CHAPTER 14


 

LONNIE SANDERS was tired. The trauma center had been going non-stop all evening. After sending the last patient, a suspected SARS victim, to isolation, she decided to catch a breath of fresh air during the lull. Her pager would let her know if anything else came in.

Grabbing her coat, a Snickers bar and a cup of coffee, she told Joey she was going for a walk.

"Page me if anything happens. I'll just be outside."

"Sure Doc."

The night air was cool. Taking a deep breath, she walked around the corner of the building into a dark secluded spot. Normally, a spotlight lit the area but it had burnt out several nights earlier and maintenance hadn't replaced it. Leaning against the wall, she sipped the coffee and bit a chunk of candy, chewing slowly. Tonight was unusually busy... car accidents, two shootings, a stabbing and the potentially deadly SARS case kept everyone scrambling. Two more hours and she'd be off, if nothing else happened. As if her thoughts conjured up a vision, she heard a slight moan coming from the darkness. Startled, she looked around trying to locate the source. Another moan to her left caught her attention. Cautiously, she walked toward the noise. Her toe hit something solid and she knelt down to investigate. Discovering a body, she grabbed her two-way and called for help. Within seconds Joey and two nurses rushed around the corner carrying a stretcher and a flashlight. The light beam flashed over the body of a young woman wrapped in a bloody sheet.

"She's alive. Get her inside. NOW!" ordered Lonnie.

Gently, the four lifted the woman onto the stretcher and carried her into an examination room. As the nurses began cutting away the sheet, Lonnie ordered Joey to bring in IVs, pans of warm water and plenty of gauze and to get the lab to type her blood in case she needed a transfusion. Although the sheet was saturated from the blood, Lonnie knew it might not be as bad as it looked. Locating the source was more important. Everyone worked furiously trying to clean the girl's body enough for Dr. Sanders to make a thorough examination.

Checking the unconscious woman's eyes for a response she nodded her approval.

"Good. Okay, people, let's see what happened here. Where's the blood coming from?" she demanded, running her hands along the girl's body searching for any signs of injuries. Bruises around the wrists indicated a form of bondage. There were also several deep scratches around her breasts. "Does she have any i.d.?" Lonnie asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

"None," Joey replied.

"Doc, this woman's had an abortion or been raped or something." said one of the nurses as she cleaned the thighs.

Lonnie shifted down to exam the pelvic area. It was the obvious source of the majority of bleeding although the flow seemed to have stopped.

"Call the O.R. and tell them we need it stat. See if Dr. Langley is still here. She's the best gyno in the hospital."

Joey, who had been standing to the side, picked up the phone to make the arrangements.

"Dr. Langley will meet you in ten minutes in O.R. 3, Dr. Sanders."

"Good, get her prepped. I'm going to clean up. I'll meet you there."

Four hours later, Joey wheeled the Jane Doe to post op for observation. Dr. Sanders and Dr. Langley followed several feet behind.

"I don't know what happened to that girl but I've never seen anything quite like it," Lonnie said pulling her face mask down.

"Wish I could say the same." Annie Langley replied. "This isn't as unusual as you think. Sometimes it's just rough sex gone wrong. Other times it's some sadistic bastard looking for a way to get his rocks off. This is one of the worse cases of abuse I've seen, though. This girl was so torn up inside, I had to remove everything and try to reconstruct the entire vaginal area. She'll never have kids."

"You think it was someone she knew or a stranger?"

"Don't know, but it wasn't voluntary. The bruises around her wrists show she was restrained. And those around her ankles were made by hands... big hands. Someone held her legs while she was being raped."

"Well, there's no chance of finding semen or anything with all that blood and body fluid." Lonnie said.

"Yeah, from the looks of the injuries, it wasn't a penis that did all that damage. The creep took a great deal of pleasure torturing this girl. Now that makes him or her a very sick puppy."

"Her? You think a woman could do this?"

"I would hope not, Lonnie, but I don't discount anyone. In my line of medicine, I've seen some pretty horrific things done by women."

"I guess. Look, Anne, thanks for staying after and helping me with this."

"Anytime, kiddo. I'll check in on her when I come in later today, but I think she'll be fine. Call me if her condition worsens though."

"Will do. I'll just get her settled and file a report with the police."

*  *  *

Ivan watched the ER entrance, monitoring the people going in and out. More than fifteen minutes passed with no activity. Picking up the girl, he carried her to a dark secluded spot near the entrance. Hopefully, someone would come out and find her soon. For sure, he didn't want to make any calls to the hospital.

Once back in his car, he lit a cigarette drawing the smoke deep into his lungs. Ivan rarely smoked. Now it was only a matter of waiting to see if anyone would find her. After ten minutes, he was about to give up hope when a woman left the building and walked toward the darkened area. Within minutes several people rushed out the door to where she had disappeared.

"Now all I have to do is keep this from Catrina." he muttered, throwing the cigarette out the window. Without turning his lights on, he slowly pulled away from the curb and drove away.