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Blake had returned to the precinct to file a report, along with turning over his surveillance tape to Captain Simms. Jody and Skalany sat speaking in quiet undertones, Skalany's gaze frequently straying to Caine, who sat stoically expressionless as he suffered along with Peter.
Kermit entered the waiting room and signaled to Paul with his eyes.
Paul patted Annie's hand and murmured in her ear, "You stay here with Caine, Babe. There's someone I need to talk to."
Annie stoked his arm and kissed his cheek. "You can fill me in on what Kermit has to say, later."
Paul brushed his lips over her hair. "You never cease to amaze me."
Meeting Kermit at the doorway, Paul guided him back into the hall.
"How's Kacie, Paul?" Kermit's concern glowed through the green lenses, his brow furrowed as he frowned.
"No change. Still critical. All they've been able to tell us is that they've avoided having any major organs shut down."
"Jesus. How's the kid?"
"Dying before our eyes." Paul sighed and shook his head. "What went down, Kermit? How'd you find her?" Paul chewed his lower lip as he waited for Kermit's report.
"It's a pretty bizarre case, Paul. We were closing in our grid search, house by house, when Rykker's call came through with the address. We were on our way to the place when an ambulance passed us. The EMTs were ready to enter the house before we flagged them down to wait and let us secure the situation."
"How did they know where to go?"
"Said there had been a 9-1-1 call about a critically ill pregnant woman. The call was made from the house; phone was still off the hook when we got there."
"So what did you find?"
"One very sick Kacie and one very dead Jason Fischer. The son of a bitch was lucky someone had killed him before I got there. Whoever whacked him apparently kept your daughter-in-law from being raped."
"Mother of God!" Paul swore softly under his breath. "How did he die?"
"He had a metal star buried in the base of his skull." Kermit paused a moment, and a look of fierce satisfaction settled on his face. "The body had been mutilated and a certain body part was stuffed down his throat. Poetic justice, I would say."
"Somebody's idea of justice," Paul agreed, with only a slightly less savage look on his craggy face. "You didn't find anyone else there?"
"I might have seen someone, but I thought Kacie needed my help more than I needed to chase shadows."
"Your captain might call you derelict in your duty, Kermit."
"My captain calls me a lot of things, Paul."
Paul looked through the doorway and observed Peter with heartsick eyes before continuing his conversation with his comrade. "The place was bad?"
"I haven't seen such squalor since we were over in Afghanistan. Looked like they kept her locked up in a downstairs bathroom with a few blankets to keep her from freezing to death." He spat out an obscenity. "I wouldn't keep a dog in a place like that. There were empty bottles of water lying around, so at least for awhile they had the decency to give her something fit to drink."
"Peter doesn't need to know any of this, understand me, Kermit? He already has this cockeyed notion he's somehow to blame."
"Not to worry, Paul. You know how things can get lost in the paper shuffle at work."
The two men stopped talking as the elevator doors opened and two white-coated figures emerged, their features carefully schooled into unemotional, professional masks. Doctors Albin and Sabourin nodded a greeting to Paul and Kermit and preceded them into the waiting room.
Peter was on his feet in an instant and stood with fists clenched at his sides, tensely awaiting their report.
Dr. Sabourin spoke first. "Peter, we've managed to isolate the type of bacteria causing the infection and are treating with specific antibiotics. Kacie is responding well to the treatment regimen, and her blood gases and oxygen levels are nearly back to acceptable ranges. We're keeping her on the respirator for a little while longer, just to keep her cardiovascular system from being overwhelmed. We were concerned about possible kidney failure for awhile, but we seem to have headed that off, too."
Annie and Caine rose together, arms firmly linked. "So she'll be all right then?" Annie asked tremulously.
"We're very encouraged by her progress. The prognosis looks very good for Kacie's complete recovery, yes." Sabourin nodded and smiled in their direction.
Annie gave a small cry of relief and buried her head in Caine's shoulder. A single tear trickled down the Shaolin's cheek, and he released his held breath with a small, "Ah-h."
Peter's eyes misted over, and he gulped his air with a strangled gasp. Staring at Dr. Albin, he asked hoarsely, "The baby?"
Albin's eyes were full of compassion. "I'm afraid that the baby is dying in utero."
Caine jerked as if he had been shot, and only Annie was able to hear him groan deep in his throat as they consoled one another.
Jody and Skalany bit their lips to keep from crying out loud at the look of devastation on Peter's face. Skalany watched Annie and Caine, and something deep in her soul longed to be the one holding Peter's father, whispering words of solace.
Peter took a step back and shook his head in denial. "No. No. It can't."
"The infection was so overwhelming that lethal levels of bacterial toxin passed through the placenta."
"Kacie's blood poisoned the baby? Jesus! Do you know what this will do to her?"
"Peter, we did everything that we could without endangering Kacie's life. We…"
"No," Peter choked, knocking aside the hand Albin reached out to him. "See, you don't understand. If the baby dies, Kacie will, too."
"Peter, Kacie is going to be fine," Sabourin repeated. "She shows improvement every time we check the monitors."
"That-that's because she's fighting for the baby." Peter couldn't control the tremors running through his body. "Everything she does is for the baby. It can't…you can't let it…you have to…" He laced his fingers on top of his head and blinked at tears that were damming up behind his eyes.
"I'm very sorry, Peter. I know how much you both wanted this baby."
"How-how long…"
"A few more hours, maybe less."
"Is-is-is the baby in any pain?"
"No."
Peter's face twisted, and he raised his eyes to the heavens before closing them in anguished surrender. "I need to be with Kacie now. Take me to her." His voice was calm and steady, though his chin quivered.
"She's still in ICU…" Albin hedged, looking at Sabourin for her input.
Peter's grief-filled hazel eyes pleaded with both doctors. "I-I-I wasn't there for her when our first baby died. I won't leave her alone like that again. Ever."
"All right, Peter. Come with us," Albin consented.
Peter took a long look around the room, seeming to notice the loyal gathering for the first time. Breathing raggedly, he rasped out, "Thank you all for being here, for me, for Kacie. It-it means a lot; it really does. I'm-I'm sorry, but I just can't handle you all. I can't let myself. I can't…I…"
He shrugged helplessly and choked on a suppressed sob. Stepping blindly from the room, he bumped into Paul, who reached for him. "Don't!" Peter said shortly, flinching from the touch as if it burned. "Don't. It hurts too much. It just…hurts…too much." He backed away from Paul and Kermit and turned to walk with the doctors.
The two ex-mercenaries followed Peter with their eyes, their hearts aching along with his.
"Annie," Paul muttered. "I need to see Annie."
Kermit nodded and started easing down the hallway. "I…need to check on things back at the precinct."
The corridor was empty and silent, even as in different rooms and different floors there was grieving and rejoicing, comfort and disconsolation, living and dying.