NOTHING TO LOSE - Angie Bartoni Case File # 5 (ANGIE BARTONI CASE FILES)

by Marshall Huffman

  “Bartoni, just for the sake of argument, they still did manage to pull it off somehow. At some point someone would say, why didn’t we get the National Guard to help out? We have to include them.”

  “I see the point,” I conceded but I sure didn’t like it very much.

  “You’re going to be the point person for them as well you know,” he said, smiling quickly.

  “When this is over, I’m going to want some serious time off.”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Grass does indeed grow slowly. I know because I was watching it do just that. How long I had been watching it was kind of hazy. The last thing I remember was walking up to my mail box and getting the ‘current occupant’ letters. I had gone in the house, taken off my gun and badge and was going to go out to work on the TR6 to see what the problem was.

  I was just about to pop the hood when Mrs. Gleason from across the street called to me.

  “I see you got your car fixed.”

  I frowned.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some company came and worked on it for you.”

  “Oh shit,” I yelled and took off running.

  That’s it. Now all I could do was look at the grass. I did feel a sharp pain in my shoulder and could smell burnt hair but there wasn't much I could do about it.

  A pair of shoes suddenly appeared in front of my face then quickly disappeared. I could faintly hear sirens and people talking but I’ll be darned if I could make out what they were saying.

  A guy's face appeared in front of me, kind of sideways. I saw his mouth move but didn’t understand a word. He gave me a thumbs up and then he was gone. What the hell was going on?

  I was rolled over at some point because I was no longer watching the grass but now I could see the leaves. A lot of them looked like they were scorched and ready to fall off.

  A female face appeared above me.

  “Are you allergic to any drugs?”

  What the hell? What kind of drugs? Sure, I doubt I could handle LSD or crack. Honestly I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “You are going to feel a little prick on your left hand. We are putting an IV in,” she said and disappeared again.

  Okay Bartoni. What the hell just happened? I had opened the door and put the key in the ignition. I had just pulled the hood release lever when Mrs. Gleason yelled at me. I took off and then...?

  I felt like I was floating for a few minutes and then I could hear the doors to the ambulance slam shut and off we went. The siren sounded so far away. At some point I just said the heck with it and went to sleep.

  **

  I thought I could hear my name being repeated and tried to open my eyes but they felt too heavy. I finally forced them open.

  A nurse was standing there looking expectantly at me.

  “Detective Bartoni. How are you feeling?”

  What? This dumbass woke me up to ask me how I was feeling? I was pretty damn happy just like I was. I tried to talk but it was impossible. My throat felt like it was on fire and my eyelids seemed to weight ten pounds each.

  “Would you like a sip of water?”

  “Augg,” I croaked. It was the best I could do.

  She held out a glass with a long straw and I tried to swallow. It hurt like hell but I did manage to get some of it down. The rest went down my front.

  “The doctor will be in to see you in just a few minutes. Do you think you can stay awake until he gets here?” she asked.

  Good Lord. How the heck do I know? Go away and let’s just see what happens.

  I must have drifted off because the doctor had my hand in his and was checking my pulse.

  “How are you doing Detective?”

  “I’ve been better,” I managed to get out.

  “I’m sure you have but you are one very lucky woman. You got just far enough away to keep from ending up down in the morgue.”

  “I assume it was a bomb in my car.”

  “That’s what I’ve been told. Right now our biggest concern is possible internal injuries. We have done a MRI and found nothing so far. Your CT looked good as well. You are going to be very sore for a few days but all in all, you lucked out.”

  “When can I get out of here?” I asked.

  “Tomorrow if everything checks out okay. A consulting doctor has been called in to help with your case.”

  “A consulting doctor? Why do you need to consult with anyone else?”

  “It was a request.”

  “Doctor Warman?”

  He nodded.

  Ben was looking after me. Man, I’m not sure I’m ready for this much attention.

  “Your captain is here if you are up to seeing him. If not I’ll send him away. It’s your call,” he said.

  “Send him in. He is a pain in the butt but overall not a bad guy,” I told him.

  He disappeared and a few minutes later the captain came in.

  “You look worse than usual, Bartoni,” he said.

  “You stick your finger in a light socket or are you trying to grow a fro? I’ve seen better looking leisure suits than what you have on,” I shot back.

  “Glad you’re still the same pain in the butt. You know, I think that press conference may have set him off just a tad.”

  “Geez, you think?”

  “Just my best guess.”

  “So, what really brings you here?”

  “You.”

  “Yeah, I get that but what else?”

  “I need to know what direction to take. Dan, Brad and Potts are all out of action. Now you. Any recommendations for who to step in?”

  “I guess Marsha Baker. Cindy doesn’t have enough leadership skills. I mean she is with Homeland Security and all but she is not a leader by any standard,” I told him.

  “What about Eric?”

  “No way. Eric is a genius when it comes to the technical aspects but he would fall apart trying to run an operation. Marsha is the only real choice you have as far as I am concerned.”

  “What did the doctor say about you?”

