"I know, honey, but he’s strong. We have to think positive. We have to believe he’ll be ok."

There was a pause as Laura responded and then he heard his father sigh.

"I’m not a doctor, sweetheart, I can’t answer that."

Another pause.

"Second degree burns."

Silence again.

"No, 65% of his arm."

Frank could hear the tension in his father’s voice.

"I don’t know exactly how it happened, Laura. Joe was…it was difficult for him to talk when we found him."

Frank could tell his father was getting frustrated, not wanting to lie yet not wanting to tell his wife everything.

"I will." Pause. "I love you, too." Pause. "Ok. Bye."

Frank heard his father shift in his seat and mumble under his breath.

"She wanted details?" Frank asked, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Of course." Fenton sighed again. "She said to tell you she loves you."

Frank smiled slightly, almost able to hear his mother’s voice. "How’d she take it?"

"Better than we did, I think."

‘She didn’t see him chained to that fence, either.’ Frank thought with a shudder, trying to block the horrible images of his brother that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Despite his best efforts to stay awake, Frank found himself drifting off into a restless sleep.

******

"Fenton?"

Frank’s eyes snapped open as he recognized the voice of Carlos Sanchez, who had just entered the waiting room with George DiSantos. Checking his watch, Frank was surprised to find he had actually slept for several hours.

"Did you find them?" Fenton asked, quickly getting to his feet.

"Yes." The dark haired detective replied. "Your directions were perfect. They’re down in the ER being treated then we’ll take them downtown and book them."

"They’re here in this hospital?!" Frank asked, incredulous, somehow angry that the hospital that was desperately trying to save Joe’s life was also treating the men who had almost killed him.

"Don’t worry. They’re under armed guard. The only place they’ll be going is the county jail."

"Do you think they’ll get bail?" Frank asked, apprehensively. He did not want these men free to come after Joe again and finish what they had started.

"I doubt it." Carlos reassured them.

"What have you charged them with?" Fenton inquired.

"Kidnapping, assault and battery and attempted murder so far. I’m sure Joe didn’t go with them willingly so once we talk to him and find out what happened at the airport, we can probably add a few weapons offenses to the list."

Frank shivered, hoping they wouldn’t have to upgrade the last charge to murder.

"We brought your rental back. It’s right out front." George said, offering a set of keys.

"Thank you." Fenton replied. He dug into his pocket and retrieved a set of keys, handing them to Sanchez. "I’m sorry we ‘tampered’ with the evidence, but we had no choice. Joe would have died if we had taken the time to get him back to our car." He apologized for having taken Rashman’s car.

"I don’t think it will be a big problem." Carlos reassured him. "Did you find the pictures, by any chance?"

Frank saw his father hesitate just a second. "Yes, but the doctors have them right now."

Carlos looked at him, puzzled. "The doctors?"

"They found a couple of marks on Joe’s arm. They think he was stung or bitten by something but, other than ruling out snakebites, they have no idea what. It’s imperative that they know exactly what he was bitten by in order to treat him without doing any more damage. We told them about the pictures and the doctor asked if they could see all of them to help them determine the extent of Joe’s injuries." Fenton explained.

Carlos smiled bitterly. "I can’t wait to tell Rashman he ended up helping Joe by taking those pictures."

"Fenton, is there anything you need? Anything I can do for you?" George offered.

Fenton looked at his watch, a frown creasing his forehead.

"Laura and the girls will be arriving in about an hour. I really don’t want to leave the hospital without knowing what’s happening with Joe. I booked a suite at the Marriott right down the street." Fenton mused, thinking out loud.

"I can pick them up. That’s no problem." George said, eager to do something to help. "Do you want me to bring them straight here or take them to the hotel first?"

Fenton smiled at his friend, gratefully. "Could you stop by the hotel and let them get checked in then bring them here?" He asked, hoping it wasn’t too much of an imposition.

"Of course. We’ll call you as soon as I pick them up and again right before we leave the hotel."

"Thanks, George." Fenton responded as he wrote down the flight and hotel information.

"I’ll keep you posted on Rashman and Malick." Carlos told them, as he followed George out of the waiting room.

A while later, Dr. Greene returned, envelope in hand and a concerned look in her eyes. Taking a seat, she handed the pictures to Fenton.

"They were helpful," she began, still a little distressed at what the photographs had revealed. "But we may have come across another problem."

‘Now what?!’ Frank thought, becoming angry at the prospect of more bad news.

"Thanks to the pictures we were able to determine that Joe was stung by scorpions. That’s what the marks on his arm were from."

Frank stared at her, stunned. "Scorpions?!"

