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Rick felt a chill run up his spine as he carefully watched Dr. Evans, seeing more of a lack of a reaction than anything else. Both he and Oles sensed the change that came over the man, and they glanced at each other before Rick approached Dr. Evans and sat down nearby.
“I’m… sorry, doc. I know she meant a lot to you.”
Dr. Evans looked up at Rick, his eyes clouded with tears. “She spoke to me like a person. Not a resource, or a tool, or something to be used.” He took a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh. “She was the first one to talk to me like that in… ages. Before that it was all government suits and other socially low-functioners like myself. Do this, do that, solve this, figure out that. Not her. First thing she asked me when she arrived at Cheyenne was where was I from and if I was feeling okay.”
“She was a good person. There’s no doubt about that.” Rick glanced over at Oles. “Dr. Evans, we will remember her. But right now I need to know what’s been going on down here. What happened with Jacob and Ostap? Were you able to find the codes to Damocles?”
Dr. Evans closed his eyes, sending double trails of wetness down his cheeks. He leaned back in his chair, taking in yet another long breath before releasing it in a slow sigh. “Oles?” Dr. Evans spoke softly. “You fill him in.”
Chapter 4
Outside Ellisville, VA
To Dianne and Sarah, as they worked feverishly to save their friend’s life, it felt like hours had passed since Tina had been shot. For Mark and Jason, though, it had only been a couple of minutes since Nealson fired a round into Tina’s chest and taken off in his car. The pair had rained hellfire down upon the vehicle, but Nealson’s erratic driving and the pair’s amped up adrenaline meant the man was able to make good on his escape.
With the car fading into the distance, Mark and Jason turned to one another, suddenly remembering what had happened to Tina. They bolted for the entrance to the community center, skidding to a halt just inside the door as they looked down and saw Dianne and Sarah kneeling over Tina’s still form.
“Holy… Mom! Is she okay?”
“Jason!” Dianne ignored her son and barked at Sarah’s husband. “Where’s Nealson? Did you kill him?”
“We couldn’t get him, Dianne,” Jason shook his head. “He got away.”
“You sure he’s gone?” Dianne didn’t look away from Tina as she placed another strip of duct tape across the older woman’s chest.
“Very.”
“Good. We need to get Tina in the truck and get her home, to where we’ve got more than gauze and duct tape to work with.” She looked over at Mark. “I want you and Sarah to go through everything in this room. Get any supplies that look useful and throw them in the back of the truck. Jason, get it parked outside. We’ll have to slide her into the back seat.”
“Dianne, are you—”
“Just do it, Jason!” Dianne’s eyes burned white-hot and her lips curled, her voice taking on a new pitch as she shouted at him. “We don’t have time to discuss this!”
With a quick glance at Sarah and an exchange of nods, Jason ran outside, heading for Dianne’s truck that the group from the community center had stolen previously. Mark held out a hand, helping Sarah to her feet and they began hurrying through the room, calling out the names of things they found to Dianne who responded with a simple “yes” or “no” to indicate whether the items should be brought along.
Outside, the sound of the truck’s engine grew loud as Jason pulled it up in front of the community center, parked, then jumped out and threw open the doors to the rear section of the cab. Mark and Sarah began carrying supplies out while Jason ran over to Dianne’s side and dropped to one knee.
“How is she?”
“Bad. I’ve got the hole closed up but she’s lost a lot of blood and I have no idea what kind of internal damage there is.”
“You did… good.” Tina grabbed Dianne’s arm again, her grip feeling weaker than before but still stronger than it had a right to be. “Could use something… for the pain.”
“We’ll be home in a jiffy.” Dianne looked up at Jason. “Can you get her in the car by yourself?”
Jason nodded and leaned down, scooping Tina up in a smooth motion. She groaned at the movement but didn’t cry out, and Jason carried her to the car and slipped her onto the back seat.
“Josie, Jacob!” The two younger children who had been huddled together in a corner of the community center’s main room hurried over next to their mother, looking wide-eyed and shell-shocked. “Get in the car; sit with Mrs. Carson and make sure she doesn’t fall off the seat, okay? She’s hurt pretty badly and we’re taking her back home.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
“What happened to her?”
“Are those bad men coming back?” Josie and Jacob both exploded with questions, but Dianne threw up her blood-soaked hands and shook her head.
“Do what I said, now. Questions later, after we get home. Got it?”
They both nodded and ran for the truck, hopping in and sitting on either side of Tina with Jason’s help. Dianne looked around the room for a few seconds to see if she noticed anything that Mark and Sarah might have missed. When things looked clear she ran for the door and began shouting more instructions.
