Just My Luck Ch. 7
“Dr. Shannon,” a nurse called out in relief to the man who was getting ready to leave the hospital for the night. She had been just barely able to catch him before he had been able to head for the hospital’s parking garage.
“You have two patients coming in,” the nurse said breathlessly.
“What do you mean?” he asked as he stepped back into the building. It was late and he was anxious to get home.
“I was just getting ready to go on home.”
“I’m sorry about that, Dr. Shannon, but a Mike Headnot just called in. He’s riding in an ambulance with a young man named Joshua…”
She never finished her sentence because Dr. Shannon had taken off, running quickly down the long corridor that would take him to the emergency receiving area.
Minutes later, upon arriving in the receiving area, Dr. Shannon met Dr. Rajeeh Mohammad and several other doctors and nurses as they busily prepared themselves for the impending arrivals.
“I just heard,” Dr. Shannon said to Dr. Mohammad as he was attended to by a nurse in pulling on latex gloves and other protective garments that were worn in the emergency room. Dr. Mohammad waited until the other doctor had finished putting on his outer garments before speaking again.
The Indian doctor was finding it difficult to believe the situation that had been told to him by Mr. Headnot just minutes earlier. He had first the met the young men belonging to the group, Nsync about a year ago when JC had been involved in a near drowning accident. He had been on duty in the emergency room, along with Dr. Shannon, at the time that JC and Justin were brought in for treatment and he was able to witness the bond that had formed between the doctor and the members of the group. Now, he was going to once again witness the bond that had grown even stronger in the last year, making this situation very difficult for Dr. Shannon and he hoped that by his being there, he might be able to share in handling this new burden being placed upon the doctor’s shoulders.
“It’s Joshua and Christopher,” Dr. Mohammad said quietly as he ushered the doctor toward a quiet corner in order to fill him in on what they already knew. He saw a look of sadness wash over the doctor’s face and knew that this was going to be difficult for him, but his help would not only be needed but his presence might be necessary if the young men being brought in needed comforting and, from what he had heard, they had been through a very traumatic experience and in need of comfort.
Dr. Mohammad placed his hand on Dr. Shannon’s shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze as he gave him what little information Mike Headnot had given him and the information on the boys’ conditions from the paramedics bringing them to the hospital.
“Okay, Ken,” Dr. Mohammad began. “This is what we do know as of a few minutes ago. Christopher and Joshua were found about 30 minutes ago by police, tied up and unconscious in their friend’s ransacked house.”
At those words, Dr. Shannon stepped back and gave the other doctor a look of what could be explained as horrified astonishment.
“Lance’s…Joey’s?” he asked in hushed tones, trying to understand what had happened. He knew that both young men were to have left sometime ago to pick up several things from Joey and Lance’s homes in order to make their stays in the hospital more comfortable. And now…hearing that one of them would be dealing with not only an attack…a hospital stay…long recovery period…now also a break in was almost too much for the doctor to bear. How much more would the group and their families be expected to handle before something or someone would give in to the pressure?
Dr. Mohammad looked at his colleague’s face knowing what thoughts had to be racing through his mind and that his answer was not going to be helping matters in the least. This realization caused his reply to be almost inaudible to the other’s ears.
“Lance’s, I believe,” Dr. Mohammad answered.
“Did you say Lance’s home…” Dr. Shannon asked in disbelief. When he saw Dr. Mohammad sadly nod his head, he turned his back to the man, bowed his head and thrust his hands deeply into his pocket. He stayed in that position for several seconds trying to regain his composure but was finding that very hard to do.
“Well…what happened to them?” Dr. Shannon asked quietly as he crossed his arms over his chest as if to warm himself from a chill that only he himself could feel then turned back toward Dr. Mohammad, who once again placed his hand on the doctor’s shoulder.
”The police believe that Joshua and Christopher probably walked in on the intruders and were knocked unconscious. Christopher sustained a blow to the back of the head and Joshua sustained two blows…one to each temple. They were found bound hand and foot…gagged…and blindfolded. They were not beaten or harmed otherwise but neither young man had regained consciousness until a few minutes ago when I got the call from one of the attending paramedics that Christopher had briefly, but slipped back into unconsciousness seconds later.
