Line of Control - Tom Clancy [97]
Honda was not moving.
The colonel got to his feet and made his way over. As he did he felt his chest under his vest. It was dry. The pellet had not gone through the garment. His arm was bleeding but the freezing air had slowed the flow considerably. He ignored the wound for now. Try as he might he could not clear his mind of the other Strikers. Sondra Devon the Walter Pupshaw.
Mike. The others.
He concentrated on the Strikers who were just a few meters away. And he forced himself to think about what was next. He still had his weapons and he had his assignment.
He had to link up with the Pakistani cell.
As August reached the men he did not have to ask how Honda was. The radio operator was panting hard as blood pumped from beneath his vest.
The medic was trying to clean two small, raw wounds on Honda's left side. August could not see Honda's dark eyes behind his tinted eyepieces. The frost had evaporated and misted them over.
"Is there anything I can do?" August asked Musicant.
"Yeah," the medic said urgently.
"There's a portable intravenous kit in compartment seven and a vial of atropine sulfate in twelve. Get them. Also the plasma in eight. He's got two more holes in his back. I've got to get him plugged and stabilized."
The colonel removed the items. He began setting up the IV. From triage classes he remembered that the atropine sulfate was used to diminish secretions, including blood loss.
That would help stabilize the patient if there were internal bleeding.
"Is your arm all right, sir?" Musicant asked.
"Sure," August said.
"Who was that you tried to reach at the ledge?"
"General Rodgers," the medic replied.
August perked.
"Was the general wounded?"
"He appeared to be okay," Musicant replied.
"He was reaching out, trying to get over a few feet more. The goddamn current grabbed his chute. I couldn't get to him."
Then it was possible that Rodgers had survived. August would try and contact him by point-to-point radio.
"After the IV is ready you'd better try and get in touch with those Indian soldiers," Musicant suggested.
"If I can stabilize Ishi we'll need to get him to a hospital."
August finished setting up the small IV tripod beside Honda. Then he uncapped the needle. He would use Honda's radio to contact Op-Center and brief them. He would give Herbert their position and ask him to relay a call for medical assistance. But that was all he would do. He and Musicant could not wait here, however. They still had a mission to complete.
When the IV setup was finished August reached for Honda's TAC-SAT.
Musicant had already removed the pack and set it aside. The reinforced backpack had taken some hits along one side but the telephone itself appeared to be undamaged. August wondered if Honda had taken pains to protect it, even at the cost of his own life.
Just then. Corporal Honda began to convulse.
"Shit!" Musicant said.
August watched as the radio operator coughed. Flecks of blood spattered his cheek.
"Ishi, hang on," Musicant yelled.
"You can do it. Give me another minute, that's all I'm asking."
Honda stopped panting and coughing. His entire body relaxed.
"Take off his vest!" Musicant yelled. Then the medic grabbed for his medical belt and reached into one of the pockets. He withdrew a hypodermic and a vial of epinephrine.
Colonel August began unfastening Honda's vest. As he bent over the stricken soldier he noticed a stream of red seeping out from between the noncom's spread legs. Honda had to have been losing blood at an incredibly fast pace for it to pool that far down.
August watched as the blood crept to below Honda's knees. When the colonel pulled the vest away he found the front underside to be sticky with blood. The