In the four days since Dru had gone to church, many things had happened.  Dru was flustered by everything that was going on around her, but she was able to deal with it.  She had found that talking to herself was something that helped.  Instead of being tumultuous thoughts running throughout her head, they were out in the open, ready to be put in perspective.

Dru had gone back to the Burke’s house after church on that Sunday.  She did not always make it back there at night, because she often fell asleep next to Ivey’s bed.

Ivey was in critical condition, and she wasn’t stable.  One minute she might be relaxed and the next she was thrashing about wildly.  Every morning Cade and Dru drove into the city and usually stayed all day.  They would visit Ivey, get lunch at a restaurant nearby.  Every day was the same.

Dru went to a salon on Monday and got her hair chemically straightened.  She felt like a new person, and, therefore, decided to look a new person.  When Cade had first seen her he had told her she looked much more serene.

When Dru, Cade, and Drake had been at the hotel in San Francisco two months before, Dru was thinking of Cade romantically.  Now, it was different.  Cade had not hinted in any way that he wanted it so, and Dru was wondering if she wanted it that way.  She was starting to think that being single was good.

Dru was very close to professing her faith at the church.  To think, it was only a coincidence that she had met Jill, and now that one meeting had changed her life- for the better!  Dru found that knowing there was Someone always looking out for her helped her go on in her life.

Knowing what faith meant, she also felt closer to her father.  Robert Keieva was a missionary; it was his life’s work to teach people about Christ.  Yet, he had not been able to make his daughter understand.  Dru felt that it was only God’s intervention that had let her understand it.

Dru had seen Jill at the hospital since Sunday.  On Tuesday, Jill was there, visiting her brother.  Jill told Dru it was because with school starting soon, she wasn’t sure she would be able to come every Saturday.

Jill insisted on introducing Dru to her brother, Dan.  That was a very interesting conversation.
When Dru had entered the room behind Jill, Danny said,  “Am I supposed to remember her?”

“No.  This is Dru.  I told you about her on Saturday.”

After hearing this, Dru was baffled.

Jill explained,  “He also has amnesia.”

Dru offered her hand and said,  “Glad to meet you.  I’m Dru Bassey.”

“Dan Smits,” he returned.  Then he nodded down to his arms and said,  “Sorry, but I’m sort of indisposed at the moment.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Dru said hastily.

Jill said,  “Dru went to church with me on Sunday.”

“So you’re a Christian.”

Once again, Dru was flustered.  “I, well, no, I mean?no one has ever asked me that question before.  I guess you could say I’m working on it.”

“Are you gonna come again next Sunday?” Jill asked

“I’ll try,” Dru said, surely hoping she could make it.

They had talked for five minutes of inconsequential matters, before Dru looked at her watch and said,  “I should probably see Ivey, now.”

Jill said,  “Ivey is that girl down the hall that’s in a coma.  She’s Dru’s best friend.”

“I’m sorry,” Dan apologized.

“For what?”

“That your friend is in a coma.”

“Why?  It wasn’t your fault.”

“But I’m still sorry that she’s here.”

“Well, then, thank you,” Dru acknowledged.

She had left the room and went to Ivey after that.

More and more Dru was considering the idea of adoption.  She was realizing how unfair it was to deprive her child of a father.  Drake was around, every now and then, but would that change?  Even if it didn’t change, it wouldn’t be the same.

No, Dru didn’t want her child to grow up as she had.  Because knowing one had a father and never seeing him was almost worse than not having one at all.

And then Dru would think about how the child would feel knowing her parents gave her away.  Or maybe the child would never know that she had other parents.

But right now Dru had to forget about the past.  Ivey was dying.

Dru walked out of the room.  It all disgusted her, every last bit.  She didn’t deserve this; not dying, particularly like this!

Outside the room, Dru turned around and pressed her face up against the glass.  Ivey looked so lifelike right now.  She did not look like she was in a coma, on the verge of death.  Her cheeks were rosy, her lips bright.

