let's catch the culprit
Chapter 21 – Mission Accomplished
The drive through the bridge was long and quiet, the silence heavier by every second. Finally they crossed the long line and turned right to another one. If Gail could look around she would see many family houses and just a perfect peaceful neighbourhood. The tire tracks stopped by one of the residences and indeed the young officer saw a big blue SUV. "You stay here and inform the ambulance," she ordered her companion.
Something big dropped on the hood of their car. Both women startled, jumping on their seats. Then a head with yellow eyes appeared behind the windscreen upside-down. "You called?" asked Patricia. The blonde got out of the car and noticed the newcomer dressed only in a shirt opened enough to reveal the bandaged torso and lousy jeans, just like Priscilla used to wear. "Darren is on his way," she announced.
"Why do you bandage yourself?" wondered the blonde. "Is it a wolf thing?"
"Running around, jumping over things, climbing walls, always rushing somewhere… in these situations a bouncing chest is not very pleasant."
"Sport bras?"
"Not that efficient."
"I am here!" called the dark skinned man and parked behind them. He pulled out three belts of homemade knives from the back seats of his car. "I knew they would be useful," he smirked and handed one belt to each woman.
"Patty, do you have any connection to Priscilla?"
"She is weak but still alive."
"Let's go." According to Gail's counting they could have about ten minutes to save her friend and every minute was too precious to wait for a backup. She looked around and noticed more drops of blood leading down to the garage. Its scratched overhead door was closed so the unusual rescue team had to go through the front door. As for every police worker picking locks was a piece of cake, Gail opened the entrance and they rushed in, quickly looking for a door that led to the basement. A noise was heard from the upper floor, Darren nodded to them and went to check the rooms upstairs, in alert with a knife in his hand. The women continued down as quietly as possible.
"Can you stop vomiting, so we can have fun?!" asked an unknown voice.
"You poisoned me, you bloody woman, what do you expect?"
"She is still alive," whispered Gail more to herself than her new temporary partner, she pressed her bug bottom for five second to activate the recording and glanced at her watch, they had about seven minutes and no time to waste. She peeked in to check the situation.
"You should be high and horny," said Jamie to her prey.
"If you did not put that crap in me, I would."
"Well, I prefer when the girls are active."
"Do you remember the one whose eyes you poked out?"
"Hm?"
Priscilla closed her eyes and started growling. She opened them and slowly stood up on her shaking legs. "I am the same."
The blond constable watched the murderous woman jump back startled. Looking into yellow eyes was not very comfortable for anyone. The older police officer launched herself forward and managed to set several well aimed hits. Alas her weakened body was easily defeated.
Scanning the room quickly, Gail noticed there were no guns, so the worst that might happen would be a flying sharp pointy thing or killing in close combat. In the badly illuminated garage she noticed something glistening in the hand of the killer and recognised it as a scalpel. The constable stepped out, a knife prepared in her hand. "Let her go!" she yelled, her sentence echoed through the garage. "Jamie Wyatt, you are under arrest. Drop the weapon, step away from the officer and give up."
"Oh," the culprit looked down at her newest victim. "You are a cop? I should have known that, asking all those suspicious questions," she kicked the brunette police worker into her ribs with such a force that threw her to the other end of the room to the overhead door. The sound of cracking bones could be heard around.
Immediately Patricia growled and with her shining yellow eye she charged forward and leapt onto the woman. She dug one of her knives into the wrist of the hand that was holding the scalpel to immobilise it. But since she was small and light, she was thrown away into a table with many different metal tools on it. "You dog," swore the assaulter, holding her hand. She looked at her other uninvited guest and casted herself over Gail. The blonde was not very skilled in hand to hand combat, but thankfully her trainer taught her a bit of everything she knew. She used some of the movements to block attacks or reduce the impacts, because that woman had strength of a bear. After all the blonde managed to put knives into the other woman's legs and back to at least slow her down, but obviously nothing serious. After one badly made strike, Gail found herself being pressed against the wall with a hand choking her. She also heard sirens of police cars and ambulance. We are saved, she smiled, feeling her brain losing oxygen. There was a thrust as Patricia flung herself at the killer again and tore her from the young police woman. Her action gained her a hard punch to the face sending her down on the floor. Fortunately the garage door opened and SWAT team rushed it. Jamie at her last attempt of saving her freedom, she took Gail as a shield in front of her. Of course no one would move or shoot. However when it came to surviving and saving the leader, there were other manners in the lycanthrope world. Patricia got up from the ground on her knees and dug another of her knives deep between the assaulter's ribs. The blonde slipped out of the loosened grip, took Patricia by her arm and dragged her away as the SWAT guys began firing.
