“Is this what being dead feels like?”
Inky blackness surrounding his vision, the feeling of a heavy weight on his chest as Frederick struggles to breath. Unable to feel his legs and his hands feeling numb; Frederick begins to panic as he fights the pall dread washing over him.
Wondering if this was the afterlife; Frederick had no idea that he was lying in a hospital bed; with a tube in his chest and one of his hands cuffed to the hospital bed. Never much of a religious person to begin with; the mobster knew that he would one day have to answer to some body for all the harm he did, the people he ordered killed and the assorted crimes he has denied ever committing. He never thought that his punishment would be the complete sensory deprivation he was currently experiencing.
Unable to move for the moment; Frederick reflected on the past few days. Leaving San-Francisco on the red eye after hearing his son Daniel was arrested. Arriving in Moon Lake on a Saturday with a cadre of lawyers; it was Frederick’s attempt to bamboozle the courts into letting Daniel out. With that plan failing, Frederick set his bodyguard/hitman loose to find a way to get Daniel out and to see about intimidating the Talbots in some fashion. That plan never panned out thanks to a few of his henchmen deciding to pull a job without his permission.
Finding out they tried to break into the estate belonging to Benton Knight, after witnessing a navy blue Tesla sports car and an extremely rare Lamborghini racing past the motel. Frederick was unable to punish those men, for three of the four were killed upon trying to break into the place. The fourth was sent to the local jail; seated next to Daniel as far as Frederick knew. This act from his men stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble for Frederick; Benton Knight quickly finding out what happened and enraged that these men would dare to violate his property and potentially harm his daughter, Frederick soon found out that his various holdings in California were being taken over in the same manner he would try to do on the average man. What’s more, this new owner would let local law enforcement in to seize any contraband and arrest any known criminals.
Frederick soon found out that this was retribution from a very rich and very pissed of resident of Moon Lake. The same resident that owned the town’s only motel, the same motel that Frederick and his men were kicked out of. Refusing to tuck tail and run; Frederick who was now resorting to camping out, sent Chelnik to the Knight Estate. With orders to vandalize Benton’s Lamborghini Veneno; Frederick had no idea that was the last time he would ever see Chelnik. Unaware that the former Spetsnaz was spotted by and FBI agent and local deputy and then killed after a quick and grueling fight in the woods; Frederick soon started noticing his men going missing. Not realizing that this was being orchestrated by Leon Talbot; a man that despite not being wealthy, he commanded a lot of respect. Plus having a large family loyal to him didn’t hurt.
It was during the Labor Day Picnic that Frederick deciding to attack the police station holding his son. Determined to break Daniel out by force; Frederick had planned to have men assist him. Ordering them to wait for his word in Seattle; Frederick was livid when only a few showed up. Another wrinkle in his plan, thanks to Benton Knight after several of his off shore bank accounts suddenly disappeared. With the nine that showed up and himself; Frederick marched to the police station with an assault rifle in hand. While on of his men started firing RPG’s and missing horribly; Frederick’s men were soon being quickly repulsed by the deputies holed up in the station and a pissed off Leon Talbot on the roof launching tear gas at the men.
The attack was short and furious. Forced to surrender after half the men were felled from the returning gun fire; Frederick was soon given a metaphorical gut punch when we was told that his son Daniel was secretly transferred to the county lock up in Seattle the evening prior. Languishing in jail; Frederick had no idea that his compatriots were already planning to have him removed.
It was after his first visit to the court house for his bail hearing that Frederick realized a hit was placed on him. Feeling the heavy thud to his chest second before crumpling to the ground in the rear of the court house. The guard next to him also collapses to the ground, completely lifeless. Resigned that it was his time, Frederick closes his eyes as he sees blood staining his clothes and rapidly pooling about him.
*******
It was a Wednesday evening at the hospital; rain hitting the building’s windows and the only light on in the recovery room was the soft glow of a television with its volume down to an almost inaudible level. While most people would be unable to hear what is being said, the viewer was different. Thanks to being a were-dog, the person viewing the program; a weather update in the middle of the nightly news segment. Getting bored by just sitting outside the hospital room, the deputy was now sitting in the room keeping an eye on his prisoner while doing what he could to remain awake. While not standard operating procedure, watching television in the same room with an unconscious person wasn’t exactly against the rules as far as the deputy was concerned.
He did permit the attending nurses to check on the patient as well as doctor Tora. Doctor Marcus Huntington, a were-rat that the deputy was told not permit entry, never showed his greasy face; but that didn’t mean the deputy could rest easy. He still had a job to do; that was to ensure the prisoner in question couldn’t escape custody and to protect him from any more harm. The deputy knew the prisoner was unable to leave the confines of his bed. Being told he was paralyzed from the chest down after the bullet passed through him; severing his spinal cord. The deputy looks at the man lying in bed; a tube down his throat helping him to breath for the time being. Getting up to check and make sure the handcuff is still on the man and secured to the bed; the deputy looks closely to see the man’s eye lids starting to flutter. Wondering if the patient could be dying; he checks the various monitors to see nothing abnormal. Pulse and heart rate all look normal to the deputy’s eyes.
Guessing that the worst is over and that the man was having a dream; the deputy relaxes as he begins to head back to the chair he was just in. Turning around and about take the few steps, the deputy stops and wheels back around to look at the man in hospital bed. Seeing the man’s hand gripping the deputy and his eyes wide open. The deputy seeing the man trying to speak but unable to; the tube to his lungs keeping him alive for the moment.
“Frederick Parker,” the deputy speaking; “you are in the hospital. There is a tube down your throat pushing air into your lungs. That is why you can’t speak at the moment.”
The deputy watches as Frederick tries to struggle to get up. Seeing the monitor’s starting to react to the increase in heart rate and pulse, the deputy knew that the attending nurse will soon show up to note that the man is now awake. Getting on his radio the deputy issues a simple message to the Moon Lake police dispatch.
“Please inform Sheriff Cooper; that Frederick Parker is awake.”