DETOUR
by ardavenport
- - - part 2
Captain Stanley ticked down the list of supplies they needed for the station. Wax, replacements for two turnout coats and helmets (with a note from the B-shift captain about the loss), toilet paper - - -
The phone rang.
"LA County Fire Department, Captain Stanley speaking."
"Captain Stanley, this is the dispatcher's office. Have you got Squad Fifty-One at your station?"
"No. They went out on a call, but it was canceled. They're not back yet."
"Well, they haven't answered their last call. We haven't got an answer from them on the radio."
Stanley put his pen down. "They often go to Rampart General for supplies. That's the next most likely place for them to be."
"We were just going to call there. It's probably just a radio malfunction."
"Probably."
"Report in if they show up there."
"Will do."
Stanley put the receiver back down on the phone cradle. He stared at it. Gage and DeSoto would have noticed right away if their radio was dead. In some parts of the hills, radio contact dropped out, but their last call had not been anywhere near there. And he knew that the paramedics were full up on supplies. They had been checking their boxes just before lunch.
He got up from his desk and strolled into the apparatus bay. The other men were hanging hoses out back.
"What's up, Cap?" Fireman Chet Kelly held a length of hose that Stoker was pulling up.
"Got a call from dispatch. The squad isn't answering their call."
Everyone stopped.
Stanley shrugged. "It's probably just their radio's down." He turned to go. "Just call out if they roll in."
He walked back to his office, past the engine and through the empty spot in the apparatus bay where the squad was usually parked.
%%##%%##%%
Doctor Early got the last of the coffee from the pot by the Rampart Emergency Base Station. Nurse McCall frowned as he walked off with a genial smile and a full cup. Sighing, she took out a pen and the nurses' schedule. Flora and Betty had just asked to trade work days.
"Uh, Dix?"
She looked up to find Officer Vince Howard of the LA County Sheriff's Department standing at her desk in black uniform and white and blue helmet.
"Hi Vince. What can I do for you?"
"We're just checking to see if you've had any gunshot victims show up."
Dixie shook her head. "No. It's actually been a quiet day. We would have noticed something like that."
"Well, there was an attempted bank robbery earlier today, but they missed one of the guards who got a few shots off. He's pretty sure he got one of them in the leg before they ran off."
"Well, we'll certainly be on the lookout for them."
Howard gave them a description of the robbers.
Suspect Number one: large man, height: six-one, maybe six-two, short brown hair, thirty-to-forty years old, gray shirt, jeans.
Suspect Number two: tall and thin, maybe six-three, shoulder length brown and gray hair, forty-to-fifty years old, blue and white plaid shirt, jeans. And a bullet wound in his leg.
Both men had worn jackets into the bank to conceal their weapons, which the guard had immediately noticed since it was a warm day.
There was also possible a get-away driver, but there was no description.
"We'll keep our eyes peeled."
Vince nodded back with a smile. "Thanks."
The buzzer at the Base Station sounded, red light flashing, a voice calling out from it. And the phone rang at the exact same time.
"I've got it." Doctor Kelly Brackett came around the corner and reached for the Base Station receiver. "Go ahead Fifty-One, this is Rampart."
Dixie picked up the phone. "Rampart General Emergency."
"Rampart, this is Fire Department dispatch. We're trying to locate one of our units. Is Squad Fifty-One there?"
". . . . Respiration is ninety-five. Patient has a gunshot in his right upper quadriceps - - -"
"Could you hold on a minute." Dixie lowered the receiver and leaned over the desk. "Vince!"
Orderlies and nurses' heads turned toward her, the head nurse of the Emergency Department, yelling down the hall. Officer Howard looked around before spotting her. Then he jogged back to the desk, past the medical personnel watching.
"Kel." She inserted herself between a surprised Brackett and the radio. "Stand by, Fifty-One." She muted the receiver and turned to Howard. "I think we might have found your bank robbers. Squad Fifty-One just called in a gunshot wound."
"Yeah." Howard put his hand on his hip and looked at the Base Station as if it might have a clue.
"And I've got Fire Department dispatch on the phone right now. Fifty-One isn't answering their calls."
"What?" Brackett looked from nurse to policeman.
"Doc, can you get a location from this thing?"
Brackett looked from policeman to Base Station. "What? No. Why should we? Vince, what's going on?"
"Doctor, we've got a couple of missing bank robbers and one of them was shot when they escaped. And it looks like now they've picked up a couple paramedics to patch him up." Vince pointed at the Base Station. "And you better not keep them waiting. I've got to call this in."
Dixie pointed at a wall phone. "Over there."
Vince went to the phone, but turned to a still stunned-looking Brackett. "Just keep 'em talking, Doc. Get anything you can that might give us a clue about their location. Just don't do anything that will make them suspicious."
- - - End part 2