The Spanish Onion

By Harry Brady

The Spanish Onion is a fast paced action and detective novel that features Native American homocide detective Phil Cash and his partner, narcotic detective LaKeisha Johnson.In this second novel of a three book series,LaKeisha goes undercover and risks her life and enlists the help of emergency room doctor, Kellie Doyle,M.D. to bring down the murderous M-S 13 gang.
The doctor also plays a key role as many twists and turns involve an international human traficking ring and an unscrupulousPennsylvania state senator.All of this leads to an unexpected and explosive ending.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098314491

Book preview

Chapter

1

11:40 p.m. August 1,2019

What do we have cooking for the midnight to 8:00 a.m. shift?

The head emergency room nurse, Oscar Delgado, set his coffee mug on the table in the break room and started to respond systematically. Nothing urgent, basically a slow night. Room 1 is a ninety-one- year old lady with a hip fracture. The orthopedic resident on call has a bed for her and is sending her up to the floor. Room 2 is the six-year old with otitis and they have Dr. Martin`s prescription and should be heading home.

What about the teen age boy with the scalp laceration? asked Kellie Doyle, M.D., the head of emergency services at Pittsburgh`s Allegheny General Hospital.

The intern is sewing him up and it`s taking forever.

Just then the emergency radio contact with the city paramedics broke into the conversation with, Coming in red hot with a woman with multiple severe lacerations!! Five minutes away. Bleeding profusely the blood pressure 80 over 20, pulse 145 and thready. Multiple tourniquets. We may be losing her!

Kellie grabbed the speaker, Do you have an IV going?

Yes, the only place available was the right ankle. We are pushing fluids as fast as possible.

What about hemostatic patches?

Definitely yes. We`ve used two whole boxes and they are helping some.

Oscar was already on his feet and moving toward the door, I`ll get the orderlies outside with a gurney and alert the major trauma team.

Kellie yelled after him, As soon as you do that, call the blood bank and have them send as many pints of O negative blood as they have. Switching to her cell phone she established instant contact with the ambulance and rushed out to meet the incoming patient.

Status update? Kellie barked into her phone.

The line is running o.k. and some of the bleeding has slowed down. About 45 seconds later, Pulse has dropped to 130 but blood pressure still dropping.

Kellie burst out of the air conditioning into the hot humid blacktop of the disaster triage area. A faint siren wailed in the distance and shortly she saw the flashing blue and red lights speeding up Cedar Avenue.

Two orderlies arrived with a gurney, DelGado appeared at Kellie`s side, said that the blood bank was sending 8 units, and the anesthesiologist from the trauma unit was setting up in the emergency operating room. The ambulance sped safely into the triage area and DelGado rushed to open the door and was greeted by a bloody mess. Bright arterial blood stained the sides, the ceiling, the floor of the ambulance, and the shirt of the lead paramedic Lauren Graf.

She`s still alive, but barely. Lauren said as she jumped out onto the blacktop.

As the emergency room team and the other paramedics got the patient out of the ambulance and into the surgical suite, Kellie pulled Lauren aside. What`s the story?

She was outside a bar on River Avenue when the bartender heard some yelling and screaming. She went to the door and saw two guys with machetes literally hacking away at her. She locked the door, turned on the burglar alarm, and called 911. Fortunately we happened to be two blocks away, going back to the station house and got there almost immediately. I never thought we could get her here alive.

Thanks for the info. You guys did a great job getting her here, Kellie said as she turned to go back into the emergency room. Rushing to the surgical suite, she entered a beehive of activity. Dr. Al Owyang, the anesthesiologist, had already intubated the patient and had the airway open with oxygen flowing. The chief surgical resident was evaluating the extent of the multiple lacerations present on the arms, legs, and neck of the patient and was clamping off major arterial bleeders. Gingerly probing the neck laceration, he turned to the anesthesiologist and said that the carotid artery was intact and that in itself was the only good thing he had found so far.

Dr. Owyang reported that the blood pressure had stabilized, and the pulse was getting stronger and he wanted to transfer the patient from the gurney to the operating table. The circulating nurse said she had secured the IV in the ankle vein and the team slid the patient onto the operating table. The night lab tech moved in to draw the blood for typing and cross match, as the scrub nurse arrived to prep and drape and establish a sterile field.

Kellie stood in the background and watched as the beehive became an orderly and systematic response to a life-threatening event. She felt a wave of pride since this was her kingdom, and this was how it was supposed to function.

Chapter

2

August 2,2019 9:30 a.m.

Kellie slowly walked up the steps to her apartment on the first floor at 1101 Linden Place, two blocks away from the hospital. The building was a very solid two story, red brick, uninspired structure, built in the 1930s.There were only two apartments with identical floor plans, one on the first floor and one on the second floor. The neighborhood had originally been inhabited by upwardly mobile people with steady jobs recovering from the Great Depression. However, at the present time, it was gradually surrendering to inner city neighborhood blight. There was one boarded up house in the middle of the block and a halfway house on the next corner for former addicts. Kellie had lived here for the last five years, because the apartment itself was roomy and comfortable, plus she had interior access to a garage. Most of all, she stayed here because it was close to the hospital and her patients.

