[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Military Hospital, was the closest thing the platoon had to a medic at the
time. He helped Sinclair move Dane onto the path. Sinclair tore Dane's shirt
open and cursed at the white froth spiked with pink emerging from the chest
wound with every breath he took. The choppy sound of the major's breathing
slid around his teeth, which were clenched against the pain.
Mother Damnation [The Blessed and the Damned I]
by Janrae Frank, Phil Smith
103
Akee grasped Dane's hand, patting it in a frantic fashion.
"You be all right, Dane-Saee. You be all right."
Howard had seen any number of people shot, and knew from experience that he
had to act fast. He quickly sealed the wound to keep the blood from collapsing
the lung and then shoved a syringe of morphine into his commanding officer's
arm.
"That's all I can do, Sir," he reported. Both men hid their worry behind
expressions of stolid concern. "If the Major can keep it together until
Lieutenant Trence gets to see him, well..."
Sinclair nodded grimly. "Yeah. Good work, Howard. Let's just hope it's enough,
huh?"
Dane's eyes closed and he felt nothing more for a long time.
* * * *
Akee went looking for Tirtuu when Howard shooed her away from Dane. Anger
burned in Akee like a blow-torch; a searing blue flame of hatred. She intended
to find Tirtuu and beat him senseless, put his eyes out, or simply take that
illegal gun of which he was so fond and plug him in the crotch.
She found him covered in blood near a tree. He groaned when she touched him
and stirred. "Stupid Tirtuu!" Akee growled.
She sniffed and the blood did not smell like Nabaren, so it must have been an
enemy that he killed, but nonetheless she had no sympathy for him. He was an
idiot.
Mother Damnation [The Blessed and the Damned I]
by Janrae Frank, Phil Smith
104
"How could Tirtuu let them be ambushed?"
Page 49
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He scowled at her, climbing to his feet and rubbing his head. "Tirtuu was
surprised. Go away."
She slapped his face with her claws sheathed. "Stupid!
Stupid!"
Tirtuu grabbed her hand and stopped her. "Tirtuu smarter than your father!"
Akee had lost her father years ago; he had taken a shot in the back while
checking his trap lines. No demon could have matched her fury in that instant.
She lashed out with her foot, kicking him in the belly. Tirtuu staggered back,
winded, unable to defend himself as Akee leapt at him. Though small, Akee
moved fast. She caught him under the chin with the heel of her hand, pushing
his head back. Her claws raked his face. She would have torn out his throat,
had her comrades not rushed to intervene. Private Eryngus held Akee back while
Wain held Tirtuu in a vicious choke-hold. He had been looking for an excuse to
give Tirtuu a hiding for quite some time now.
"Gimme a reason, Tirtuu. Just gimme a reason."
"Pack that in!" Private Eryngus yelled at them. "We got enough to worry
about!"
Akee gave Eryngus a peeved look and ignored Tirtuu. Then she noticed a streak
of black on her arm. Tiny speckles, not noticeable to most humans, but to a
Nabaren such clues shone like a lighted candle in the dark. She sniffed her
arm where Tirtuu had touched her and then her hand that he had grabbed. Both
had that acrid scent that human got on their hands after firing their guns.
Nabaren scouts weren't issued guns and the Nabarese people were banned from
owning
Mother Damnation [The Blessed and the Damned I]
by Janrae Frank, Phil Smith
105
them, although many secretly kept an old hunting rifle or two hidden away, and
the army had failed to stamp out the
Nabarese black market in firearms.
* * * *
Central Command's rule regarding the calling in of choppers to evacuate
wounded was that they did not risk them on the immediate borders where the
enemy might target them. They had too few of them left. Strategic airpower was
a thing of the past; a cherished and increasingly distant memory. So Dane's
units had to withdraw as far as
Brode's before they could call in an evac.
Sinclair jumped out of the Rover shouting for Brode and when he got no
response, went up to the house. The door stood ajar and, now that he was on
the far side, he could see that Brode's truck was gone. "I don't like this.
Noawhane is always here."
Akee's nostrils flared, sniffing strongly. She walked into the kitchen and saw
that the food in the pot on the stove had soured.
"Sinclair-Saee," she said in a growl that reached up from her diaphragm.
"Something happened here."
Sinclair came in and frowned as she pointed out the pots, then he turned and
strode quickly out the door. "Sergeant
Ramsden, secure the perimeter and watch out for trouble."
Then he went back and opened the big roll-top desk in which
Brode kept his shortwave and began calling in an evac for their wounded. While
they waited for the choppers, he went around examining the scene with a sharp
eye. Something
Mother Damnation [The Blessed and the Damned I]
by Janrae Frank, Phil Smith
106
bright caught his attention near the flowers lining the path and he went to
Page 50
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
see what it was: Noawhane's silver embroidery hoop, with a square of bright
cloth in it, lay among the green, half obscured by hyacinths. He picked it up.
Noawhane would not have dropped and left it here.
Embroidery was one of her passions and she took good care of her belongings.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]