There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 26

At this moment, we are only asking for $650 million from each of you. If anything happens to the baby, or Lucy, I do not know how high William Zabo will tell me to go. If you have a place in another universe I would plan on visiting it very soon, because if you try to hide from him on this planet, he will find you, and bring you to justice."

Rawlings Glover said, "You are talking about $2 billion for minor accident?""

"This was not a minor accident. This is very close to becoming vehicular homicide. Pray that Lucy, and, or the baby doesn't die Mister Glover. I am sure you have heard the name William Zabo before. Have you ever interacted with him?"

"I was at a seminar he gave several years back."

"Did you learn anything there?"

"Yes I did. I learned how to make money from money. I also learned how not to lose money by buckling in to a bluff."

"Have you ever heard William Zabo bluff?"

"There is always a first time."

"Do you want to be the one that finds out if you are right or wrong?"

After a moment's pause, Jim said, "I did not think so. We just left your neighbor, Mister Gibson. You may want to converse with him to see if he felt we were bluffing. We also talked with the Ames. They made a settlement offer that was accepted because their daughter was drugged by someone before she left your private club. If we could prove it was either of your sons that did this to her, not only would they be in jail for the rest of their lives, you would never have penny to your name for that length of time either.

The Ames are depositing a check within fourteen days. Each day you delay in making an offer that is acceptable to Mister Zabo, a day is deducted. Tomorrow is thirteen days. When it reaches zero, we go to court, and increase the amount of money we are suing you for. I do not care if your son has to muck stalls for the rest of his life, but I will make sure you never collect food stamps or any government benefits. If I were you Mister Glover, your son Daniel's next conveyance would be a used bicycle, because he has just cost you everything you have ever earned. Good day sir.

"Wait Jim, wait one moment, please, let me talk to them."

"Okay Mel, ten minutes maximum, I want to call the hospital to see how Lucy is doing."

"The three of you stay here, we will move to another room."

******************

Mister and Mrs. Glover, I know you are retaining counsel as soon as possible, but let me tell you something about those three attorneys inside. You were not subjected to their best attorney that would be the tall thin gentleman, Thomas Shackleford. You were grilled by James Hurst. I will tell you about him in a second. The youngest of the group is Vincent Caruso. He is not as smooth as Thomas yet, but he will cut you apart like a bread slicer, and you will never know which direction he came from. In a few years, he will be the best lawyer in the country. James Hurst is the mild mannered alter ego of Superman. The only difference is he is not bothered by kryptonite. He walks around the courtroom as if he does not know what the next question is supposed to be, but he is two weeks ahead of everyone, including the judge. The jurors love him, because he acts like they do. The thing you must know is in all their combined years they have never lost a trial, not one. They beat the United States government, multinational corporations, fellow lawyers, you name it they have beaten them. They are not afraid to take risks because their rewards are huge.

As far as your case is concerned, you are small potatoes. They got a phone call from William, and they were on the case in moments. They can tell each of you everything you have done since you picked up your Social Security cards. If I were sitting in your shoes, I would be thinking about an offer as high as you can go, and leaving yourself a little to live on, and I mean a little. They will reject, out of hand, anything that leaves you too much, because if they presented that to William Zabo, he would cut their throats.

That is all I have to say. You can wait for your new counsel, and I hope they help you get through this. I have given you my best advice, and I would go before any professional law review board, and gladly explain my position.

Rawlings Glover looked at his son. "Do you see what you have done to us you ungrateful bastard."

Danny Glover responded, "I have never been ungrateful for everything you've given me dad. My life has been everything you could ever dream of and more. I must have made that turn 1000 times, and nothing ever happened. Who knew there was going to be an accident on the other side of that turn, because no one ever uses that road. I know I didn't know it would be there, and I am sure Mel Gibson didn't either. I know I'll never be able to repay everything these men are asking you to pay, but I will do whatever you want me to do from now on."

"Thank you Danny, those words mean a lot to me. As long as you follow through with them, we will be able to make it. There are going to be a lot of changes around here, but if they take my offer, we should be okay."

"Mister Purcell, we can go back in there now."

