“The Catalyst” Series
		“Touring Under Pressure”
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14:  Adventures on the Road

           

“Well, it’s nice to see you folks so happy. Apparently you either got more sleep than we did, less alcohol, or something else to put those self-satisfied grins on your faces,” Sammy commented when Alex and his posse climbed aboard Patricia’s touring van. They’d decided to get an early start, skipping breakfast at the hotel. Chelsea had gotten everyone a to-go breakfast which she’d laid out on the table before them.

“Hey, speak for yourself. Some of us not only didn’t ‘get any’, but we didn’t even get a chance to soak up any BCM last night,” Cate mockingly complained.

“Speak for yourself,” Gail responded. “I didn’t get any ass myself, but at least I got to play a little, and I figure a feast of gorgeous young naked females with a casual tit or two tossed my way isn’t a bad distraction.”

“So I take it you did well last night, then?” Patricia asked. “I was nervous that with so much attention it may have been difficult, especially after that fiasco at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday night.”

“Let’s just say it was interesting,” Alex cautiously responded, but Cate wasn’t quite so reluctant to get into the details.

“Oh, it was interesting, all right. The first people we encountered, this woman screams to all her friends, ‘I told you he was here. It’s him. The Angel of New Orleans, and he’s taken on his angelic form’. At that point we were the center of attention, as everyone knew what was happening.”

“I figured letting everyone know your business was going to cost you eventually,” Mac Schumacher, Patricia’s drummer, remarked.

“Actually it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. We’d had the same response when we went to the mall earlier in the day. What ended up happening was that I tended to the type 3s who clustered around me, while handing off the Seekers and Seers to Cate.”

“So you’re sticking with the ‘Seeker’ nomenclature?” Chelsea asked.

“Yeah, it’s a better description,” Alex replied. “However, you’re welcome to continue to refer to them as Watchers if you want, since we all know who we’re referring to, but I think Seeker describes them better than the term we came up with before we realized what was really going on.”

“Wait a minute, Cate?” Jordan asked, skipping back to the previous comment. “Isn’t she normally scouring the concert hall for you?”

“Normally she is, but we had so many helpers last night that she was there helping me out. We hadn’t met many new followers, well, new Seers or Seekers, at least, but we had the whole lesbian contingent who were more than happy to help. So we were covered.”

“So how did the women feel being foisted off on Cate, while you spent your time with your new fans?” Patricia asked.

“I’m sure they’d have rather spent their time with me, but once I explained what we were doing telepathically, they went along with it.”

“Yeah, when someone first sees you, bathed in light, and you speak in their minds like God from on high, what do you expect?” Cate asked, not completely teasingly. “They’re afraid if they don’t do what you suggest you may strike them down.”

“Nah, they know just how good Alex is,” Gail explained as she dug into her meal. “They wouldn’t expect any such thing. But they do want to please him, so, yeah, they’d do whatever he suggested, even if they didn’t like it overly much.”

“Man, I’d love to see you in action some time,” Sammy complained. “You always operate in the back of the auditorium, and when you venture out into the city we’re always busy either practicing or setting up.”

“Don’t worry, I’m likely to encounter plenty more. It’s only a matter of time,” Alex informed him.

“Well, I’m glad you decided to travel with us today,” Patricia said. “We’ve spent so little time with you since we started this tour, it’ll be nice to get to spend some time with you.”

“Yeah, we’ve been dying to learn more about you on this tour, but so far we only get second hand information from Patricia after the set’s all done,” Erica Mayes, the guitarist said.

“Well, I’m planning on staying on the bus for a while. Traveling on our own doesn’t seem to help much, and when I start venturing out I run into trouble. So you’ll be seeing more of me for the next few days.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” Erica responded. “It’s frustrating being so close to someone who’s making such a difference in the world and hardly getting to see him.”

“Watch your drinks,” Sammy called out, since he was the driver, “the roads outside the city are a bit rough.” Patricia’s band took turns driving the van, mostly because they were afraid of relying on anonymous hired drivers who might be likely to sell Alex’s story if someone offered them enough money. They felt it was safer handling the driving themselves, plus they pooled the money they saved.

“So, about the concert?” Patricia prompted.

“Like Alex said, it was interesting,” Cate responded, taking over the explanation of events. “It was a complete change from normal. Alex ended up entertaining his new fans the entire night, while I and the other girls would pull the new girls aside and tell them what they needed to know. He kept excusing himself to talk to them occasionally, but often he’d just encounter someone else, which would just cause his fans to get excited and bother him more.”