The nightmare of five months was over. They were safe. They were alive.
At that thought Gail glanced to her friend and trainer to see her being carried on stretchers with oxygen mask on her face. There was a rush all over the place and loud voices, but due to the firing and shock, the constable could not distinct the words. Patricia, despite being all beaten up and bruised, she scraped up on her feet and hurried to the ambulance, mumbling quietly. She spoke to a blond female medic and she was allowed into the vehicle, before that she waved at someone and entered the car to join her alpha.
Gail closed her eyes several times and took a deep breath to make her heart slow down. When she opened them she noticed Jessica with another kind of lunchbox, preparing cotton wool and disinfection. Percy was heading her way too. "Very well done, Gail," he smiled. Nevertheless the blonde still felt like her head was under a water surface. "Priscilla would be proud of you." For sure it should sound courageous but somehow it was not, it felt like her friend was already dead.
"I want to hear it from her," whispered the young woman. "Did they save her? Was there enough time? Did they do as Holly said? I need to go to her."
"Gail, sit," the nurse commanded, pushing her down. It was like a chair magically appeared under her bottom. Or was it there the whole time? "Let me check you out first and then we can go."
The constable noted people in black science suits monitoring the scene and carrying away the dead body. "Did you find the missing women? Are they alive?"
"Yes, Gail, they are alive," Percy confirmed, kneeling down to her level. "Some guy named Darren found them tied up to the beds, but they are alive with minor scratches, no torn out hearts. Obviously since media had announced missing blondes buried under maple trees, Wyatt had to keep her sex-slaves alive until she found a different way of marking her deadly work. We scanned her study room where she had many pictures of how to bury her victims but fortunately none seemed efficient enough. I guess that was what kept the girls alive. Revealing her tactic made her stop the killing spree for a while."
"Did you get the confession? My bug did not catch much to accuse her of, but maybe…"
"Priscilla activated hers. Once they got here, we could locate her position and record everything. There must be something in the car that distracted the signal."
"I need to go to her."
"I will take you there," offered Jessica. "Slowly," she said gently, helping the officer on her feet.
Gail sat heavily onto the passenger seat, buckling the seat-belt when her phone started vibrating. She looked at the number but did not pick up, just stared.
"It may be the number that called you ten minutes ago," remarked the redhead.
"It's the base camp," replied the police woman tiredly. "But Percy is here and certainly already talked to Luke. It might be a transferred call from Holly."
"Then pick it up, at least let her know you are alive and your friend is in good hands."
"But we don't know anything, she was dying if it wasn't too late already." The phone stopped the vibes and blinking.
"Gail, that friend of yours… she is a wolf person, isn't she?"
The blonde's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"
"According to the description Holly gave us before, that girl is allergic to anything chemical. Patty called her 'my, lady', which means your friend is superior in some way. And even though she was unconscious, Joyce opened her eyes to check pupil dilatation and the eyes were green-yellow, but when we met at the bar for the first time, her eyes were dark blue. And let's not forget her weird canines."
"You noticed that? The light was dim."
"It is much easier to deal with patients when you look them in the eyes, so it's become a habit of mine."
"How do you know about lycans?"
"Joyce put Patty and her niece together after a car crash and I assisted her. The girl had it bad but we stitched her up well. Patty on the other hand, not so much. For some time she was walking on a thin line between life and death and when she came back, she was different. Allergic to any injection, her heart rate was slow but strong and her eyes were switching colours. Oh and she looked twenty years younger. Joyce being the big curious brain had studied Patty for days and then Darren came with his version that a wolf spirit entered Patty's body to help with the healing. Alas as it seems the so called wolf spirit does not want to leave."
"This is insane and totally nerdy."
"I dug into some brain studies and it is really possible, that when some parts of brain stop working, others improve."
"But I bet it is written nowhere about eye and muscle changes."
"Many people's eyes are changing according to their moods. Like yours right now are almost icy blue. So it's nothing new… the muscle changes I know nothing about." They parked in a parking lot reserved for employees. "Call Holly, I am going to find out some news," said the redhead and locked the car once the officer got out.
Hypnotising her phone for a whole minute, Gail decided for a text message, just in case the doctor would be sleeping. It was four o'clock in the morning after all. Her phone rang seconds later.
"Hi, honey," smiled the blonde into the phone.
"Hi, so everything went well?"