************

"James my client would like to make a settlement offer to end this unpleasantness. Mister Glover, go ahead."

"Mister Hurst, you gave me a fourteen day deadline. It will be very tight for me, because I will have to sell three separate portfolios, and two separate bond funds. The maximum I can get by that date is $1.2 billion. Even given more time, I would never be able to reach the $1.95 billion your client is asking for."

Jim looked at Tom Shackleford and asked, "Do you think it's even worth a phone call?"

"It's a bona fide offer Jim; we have to make the call. I'll just put my handkerchief over the receiver so he doesn't break my eardrum. Can I have a private room for a moment Mel?"

Rawlings Glover said to his son, "Danny, take Mister Shackleford into my study please."

"Yes sir. Mister Shackleford if you would follow me please."

*********

"Mister William Zabo's office, this is Colonel Lucius Canyon speaking."

"Hello Colonel, this is Tom Shackleford calling again. We have an offer from the Glover family for $1.2 billion. Our initial request was $1.95 billion. We can have this money within fourteen days. He said that he would never be able to reach the higher amount even given much more time."

"$1.2 billion within two weeks is acceptable. Place the money into the same account. Which family is the holdout?"

"It would be the Gibson's Colonel."

"Do you know their total net worth?

"Yes sir, I have it in the car."

"Tomorrow amend our suit to $100 million more than their net worth. Lucy will be going to Mass General soon."

"How would you know that Colonel?"

"I just spoke to Rory, and Lucy is going the wrong way. You should get to the hospital as soon as you are done there."

"Okay Colonel, we will be out of here in a few minutes."

************

"Mister Glover, you do not know how lucky you are. Your offer of $1.2 billion within two weeks is accepted. Mel you have the account number. If you had not made an offer and it was not accepted, you would have been in big trouble. Lucy Trevelyan has just taken a turn for the worst. We are heading for the hospital now. She'll be flown down to Boston as soon as possible. If anything happens to her, only the Gibson family is left vulnerable. If anything happens to the baby, or Lucy, when William Zabo gets finished with them, they will be lucky to have hair left on their heads. Mel you know what to do, we are leaving."

The limousine left rubber on the road as it headed for the hospital. Melvin Purcell wiped the perspiration from his forehead.

"Mister Glover, I know it's a ton of money that you are parting with, and I know it hurts. If Tom made that phone call ten minutes later, or if it would have been disapproved, your exposure would have been the maximum."

"Mister Purcell, I made my life and my money by reading people. When Mister Shackleford came in from making that phone call, I knew he was not kidding around. His eyes were relaxed when he left this room. When he returned they were like lasers. They were so focused and so narrow you knew he was thinking about something extremely important about his client. I thought I was dead in the water. When he said the offer was approved, I breathe a sigh of relief. When he said Mrs. Trevelyan had taken a turn for the worse, I couldn't understand why they had accepted my offer. I am very gratified that they did. I will start working on my portfolios first thing tomorrow morning, and if you will tell me where to send the money it will be there on time."

*******************

"Hi babe, did you miss me?"

"Have you been in the bathroom jerking off again?"

"No, I just got off the phone with the Colonel. Get ready to go to Boston. Our attorneys are due here any moment. How is the pain in your side?"

"I don't know Rory. I feel it on the right, and then it's in the middle, then it's back to the right. All I know is that it hurts, and it hurts a lot."

"Have they given you anything for the pain?"

"They won't give me anything strong, because of the baby."

"How about bourbon?"

"Rory, when I'm feeling better, I'm going to kick your ass so high you will be able to paint the ceiling without any help."

"I didn't know the ceilings needed painting."

"Rory... Oh just forget it."

"Do I frustrate you my dear?"

"You would frustrate a musk ox."

*************

The lawyers had three destinations: Tom went to the hospital administrator's office, Vincent went to see Lucy's, and Jim went to the courthouse to get an order for Lucy's release from the hospital.

As soon as Vincent entered her room, heard her complain about the moving abdominal pain. He said to Rory, "I'll bet you it's her spleen. I'll bet you it is referred pain coming from the left side. I'm going to see if they have a helicopter to take her to Burlington."

