Recap: Ranger tackles the president to the ground to protect him from a gun that Stephanie sees. He is almost at the limo when the scaffolding collapses.
A couple people wrote to me asking me to continue. That's pretty effective in getting me to update.
Ranger
I was in a cave-in once. We were holed up in cavern taking cover from a firefight, and someone chucked a grenade into the entrance. As often happens, the next few seconds felt like they took hours. As the grenade landed and spun on the stone, Tank, Lester, and I ran back as far as we could, just barely managing to get around a corner, protecting us from much of the blast. Still, we were pelted with rocks and debris, and it took hours of careful digging to get us out. The communications equipment was buried, so our unit was frantic by the time we got out.
That's the closest experience I've had to the shrieking of metal and canvass falling around us. With one final push I scrambled in and the last agent pulled the door shut behind. The driver slammed the car into drive, then screeched to a halt a half second later.
A pipe from the scaffolding crashed through the front windshield, cracks spreading like a crazy spider web. I couldn't understand how. Those windows were designed to withstand an armor piercing bullet. But then the answer hit us. Literally. A body strapped in to the metal frame crashed into the glass as well, spreading the cracks even further. The man had a long range rifle gripped in one hand. One of the agents pulled his weapon.
"Wait!" I yelled. "He's one of mine!".
"Get us out of here!" yelled the agent in charge.
Stephanie
I watched helplessly as the structure that was supposed to provide safety collapsed in on itself. From what I could tell the crowd had shoved out of the gated area and spilled out near the base. The crush of panicked people had pushed the supports aside and it had fallen like a Jenga tower when someone bumps the table. Ram, who had been harnessed in to keep him safe in the wind, fell almost straight down. His arms flailed but he didn't drop the gun as he disappeared below my sightline.
"Ranger!" I screamed as I tried to move through the chaos. Pushing people aside, I scrambled to the fence that had separated the crowd from the president, hoping it would be easier to move pressed against the barriers.
My whole body froze. From where I was standing to the collapsing scaffolding was a trail of blood. The bullet hadn't gone wide, someone had been shot.
Ranger
The limo slammed into reverse, throwing us around the cabin. We all piled on top of the leader of the free world, using our bodies as another line of defense. Through the corner of my eye I could see the driver watching a small screen showing what was behind us as the car screamed backwards, the outside being pelted with the debris of metal pipes and wooden planks. After what felt like hours, but was probably only seconds, the limo screeched into a 180-degree turn, spinning us around. Then he floored it, and we jumped forward as the car careened through the Philadelphia streets.
Bobby
Lester burst into the tent, his eyes wild. "It's Ram. He fell."
I wasted no time. I grabbed my go-bag and followed him. The area was still filled with panicked people, but a cry of "Make Way, Medic!" worked well enough to clear a path. Unfortunately, getting to Ram was easier said than done. We had to navigate past a maze of fallen pipes and splintered wood.
"I'm coming Ram!" I yelled as I struggled past the obstacles. I'd seen children do a similar series of movements on playgrounds, but it's a lot easier for a child than a fully grown man who is really in a rush. He was lying on a mercifully flat bit of pavement, and I couldn't see any wounds on him. At least he hadn't been impaled on anything.
I reached him and started the examination. He groaned and looked up at me. "What's up Doc?"
"Well, not you anymore soldier" I said, trying to mask my worry with a combination of formality and light-heartedness. "Looks like you abandoned your post. Weren't you stationed 40 feet up from here?"
"Sorry Sir, had to GTFO due to gravity. Ranger's going to kill me."
He was making jokes. Good. "Can you feel your toes?" Biggest worry at the moment was a spinal injury.
"Oh yeah, I can feel everything. Hurts like a motherfucker."
I bet it did. And that was a good thing. Bumps and bruises, even broken bones healed a lot faster than spines. "Lester is getting the ambulance. Let's get you loose so we can load you up when it makes it through."
I could already see people trying to clear a path to us. From the back there wasn't nearly as much debris, I should have come that way. But I can be pretty single minded when someone is hurt. I pulled out my Trauma Shears and started to cut his harness loose. Normally clothes fall away instantly, but the tough nylon webbing of the harness was designed to resist 5000 pounds of force, and even with my hand strength I struggled to cut it.
Lester ran to my side. "They are backing up the Ambulance now. Dios, there's so much blood. How badly is he hurt?"
"Blood? He's banged up but not bleeding. What do you m…." But then I saw. Lester was right. There was blood on the pavement. Lost of it. And it wasn't from Ram. Which only left someone in the limo.