"More or less. I will have several black spots and my muscles are aching but the killer is worse," she tried to joke but not very successfully.
"Once the adrenaline washes out of the body, you will be tired and sleepy."
"I guess I won't sleep much until I hear Priscilla pissing me off again. I have never thought I would miss it so much. The plus side is that the doctor knows about the crazy wolf thing."
"Yeah, I figured that out when the doctor told me she understood the condition from her own experience but needed to know how they had to neutralise the drug."
"Holly, I swear I tried to do my best," sobbed the police worker, she felt so exhausted that tears rolled down her face. "I don't want her to die. I came late, she had only a few minutes left. I should have been faster or not allowed her to go alone at the first place."
"Gail, you couldn't know that. She is a fighter believe in her. As long as there is a beating heart, she will come to us."
"But if Priscilla dies it will be my fault. She always kept her eye on me but I failed to keep an eye on her. We were partners, yet I behaved like I was the bait."
"You were."
"But I am a police officer not a defenceless civilian! And if she dies you will be devastated and it will be my fault."
"Listen Gail, promise me you will not give up on her no matter how bad it would seem. Promise me that!" demanded the doctor and the blonde could hear her voice change as if she was crying. "Gail, I had studied canines and found everything I could about werewolves. I don't know how much of it is true, but I will believe in a single bit of it if it means to bring her back. Unless her heart is separated from her chest or she is beheaded, I will believe she comes back, and you have to believe with me. Just don't give up."
"Alright," promised the officer and looked at the entrance. "I will call you when I know more. I guess I needed a push." She hung up, took a deep breath and entered the clean disinfected space of the hospital. She saw the undercover Toronto officers were there, sitting on the chairs as well as Percy and some Ottawa's police workers.
Without even realising it Andy stormed from her chair and pulled Gail in an embrace, previous boyfriend issues or not. "I am glad you are alright."
The rest of the group joined her, sharing her relief until Chris said the words she feared the meaning behind them. "I am sorry, Gail."
"I am fine."
"Believe me, Priscilla was a good cop and really great –"
"WAS?!" The blonde stepped back. "What do you mean 'was'?"
"Gail, I am sorry," said Andy, but the other woman pushed her away and marched forward.
She noticed Jessica pacing in front of a room that the doctors were leaving one by one. The officer hurried there and tried to enter but was stopped by a male medic. "We are sorry, Miss. We did what we could."
"Obviously not enough!" snapped the blonde.
"There really is nothing more we could do."
She looked inside, seeing a motionless body and a pair of doctors arguing.
"Stop it already, she is dead," said an elderly grey hair man.
"No, she is not. And I will not allow her to be," opposed the dark blond woman who must be Joyce.
"Stop the crap, Richardson, look at the machines, there is no signal."
"You know, that is the problem. These days, people rely on machines way too much. Her heartbeat is slow and weak, much under regular beating but it is there. I am the cardiologist after all and I am not letting this cop down!"
"It is useless!"
"I am not leaving this room!"
"In an hour and a half there is an operation scheduled, you better be out of here by then," said the man angrily and stormed out of the room.
The door closed behind the man and when he was out of the view, Jessica gestured her hand to her new friend to follow her inside.
"Alright wolfie," Gail heard the doctor speaking to her unconscious training officer. "Let's bring you back." With a horror in her eyes, the constable watched the other blonde cutting open the front of Priscilla's chest.
"Joyce, how can I help?" asked the nurse.
The doctor quickly glanced and them. "I need you to find Patty for more blood. Who is that chick?"
"Gail, she is the cop, partner and friend of this wolf girl."
"Dammit," cursed the cardiologist. "The heartbeat is getting weaker." She buried her hand into the opened chest. "That bastard," she sighed in a wonder. "Alright Jesse, I need you here to straighten the broken ribs, while I am keeping the heart beating."
"Straighten the ribs?" wondered the nurse.
"Honey, we have been working together for three years, and I am pretty sure if you weren't a lazy butt and applied to Medicine University, you could be the Chief of Staff by now, so come here, use your brilliant mind and hands and pull the ribs out of the lung or the self-regeneration will never kick in. You Gail, fetch for Patty, we will need more of her blood. It's lucky they are both 0 types."
Gail was full of anger, denial and despair. She promised Holly to believe in their friend until the last heartbeat, but it was hard when she saw first-hand how the doctors gave up already and the last one was sweating, trying to prolong the end.