“I met the girls outside afterward and invited several of them up to the room so we could finally talk. They were anxious to get some face time, and it’s helpful talking face to face when you introduce them to new people telepathically.”

“Yeah, we’ve seen how you ‘talk’ to the girls,” Jordan teased.

“No, seriously, we talked. Several of them were either married or in committed relationships. I ended up sleeping with two girls, but mostly we just talked.”

The band members started talking about how the concert went while Alex, Cate and Gail finished up their breakfast. When they finished, Cate turned to Alex.

“You know, I was talking to some of the girls.”

“You were talking to the girls?” Alex asked with a smile, having recognized the term to denote Alex’s followers.

“OK, Gail told me about what a couple of the girls told her. They wanted me to know about certain things. It seems Megan, as in Megan and Ryan from Dallas, talked to the other girls and they got to talking about how you seem to upset a lot of men, while you seem to attract women, even those without the Seeker/Seer genes. It apparently got her thinking and she had a heart-to-heart talk with Ryan.”

“I can imagine how he felt about that,” Alex said, rolling his eyes.

“She said it was good for him. That he managed to get a lot out, but more, it revealed a lot of things no one thought to ask before.”

“Like?” Alex asked, intrigued.

“She said he had no problems initially, but he found himself less and less able to think clearly as he began responding emotionally, and the primary emotion he felt was anger. Anger directed at you. He didn’t initially have any reasons for his anger, but he tried to justify it based on assumptions he made about you. Does that sound like anyone you know?”

“Yeah, it sounds like quite a few people,” Alex said, thinking of all the guys who’d come after him in the past several months, each of whom seemed to invent their own reasons for why they disliked him.

“She thought it was something about his exposure to you which triggered his reaction. She said he was fine until we reached the room, and that it got worse when you both took your clothes off and got closer together. She suggested pheromones. That could explain both the women’s attraction to you and also the angry response by the men.”

Alex thought about it in silence for a few moments before responding. “There are a lot of weaknesses to the idea. Darrel took a dislike to me without meeting me, and instead of it getting worse the longer he knew me, we ended up as friends. Anthony never even met me, and each time Tony confronted me we were outside the school, where the pheromone idea falls apart. Finally, if these scents affect so many women, then why do they only affect a few select guys?”

“There is that,” Cate conceded.

The other girls were sitting around listening intently, having moved closer while they each explained their positions.

“OK, I didn’t think that was so likely,” Cate admitted. “But here’s another idea, which I think is more probable. We discussed how the Seers ability is actually that they respond to your BCM, based upon a specific gene. That it’s the fact they respond to it, and heal better than normal as a result of it. Right?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, what if men with the same gene don’t become Seekers or Seers because they have a gene which either turns the ability off, or possibly they simply respond negatively to the BCM energy.”

“Wait, you mean if I tried to heal them they’d go into anaphylactic shock?”

“No, I doubt it’s a simple allergy. Instead, I think it’s a biological reaction to the gene which produces both the Seers and Seekers. Given the widespread distribution of them across different ethnic groups, it seems fairly certain the ‘S’ gene has been around for a long time. Long enough for counter genes to have evolved and gotten established. The idea is women got recognized as being more sensitive due to the prevalence of the ‘S’ gene. Maybe men developed a reputation for being overly aggressive because they’re genetically programmed to not react to it.”

“That sounds a little iffy,” Alex countered.

“Yeah, I was thinking that even as I was saying it. But still, it could be that select individuals react negatively to BCM. Normally their sensitivity doesn’t show up in their day-to-day lives, but when they run across you, with such a large concentration of it, suddenly they react to it.”

“But they’d run across smaller amounts of it in everyone they met. In every animal they petted, in the food they eat and the grass they sleep on.”

“We’d have to run tests on them to determine their sensitivity to it, and what level would trigger a response. It might be those with the ‘S’ gene have an increased healing ability, but these people have specific counter-genes to it which trigger a negative hormonal response. It could even be a localized response restricted to the brain itself.”

“So you’re suggesting certain individuals will just take an instant disliking to me, and that, once they do, they’ll invent reasons why they don’t like me?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Well what about Rodger, Chalise’s father, or even Anthony. Neither one ever met me.”

“It could be as simple as the excess BCM which Chalise and Grace had on their clothes and on them,” Cate suggested. Alex responded with a scoffing mumble, but she countered herself.

