Out of the Black - Lee Doty [120]
With her work tablet, she pulled up a local copy of an arrest report from three weeks ago. It had been a brawl at a downtown club that had been finally contained after eight officers had been called to the scene. From the report, she harvested the badge ID of Jeanette Woods, one of the two other female officers on the scene, and the only one of Rae's ethnicity. She transferred the number to the HT3K, and after a few false starts, wrote that number into the "unwritable" Assisi chip in her badge.
Of course, she had no idea if it would work, and no way to test it without exposing herself to a query. This was probably not going to work. Even if it did, macro security daemons would eventually notice the same key in use at two locations.
She used the HT3K to re-tag her tablet and Uni to seem like they were Jeanette's.
She attached the badge to her chest, grabbed the duffel and Jerry's plant, and stepped from the microvan.
***
"That was fast! You guys have them stacked up in the back of the ambulance?" Lynda's stylus was poised above her tablet.
"Two males, one with field-treated head wounds, the other comatose with no physical indications." the taller of the EMTs said, not looking up from his monitoring equipment.
"Just really sleepy, huh?" Lynda gave him a look of laconic amusement.
He nodded, "I think this medkit's been on for a while..."
Lynda interrupted, her stylus already moving. "I need their Uni keys."
"No ID."
"Why is this never easy?"
"Because it's life, not video."
Lynda summoned the triage doctor for a DNA ID authorization. "They stable?"
"They'll make it to the OR, but I don't have any prognosis."
"What happened?"
"No idea. We found them in the parking garage."
Lynda's stylus paused. "In our garage?"
The EMT nodded.
"You open a police incident yet?"
Both EMTs shook their heads. The shorter one hooked a thumb over his shoulder, toward the door. "We just stumbled over them a few seconds ago... just outside."
The doors from an internal hallway on the right of the ER reception opened. A uniformed patrol officer entered carrying a duffle bag over her shoulder and a potted plant that screamed 'hospital gift shop'. The alarm went off as she stepped through the scanner just inside the door, but everyone could clearly see the pistol on her hip.
Behind the security desk, Clint cleared the alarm and waved the woman through/p>
She nodded to the triage nurse and the EMTs. "Can anyone point me to the maternity ward?"
"Whoa. Speak of the devil!" the shorter EMT whispered.
"You on duty?" Lynda asked.
"I'm always on duty," the officer responded, "what's up?"
"These two were abandoned in the parking garage..."
The officer looked skeptical, "They look a little old for child abandonment... besides they look like they might work here." She smiled at the EMTs.
The EMTs exchanged glances. "I think she meant these guys." One said, gesturing to their unconscious charges.
The officer nodded. She set the plant down on the security desk and pulled out her tablet. "I'll open the incident... how long before visiting hours are over?"
"For our pals in blue? Never." Clint said with a smile.
"Well, okay then, lets get started!"
Lynda nodded, gesturing to the corner of the desk. The door to the ER opened, admitting a thin, kind-faced man in his forties. He wore the loose garb and requisite white coat of an ER doctor. "You rang, Lynda?"
"Yeah, I need authorization to do a medical ID on two John Doe types."
"Describe the scene when you found them..." The officer said to the EMTs, stylus poised over her tablet.
"Officer..." Lynda consulted her tablet, "...Woods will be handling the police report."
"Swell." The doctor turned to the two patients. After a few moments of rudimentary tests, he used his tablet to authorize the DNA ID. He sent the patient with the head wound to OR-1, and the sleeper to imaging for a deep scan.
The officer was finished getting info from the EMTs and was waiting patiently. "I'll need your