Dru felt a tap on her shoulder.  She turned around and saw Jake Miller, Jill’s Sunday school teacher who had sat by her in church.

“I thought it was you,” he said.

“Hello,” Dru greeted him listlessly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“This is Ivey, my best friend,” Dru said pointing into the room.  “She’s dying.”

Jake sensed she wanted to be alone, and said,  “Well, I need to see Dan now, I’ll let you be alone.”

“Bye,” Dru said.

She turned, and was again looking into the room through the glass.  Ivey was twitching, and then thrashing about wildly again. Dru did not worry too much, because Ivey had been doing it frequently lately; Dru was, however, instructed to call the nurse when it happened.  The nurse would give Ivey an injection, of what Dru did not know, and Ivey would lie still for some time.

Dru was starting to turn so as to get a nurse, when Ivey was suddenly lying still.  No more than two seconds had passed when a shrill, ear-splitting sound cut through the air.

The hall was instantly teeming with people; doctors, nurses, orderlies, spectators, anyone and everyone were there, and all Dru wanted was to curl up in a corner by herself.

Almost immediately, Jake was at Dru’s side.

“Do you need anything?” he asked her, knowing she needed a distraction.

“Cade,” Dru said,  “needs to know?page on loudspeaker.”

Jake led her through the throng of people.  He found the neglected system at the nurses’ station.

“What was the name?” Jake asked her.

“Cade Burke.”

Jake flicked a switch and said,  “Cade Burke, you need to get to ICU immediatly.  I repeat, Cade Burke to ICU.”

Dru heard a loud thump from down the hall and cringed.  She brushed away the tears that were streaming down her cheeks angrily.

Dru sat down in a chair and pulled the cellular phone out of her purse, along with a scrap of paper on which she had written Drake’s pager number.  She quickly dialed the number, and then the number of her phone, finally pressing the pound button.

Dru waited, but did not need to for long.  Not thirty seconds had passed when the phone started ringing.  She pressed the on button.

“Drake?  Is it you?” Dru asked shakily, barely holding back tears.

“Dru,” Drake stated.

“Where are you, Drake?”

“I’m in Tennessee, on my way into Nashville right now.”

“You need to be here, Drake, right now.”

“Dru!  What’s wrong?  Amy said you went to Tennessee.  Is Cade?“

“It’s Ivey,” Dru said, now sobbing freely.

“Ivey!  What’s wrong with her?”

Dru could not speak, her sobs were so heavy.

“Dru?  Are you there?”

“Dru!” Drake yelled.

Jake gently pried the phone out of Dru’s tense fingers.

“Hello?” Jake said into the phone.  “This is Jake Miller, I met Dru recently.”

“Listen, Jake,” Drake said with obvious loathe,  “what is happening down there!”

Jake ignored Drake’s tone and answered him politely,  “It appears Ivey has gone into cardiac arrest.”

Drake was silent for a moment.

“Tell Dru I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Jake turned the phone off and handed it back to Dru, who had calmed down enough to talk now.

“Who was that,” he asked her.

“Ivey’s brother.”

“Who is Cade Burke?”

“Ivey’s other brother.”

Dru stood up.

“I’m going to go see Ivey,” she stated, trying her best to appear calm.

“Are you sure?” Jake asked.

Dru’s nod wasn’t convincing, but she turned and walked up the hall towards Ivey’s room.  Cade stepped out of the elevator and saw Dru coming towards him.

“What’s wrong?” he immediately inquired.

“Ivey’s heart stopped,” Dru stated.

“Is she okay?” Cade asked, already grabbing Dru’s hand and leading her to Ivey’s room.

“I-I don’t know; I was just going to find out.”

They heard a cheer come from Ivey’s room, followed by a gasp.  After this they ran the rest of the way.

“What’s wro??”  The words died on Cade’s lips as he took in the sight before him.