“Hey, I can tell who you’ve slept with simply by detecting your personal BCM on them. Obviously it sticks around for a while. I’m guessing if you gave your Seers a pillow of yours, they’d respond to it. In fact, maybe we should ship your underwear to the cities you aren’t able to reach. They could keep it in a Tupperware container to keep the excess BCM fresh, and if their eyes showed a response they’d know whether they were Seekers or Seers.”

Alex was about to respond but thought better of it as he considered it. “We’d better ship Grace one of my T-shirts or something. You’ll have to tell her what to look for. If she can detect a response in her father, we’ll have our answer.”

Gail laughed at that. “Yeah, I can picture it now. ‘Say Officer, do you mind if I pass a potential felon this dirty shirt he can smear over his face so I can watch his reaction, possibly recording it with a video camera for documentation purposes?’ She’d be thrown out as soon as she suggested it, and they’d assume insanity runs in the family. Either that, or they’d start following her to see if she was as dangerous as her father.”

“Hmm, you have a point. What about if Dr. Avers Peterson volunteers to do the psyche evaluation for him? We could train him beforehand on what to look for. It wouldn’t impact his evaluation, but he could easily record the response and he could measure it himself. He could even take an assistant, like Caity, to help him do his evaluation.”

“The police and the prison authorities would never go for it. They’ll pick either a local or a nationally recognized expert with prior court expert testimony experience. The best we could hope for would be to influence the defense team with our exciting offer of evidence they couldn’t prove or offer as testimony in a trial.”

“You’re right. How about if we send it to Ryan instead? He apparently doesn’t have it as bad as the others did, but he should show a response if that’s the case. We should try it with some suspected Seers first. We should have some we can test it on. I’m sure we have people with relatives we haven’t met yet.”

“We’d need someone trained to know what to look for, and equipped to measure the response so we’d know how to test for it in the future,” Cate suggested. “I don’t think we can afford to waste the limited opportunities we have.”

“There’s also likely to be false positives. We’ll have to find several potentials, then have someone fly out to test them,” Gail offered.

“If you made it to California, you could follow it up with a visit by Alex later and correlate whether the findings are correct,” Erica excitedly said.

Everyone started getting enthused about the chance to finally test for evidence of both Alex’s and his followers’ abilities. Alex simply leaned back and watched, smiling at their excitement. It would be a complicated experiment to set up, but it could be the kind of evidence they were looking for, and if it proved true it could provide a lot of answers about a number of different issues. What’s more, Ryan, Liv and Lists would each be thrilled with the fact there was finally demonstrable evidence of what they’d seen. Whether or not they could do it, however, would be a whole different issue.

Just then the discussion was interrupted when the van’s mobile phone went off. Immediately everyone froze.

It rang again, this time Sammy responded. “Damn, it’s finally working. We’ve only gotten two calls so far, both from kids. Yet here we are, barely out of the city and someone—”

“Don’t you think someone should answer it?” Alex asked.

Erica hesitantly picked it up. “Hello?” She paused a moment before responding. “No, this isn’t him, but he’s here.” She glanced back at the others as if asking how to handle this before she continued. “Look, we’re taking the next exit. Just follow us, and when we park, he’ll let you in. It’s important you come in, because he’s got a lot of important information that you need to learn.”

Both Alex and Cate thought they should have spent some time training everyone how to respond to new followers, but it was a little late now. Erica continued talking to her, mostly answering inane questions like how the band related to Alex, something she deftly avoided, simply reaffirming the band’s emphasis on ‘following your feelings’.

“Is there anyone with you?” Erica asked. “Oh, that’s good. Having to deal with outsiders always makes these things more complicated.”

When they finally pulled to a stop in a gas station’s parking lot, Alex got up to let the new person in. Everyone else sat in rapt attention as Cate and Alex worked their magic, going over everything the new woman needed to know.

This was really the first time Patricia’s people had observed him in action. Usually the band was elsewhere while this occurred. In the case of Chelsea and Jordan, they’d helped him, but they’d usually been in another room searching for new followers instead of watching what he did. Alex could see the band really wanted to be a bigger part of this than they had been. He was glad he’d finally found time to travel with them, as it helped include them more, and it made things easier for Alex’s people.

Yet another step, Alex told himself. One more out of so many.