Dr. Mohammad watched as an invisible shield seemed to descend over Dr. Shannon’s features and the emotions that had run over his face just moments earlier had now been replaced with what could be described as a look of professional detachment. It appeared that Dr. Shannon had simply pushed his emotional involvement to the side and was now in his professional mode, but Dr. Mohammad realized that later in the evening, after their impending tasks would be completed, Dr. Shannon would more than likely reveal his true feelings privately in the physician’s changing and shower room or in his office.
With a slight shake of his head, Dr. Mohammad continued to give what information he had on the young men to the Dr. Shannon who would nod his head, while at the same time, ticking off in his mind the various tests and x-rays that would need to be run, finding someone to notify Johnny Wright and Jim and Diane Bass upstairs along with the boys’ families…the list was endless. Just as Dr. Mohammad finished speaking, the first of two ambulances arrived and parked outside of the receiving area. Seconds later, JC’s gurney was pushed into the area followed by Chris’s a few seconds later with the attending paramedics announcing their conditions, vitals and any other pertinent information to the swarm of physicians and nurses that seemed to descend upon the two as bees would to honey.
Clearly distraught, Mike and Lonnie were ushered through the treatment area, into the waiting area where they found a phone and quickly began making phone calls to Johnny and the Bass’s upstairs, unknowingly taking care of those tasks for Dr. Shannon. They knew that Johnny and Jim and Diane had all been worried about the whereabouts of JC and Chris and, unfortunately they were going to be the bearers of bad news.
Dr. Mohammad quickly made his way over to Chris’s side while, after taking a deep calming breath, Dr. Shannon made his way to JC’s gurney and saw that the young man was still unconscious with bruises descending from both sideburns to his jaw line. He gently pried JC’s eyelids apart and checked their pupil’s responses by flashing his penlight at them.
“Both pupils are sluggish but responsive,” he commented out loud as several nurses and doctors also began to assess JC’s condition.
“Responds well to pain,” one nurse commented as she rubbed JC’s sternum with her fist while applying pressure and this elicited a small moan of pain from the young man.
“Blood pressure if 90 over 60 and his pulse is steady at 65…respirations at 17,” another nurse said as she moved away from the gurney to record the information onto a chart.
Another doctor quickly loosened the straps holding JC’s limp body immobile against a backboard then made room for a resident to step up and perform a portion of his examination.
“Reflexes are good,” the resident stated as he tapped JC’s ankles, knees, then elbows with a small, rubber mallet, then made way for a nurse to begin drawing blood for the various tests that Dr. Shannon wanted to run in order to further assess JC’s condition.
“There is moderate bruising and swelling at both temples…jaw lines,” another doctor stated as he moved from side to side in order to get a better view of JC’s head since it was still immobilized, strapped down to a backboard. The doctor stood up and looked down at the young man’s pale face and noticed some more marks marring his features. He gently lifted the oxygen mask covering JC’s face and shook his head at what he saw…black and purple bruises surrounding his slack mouth.
“Has what looks like a partial hand mark around his mouth,” he quietly commented as he replaced the mask and shook with a slight shudder at the thought of how that had to have been put on JC’s face. Only a great amount of pressure could leave marks like that and, by the size of the bruises, the person who had left the marks had to have been a fairly large individual.
“We have abrasions…slight contusions…bruising and swelling around the wrists,” another nurse announced, interrupting the doctor’s thoughts as she continued her search for further injuries by lifting the sheet covering JC’s scantly clad frame.
“He has bruising at the right bicep…what looks like partial hand mark…more bruising along his chest…” she added as she gently placed the cover back over JC then reached down to give his hand a tender squeeze knowing the terror that the young man must have gone through before returning to her work.
“The police will need to see those,” Dr. Shannon said quietly, not realizing that there were already officers in the room behind him quietly observing and writing down their own notes on what they were seeing and hearing.
For several more minutes, those attending to JC continued to do their work until it was certain that JC’s condition would allow a trip upstairs to the x-ray department for further tests.