  “I was going to be sore for a while. They won’t discharge me until everything checks out. I’m pushing for tomorrow but who knows for sure?” I told him.

  “Okay. For now Marsha is in charge but just as soon as you get out of here you are on the point again.”

  “Fine by me. I assume my car was pretty well destroyed.”

  “Let me just put it this way, you would be hard pressed to identify what kind of car it was. Oh, and half of your house caught on fire as well. Right now it is condemned until repairs can be made.”

  “Well isn’t that just special,” I muttered.

  “If it helps any, you next door neighbor isn’t very happy about their house catching fire either.”

  “Thanks for the uplifting news,” I said to his departing back.

  He just waved over his shoulder.

  **

  There is nothing slower than hospital time. The clock never moves. I was doing my absolute best to not look at the clock but for some reason I kept doing it. What seemed like hours was only minutes in reality. I didn’t want reality, I wanted the doggone time to go by.

  “Oh good, you’re awake,” a pert little nurse said. She came in, erased the name of the day nurse on the little whiteboard and wrote hers down. She took my BP, pulse rate, and temperature and noted them on the whiteboard.

  “Can I get you anything?”

  “Yeah. You can get me out of here,” I replied.

  “I mean, other than that. Doctor Warman is on his way over and wants to talk to you.”

  “Crap.”

  “Oh don’t worry. He is really nice. He won’t say anything about your black eyes.”

  “I have black eyes?”

  “You haven’t looked into the mirror yet?”

  “How could I. I have a catheter in. This is just wrong.”

  “Now don’t get all worked up. I’ve seen worse than you and so has he,
” she said.

  I was thinking about strangling this twit with my catheter tube when I heard Ben's voice drifting down the hall. He pushed the door open and walked in.

  He stood there looking at me and then down at the chart in his hand. I assumed it was mine or else he was faking the whole thing.

  “Well Miss Bartoni, I have to say you are certainly one lucky lady. From what I have been told, three feet less in distance and the engine and transmission would have landed on you and crushed you.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty fast on my feet when I realize someone is trying to kill me.”

  “It certainly paid off this time. Look, I know this is a bit awkward but I want to make sure you are really okay. I talked to your captain and he said you were the type who would want to get out of here as quickly as possible even if you weren’t a hundred percent ready to be discharged.”

  “He’s got that right.”

  “I understand but I want to make sure you don’t do something that could cause long term damage,” he said.

  “Look, I appreciate the concern, really I do, but the captain is right. I have a job to do. I want to get this bastard, pardon my French, before he kills more innocent people.”

  “Detective, in order to do your job you have to be up to it. Please. Just let me check you out and if everything is satisfactory, I’ll have you discharged as fast as possible.”

  “That’s fair. But don’t you dare ask me to step on the scales,”

  “I’m certainly not that stupid,” he said smiling quickly.

  **

  He did the usual things that doctors always do, listened to my heart and lungs, checked my pupils, and checked my reflexes. The kind of stuff they all do.

  Of course they needed another gallon or two of blood. I swear someone down in the lab must drink that stuff as much as they drain from people. He put some stuff in one of those hi tech tablets they all seem to have now days and sat down on the side of the bed.

  “Overall you are in very good shape considering this is the second time you have been knocked silly in the past week. I know without even testing you that you have some hearing loss. It may be permanent or just temporary. You are talking louder and you don’t always hear what I say to you. Being that close to such a large explosions can result in serious hearing loss. That will take time to determine, unfortunately. There is nothing that can be done for it at the moment.”

  “Alright. So what does all of this mean?”

  “It means, you will probably be released tomorrow around noon if you don’t have any setbacks.”

  “Setbacks? What kind of setbacks?”

  “Elevated temperature, vision problems, nausea. Anything that is out of the ordinary parameters of a healthy person,” Ben replied.

  “I feel fine,” I told him.

  “How about a headache? You have rubbed your forehead several times and seem to be squinting your eyes. How bad is it?”

  “Not too bad.”

  “On a scale of one to ten with ten being unbearable.”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe six or seven.”

  “I see. I’m going to have the nurse give you something for that. It will help you sleep better and take away the pain.”

  “But I can still get out of here tomorrow, right?”

  “Let’s just take it one step at a time,” he said on his way out of the room.

  A few minutes later the nurse came in and gave me a couple of pills in a little paper cup. I took them and within a few minutes the headache eased up and then I was asleep.

  **

  Belk’s car was a good hundred yards ahead of me but I was trying to close the gap. The biggest problem was that he didn’t care who he hurt and I did. I had to make sure no innocent people were forced off the road.

  I finally worked my way to a position just off his rear bumper. I shoved my foot as hard as I could to the floorboard. I felt the impact as my police car rammed into the back of his. He swerved and I fought to stay glued to his bumper. He suddenly swerved again and I lost contact with him. He bounced into the side of a truck, sending it into the guardrail. I wanted to call in and set up a roadblock but my microphone was flopping all around in the car.

