Chapter 15
by the Chronicler
05:03 am Eastern, 02:03 am Pacific
30 hrs and 27 minutes left
location: Dr. Sidney Zwibel (New Jersey)'s apartment
It seemed as if his head had just hit the pillow when both his phone and beeper began to blare.
With a growl of annoyance, Sidney Zwibel groped for the phone. When his hand found the beeper first, it was sent flying across the room to shatter something in the general direction of the bathroom (in the darkness of his bedroom, he wasn't sure what had been broken, and, quite frankly, he didn't give a hoot!). Finally, his hand landed on the phone. It was about to make a copy flight of the beeper, when he reminded himself that, even in the dead of night (sorta), he was still a doctor.
With a sigh, he put the receiver to his ear and mumbled "What?" After a second... "What? Huh? I can't... oh, just a minute." He turned the receiver right side up. "Say again?"
"I SAID, Dr. Zwibel, we need you back right away. The Larson girl is having heart flutters and chest pains. And her oxygen count is falling rapidly." It was a nurse from the hospital.
Sid became fully awake. "Another heart attack."
"Yes, sir."
"I'm coming in. Get her on oxygen and get the team revved up." he ordered as he climbed out of bed, and fumbled for the light. "And, Jenny, call Dr Mike Crone at Saint Mary's and ask if we can borrow his heart pump."
"The heart pump? To replace her heart?" The nurse sounded doubtful. "That won't work, Doctor."
"It will work for a few hour... if we need it. Get on to it and just hope we won't need it." And, with that, Sidney hung up the phone. Taking a moment to scratch his head, he glanced at the clock.
05:08 am.
A whole, walloping nine minutes of sleep. Hell, he should be fresh as a daisy.
With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet.
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05:46 am Eastern, 02:46 am Pacific
Location: a seedy chop shop in San Francisco
With a crunch, Buckaroo Banzai landed, shoulder first, in the snow.
Tommy Boy grabbed a hand full of shirt and helped him up.
"Get Perfect Tommy out of there!" he ordered, scrambling up. "Devito in there is not going to be overly thrilled when he figures it out."
"Rawhide's on it." Tommy Boy answered. She handed him a hand gun and the two started for the front of the warehouse.
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Rawhide grabbed Perfect Tommy's arm and yanked him to one side only half a breath before the back seat window the younger man had been leaning up against exploded. He dragged P.T. down behind a stack of metal barrels.
"Shi..." P.T. started, but their attacker had a few of his own choice words to say.
"What did you do?" the little death dwarf screamed. "Come on out, pretty boy! Face me, damn it!" He fired his automatic weapon at them again. A bullet ricocheted off of a barrel and skidded across the cement floor a few inches from Rawhide's knee. "What did you do to my men?!"
"Damn, now that is a mean little burr." Rawhide growled.
"Damn, that is a real pain in the butt." Perfect Tommy corrected. "Can I shoot him? Pretty please?"
Another bullet pierced a barrel. An unmistakable liquid began to run out onto the ground.
The two Cavaliers glanced at the spilled gasoline, then at each other. "That can't be good." Perfect Tommy remarked.
"Give me the shot gun." Rawhide took the weapon, not bothering to wait for it to be offered. "Get into the Beast, start it up, get it moving."
Perfect Tommy frowned. "I'm bait, aren't I?"
Rawhide grinned, before yanking him closer to the ground to avoid another shower of bullets. "Now who do you think evil Devito is going to want to look at: me or you?"
His frown turned into a look of annoyance. "You know, being this damn good looking isn't always as easy as it seems."
Rawhide squeezed the young Cavalier's shoulder in mock sympathy. "We all have to make sacrifices."
As if they needed any more encouragement to get out of there, a voice came over Rawhide's go-phone "What are you guys doing in there? Pausing for a bit of tea?" Norse called.
Perfect Tommy took a deep breath. "Don't let him shoot me, Cowboy." he said before positioning himself for a lunge back to the hummer.
"On three." Rawhide positioned himself to give cover. "Three... t..."
"One!" Perfect Tommy leaped for the hummer only a few feet away. ** As hoped for, the bullets followed him.
Rawhide rose up, aimed, and fired both barrels of the shot gun.
The death dwarf froze in start. Ignoring the Cavalier who was climbing into the hummer, he turned to face Rawhide. "Ha!" he snarled. "I knew pretty boy couldn't of taken out my boys on his own." He ran a hand over himself, making sure there were no holes. Then he heft his weapon and took aim at the intruder. "Too bad you're such a lousy shot."
"You sure?" Rawhide looked up.
Evil Devito frowned, glancing up.
The air duct over his head was riddled with buck shot. The metal wined with stress, then screamed as what was left of its supports tore, sending the duct crashing down onto the head of the death dwarf.
Perfect Tommy pulled the hummer around behind Rawhide. "Personally, I'd of aimed a little lower." he critiqued.
"That's why I did the shooting." Rawhide answered, stepping over to the passenger's side and climbing in. "We don't have time to argue with the local tin badges over paperwork. We've got a heart to deliver."
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06:00 am Eastern, 03:00 am Pacific
(29hrs and 30min. left)
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