An Eternity in a Moment

by K Carothers

  But she didn’t move.

  “It’s okay, Erin,” he said in a softer tone, slowly holstering his own gun. “You’re safe now.”

  Erin blinked, and it finally sank in that he was there. “Luke,” she whispered, her shoulders sagging in relief. “Thank God you're here.”

  Luke ran to her and eased the gun from her hand, tucking it into his belt after he engaged the safety. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Erin automatically responded. But then everything that had just happened hit her all at once, and without another word she threw herself into his arms.

  Luke gathered her against him, burying his face in her hair. “You scared the hell out of me, woman.”

  Erin closed her eyes and clung to him, taking comfort in his strength, his warmth. But as the tension that had built up inside her dissipated, she remembered there were more urgent matters at hand and forced herself to let go of him. “Jesse is really sick, Luke. He needs to be taken to the hospital right away.”

  Scott stood nearby and pulled out his radio. “I’ll call for an ambulance.”

  Erin looked over at Wayne Raabe. “I guess he’s going to have to be medically cleared too. I hit him with a tree branch and knocked him out for a while.”

  Luke shook his head in disbelief, watching as the two sheriff’s deputies worked to cut Wayne free of the twine. “When all the dust settles, I want to know everything that happened here—and where in the hell you learned how to tie someone up like that.”

  Erin didn’t comment, glancing furtively at the other officers. And seeing that everyone’s attention was focused elsewhere, she whispered, “There are some things you need to know about right away, Luke.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the duffel bag. “Jesse told me the mayor is dealing drugs. Wayne figured it out. And after he helped Jesse escape last Sunday he stole this bag from the mayor’s house, then blackmailed him. They’re supposed to meet at Maguire Park on Monday, and the mayor said he has a cop helping him, and the cop would kill Wayne if he didn’t keep quiet.” She felt a pang of guilt for not telling him the whole story, but it couldn’t be helped.

  Luke knelt down and opened the bag wide. “Holy shit!” he softly exclaimed, examining the contents. Heroin. And the pills were probably oxycodone—the more dangerous street variety. Both were a huge problem in the area, with the number of overdose deaths having skyrocketed in the last few years. And the dealers always seemed to be one step ahead of them. It was one of the reasons a handful of good cops had left New Dublin. Watching the bad guys win all the time wasn’t exactly fun.

  But now it all made sense. The mayor was the drug kingpin, and his sidekick was someone on the force…And in a flash Luke knew exactly who that sidekick was. “Son of a bitch,” he said, looking up at Erin.

  “You know who the cop is, don’t you?” she whispered.

  Just then Scott came up behind them. “The ambulance is on the—” He looked down at the duffel bag and his eyes widened in surprise. “Damn!”

  Luke quickly zipped the bag closed and stood up. “Mel,” he called to the K-9 officer. “I need you to take charge of this bag. I think it’s full of heroin and oxy. Radio in a report to the sheriff right away.” He also knew that when Sheriff Gaines found out about the drugs she would get DCI involved for sure. And the sooner the better, because they had a bona fide disaster on their hands now.

  He handed the bag to Melinda, and then he and Scott went over to pick Jesse up.

  “I’m sorry, Detective Mathis,” the boy said feebly. “I didn’t have anything to do with hurting that other cop.”

  “You’ll have to tell it to the judge, son,” Luke responded in a dispassionate tone. “All I know is that one of my fellow officers—a good man and a friend of mine—almost died thanks to you.”

  Erin opened her mouth to defend Jesse, but thought better of it. Now wasn’t the time. She caught the boy’s eye, though, as they hauled him to his feet, trying to convey with her look that she would still help him. She had to—whether Luke liked it or not.

  The two sheriff’s deputies finished cutting Wayne free and pulled him up as well, then they all started back through the woods toward the Carey’s house, with Erin leading the way this time.

  But they didn’t get far.

  “I need to—stop…a minute,” Luke said, bringing them all to a halt. He shook his head, trying to clear it, but felt dizzier by the second.

