by Jamie Davis
“And believe us when we say that you don’t want someone like Artur running things for the Unusuals here in Elk City,” Brynne said. “Artur is very old school. He still very much sees himself as an apex predator, and humans as his prey.”
“Wait a minute,” Dean stopped her. “I thought that sort of thing was pretty much finished. I thought we were all about trying to make sure that the two populations could live peacefully together without problems anymore.”
James crossed the room and sat on the arm of the sofa next to where Brynne was standing. “Artur has been trying to garner a place in the new world for about one hundred fifty years. All of the progressives in the Unusual European community came to the Americas with the first group of European settlers and set ourselves up here very early. We saw an opportunity for something better than our adversarial lives of the past. Over the years, we made peace with the human governments, and helped create this enlightened, new world.”
“Then the leaders from the old world in Europe saw what we were doing and tried to muscle their way in and take over control from those of us who had worked so hard to create this new society. We successfully pushed them off. It was in the 1820s, and that conflict was part of what influenced the Monroe Doctrine. The Americas would rule themselves, including the Unusuals who were here, and further European colonization and control would be discouraged.”
“Wait, the Monroe Doctrine I learned about in grade school history was started by you and your Unusual cronies?” Dean asked.
Ashley laughed. “It’s not that hard to believe, Dean. The human and Unusual communities have been living side by side for millennia. Sometimes peacefully, other times, not so peacefully. But they have always been parallel to each other in many ways. That is why so much depends on how both sides work together, even in the shadows. It is why I think you and James still figure to be the pair who influence the outcome of this problem in Elk City. I still see that connection. It is more tenuous since your arrest, but it is still there.”
“So you see the conundrum, Dean,” James said. “I cannot openly oppose Artur, any more than he can publicly come against me. But, he can work behind the scenes to discredit me. He is using the Station U program, which has some detractors among a few of the leadership, to undermine the perception of my control over this region. Unless we bring The Cause out into the open and stop them from continuing their attacks, Artur will continue to work his machinations to bring me down. There is nothing I can do to stop him directly. My hands are tied.”
“Well if we can’t fight Artur directly, and definitely not here in this building, then we have to reach out and fight back against him out there,” Dean said, pointing to the nighttime skyline of the city around them. “If I still figure in this equation somehow, I can’t do anything about it sitting here. I’ve got to get back out on the streets. It is where I belong, and it is where I can do the best I can do.”
Brynne shrugged. “Chief Ari and I are trying to work something out, but your suspension is written in stone. You’ve been implicated in a felony, and until you are cleared, you’re off the streets. Plus, it’s clear from the Wiccans’ divination that there is a force operating against you at headquarters, too.”
“That has to be Mike Farver, doesn’t it?” Dean asked.
“He doesn’t have the pull to leak patient information about specific ambulance calls in the system,” Brynne said shaking her head. “Someone else higher up is at work here. Maybe one of the other deputy chiefs or the Fire Chief himself? I’m not sure. We will have to tread carefully. I know it’s not EMS Chief Ari, but he might have some ideas about who it is. Until that all gets exposed, you’re still off the street, Dean.”
Dean walked across the room to look out at the streets below. “I’m off the streets, yes, but officially only,” Dean said. He had an idea, and he turned to face them so everyone could see his smile.
“What did you have in mind, Dean? That smile means you’ve got something up your sleeve,” Ashley said.
“What did you and I do tonight at the Coven?” Dean countered. “We were out, on the street, providing care. Okay, we were in a house, I know, but bear with me here. Yes, I am suspended from working in any official capacity, but nobody said I couldn’t volunteer my time. I could be a Good Samaritan. Headquarters couldn’t stop me from doing that, and I could do a lot of good. I even have a way to get the job done.”
He looked around the room. There were puzzled looks staring back at him. Ashley suddenly started smiling. She seemed to have gotten the gist of what he was saying. He could see it in her eyes.
