'Make it five,' Matt said.
Eyes closed, an IV draining fluid and antibiotic into her arm, Nikki lay on a stretcher, her swollen, discolored foot and ankle propped up on pillows in a transparent air cast. Her face and arms had been washed clean, but dust and small shards of stone filled her hair. Still, she looked absolutely beautiful.
'Hey you,' Matt whispered, 'lady doctor.'
Nikki smiled broadly before opening her eyes. Matt kissed her on the forehead, then on the mouth.
'Did you make it in time?' she asked.
'No shots today, missy,' he said. 'Come back some other time. So sorry.'
'That's great news. Nice going.'
'It was my Uncle Hal all the time, Nik. He owned most of Columbia Pharmaceuticals. Grimes and the others worked for him.'
Her expression darkened. She immediately understood the implications for him and for his mother.
'I'm really sorry,' she said.
'Yeah. Well, it's quite possible even John Dillinger and Attila the Hun had nephews.'
'I suppose,' she said sadly.
'How did you get out?'
Nikki shrugged. 'While the Slocumbs were doing their thing, I decided to drag myself back into the cave to look after Fred and Morrissey and the rest. A lot of time passed. I was getting worried. Then, all of a sudden, there was noise, then powerful lights shining in, and a few seconds later the Calgary Stampede of EMTs, policemen, and firemen began.'
'The Slocumbs?'
'I have no idea where they are.'
Matt kissed her again.
'I'm worried,' he said. 'I think I'm going to let you rest and go see if I can learn something about what might have happened to them. Brian O'Neil, the orthopedist who's taking care of you, is terrific.'
'Why, Gunner, I didn't know you cared,' O'Neil boomed from the doorway.
'Okay, I care, I care. Just don't make the mistake of thinking my judgment is flawed in other areas as well.' He pressed Nikki's cheek tightly against his. 'I'll be back soon, baby,' he whispered. 'Be brave.'
'After what we've been through, how could anything be scary?'
'We've got an OR right now,' the orthopedist announced, 'and I think we should take it so long as no one else is ready.'
'Might as well get it over,' Nikki said.
'I want you to recuperate at my place,' Matt whispered in her ear.
'You still in the back-rub business?'
'We never close.'
Matt patted O'Neil on the arm as he passed, and wandered out into the bustling ER, looking beyond the busy nurses and physicians at their charges. Sid, the security guard, was in Bay 3, the curtained-off area next to Fred. Two bays down, Sara Jane was being cleaned off by an aide, and next to where she lay, Evan Julian, the ENT surgeon, was huddled over Colin Morrissey. Julian was the most meticulous, compulsive physician on the hospital staff, and never started a case unless every instrument was perfectly aligned on the scrub nurse's tray. Matt grinned at the notion of Nikki, her shattered ankle in a bulky makeshift splint, performing a successful emergency tracheotomy by lantern light in a cave filled with dust and toxic fumes.
Matt anxiously checked the other bays and rooms. The woman he had called Tarzana was in a side room, thrashing about wildly, restrained to her litter by leather straps. But no Slocumbs.
If there was dire need for his help with any of the patients, Matt knew he would have pitched in. But at the moment, he was feeling totally drained and more than a little fearful about Frank and Lewis. He left the hospital through the waiting room and headed across to his bike. As he was approaching the Harley, he noticed a tan Mercedes sedan parked not too far away. The driver, his face obscured in the shadows, was beckoning to him. He took several steps in that direction and froze. The car was Hal's.
'Doc, it's me, Frank,' the driver called out in a loud whisper.
Matt hurried over and jumped into the passenger seat. Lewis Slocumb was stretched across the back, apparently none the worse for wear.
'You all right?' Matt asked, gesturing at Lewis's chest tube.
'Ah'm okay,' Lewis said grimly. 'Bastard kilt Lyle.'
'I know. I was there. I'm really sorry, guys. I am. Lyle died saving our lives. And a lot of other lives, too. He was a real hero. How'd you get out and… and to Hal's?'
'Yer pal Grimes had one a them phones — ya know, lak a two-way radio. When Lyle dint come rot back, we knowed it 'uz bad. A couple var frands got phones. I tole ya we knowed some people. Frank called Earl Morris — ya know him?'
'No.'
'Well, Earl's moun'n jes lak us. He brought a bunch o'er an' hept us clean up. I don't think no one's gonna find Grimes an' his pals where we put 'em less'n they kin dahve in real deep, real dark water. Cleaned up all the casin's, too.'
'Why was I so worried about you two? What about Hal? How'd you get there?'
'Earl Morris knowed whar he lives. We piled in back a his truck an' went over. Thar yer uncle were, all trussed up lak a hog at bar-bee-que time.'
'Did he try and talk you into untying him?'
'Oh, he tried,' Frank said. 'B'lieve me, he tried.'
'And this car? He told me he didn't have another key.'
'He lied,' Frank said with a twinkle.
'We knowed he 'uz lyin',' Lewis added. 'He ain't vura good at it. Thanks he is, but he ain't. With a l'il hep from us, he tole what hap'ned ta Lyle, then he tole us whar the car key was. Wanted us ta have it in exchange fer untyin' him.'
'Did you kill him?'
'Thought about it.'
'I'm glad you didn't. I need him alive.'
'We may a left some marks, though.'
'Whatever it is, he deserved it. As soon as you can, find someone who'll buy his car and use the cash to get yourselves a new truck.'
'Wer gonna. First we gotta fond Lyle's body. We want ta bury him back ta the farm. Summabitches.'
'Well get down to the lake at dawn tomorrow. I'll meet you at my uncle's and show you the road down to the water. Lewis, I'm going back into the hospital to get some stuff to pull that tube out of your chest. I don't think you need it anymore and I don't want it to let in an infection.'
'Whute'er ya say. Ya gonna be sendin' the police out ta yer uncle's place?'
'You check those knots I tied?'
'Yep. They ain't comin' loose no tahm soon.'
Matt opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement. The breezy night was cloudless and utterly clear. A West Virginia night.
'Maybe in a few days,' he said.
EPILOGUE
The massive Hart Senate Office Building, more than a million square feet, was built in the late seventies adjacent to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, on Constitution Avenue between First and Second Streets. For four days now, the august central hearing room of the Hart Building had been the scene of the first major hearing of the
