by David Salkin
“I called for an ambulance,” said Roy quietly, watching the sheets turning red with blood.
“She’ll never make it by car. Hell—she won’t make it by chopper. Jesus fucking Christ, Roy. You see that thing’s fucking face?” It was a rhetorical question. Doug was in shock as much as Roy was.
They could hear rotor blades thumping over the tree tops, and the chopper banked hard when the pilot saw them standing in the parking lot. A few curious vacationers peered through stained glass windows as they watched a chalet begin to burn behind two men dressed for combat.
The chopper landed, and two Feds in black combat gear jumped from the rear seat. They helped Roy and Doug load the woman into the rear seat and belt her down as best they could, then slam the door and watch as the pilot took off to the nearest hospital.
The two feds noticed the flames coming out of the building. “You call that in yet?” one of them asked.
“Nope,” said Doug quietly. “Let it burn.”
Forty-Four
VWX
Greater Albany General Hospital
Doug and Roy drove with the two agents that had given up their seats to the nearest hospital, which happened to be east of where they were and not exactly on the way home. It was over an hour away at the speed they were driving, with lights flashing all the way. They were almost there when the call came in over the radio.
Doug picked it up immediately. He and Roy were in the back seat, exhausted. “This is Patmore, go ahead,” he said.
“Agent Patmore, this is Agent Colgan. I flew in with the girl and the pilot. I tried my best to stop the bleeding on the way in, and even tried CPR en route. We had a crash cart and docs waiting for her when we got here, but it was no use. They worked on her for thirty minutes and gave her five units of blood while they were working on her, but I’m
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sorry to tell you, she didn’t make it.” Doug’s head fell back against the seat. He looked at Roy. “She didn’t make it.”
“Fuck,” said Roy quietly.
“You want us to keep going? We’re almost there,” said the driver.
“Yeah. We’ll take the chopper back from the hospital and the sheriff can pick up his car there whenever. Anyway, I want to see the body.”
Roy looked at him. “Ain’t we seen enough?” he asked. They both looked like they had been through a war.
“Closure. I don’t know. I want to see her.”
They drove in silence the rest of the way and pulled up front where two agents were standing awaiting their arrival.
“Sorry, Doug. You guys did a great job. You got that sick fuck. At least it’s over. This way.”
The group walked quietly to the elevator and took the trip down to the morgue. A Medical Examiner was waiting for them.
“Gentlemen. She’s over here. There’s nothing you could have done. She had lost so much blood. Looks like she got attacked by a bear or something.” They walked through a set of doors to a gurney that was drenched in blood, a green sheet on the floor. There was no body on the gurney.
The doc’s face fell. “She was right there a second ago. Who the hell moved her? There’s no one else down here?…”