“He seems to be stable…let’s send him up to CT scan to run a full skull, chest, and spinal series,” Dr. Shannon said. “Tell them that if he wakes up at any time during the tests to call down here immediately and let me know.”
Dr. Shannon remembered his promise to Joey when Lance had injured himself almost a year ago. Joey had not wanted Lance to wake up by himself and he had no intentions of letting either JC or Chris do so if he could help it. He wanted to be there for them if at all possible.
“Yes, doctor,” one of the nurses stated as she walked over to a phone and quickly called in the orders while several other nurses pushed JC’s gurney through the double doors leading into a corridor.
Dr. Shannon then walked over to Chris’s gurney and watched as the young mans’ eyelids began to briefly flutter in his effort to regain consciousness.
Dr. Shannon quickly grabbed Chris’s hand and bent down over him while the other doctors and nurses continued to work about him.
“Chris…Chris…it’s Dr. Shannon, son,” the doctor said as he watched Chris slightly struggle against the straps holding his head and body against the backboard that he was still lying on.
“Chris…open your eyes, Chris…come on…open your eyes for me. You’re safe…you’re at the hospital…JC is here…you’re both safe now.”
The doctor’s words seemed to guide Chris into consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes then squinted painfully at the glare of the bright lights then quietly moaned.
“Wha…wha…what…happen?” Chris asked weakly as he looked up at the doctor leaning over him.
“Wreck…car wreck?” Chris asked in confusion. He had no earthly idea how he had ended up in the hospital. His last memory was of JC driving them to Joey’s place.
“JC? What happened?” Chris asked in a voice that was beginning to reveal his mounting fear.
“What’s the last thing that you remember, Chris?” Dr. Shannon asked gently as he brushed away a few tears as they made their way down Chris’s pale face.
“We left here to go to Joey’s place to get him some clothes and stuff…then…I don’t know,” Chris replied in a small voice that was beginning to tremble as he gazed about wildly, trying to find JC, but from his restrained position on the backboard, his field of vision was very limited.
“What happened, Dr. Shannon? Did we have a wreck? Where’s JC?”
“You don’t remember getting to Joey’s then going to Lance’s house?” Dr. Shannon asked as he continued to wipe away the tears that were falling from Chris’s eyes.
"No, no,” Chris whispered before blinking his eyes heavily several times as he began to feel waves of darkness beginning to wash over him.
Dr. Shannon realized that Chris would be losing consciousness once again and began quietly stating orders to the nurses and doctors attending the young man in the hopes of preventing that from happening, but Chris’s body beat them to the punch. “Sleepy…head…hurts…sleep…mmm,” Chris said quietly in a slurred voice, his eyelids briefly fluttering before he lost consciousness once again.
Dr. Shannon closed his eyes and took a deep breath then stood up while still holding Chris’s limp hand then gently released it as he turned to look at those around him.
“We need a skull series on Chris…a full spinal series too. His blood sugar level needs to be monitored as well as his blood pressure. I’ll also need to speak with an officer assigned to the case to give him the information that Chris just gave me.”
With those instructions said, several nurses immediately wheeled Chris’s gurney out of the emergency room, into the same corridor that JC had been taken through just a few minutes earlier while Dr. Shannon remained standing in the middle of empty room trying to come to terms with the fact that two of his boys had survived a violent attack.
“Okay…let’s get our story straight before we see Mr. Picatti,” Gary said quietly. He and the others knew that they had really screwed up in using Mr. Picatti’s name as well as their own names when speaking to the one young man who had been conscious at the time. Having to deal with the two young men seemed to have had an avalanche effect, causing them to make mistakes that they knew they shouldn’t have. First, they mention their own names then, Mr. Picatti’s name...it was almost as if they had had no control over their tongues…none at all.
Now, they were sitting in Sam’s vehicle, trying to concoct some sort of story to tell their boss in an attempt to cover up their mistakes.
“Well…we need to let him know that we didn’t find any sort of connection between Bass and Goines,” Matt offered as he ran his hand through his thick, sandy hair. He didn’t want to deceive his boss, but…on the other hand…he didn’t want to die.