---

The van was pulling into Phoenix near the end of a busy week. They had two concerts here, Friday and Saturday, after having spent the last four days performing one night concerts at Amarillo, Albuquerque and Flagstaff following their extended stay in Oklahoma City. It was a pace Alex was unused to, and it left little time to spend exploring or searching for new people in the cities themselves, especially when the concerts ran late, and he spent so much time with various followers afterwards, only to get up and out early in order for the band to be able to set up the next day in a new city.

The others could rest while they drove, but he, Cate and Gail had to keep active, since not everyone who followed them thought to call the phone number on the bus, so they’d often have to wave to attract someone’s attention before they exited the highway to talk with them. That was harder to do from a tour van than it was out of a rear windshield. As a result, Alex was already feeling worn out, and he knew he’d be busy for the two days they’d be spending here. Unfortunately, they couldn’t spend any longer here than that, since they had a long drive through remote countryside to their next tour date in Las Vegas. They had a fair amount of time until the concert there, as it took place the next week, but Alex had some plans in Utah which he’d need the extra time for.

Speaking of remote, Alex had thought the Texas countryside was sparse, but it was lush compared to what they’d observed on the road here. Although they weren’t technically in the desert yet, he could see how close to it they were. He was glad to see the green around Phoenix, as little as there was of it, glad to feel the increased humidity around the city as well, although the heat, despite the greener environment, was oppressive.

The band had really stepped up to the plate, now that he’d involved them in more of the day to day operations. During their frequent stops they each made themselves busy, planning out future stops, calculating how many miles there were between each exit, fixing drinks for their new guests and for themselves as well. Chelsea and Jordan took over Cate’s role of recording the new follower’s information, allowing Cate to focus on explaining the science behind their new abilities. It was a role they relished, since it was to help Alex. Sure, the tour helped their careers, and it was already proving a big success, much to Diane Kennedy’s consternation. But their first priority was to help Alex, and they appreciated finally being able to play a bigger role in his work.

Nearing the city, Erica pulled off of Interstate 17, the Black Canyon Freeway, to fill up the van’s gas tanks before getting into the city where it would be difficult filling up a vehicle so large. Exiting the highway, they were approaching a gas station at a nearby intersection when a car suddenly veered off course approaching the intersection, crossing into the oncoming lane of traffic and barreled straight into the cars just entering the intersection. There was a horrid screeching of tires, as the other driver tried to avoid the collision, but it was unsuccessful. Those who were paying attention watched glass fly as the two cars collided, spinning the one car around and off the intersection, crumpling the front ends of both vehicles, accompanied by a horrendous sound of crashing metal.

“Erica, pull over,” Alex insisted, taking immediate control of the situation. “Mac, call 911. The rest of you, come with me. We’ve got to move fast if we’re going to help, we’ll need to finish up before anyone arrives to watch us.”

Cate already had the door open when he got to it, and they took off running to the two damaged cars. There were several vehicles stopped behind the accident, although several cars had veered past while the drivers in the other lane simply took in what had happened as they passed by.

As Alex approached the cars he took in what he could. The driver’s side of the vehicle hit was crumpled, and he could see it would be difficult getting the people out. The other car was kitty-corner to that one, and while damaged, seemed to be more structurally sound, at least enough so they could reach those inside. Turning, Alex started barking orders.

“Sammy, you and Chelsea try to get that door open so we can reach the occupant. Gail, check on the passenger until they can get the driver out. Patricia, check out the other car. We need to know what the injuries are and whether the people can be moved before we do anything else. Jordan, you’ll have to control the approaching traffic.”

Everyone followed his commands without thinking. The site was confusing, but since each person now had a specific job, they didn’t stop to consider what to do. Alex and Cate were the only ones trying to do a quick evaluation of where they were most needed. Having no other information, Alex approached the driver pinned inside by their damaged door, since that looked like the worse situation.

“Martin? Martin, are you OK? Martin?” a woman behind him yelled.

‘Alex, you’d better get over here,’ Patricia advised him. ‘The driver isn’t responding and his wife seems to be about to lose it. I need to get him out of the vehicle.’

‘Are you sure that’s wise?’ Alex asked. ‘Make sure he doesn’t have back problems first.’

‘He doesn’t, and he was already partially thrown from the car. I can’t examine him properly like he is, but I can tell he’s got an injury to his hip, so I’m being very careful in moving him. But if you’re going to help him, you’ll need access to him. Right now our concern is going to be saving him.’