“Brynne, could you work through back channels and get me an old, spare heart monitor, and maybe put together a drug bag for me?” She started to speak, but he held up a hand. “I know that using meds and my paramedic-level skills puts me above the level of just a bystander.”
“You could lose your license if you’re caught,” Brynne cautioned.
Ashley interrupted the two paramedics. “You wouldn’t lose your state license if you still had a medical director overseeing your patient care.”
Dean looked at Brynne and then back to Ashley. He wasn’t sure where she was going with this.
“I’ll talk with Doc Spirelli at the ER,” Ashley said. “He has been following your case and knows you’re innocent. I’m sure he’ll write you a letter of oversight to cover your back, at least until you are off suspension.”
“So,” James said. “You can get back on the street. You can even act as a paramedic. How are you going to get dispatched when there are emergencies? You can’t be on the radio with all the other paramedics. You are still suspended.”
“Ha ha, James,” Dean said. “You don’t know what I know. I will have a secret ally.” Dean pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He waited while the other three watched him and the phone rang. He put it on speaker as the phone on the other end picked up.
“Hello?” said the voice on the other end. “Dean, is that you?”
“Gibbie, my man,” Dean said, grinning ear to ear. “I have a proposition for you.”
12
It took two long days to pull everything together that Dean wanted in place for his plan. Brynne got an old, retired heart monitor/defibrillator from a storage closet at Station U, as well as a few old, beat up medication and trauma bags. Ashley got Doc Spirelli at the ER to order the meds from the hospital pharmacy for a “clinic” and she got trauma bandages and supplies from the ER storage that was used to resupply the ambulances. James wanted to get into the act and buy a new vehicle for the plan, but Gibbie put his foot down. He wouldn’t take anything from James, refusing to be beholden to his vampire overlord for anything. It seemed odd to turn down the gift, but Dean chalked it up to some sort of vampire pecking order thing. He did talk Gibbie into letting James put new tires on Gibbie’s white creeper van. At least they wouldn’t suffer a blown tire while responding, and Dean insisted after he saw the condition of the bald tires on the first meeting he held to get organized.
Dean spent those two very busy days working part-time in the Nightwing clinic set up by James for the feeder employees, and the rest organizing his gear for the street. He also took a big step forward, banking on his success in beating his legal troubles and getting back on track in his career as a Station U paramedic. On her day off, Ashley took him downtown to a shop called Tattoo Icons. It was where all the paramedics at the station had gotten their permanent ultraviolet ink tattoos of the Station U star of life emblem. The tattoo was not visible to humans, but it could be seen by Unusual patients, and it would identify him as a paramedic specifically for them. Displaying it would let patients know that they could relax their guard and get medical attention from him when they needed it.
The owner of the shop, named Gareth, appeared Native American but was, in fact, a chupacabra - a shapeshifter variety from the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. He had long black hair pulled back in a braid and a big toothy grin that greeted everyone who ente
red his tattoo parlor. Dean learned that Gareth had moved to the east coast to be with his human wife when she got moved for her job. He set up shop here in Elk City more than twenty years ago, and had a broad clientele in the community, both human and Unusual.
This was Dean’s first tattoo, and he was a little nervous, especially since he couldn’t see what Gareth was doing with the invisible inks. He assured Dean that it looked great when he was finished, and Ashley agreed, nodding enthusiastically. He needed to keep the area clean for the next few days while the area on the back of his hand healed. He was given some lotion to use on it, too.
So, it was with a new and still healing tattoo that he couldn’t see, some borrowed medication and gear bags, and an old refurbished heart monitor, that Dean got started on his counter-career as a volunteer responder. He stood with all the gear on the concrete around him, in the parking garage below the Nightwing building. He checked his watch for the fifth time, waiting for Gibbie to arrive. Ashley was there, as were James and Brynne. This plan had a lot riding on it, in more ways than one. The people served by the Station U paramedics still needed care even though they had become too scared to call 911 anymore, and Dean felt the need to get back out on the street. Plus, this seemed the best way to circumvent his suspension.
