The Bear and the Dragon - Tom Clancy [199]
The doctor was the first to take any intelligent action. The baby was out now, and he couldnt kill it. He took it from Yus dead arms, and held it up by the feet, planning to smack it on the rump, but it cried out on its own. So, the doctor thought as automatically as the second policemans shot, this lunacy has one good result. That hed been willing to kill it sixty seconds before was another issue entirely. Then, it had been unauthorized tissue. Now, it was a breathing citizen of the Peoples Republic, and his duty as a physician was to protect it. The dichotomy did not trouble him because it never even occurred to him.
There followed a few seconds in which people tried to come to terms with what had happened. Monsignor Schepke saw that Yu was dead. He couldnt be alive with that head wound. His remaining duty was to his Cardinal.
"Eminence," he said, kneeling down to lift him off the bloody floor.
Renato Cardinal DiMilo thought it strange that there was so little pain, for he knew that his death was imminent. Inside, his spleen was lacerated, and he was bleeding out internally at a lethal rate. He had not the time to reflect on his life or what lay in his immediate future, but despite that, his life of service and faith reasserted itself one more time.
"The child, Franz, the child?" he asked in a gasping voice.
"The baby lives," Monsignor Schepke told the dying man.
A gentle smile: "Bene," Renato said, before closing his eyes for the last time.
The last shot taken by the CNN crew was of the baby lying on her mothers chest. They didnt know her name, and the womans face was one of utter confusion, but then she felt her daughter, and the face was transformed as womanly instincts took over completely.
"We better get the fuck out of here, Barry," the cameraman advised, with a hiss.
"I think youre right, Pete." Wise stepped back and started to his left to get down the corridor to the stairs. He had a potential Emmy-class story in his hands now. Hed seen a human drama with few equals, and it had to go out, and it had to go out fast.
Inside the delivery room, the senior cop was shaking his head, his ears still ringing, trying to figure out what the hell had happened here, when he realized that the light level was lower—the TV camera was gone! He had to do something. Standing erect, he darted from the room and looked right, and saw the last American disappear into the stairwell. He left his junior in the delivery room and ran that way, turned into the fire stairs and ran downstairs as fast as gravity could propel him.
Wise led his people into the main lobby and right toward the main door, where their satellite van was. Theyd almost made it, when a shout made them turn. It was the cop, the older one, about forty, they thought, and his pistol was out again, to the surprise and alarm of the civilians in the lobby.
"Keep going," Wise told his crew, and they pushed through the doors into the open air. The van was in view, with the mini-satellite dish lying flat on the roof, and that was the key to getting this story out.
"Stop!" the cop called. He knew some English, so it would seem.
"Okay, guys, lets play it real cool," Wise told the other three.
"Under control," Pete the cameraman advised. The camera was off his shoulder now, and his hands were out of casual view.
The cop holstered his pistol and came close, with his right hand up and out flat. "Give me tape," he said. "Give me tape." His accent was crummy, but his English was understandable enough.
"That tape is my property!" Wise protested. "It belongs to me and my company."
The cops English wasnt that good. He just repeated his demand: "Give me tape!"
"Okay, Barry," Pete said. "I got it."
The cameraman—his name was Peter Nichols—lifted the camera up and hit the EJECT button, punching the Beta-format tape out of the Sony camera. This he gave to the police officer with a downcast and angry expression. The cop took it with his own expression of satisfaction and turned on his heel to go back into the hospital.