  I had the bastard and I was not going to let him get away this time. I tried for a pit maneuver but just missed, sliding off his rear bumper. This was crazy. I don’t know how fast we were really going but we were passing cars like they were standing still.

  He swerved around the side of a truck and I lost him for an instant. The next thing I knew he was slamming into the side of my car. I bounced off the guardrail and tried to get the car straightened out. It is a natural tendency to overcorrect. I finally got it under control and was able to pick up speed until I was on this rear bumper once again. I let my left front slide along his right rear until I was at his tire and then turned into him hard.

  His backend broke loose and his car went into a skid. I continued to keep my foot on the floor, driving him sideways. His car finally flipped around, caught the uneven shoulder of the road and flipped, not once but three then four times before it came to a rest upside down. I slammed on the breaks and cut over to the side of the road. Shaken, I climbed out and ran back to the car. Belk was still buckled, hanging upside down. I got down on my hands and knees and felt for a pulse. Damn, the bastard was still alive.

  I woke up startled, soaking wet. It had all been a dream. I could remember almost every vivid detail of the chase when I finally was able to put the prick in jail. He had gotten life but now here he was, out on the streets and he had just tried to extract his revenge on me.

  It was still dark and I rang for the nurse who must have been sleeping or watching television because I had to ring three times before she came.

  She immediately moved the pager out of my reach before speaking.

  “Yes?”

  “I need ice,” I managed to get out.

  “Ice?”

  “Yeah, you know, the stuff that makes drinks cold. I would like a glass full.”

  “It will be a few minutes,” she said and started to turn to leave.

  I grabbed the back of her arm and pulled her to me. She was startled and tried to pull free but I had my Vulcan Death Grip on her.

  “You do not want to get an attitude with me. You just go get the damn ice,” I said and let her go.

  She rushed out of the room. I’m not normally like that but they have a job to perform and they should do it. Most are saints that would do anything for a patient but then there is that ten percent that forget what they are there for. She was one of those.

  A few minutes later she returned with a cup full of crushed ice. Nothing ever tasted so good.

  **

  I was awake before the lights came on. That is very unusual for me. I normally hate mornings but the thought of getting out of here made me anxious to get up and get going.

  A different nurse came in and took my vitals and changed the name on the whiteboard.

  “The doctor will be here in a few minutes. Is there anything you need?” she asked.

  “Just to get out of here.”

  She just smiled and left.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “What do you mean she is still alive?” Belk screamed at Pete.

  “Somehow the blast failed to kill her. It was just dumb luck.”

  “Son of a...Wait. Did you suddenly develop a conscience and decide to spare her?” Belk demanded.

  “Oh give me a break Richard. I don’t care about her one way or the other. She was just a job. Sometimes it just doesn’t go as planned. I put plenty of C4 in there. The engine must have deflected the blast. I figured she would be on that side of the car once I saw how the release worked.”

  “You’re a damn professional. I can’t afford those kind of mistakes from you.”

  “Look Richard, you want to do this on your own, you just say the word and I’m gone. I’m just a little sick of being your whipping boy. I have to get the materials, drive the truck an
d set the timer. You want to do it on your own just say the word. If not, knock it off getting on my case. Bartoni is so far down our list it doesn’t even enter the equation. Focus or do it without me,” Pete said, getting up in Belk’s face.

  Belk looked at him with entered blazing in his eyes but he knew Anderson was right. He couldn’t do it without his help. He needed Pete more than Pete needed him. He could simply walk away and that would be the end of it.

  “Alright. You’re right. She isn’t important. I can always take care of her later. I need to focus on the bigger picture right now,” Belk finally admitted.

  “Good. Let’s get to work. The fertilizer is ready to be loaded. The napalm is ready. We just need to get the scrap and load the truck. That is going to take some time and we are coming down to the last few days. The Pan-Am Games start in four days and we have to be totally prepared.”

  “Sorry about the other stuff.”

  “It’s forgotten. Let’s just concentrate on our main objective,” Pete said.

  **

  “Are you sure you should be here?” Captain McGregor asked when I carefully sat down at my desk.

  “Well I don’t have a note from my doctor if that is what you are asking but yeah, I was discharged.”

  “Just no super hero stuff, okay.”

  “Believe me, I don’t feel very super herolike.”

  “I’ll have Marsha fill you in on what we have which is very little so far but time is running out.”

  “Don’t I know it,” I replied.

  Marsha came over to my desk and reported. Just as the captain had said, they had squat. No sigh of Pete or Belk had turned up anyplace we were getting CCTV feeds from. It was like they had moved on but I knew doggone well they were out there and it wouldn’t be long before we heard from them in the worst possible way.

  Marsha was sweet but she couldn’t answer half the questions I had for her. She was not a field person and it showed. Some of the stuff was so basic I was amazed she hadn’t thought of it. Bottom line, we had nothing at present.

  “Look, we know they need lots of shrapnel to do the maximum damage. They aren’t about to be as stupid as Murray. They are going to have to get it in unusual places,” I told the captain.