Rory said, "I'll tell the nurses to get ready to transport her."

The nurses said, "We can't do that without doctor's approval."

"Nurse, start getting her ready to go, and get me someone who thinks he is a doctor."

Tom was running down the hallway. "Call the pilots, and tell them to get the jet ready."

"A Doctor came down the hall, asking what they were doing to his patient, Mrs. Trevelyan."

Tom looked him in the eye and said, "We are removing her from this Third World hospital, and taking her to Massachusetts General, where she can get proper care. If she dies because of the inferior care she received here, we will close this fucking place, and re-open it with a staff that knows what they're doing. I think it will look wonderful in the news for the capital of the state of Vermont to have its hospital close, because of poor and ineffective service. We will sue every Doctor that touched Mrs. Trevelyan, the city of Montpelier, and the State of Vermont, for the way she was treated here medically."

"Rory, you are still friends with Sheriff, right. Until we can get a court order, ask him if he will post a guard in the record department to make sure they don't destroy any of Lucy's records."

"I'll do it right now Mister Shackleford."

***************

"May I speak to Chief Bunker please? This is Rory Trevelyan calling."

"Hi Rory, how is Lucy doing?"

"Very poorly Archie, that's why I am calling. We are getting ready to take her to Boston, and I need a favor. Our lawyers are in town and they would like you to post someone to guard her records. With all the work you did making sure they weren't tampered with, I would hate to see them disappear now. One of our lawyers is headed to the courthouse to have them sealed, but while he's there, anyone can get to them. Could you do that for me please?"

"I'll have a man there in five minutes Rory. I'll pray for Lucy, the baby, and you. Good luck my friend."

"This town could not have picked a better man for Chief of Police Archie. No one in the entire town could look after it better. I will keep in touch with you, whether I come back or not. Goodbye Archie."

"Goodbye Rory, Godspeed."

**************

Mimi, get Sergeant Shepard in here. "Yes boss."

"You wanted me chief?"

"Alan, I want you to go to the hospital and guard the records of Lucy Trevelyan. No one touches them, and I mean no one. A lawyer is at the courthouse now getting a judge to sign an order to get the records sealed. They are taking her to Massachusetts, and I wouldn't want to be one of the doctor's that fucked up on her treatment."

"Should I put a couple of cars in front of the hospital to lead them to Burlington?"

"Call in four guys for overtime. We still have all that money in the banks and I don't want to be court short here. Alan, tell them I need them, really need them."

"I'll get them for you chief, don't worry about it."

***************

"Mister Shackleford, the police will be here shortly."

"They are getting ready to move Lucy now Rory. Where are you staying?"

Rory explained, and handed over the keys. Vincent would take over his new job, and residence.

***************

They wheeled Lucy through the emergency room exit and out onto the deck where the EMT's loaded her into the truck. When they tried to tell Rory he could not ride in the back with her, Vincent asked the technician when and where he would like his next job to be. There was no comment as Rory climbed in the back to hold Lucy's hand.

He kneeled down on the cold corrugated steel floor, and said, "We have a police escort, and it's only forty miles. We will be there before you can fall asleep."

"Kiss me, you liar."

"Did they give you anything for pain?"

"Yes Lortab. It's safe for the baby."

"Is it helping my baby's baby?"

"Not much, but it is taking the edge off."

"Should I sing for you?"

"Don't you dare, I've heard you sing in the shower, and the rats in the sewer ran away."

"That's not a nice thing to say Mrs. Trevelyan, when you are better I may have to spank you.

"As long as I'm feeling well, I may just let you. We have waited a long time for this, and I would rather die than lose it."

"Don't talk like that. I could not live without you. We have been through a lot of hard times together, but it's always been together. What would I do if I lost you? Then again, there is that blonde on the cover of Playboy."

"Rory I'm going to smack you into next week."

"Now there's the girl I married, and love. Let's just get through this, and I will let you smack me into next week."

"Do you promise?"

"Can we do it in front of my dentist's office? I have a feeling I will need him."

"Yes, we can do it in front of your dentist office. I'll even schedule you an appointment for the entire morning."

