Nothing Lasts Forever

Chapter Twenty-four

The black man with the gun pointed at Honey screamed, "I told you to shut up!" "I ... I'm sorry," Honey said. She was trembling. "Wh ... what do you want?"
He was pressing his hand against his side, trying to stop the flow of blood. "I want my sister."
Honey looked at him, puzzled. He was obviously insane. "Your sister?"
"Kat." His voice was becoming faint.
"Oh, my God! You're Mike!"
"Yeah."
The gun dropped, and he slipped to the floor. Honey rushed to him. Blood was pouring out from what looked like a gunshot wound.
"Lie still," Honey said. She hurried into the bathroom and gathered up some peroxide and a large bath towel. She returned to Mike. "This is going to hurt," she warned.
He lay there, too weak to move.
She poured peroxide into the wound and pressed the towel against his side. He bit down on his hand to keep from screaming.
"I'm going to call an ambulance and get you to the hospital," Honey said.
He grabbed her arm. "No! No hospitals. No police." His voice was getting weaker. "Where's Kat?"
"I don't know," Honey said helplessly. She knew Kat was out somewhere with Mallory, but she had no idea where. "Let me call a friend of mine."
"Paige?" he asked.
Honey nodded. "Yes." So Kat told him about the two of us.
It took the hospital ten minutes to reach Paige.
"You'd better come home," Honey said.
"I'm on call, Honey. I'm in the middle of - "
"Kat's brother is here."
"Oh, well, tell him - "
"He's been shot."
"He what?"
"He's been shot!"
"I'll send the paramedics over and - "
"He says no hospitals and no police. I don't know what to do."
"How bad is it?"
"Pretty bad."
There was a pause. "I'll find someone to cover for me. I'll be there in half an hour."
Honey replaced the receiver and turned to Mike. "Paige is coming."
* * *
Two hours later, on her way back to the apartment, Kat was filled with a glorious sense of well-being. She had been nervous about making love, afraid that she would hate it after the terrible experience she had had, but instead, Ken Mallory had turned it into something wonderful. He had unlocked emotions in her that she had never known existed.
Smiling to herself at the thought of how they had outwitted the doctors at the last moment and won the bet, Kat opened the door to the apartment and stood there in shock. Paige and Honey were kneeling beside Mike. He was lying on the floor, a pillow under his head, a towel pressed against his side, his clothes soaked with blood.
Paige and Honey looked up as Kat entered.
"Mike! My God!" She rushed over to Mike and knelt beside him. "What happened?"
"Hi, sis." His voice was barely a whisper.
"He's been shot," Paige said. "He's hemorrhaging."
"Let's get him to the hospital," Kat said.
Mike shook his head. "No," he whispered. "You're a doctor. Fix me up."
Kat looked over at Paige.
"I've stopped as much of the bleeding as I can, but the bullet is still inside him. We don't have the instruments here to - "
"He's still losing blood," Kat said. She cradled Mike's head in her arms. "Listen to me, Mike. If you don't get help, you're going to die."
"You... can't... report... this... I don't... want any police."
Kat asked quietly, "What are you involved in, Mike?"
"Nothing. I was in a ... a business deal ... and it went sour ... and this guy got mad and shot me."
It was the kind of story Kat had been listening to for years. Lies. All lies. She had known that then, and she knew it now, but she had tried to keep the truth from herself.
Mike held on to her arm. "Will you help me, sis?"
"Yes. I'm going to help you, Mike." Kat leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. Then she rose and went to the telephone. She picked up the receiver and dialed the emergency room at the hospital. "This is Dr. Hunter," she said in an unsteady voice. "I need an ambulance right away ..."
At the hospital, Kat asked Paige to perform the operation to remove the bullet.
"He's lost a lot of blood," Paige said. She turned to the assisting surgeon. "Give him another unit."
It was dawn when the operation was finished. The surgery was successful.
When it was over, Paige called Kat aside. "How do you want me to report this?" she asked. "I could list it as an accident, or ..."
"No," Kat said. Her voice was filled with pain. "I should have done this a long time ago. I want you to report it as a gunshot wound."
* * *
Mallory was waiting for Kat outside the operating theater.
"Kat! I heard about your brother and ..."
Kat nodded wearily.
"I'm so sorry. Is he going to be all right?"
Kat looked at Mallory and said, "Yes. For the first time in his life, Mike is going to be all right."
Mallory squeezed Kat's hand. "I just want you to know how wonderful last night was. You were a miracle. Oh. That reminds me. The doctors I bet with are in the lounge waiting, but I suppose with all that has happened, you wouldn't want to go in and ..."
"Why not?"
She took his arm and the two of them walked into the lounge. The doctors watched them as they approached.
Grundy said, "Hi, Kat. We need to have your word on something. Dr. Mallory claims that you and he spent the night together, and it was great."
"It was better than great," Kat said. "It was fantastic!" She kissed Mallory on the cheek. "I'll see you later, lover."
The men sat there, gaping, as Kat walked away.
In their dressing room, Kat said to Paige and Honey, "In all the excitement, I haven't had a chance to tell you the news."
"What news?" Paige asked.
"Ken asked me to marry him."
There were looks of disbelief on their faces.
"You're joking!" Paige said.
"No. He proposed to me last night. I accepted."
"But you can't marry him!" Honey exclaimed. "You know what he's like. I mean, he tried to get you to go to bed on a bet!"
"He succeeded." Kat grinned.
Paige looked at her. "I'm confused."
Kat said, "We were wrong about him. Completely wrong. Ken told me about that bet himself. All this time, it's been bothering his conscience. Don't you see what happened? I went out with him to punish him, and he went out with me to win some money, and we ended up falling in love with each other. Oh, I can't tell you how happy I am!"
Honey and Paige looked at each other. "When are you getting married?" Honey asked.
"We haven't discussed it yet, but I'm sure it will be soon. I want you two to be my bridesmaids."
" You can count on it," Paige said. " We'll be there." But there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind. She yawned. "It's been a long night. I'm going home and get some sleep."
"I'll stay here with Mike," Kat said. "When he wakes up, the police want to talk to him." She took their hands in hers. "Thank you for being such good friends."
On the way home, Paige thought about what had happened that night. She knew how much Kat loved her brother. It had taken a lot of courage to turn him over to the police. I should have done this a long time ago.
The telephone was ringing as Paige walked into the apartment. She hurried to pick it up.
It was Jason. "Hi! I just called to tell you how much I miss you. What's going on in your life?"
Paige was tempted to tell him, to share it with somebody, but it was too personal. It belonged to Kat.
"Nothing," Paige said. "Everything is fine."
"Good. Are you free for dinner tonight?"
Paige was aware that it was more than an invitation to dinner. If I see him anymore, I'm going to get involved, Paige thought. She knew that it was one of the most important decisions of her life.
She took a deep breath. "Jason ..." The doorbell rang. "Hold it a minute, will you, Jason?"
Paige put the telephone down and went to the door and opened it.
Alfred Turner was standing there.