Ivey’s hand was suspended in mid-air.  It was shaking slightly, as if she did not have enough strength to hold up her own hand.  Her arm dropped onto the blanket with a stifled thud.

The room was completely silent, discounting the frantic breathing coming from Ivey.  The rapid breathing turned into a palpable coughing paroxysm.

A callow doctor rushed to her bedside, and promptly had the object of Ivey’s coughing spasm in his hand.  He set the oxygen tube on a stand not far from the bed, then retreated, creating room for Dru and Cade.

Cade moved to one side, Dru the other; Dru held Ivey’s hand.  She almost screamed when Ivey’s hand squeezed her own.

Slowly, gradually, Ivey’s cracked lips parted, from which a raspy sound emerged.  It was a quiet clicking sound, almost as if she was trying to speak, but could not.

More sounds came, but they were only mumbles.  Then it happened: Ivey said something they could understand.

“Dru?find Dru.  Marilyn looking for Dru.”

“I’m right here, Ivey,” Dru said.

“Run?run far, far away,” Ivey whispered.

And then she was gone.
 

“You need to get some rest, Dru,” Drake said.  “You’re wearing yourself out.”

“I’m not leaving,” Dru stated.

He knew better than to argue with her, but Cade did not.

“He’s right, Dru, you’re going to make yourself sick.”

“I said I’m not leaving and that’s that!” Dru lashed.

Drake looked at Cade, regarding him with a cool gaze.  This was how the last few hours had been.  Icy was the only word to describe it.

“Will you guys stop it already!” Dru exclaimed, finally cracking under the tension.

They both looked at her guiltily.

“You are both grown adults, but you’re acting like children and I can’t stand it!  Just grow up already!”

Dru stood and walked down the hall, again ducking in Ivey’s room.  The people had cleared away now.  Dr. Fraker said there was a good chance Ivey would come out of the coma again, because she had that afternoon.

Dru reached for Ivey’s hand again, hoping against hope she would feel a squeeze.  She was not surprised that she felt nothing but clamminess.

“How ya doin’?”

Dru looked up and saw Jake Miller.  He seemed to be popping up all over the place lately.

“Okay, I guess.  Why are you still here?”

“There weren’t any nurses available to let me into Dan’s room, so I left and decided to come back later; now is later.”

“Hmm.”

“How is your friend?” He asked, gesturing to Ivey.

“She came out of a coma for a few minutes, but then relapsed.”

“I’m sorry.  Anyway, I gotta go now.  See you Sunday.”

“Sunday,” Dru repeated as he exited.

Dru looked down at Ivey, who still looked very lifelike.  How long she stood like that, she did not know; time seemed to stop.  Dru looked up and felt the floor move beneath her.  Images were swimming around in her head.

Scream!  Someone will help you if you scream! But Dru did not have time to scream.  The floor rushed up meet her.
 

“Help me,” Ivey moaned.  “Somebody, please, help me!”

Everything hurt.  Every bone, every joint- they all ached.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ivey saw a crumpled form on the floor beside her bed.  Who is that? Ivey wondered.

She groaned as she craned her neck to see.  Dru?  What are you doing on the floor? Dru!  They’re looking for Dru.  I have to warn her!

Ivey tried to get Dru’s attention, but could not and she soon gave up.  Ivey looked around, wanting to see someone and get their attention.  What she saw surprised her.  I’m in a hospital room! She realized.

On a portable table nearby, Ivey spotted a metal tool of some sort.  She moved toward it very slowly, barely able to grab it before she fell back in pain.  She noticed the IV in her arm.
She tossed the metal object, hoping it would make a loud noise when it landed.

Clang!  Within seconds a nurse was at the door, followed by Cade and Drake.

“Ivey?” Cade inquired.  “You-you’re- wow!  Where’s Dru?  She’ll be ecstatic!”

Drake nodded toward Dru’s crumpled form on the ground and Cade’s delighted smile faded. Drake got to Dru first.  He and Cade pulled her up and sat her on a chair.  Dru’s head rolled as they jostled her.  Ivey cringed.