  Erin came back to him. “What’s wrong, Luke?”

  He blinked at her, unable to think clearly. “I have to…sit down.” He staggered, unable to hold Jesse up anymore, and then lowered himself to his knees after Scott grabbed hold of the boy.

  Erin knelt down in front of him and took his face in her hands. He appeared drowsy. His gaze was unfocused and his pupils were constricted. It looked like he’d been exposed to something, and she urgently turned to Jesse. “What exactly is in that bag?”

  “Heroin and oxy,” the boy responded, staring at Luke in confusion.

  Erin knew then with dreaded certainty what was going on, and she turned to the K-9 officer. “Put the bag down as gently as you can. I think there’s fentanyl in there, and Luke got some of it on his skin or breathed it in. Do you have any naloxone?” It was the antidote for a narcotic overdose.

  “Not on me,” Melinda said, slowly lowering the duffel bag to the ground. “We keep Narcan spray in our vehicles.”

  “I think Wayne has some in the bag,” Jesse told her.

  “Erin,” Luke whispered, but couldn’t get any other words out. He felt like his whole body was shutting down. He collapsed backward to the ground, and as he lay there, everything around him became even more surreal, more distant. He thought he ought to be scared, but he couldn’t feel a thing.

  Erin took one look at him and didn’t think twice about the risk she would have to take in retrieving the naloxone from the bag. She’d already played Russian roulette with it more than once. And now Luke’s life was at stake.

  She quickly opened it up, doing her best not to touch the packets of powder. Fentanyl was easily absorbed through the skin, or could be inhaled if the powder was disturbed, and it only took a miniscule amount to kill a person.

  She found two vials of naloxone and some unopened syringes and needles—probably all stolen from the hospital—and tore open one of the packages containing a long needle. She quickly attached it to the syringe and drew up two milligrams of naloxone—the maximum dose—from one of the vials, then hurried back over to Luke. And without pause she stuck the needle straight through his jeans into his thigh, injecting the full contents of the syringe.

  He didn’t even flinch.

  She glanced up at him as she put the cover back on the needle and set it aside. His eyes were closed. “Luke,” she said anxiously, scooting up to touch his face. But then she realized her hands might be contaminated and pulled them back. “Luke, open your eyes. I need you to stay with me. Talk to me.”

  Luke forced his lids open and they felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. He tried to speak, but his lips wouldn’t move at all now…And a second later he couldn’t fight what was happening to him anymore. He closed his eyes and let himself be swallowed by the darkness.

  “Luke!” Erin cried. Hastily wiping her hands on her pants—though she knew the effort was probably futile if she did have fentanyl on them—she unbuttoned his shirt to watch his breathing.

  He took one shallow breath, and after that, all movement of his chest ceased.

  “Oh God, no!” Erin whispered.

  She quickly checked for a pulse in his neck, and released her own pent-up breath when it pushed slowly but steadily against her fingertips. She tilted his head back afterward by pressing a hand to his forehead, simultaneously lifting his chin up with several fingers of the other hand to keep his airway open. Then she covered his mouth with hers, giving him a breath.
She watched his chest at the same time, making sure it rose as the air expanded his lungs.

  “I’ll take Bandit and get help,” Melinda said, her amber eyes filled with fear. “We should be able to find our way out of here okay.”

  “Bring someone with you, just in case you have symptoms,” Erin told her. And after giving Luke another breath, she added, “Some of the drug could’ve gotten on you while you were carrying the bag.”

  Scott lowered Jesse to the ground. “I’ll go, and on the way I’ll call in the hazmat team.”

  Erin briefly glanced up as they sprinted away, feeling utterly helpless and more terrified than she’d ever been in her life. “Please come back to me, Luke,” she begged, and pressed her lips to his again.

  But he didn’t respond, lying there completely motionless, lifeless, with no signs that the naloxone was kicking in.