"You are so thoughtful."

***********

They backed up to the jet, with the doors of the EMT truck opened. They rolled Lucy out on the backboard carried her up the steps and into the cabin. They tied the stretcher down, as the number 2 engine started.

Rory was at the bottom of the steps handing out money to everyone and thanking them for their help. He rushed up the steps, as they were pulled away. They aircraft started moving before the number one engine was fully engaged, and the front door completely closed.

Since it was an emergency flight, they were moved to the front of the line of aircraft waiting to take off. Within minutes, they were in the air heading directly to Boston.

Air traffic controllers bend the rules when it comes to emergency flights. Normally the rule is, "You can't get there directly from here, you have to go here first to get in line." When you are on emergency flight, as the one Lucy was flying on, you go direct from Burlington to Boston and it's only 182 flight miles instead of 280 going the standard air traffic way. Forty minutes flying time rather than an hour and twenty minutes.

As soon as the aircraft reached the general aviation terminal, at Boston's Logan Airport, Lucy was transferred to an ambulance, with Rory alongside her. A police escort rushed them to Massachusetts General Hospital, where a team of doctors, and technicians were waiting for her arrival.

All the doctor's notes, x-rays, and scans from Montpelier had been forwarded to them. So many tests had been omitted; the doctors understood why they could not find the cause of her ailment.

Two hours after all the new testing was done a gray-haired man walked into her room with a smile on his face.

"Lucy, My name is Doctor Fred Colson, and I am happy to say you are going to be fine. I don't know what kind of doctor's they have up there in Montpelier, and I won't testify to what I am about to say, but they're all a bunch of idiots. You weren't in one car accident; you were actually in three of them, according to what I've read. No one up there bothered to check your spleen. Your spleen is nearly 3 times the size it's supposed to be. If you make a fist, that's the size your spleen should be. Right now, your spleen is three times that size. It's amazing you can get any air into your left lung.

The first thing were going to do tomorrow morning is give you a local anesthetic and stick a needle into it to see if there is any excess fluid buildup inside it.

We are also going to start you on a course of antibiotics to help your spleen do what it normally does by itself. Finally, we are going to put you on a course of physical therapy. We are going to get you up, out of bed, and moving again. Resting is not the best course of action for you, because it only builds up fluids in your body, and you have a beautiful body."

"Doctor!"

"I don't mean it that way, I'm talking medically. Your muscle tone is excellent. You have the heart of the teenage girl. You are fit in trim like a triathlete. Your whole body looks 15 years younger than your chronological age. Are you an avid runner? Do you run for a team, or a club, because those are the only people who are in your kind of physical condition? You have less than four percent body fat, but that has to change now that you're pregnant. The needs of your baby have to come before your own needs or wants. The baby needs to feed off your fat, and if you don't have any fat stored up, it starves. I don't believe you want that to happen. Do you live in the Boston area?"

"No we live near Dallas."

"What were you doing up in Vermont?"

"It was a joint business and pleasure trip. It turned out to be a disaster for us."

"I can see that, but you have one healthy baby inside you, and in a month you will have your healthy body back to go along with it. You will be in our care for at least three weeks, because we do not fool around with spleen injuries. No one thinks of the spleen as anything important, but it is a major part of the lymph system. It cleans both the red and white blood cells, while getting rid of the waste that's in our bloodstream. The body is severely impacted without a healthy functioning spleen."

Lucy said, "Thank you Doctor Colson, you've made me feel much better. What do I do about the pain?"

"Kick him out of the room."

Lucy laughed, until she started to cough.

Rory said, "That wasn't nice Doctor, I'm her better half."

"It sure doesn't look like it to me."

Lucy started to laugh again, but she finally calmed herself.

"Doctor, please, no more. I know he's ugly, but he is mine."

"We all have our crosses to bear."

"Where did you learn all these jokes?"

"My wife is a urologist. She has had more dicks in her hand then you can count. You should hear her when she comes back from a convention. It is nonstop jokes."

"How soon do you want to start Lucy on physical therapy?"

"I will set it up for tomorrow, twice a day."

"Does that mean we can start fooling around?"