She knew that she should shower and get a few hours of sleep before a one o`clock meeting with the infectious disease committee. Unlocking the front door, she entered the apartment and was greeted by her tigroid colored cat, Madame Curie, who brushed across her ankle. Well, good morning my friend, I guess you are ready for breakfast. Let`s see what we have for you. Putting her purse on a rickety end table that Kellie cherished from her deceased grandmother`s house, she moved to the kitchen and picked up Madame Curie`s water dish. She filled it at the sink and placed it back on the floor.

I think I`ll have some raisin bran flakes and milk, and maybe you would like some Pretty Tabby cat food. Kellie sat in silence and finished her cereal. She knew she needed to rest, but was still keyed up from last night`s excitement. Her mind began to wander, and she thought here I am at thirty-six years of age and all I ever do is work and come home so I can rest and go back to work. Most of my friends from high school and college are married and have lovely children. Those that aren`t married are dating and have active social lives, and here I sit talking to a stupid cat. My last real date was ten months ago with a plastic surgeon, who couldn`t keep his hands to himself. All he could talk about was how he could make me look like a Greek Goddess. It didn`t occur to him that I liked my Irish freckles and auburn hair and that my brassiere size was perfect for a one hundred and six pound five feet-two female. Well enough of this. Madame Curie, do you think we should repaint the kitchen walls a light tan or yellow? We could add new yellow curtains with either color.

With those thoughts Kellie got up and left Madame Curie to ponder over the new color scheme, while she showered and rested before returning to the hospital.

Chapter

3

Tom Porter, the chairman of the infectious disease committee, spotted Kellie as she was walking in the hallway to the meeting room. Hey, I heard what a fantastic job did in saving that woman`s life last night. From what I heard from the chief of staff, the patient was on death`s door.

Thanks, Tom, but it was a team effort starting with the paramedics, who were on the scene almost immediately, and it continued with the major trauma team doing their thing.

I know all that, Kellie, but everyone at Allegheny General is aware that your efforts have resulted in this hospital being recognized as the best emergency center in Western Pennsylvania and the staff is proud of you.

Kellie just smiled with a slight blush as they walked into the meting rom together.

After the meeting, Kellie went up to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit to check on the patient from the prior evening. As she approached the nurse`s station, one of the nurses pulled a chart and handing it to Kellie said, Dr. Doyle, your patient is in 307 and seems to be stable. The repeat hematocrit and hemoglobin were just sent to the lab. We still don`t have a name for her, and she doesn`t speak much English.

Kellie thanked her and took the chart and proceeded to room 307. Upon entering the room, she saw the woman swathed in multiple bandages covering her right shoulder, both arms, and left thigh. The patient had an IV freely flowing into the ankle vein. Kellie checked the antibiotic dosage and was satisfied that things were going well. The woman was awake and looked at Kellie suspiciously.

Good morning, young lady. How are you feeling?

This elicited no response, so she added, Buenos Dios, Senorita, which resulted in a slight nod from the patient. With her modest knowledge of Spanish, Kellie asked the patient her name, what happened, and who she should notify that she had been admitted to the hospital.

The patient responded with a slight negative shaking of her head and would give no information. She closed her eyes and appeared to drift off to sleep.

Chapter

4

Leaving the ICU, Kellie went to her office adjacent to the emergency room to catch up on the mounds of paperwork, that an active emergency room produces. She was about fifteen minutes into this task when Ned Martin, M.D., the eight a.m. to four p.m. emergency room doctor, knocked on her door and entered her office. Just a reminder that we have ER rounds with the medical students from the university at four o`clock this afternoon.

Thanks, Ned, I should be here until then. What do you have going on in the unit this afternoon?

Same-o, same-o. An auto accident, a couple of lacerations, possible pneumonia in a 90-year-old, nothing I can`t handle. Just checking in with the boss. With that he turned and went back to work.

She smiled to herself because she knew this handsome bachelor was one of the most capable and likable doctors she had ever worked with. A graduate of Georgetown University Medical School, he was a world traveler and had spent three years with Doctors Without Borders in places like South Sudan and Cambodia. He could handle any kind of emergency. In addition, every young nurse and student nurse thought he would be a great catch.

She went back to her paperwork and e-mails, made a few phone calls, and after an hour of this went to the break room for some coffee. In the break room, Denise Allen, R.N., the day supervisor, was just leaving. Kellie, I`m glad I caught you. That snotty gal in the laundry is giving us a hard time with getting fresh linens when we need them. I told her in no uncertain terms what we thought of how lazy they are. She hung up on me. You need to do something about this.

Okay, Okay, Denise. I know you are running a tight ship, but sometimes you aren`t the most diplomatic person in the world. I`ll call the supervisor down there and see if we can work this out.

What you see is what you get, when you deal with me, Denise said as she left the room.

Kellie poured herself some coffee in a Styrofoam cup added cream and sugar, then returned to her office with another fence to mend while improving the linen delivery to the emergency room.

Back at her desk she attacked the paperwork again and before she knew it Ned Martin knocked on her door and opening it, he announced that the medical students had arrived for rounds.