Shoot Not to Kill

by Daniel L Stephenson

  “Sure, I’ll be over,” Dr. Ballows said as he hung up.

  Geech waited for half an hour before Dr. Ballows came in. Clinker looked a mess. His hair was uncombed, he had wrinkled clothing on, and did not appear to have shaved in several days.

  “OK, where’s the dude from the accident?” Clinker asked as he brushed past Geech. Geech had started an intravenous line on the kid, and Clinker looked at Geech and asked, “Who told you to drown the kid? You call me, you take my orders, got it?”

  Geech nodded, “Yes, sir,” he replied.

  Dr. Ballows walked over to the patient. The patient was a young teenager. He had a neck collar on and dried blood over his face. There was a laceration that extended from his jaw down to his clavicle on the right side. His scalp had been torn as well, and his shirt was a bloody and dirty mess. Clinker took rubber gloves from his coat and looked at the youth’s eyes.

  “OK, kid, where are you?” Clinker asked as he pulled back the hair on the scalp attempting to estimate the laceration on the head.

  The patient tried to talk with the neck brace in place and reached up to pull the brace away from his jaw.

  Dr. Ballows slapped his had, “You leave that shit alone, got it?”

  In at attempt to satisfy Dr. Ballows, the youth tried to nod his head, which got him slapped again across the forehead, “You move when I tell you to move.”

  Geech knew enough about bedside manner that he thought this was some of the worst manner he had ever seen. His EMT training had required many hours of ER work, and he had never seen a patient treated so abusively.

  “Get me the radiology tech. You should have at least known that much,” Clinker yelled at Geech.

  “He’s warming up the developer now,” Geech said as he picked up the phone to check on the progress of getting the X-rays.

  “Get me C-spine, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Call me when the cross table lateral is done and get a nurse in here,” Clinker ordered as he walked out.

  Geech called the nursing desk and asked if there was a nurse that was supposed to help in the ER. The nurse said it was she and that she would be down.

  The radiology tech drove in the portable X-ray machine and asked Geech to help position the plates. Geech put on a lead apron and held the cassettes for several pictures.

  “Dr. Ballows wanted to see the neck first,” Geech said.

  The young radiology technician smiled and said, “They like to see the first view of the neck, the lateral, before we do any rolling around for the rest of the pictures. I’ll have the pictures in ten minutes.” The radiography technician turned to the patient, “OK, Lonnie, you doing OK?”

  Lonnie just raised his eyebrows and winked.

  “He got chewed out pretty good for moving his head,” Geech said.

  “Bet your ass he did,” Clinker said as he strode back in to the ER. “Where are my survey pictures?"

  The first films were delivered to the ER and Clinker counted the vertebras of the neck, “Got seven, OK. You’re clear for the rest of the pictures. Where’s the chest and abdomen?”

  “Dr. Ballows,” the radiology tech said, “those pictures are on the cabinet next to the view box.”

  Clinker shook his head and walked to the view box, pulling down the neck radiograph and slapping up the other pictures. Clinker turned to the nurse who had arrived and said, “Set up an irritation pump and get me warmed saline. The scalp wound is a real mess. You have any blood in this dump?” he demanded.

  “Dr. Ballows, we always have some blood and can get some flown up, if we think it will be necessary. That takes a day. I’ll call the lab technicians in to set that up.”

  Clinker turned to Geech and said, “I don’t suppose you thought to order a trauma series of baseline blood work?”

  Geech was becoming irritated, “No sir, I did not.”

  “OK, well, don’t go anywhere; I can at least get you to put pressure on the bleeders we’re going to expose when I pull the scalp back.”

  Geech watched Dr. Bishell walk from the room and realized he was going to enjoy busting him. Clinker cleared the cervical spine, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Geech then helped Clinker take the cervical collar off and pull Lonnie off the backboard.

  Lab came in about the time the radiographs were all done, and Geech had to gown up and hold the scalp back as the saline was flushed through the wound. Lonnie required some morphine for his pain, and the bleeding was not excessive.