“We can let him know that the two kids showed up and we roughed them up and tied them up,” Sam added before taking a slow drag from his cigarette. He had tried giving up the habit some time earlier but situations, such as this one, always caused him to fall back on his old habits in an effort to calm himself. And, with this situation, he wasn’t too sure if the half pack of cigarettes in his pocket were going to do the trick.
“We did get Bass’s laptop, some diskettes, address books and a few files that looked important…that should help,” Matt said as he glanced at the items in the seat beside him. In the trunk of the vehicle, they had placed a few televisions, VCRs, CD players, and jewelry, among other things, in an effort to make the incident look like a robbery had taken place, but the use of Mr. Picatti’s name would probably ruin that.
“There might be some good stuff in that computer if we can hack through any passwords,” Sam added as he lit another cigarette. The first one didn’t even touch his nerves.
“We can tell him that we took a car and wallet to make it look like robbery,” Gary said quietly as he fingered JC’s leather billfold. They had been surprised to find that there wasn’t more than $50 inside, one major credit card, a gas card, driver’s license and a few business cards that were littered with phone numbers that had been messily scrawled on them.
The other young man’s pockets had been empty and they had no idea as to what his identity was. Unknown to them, before rehearsals earlier in the day, Chris had left his billfold and keys in his backpack, which was probably now with either Mike and Lonnie or any other member of the Nsync security team. When he had received the news about Lance and Joey with Justin’s frantic phone call, his only concern was getting to his friends as quickly as possible…he could have cared less about his backpack.
“Let him know that the car and the house are clean…we had gloves on,” Matt added realizing that their efforts might just backfire on them if they weren’t careful.
“You know…we could always go after that Chasez kid,” Sam said quietly. “If we get to him before he has a chance to talk…”
“No…I’m not going to add murder to this, Sam,” Gary said vehemently. “No way!”
“But if he talks…” Matt said, his voice barely above a whisper. “If that kid talks, we’re dead men.”
“Let’s just wait and see if he talks. He might be too scared to do that,” Gary said, putting an end to the conversation.
“We scared that kid pretty bad and I have a feeling that he won’t be doing much talking.”
Gary looked at Sam and Matt and both men reluctantly nodded their heads. Neither wanted to add murder to their list of crimes…especially the murder of an international celebrity. Assault and battery was enough as far as he was concerned.
It was silent in the vehicle for several minutes before Gary spoke again.
“Okay, now that that’s settled…” Gary said as he began constructing their story in his mind then out loud.
“This is what we’re going to tell Mr. Picatti...”
For the next several minutes the trio worked together and came up with a believable story that would not be hard to stay with or easily disproved…they hoped.
“Lonnie…Mike…how are the boys…what happened?” Jim Bass asked breathlessly as he hurriedly entered the emergency room waiting area. The sight that met him was one that he knew that he would never forget. In the five or six years that he had known Lonnie and Mike and the other men who protected his son and the other members of Nsync, never had he seen them look so defeated…so helpless as he did now. He could not even begin to comprehend the emotions that Mike and Lonnie were going through. Not only had they been unable to protect his son from his attack, due to no fault of their own…they had now also been unable to protect JC and Chris. Here were two of the largest men that made up the team that bravely protected the members of Nsync from dangerous situations daily except for today’s events…and, for the moment, the pair looked lost and forlorn.
“We don’t know how they are yet,” Mike answered quietly as he studied the floor as he unconsciously wrung his hands.
“Um…Jim…I,” Mike added before closing his mouth and bowing his head in an effort to control his rolling emotions.
“When…um…when we got here…um…Chris had come to for just a…just a few seconds then went…out again…but…um…JC…he…he hadn’t…um…come to yet,” Lonnie added when he realized that Mike had shutdown.
For the next several minutes the two bodyguards took turns quietly telling Jim what they had seen at his son’s home, sparing no details and, by the time they had finished, none of the three men had dry eyes.
“Well…I guess the first thing we need to do is try to find out if anything was taken,” Jim said quietly after regaining some control over his emotions. The image that he had of JC and Chris lying bound and unconscious in the middle of his son’s wrecked living room was one that he was sure would create nightmares for him. With those thoughts in mind, he could not even begin to comprehend how these two hulking, big men were handling the scene that they had stumbled upon.
