“I don’t really think you’re going to die from loss of blood,” Jackman said.
In the distance, there were sirens—but not very far in the distance. They got louder and louder, and the worse they got, the worse they were for his headache.
“Listen,” he said again, trying to shout. It didn’t work. His voice came out in a croak. “Don’t let them kill her. She’s all you’ve got. If she dies, you’ll never be able to tie him to America on Alert, or to Steve Bridge. Got that?”
“We’ll discuss it later.”
“It’s the only direct evidence you’ve got,” Gregor insisted, and by now he felt like he was swimming through a sea of noise. “Everything else is circumstantial. Don’t let them kill her.”
The sirens were right there now, right on top of them. Gregor felt the heat of the first vehicle before he saw it, which wasn’t odd, since he was still lying flat on his back. He tried to sit up. Jackman pushed him down. He tried to sit up again. Nobody stopped him, because there was nobody to stop him. Jackman was off talking to somebody else. He got himself more or less upright and looked around at what was now a sea of cop cars. There were uniformed officers everywhere. There were detectives too. Maybe he only thought they were detectives. His head had reattached to his body just long enough to give him a splitting headache. He wanted to stand up. He tried, and felt somebody push him down.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jackman said. “You’re going to kill yourself. And she’s still in there, and she still has a gun.”
“Do you have any liquor?”
“Of course I don’t have any liquor. In my car? What do you take me for?”
“I need a shot of something serious,” Gregor said.
There was a sound like a gong ringing, and Jackman ducked. “Jesus Christ,” he said. “There she goes again.”
Somebody else crouched down next to them, somebody Gregor didn’t know, or didn’t recognize, at least at the moment. “How many are there?” the somebody else said.
“I don’t know,” Jackman said. “I’ve only seen one. She may be alone.”
“Susan,” Gregor said.
“What?” Jackman said.
“Susan,” Gregor said again.
“Oh, yeah,” Jackman said. “There’s two of them involved in the organization. The one we think is shooting is called Kathi Mittendorf. There’s another one, though, named Susan something. You’ll have to get the details later.”
“No men?” the somebody said.
“No,” Gregor said. “Don’t kill her.”
“What is this guy, her husband?”
“No,” Jackman said. “She’s a witness in a murder case. In three murder cases. It would be a good idea if we didn’t kill her.”
“Yeah, well,” the somebody said.
There was another ping, and another, and another. Gregor felt the ground shake—everybody was hitting the dirt, getting down behind the cars.
“Jesus Christ,” somebody said. “That’s a machine gun.”
“Grenades,” Gregor said.
“What?” Jackman said.
“Grenades,” Gregor said again.
Then, suddenly, the people right next to him were wearing white and not talking much. Somebody was tearing the cloth away from his wound. It was one of his best suits and they were ripping it to shreds … but maybe it didn’t matter anyway, because maybe the blood would never come out. They were ripping into his shirt. Somebody put a hard metal edge next to his skin and he screamed.
“For God’s sake,” Jackman said. “Give him something for the goddamned pain before you go digging into him.”
“Don’t let them kill her,” Gregor said.
“Listen,” Jackman said. “If she starts lobbing grenades, we’re going to kill her. This is a residential neighborhood. What’s wrong with you?”
“You can see what’s wrong with him,” one of the ambulance men said. “He’s got a bullet in his shoulder.”
“Nah,” the other ambulance man said. “It went right through. I’d bet anything.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jackman said.
“Listen,” Gregor said.
There was another burst of gunfire, steady and staccato. How much ammunition could she have in there? They wouldn’t be able to take him out to the ambulance as long as she was shooting. They wouldn’t—
They weren’t paying attention to him anymore. Gregor could tell. A new set of vehicles was pulling in. The whole scene was beginning to seem like something out of a Bruce Willis movie, and Gregor hated Bruce Willis movies. Still, it gave him his chance.