Pandemic

He dropped to a crouch. Not breathing, he inched forward to get another glimpse of the kitchen. Seeing past the edge of the low kitchen wall, his eyes locked on Sabri's.

They both leveled their guns, but suddenly Sabri yelped in pain, as Gwen's teeth bit into his arm. She wriggled free of his grip.

Haldane steadied his aim, struggling for a clear shot.

"Shoot, Noah!" Gwen screamed.

She lunged forward and onto the ground. Noah fired twice. The first shot clipped Sabri in his left arm and the second shattered a water glass above his head.

Sabri's left arm fell limp to his side, but his right hand held steadfastly to his gun. He swung it from Noah to Gwen who was no more than five feet away. His lips formed a grotesque smile, but his gun didn't fire.

Haldane fired two more shots. Sabri's head flopped backward and slammed into the cabinet behind him.

Sitting upright, his body shuddered once and then was still. Sabri stared straight ahead at Noah. Except for the quarter-shaped hole in his left upper forehead, his eyes and expression appeared much the same as they had before he died.

CHAPTER 42

JESSUP, MARYLAND

By the time Haldane reached her, Gwen had climbed to her feet. He gently put an arm around to support her without even realizing that he still hung on to the gun with the same hand. "You okay?" he asked.

"Fine." She staggered slightly, but managed to keep herself upright. She gently pushed his arm away. "Go help Alex! He needs you more than I do." And she wiped away the trickle of blood running down from the laceration on her neck.

Haldane turned from Gwen and sprinted across the room to where Clayton still lay sprawled across the edge of the doorway. McLeod had taken his jacket off and wadded it into a ball, which he used to compress the bullet wound in Clayton's upper chest. Every inch of the jacket's green fabric had turned brown from the blood it had absorbed.

Haldane dropped to his knees beside Clayton across from McLeod. "Duncan?"

McLeod shook his head. "He was talking to me." He swallowed hard. "Then he drifted into mumbles. He lost consciousness altogether a minute or two ago."

"You called 911?"

"Twice." McLeod said as he reached the fingers of his free hand behind the angle of Clayton's jaw and thrust it forward in an attempt to better open his airway.

When Haldane leaned in close, he heard the slight gurgle of air and saw bubbles form in the blood in Clayton's mouth. Haldane swept a finger inside his mouth to clear the bloody debris, but it did nothing to improve the breathing. He searched for a pulse at Clayton's wrist and elbow, but felt none. Only when Haldane swept two fingers over Clayton's neck could he eventually find a rapid thready pulse.

"He can't last much longer." Haldane looked up and yelled to no one. "Where the fuck are they?"

Gwen hobbled over to join them. Awkwardly, using McLeod's shoulder to steady her, she knelt down between them and above Clayton's head. She reached her hand down and gently stroked his hair. "Please, Alex," she cooed softly. "Please hang in there."

Clayton's eyelids flickered a few times and then popped open. His glazed eyes looked up at Gwen, and his ashen face broke into a weak smile. Then his eyes closed again.

Haldane heard the faint wail of sirens.

* * *

Clayton was still alive when the paramedics loaded him onto the stretcher and screamed off for the Baltimore Trauma Center, sixteen miles away. Haldane knew from their downcast expressions and cautious reassurances that they held little hope for Clayton. The fact that Clayton still had a pulse when they left was more than Haldane expected. He felt a glimmer of optimism.

Haldane walked over to where a paramedic stood beside Gwen, trying to attend to the injuries of her upright patient. Gwen watched as the ambulance carrying Clayton raced off. When its taillights faded, she reached down and yanked the IV cannula out of her elbow. The young paramedic at her side placed a Band-Aid over the site, which matched the dressing she had applied to Gwen's neck.

When the paramedic pointed to her rig, Gwen shook her head. "I appreciate your help." She smiled. "But I'm fine. I'm not coming with you." And, as if to contradict her point, Gwen stumbled a step before catching her balance.

"It's okay," Haldane said to the young paramedic. "We're both doctors." He pointed to McLeod and himself. "We'll watch her."

The paramedic shrugged and walked off toward her truck.

McLeod joined Gwen and Noah. His face, hands, and shirt were still spattered with Clayton's blood. "He's a brave man that one," McLeod said. "If there's any kind of cosmic justice, he'll pull through." He paused. "Then again, I wouldn't count on it. Seems to me God has a pretty sick sense of humor these days."

"It's over now," Haldane said quietly.

"We've thought that before, Haldane," McLeod said, rubbing the blood from his hands. He sighed heavily. "No bloody Lady Macbeth jokes, either. I am going to go find a washbasin."