The Legend of Safehaven by R. A. Comunale Page B

siren and flashers, made a quick U-turn, and headed to the outskirts of town. They approached the business district, just as a dark-green sedan pulled away from the State Bank & Trust building, wheels squealing.
    Local police joined them in pursuit down the highway bordering the town. At one point just on the verge of boxing in the fleeing sedan, the green car suddenly crossed the median and moved into the opposing traffic stream.
    Neither the fleeing driver nor the driver of the small, tan-brown coupe saw each other as their cars fused together.
    The sergeant pulled the patrol car onto the median strip. Both officers jumped out and rushed to the tangled mass of what had been two vehicles. Ben stared at the small brown coupe for the shortest moment before screaming, “No, No! Irene, Irene!”
    He tried to lunge forward to the wreckage, but the sergeant’s powerful arms restrained him.
     
    “I’m sorry, Officer Castle, there was just too much damage to your wife’s head. If it means anything, she didn’t feel any pain. Your daughter is in our neonatal-intensive-care unit. With the premature birth, she’ll need to be watched for quite a while. The accident may have disrupted her blood and oxygen supply. We don’t know if there will be any lasting effects.”
    *   *   *
    “Dr. Drake, he’s ready.”
    He felt something moving inside him, and then a sudden rush of liquid heat moved up the left side of his neck. It created a sensation inside his head like crawling ants.
    He heard Galen’s voice again, this time strangely exuberant.
    “That’s it, you’ve got it Ken! The damned clot’s lysing!”
    Then, nothingness.
     
    Nine anxious people crowded into the patient’s room of the county hospital’s special-neurology-intensive-care unit. One was a young blind boy led by what looked like a large dog. Not exactly by the book, but this case was different.
    The nurses said nothing, as they stared at the harnessed guide animal, although one, older and from the Midwest, kept muttering, “That ain’t no dog, that’s a wolf!”
     
    “Tio Galen, will Sergeant Castle be okay now?”
    Tonio stood next to Faisal, while Carmelita and Freddie flanked the other side of Castle’s hospital bed.
    “It’s going to be a while before we can tell how much function will return,” Galen said. “His face isn’t sagging like it was, and that’s a good sign.
    “Whatever happens, Ben is going to need therapy for both his body and his mind. It’s not unusual for someone who has had a stroke to become very depressed afterwards. The physical part is easy to handle—it’s his emotional outlook that can become tricky.”
    They heard sounds coming from the semiconscious man. Edison and Carmelita seemed the most aware of what was going on.
    “It’s Polish! He’s trying to talk, but in Polish.”
    Edison turned to the others.
    “My grandmother on my mother’s side was Polish.”
    Carmelita bent her head toward Ben’s face and listened intently then stood up when the sounds stopped. She began crying, as she told them what she had learned.
    “He had a wife and a daughter. His wife died in an auto accident. He saw it happen. His daughter’s name is Miriam.”
    Galen turned and walked out of the room.
    Diana looked at Nancy, who said quietly, “The same thing happened to him.”
    Silence reigned for a few moments, and then Freddie spoke.
    “Carm, where’s his daughter? Did he say anything about her?”
    Carmelita shook her head, as Lachlan, now holding his wife and standing next to their adopted son, interjected, “I never knew. Ben never talked about his personal life. But I can find out.”
    Freddie grinned. “I bet I can find out quicker than you can.”
    Nancy shot a scolding glance at Edison, who looked at Lachlan then at Freddie.
    “Searching—no hacking!”
    Faisal guided himself to the head of the bed. He bent over and whispered into Ben’s left ear.
    “I will come and play for you, Tio Benny. My music will make