The blond officer went behind the door and without really caring about the people around she shouted Patricia's name. Then she entered the room and when she was in the yelling mood she continued. "LISTEN YOU CRAZY DOG, GET YOUR SPIRITUAL ASS BACK TO THE FLEA-BITTEN BODY BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO WANT YOU AROUND EVEN THOUGH YOU CAN BE AN ANNOYING PAIN IN THE ASS!" She slid exhausted along the wall down on the ground, sobbing. She still was not sure if she liked or disliked that crazy person but she was sure as hell she did want her around and alive in her full sarcastic challenging self with crazy ideas and opinions which after a deep thinking were not so out of mind after all. The training officer made Gail think about a lot of things from different perspectives, admit the un-admit-able, take the life as it was without being a prude and hypocrite.
"That is one way to bring someone back," commented the doctor cynically with an admiration in her voice.
"You called?" asked Patricia who had just entered the room.
"Yes, lie down, we will need more of your blood," commanded the cardiologist.
"One more rib and I am on to it," said Jessica. "I will need the supporters," she sighed squinting at the chest.
"I can't move, her heart is getting weaker and the lung would shrink. Hey, Gail," she called for the other blonde. "Collect yourself together and browse the drawers, there should be a thin metallic plates, chop chop! And you my dear, take Patty's blood."
The officer looked up. They needed her help. They needed her in order to save her friend. Her dying friend. No, she made a promise to Holly. Hooks, right! The police worker rose on her feet and began her task. Browsing several drawers, she finally found the metal things. "I have them," announced Gail in a raspy voice. "How many?"
"Four," the nurse responded, going back to her original work on ribs. "Watch the blood bag, there is a line so once it reaches it, pull out the needle."
The officer nodded. One eye she had placed on the mark on the blood bag, but also she looked at the work of the medics. She saw Jessica twisted the plates some more while her wife was checking the heart and penetrated lung. The blond constable watched the medical staff bury their fingers into the right part of her friend's chest to set the supporters in their places, doing their best to fix a dying person. A person that after all became Gail's friend and teacher. "Hey! Watch the blood!" called the doctor.
Gail totally forgot to guard the amount of taken blood. It was already over the mark so she quickly pulled out the needle and pressed some gauze on the punctured point. "Sorry, Patty, are you alright?"
"Need sleep," said the other patient tiredly, she was pale, her eyes had hazel colour but otherwise she seemed alright.
The officer shot a quick worried glance to the doctor who nodded. "Hibernation and revitalisation," explained the other blonde briefly. "Now let's fix the lung, slowly," said Joyce in a gentle tone. Gail stood far away to see precisely what the two women were doing. She only watched as the doctor was pining something in and moving other things. "Good, now the heart. Let it go." The medic looked at her watch. "Dammit, nine seconds and it's getting weaker." She repositioned her hand in the patient's chest. "Do the blood transfusion," she ordered to the redhead who immediately put a needle into Priscilla.
"How long until it's over?" Gail asked, switching her eyes from one woman to another, not even realising how weirdly her question had sounded.
"Whatever it takes until the heart beats regularly on its own," the doctor replied, her hands deep in the chest, watching some small device. "Come on wolfie, don't leave now when we managed to put you back together." Every minute she let the heart do its work on its own.
How long could it be? Fifteen minutes now? Gail was sitting down on the cold floor, rocking back and forth, mumbling 'Please, come back'. They were police officers, it was in their line of duty to protect the citizens and put lives in danger for them. They were soldiers and everyone must count on the option that their life might be taken away eventually. That was the cruel truth which was even harder to accept when it became reality. First Jerry, then Chloe and Sam whom fortunately survived, then Gail herself was shot and now Priscilla. Survival. That was their hope and pray. And a bunch of good medics must not be forgotten. Medics who would not give up if there was a slightest chance for the patient to survive the critical condition.
"Twenty minutes," noted the nurse.
"Well, the good news is that the heart is not getting any worse, the bad news, we are stuck," replied the cardiologist.
"Don't give up," said Gail in a whisper.
"I don't –" the doctor stopped herself. "Eight seconds," announced the doctor with a smile on her lips. "Come on, you can do this." Another five minutes later the beat difference was seven seconds. "That's right," praised the medic. "At five I am letting it go," she looked up at her partner smiling.
"According to Dr Holly, six seconds difference is critical for her," the nurse noted, preparing some bent needle and string.
"How is she doing?" asked Patricia in a sleepy voice. "How long was I out?"
"Thirty minutes," said Jessica, "but you are alright and the girl is getting better too," she said optimistically.
