As Shark noisily smashed the cash register, she breathed into my ear in a voice so soft only a Guardian could hear it, “You’re really a doctor?”
“Yeah, if I pass the final exams I’m taking this week. I’m also a Guardian healer. But my specialty is disease and infection and that sort of thing, not surgery and trauma.” I closed my eyes as I concentrated on Rajiv’s torn vena cava, the most lethal of his injuries. When I had the structure clearly in my mind, I poured energy around the tear, pulling the ragged edges together . . .
Damn, I couldn’t quite get it! The pieces slid out of my control.
I tried again, then again. Still couldn’t repair the damage, and time - as well as Rajiv’s blood - was running out fast. “I need more energy, Maggie. Drop those shields and touch my hand so I can borrow some power.”
She started to protest, then shut up and spread her fingers so her right little finger touched the outside of my left hand. I could feel her shields go down, and also felt how much she hated doing it.
Sharing energy like this was usually done only between people who knew each other very well. Maggie and I were strangers, and she didn’t even like me. But she was Guardian to the core - help was needed so she came through.
Any other time I wouldn’t have been able to resist studying her mind and energy, but all I cared about now was channelling her magic. She had a hell of a lot of it, too. I felt a disorienting internal wrench as we connected, as if I was tumbling into free fall.
She gasped, and so did I. This was the Guardian equivalent of going skydiving with no training on how to open the parachute. After a couple of heartbeats, our energies began to adjust. It’s hard to describe — sort of like the music of two different instruments swooping around each other while trying to find the exact same note.
Then we snapped into sync and her power began flowing through the link, smooth and rich and deep. I spent an instant enjoying the sensation - she felt like the very best bittersweet Belgian chocolate. Then I concentrated on focusing the blaze of white light we had created.
When I’d mastered our combined energies, I channelled it around the damaged vena cava and visualized wholeness. The ragged edges slowly came together and began to meld until the vessel was as good as new.
“Got it!” I said with quiet exultation. It was strange to be saving a life while Shark was emptying the register a yard away and the other two thugs were scarfing down hot food from the case right behind Maggie. The deli looked even smaller from the floor.
Maggie uttered a soft prayer of thanks. “Ready for the other wound?”
“Yep.” I took over the blood-saturated pad and did a detailed scan of the damage. Besides blood vessels, some nerves needed fixing. Bones were broken and that kind of repair would require far more energy than Maggie and I could muster. But with her help, I could manage the vessels and nerves.
As I worked on the second wound, I was dimly aware of police sirens. I was just finishing the second repair when suddenly sirens were screaming right outside the door. A gruff voice yelled, “Police! Come out with your hands up!”
“Jesus, the cops are here!” Goatee Guy exclaimed. “We need to get the hell out the back!”
I snapped in my ER voice, “There isn’t a back way out! Better to surrender before they shoot you down.”
“If the guy’s already dead, we should shoot you two as well so there are no witnesses,” Shark growled, his eyes crazed. I gave him credit for the fact that he was trying to think. Can’t say I liked the murderous direction of his thoughts.
“Rajiv isn’t going to die,” I said swiftly. “Since you let me work on him, he should pull through. You were smart. Be smart again. Surrender to the police and you may serve a little time, but you’ll have a life ahead of you.”
Tattoo Man scowled at Rajiv’s limp body. “Ya shouldn’t ‘ve shot him, Shark. Think the cops will negotiate if we take these two hostage? Maybe we can use them to get away.”
I was dizzy and light-headed from the energy I’d burned in the healing, but I tried to find an argument that might work. “Rajiv is holding his own, but negotiations take time. He might not make it if you delay,” I warned. “Rajiv’s mom is a federal judge. If he dies, the cops will never stop hunting till they find you, and then they’ll fry you for murder one.”
“The smug bastard is lying to us,” Shark said, voice panicky. “We gotta blow him away, too.”
He was aiming his gun at me when Maggie Macrae said in a rich, soothing voice, “He’s not lying. The clerk is going to be all right. You can be too.”
Slowly she stood, uncoiling her long, lithe body. She’d shed her blazer and released her hair. Under the fluorescents, thick waves fell past her shoulders in a shimmering cascade of dark auburn. I stared, entranced. Ms Maggie Macrae was the most sensual woman I’d ever seen.
The thugs reacted the same way. Their gazes were riveted. Maggie took a step towards Goatee Guy, who was the closest. It was the bravest act I’ve ever seen.
“Jaybird, you’ve never done anything like this before,” she said, her voice sultry. “Do you want to break your grandmother’s heart after all she’s done for you?”
He gasped and his hand dropped until the barrel of his gun pointed towards the floor. She smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder. The weapon fell from his nerveless fingers and landed harmlessly on the floor as he stared at her like a stunned ox.
She turned to Tattoo Man with an enchanting smile. “Rocko, you’ve got a girl who loves you and a baby on the way. Why did you let yourself get talked into this?”
He looked as if he wanted to weep. His weapon also sagged towards the floor. Maggie patted his cheek and he beamed at her goofily as the gun slipped from his hand.
She turned to Shark, who backed away frantically, trying to steady his gun with two shaking hands as he aimed at her heart. “Jeez, what are you, some kind of witch?”
The spell she’d used on the others wasn’t working on him, so I dragged myself out of my trance and hurled a can of tomato soup into Shark’s throat. “Duck, Maggie!”