Page 48 of Kent's Watch
“He is a friend of mine, I met him while we were on different missions for the military. He owns this apartment, and I’m only sub-letting it from him.”
“Do you think he’ll give you any hassles?”
Kent shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’ll call him after I get a shower. When does Zeke get out of the vet’s office?”
“Tomorrow afternoon.”
“Okay, I should have an answer by then. Do you want to take Zeke to the hospital right from the vet’s office?”
“We can, I know I can take Tank home and leave him there, what about Tate?”
“I know it’s not right, but I don’t feel good about leaving him by himself yet. I could take him with us, or I could see if Julie would keep an eye on him for a few hours.”
“We can work something out.” Marvin shook his hand and left, saying he would meet him at the hospital in a few hours. After he showered and dressed, Kent put a call into Spencer, and wasn’t surprised that his friend agreed that it would be a good idea for him to move into Rita’s place so Zeke would feel comfortable. He also promised to leave the apartment available until after Rita woke and went home. On a happy note, Kent left Tate in his crate and made his way to the hospital. He figured he’d only be a couple of hours that day, so leaving him alone should be fine.
The visit was uneventful, and before he left, both he and Marvin talked with the nurse on duty and the doctor about their plans for bringing Zeke in the next day. Though reluctant, the doctor agreed to it as long as he was on a leash and controlled at all times.
CHAPTER 21
The next twoweeks set a pattern for Kent. He would get up in the morning and take care of both Tate and Zeke, make his breakfast, and either go to the training facility to continue to train Tator, or to The Centre to train both dogs. In the afternoon, he would leave Tator with either Marvin or Julie, and take Zeke to the hospital with him. Zeke was still healing from the attack on him, but was coming along nicely. The thing about all of his activities that shocked him was that the hospital allowed him to bring Zeke in to see Rita as she lay in her coma. During the first two visits, he had to pick Zeke up and place him on the bed, but after a week, he was able to jump up there by himself. He would sniff Rita, lick her face, then settle at the foot of the bed by her feet. As the dog snoozed, Kent talked to Rita, telling her about his day, and how he was with both Tator and Zeke.
On Friday of the end of the second week with Rita being in the hospital, he was late getting there because Zeke had an appointment with the vet to make sure his stitches could be removed. Since both Julie and Marvin had plans, he had both dogs with him. It shocked him that Tator acted docilely at the vet’s office. As soon as they were back in his truck and settled in, he took off toward the hospital.
Walking down the hall with both dogs, Kent stopped several feet from the entrance to Rita’s room when there was a lot of activity going on around. He paused and positioned himself to be able to look in, and sighed in relief. He waited until most of the hospital staff exited, then walked in, still wearing a gigantic grin.
“You’re awake.” He could have slapped himself for that inane comment, but was rewarded with a grin when Rita turned her head and looked at him. He didn’t know if her eyes grew large at the sight of him, or her dog. He took it as him. He approached and Zeke immediately hopped up on the bed, sniffed her, then jerked back when she reached up to pet him. After giving him a rub down, he settled at the foot of the bed.
“I’m going to have to break him of that habit when I get home.” Rita shook her head as she looked at her dog at the foot of the bed. She looked up at him with a smile. “Thank you for bringing him here.”
Kent settled down in the chair next to the bed, the one he had occupied for hours in the past, and made sure Tator was beneath the bed, out of the way of any foot traffic.
“We’ve been coming here every day since Zeke’s been out of the vet’s office.” He held up his hand to stop what she was about to say. “We went there this morning, and he received a clean bill of health. The knife Vickers threw at him did some damage, but the vet thinks with the continued training, he will be fine. He missed any vital organs and major veins or arteries. However, the knife nicked the bone, and he might have stiffness. Your Dad and I have been working with him at the CSAR training classes.”
“Good, did Dad step in and resume the training?”
“Yes.” Kent paused, reached out and took her hand in his. “I don’t know if you know this, but you’ve been in a coma for the last two weeks. When I found you, you were out cold.”
“What happened to Vickers?”
“Dead.”
“Did you do it?”
“No, as much as I want to take credit for it, he was dead before I got to you.”
Rita scowled at him and cocked her head to the side. “How?”
Kent looked at her sheepishly, then couldn’t contain his grin as he studied her. “Would you believe a bolt of lightning struck him when he stood at the entrance to that cave?”
“No!” Rita answered in shock.
“Yes, when I found him he was dead, I only felt for a pulse, then covered the body. The storm hit and we were alone in that cave until help came the next morning.” He went on to tell her all that had been done and concluded his tale with, “The official cause of death for Vickers is weather-related death.”
“Damn,” Rita said as she took her free hand and scrubbed her forehead. She looked at him with a frown. “What about those people Vickers said that he was trying to get a rung up the ladder with? The people in charge of the fighting rings?”
“The last I heard, Sheriff Jim was working with someone in the Denver police force, and they were doing some heavy investigating before they went forward with any arrests. It turns out that Judd and Elroy Pickett had a lot of information to confirm what Vickers told you. They balked at the idea of taking you hostage. As soon as they were told Vickers was dead, they couldn’t get their confessions out fast enough.”
“Will they be charged with anything?”
