Extreme Medical Services Box Set Vol 4--6

by Jamie Davis

  “Do you live close? We could bandage this and then give you a lift home,” Barry offered.

  “I live here and there. Or there and here. It depends on what I want to do,” Jim replied. He stared at the ground, avoiding eye-contact with the paramedics.

  Barry looked at Dean with a shrug. He understood his probationary partner’s indecision. This guy couldn’t get far on this foot, but he was clearly homeless and didn’t want to leave behind what little he had, to go to the hospital. He probably had a tent and maybe a backpack nearby that were all the possessions he had in the world.

  Dean took the lead. “Alright, Jim. We don’t have to take you to the hospital if you don’t want to go. Barry’s going to bandage that foot up for you. We’ll use some butterfly bandages to close up the cut after we clean it out first. Then we’ll wrap it up for you to keep it clean. Okay?”

  The large man nodded and Dean and Barry settled in to providing what care they could for their patient. Barry got some sterile saline out of the trauma bag and some gauze to clean up the foot while Dean opened the med bag. Most paramedics didn’t carry basic vaccines, but the Station U paramedics did have a few options most did not.

  He had to call in for permission administer the tetanus shot, but the doc on call agreed with Dean’s assessment. Given the refusal of transport to the hospital, it was the best option they had to avoid him developing lockjaw. The doc also ordered a broad spectrum antibiotic injection, too.

  By the time Dean was finished giving the injections, Barry had completed the wrapping of the feet. Dean noticed he had used his trauma shears to cut down a padded board splint and fashion a padded sole for the bandage. This guy didn’t wear shoes but he might tolerate this much of one until his foot healed.

  “Jim, I want you to try and keep that dry and as clean as you can,” Barry instructed. “If it gets dirty or too loose to stay on your foot, you have the dryad call us back. If it’s not us, it will be two of our friends. They can re-wrap your bandage and make sure you’re doing alright. Okay?”

  “Okay,” the large man responded. His voice was slow and deliberate as always and Dean knew that often, the homeless had other underlying mental health issues that made them choose to live alone and isolated from the rest of society.

  “Remember that you can call us any time you want,” Dean reminded the man. “Even if you just want us to come and talk with you sometime. We’ll have someone come out and check on you. Just ask.”

  The tall man nodded and stood up from the log where he had been sitting. He towered above Dean by a foot or more.

  Dean and Barry gathered their gear and carried it back to the ambulance. They stowed what they carried out back into the proper compartments, and turned to check on their patient one last time. He was nowhere to be seen. Dean scanned the trees, peering into the deepening gloom of evening in the forest, but he could see nothing there.

  He shrugged and looked to Barry who returned the gesture. They climbed into the ambulance cab and Barry got on the radio to put them back in service while Dean drove away.

  “Hey, Dean. Was that guy a …”

  “A what? A Bigfoot? I guess. He, or those like him, might be the source of that particular legend. It’s as good an explanation as any.” He drove as Barry fell silent again, thinking about the answer Dean gave him.

  Dean hoped Jim did alright with that wound. He doubted the man would call them or their colleagues back unless it got really bad again. So many of their Unusual patients felt isolated from the rest of society. When you were both homeless and an Unusual, the isolation must be severe. Still Jim seemed to do fine avoiding human contact as much as possible. That was what Sasquatches did after all.

  Chapter 19

  Dean got off work and went to get Jo from the apartment. The plan, according to Jaz, was to head over to this guy Sam’s apartment. She used her resources to get some information on the guy and she told him there was nothing on the surface that was unusual or alarming, but that didn’t always mean anything either.

  Jo was ready to go as he pulled up in front of the garage. She came bouncing down the stairs in an outfit that looked a lot like her mother’s hunting gear. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a red top and a black leather jacket. He couldn’t help but notice the sheathed Katana and shoulder strap she carried in her right hand. Apparently it was time to go into full on hunter mode.

  Dean guessed she was right. He had seen, first hand, the carnage a demon could cause. It was better to be prepared to fight than to have to wish you had protection later on. Still, he wondered why she didn’t rely more on her magic. She was a strong spell caster. He had seen her take down a demon with a literal ball of the sun’s fire. What did she need a sword for, he wondered?

  She climbed in and saw him looking at her.

  “What?” she asked, getting defensive.

  Dean held out a hand. “Don’t get bent out of shape. I was only wondering why you decided to bring that blade with you. Don’t you have your magic to back you up?”

  “Magic has its place, sure. I’m pretty strong, but the more I use magic here, in this place and time, the more tied to this timeline I become. I’ve tried to use it only when nothing else would do the job.” She patted the blade. “Sometimes, there’s nothing like cold steel to solve your problems.”

  Dean saw the broad grin on her face and shook his head. If there was any doubt who her mother was, this was the proof in his book.

  “You are your mother’s daughter,” he said with a chuckle.

  He shifted the pickup into gear and started downtown to meet Jaz and switch over to her black SUV. It was more unobtrusive he knew, and it could easily hold all three of them, something his truck could not do.