“Cate, come along,” Alex instructed his sister. “I don’t know what you can do, but maybe you can control the wife. The other driver is the most seriously injured at the moment.”

They ran quickly to the other vehicle and he saw Patricia gingerly lowering an older man onto the ground. The wife, also older with gray hair, was struggling to free herself of the airbag and her seatbelt, crying out for her husband, Martin. Cate headed directly for her while Alex moved toward Martin.

“His heart’s not beating,” Patricia told him. “Also it turns out his hip is broken. I tried to minimize any damage to it, and it doesn’t appear to be a bad break at this point, but any—”

“I know how serious a broken hip is. You were right to react as you did. Lying half in, half out of a crushed vehicle wouldn’t have helped. Now, show me what the damage to his heart is.”

By now a crowd was beginning to form around them as traffic in each direction stopped and the drivers were craning their necks to see what was wrong. Passengers got out of the stopped vehicles to get a close up view of what was happening. It was hardly rush hour, but there was a lot of traffic on the road, so there were a lot of onlookers. However, as was typical of Alex, he was so focused on what he was doing he scarcely noticed the surrounding onlookers, barely recognizing they were even there.

They watched as this young man bent over the old man and placed his forehead against his chest.

“Martin!” the older woman yelled. “I think he had a heart attack. He just crumpled over just before we ran off the road,” she called out. She was pushing against Cate, who was trying to hold her in place and talk her down. She wasn’t making much progress against the much younger Cate, but she wasn’t listening to what she was trying to tell her either.

Alex sat up almost immediately, and the old man jolted a bit and tried to sit up. Alex placed his hand against his chest, holding him in place.

“Don’t move. You’re seriously hurt. You had a heart attack. You’re doing better now, but you’re still weak. What’s more, you’ve got a broken hip. Hold on,” Alex told him before he moved farther down. He seemed to stare at his hip, not trying to inspect it for damage, before he again bent over and placed his head against the man’s right hip. He sat up just a moment later.

“What’s it look like?” the man wheezed. He seemed brave. He wasn’t complaining about the pain and he seemed to have his wits about him. He’d just been told what was wrong with him, and he was more interested in knowing the extent of the damage than he was in alleviating the pain.

“The bones are nicely lined up and I think it’ll heal, but broken hips are a serious problem. It should knit well as long as you don’t jostle it and shift the bones before they can apply a cast to it. But what’s more important are the complications which can set in. Seventy percent of those with broken hips die within a year due to other, related conditions. This is important, so pay attention. I don’t know how well you treat yourself, but you aren’t going to eat any cheeseburgers, red meat, or sugar for the next year. You’re going to have to focus on fruits, vegetables and nuts. Everything else tends to promote either infections or impairs the immune system, which is already weakened in your case. I don’t care what you do after that, but you need to adapt, and quickly, if you hope to be alive this time next year.”

“Am I that badly hurt?”

“You just died. Your heart stopped, and you’ve broken your hip. But you aren’t in any immediate danger. You’re stable. Our main concern right now is not jostling the hip any more than it has been. But I’m trying to tell you what you need to do to stay alive beyond today.”

“Won’t the doctors—”

“No, the doctor’s won’t know what’s going on for a while, and they don’t know the state of your immune system. Frankly, you’ve been eating shit for too long. Your body isn’t prepared for a shock like this, so it’s going to be dicey. Now I won’t be there to explain—”

‘Alex, if things are stable over there, I need you over here,’ Gail informed him.

‘What are we looking at?’ Alex asked.

‘The passenger here has a collapsed lung on one side, but the big problem is her lung is badly damaged from a lifetime of smoking, thus she’s having a lot of trouble breathing. She’s not likely to last long the way she’s going.’

“Look, I’ve got to run,” Alex told Martin. “There’s someone else who needs my assistance. Just remember what I said and don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise. Chances are they’ll tell you your heart isn’t so bad, but they’re wrong, so don’t listen to them. This is your only chance to survive the next year, so don’t slip up.” With that, Alex got up and ran back to the other car.

Sammy and Erica were still working on the driver’s door, and they seemed to be making progress, but Alex was focused only on the passenger. Gail backed up as he approached. She’d moved the seat all the way back, giving him room to move.

“Hello there, Miss. I’d ask your name but I can’t tell you mine, so we’ll skip that part. You’re not looking good. Just relax and I’ll help you breathe a little better. But it’s important you relax and don’t fight me, OK?”

