Betrayal
Chapter Twelve
Ezra was in agonizing pain as he slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was
laying on his back. He moved, getting ready to try and sit up, and hissed in
pain as his right side felt like it was on fire.
Staring at the ceiling, riding out the flare of pain, the memories of what had
happened started rushing back. He had been so close to the ATF building! He knew
that Mounds' men were catching up to him and he wouldn't make it to the
building, so he had called Chris. Then, he had felt a pain and had ended the
call. As he passed out, Ezra knew that he had been shot.
'Now, here I am. Wherever here is!' Ezra thought as he moved his head to look at
what he could see, without getting up. He saw a white ceiling and white walls.
He knew that he was lying on a bed. He glanced down at his right hand and saw an
IV, then he heard the machines beeping around him. As the fog from his mind
completely cleared he realized where he was. "Aw, hell, I'm at the hospital!" he
grumbled to the empty room.
"The hospital is right! How ya doin' Fancy Pants?" asked a voice.
"Nettie?" questioned Ezra as she walked into his line of sight.
Nettie took the chair next to the bed and said, "That would be me. Now, how are
ya doing? You need me to fetch the Doc?"
Ezra gently shook his head, "Not at this time, thank you."
'Leave it to Ezra to be the 'polite southern gentleman' even after being shot,'
Nettie fondly thought. She hadn't been so sure of the man when she had first met
him. He had been so standoffish, not seeming to want anything to do with anyone.
But, as she had gotten to know him and his walls had started to fall, and
especially after she had met Maude, she had started to understand the
undercover agent. And, he had grown on her. Now, she considered him one of her
adoptive "sons", along with Vin.
Ezra licked his dry lips, "Water, please?"
Nettie filled a paper cup with water, stuck in a straw, then held it to the
man's lips for him to sip. When he was through, he said, "Thanks." After a
pause, he asked, "How... did I get... here?"
Nettie hid a slight smile at the disgust she detected in his voice when he had
said the last word. The man was infamous for his dislike of hospitals. There
usually had to be someone watching him, just to make sure that he didn't try and
make a getaway.
"Well, Casey and me were driving down the street when we heard a shot. We saw
three men standing and staring down at something. One of them raised his gun and
I sped towards them. We didn't know it was you, but I couldn't let them hurt
anyone. Between my truck racing towards them and that old scatter-gun of mine
that Casey was pointing out of the window, they backed off. They got into a
fancy lookin' car and sped off."
Nettie stopped to take a breath, before continuing, "Then, we saw it was you and
managed to get you into the truck. Now, here you are."
"Well, it seems that I owe you and your niece a great debt of gratitude. Where
is Miss Casey?"
"She's down in the waiting room, she's waiting on the others to arrive. After we
got you to the hospital and found out that you were going to be fine, we called
the others. Woulda called 'em sooner, but I didn't think about it. We were
worried about you. Sorry, I'm sure you would've liked Chris to be here sooner."
Nettie knew about Chris and Ezra, had for a while. She didn't care that they
were in a relationship, they were the same men they always had been.
Ezra gave her a small smile and said, "No worries." Ezra couldn't say anything
else, because he started coughing, making the pain in his side worsen.
Nettie pushed the call button for a nurse. A couple of minutes later, a nurse
entered and put a shot of pain medication into Ezra's IV. A few minutes after
the nurse had left, Ezra's eyes started to droop. "Must be some powerful stuff,"
Ezra mumbled to Nettie before falling completely asleep.