Chapter Seven - Victims
By Ayoe
ayoe.lang@get2net.dk
Written after seeing "Stuck On You" - Season 5
"ER" and all its characters belong to Warner Bros. No infringement of their copyright is intended. This story was written for the enjoyment of "ER" fans everywhere, and may be downloaded for your own pleasure. However this story may not be used, distributed or archived without the permission of the author.
Rated: NC17 - harsh language and sexual contents.
A HUGE thanks to my excellent editor Cathy Roberts...don't know what I should do without you!!!
Last night had been wonderful and they'd spent the night in John's bed. He was awoken by the sound of the alarm clock and was surprised he'd even remembered to switch it on. With a small grown, Kerry turned in the bed. John slowly sneaked out of the bedroom. Time to go to work.
"Carter, can you cover tonight?" Mark stood beside him in the exam room.
Damn, he really wanted just to go home to Kerry. "Yeah, okay," he answered.
The first shift was busy. The second even worse. He meant to call Kerry to let her know he was working double, but the time was never there.
When things calmed down John was finally able to take a nap. That was around 2 am. and he'd only been asleep about an hour when Haleh woke him up.
"Carter! We need you. Victim of assault. Get up NOW!"
John stumbled out into the quiet halls. He saw Haleh waving at him by exam room one and he followed her inside.
A young girl was sitting on the bed, crying. John whispered to Haleh, "Couldn't someone else take this one?" The girl wasn't a trauma. She'd just been beaten up and the nurses should have been able to take care of her until Doug was free.
"She refuses to let anyone look at her...besides you. She's been asking for you specifically for almost an hour. She was screaming every time Doug tried to get near her."
John looked at the skinny red-head with surprise. He'd never seen her before in his life.
"You know her?" Haleh asked wondering.
"No?!" John knelt in front of the girl. She looked up, startled, but before she could scream, John said, "I'm Dr. Carter, Dr. John Carter." The girl looked at him with doubt. "I hear you've been asking for me?" The girl drew back a bit, but she nodded. John smiled. "And who are you?"
The girl stared at him with fearful eyes, "Ja...Jamie," she stuttered. "Jamie Cooper."
John reached to check the large cut in her forehead, but Jamie winced. "It's okay," John whispered. He gently removed some hair from the wound. "This is going to need stitches," he said to Haleh. "Where does it hurt, Jamie?"
The girl pointed at her right arm. John carefully examined it. The arm was broken. "Let's get an X-ray of this one."
Haleh nodded and went out of the room.
Jamie stated to cry once more. "Jamie, are you okay?" John asked. The girl slowly nodded. "The police probably want to ask you some questions later." Jamie panicked. "Relax...relax. Not before you are ready...okay?" The child calmed a bit. "We have to make sure you are okay first." John began to clean her bruises. "You know what happened?" She nodded. "Okay," he whispered. "Just relax."
After a few Haleh came back with the X-ray.
John and Jamie were sitting in the suture room. He was about to inject the anesthesia before suturing when once more Jamie began to cry. John carefully made the injection.
"You want to tell me about it?"
Jamie swallowed, "Devil..." she whispered in a hoarse voice.
"What was that?"
The girl looked at him with scared eyes. "Devil...that's what he said." Jamie pulled out the ribbon holding her hair back, showing him that a big piece of her hair was missing.
"Why?" John asked frowning. The girl shrugged her shoulders. "So...how do you know me?" he continued.
"He said.... you like devils....he told me to...."
John suddenly got a bad taste in his mouth.
"He told me to tell you, that the devil belongs to him..." The girl looked confused. She obviously didn't know what the words meant. John had a terrible feeling that he did.
"He said, you have the money to pay her out of hell?"
John stood, almost knocking the chair down behind him. "Kerry!?!"
The girl looked surprised. "Kerry...the cripple? He said you had to pay...to get her back," she stuttered.
John rushed out of the room, almost knocking Lydia off her feet. Dammit! The guy had found out who John's family was. Now he wanted money. He ran to the phone and dialed home. No answer.
"MARK!!!" John ran up to him. "I have to go."
Mark and Doug looked surprised, "What's up, Carter?" Doug asked.
"I HAVE TO GO! He TOOK her!" Mark and Doug looked at each other.
"Carter? What? Who took who?" Doug asked frowning, running behind John into the lounge. John ripped his coat out of the locker. "Carter? Hey?" Doug kept asking.
"Steven! He kidnapped her," John shouted.
Doug looked at him, "Steven?!"
"Her father...he'll kill her. I know he will!"
John rushed out of the lounge with Doug right behind him. Doug made signs to Mark that he was going with Carter. He followed John and jumped into his Jeep before John could drive away.
"Carter? What's going on?!" he demanded to know.
John stared with blank eyes at the street rushing by. "Kerry's father. He's back. Now he's going to make her pay."
"Pay? For what?" John drove way too fast. "Carter, slow down, before you kill someone!" John slowed down a bit.
"The man is sick. She's been running from him all her life."
Doug looked out the window. He knew all about fathers.
"The girl in the ER...the red-head....Steven was the one."
Doug looked back at John. "He was the one...who beat her up?"
John nodded. He quickly glanced at Doug. "Steven was the one who broke Kerry's leg."
Doug had shock written on his face and John gave a confirming nod. They had arrived at the house and after parking the car, John ran to the front door. It wasn't locked. The two men went inside, seeing clear signs of trouble. Furniture had been knocked over and books were scattered over the floor. John ran upstairs, leaving Doug standing in the mess. The office looked just as bad as the living room. Books were all over, the monitor was smashed on the floor, and a bookshelf had been knocked over.
"KERRY?!" No answer. John checked the bathroom. The shower curtain was torn and perfume bottles lay broken on the floor. John felt sick to his stomach. "KERRY!!??" He called out, his voice trembling. He ran into the bedroom, finding it to be a terrible mess. He looked around, then something caught his eyes.