A week isn't really long enough to fall into a routine when an emergency hits, which is usually good because most of our emergencies only last a week, maybe two.
Okay, earthquake relief emergency situations would take about a week unless of course you get 'caught in a cave,' or when you're answering a call in a giant shopping mall that's about to be taken over by a psychotic computer, but on the whole our emergencies don't last a week.
This emergency on the other hand just got a whole lot more complicated. Matt, Alan, Case and Jonathan have been taken into custody due to 'irregularities in their documentation' as the Sister/Wife/Adopted sister of the men in question I have been 'asked' to come to Amazonia with the proper documentation in hand.
Can you say 'set-up' boys and girls? I knew you could.
I'd love to find a way out of this but I either go down or wait for diplomatic channels to work their way through things most likely ending in me going down to bail them out-proper paper work not optional.
At least Bri will be here… I wonder what the flight restrictions are on a pregnant medic… As it is, I have just enough time to pack.
I managed to book a last minute flight for two. Mom wouldn't let me go alone, so I'm traveling with Michael. When I objected about Bri not being protected she told me she would make sure her grandchild was safe.
There was something in the way she said it that it seemed both a promise to me about Bri and orders for Michael about Bri's birthday present. I don't think I've told her how much I love her nearly often enough. Let's face it, Case and the Walkers are why I'm still here. I just hope we'll be coming back.
Lately I've been remembering my nightmares and they aren't pretty.
By the time we arrived and cleared customs it was looking like we wouldn't get to see the authorities today. That was until they pulled us out of line for 'special screening.' Let me tell you they were thorough.
I did draw the line at x-rays relying on my slotted chip to give me the proper translations as I explained our purpose and my 'condition.' Things changed very quickly when they found out I was pregnant. Suddenly having an escort made sense.
It helped that Michael looks about as threatening as… well.. Nathan.
Suddenly they were all smiles, albeit false one, and so very helpful.
We caught sight of Nathan as we were escorted to the hotel. It's kind of hard to miss a man who seems to be doing his level best to stand out. At least that's how I explain the gaudy bright red Hawaiian shirt he was wearing.
If that wasn't enough he was whistling a jaunty little ditty as he walked by. It took me a minute to realize it was the hold music from the phone system at Citywide. I figured he didn't want me talking to him just yet so I followed our escort in signaling Michael to do the same.
Our escort recommended we stay in tonight, in deference to my 'delicate condition' and promised they would pick us up in the morning.
Part of wanted to get it over with but it was too late already and I was tired from the flight. Tomorrow the fun begins.
Three visits to the jail, one each to the gubernatorial palace, the hall of records, the embassy, the courthouse… all to get everyone's cases on the docket… I did get to visit with Case, briefly.
He wasn't happy to see me. He wasn't surprised, but he wasn't really happy either. We talked in the shorthand we've developed over the years, a combination of 10-codes, cases we've worked, diagnosis ratings, looks and gestures.
He wanted me to be careful; he knew I knew it was a setup. I let him know that the walking concussion was fine and my gang shooting case was in the wind.
I'm glad I saw him before I got the court schedule. Case's hearing is slated for tomorrow. Matt's Friday, Alan and Jonathan won't get their day in court until Monday.
I'm thinking they're letting them out in order of Magical threat. Keep the magical types in the magically enhanced cells. This is so not good.
I caught sight of Nathan briefly during our journey. It was my turn to whistle: the incident beacons chirp - I need him to find me when it's safe.
Today has been a combination of frustration and boredom coupled with the biggest adrenalin rush imaginable. There were moments of sheer terror followed by an hour of playing 'hide and don't get shot' at the courthouse.
Things started off normally enough, I got to the courthouse early. They weren't going to see Case until after lunch, but I figured the safest place for me to be was the courthouse.
Uhm… wrong.
The courthouse wasn't all that big, but it wasn't exactly small either. There were about three floors with offices, holding cells, rest rooms… the usual.
Michael had just left to find out where courtroom 270-B was when the mayhem began. A suspect had decided he didn't like his odds in court and instead had opted to take a Bailiff's gun and use it.
As soon as the shooting began a lockdown was instituted. Michael was stuck where he was and not allowed anywhere near the suspect. That was good for him, but it left me with no support, no backup weapon… I didn't even have my first aid kit.
Then again, I wasn't completely helpless or exactly inexperienced at evasion. Once I found a safe place, I secured it then found as much cover as I could and waited. There were a few tense moments when the suspect tried to get into the office I'd laid claim to and more adrenalin that I knew what to do with when he decided to shoot through the door and walls to demonstrate his displeasure.
I think he actually ran out of bullets before the SWAT team arrived. Then came the long drawn out process of securing the scene and convincing scared paramedics from out of town that the situation was over and it was safe for them to come out.
