Chapter 2
Before Megan reached the hall again, she saw agents pouring in from all levels of the building. Bursting out of stairwells, riot shields up, was the first line. She heard moaning at her feet and noticed for the first time that she wasn't hearing gunfire anymore. She looked down and found a terrified clerk staring back up at her. His hand was pressing into his side, and she could see blood seeping through the fingers. "Are you hit anywhere else?"
He shook his head, moaned again.
"Keep pressure on that. I see help." As she whispered, Megan heard the first sirens drawing nearer the building. "I hear help. We'll get you out of here soon." As she looked over the desk, she heard someone shout.
"CENTRAL BOOKING ALL CLEAR. REPEAT, ALL CLEAR. EMTs…" The voice, trained beyond even her own experience, broke, and for the first time Megan felt fear. "EMTs TO CENTRAL BOOKING."
Megan stood and ran to the first aid kit on the wall, seeing the second wave of agents come out of the stairwell, some coming toward the room she was in, some following the riot shields into the hallways and offices to secure the entire floor. She quickly opened the major injury kit, put on a pair of gloves and grabbed a compression bandage. Then she raced back to the terrified clerk.
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Colby waited in the hallway outside digital forensics until the first line retreated from the room.
"Digital forensics clear," one said into his lapel. He looked at Colby. "We've got vics in there, no shooters."
Colby looked over his shoulder at David, who nodded. "Got it," Colby said, and holstered his weapon. It looked like the assault was over, and first aid was quickly becoming a priority. He entered the room while David continued down the hall providing back-up to the first line. He could see part of a female body, and another set of legs, on the other side of the filing cabinets. He stopped briefly at the major injury kit near the door for gloves, and was still putting them on when he rounded the filing cabinets.
When he first saw Charlie, it almost didn't register. He saw fingers on the woman's neck, barked, "you got a pulse?". When he didn't get an answer he looked fully at the man sitting against the cabinet and took in a shocked breath. "Charlie!" Colby quickly replaced Charlie's fingers with his own, determined that the woman was beyond his help. He surveyed what he could see of Charlie's body, and began to apply pressure to the bleeding thigh with his gloved hands, not bothering to go back to the first aid kit. He turned his head slightly toward the door. "MEDIC! WE NEED A MEDIC IN HERE! DIGITAL FORENSICS — MEDIC!"
He kept pressure on the wound and turned his head back toward Charlie, who hadn't stopped looking at the woman since he'd found them. "Charlie! Charlie, look at me!"
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Charlie hadn't noticed the riot shield, hadn't heard Colby speak to him, didn't take his eyes off the woman until there was an unbelievable, indescribable burning in his leg. He tried to jerk it away from whatever fire he must have fallen into, but something was holding him down. He finally turned away from the woman's eyes, although his hand crept back to its position on her neck. He saw Colby.
"Stop," he said. "Why are you doing that?"
Colby searched Charlie's face. "Are you with me, now, Charlie? Just hang in there, okay?"
Charlie's head slumped back against the filing cabinet. He closed his own eyes to make the other ones go away. He couldn't think. Maybe Colby would stop hurting him if he found the right answer.
"KE equals MV squared," he said. "Is that what you want? I can't remember."
Colby swore. "Come on, Charlie…"
Charlie groaned. He didn't understand what was wrong with his leg, why Colby was hurting him, but he had to make it stop. He opened his eyes again to look at Colby. He swallowed. "The…the kinetic energy," he started, hoping this was what Colby wanted, "energy transferred…" He was getting dizzy, now. Maybe he should close his eyes again.
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Megan looked up to see Don enter the room, gun still drawn, and take in the carnage. He spotted her, came her way. "You all right?"
"Yes, yes, where are the EMTs?"
As if in answer, the first team arrived. At the doorway they momentarily froze, confronted with several victims at once.
Another agent, this one from the bureau medical office, pushed past them. "I'll triage," she offered, and began to make rounds of the room before they responded. "Upper right quadrant here, massive blood loss. He hasn't received any first aid. Better start here." The first team took their gear to the victim indicated.
"I need able-bodied personnel administering first aid," directed the agent, and Don moved forward. "Extremity wound over here. Glove up and grab something to put pressure on it!"
Don did as he was told. There was a low murmur in the room now, a mixture of moans, whispers, someone was crying. Megan was relieved of her vic when another paramedic team arrived, and she changed her gloves to look for someone else to help. Back near the door, she heard Colby's call for a medic, looked at the agent triaging the room.
"We need at least four more teams in here," she said. "I can't send any down there."
"I'll see how serious it is," Megan offered, and the agent nodded, went back to her assessment of Central Booking. It took Megan a second to process exactly where she'd heard Colby's voice coming from, and when she did, she felt a cold fear clutch her heart. Digital forensics? Wasn't that where Charlie was going? She looked toward Don, but he was talking to his vic and didn't seem to have heard Colby's voice above all the others. Megan ran down the hallway.
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Colby was getting hoarse, already. He turned his head back toward the door, screamed 'MEDIC!" again, just as Megan careened around the doorway.
"Oh my G-d." She dropped to the floor beside him. "Charlie!"
"He's shocky," said Colby, "he's talking math."
Megan took the pale face in her gloved hands. "Charlie!", she said again, and he opened his eyes.
He was so happy to see Megan. She would explain everything. "Why is he doing that?" His own voice sounded strange, to him. He didn't like Megan's eyes, either. A lighter green than those other eyes, but scared instead of vacant. This equation must be important. "Transferred," he breathed, willing her to understand. "Energy transferred to…to the target…" It wasn't working, her eyes were still scared. He wanted to touch her, but he had to leave his hand where it was. Vacant eyes were counting on him…and the other hand…did he have another hand? "Defined as mass…". His eyes slipped shut again, and he tried once more to pull his leg away from the fire, moaned. "Multiply," he said, more loudly, trying to talk louder than the pain. "G-d, please, multiplied…". He couldn't remember where in the equation he was. He opened his eyes again. Was Megan angry? "What?", he asked her eyes, and he couldn't look at them anymore, his head swam as he tried to find the woman, the one with the other green eyes. Maybe she knew. He focused on the third eye. That was it. That was it. He tried to turn back to Megan, couldn't find the energy. He hoped she could hear him, he was whispering, although he didn't know why. "KE," he started. Could he finish this later? Just a moment. He just needed a moment.
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Megan tore herself away from Charlie, ran back to Central Booking. Several more paramedic teams were at work. Don was still with his vic, a civilian, helping him to his feet. A few other wounded were stirring, being helped up by first aid responders, as well. She looked at the triage agent.
"We've decided to transport the less seriously wounded in LAPD cars," the woman answered the unasked question. "What's down there?"
"One vic, thigh wound." Megan marveled at the calmness in her own voice. "He's shocky. Just lost consciousness."
"Take the next team." The triage agent turned away. Megan looked behind her, hoping to see another paramedic team. Nothing. She turned back to look at Don. He was almost even with her now, supporting the vic on one side while an LAPD officer supported the other.
"I'm going to ride in with this one," he said, when he saw her at the door. "Keep pressure on the wound."
She backed out of the doorway to let them through. "Don…"
He looked at her, and she didn't know what to say.
"Where do you want us?" Another paramedic team was stepping up behind her. She looked at them. "I've got a vic in…down here," she said, forcefully. "This way." She gave Don one last look. She had to let him do his job, and she had to do hers. She turned, and led the paramedics to Charlie.