The woman nodded quickly, still struggling to breathe. Gail gave him a view of what her lungs looked like and it didn’t look pretty. Alex knew he couldn’t repair the collapsed lung, but that wasn’t his concern at the moment. He needed to boost her lung so it was strong enough for the medics to work on. Without taking the time to think about it, or for the woman to respond, he bent forward, pressing his forehead against her upper right breast. She wasn’t feeling strong enough to resist. He remained like that for several seconds, his head lightly resting against her breast but not really pressing against it. When he finally pulled away and asked how she was feeling, she realized she could breathe more easily. Her collapsed lung still hurt and it was painful to breathe, but at least she could suck in air with her other lung, which was a relief. She hadn’t been sure she was going to survive.

“We’ve got access to this one,” Sammy called out. Alex turned and motioned for Gail to check him out.

“Your lungs are a mess. By all rights, you should be dead now. If I hadn’t been here, you wouldn’t have survived this. You’ve got to quit the cigarettes, because your lungs will have enough trouble recovering as it is. If you continue to smoke, your lung might never recover, and since it impacts your immune system as well, it’s likely to affect your recovery as well.”

The woman still hadn’t recovered her breath well enough to respond, so she simply nodded. Alex wasn’t sure if she got it or not.

“Look, I know people have been nagging you about this for years, but this isn’t just a polite recommendation. Your lungs are a mess, and even without this accident you wouldn’t have survived for much longer. Now, if you want to be around for your kids, you’ve got to stop. Otherwise you won’t be. I’ve stabilized you so you’ll function better, but if you continue, you’ll counter what I did for you and you’ll be right back to where you started.”

She nodded again, not sure why she was listening to him, nor why she was taking what he said so seriously. But as soon as he saw her nod, Alex was up and moving again.

“He’s largely unhurt. He broke an arm and he’s cut up, but that’s it,” Gail told him as he came around to survey the damage to the driver. “Be careful you don’t cause his other wounds to bleed, but if you….”

Alex motioned to her that he got it, so she stopped trying to explain the situation to him. Again, she showed him what the man’s arm looked like from her perspective.

“Hold still a moment, your arm is broken. It’ll still be broken when I finish, but it’ll stand a better chance of healing.”

With that he pressed his forehead against the man’s arm for only a couple of moments then pulled back.

“That’s it? I thought you were going to do something to it?”

“Who me?” Alex asked smiling. “What could someone like me possibly do? But I have a feeling your arm will heal quickly, and will come out of this almost as strong as you were before the accident. Now, is there anything else wrong?”

“No, but what about my wife, Annette? She doesn’t sound very good,” he asked worriedly.

“She’ll sound like that until the Ambulance gets here,” Alex said, referring to the sickening wheezing sound she continued to make. “She’s punctured her lung. But her biggest problem is her lungs weren’t strong enough to withstand the treatment for the collapsed lung, nor for her to live until the ambulance got here. I’ve stabilized her so she should be OK for now, but she’ll be struggling until they can reinflate her lung.”

“Who are you, and what—,” the man attempted to ask him, but Alex was already moving away.

‘Gail, Patricia? You’ve got to stay with the victims and watch over them. I don’t want to be the one to advise the medics what’s wrong. There’ll be enough questions as it is. They’ll likely take your suggestions better than they will mine. In fact, switch positions. You’re likely to have more medical authority than Patricia has, Gail. I’ll be nearby, but I’m going to try to keep out of the way. Let me know if anything else happens.’ And with that Alex moved away, backing up beside the van.

The ambulance took a surprisingly long time to arrive. The police arrived sooner, but once they established the victims were stable they focused on the screwed up intersection, keeping onlookers at bay and redirecting traffic so the emergency vehicles could gain access. They also advised the approaching ambulances about what to expect.

When the first ambulance arrived, the EMTs split up to evaluate the two worst patients. The first one ran up to Gail and the older man, while the other one was still getting his gear from the truck.

“I’ll take over from—,” he tried to tell her.

“Listen up, short stuff, the important thing here is he’s had a massive heart attack, causing the accident. That’s stabilized for the moment, but the other issue is his hip is broken here, here and here,” she said, drawing imaginary lines with her hands.

“Right,” the man scoffed. “You figured this out with your own imaginary X-ray scanner?”