  Erin continued to give him a breath every five to six seconds, and in between she loaded the syringe with more naloxone, completely emptying the remainder of the first vial and the entire second one into it. Fentanyl was at least fifty times more potent than heroin—or even hundreds of times more potent if this was a modified version of it—so the standard doses of naloxone might not be enough to reverse it. And if Luke didn’t show any signs of improvement in the next minute, she was giving him all six milligrams in the syringe. She didn’t care that there would be none left for her if she needed it.

  The forest was eerily silent around her, and no else said a thing. The two sheriff’s deputies looked on in horror as they held Wayne, who watched with an almost morbid fascination. Jesse lay on the ground nearby, but soon turned away with a look of despair on his face.

  Luke still didn’t show any response after another minute, and Erin plunged the needle into his other thigh this time. Once again, he didn’t flinch at all. Then she rechecked his pulse with trembling fingers. It was still there, but felt weaker than before, and the pause between beats was way too long.

  A raven flew down just then on wide, fluttering black wings, and settled on a branch high above them. Opening its long beak, it let out a harsh “Craa…Craa…Craa…” that echoed through the forest.

  Erin glanced up, and a shiver ran down her spine when she saw the big, black bird. Then she continued to breathe for Luke, willing the naloxone to work.

  Another minute went by, and it was over. The drug took effect—and quickly.

  Luke opened his vivid blue eyes and looked up at her in confusion. “What happened?”

  Erin had seen how well naloxone could work many, many times over the years. But she’d never appreciated the drug more than she did right then. And for a moment she was too overwhelmed to speak. It was truly a miracle…A miracle of modern medicine.

  Luke slowly propped himself up on his elbows and looked around, blinking his eyes and shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. “Did I pass out?”

  Erin finally found her voice. “I think you got fentanyl on your skin or inhaled it when you searched the duffel bag. I had to inject a bunch of naloxone in both your legs to reverse it. Fortunately, there was some of that in the bag too.” And it was just as fortunate that she hadn’t been exposed to the fentanyl herself when she’d searched the bag earlier, with only Jesse to help her. There probably wouldn’t have been enough time for her to self-administer naloxone before the deadly effects of the fentanyl kicked in. How ironic it would have been to escape Wayne Raabe’s threats of rape and murder, and then to stand up to a very disgruntled black bear, only to be taken down by a few tiny specks of white powder.

  “Shit,” Luke said, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. “I just read an article about that. I should’ve been more careful.”

  “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it either. Fentanyl is a really big problem in Boston,” Erin told him. “But right now we need to get you out of these woods and to a hospital as fast as possible. Naloxone only lasts about thirty minutes to an hour, and the fentanyl can stay in your system for several hours, so you could start having symptoms again. Do you think you can walk?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Luke gingerly stood up with her help. And after a few wobbly steps he got his bearings and managed to walk around on his own.

  Erin turned to the officers holding Wayne. “Can one of you help me with Jesse? There’s no way he’ll be able to walk by himself.”

  “No, Erin,” Luke protested. “I’m not letting you touch that kid.”

  “Luke, we need to get both of you out of here now. He’s not a threat. He helped me—” She glanced at Jesse and abruptly stopped talking. The boy’s eyes were closed, and he lay there as still and lifeless as Luke had looked moments ago.

  She immediately rushed over to him and dropped down to her knees, shaking him. “Jesse!”

  He didn’t respond, and she pressed her fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. And she said a silent prayer of thanks when she found one. It was weak, but at least it was there.

  The boy opened his eyes then, and they were even more glazed over than before. “I…I’m probably not…getting out of here—after all…”

  “Yes, you are, Jesse. You need to hang on. You need to fight.” Erin felt her eyes get hot with tears, and it was like she was by the pond all over again, and it was Jenna fighting for her. “Please, Jesse. I’m not giving up on you, so you can’t give up on yourself either.”

  The boy managed the barest hint of a smile as he looked up at her. “I don’t think…anyone’s ever…cried for me—before.”

  Erin hastily wiped away her tears. “Well, I’m going to cry a whole lot more if you give up now. So just hang in there for me, okay?”

