Out of the Black - Lee Doty [86]
Hawthorne shook her head slowly. Her grip tightened on Anne's elbow. "Was he in possession of anything weird? Strange machines, that kind of thing."
"Nope. Badge, gun, Uni, tablet, stat cast on his left shoulder."
"What happened to the shoulder?"
"Prelim scans indicate gunshot wound, fairly recent but well healed. The shot shattered most of the bones in there. 'Nother interesting thing: This wasn't the first time he's been shot. Scans picked up four other wounds, all old... and none too minor either."
"We'll be across the hall, let me know if there are any new developments." She said, leading Anne toward the door.
The door opened into a hallway cordoned off by the police. There were two more officers here. Instead of heading for the room across the hall, they turned right toward the elevators. Hawthorne pushed the down call button and they waited uneasily until the elevator arrived. Inside the elevator, Anne started to speak, but Hawthorne silenced her with a gesture. Hawthorne pressed the button for the fifth floor... trauma OR. On the way down, Hawthorne accessed the hospital's records to determine Mendez's location.
They got off the elevator and went down the hall to OR-3's observation room. They moved quickly up the flight of stairs and through the door into darkness. Anne switched on the lights. Hawthorne approached the observation window.
Below, two doctors leaned over the surgical console on the casket-sized surgical bed. Mendez wasn't visible inside the hermetically sealed operating bed. The surgeons' hands were in the control ports. Inside the bed, nanoprobes performed the delicate weaving that could mend bones, stitch veins and capillaries- macro to microsurgery. At Mendez's feet, a tech monitored the patient and operating equipment so the doctors could focus on the surgery.
Hawthorne used her tablet to access the operating theater's schedule for a progress report. The damage was serious, but no longer life threatening. The ETA for the room to become available was less than ninety minutes. This implied that it would be around an hour before Mendez came off the table and another few hours of observation before he could be transported to another hospital.
Hawthorne accessed a communication window on her tablet, opened a link and waited. A pretty woman of about thirty-five with dark Latin features appeared. Her professional demeanor quickly softened. "Sarah! You better not be making lame excuses for Kyle again."
"Elena..."
"You're his partner, not his mother, you know... If he's gonna be late, then put the workaholic on the screen so he can take his medicine like a man."
Hawthorne's face remained grave. "I'd say 'don't worry', but then you'd get the wrong idea entirely. But pretend I did, because everything's gonna be okay."
On the screen, the woman's elfish face hardened with concern. "What?"
"I need you to come to Mercy Memorial right away..."
"No!" Denial, not refusal.
"Listen to me! I need you to come hard, you understand? I need you to call Derry, call Todd. Get here right away, come hard- you hearing me?"
"Yes. Come to the hospital, bring the calling circle and the utility belt, I'm taking it we're not punching in?" Though a small quaver could be heard, it affected a voice of controlled efficiency.
"Nope. We're off in the weeds on this one... way off. This is like nothing I've seen before... nothing. Don't trust anyone, not even badges. Kyle's down."
"Down?" The emotional edge moved toward the center of her voice, unwinding it somewhat.
"But not out... hurry. We're not going to be able to move for about an hour. Be here by then. We'll need a wagon and as much hardware as you can pack." Hawthorne broke the connection. She could feel the clock ticking.
***
Ping arrived in the doorway to the living room, fletcher in hand. Through the large windows, the last of the evening sun was shrouded in dark, crimson-tinged clouds. A storm was coming, and it looked like it was going to be a big one.
Rae and Alex were on the couch, their backs