  Parking on the street and pumping some coins into the meter, Dean and Jo went up to Jaz’s apartment. She was waiting for them and popped open the door before walking back inside. Jaz was putting her blonde hair up into a ponytail, then pulling the hair through the hole in the back of her black baseball cap. It sported an embroidered version of the Errington Crest. She wore her black duty pants, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket.

  “Did you pick up anything else on this dungeon master guy, or his wife?” Dean asked.

  “No, there’s little record of them. I ran a credit check and while they have some credit card debt, it’s not enough to warrant them to call on a nefarious source for help. I find no evidence of demonic influences in either of their backgrounds.” Jaz picked up her Katana and turned to face them. She noticed Jo carrying hers as well, though the teen had slipped the sword’s strap over her head so that the sword hung down diagonally across her back with the hilt sticking up over the left shoulder. She held her daughter’s gaze for a moment, but said nothing. The huntress just gave a nod and looked to Dean.

  “Feel up to driving? That will give Jo and me a chance to discuss tactics and check over each other’s gear on the way there.”

  “Sure, where are the keys?” Dean asked.

  Jaz reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the keys to her SUV, tossing them to him. Dean caught the keys in midair with his right hand. “Cool. Shall we go, ladies?” He gestured toward the door with a slight bow. Jaz snorted in amusement and passed him to head out the door. Jo followed her mother and Dean pulled the door closed behind him, checking to make sure it was locked before following the other two to the elevator.

  The ride over to the subject’s apartment was short. It lasted only about five minutes. During that time, Dean listened as Jaz laid out a quick action plan for their confrontation with the demon lord. She’d take the lead, Jo would be second right behind her, and Dean would bring up the rear. She tasked the Wiccan with trying to sense the location of the missing idols with a spell once the door was open, if she could do it without drawing attention to what she was doing. Jo assured her that she could keep it all on the down low. No one would know she was casting a scrying spell.

  Dean would prepare to help if anyone was injured. It was
likely that if the demon lord was inside, there would be some type of injury to others living in the apartment with it. He was concerned that she might be a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of person in this situation. Jaz was under an incredible amount of stress, with her family’s recent demise and now this hunt to recover essential and dangerous items stolen from her family’s home and offices. He would keep an eye on her when the time came to check for shooting and other victims.

  When they got close, Jaz told him to park around the corner from their destination. She wanted to sneak up on Sam and Jill, and avoid having them see the trio getting out of the SUV with all their gear before they had a chance to get upstairs.

  “I can’t help but get the feeling that we are treading on the wrong side of the law here, Jaz,” Dean said. “We don’t have a search warrant or anything like it to go after this guy.”

  “We are just going to ask him questions, and be prepared to defend ourselves if anyone or anything decides to attack us. That is all we are doing. The members of the Errington clan have all been deputized to deal with these special investigations by the Federal government. Let’s just say I have broad latitude in how I handle things like this.”

  “Dad, let Mom handle this. This is something she knows. Trust her.”

  Dean looked from one Errington hunter to the other. If he didn’t know them and ran into them in a dark alley, he’d think they were two very dangerous women. Heck, he knew they were two dangerous women. He nodded and got out of the SUV. When the ladies had exited as well, he keyed the locks on the vehicle and stepped into position behind Joanna and Jaz.

  There was no doorman on the building, but the front door’s lock was broken and they were able to gain entry to the apartments upstairs. Their target was on the third floor, and they walked up the three flights of stairs with no signs of other residents.

  Soon they were standing outside the door of apartment 3-F. Jaz checked that Jo was in position by the door jamb before she stepped up and rapped on the door with her bare knuckles. She stepped to the side and slipped what looked like a billfold from the pocket of her black leather jacket. She reached out, opened it and held it in front of the door’s peep-hole. Dean could see a brass or gold badge on one side and a picture ID on the other.

  “Who is it?” came a man’s voice from inside the apartment.

  “Special investigator, Mr. Aker. Would you please come out and answer a few questions for me?” Jaz sounded professional and confident. She had done this before.

  “Just a moment.” Dean heard the rattle of a chain lock and the click of a deadbolt. The door popped open a crack and a face peered out.

  “May I see that badge again?”

  “Certainly, sir.” Jaz stepped into view and held up her badge ID again.

  The man, opened the door a little wider and put on wire-rimmed reading glasses to examine the offered identification.

  “You’re U.S. Marshals?”

  “We’re special investigators with the Marshal’s office, sir. We just had a few questions for you,” Jaz replied. “May we come in?”

  “Uh, yes, certainly.” The small, wiry man stepped back, opening the door. “I’m not certain I know of anything that could possibly help you. Is it about one of my neighbors? I don’t like to be the one to tell tales.”

  Jaz entered first with Jo and Dean following. She continued to take the lead.

  “It is just a routine investigation into some unusual events recently in the city. Your name came up in the course of the investigation, and we had to follow every lead. These are my colleagues, Ms. Errington and Mr. Flynn.”

  Dean nodded to acknowledge his name as he looked around the room. He supposed it was too much to hope that the missing idols would be sitting in plain view. He saw Jo craning her neck to see back down the hallway to the rear of the apartment. It must be where the bedrooms and bathroom were located.

