Just a little Fruity

These good fellows don't belong to me but I promise when I'd done to pick um up, dust um off and with a kiss on the cheek return them safely home.

"Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love." George Eliot

Chapter 15

She paced the apartment after he left. Kicking herself for panicking she tried to formulate her next step. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It was all planned out, every step, every meal, and every drink. Then she had to go and do something rash as he walked out the door. She pulled the little baggie of brown powder out of her pocket and shook it. Too much, she used too much this time. She needed him to make it through the shift but if he drank all that coffee the dose could be lethal. Her only saving grace would be that no one at work would realize what was going on in time. The longer he stayed at work the more time the poison would have time to work.

But she couldn't bet on that. Right now she had to assume that her position was no longer safe. Leaving his apartment she went over to hers and called Michael. He would probably be furious at her for messing it up. Doing it quick was his idea but she had talked him into something more slow and controllable. A little each day, just enough to wear him down, break down his defenses. To separate him from those that loved him so they couldn't save him in the end. She had researched the right dosage and couldn't believe how easy it was to get access to cyanide in this day and age.

Packing up her clothes she felt an urgency that put her on the edge of panic again and when there was a loud knocking at the door she jumped right out of her skin.

Roy listened to the doctors talking amongst themselves. The worry in their voices didn't help to settle his own stomach. He moved out to the waiting room and watched the faces of the four men before him register his own look. There was no way he could pretend all was well.

"Roy? How is he?" Hank asked. The young medic had been under his command for several years now and he felt an attachment to him that didn't come with most jobs. This whole crew was special to him and to see any of them hurt for any reason ran deep for him.

The look on Roy's face told them as much, if not more, than the words he used. Until they heard the words, seizure, coma, heart failure. Chet sat down hard in the seat. Teasing Johnny as his pigeon had become a favorite past time but the man was his friend and he would never want anything to harm him.

Marco felt a surge of anger, "Who?" Someone would pay for this. He would make sure of it.

Roy looked at Hank, "I'm sure it was Karen. Cap we have to find her and fast."

Hank only nodded then turned to make some phone calls, first the police, and then the chief to let him know what had happened.

Mike remained silent. He had gone with Hank yesterday to try and find Johnny. Already he was worried about his shift mate and friend and now this. He may be quiet but his pain was real all the same. The others didn't realize it but down deep he made a vow to his friend. One that he planned to keep no matter what.

Hank returned, "The police are on the way to her apartment. I also talked to the chief and the squad is 10-8 for now. We will stay here as available as long as possible." He realized Roy had a blank look on his face, a look of being lost. "Roy?"

He looked up to his Captain, "Kanda, I have to find her."

"I'll get her Roy," the voice of Dixie came up behind him. "She's in surgery right now."

This was one time he was forever grateful that she had switched completing her degree to be here at Rampart. Knowing she was only upstairs calmed a small part of him inside.

"Roy, Kel wants you back in the room." Dixie told him. Her own heart hurt for him as she watched him walk away. What Kel had to tell him wasn't good news at all.

"Dix, how is he?" Hank asked.

She shook her head, "The tox screen isn't back yet. He needs the antidote but his heart is showing signs of acute toxicity."

Mike stepped forward, "Acute, like a dose recently?"

She nodded, "Like a huge dose very recently. Kel wants to know what he ate this morning. Roy said something about coffee."

The very short morning ran through his mind, "No, Johnny was late. He didn't have coffee with us before we were called out." He continued to think, "If he had coffee then it was on the way. As far as food there's no way for me to know if he ate before he left."

"Well his symptoms show a long slow exposure to the drug which can be reversed but the collapse this morning leads more to a high toxic dose and the only thing that can stop the damage to his heart and brain is the antidote."

"Heart and brain?" Marco asked.

Kel walked up behind Dixie, "Cyanide competes for the same space in the body as oxygen. That's why the symptoms are heart and brain related since they use the most oxygen. The dose he got this morning was different that the previous exposures and his heart is failing."

"How much time doc?" Hank asked with hesitation.

"Not enough. I can't wait for the test to come back. He's dying," Kel said with a heavy heart.

Hank couldn't believe what he was hearing. "The antidote?"

"I'm giving it to him now but it carries its own risks. The question will be can it do its job faster than the cyanide is doing it's job."

Roy stood next to his friend and brother. He looked up to see Kanda come in the room, tears already running down her face. Without saying a word she stood next to Johnny and took his hand.

"They just started the antidote," Roy said softly.

A little life came back into her eyes, "Already?"

Joe Early moved next to her, "Kanda it's his only chance. His heart is failing." He looked over to the monitor. Johnny's heart rate was now 40. His color was ashen and slightly cyanotic despite the high ventilator support and high concentration of oxygen.

Roy put his arms around her and simply held her. There was nothing to say at this point. He was dying in front of their eyes. Roy never thought he would really have to find a way to tell Johnny goodbye. They had been friends for so long and worked side by side putting their lives in each other's hands. There was too much to say, to much to tell him. He needed more time with his best friend. He needed him wake up and give him that Gage classic crooked smile. Dying on the job was always a possibility but to tell him goodbye like this?

Karen hesitated before answering the door.

"Karen, just open the damn door." Taking a deep breath she ran to the door and hurried Michael in. "I told you to be ready to go when I got here. We're leaving now."

"I'm ready," she said quietly. Michael was her big brother and she loved him but there were times that he just plain scared her. She knew that look in his eyes. He wouldn't yell at her but without hesitation she knew it was now out of her hands. Michael had vowed that Gage would not live while his father rested in the ground.

She grabbed her bag and they headed out the door. Climbing into his truck she thought about the short time she had been here. Oh, there was no remorse or missing of Gage but she really like that picture she had bought for her apartment. But there was no time to collect items if they were to get out her before someone else showed up.

Kanda pulled back from Roy with a determination that surprised him, "Kanda?"

"I'll be right back," she said as she ran out the door. Hank and the others watched her pop out of the room and run down the hall. He almost sent someone after her but she didn't look hysterical, she looked like a woman on a mission.

She didn't have time to explain it but she had no intention of standing there and watching her brother die. She spent too long trying to find him and make him a part of her life again. Running out into the parking lot she opened up her Rover and dug through the trunk.

"Damn, where is it?" She pushed stuff from side to side and back again. Then the little wooden box was unburied. She held it close to her and said a private Lakota prayer over it. The only one that knew about her Lakota spiritual training as a healer was Johnny and he was always a skeptic. She knew deep down that the items in this box were Johnny's only hope. And if it didn't work, she would lose her only brother forever.