Heal Her, Healer
Cadence felt herself dying. She had no idea what had just happened, but the pain in her chest was unbearable. Once Giovani had dropped her onto the pavement, she almost lost consciousness. If it hadn't been for Jamie's eyes locked on hers, she would have faded away.
"Cadence, stay with me! You're okay!" he was shouting at her.
"What the hell happened?" she asked aloud. "Did Elliott shoot me?"
But the sound of arguing at the other end of the parking lot confirmed that it wasn't Elliott who had shot her.
"What were you thinking?" Laney screamed at her sister.
"I needed her out of the way," Laura replied, flying toward the stairs. "I was trying to shoot him through her! I've got to catch up to him!"
"You're not going anywhere," Hannah replied, pulling her back down the stairs.
"The hell I'm not!" she shrieked, kicking the Guardian who stumbled backward, nearly falling from the blow. "He's not getting away this time!"
"He's already gone!" Laney yelled after her as she sprinted up the stairs toward the LIGHTS-owned Enclave they had driven earlier to get into position.
"Laura! LAURA!" Laney yelled. She pounded her fist against the railing on the side of the stairs. "God dammit!" she stated before turning to look at Hannah. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Hannah replied. "But I don't think Cadence is."
"What?" Laney asked, suddenly aware of the situation at the other end of the lot. "It should have bounced." She took off running toward the fallen Hunter. "A Hunter can't kill another Hunter."
Hannah was on her heels. "Something isn't right."
When the two arrived, the rest of the team was already there. Elliott had made it down from his perch in record time and was overseeing Jamie's work. "What's the story, Doc?" he was asking.
"The bullet's lodged in her shoulder," Jamie replied. By then, Cadence had lost consciousness. "I don't know what's happening, why it didn't bounce, but it's in there. We need to get out of here anyway, too much gunfire. Someone's going to call the cops." Even as he spoke there was a wail of sirens in the distance. "I need to get her to a hospital. I can't do anything here until I get that bullet out, and if I touch her too much, she should start to heal, which won't be good if it's still in there. We need to control the bleeding until I can get it out."
Elliott picked her up while mentally sending Christian to get the Ford Escape and bring it around. As he carried her up the stairs, he applied pressure to the wound with one hand. Christian met them not too far down the street and helped load her into the vehicle as Jamie and Meagan climbed in as well. The rest of the team would stay behind to clean up the scene, and Hannah would run interference if necessary. She wasn't as good as Elliott, but she could handle it. There was a telling bloodstain on the concrete from where Cadence fell, but the true remains of Jack Cook were now blowing away in the wind much like the false ashes his parents had so lovingly sprinkled on the pitcher's mound weeks before.
Pulling up to the emergency room entrance of St. Luke's Hospital, Elliott jumped out and pulled his CDC identification out of his pocket. He was met at the door by four orderlies with a gurney. "I'm Dr. Elliott Sanderson of the CDC," he explained. "You will give my associate, Dr. Jamie Joplin access to one of your emergency room triage centers and any other supplies he may require. One of our officers has been injured in the line of duty, as often happens with members of the CDC. You will do everything you can to help Dr. Joplin."
All four of the orderlies nodded in agreement, as did the nurse who was coming out of the door just as Elliott finished his speech. The team loaded Cadence onto the gurney and wheeled her inside, Elliott repeating his speech to whomever he needed to as they went.
Once inside the private room, Jamie went to work. With the proper utensils, he was able to sedate Cadence and began to dig the bullet out of her shoulder. "How's it looking, Doc?" Elliott asked, acting as nurse and handing Jamie whatever he needed.
"It's deep," he replied. He had her on her side so he could see both front and back of the wound. Her clothes had been cut away just enough so that he could see what he was working on. "All right, I think I can get it out. I'm just going to need to go in through here..."
"How is she?" Aaron questioned. He had witnessed the whole event through Elliott's IAC but had just reached the hospital. "What's going on?"
"Hey, boss. We're working on it. Can't really talk now."
"Well, I need in there, and I don't think they're just going to let me walk on in."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Elliott replied. "I'm helping Jamie."
"Can someone else do that?" The consternation in his voice was apparent.
"Uh..." as much as Elliott realized Aaron wanted to be there, just in case Jamie wasn't successful, he didn't want to step away either. "Shit," he muttered before adding, "Meagan, get over here and help the doc out while I go let Aaron in, okay?"
Meagan was a wreck and could barely stop crying long enough to respond, so Christian stepped over instead, and Elliott made his way out of the room.
It only took Elliott a few seconds to convince the head nurse to let Aaron join them in Cadence's room. When they returned, Jamie was almost done.
"I got it," he exclaimed triumphantly, holding up the mangled remains of the bullet. "Hmm," he remarked studying it. "It looks... different somehow." Dropping it on the tray with the utensils, he turned back to Cadence and began to close. Now that the bullet was out, his healing powers began to work, and he was able to close the wound and the incision in her back where he had extracted the bullet without a single stitch. He was also able to take care of the bullet wound in her leg. That shot had gone clean through her lower thigh, just above her knee.
"How did this happen?" Aaron asked quietly from where he stood next to Elliott at the foot of the bed.
Letting out a sigh, Elliott replied. "It was my fault, man. I messed up. If you'd been there..."
"No," Aaron disagreed. "It's not your fault. Even if I had been there, I never would have guessed in a million years that Laura would have done this. I still can't figure out how she was able to shoot another Hunter, though."
"The bullet's different," Christian replied. "I don't know what it is, but it's not a normal bullet, and it's not silver. Mind if I take this back to the lab and see what the hell it is?"
"Go for it," Aaron replied. Then, looking at Elliott he said, "Wait, was he talking to me or you?"
"All right, smartass," Elliott replied giving him a shove. "I don't want your job. You can have it. Not only did we not get Giovani, Cadence got shot--twice. I'm done!"
"Well, she'll be fine," Jamie said obviously exhausted. "As for me, however, I'm not going to be able to stay awake much longer."
"Okay. Christian, can you take Jamie back to headquarters, and we'll get Hannah over here, just in case." Looking at Meagan, who was still crying, though not as violently as she was before, he added, "Take Meagan, too." She looked up at him and he explained, "She's fine, Meagan. Just go get some rest."
Christian and Meagan each put one of Jamie's arms over their shoulders and led him down the hallway toward the exit. They did not notice the wide-eyed janitor who had just witnessed the second most unusual sight he had ever seen. He had watched from a distance, peering through the door as el doctoro magically healed the bleeding woman with his bare hands. He saw how it drained the young man to the point of collapse. Now, he stood aside as the doctor was carried from the building while the young lady seemed miraculously healed. Juan Arriaga shook his head. "El fantasma!" he whispered. Once again, he had encountered the paranormal. Dropping his mop, he ran off to collect his things. He would be leaving St. Luke's just as quickly as he had left Bryan Health.