  Chapter 38

  Geech is Blown

  “Yeah, Tony, I’m working with him. He’s a temporary doctor here in Kotzebue. He’s been here a couple weeks now, and I talked with the administrator about how tough it was to work with him, and the administrator said I’d better get used to it because he’ll be around awhile,” Geech said as he used the phone at the airport.

  “OK, I’ll have to get Anchorage on this. Maybe they’ll send a couple agents up there, and you can pull him in. We have to look at what the charges will be, though. First thing is that he’s likely gotten the license there in Alaska on some false pretense, and I suppose proving that falsification would be the quickest way to get charges, but those charges would not get him held,” Tony mused.

  “Well, I guess you know best there. California has charges out for him for attempted murder, but we’ll have to prove it is Bishell. How can we do that?” Geech asked.

  “We need prints. Can you try to get something that we can send to lab? Watch him and follow him. See if you can get something that is good print material.”

  “I could do that. I’ll try to send something out soon. Meanwhile, I’ll keep working up here. I have a stupid question. What am I supposed to do with my salary as an EMT? It seems I should pay the bureau back because I’m on the clock with you,” Geech asked as he watched a small airplane taxi past, stuffed full of vegetables. Locals lined up to purchase these vegetables from the pilot.

  “Answer there Geech is that the salary is considered earned collateral employment, which means it is your as long as it has been earned as honest wages, and it is not too much money. If you were working numbers or drugs under cover, the money would be bureau money, but honest work is usually considered honest income,” Tony answered. “How will you do chain of custody for your prints?” Tony asked.

  “Hadn’t thought of that. Can I give it to the state troopers for work on their side? Likely not, they would want to bill the work, I suppose.”

  “You should deliver it to Anchorage. Can you get out to do that?” Tony asked.

  “I don’t think so, not for a couple weeks. I’ll snoop around for how long Clinker’s supposed to work here, and get back with you. Can you send an agent up here to sign for the material from me?” Geech asked.

  “That’s the best idea. Call us when you have something. Otherwise keep your head down and your butt clean. I’ll alert Anchorage that they’ll be doing a courier run for us soon. Good work, Paul,” Tony said.

  Geech said, “Thanks, I’ll call you. Hey, do you want me to arrest the guy that just flew in with a load of green peppers in a Piper Super Cub? Bet he does not have a license for food distribution.”

  “What on earth are you talking about?” Tony asked.

  “Oh, there’s a little blue Piper Cub that just flew in with the back seat loaded with all sorts of vegetables and it looks like half the town is up here getting fresh fruit and veggies from him. This is pretty remote stuff up here.”

  “I guess it is,” Tony said. “Call me when you have something.”

  Geech went back to work. He carried an ancient large radio with him that was connected to the hospital. This allowed him to roam the streets of Kotzebue freely. Several native art stores offered surprisingly well-made artifacts and carvings. Geech purchased several pieces and mailed them home. Bishell was at the post office when Geech came in with his package. Geech tried to ignore Bishell, noting the package being mailed was placed on the back table just out of good sight to read the address. Geech thought of using his identifica
tion to get more information, but knew in a small town such as Kotzebue it would be disastrous.

  The hospital was small. Only six beds were functional, and rarely were they full. There was no official obstetrics; the women that were getting close to their due dates would leave the smaller community for Anchorage to be housed as expectant mothers. The cafeteria was vending and microwave cooking, and the food for any patients that were in the hospital would come from the school cafeteria or from the patient’s home more often that not. Geech watched the doctors and Bishell for a day, trying to decide how to get prints.

  The ER at the hospital was modern. Geech looked at the material available and noted the suture sets were pre-sterilized. The kit contained a suture driver, an instrument that resembled a pair of tweezers, several hemostats, and a small cup to put water or soap into while you worked placing sutures. Finally, there were sterile towels. The cup for water was stainless steel and could hold two fluid ounces, or sixty milliliters. In addition, it was sterile, so it would have no other fingerprints on it if Geech could get Bishell to hold it. That would be one way to get a good set of fingerprints. It would just require the opportunity.