"What?!" Fenton cried out in disbelief. "Are you sure? They’re not indigenous to this area, are they?"

"No, they’re not. And unfortunately we can’t tell by the picture whether the particular species that stung Joe is poisonous or not."

‘Joe has had enough to deal with this year. This isn’t fair!’ Frank felt his anger giving way to depression.

"They can’t be poisonous." Fenton said with conviction.

"We really can’t be sure, Mr. Hardy." Dr. Greene said, thinking the distraught father was simply refusing to believe what she was telling him.

"What I mean is, the men who did this to my son were trying to get information out of him. He couldn’t possibly tell them anything if he were dead, so why would they use scorpions that were so deadly they could kill him." Fenton explained.

"That would make sense." Frank agreed. "Aren’t scorpion stings painful?" He asked looking at Dr. Greene.

"Excruciatingly painful." She replied. "Some components of the venom of scorpions serve no other purpose than to cause intense pain. If you feel certain the type of scorpions used on Joe wouldn’t have been deadly, we can simply watch him in case he develops a more severe reaction and then treat him accordingly. Normally, other than the pain, which usually subsides within twenty-four hours, most victims do not show any other symptoms and recover completely.

"However, given the extent and severity of Joe’s other injuries, his immune system is going to be compromised, so we’ll have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn’t develop secondary effects."

"What would those be?" Fenton asked, warily.

"Severe envenomation would result in severe systemic involvement." Dr. Greene replied.

Fenton found himself chuckling slightly. "Dr. Greene, we’ve been up for almost forty-eight hours straight. Could you put that in laymen’s terms?"

"I’m sorry." She said, somewhat sheepishly. "Things we’d be looking for would include fever, nausea, convulsions, a drastic change in heart rate and blood pressure, fluid in the lungs or swelling of the lungs, or coma."

"Isn’t there some kind of antivenin you could give him, just to be sure?" Frank asked worriedly.

"There is an antivenin, but we don’t stock it here. It’s usually only found in hospitals where scorpions are native to the area. The medical community is also divided on just how effective it is. It would have to be administered in large doses, intravenously for maximum effect. Most physicians advocate keeping a close eye on the victim and treating the symptoms themselves, rather than using an antivenin, if possible.

"Also the antivenin presents it’s own problems. Victims can develop what’s known as serum sickness several weeks later as a result of the large doses of antivenin that is needed to be effective. Generally, if the victim survives the first forty-eight hours without severe cardio respiratory or neurological symptoms – heart or lung failure, seizures or coma - the prognosis is usually good."

Dr. Greene watched sympathetically as Frank leaned forward, resting his head in his hands. "With your permission, Mr. Hardy, we’d just like to keep a close eye on Joe for now. There’s a good chance he won’t need any further treatment for this."

Fenton absently rubbed Frank’s back comfortingly. "If you think that’s best." He replied tiredly.

"We do. Dr. Marston has cleaned and sutured the laceration on his foot. There was salt and dirt embedded in it, but other than that, it should heal fairly quickly. Although he may be walking with a limp for a while." She stopped, looking at Fenton who seemed to be nearing his limit for bad news. Glancing at Frank, still hunched over, she got the impression he if he received one more piece of bad news regarding his brother, he might have to be admitted himself.

"Would you prefer it if I wait until the rest of your family arrives before I bring you up to date on Joe’s condition? He was being taken to the recovery room when I came down here. He’ll be there for another hour or two and then we’ll transfer him to the ICU. Right now he’s holding his own." She said vaguely, hoping Fenton would reply affirmatively. She felt that giving him a few hours to decompress and prepare himself for the arrival of his wife and family would be the best thing for him and hoped he realized that too. "Then you won’t have to try and explain everything to your wife and I can answer any questions she might have."

Fenton thought a moment before responding. Stealing a glance at Frank, he realized his older son was on the verge of emotional collapse.

"I think that’s a good idea." He responded, squeezing Frank’s shoulder. "They should be here in an hour or so."

"I’ll be in the resident’s lounge. Just ask to have me paged and I’ll come right down." She patted his knee, reassuringly. "He’s not out of the woods yet, but if he’s made it this far, he must be a fighter."

"That he is." Fenton smiled, wanly. "Thank you, Dr. Greene." She nodded and left the waiting area.

Fenton looked down and focused his attention on Frank. Seeing Frank so distraught, he almost wished his sons weren’t quite so close. Would it be easier for Frank to accept everything if they weren’t? He nudged Frank gently, who finally raised his head and looked at his father, his face once again streaked with tears. Feeling totally helpless, Frank leaned back and rested his head on his father’s shoulder, taking comfort in the strong arm wrapped tightly around him.