“No, I’m a retired cop. And while I can’t prove my diagnosis, you need to focus on not shift—”

“Look, you were probably hot shit before you were forced to retire, but I—”

“Listen, punk. You can do whatever the shit you want, but just understand this: I warned you, and if you permanently disable this man because you ignored my advice, the fault will squarely rest with you.”

“Hey, you’re not getting near me unless you change your attitude, young man,” the older victim insisted. “Now back off until someone qualified to treat my injuries gets here.”

The EMT was about to argue when the nearby cop, hearing the disruption, approached.

“What’s the trouble here?”

“The victim won’t allow me to treat him.”

“We’re only insisting he take the proper precautions,” Gail advised as she turned to the cop. “St. Louis PD, retired, badge number 31928.”

“Are you taking the proper precautions?” the cop asked.

“She doesn’t have any—”

“I don’t want him anywhere near me,” Martin snarled. “He’s going to fucking break my hip worse than it already is. As she said, I’m stable now. Go pay attention to the other patient, and when you’re done, send your partner. Maybe he’ll know how to treat an emergency better than you do.”

“You heard the man. I’d advise you to take his advice. I’ll stay here with him while you’re gone to ensure he doesn’t have any problems, but don’t come back unless it’s to help your partner.”

The EMT got up and ran off, mumbling to himself the entire way.

“I assume you have some reason for pissing the poor guy off?” the policeman asked.

“I was just advising him that his patient has a broken hip. He didn’t seem to care,” Gail informed him, choosing not to provide any more detail at the moment. The cop took the time after that to speak to the man, then to get a quick recap of events from Gail.

“Oh, could you thank that nice young man for….” the man said before falling silent.

“What nice man?” the cop asked before turning to Gail, who was holding her finger to her mouth in a shushing motion.

The dismissed EMT ran up to the other car where his partner, who had just arrived a few moments before, was busy checking Annette out.

“Man, watch out for those people. The old guy wouldn’t even let me treat him. All because some ex-cop—”

“Told you he had a broken hip, here, here and here?” Patricia asked with a playful smile, making the imaginary marks on her own hip.

“All right then, what magical diagnoses did you make for this one? Does she actually have scarlet fever?”

“No, but her husband has a break in his arm right here. It’s a small break with 3 small radiating mini-fractures,” Patricia replied, just because she know it was impossible to diagnose, and impossible to ignore when proved true later, even though the EMT was unlikely to ever see the X-Ray results. “He also has multiple minor cuts and a decent sized abrasion on his outer thigh, about this high up.”

“Look, lady, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with all of you, but—”

“Forget it, Frankie. So far she’s spot on. I’d suggest you check out the other guy. I’ve got this one. She’s got a collapsed lung, so we’ll need to reinflate her lung back in the truck.”

“Well, they want you to treat the other guy. The cop over on the scene won’t let me work on him,” his partner complained.

“Do I… really need to stop… smoking?” the woman he was working on asked, hoping for a more sympathetic diagnosis.

“For this? I don’t see why. After all, you seem to be breathing all right with your other lung.”

“Just remember what your breathing was like a short while ago?” Patricia reminded her. “And then remember who made it better.”

“Huh? What’s that mean?” the senior EMT asked. “Did someone else try to work on her injury?”

“No, sir, no one laid a hand on her,” Patricia truthfully replied, even though she knew the woman wouldn’t be fooled by the partial truth.

---

“So I take it you witnessed and helped out after the crash?”

“Well, I tried, Officer Adams,” Alex said, having read the man’s name tag, “but there really wasn’t much I could do.”

“The old man said you restarted his heart.”

“Me? Not likely. I don’t even know how to do CPR. All I did was to listen to his heart to tell if it was beating or not. When I did, he woke up, scaring the shit out of me. I guess he wasn’t as hurt as everyone thought he was.”

“The EMTs seemed to think he’d had a massive heart attack and passed out, causing the accident.”

“Ah, that explains it. I was wondering what happened. But I guess it wasn’t quite as bad as they imagined. After all, he was awake and conscious as they were taking him away. It hardly looked like it was that bad. Maybe he just passed out or fell asleep.”

“What about the occupants of the other car?” Brian Adams asked, not pursuing the issue any more, but also not giving away what he’d already been told.

“Well, after I saw that the old guy was OK, and then Gail chased me away, I tried to see if I could be of any use. But again, I was pretty useless.”

“So I take it you know the other people involved then?”

“Yes, I was riding in the van with the others when we came upon the accident.”

