MY TREASURED DESIRE

Chapter THIRTY-EIGHT: The Hospital Attack!

Sunday. 12.30 pm, GMT or UTC. (8:30 pm Achaian Local Time)

University College Hospital, London, the UK.

27 Days Before the Proposed Traditional Marriage Between Alexa and Reynold.

Dr. Reese Chang’s Task!

I had got a long-expected trunk call from my best friend, and we had spoken for about an hour and there is yet to be a boring moment…

“Oh, Thank You, EnDee… You are truly a First-Class Journalist. That was a complete Report on the Security Stakeholders’ Decision-making Meeting. So, my elder brothers - Rey and Ray - saw through the Middleville façade?”

Princess Alexa replied, “Gladly so. I don’t know why your people love vengeance this much – It blinds their views to the extent that they could not reason out where they were wrong?!”

“Not all my people – Only a tiny fraction. Do not let all those action movies bewitch and confuse you! Without knowing, Brother Raymond was worse hit by the extended family of the woman he had loved for her adventurous compatibility. Yet the latter’s family seeks revenge for the loss of the evil masterminds amongst them. Thank God for my mom who quelled most of the evil at the time we were but little,” I informed her.

When I told her that I feel like coming to Achaia to relax a bit, she suddenly remembered that Dr. Alex and I were supposed to be having a five-day leave of absence, starting from today, and she wondered what I was doing in my consulting room. Well, I was only around to prepare some medical reports. She then enquired: “When will you leave the office and move to our Country home to relax a bit?”

“After this time out,” I said, and we both started laughing. “Give a kiss to my best brother… Is he there with you? I will expect you to be back in England in two weeks, Baby Girl!”

Just before she hung up, she said amidst laughter: “Reynard’s job is a lot of work. He won’t need my distraction right now. I just hope you will come here - with him - soon, and we shall return to England together… Wishes have become horses. I am riding on that!”

I placed the handset in the Office’s Phone’s Stand, picked up my bag, and… it started to ring again. I quickly connected. Oh, it is a call from A.R.S.H.’s Group Medical Director…

“Hi, Prof., I hope it is well. It’s afternoon here. Good evening, Sir.”

“I hope it is… It is a duty call, Princess. The Middleville High Commissioner to Achaia is in a critical state... His spinal cord incidence… The A.R.S.H. Team of Surgeons feel morally obliged to give you the honour of contacting one of your genius neurosurgeons colleagues to join us to solve this case… Your U.C.H. M.D. had kindly informed us that you are free for a while… I hope he is right?”

“How much time do we have, Prof.?” I went straight to the point.

“We have scheduled the surgery for 1.00 pm, GMT or UTC. On Wednesday,” he said, heaving a sigh of relief. He continued, “That would be on Wednesday, 9:00 pm Local Time, in Lagos, Achaia. The Government will dispatch a well-serviced Private Jet from ReyChang International Airport to London Heathrow, now… Thanks. I am glad that I can always count on you, our Princess.”

“We shall leave London on Tuesday morning, then. Enjoy your night, Prof,” I concluded the talk and disconnected the call. My Personal Assistant appeared immediately I tried to lock my office, took my bag and my file, and went to my Bentley.

Wednesday. 9:00 pm Local Time (1.00 pm, GMT or UTC.)

Achaian Royal Specialist Hospital, Lagos, Achaia.

24 Days Before the Proposed Traditional Marriage Between Alexa and Reynold.

Dr. Alex George-Orji and I have shaken off the stress of the 9 hours and 35 minutes flight from London, the UK., to Lagos, Achaia. All was set for the delicate surgery to save the life of the Diplomat, Middleville High Commissioner to the Imperial Government of Achaia. We were combining wisdom and know-how to see how we shall come out successful.

The Spinal Cord is not one of the parts of the human body that can heal itself. Hence,

There is no “cure” for spinal cord injury. When the axons in the spinal cord are crushed or torn beyond repair, a chain of biochemical and cellular events occurs that kill neurons, strip axons of their protective myelin insulation, and cause an inflammatory response.

Doctors can usually treat spinal fractures without the need for corrective surgery. Patients tend to take 6–12 weeks to heal. People with underlying health conditions that weaken the bones, such as osteoporosis and cancer, may be at risk of repeated spinal fractures. But bone spurs in the patients’ spine (that are often caused by arthritis) often put pressure on their spinal cord and call for surgery. The diplomat has a degenerative spinal condition of stenosis (narrowing of the protective bony canal around his spinal cord) that was causing side effects, like weakness.

While some sufferers of spinal cord injuries are eventually able to walk again after their injuries, others are not able to do so. The spinal cord is a complex nerve network responsible for communicating messages between the brain and the rest of the body.

Not worried about what the medical practitioners are struggling to achieve in the A.R.S.H. to save a life… a difficult, unsavoury clash occurred at the hospital a few minutes after the surgery commenced, and the A.S.S.S. had to intervene. The underworld kingpins were interested in the life of our patient… I had to call General Raymond Chang – who surprisingly, already has his men all around the hospital – to intervene…

A gun-toting man came into the Theatre while I was performing a task on the patient. He shot at the patient, and I thanked God that Dr. Alex was alert to swing the patient and me away from the danger, beating a bullet! The second shot went straight at him for daring to intervene, but Alex had some metals with him that he used to parry the bullet away – to the wall. The other doctors panicked but I faced the operation squarely, while my fiancé had successfully distracted the assassin. Before he could take the third shot, a member of the A.S.S.S. team had entered the Theatre and he was able to distract the gunman’s backup man from their target. Dr. Alex was so fast that before I looked up from what I was doing, he had beaten the assassin black and blue. Even the A.S.S.S. professional was shocked: He had only been able to disarm the intruder’s assistant. But Dr. Alex returned to the scene to complete the job. The intruders were handcuffed and dragged out of the Theatre.

***

The meeting anchored at the Office of the General Officer Commanding, A.S.S.S., had a peep into the underworld records of the diplomat. He was said to be one of the closest political allies of the Middleville Monarch until Middleville intelligence linked one of the incriminating documents that exposed their Monarch’s part in the botched X-Rated Movie saga to the diplomat… The hitmen’s brief that had just failed was to assassinate the diplomat and blame it on some small-time underworld pretenders in Achaia. The hitmen were arrested with 5 other hardened miscreants who were ready to bomb the hospital, just to achieve their aim!

Though the suspects confessed on video, the Home Office distanced the Monarch from any complicity in the matter… Of course, the audio – not the video – was released to the Middleville Palace – with the Prince feigning ignorance of the matter and wondering why he would heat up the polity only 12 days before his International Birthday event!

He seems believable, doesn’t he?