and take it to the other victim after the sketch artist is done with her. Pick the drawing she thinks is the best representation of the attacker she saw and go with it. I want a BOLO on this immediately to update the one we sent out last night for two guys and a big dog. I’ll hold a press conference and we’ll get these drawings out.” The Chief let out a sigh, he’d barely slept a few hours last night. “We need to catch these assholes before they get anyone else. The Mayor is already up my butt about this.”
An hour later, the two drawings Treasure had done were all over the Rochester and Twin Cities news stations.
Back at the hotel, Todd rolled out of bed about ten in the morning and got dressed. He drove down the road to an IHOP, where he ordered a large breakfast and then two big breakfasts to go. He was eating his eggs when he heard something about an attempted rape, and looked up at the television on the wall behind the counter he was sitting at.
“Police in Rochester are asking for the public’s help in finding two men who assaulted two women in Cripple Creek Canyon in northwest Rochester,” the newscaster said. A pair of sketches was shown on the screen, and his gut clenched when he saw how well his Beta and Warrior had been captured by the artist. “The man on the left is described as being a white male in his forties, about six-foot-six and two hundred and fifty pounds, while the man on the right is a white male in his early twenties, six-foot-tall and a hundred and eighty pounds. If you have seen these men, do not approach them as they are considered dangerous. Call 911 or the Rochester Police Tip Line at 1-800-RCH-TIPS.”
The sketches, though black and white, were too good. He was glad he was keeping the men under wraps and they weren’t the ones who had rented the two rooms. The news moved on to other subjects, so he wolfed down the rest of his breakfast, took the two Styrofoam containers in the bag, and paid up.
He went straight to his room, then opened the connecting door to their room. “You’ve been made,” he told them. “Turn on the news.” They did, and their reaction was the same. “Put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on your door and put your dirty linens in a bag. I’ll get the cleaning lady to change them out because you are sleeping all day. Keep the curtains closed and don’t even open your fucking door or you might be arrested,” he told them.
“What are we going to do, Alpha? Are we going to head home?”
“Not without our Luna we aren’t. After housekeeping leaves, I’m heading out to get some supplies. We’re getting her tonight and getting the hell out of here.”