“OK, we’ll get back to that in a minute. Could you describe what you did then?”

“I got to their car. The woman was having trouble breathing. I figured there wasn’t anything I could do, since the whistling sound seemed to indicate a punctured lung, but she looked at me with a look of desperation. So I tried to listen to see if I could hear decent breathing sounds from her good lung, to know if she’d be OK until the ambulance arrived. By the way, it took a really long time for them to arrive.”

“Yeah, that happens sometime. Then what happened?”

“Well, her other lung sounded good, so I told her we’d called the police and that I’d stick around to make sure she was OK. But then Patricia told me she’d take over for me, so I went to check on her husband, who Sammy and Erica managed to free from the car.”

“Wait a minute, when you arrived at the second car, was Miss. Moore or Miss. Sanders there?”

“You mean Patty and Gail? When I got there, Patty was there. I guess Gail was there earlier checking her out, but as I said, she arrived when I was trying to help the old man and told me to let her take care of him. Since she has the training and I don’t, I did as she suggested. However, Patricia was just standing there. She was just looking on, trying to see if the woman was bleeding, but was afraid to touch her. I took a look just in case Patty was too scared to actually do anything that was necessary.”

“Hey, guys,” Cate said, walking up and interrupting them. “They’re taking the old woman, Abigail Ford, to the hospital along with her husband. Since I had nothing else to do, I thought I’d see if I could help you over here.”

The cop looked a little annoyed at her interruption, but he knew he also needed to talk to her as well.

“You’re Cate something, right?”

“Yeah, I’m Cate Jennings and this is my brother, Alex.”

“Do you mind if I ask what someone your age is doing traveling with a bunch of musicians in their tour van?”

“Oh, no, I don’t mind. Our parents know what we’re doing as we have their permission. Gail is a personal friend, Alex’s godmother in fact, and she offered to take us along while she traveled with the band. She works as a private security expert for the band. Since it’s an almost all girl band my parents didn’t object as long as my brother is here to keep me out of trouble.”

“OK, I’ll need their names and phone numbers,” Officer Adams told her.

“Sure thing, I’ll get some paper and jot the information down.”

That pleased the officer, since he wanted to ask each of the kids what they saw separately. Their answers were already sounding somewhat rehearsed, but they didn’t seem to be hiding anything, and he couldn’t find any inconsistencies in their answers.

“Could you describe the accident for me?” he asked Alex.

“Sure, it was pretty straightforward, and I’m sure everyone else told you the same thing. We noticed the gray car veer across the intersection, crossing directly in front of the other car. We’d just exited 17 to fill up, so they were coming from the left. The other driver tried to slam on their brakes, but since the oncoming car didn’t slow down at all it slammed right into them. The two cars spun around coming to rest where you see them now.”

“Who was in your vehicle, and how did everyone respond?”

“Oh, well, let me think. Erica saw the accident and decided to pull over. Chelsea Kurtz immediately dialed 911, and when we came to a stop I think we all got out. I was the first off, being close to the door, so I really couldn’t see the others.”

“Who organized who did what?”

“We just split up based on who was closer to what and who was already dealing with something. I think I suggested Sammy try to open the driver’s door, since he’s bigger than I am. I basically just stood there until I saw the old guy lying by himself and his wife started screaming.”

“Who moved him out of his car?”

“I’m really not sure. I was watching Sam and Erica trying to get the guy’s door open, and when I turned around he was on his own. I guess whoever moved him went to ask Gail for assistance. As I said, she’s the only one with any training in how to respond to this sort of thing, but when I saw him there wasn’t anyone by him.”

The cop grunted, seemingly unhappy, but he didn’t press. They discussed a few more minor items, then Cate came out, giving him the address and phone numbers of their parents. He then proceeded to ask her many of the same questions. He rephrased the questions, hoping to trip someone up unexpectedly, but he didn’t really suspect anything so he wasn’t too aggressive about it. There was something unusual about this group, but he couldn’t figure out what it was and it didn’t seem to impact their behavior in any way, so he guessed there wasn’t much sense in pushing it.

Alex and Cate gave him their phone numbers and took his. When asked where they’d be if he had any further questions, Alex assured him they’d be in town for the concert for the next two nights, and then they’d be heading out to Las Vegas.

As they walked away, Alex silently thanked everyone’s careful planning and sensible answers. This could have been a mess. If anyone had noticed what he’d done it could have been embarrassing. It looked like he lucked out one more time.

           

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