Dean heard a car horn that sounded like a European siren and Gibbie’s beat up white van pulled around the corner in the underground garage. The middle-aged vampire hopped out and approached the group with a huge grin on his face. He shook hands vigorously with Dean, hugged Ashley and Brynne, and bowed to James.
“Are we ready to get this show on the road?” Gibbie asked. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his naturally flamboyant nature taking control.
“Easy does it, Gibbie,” Dean said. “You really need to tone this down about ten notches.”
“I can’t do that, Dean. When I get excited about something, the dial goes to eleven!” Gibbie said with a laugh. “I’ve got things set up with some of the CERT team you and Brynne trained. Some of them are going to work to take calls and act as dispatchers for us. Wim and Dora, the twin dryads from the class, are going to use a room and phone lines provided by Kristof at the newly remodeled Sabatani’s restaurant to take calls from our patients.”
The side door of the van slid open, and a girl’s voice came from inside. “Hey, you guys gonna get us out on the road? I’m itching to get started. This is going to be awesome.”
The owner of the voice leaned out and Dean could see Marian Gregory, a teenaged werewolf who was another of their CERT students. Her bright pink spiked hair stood out as much as her eyebrow and nose piercings. Dean lifted one eyebrow in question, looking at Gibbie.
“Oh, yeah, Marian is going to join us on the weekends and when she doesn’t have homework during the weeknights,” Gibbie explained. “That’s okay, isn’t it? You trained us to do this, so I thought it was alright to include everyone.”
Dean looked at Brynne, and she shrugged. Clearly it was alright with her. They were all flying by the seat of their pants on this venture. He knew what she was thinking, though. They were already breaking so many rules, what did a few more matter? Dean knew he was working without a parachute here. He wasn’t covered under any kind of liability policy, and if headquarters were forced to take official notice of his activities, that would be it. He’d lose his license as a paramedic forever, whether he had a piece of paper from Doc Spirelli or not, even if he was found innocent of the charges against him.
“Yeah, Gibbie,” Dean said with a nod to Marian. “It’s fine, but she has to keep her grades up. That’s on you to check in with her parents and make sure.”
“Oh, absolutely, Dean. I already told her that. Her mom and dad are happy to have her doing something constructive.” Gibbie leaned in and whispered, “I think she has a boyfriend they don’t like too much, and they want something else to distract her.” The paunchy vampire turned and waved at Marian, who was still leaning out the side of the van. She rolled her eyes at them and ducked back inside the van.
“Well, it’s time to go then,” Dean said. “Let’s load up.” He handed the monitor and gear bags to Gibbie, who took them and walked back to the van to stow them. Dean looked at Ashley, leaned in and gave her a kiss.
“I’ll see you later this evening or tomorrow morning, I guess,” he said. He turned to James and shook his hand.
“At least I got you new tires so you won’t go careening off some back road with a blowout,” James chuckled, looking at the van. “As to the rest of that heap of metal, well, good luck to you.”
Dean laughed and started over to the idling van. Brynne walked with him as he headed to the passenger side. Gibbie had already climbed back in the driver’s seat, and Marian slid the side door shut.
“Remember, Dean, you call for help from the Station U medics if you get in over your head,” Brynne cautioned. “Even with the danger from The Cause, patient care has to come first. They are all aware of what is going on and will do their best to cover for you if you have to call them.”
“I’ll remember, but we have to protect our patients, too.” Dean opened the front passenger door of the van, and Gibbie reached over and slid some trash off the seat to make room. Dean shook his head. He was going to have to whip this bunch of misfit responders into shape if this plan of his was going to work. The first thing was to keep their response vehicle in order and without trash strewn everywhere. He would set Gibbie and Marian to that task when they stopped for gas this evening. Dean sat down and closed the door, waved again to the others assembled to see him off, and hastily buckled his seatbelt as Gibbie peeled out and drove the van out of the garage and into the nighttime streets of Elk City.