"Five," remarked the doctor. "We are closing up." With an amazing speed they stitched the chest together and placed electrodes to the unconscious person. The electronic machines started beeping and the heart rate was slow yet strong and regular. "Fifteen heartbeats in a minute is low, but enough for her in this condition," explained the cardiologist looking at the blond constable, with a wide smiley face. She added the oxygen mask just in case.
A fuss was heard from the hallway and a group of doctors rushed in.
"What the hell is happening here?" asked the rude man from earlier. "And what are civilians doing here? This is strictly employees only area."
"Oh no, Smith, don't give me a lesson now," said Joyce firmly. "You all gave up on the patient, these people did not and we brought her back. So don't be a mighty ruler now when you wanted to let a person die."
"Watch your mouth, Richardson," he warned the young doctor.
"John, don't you even think of disciplining this doctor," said an elderly woman to her co-worker. "She saved the life of a police officer. As for you Dr Richardson," the woman looked at the blond colleague. "Thank you. You have an amazing talent but your rudeness could get you in trouble one day. Officer Silver will be under your care from now on. Dr Crane," she said to a young male intern. "May they prepare the room."
"Yes, madam."
They all went out of the surgery, leaving Joyce behind to take care of the survivor. Gail turned back and made long steps to her friend, she kissed her forehead and whispered, "Good doggie." She left with a big grin on her face. She was sweaty and smelly and her make-up must have been smeared already, but one of the very few persons close to her was alive.
Her friends and colleagues from 15th division gathered around her, asking so many questions but the only thing the blond constable said was, "She is alive." She went out to catch some early morning's fresh air into her own lungs. The stress was leaving her body as she sat down on a bench near the hospital building. She sent a text message to Holly, not wanting to wake her up if she would be sleeping. Nonetheless about two minutes later the phone rang.
"Hey honey, we are both fine," said the constable relieved.
"Really? That is great," surly Holly was smiling.
"Yeah, that means we will be home soon. I can't wait to see you."
"Me too. When will you come?"
"I guess tomorrow, depends on all the paperwork and when Priscilla will be awake or ready for the transport. Will you believe they actually needed my help?
"What did you do?"
"Just found something for broken ribs."
"Maybe you should rethink your career."
"Nah, I like catching the bad guys and do some justice." Gail frowned and sighed. "But in this case there won't be any compensation for the families who lost their members."
"Sometimes the thought that there won't be any more murders from this person, is good enough. You did great. You found them. I am so very proud of you, Gail."
"Holly?"
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
The scientist chuckled. "Just come back home safe. I'll be waiting."
The undercover guys were ordered to get packed and have a few hours of sleep while Luke was dealing with the paperwork and Percy stayed at the hospital occasionally making phone calls.
Gail felt vivid and happy. Maybe it was the lack of sleep but she was not about to have some. Instead she showered, got changed and went to the city doing shopping. She was also thinking about buying a bouquet for her friend but flowers could not be eaten so she decided for salami, which was the thing that would certainly create a happy face of her trainer.
With a smile she quietly entered the room of her friend who was lying there in deep sleep. She spotted Percy sitting by the bed. He was also changed in fresh clothes, a tight red t-shirt and jeans. "Hi," she greeted him.
"Gail hi," he smiled back.
"How is she doing?"
"Much better. When she wakes up, we will be ready to go. What about you?"
"Can't wait to get home."
"And it has nothing to do with a certain hot pathologist, huh?"
"It has everything to do with her," the blonde grinned, placing her gift on a bedside table. "How much is she addicted to meat?" she asked, tilting her head towards the sleeping person, and sat down on a chair next to Percy.
"A lot. Smelling this, she will be up by the evening," joked the detective. "Listen Gail, I've got a phone call from my bosses and Priscilla is having the official trial in two weeks. So I thought once she was released I would take her to Montreal right away."
"Oh," sighed the blond officer. "Well, will she come back? At least to say goodbye. And Holly still has Miracle."
"I guess so, depends on the results. But because of the evidence we have thanks to you, she should get her white shirt back and a nice spacy office," he smiled broadly. "No more running around getting hurt."
"Like that stopped her the last time," remarked the constable. Of course Gail was glad, but also she felt a pang of sadness. "Great," she managed to say at last. She was not very excited about having a new training officer, but life went on. People were changing and moving. The police workers sat together in silence occasionally sharing a story before the young woman had to leave to get ready for her homeward journey. Going home… to her usual work of patrolling the streets of Toronto… and of course to Holly.
Uncle Google helped with the geographical locations, I apologise for any mistakes, unfortunately I have no personal experience :|
thank you for your time!