155 Chapter 155: I Am Not Interested Hearing Your Excuses (1/2)

Lucas ran after the thief, and the two women followed after him. Lucas was close to him when, by accident, he brushed past an elderly lady, knocking her to the ground. As was his way, he turned to assist the woman. When he turned back, though, Kylie waved him on. ”I will help her,” she shouted. ”Go get the thief.”

Lucas turned back and found that he'd lost what little ground he'd made. Frowning, he cursed, took a deep breath, and ran in the direction of the thief.

Kylie squatted in front of the old lady and asked her if she was alright. She had planned to help her stand up, but the old lady was trembling, which meant that Kylie didn't know what to do. The old lady tried to speak, but it was apparent that she could not. Furthermore, she was obviously in pain.

The old lady looked at Kylie and pointed to her chest. ”Is there something wrong with your heart?” Kylie asked her. ”I'll call 9-1-1.”

Before she could get out her phone, though, the old lady grabbed her pants and wheezed while pointing to her throat. Suddenly Kylie understood exactly what the problem was. She pulled the old lady to her feet, and, as she had been trained to do, she performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. After a few compressions, a chunk of meatball flew out of the old lady's mouth.

Once she'd caught her breath, the old lady looked at Kylie and said, ” Thank you so much. If it hadn't been for you, I would be dead already.”

”It was nothing,” Kylie replied. ”I am just glad I was here to help. I am still going to call 9-1-1 for you, though. It is very likely that you've sustained internal injuries. My name is Kylie, by the way.”

The old lady nodded consent and said, ”I appreciate all that you are doing for me. My name is Beth. My husband passed away last year, and, though I am anxious to be with him again, he would tease me for all eternity if he learned that a meatball had murdered me…”

Not wanting to leave Beth alone, Kylie rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital. Once they arrived, she called Lucas and told him what had happened, where she was and asked him if he'd caught the thief.

”He got away, and the purse wasn't recovered,” Lucas sighed, ”but I am beginning to think that it doesn't even matter. I just spoke with the President, Laurence. He just called me. It seems from the times that I've recalled my memory. We were given a lot of wrong information. I suspect that it was done on purpose to make us look unprofessional and, perhaps even, to have us removed from the roster.”

”When is the first meeting?” Kylie sighed.

”It just started,” Lucas replied. ”Even if we leave right now, we will be very late…”

Kylie hung up the phone, turned to Beth and said, ”Ma'am, what is your family's number? I can call someone for you, but I can't stay any longer. I have to go right now.”

”Where are you going?” Beth wondered.