* * *
———
* * *
They rode in silence downtown for a few minutes, and Dean took some time to look around the inside of the old van. It looked like Gibbie lived in here, even though he knew the vampire had a basement apartment on the edge of town. There were balled up used blood containers littering the floor and crumpled Starbuck’s cups, too. A glance over his shoulder showed Marian sitting on the edge of her seat, the eagerness palpable as she leaned forward to look out the windshield.
“Shouldn’t you buckle up, too, Marian?” Dean asked. “There is a seatbelt law in Maryland, you know.” He glanced at the driver. “You, too, Gibbie.”
“Nah,” the teenager said. “I regenerate, so I don’t have to worry about it like you humans do.”
“That’s only if you survive the initial impact,” Dean said. “You’ll only regenerate if you’re still alive. Besides, I don’t want to be killed when your regenerative body gets thrown into mine during the collision. Same for you, Gibbie. Seatbelts are there to keep you in the driver’s seat and in control of the vehicle, too. So buckle up, both of you, or I’ll have you take me back to the garage.”
Marian rolled her eyes and then slid back into the seat, buckling a lap belt across her hips. Gibbie pulled the shoulder strap around and across him and buckled up his belt, too. Dean nodded his approval and looked forward again. He had thought he had a handle on all the things he was going to need to do in this new venture, but he had missed some operational details. Gibbie had tried to fill them in, like getting the Dryad twins to dispatch calls for them, but there were still things they didn’t know because there wasn’t an institutional culture of conduct under which to run, the way there was in a fire department. He was going to have to build that from the ground up if he was going to be successful in what he intended to do.
The plan was for Dean and Gibbie to start providing some basic emergency medical care again for the Unusuals in and around Elk City. Because this would be seen as part of James’ oversight for the region, there should be a significant surge of goodwill. Hopefully, that would offset some of the bad will associated with his inability to stop The Cause in their attacks. The hope was that by having Dean back on the street, he would be able to do whatever Ashley had foreseen for him and Jame
s in her visions. She said it was still unclear what that action was, but it was less likely to happen as long as he was cooped up in the Nightwing building. The other good thing about responding to Unusual calls for assistance through the CERT team’s efforts was that it circumvented the regular 911 dispatchers and the fire department. Someone there was feeding info to The Cause. Because the members of the CERT team were such a small group, they could keep things closed down somewhat and respond to calls for help without anyone else finding out. At least, that was the plan.
A cell phone rang, and Dean looked on the dash where Gibbie had mounted a burner phone with Velcro strips. It lit up with a number Dean didn’t know, but Gibbie obviously did. The vampire smiled at him and reached over to tap the respond button. It went to speaker mode and Dean heard a female voice he assumed was either Wim or Dora.
“Hello Gibbie-mobile,” the voice said cheerfully. “How do you read?”
“We read you loud and clear, Wim, honey. What’s the dealio? Do we have a customer?” Gibbie replied.
“You do indeed. This is so cool. I feel like a real dispatcher,” Wim said over the phone. “Dora and I got headsets to plug into the phones. We have one to take calls and one to call you guys. And we have our laptop set up so we can follow you on the map, and give you directions if you need it. It’s awesome.
“That’s so cool,” Gibbie said. “What app are you using to track us?”
“Uh, guys,” Dean interrupted. “Stay focused on the job at hand. We have a patient to take care of …”
“Oh, yeah,” Wim said. “Dora’s on the phone with a guy who says his friend is overdosed. They’re in a building down by the harbor downtown. He is being quite cagey with my sister on the phone, so she doesn’t have a lot of info to pass on. Just that it’s a guy, and it’s one patient. Sorry.”
“That’s alright, honey,” Gibbie soothed. “You gals are doing the best you can.”