AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Out of the hills, the drifts grew less and less and finally disappeared entirely. The snow hadn't been as heavy in this part of Kentucky. Valentine put Rover back at the head of the column, but the ice patches were still treacherous.
"Major, Doc says we should pull over," Habanero said, acknowledging a signal. Valentine had taken his headset off so he could think about Ahn-Kha.
"Why?" But Valentine could guess.
"He wants you to look at Rockaway."
Valentine didn't want to stop for anything. "He's symptomatic?"
"Doc just wants to pull over."
Valentine signaled for a stop. Everyone took the opportunity to get out and hit the honeybuckets.
Valentine went to the Boneyard. The nurse silently opened the rear hatch. A red-eyed Mrs. O'Coombe nodded to him, her Bible stuck in her lap, a finger marking her place.
"Well, Doc?" Valentine asked.
He shook his head. "He's symptomatic. Starting to shake."
"You have him sedated?"
"Yes," the nurse said.
"What's the usual medical procedure for ravies?" Valentine said.
Doc sighed. "Ninety percent of the time, they're quietly eutha nized. Some are kept around to try various kinds of experimental medications. They don't feel pain, from what we can tell by brain-wave function and glandular response. Oh, and early cases are important for study to develop a vaccine. That's where the booster shots come from. Too bad he missed this last series, issue date October. We should have thought to bring some."
"I want you to end this, Mister Valentine," Mrs. O'Coombe said.
"End this?" Valentine asked.
"I can't watch him suffer."
"He's not suffering, is he, Doc?"
Doc agreed, "Not while the sedatives hold out. Even when they wear off, provided we can keep him in the bed, I'm not sure suffering is the right word for what he'll be going through."
Valentine wondered how much of the patriotic, Bible-reading charity act of Mrs. O'Coombe was real. With Keve Rockaway/ O'Coombe dead, she'd own the vast ranch her husband had built.
"Any decision about your son's health I'll leave to the Doc."
Doc said, "I work for her ladyship, I'll remind you, Valentine."
"A rich woman outranks the Hippocratic oath?" Valentine asked.
"Major," Doc said. "Please. I'm in no hurry. I'm just wondering if I'll still have a job if I ever make it back to the Hooked O-C."
"Do what you can, Doc," Valentine said. "Anything else?"
"One more thing, Major," Doc said. He took out a little powder blue case. "In my younger days, before I settled down to bring babies into the world and plaster broken bones and dig bullets out, I was a researcher.
"This is a perfectly ordinary piece of medical technology from fifty years back. Nowadays I use it for interesting butterfly pupae and leaves. It instantly freezes and preserves, like liquid nitrogen without all the fuss and bother.
"I've been taking samples of Keve's blood as the disease progressed to see how his body's fighting it, and to see just how the ravies virus is attacking and changing him. It could be useful to Southern Command in developing a serum for a vaccination." He handed the case to Valentine.
"I'll get it back across the Mississippi as soon as I can," Valentine said.
Mrs. O'Coombe caressed her son's head.