  “May we sit down, Mr. Aker? It won’t take us long, but I find that it goes even faster if we’re all comfortable.”

  “Certainly. And please call me Sam.” He gestured to the oval dining table with six chairs in the center of the main room.

  Jaz, Dean and Jo all sat down with their host at the table. Dean wasn’t sure what he expected to happen when they came up here, but this cordial exchange and mundane conversation in the apartment wasn’t it.

  “How may I help you?” Sam asked.

  “Is your wife home? I understand you’re married, from my records.” Jaz took out a note pad from her jacket pocket and flipped it open. She clicked the pen that had been clipped to the note pad and jotted something down.

  “No, Jill is not here right now. Why, is she in some sort of trouble? She’s been acting most strange lately.”

  “Strange how, if I may ask?” Jaz leaned forward as she asked the question.

  “About four days ago, she started talking to herself. It was like she was having a conversation with someone who wasn’t there. It went on for several days. Yesterday, when I got home from an errand, she was gone. Her suitcase was missing, along with some of her clothes. She took our car, too. I tried calling the police but they said to call back in forty-eight hours. I thought maybe you were here in response to that.”

  “And your wife had never acted that way before?” Jaz pressed.

  “No,” Sam said with a wry chuckle. “Everyone says she’s the normal one.”

  Jaz, made a few notes and there was an uncomfortable silence. Jo voice broke the quiet.

  “Mr. Aker, may I use your bathroom?”

  “Certainly, young lady. It’s down the hall. First door on your left.” He returned his attention to his questioner.

  “Thank you.” Dean watched as she got up and walked down the hallway behind the man. She turned right instead of left and entered another door. Sam was watching Jaz and never noticed.

  “Mr. Aker, do you work for A-Plus construction?” Jaz asked.

  “Yes, though I have not been at work for a few days. I’ve been ill.”

  “It has come to our attention that several personal items were found at the construction site at the old Errington building. Some of these items seemed to have gone missing.”

  “Is this about those green bookends? I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have taken them. I put them on the shelf over there.” He gestured to the bookshelf in the corner.

  Dean turned to look, half expecting to see the summoning idols sitting there. They were not. That would have been way too easy.

  “Where are they now?” Jaz queried after glancing at the shelf herself.

  “I don’t know. They disappeared when my wife did. I guess she took them with her when she left. I’m not going to lose my job over this, am I?”

  “Right now, we just want to recover them. That will be a matter for you and your company to discuss.”

  Dean saw Jo come out into the hallway again. She shook her head at him and went into the bathroom door on the left. Dean heard a toilet flush and she came back into the hallway as if she had been in there all the time.

  “If you find my wife, you’re not going to hurt her are you? You are rather strangely armed for police investigators, aren’t you?” He gestured to the sword hilt poking up over Jaz’s shoulder.

  “We’re special investigators, Mr. Aker. I can’t speak about our operational methods or equipment. I do thank you for your help with this investigation. We will do all we can to keep your wife from harm.” Jaz handed Sam a card from her pocket. “If you think of anything else, or you hear from your wife, please call me. I will answer that phone line day or night.”

  She stood up and Dean took that cue to stand as well. Jo stepped over to join them as they headed towards the door.

  “Please don’t hesitate to call us if you think of anything else that may be of help to our search and investigation. We’ll fill in the local police on your wife’s missing person’s report. Contact me directly if you want an update on the search efforts, alright? I can break through the red ta
pe for you.”

  “Thank you, I will.”

  The three of them stepped into the hallway and Sam closed the door behind them. Dean heard the click of the deadbolt and the rattle of the chain lock sliding into place as they stood in the hallway. This had been a dead end. He followed the two women downstairs in silence.

  * * *

  ———

  * * *

  Graadu watched in his mind’s eye as the three so-called investigators left the building. He knew hunters when he saw them. They were so foolish. Their swords alone gave them away. He had hated to cower and put on the act the way he did, but it was useful. He had gotten closer to the witch who had cast the masking spell on the third idol. She was powerful for one so young.

  The day before he had tracked her to that garage apartment in the suburbs. Due to some protection spell, he had not been able to approach too closely and had not been able to gauge her ability before this time. Now, with her only an arm’s length away from him across the table, he had been able to see just how powerful she was. He would have to proceed carefully if he was to get close enough to her to kill her and break the spell.

  It was strange. She carried a sword as well. He had not heard of a witch who was also a hunter. Perhaps it was just a coincidence. The other woman, this Jaswinder Errington, was clearly a huntress. He was not sure he had fooled her completely, and he would have to tread carefully moving forward with his plans. She would be watching him, he was sure.

  Their companion, the man, was bothering him, too. He appeared to be human, but he could not penetrate his defenses to read him as he could other humans. That was something he had not encountered before. There was no detectable protection spell on him. The huntress and the witch had their protections, but he could still read their auras to see what they were. The human, Dean Flynn was different somehow. His aura was confused and masked by something. It bothered him, and he would have to be careful around this one too, if he ran into him in the future.