"Can you do that without Lance finding out?” Mike asked. He did not want the young man to discover what had happened to his friends or his home…not yet at least. He just didn’t think he or Lance was prepared for that encounter.
Jim looked at the hulking figure before him begin to cry silent tears. Never had he seen a sight quite like that before…Mike Headnot, head bodyguard for one of the most well known vocal group in the US…possibly the world…standing before him, tears falling unashamedly from his deep, brown eyes.
“It’ll be okay, Mike,” Jim said as he put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.
“It’ll be okay…somehow, it will all be okay.”
The group remained quiet, locked in their own thoughts…their own fears until, minutes later, Dr. Shannon stepped into the waiting area to let them know of Chris and JC’s conditions.
“Chris awakened for a period of about two to three minutes then lapsed back into unconsciousness,” he said quietly after ushering the three men toward a row of seats along a far wall that gave them a better sense of privacy.
“What about C?” Lonnie asked. It had been very hard to watch the usually lively pair of young men simply just lie still, unresponsive in any manner, as the paramedics worked on them at Lance’s home. There was always some sort of movement even when the two were asleep…especially Chris.
“No…Josh hasn’t shown any signs of regaining consciousness yet,” Dr. Shannon answered quietly. “It might be some time before we see any signs of that occurring. Apparently, he took two vicious blows to the head, so…we’ll just have to wait.”
“Is there any way that we might be able to sit with them?” Lonnie asked. “I’m not sure how much security is being offered by the police and…” he added, letting his voice trail off as he dropped his head in shame. Who was he to speak of security when he and Mike had been unable to protect these young men? He wouldn’t be surprised if he and Mike weren’t let go of their duties…it would be the very least that Johnny could do to them. In all actuality, he was ready to turn in his walking papers at that very moment.
Lonnie’s tortured thoughts were interrupted when Dr. Shannon nodded his head and cleared his throat. He had planned on giving a negative answer to the question, but one look at the torn expression on Mike’s face and the unsteady breathing being heard from Lonnie made him reconsider his answer.
“Yes,” Dr. Shannon said, realizing that neither man was looking up and had missed him nodding his head in reply to the question.
“Both of you can sit with them while their tests are being run…that way if they do happen to regain consciousness, then they won’t be alone and your presence will be very comforting for them.”
Dr. Shannon was relieved to see the new expressions on the two bodyguards’ faces…expressions of gratitude…hope.
“How do you think we should handle this with Lance?” Jim asked the doctor, surprising him since he had all but forgotten about his presence in the room. He had been so intent in helping Mike and Lonnie and felt badly for his neglecting him.
“Sorry, Jim, didn’t mean to ignore you,” Dr. Shannon apologized as he turned to face him. “I’d only let it come up if Lance happens to mention it. It’s about time for his medication anyway,” the doctor said glancing at the clock on the wall. “Once that’s given to him, he should remain pretty much comatose for the rest of the evening.”
”He’s been pretty much in and out of it anyway,” Jim added, nodding his head at the doctor’s words. That would buy them some time. He had no earthly idea how he was going to handle this new development. This would possibly be the most difficult conversation he would ever have with his son. “Who else knows about this?” Dr. Shannon asked as he looked at the others.
“Don’t worry about press or anything like that, doc,” Mike said. “Johnny was the only other person we called and he’ll handle everything at that end. We’ll probably need to speak with the security team here and the police.”
“When should Johnny be here?” Dr. Shannon asked as he looked up to see the group’s manager come rushing into the waiting area, his face flushed…eyes red-rimmed and frantic.
Once Johnny had heard the same information that Lonnie and Mike had given Dr. Shannon and vice-versa, the group separated Dr. Shannon, Mike and Lonnie left Jim Bass and Johnny Wright to make their way upstairs to the x-ray department while the other two made their way back to Joey and Lance’s room to wait for further news on the young men. Besides that, Jim was sure that Diane was beside herself with worry and Janine Fatone, Joey’s sister was more than likely there also by now. He needed to reassure them of JC and Chris’s conditions and that Dr. Shannon felt that their injuries were not life threatening.