Frederick Zackel - Dark Red And Deadly

Ginny was worried. She said to Rafferty, "He's lost a lot of blood."

Rafferty helped them get the stretcher inside and said, "If there's anything I can do—"

Nora was impatient. "Are you a doctor?" Then she eased up. "I'm a nurse, and Ginny's a paramedic." She told Ginny, "Ginny, you get in first."

Ginny told Rafferty, "You're driving." As she climbed into the back of the ambulance, she added, "County General. Just follow this highway downhill. As fast as you can."

"If you need blood for transfusions," Rafferty told Nora, "I'm a universal donor."

Nora was not impressed. She helped Cheryl Park inside. "Great!" Then she climbed in after the other woman. "But let's go, let's go!"

As Nora slammed the hatch, Rafferty ran and jumped in behind the driver's seat. He slammed it into gear.

The white ambulance drove fast down the highway, its lights flashing, its siren wailing. The ambulance screeched around one tight corner after another.

Inside Rafferty was the model of concentration as the road sped by. He drove like a man possessed.

The highway went down in sweeping curves. The ambulance handled switchbacks and S-curves and hairpin curves on its way down from the mountains.

Rafferty found the driving was a blur.

He heard Ginny call his name.

He stepped on the gas.

The rain started, a ferocity of raindrops much like hailstones.

Rafferty flicked on the wipers. The sleeting rain befuddled the wipers and Rafferty lost all visibility in the blurry windshield.

Ginny said, "Terry!"

Rafferty arched his back and stood on the gas pedal. Rain drizzled outside the ambulance.

The highway glistened with rain and flooding ditches. The ambulance almost struck a deer on the road.

Momentarily startled, Rafferty knuckled down over the steering wheel and glared out at the road unfolding ahead.

Ginny said, "Please!"

The highway leveled off into the valley. The ambulance flashed past a sheriff's patrol car that had left the road, having heard the ambulance coming. Then the ambulance ran a red light inside the city limits. Then the neon lights of the hospital EMERGENCY appeared.

The ambulance pulled in and alongside the emergency entrance.

Rafferty parked, then ran back and opened up the hatch. Nora jumped out, followed by Ginny. They hauled out the makeshift stretcher carrying Eddie Ka’aina.

Nora said, "Rafferty, are you still offering to give blood?"

That evening Tomo Oteas arrived back at his grandfather's farmhouse, meeting Henry on the side porch. Tomo stood there, smiling slyly, but not saying a word.

"Did you make a deal?" Henry asked.

Tomo grinned. "Yeah, grandpa! We get almost three grand a dried pound!"

Henry had his breath taken away in awe. The two started laughing, jabbing each other in the ribs.

Tomo said, "How 'bout a little Gatorade and bourbon maybe?"

They laughed together and started pouring drinks.

Sheriff Charles Hartman arrived at the emergency room in time to see one of his deputies interviewing Rafferty, who was donating blood and lying on a gurney. The Sheriff took over.

Hartman said, "I understand you broke up the fight, Mister ... ?"

Rafferty said, "Terry Rafferty, a friend of Ginny Hong's."

Hartman stared at the blood bag by Rafferty's arm. "Do you know who attacked my deputy?"

"Ginny said his name was Lester," Rafferty said. "I don't remember if she said his last name."

"You're positive she called him Lester?"

The deputy said, "Her description matches ours."

Hartman told Rafferty, "Any idea where he is now?"

The deputy spoke. "I think Lester and his father work for Tomo Oteas."

Hartman told the deputy, "Call Dispatch, have her call all the men on tomorrow's Strike Force, tell them to be at the Ilima substation within thirty minutes in full gear." He faced Rafferty. "Thank you for what you've done."

Then he turned and left the waiting room.

Rafferty said, "Who was he?"

"Sheriff Charles Hartman."

Rafferty watched his blood draining from his arm into the blood bag.

Rafferty and Ginny waited outside the emergency room. Ginny was a nervous wreck. Nora came out.

Ginny was almost in tears. "Can I see him now?"

Exhausted, Nora shook her head, just as Sheriff Hartman re-entered the room. He saw Nora, they both looked away, and then the Sheriff left without saying a word. Then Nora left.

Rafferty said, "They're in-laws?"

Ginny said, "They used to be in-laws." She couldn’t stop worrying. "God, I hate this waiting."

Rafferty put his arm around Ginny who rested her head on his shoulder.

Henry and his grandson Tomo were under a porch light behind their mobile home, drinking and talking about the future. Suddenly the thunder of approaching helicopters startled them.

Tomo heard them first. "Helicopters!"

Henry took up his shotgun. "Run for it!"

Night became noon, as spotlights came angling down on the mobile home. Henry fired both barrels at the night sky, blowing out one of the spotlights. Flashing police lights and police sirens filled the darkness. Henry and Tomo ran off into what remained of the darkness. Patrol cars came sweeping up the drive and the helicopters began landing. Men and their weapons lept from their vehicles and fanned out like commandos taking a town.

Sheriff Hartman stood forth as leader of the operation.

Within moments, the raid was over. Some deputies brought a handcuffed Henry Oteas to Sheriff Hartman.

Henry growled at them, "I'm a senior citizen, dammit. Take it easy!"

"Hello, Henry," said the sheriff.

"Hello, Sheriff," Henry said.

A deputy approached carrying Henry's shotgun.

The deputy said, "He's the one who fired the shot at us, Sheriff."

"I was defending myself," Henry said.

Hartman said, "Henry, you're under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon and for interfering with a police officer."

"What's that gonna cost me, Sheriff?" Henry asked.

Hartman shrugged. "A thousand dollars bail. You can be arraigned in the morning and be home by noon."

Henry was relieved. "Oh, that's not bad."

Another deputy came up with various stolen property, including a color television and power tools. He told the Sheriff, "Serial numbers match some stolen items."

Hartman was impressed. He told Henry, "Henry, you're under arrest for theft charges, too."

Henry was outraged. "What!"

Hartman amended that. "Receiving stolen property."

Henry was hardly mollified. Still, he said, "Thank you, Sheriff."

Hartman agreed. "Henry, I can't picture you sneaking through somebody's house in the dead of night carrying off their television."

Deputies looked through the mobile home and found marijuana for personal use, some cocaine, a fifty pound bale of dried marijuana, weapons and ammunition, firecrackers and food stamps.

"Only the food stamps are mine, " Henry said.

"Book him with receiving stolen property, cultivation and possession with intent to sell, and unlicensed guns, too," Hartman said.

"Damn!" Henry told himself.

Lester drove back from the beach, drinking bourbon right from the bottle and eating an orange without peeling it, taking bites from it as if it were an apple.

He saw a mass of red and white lights up ahead and slowed his truck to gawk. The Sheriff's department had the Oteas driveway blocked off. Various deputies wandered around.

A truck behind Lester's van blew its horn because Lester had slowed.

Lester, outraged, slammed on his brakes.

The truck almost slammed into Lester's red brake lights.

Forsaking his other duties, one of the deputies approached Lester's van.