the bodyguards Paris knew they were.
'Great job, Glenn, great,' someone said, slapping him on the back.
But Paris, fixed on the approaching quintet, did not respond. The group had reached the base of the grandstand when Willis Grayson, his arm around his daughter's shoulders, beckoned him to come down. Flanking Lisa Grayson on the other side, limping, though not badly, was Matt Daniels. He was filthy and disheveled, his face swollen and discolored. But he squinted up at the man who had left him to die, and through cracked, bloodied lips, he forced a smile.
'You blew it, Glenn,' he said hoarsely. 'You blew it big time.'
'I'm disappointed in you, Mr. Paris,' Willis called up. 'Very disappointed.'
Paris glanced frantically about for an escape route.
'Don't even think about it,' Grayson warned. 'Either of my men could run backward and still catch you. Five minutes, Paris. That's all the time that remained when we arrived in the basement of that building. Five minutes. You left Dr. Baldwin and Mr. Daniels, here, tied up and helpless. You just turned and walked away, and left them to die! You're a very crude man, Paris.'
The group around Glenn Paris peeled back and stared down at the new arrivals. Clearly, a number of them recognized the man known as the Ross Perot of the Northeast. The governor, who had reached the bottom of the grandstand, crossed to Grayson, spoke briefly with him and Matt, and then looked up at the hospital CEO.
'I think you'd best come down here,' he said sharply.
Glenn Paris, his face pinched and ashen, hesitated. Then his shoulders and his gaze dropped, and he trudged slowly down the red-carpeted stairs.
'Obviously, if we had kn-known th-the trouble you and your f-friend were in, we would have t-tried to get here sooner,' Warren Fezler said.
He and Sarah were hurrying as best she could manage through the tunnels toward the labor and delivery floor.
'I'm just glad you made it when you did,' Sarah replied. 'You're sure Rosa's okay?'
'She s-spent six hours in the operating room. But when we all left to fly d-down here, they told us she was stable.'
'Thank God.'
'After Rosa was sh-shot, j-just before she l-lost consciousness, she wrote down Mr. G-Grayson's home number. As soon as I explained what was going on, he f-flew right up in his ch-chopper. Rosa s-saved my life. I w- wish she could have s-saved my sister.'
'That's very sad. I'm sorry. But I'm very angry, too-at Blankenship, at all of you.'
'I understand. I d-don't know what I can do.'
'Just help me now, and then try to set some things straight with that damn virus of yours.'
Sarah wanted to take the stairs up to L and D, but her battered body dictated she use the elevator.
'Warren, how did you manage to find us?' she asked as they waited for the car.
'N-not that hard f-for a man like Grayson. He knows how to m-move people like no one I've ever s-seen.' He thought for a moment and then added, 'Except maybe f-for Eli. We started at th-the ICU and then went to the psych w-ward. Some man there-Wes something-said you had had a seizure at breakfast and w-were in the ER. He also said you had s-spent the whole n-night watching th-the Chilton Building through binoculars. Next w-we found out you were wheeled away by Eli and someone from transportation. And then when we f-found you had never arrived at the ER, we began to suspect where you were. Mr. G-Grayson latched onto the man from transportation. Then we kn-knew we were right.'
'So you went into the basement of the building through the back door.'
'I h-had the keys. That was once my home away from home, remember? Mr. G-Grayson decided to look for you rather than to t-try and s-stop the explosion.'
They pushed through the doors of the labor and delivery floor, and were immediately confronted by a sound Sarah had heard before. Annalee Ettinger was screaming in pain. Mindless of the nursing staff, Sarah grabbed Warren's hand and pulled him down the hall to Annalee's room. The uniformed guard was gone-discharged, Sarah assumed, when the evil Dr. Baldwin was locked up on Underwood Six. Randall Snyder, quite obviously agitated and on the razor's edge of panic, was checking the pulses at Annalee's wrists.
'Would one of you please page Dr. Blankenship again,' he was saying to the nurses assisting him.
'You can page him all you want,' Sarah cut in, 'but I guarantee you he won't be answering. Not now, not ever. Annalee, will you let me talk to you, please? It's very important.'
'They said you tried to hurt me.'
'They were wrong. Will you talk with me?'
'Can you help this pain in my arms and my feet?'
'I can make it go away.'
Huddled to one side of the obstetrics family room, Willis Grayson, Lisa, Matt, and Warren Fezler watched the monitor screen intently. Glenn Paris had installed the video system as part of his overhaul of the OB/Gyn service. The cesarean camera was mounted directly above the operating table. The field it projected now consisted of two pairs of hands-Randall Snyder's and Sarah's-and Annalee Ettinger's smooth, gravid belly.
'Okay, is the blood up and running?' they heard Snyder ask.
'Up and running,' a nurse's voice replied.
'Signs stable?'
'All systems are go,' said the anesthesiologist.
'Ready, Sarah?'
'Ready.'
Lisa Grayson gave Matt a teasing nudge.
'Okay, then,' Snyder said. 'It's your case, Doctor. I'll assist.'
'But-'
'Quickly!'
'All right. All right.'
The four viewers watched as Sarah and Randall Snyder vanished from the screen, and then reappeared, having changed places at the table.
Sarah flexed her gloved hands once, then again.
'Okay, everyone, let's do it,' she said. 'Scalpel, please.'
EPILOGUE
October 30
'Sarah Ettinger West, meet your new godmother.'
Radiant in her hospital bed, Annalee held the infant away from her breast long enough for Sarah to see.
'You make a great kid,' Sarah said. 'I'm honored to be her godmother.'
After a beginning that was considerably rockier for mother than daughter, both were now doing fine. As Sarah had predicted, the cesarean section delivery essentially cured Annalee's DIC. First Lisa, now Annalee. Two cases sectioned, two cases cured. At least they had a place to start in dealing with the virus.
'How many women do you suppose are facing this?' Annalee asked, as if reading her mind.
'People are checking on that now. But I can tell you, it's going to be a lot. Blankenship just didn't care. He didn't care at all. I still don't understand it.'
'Crazy doesn't require any understanding. It just is.'
'I guess. Fortunately, it appears your father kept decent records of who received the powder and vitamins.'
