Exodus - Leon Uris [251]
At the bottom of the grade, Mussa stopped the truck. The next road was too steep to attempt. The three of them got out quickly. Kitty took the small first-aid kit and followed Mussa down past a block of houses until they were far from the frenzied town activity.
At the last house in the village they stopped. It was closely guarded by a small band of fierce-looking armed Druse men.
Mussa held the door open. Kitty took a deep breath and entered. Inside another pair of guards stood before an inner door. She turned to Karen.
“Stay here. I’ll call you if I need you. Mussa, come in with me please.”
The bedroom was almost dark, and it was chilly because of the altitude and the concrete floors. Kitty heard a groan. She walked quickly to the window and threw the shutters open, admitting a stream of light.
Ari lay on a double bed with a brass headboard. His fists were clenched around two of the rungs, which he had bent out of shape as he writhed in agony. Kitty threw the cover from him. His clothes and the mattress were dark with blood.
“Help me take his pants off,” Kitty ordered.
Mussa straightened up with amazement.
“Never mind,” she said. “Just stand out of my way. I’ll tell you when I need you.”
She carefully ripped away his trousers and examined him. His color seemed good and his pulse was relatively strong. She compared the two legs. The bad one did not seem to be unduly swollen nor did it appear that he had lost an excessive amount of blood.
Kitty’s manner was brisk efficiency now that she knew Ari was alive and did not appear to be in critical danger.
“Mussa, bring me some soap and water and some clean towels. I want to take a closer look at the wound.”
She washed her hands and wiped around the wound carefully. His thigh was discolored and the blood oozed from the puffy spot where the bullet had entered.
Ari fluttered his eyes open. “Kitty?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Thank God.”
“What have you done for this thing?”
“I put some sulfa on it yesterday. I had a pressure bandage but it didn’t seem to be bleeding too much.”
“I’m going to poke around. It’s going to hurt.”
“Go ahead.” He grunted and broke out in a cold sweat as she felt the lump. He gripped the brass rungs and shook the bed. Kitty took her hand away quickly. Ari trembled for three minutes. She wiped his face with a wet towel.
“Can you talk to me, Ari?”
“It’s going away,” he said. “It comes and goes. This is a lot of fuss I’m making for a leg wound. Did your Cook County training include this sort of thing?”
Kitty smiled that he should remember. “Oh, every once in a while somebody’s husband caught the boy friend in the act and he was dumped at the emergency door.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t say for sure. Bullets do funny things. There’s no accounting for the way they twist. Your pulse and breathing are good, no shock. Your leg isn’t swollen except around the immediate area of the wound.”
“What does that mean?”
“I would say it means you haven’t had an internal hemorrhage. The bullet missed a main artery. I can’t see any infection, either. I’d say you were rather lucky ... although I’m worried about this pain you’re having.”
“I’ve been passing out every few hours,” he said.
“Hold on. I want to feel around again.”
Ari braced himself but was only able to take the probing for a few seconds. He cried out and bolted up to a sitting position and then gasped and sank down.
“The sonofabitch is killing me!”
He clutched the sheets and rolled over on his face and shook.
He convulsed in pain for ten minutes, then fell limp. “Kitty ... what is it? ... for God’s sake, I can’t take much more ...”
“Were you able to walk at all after you were hit?”
“Yes ... what is it, Kitty? Why should it hurt like this?”
She shook her head. “I’m not a doctor. I can’t say for sure. I may be all wrong.”
“Tell me what you do know,” he gasped.
“All right, this is what I think. The bullet entered your outer thigh and hit the