The nurse yelled something down the hall, and the room was soon flocked with people.  Some poked and prodded at Ivey, while others poked and prodded Dru.

Then, Ivey noticed how large Dru had become.  She’s pregnant, Ivey realized.  No, I already know that, wait, did I?  Dru never told me?

“Look at me,” a young-looking doctor said.

Ivey did so.  “What’s wrong with Dru?” she asked the doctor.  The raspiness of her throat shocked her, almost as much as the wave of pain.

“I don’t know.  Open your mouth.”

“No!” Ivey insisted.  “I want to know what’s the matter with Dru!”

A group of people started carrying Dru out of the room.

“I need to talk to Dru,” she called after them.

When nobody responed to her plea, she yelled,  “Dru!”

Ivey’s last vision was that of the doctor’s hand coming toward her.
 

“You idiot!  You don’t give a coma victim a dose of?“ Dr. Fraker noticed the entire ward was hearing him, and lowered his voice to the extent that Cade could not hear him anymore.

“This is great!  Just great,” Drake muttered.  “Now both Dru and Ivey are out of it.”

“I should have known something like this would happen,” Cade said.  “With my luck, I should have expected it.”

“Hey,” Jake said.  “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Jake had decided to join Cade and Drake for an after-dinner snack in the hospital’s cafeteria.

“Yes, actually, I should,” Cade stated.

“Why?”

Drake interrupted,  “Do you have any idea what we are involved in right now?”

“No,” Jake answered.

“From the way you talked about Dru, I thought you’d known her forever,” Cade mused.

“I feel like I have,” Jake said,  “but that’s not the point of this conversatation, is it?”

“Do you want to know?” Drake asked.

“Know what?” Jake asked.

“Know why Ivey is in a coma.  Know why we are all here right now.”

“Sure,” Jake said lightly.

“I don’t think you understand what I’m saying.  This is a very dangerous and serious matter, one not to be taken freely!”

Jake’s expression turned grim.

Drake started,  “Dru is a very rich girl.  Actually, so are Cade, Ivey, and myself.  We’re all very rich people.”

“But it wasn’t always like that,” Cade interrupted.

Drake continued,  “Some years ago, my father got involved in the selling of illegal drugs.  You know: coke, grass, speed, the works.

“About eighteen months ago, my father went abroad to manage some of the growing.  He met Robert Keieva, Dru’s father.  Rob threatened my father.  He said he was going to turn him in to the authorities.  My father used Dru as blackmail.”

Cade said,  “We were sent to check up on Dru and her mother, who did not live with Rob.”

“I don’t know when, but Dru’s mother, Marilyn Bassey, got involved with the drug scam,” Drake said.

Cade stared at Drake in disbelief.  “When did you plan on telling me?”

“The next time I saw you.  Dru only found out last week.”

Drake continued his explanation for Jake.  “It appears as if Mrs. Bassey is now the head of the drug ring.  She’s been giving the orders for the past year.  She wanted Rob dead, and it happened.  She needed Ivey out of the way, she’s now in a coma.”

“She’s been destroying the lives of innocent people,” Jake said, utterly disgusted.

“You haven’t heard anything yet,” Cade said.

“She wanted to have a grandchild, and Dru got pregnant.”

Jake was appalled.

Drake looked at his watch.  “And right now, she’s in the air, probably over Colorado, heading into Nashville.  She knows we’re here.”

Drake leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.

“My guess?  We’ll all be dead within the night.”
 

“We are approaching the Nashville airpost, Ms. Bassey,” came a voice from in front of her.

“Wonderful!” Marilyn exclaimed.  “Now, speed up.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going as fast as I can at the moment,” the pilot replied.

“No, I don’t believe you are.  Perhaps I have not made myself clear.  We need to land in the next ten minutes.”

“I’m sorry, but?“

The cold, hard pressure of steel against his head silenced him.
 

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