  The opportunity developed soon. The native corporation checks came out, and the town was transformed. Men became intoxicated, and the knife settled scores for many of these intoxicated combatants. Rarely were injuries severe, and none was life threatening. But suturing was a skill Geech was certainly developing. Two young men came in with lacerations, and one had a cut that did not allow him to straighten his right index finger. Geech called Dr. Ballows.

  “I’ve never done an extensor tendon. I'd like to watch you do it. Then I’ll manage my own,” Geech answered.

  “OK, get it cleaned up, numb him up, and I’ll be down. I’m in the lounge here next to records.”

  Geech set out his instruments. He numbed the cut up and was washing the laceration with saline when Bishell came in. Geech dropped an instrument and picked it up again and cussed, “Damn, broke my field.” With this, he turned and placed the retrieved instrument into the sink and picked up another pair of sterile gloves. Bishell had both his hands in his pockets and was leaning over the suture field. Geech returned with a new set of sterile gloves and picked up the water cup from his suture tray. He turned to Bishell and held the cup out and asked, “Would you fill this with saline for me.”

  Bishell did not take the cup in his hands, but said, “Put it back on your field and get a nurse to fill it for you.”

  Geech placed the cup down and said, “OK, right.”

  Bishell could not see the flap of skin clearly. He asked the patient to wiggle his finger, and finding that less that satisfactory, he went to the sterile instrument tray and selected a pair of tweezers, and tearing the paper open, he then reached in and picked up the tweezers with his left hand. He then used them to pick up the tissue flap and carefully inspect the tissue under the flap. The field rapidly filled with blood, so Bishell tossed the tweezers onto the stainless steel sink and reached for a set of sterile gloves.

  “Stay sterile, I need you to help keep the field clear,” Bishell demanded.

  Geech eyed the broad handle of the surgical tweezers and knew that was an excellent source for his fingerprints. The nurse was busy preparing other instruments and the field for Dr. Barrows. Geech slipped back and checked in his mind if he had touched anything but the cup in the suture tray, and determining that he had not, he took the tweezers up by the patient end and stuffed them back into the packet that had held them during the sterilization process.

  Geech was startled by Bishell’s voice, “What the hell are you doing?”

  Geech put his hands into the sink and said over his shoulder, “I was just cleaning up.”

  “Get your gloves changed and come over here and help me like I told you to. That’s nurse work, anyway.”

  Geech placed the tweezers onto a shelf in a place he hoped they would remain, and turned to get another pair of gloves. He realized that he could not maintain the pick-ups, as the tweezers were usually called, as custody if he turned away. Geech took his gloves off and pulled another set of gloves from the drawer and reached up to retrieve the pick-ups. He placed the pick-ups into his scrub pocket and re-gloved, turning to Dr. Barrows.

  Dr. Barrows was watching him as he turned. “Just what the fuck are you doing?” Bishell asked.

  Geech was taken aback for a moment, but then answered, “Coming.”

  They closed the finger. Dr. Barrows asked for several different suture materials before finally selecting several that satisfied him. He repaired the tendon and closed the injury without difficulty. Geech assisted and cut sutures until the wound appeared stable.

  “OK, nurse, dress it. Paul, I’ll give him something for antibiotics and have him see me next week in the clinic,” Barrows said as he pulled off his surgical gloves and shot them across the room like rubber bands.

  Geech took the prescription to be filled by the nurses from a hospital source. Bishell stayed in the room, chatting idly.

  The nurse took the prescription, and Geech left the ER. Bishell followed him until they were in the records section. Dr. Bishell said he had to see a patient and headed toward the nursing station.

  Geech headed out and began walking toward the main part of town. It was well past ten in the evening and you could still easily have read a book in the light. A group of men were playing softball by the twilight.

  Geech started up the stairs to his apartment and paused, looking about. He felt his pocket for the pickups and knew he had to call Tony, but decided he would do it from the airport in the morning.

