AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You and me both,” I said.
Jack grinned and pulled me close, kissing me on the temple. “Can’t wait to get me to the altar, can you?”
Wolfe whistled long and low. “She must be some kind of voodoo woman to have talked you into that. I didn’t thinkLawson would ever take the plunge.”
I elbowed Jack in the gut before he could say anything inappropriate, and both men chuckled. Braddock came into the kitchen, and his serious demeanor put a damper on things.
I was used to working with cops. There was a certain rhythm between us all as we worked a scene, but even at the worst scenes cops had a sense of humor. It was the same way with morticians. The humor leaned toward the macabre and would probably be seen as inappropriate to outsiders. It was either learn to have a sense of humor or break down into tears. Every cop I know would say it was better to laugh than to cry. Once you started crying it was sometimes hard to stop.
Braddock opened the kitchen door to lead us out, his weapon down at his side, and this time Wolfe and I were in the middle and Jack brought up the rear. Braddock made it to the bottom of the steps when he staggered backward, and then the report of a rifle echoed in my ears.
Braddock fellon top of Wolfe, causing a domino effect, and for that reason alone the shot that hit Wolfe didn’t hit dead in the center of his chest. I fell backwards, the weight of Wolfe and Braddock pinning me down. My back hit the doorknob and my head rapped against the edge of the counter. Jack was still inside, and I thanked God for small favors. Another bullet shattered the glass in the kitchen door and I felt the sting of cuts as glass rained down on top of us.
“Pull them in,” I yelled over the rushing in my ears.I had Wolfe in a hold under his armpits and I dragged him back into the kitchen while Jack did the same with Braddock. It had been a long time since I’d been in an emergency room type situation, but the flow came back as I quickly assessed the damage to Wolfe.
Jack slammed the kitchen door closed and bolted it and then knelt down beside Braddock. The bullet had hit Wolfe high in the shoulder. It wasn’t a life-threatening wound, but he was losing blood. He was conscious and looked more pissed off than hurt.
“Jack, go down to the lab and grab my big medical bag. The one I keep under the counter.”
He did as I asked and disappeared through the metal door that led down to the lab. We’d positioned both bodies behind the island for a little protection in case the windows were shot out, but it wouldn’t be much. I reached into the drawer without standing up and felt around for a couple of cup towels.
“You’re going to have to apply the pressure. I need to get to Braddock.” I slapped a towel on his back where the bullet had exited and another on top at the entry wound, and then I crawled across the floor to see to Braddock.
He wasn’t in good shape. I heard the faint whistling sound from his chest telling me his lung had collapsed and I pink foam bubbled at the corners of his blue-tinged lips. He was conscious, his eyes wheeling around and his pupils the size of pinpricks.
Jack’s footsteps echoed off the stairs as he ran back up, and he knelt by my side with my bag.
“Do you need help with this? The sooner I can call it in the better.”
“I’ve got it. Go ahead.” I’d already dismissed him in my mind. I was completely focused on Braddock and I knew we were playing against the clock. He wasn’t bleeding from underneath, so I knew the bullet was still lodged inside himsomewhere.
I didn’t have time to put on surgical gloves. I just had to stop the air that was leaking from that lung.I cut away his shirt. I didn’t have any one-way valves in my supplies. I wasn’t equipped to work on the living. So I cut off the fingertip of a surgical glove and inserted a 14-gauge needle. He needed something that would stop the air from escaping and a valve, even homemade, would stop the leak and reinflate the lung.
I carefully inserted the needle between thesecond and third intercostal space at the mid clavicular line, and there was a sudden gush of air as Braddock was able to draw in a breath. He was still losing a lot of blood, and I had a feeling the bullet had hit something else of importance, but there wasn’t much more I could do without a hospital and the proper equipment.
I heard sirens in the distance and Jack waskeeping his hand pressed to the compresses on Wolfe’s shoulder.
“Change them out,” I told him. “In the drawer above your head.”
He nodded and made the switch quickly, tossing the bloodied rags aside. I could see the anger on Jack’s face. Some of the flying glass had cut his cheek and neck and blood dripped down onto the collar of his shirt.
He got on the phone again and whoever picked up got the full force of his anger. “I want answers and I want them now,” he said. “This town is crawling with FBIagents and you can’t find someone that’s carrying around a sniper rifle and shooting people?”
Jack was quiet for a minute and then his jaw clenched. “I’ve got officers responding and the paramedics are on the way. And we’re going to have a long conversation the next time we see each other.”
The responding officers identified themselves as they neared the house, and Jack got up to let them in. He still had his weapon in his hand, and I saw when Martinez and Chen came inside they had theirs out as well.
“They’ve got the area cordoned off and we’ve got officers patrolling in the area you thought the shots came from,” Martinez said. “We’re stepping on some federal toes, and they’re not too happy about it.”
“You have no idea how sad that makes me,” Jack said. “How far behind are the paramedics?”
“About another minute.”
“You and Chen are going to personally accompany Wolfe to the hospital,” Jack said, pointing to his friend. “You’re going to stay with him through treatment and then accompany him back to my house. He’s not to have any visitors other than the medical personnel, and you stay with him round the clock.”
“Yes, sir,” Martinez nodded.
“What about the other one?” Chen asked.