They finally resorted to letting Michael come get me. Needless to say, the afternoon cases were postponed until tomorrow.
So… not happy but things are better than they could have been.
Needless to say, I was more than a little cautious about going to the courthouse today. I needn't have worried, in light of yesterday's situation the courthouse was closed pending a full scale review of security.
Yeah so… another weekend in jail for my family another weekend of trying to keep out of trouble for me this should prove interesting.
Whoever planned this little soiree obviously never triaged a 12 car pile up with fatalities and a chemical hazard.
It started with a lovely brunch at the governor's home. The food was what one would expect at such a venue. Expensive, lavish and yet served in amazingly small proportions as to leave you wanting some burgers and fries on the way home.
No, the important thing about our brunch was the company. While the governor seemed up to something one of his guests was a professor at the University, one specializing in the Aztec Calendar and Nahua culture.
We spent a lot of time discussing not only the mechanics of the calendar- how it's solar based and each year is broken into 13 day periods and there's a sign for each day before he went into how there was a calendar within a calendar, the tonalpohaulli which is more divinatory in nature, distributing the days and rituals between the gods.
He gave me an advanced reading copy of his book explaining it all and I spent the better part of the day going over the meanings and the reckoning between the modern Gregorian calendar and the Aztec one.
Today's interpretation was telling. It not only told me what to expect-it told me that our opposition was using the newer date correlation established in the 20th century rather than the 1500's.
Aztec Calendar - Trecena and Day sign for 10/30/2066
And that is where the 12 car pile up analogy begins.
Vehicles number one and two were prisoner transport vans from the jail. Case and Matt were in the first along with four 'guards' from the jail. Alan and Jonathan were in the second with another four guards. On my behalf, I can honestly say they were not heading anywhere near the jail. No, they were heading for the jungle… and a pyramid I had only seen in my dreams.
Vehicle three was the Governor's limo with the driver, the governor and another guard pointing his gun at Michael and, of course, me.
Vehicles four and five were touristy mo-peds begin ridden by Nathan and Tabs, while six and seven were SUV's that were more akin to troop carries than actual SUVs.
The remaining five came from different directions. Some were opposition forces but most belonged to Philip and Company who'd been watching the people who'd taken Case and the others into custody.
That is pretty much where the analogy ends and the real trouble begins but as I said-they weren't used to triaging a situation.
First they figured that guns and handcuffs really were enough to keep my husband and brothers subdued. Second they thought I wouldn't be a threat because I'd be worried about protecting my unborn child.
I was, but they forgot to factor in my reasoning: I can't protect the child if I'm dead… and if I'm dead so are they. That gave me a lot more options than their predicted cowering behind the cars until they found me.
They were relying on a calendar that they obviously didn't read all the way through or take anything else into consideration like… the Eve before All Hallow's … Devil's Night - the night of fire and tricks.
Their calendar spoke of willingly sacrificing and well-they were planning on willingly sacrificing someone… else. They betrayed their offices, they used them to try and control us. They were the ones who went back on their word.
No, it was a great day for a battle and the old ones got their blood-just not the blood they expected or wanted.
We had power forms of Jonathan; Michael; and Alan. Valor came in the forms of Case, Philip and Matt. As for reckless abandon, let's just say I gave Nathan a run for his money.
It was like a watch wound too tightly just waiting for everything to break with the release of energy. None of us had any way of knowing what the others would do-they had divided us and thought that would conquer us but they forgot they were fighting family.
A family I might add who had been dealing with Elementals making themselves known pretty much since the beginning of the Gregorian year.
I knew that Jonathan and Case would make a wall of magic and bullets that no sane man would want to penetrate. I knew that Philip and his people would spearhead the attack and I knew that Nathan was our ace in the hole and Tabs would protect him. I even knew that when Alan and Matt started fighting each other how our forces would unite.
Everyone else in our group knew it. It wasn't something you could communicate or needed to. When the time came we sprang into action and didn't trip over each other… much.
I did my best to stay out of the line of fire while covering whoever needed the most help all the while trying not to think about having seen this temple in my nightmares-of the image of me standing over Case, his heart in my hand…
In the end it wasn't Case's heart… but Jonathan's. Someone hit him with a spell that all but crushed his ribs sending him into cardiac arrest. I couldn't perform CPR-the bones wouldn't have supported it or worse, they would have punctured things that we wouldn't have been able to fix.
I ran to him, Case covering us while I went to work. There was nothing I could do… almost nothing. I had seen it done once… in a surgical suite not a jungle, on a pyramid in the middle of a fire fight, but when has my life ever been about ideal conditions?
The open chest massage probably saved Jonathan's life but now we have to worry about secondary infections and the damage that was done.
My nightmare had proven eerily correct and yet, happily not as bad as it first sounded. Yes, it was a good day for the warriors and a bad day to betray the Millers.
Copyright 2010 M.T. Decker