  Geech had just finished climbing the stairs when Bishell grabbed him and threw him into the apartment. Geech landed against the reclining chair and Bishell came after him, striking him across the chest with a broken tool that had been propped up against the door frame, and then landing an expert kick to Geech’s side, sending him rolling away.

  “You pull my prints. Just who the fuck are you, and where are those pick-ups?” Bishell asked as he kicked Geech very hard against his left arm. Geech had the sickening feeling a bone was broken with the last kick. It sent him rolling across the floor. Geech also knew Bishell was very dangerous, and very determined.

  Bishell grabbed Geech by his vest and pulled him up, reaching for the pick-ups from the pocket in which he last saw them. They were not in that pocket. Bishell slapped Geech hard, and lost his grip on Geech’s vest. Geech rolled away. Geech’s hospital radio rolled from a pocket on the vest. Geech picked the radio up and called, “Backup, man down, backup ten-nine, my apartment!” Bishell kicked away the radio and then kicked Geech in the chest. The last thing Geech recalled was not recalling anything.

  Chapter 39

  Acrtic Storage Revisited

  Geech woke up in Anchorage’s Providence Hospital. His chest hurt with every breath and movement.

  “Hey, so you are awake now?” came a voice from the door.

  Geech swiveled his eyes to the door to see an older nurse walking into the room. The nurse had a limp that seemed to make it very difficult to walk. And she also had on a white hat. Geech did not recall the last time he had seen a nurse wearing a white hat.

  Geech tried to talk and only croaked, “Where am I?”

  “You are on my medical floor at Providence Hospital, in Anchorage. Your partners have been here every day to see you, and now you are awake. Your chest was crushed in your accident, and you have been unconscious for three days.”

  Geech did not ask what that accident was. He decided to play along, “Have my partners been here today?”

  “Yes, but we’re supposed to call them when you wake up. You tried to wake up yesterday, but didn’t make it. How do you feel?” the nurse asked as she flipped up the sheets to look at his chest.

  “I feel like I got hit by a small plane, ma’am, but I think I’ll live.”

  “Oh, you probably will live. Your doctors think you have bilateral pulmonary contusions from the a
ccident, and you may have a cerebral concussion. Those are pretty lucky accidents for someone that crashes a plane. That happens all the time around here in Alaska, but we don’t see many survivors. Your partners will fill you in. Do you need something for pain? We’ve not given you anything since you’ve been unconscious. But now you sure seem to be sharp as a tack and oriented. Most folks don’t know a thing when they wake up. OK, Paul, throw those legs over the side of the bed,” came the demand.

  Geech started to pick up his legs and experienced the pain in his chest. He fell back against the pillow, and that hurt too. “Oh that hurt, don’t do that again.”

  The nurse laughed and said, “I didn’t do anything. I’m going to get you some morphine, and then we’ll try that again.”

  Geech pulled the tray over to the bedside and tried to grab a water pitcher. Even the effort to pick up the pitcher of water was excruciating. He decided to wait. Soon the nurse was back with an injection, then she trotted back out, leaving Geech to feel the effects of the narcotic.

  The phone rang, waking Geech. He worked on getting the bedside table to roll over to him and by the time he could reach the phone it had ceased ringing. He was able to pull up the pitcher and get a drink. Geech swung his feet over the side and sat on the bedside long enough to nearly pass out, and then with another bout of excruciating pain, fell again to the pillows, only to be found half in bed and half out of bed.

  “Well, I see you tried it yourself, good man. Now let’s try it together. We’re going to walk down the hall. I’ve got a wheeled cart parked outside with the engine running, and whenever you need to sit, you can just sit down. Now up we go,” the nurse said as an aid come in to help.

  Geech walked to the hall and was surprised to see an armed guard sitting at the door. The guard looked up from the newspaper and said, “Good morning, Mr. Geech. I’m Harry, with the local cops. We’ve been keeping a close eye on you for a few days.”