Michael Palmer - Extreme Measures

You want to work on him?"

Eric asked.

"Not really, but I will."

"I'll stay with Nelson."

In just half an hour Bernard Nelson began to show signs of responding to the treatment. Harten and his associate headed off to investigate Charity firsthand, while Laura and Maggie Nelson took up a vigil at Bernard's bedside.

Two hours passed, during which several cardiac crises arose.

Laura clutched Maggie's hand tightly as they watched Eric move from one side of the bed to 'the other, checking Bernard's physical condition, evaluating lab reports and the monitor pattern, and then calmly issuing instructions to the nurse. And she knew that regardless of what lay ahead for the two of them, she would never lose the admiration she was feeling for him at that moment Over the next hour, Bernard's condition seemed to stabilize. The need for Eric's intervention grew less frequent. Laura could see the deep lines of tension across his forehead begin to recede. Finally, four hours after their arrival, Bernard's eyes fluttered open.

Minutes later, he reached up and pointed to the endotracheal tube, imploring Eric to remove it.

"Has he made it?" Maggie Nelson asked.

Eric took both her hands and helped her up. Then he hugged her.

"You married one tough guy, Mrs. Nelson," he said. "He's a real bear."

"I know," she said.

He stepped back while she bent over, spoke a few words to her husband, and gently kissed him on the cheek. Then he sent the two women out of the room and motioned the nurse in. Laura watched from a distance as Eric whispered in the detective's ear, then quickly pulled out the polyethylene breathing tube.

Bernard sputtered and gagged as the nurse suctioned out his mouth and pharynx.

For a minute, there was total silence as Eric stood by to replace the tube at the first sign of trouble.

Then Bernard cleared his throat.

"Anyone got a cigar?" he croaked.

One by one, those Charity inmates needing the most vital care were brought into Moab. The rest were transferred to other facilities.

Eric worked through the night alongside the hospital staff, and other vestiges of malnutrition Shortly after dawn the next left Maggie Nelson with her husband at the motel where she was staying they walked along the large town.

To the south, the sun day sparkled off the rich red clay of "This place is so beautiful," she said. "And the hospital seems very good."

"For a place this size, it is," Eric said.

Laura locked her arm in his.

"Think you'd ever consider working here?" she asked.

"I think my lowest gear may still be about ten times higher than the highest one I'd ever need here,"

"Well, maybe that's just what you need."

He held her close.

"Maybe. I'll tell you what: If we ever get tired of Boston and white Memorial, I'll think about it."

"Good. Because I understand real estate around Boston is through the roof, and here there's a whole town for sale, just a little ways down the road."