  Jesse let his lids fall closed, but nodded slightly and whispered, “Okay.”

  A moment later they heard Bandit barking, and then the sound of an engine. Shortly after that Melinda came running through the trees with the dog, followed by an ATV driven by a firefighter decked out in full hazardous materials gear—complete with a protective body suit, hood, respirator, and gloves. He was pulling a small trailer with wooden sides that probably belonged to the Careys, and in it were two men wearing similar gear.

  Melinda came to a halt in front of them and stared at Luke in shock. “You’re okay.”

  Luke smiled wryly. “I gather I wasn’t looking okay when you left.”

  “No, I thought…Anyway, I’m just glad you’re breathing, Mathis. Fortunately, the sheriff had already called in the fire department.” And to Erin she said, “Two paramedics came along, and they brought more Narcan.”

  The firefighter pulled the ATV around, and the paramedics quickly jumped out of the trailer. They loaded Jesse into it first, which left only enough room for Luke and one of the paramedics. Luke didn’t want to go with them, but the sheriff’s deputies and Melinda all but tossed him in since no one wanted to see a repeat of the events they’d witnessed earlier.

  As they prepared to leave Erin told the paramedic in the trailer, “I gave Luke two milligrams of naloxone initially, but he didn’t respond, and I ended up giving him a total of eight. You should get an IV in as soon as you can, and have more naloxone ready in case he needs it. And Jesse is septic and dehydrated. He’ll need two large-bore IVs and fluids pushed in both.”

  The paramedic gave her a thumbs up, and the other one hopped on the ATV, taking the place of the firefighter, and they raced off down the path.

  “Why the fuck do I have to walk?” Wayne complained. “I have a fuckin’—”

  “Brummen!” Melinda ordered Bandit.

  The dog immediately lunged forward, straining at his leash as he snarled at Wayne, who jumped back in wide-eyed fear. Even the two deputies holding him eyed the dog apprehensively.

  With a slight smile on her face, Melinda told Wayne, “That means shut the fuck up in German Shepherd. Keep talking if you want to learn more.” Then she gave Bandit the command to stand at attention again
.

  Wayne took the hint and didn’t say a word the rest of the way out of the forest. The firefighter was going to stay behind with the duffel bag until other members of the hazmat team came to get him, but Erin told him about the bear encounter, and he decided to go with them after all, keeping a safe distance with the bag—and cautiously looking around him the whole way.

  When they finally exited the woods there were police and rescue vehicles parked everywhere. Erin felt like it was déjà vu from the day she’d arrived in New Dublin—except this time she was leaving the woods instead of going in.

  There were two ambulances parked by the old barn, but before she could head over there another fireman came up to them, also wearing full protective gear, and said, “All of you need to go over to the decon area and get cleared.”

  Erin looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a long red trailer parked well away from everything else, with white block lettering on the side, labeled:

  NEW DUBLIN FIRE DEPARTMENT

  HAZARDOUS MATERIALS UNIT

  DECONTAMINATION TRAILER

  She reluctantly walked over to it with the group and couldn’t help but grimace the whole way. She knew the basics about decontamination procedures, having practiced them occasionally at Boston General. She’d also dealt with numerous cases involving individual patients or a handful of workers who’d been brought to the ER after a chemical or gas exposure. But the incidents had all been relatively minor. Nothing like this. And now that she’d become a victim instead of the doctor treating them, it meant she was going to have to strip down naked, right here in her old backyard.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back, Dr. Pryce,” the K-9 officer said with a friendly smile. “I’m Melinda Mann, by the way. And you met Bandit, of course.”

  Erin glanced down at the big dog, glad he was on the other side of Melinda. “When I saw him come around the rock I thought I was a goner for sure. I think I’d rather have faced the bear again.”

  Melinda chuckled. “He’s actually a big baby. We do school visits all the time, and the kids love him.” They reached the trailer just then, and she told the firefighter in charge, “Let’s put Dr. Pryce through first. I’ll show her how it works and go next.”