Chapter 14: Cops and Robbers

Alice tightened her grip on her unloaded gun and looked over at Nel; checking to make sure that the girl was alright. Nel's face was pale, but her hand was steady as she held her gun.

“Here come the sirens. Masks.”

Nel complied.

“I love you.” Rob whispered in Alice's ear.

Alice grimaced under her mask.

Gross.

“MMMmm. I love you more.” she murmured to him.

Alice whispered a quick prayer as she glanced at Will.

He has to make it.

He would make it. She knew it.

No more time to think about it.

Sirens.

They were stopping in front of the house.

The front door was opening.

It had become a way of life for Alice. She lifted her gun into the face of the shocked EMT.

“You better fix him.” she growled at him.

Nel was holding Rob's wrist and pressing her gun to his side, as they had briefly practiced.

There were two paramedics.

 Alice admired their courage, even in the midst of her act. They were young men; the one she had at gunpoint was tall, had dark brown hair, and couldn't be older than twenty-five. The one behind him was shorter, stockier, with a mop of blondish-reddish hair. 

Both of them were reacting ideally: calm and collected, obviously not about to either freak out or do anything stupid. These two were smart.

“What happened to him?” the taller one asked quietly.

“He was shot. A week ago. And the bullet's still in him. I need you two and the doctor to remove the bullet and fix him.”

“Let's get started.” Rob said.

He could have been an actor, Alice marveled. He looked so scared. Alice paused, realizing that he might actually be afraid. As she considered this, she realized that she had never brandished her gun in front of him. This could be too dangerous.

“We need to get this over with quickly.” she whispered to Nel.

Nel nodded.

“Get him into the ambulance.” Alice commanded the EMTs harshly.

Will stirred as he was moved onto the gurney.

“Maya...”

Alice's heart leaped into her throat.

Please don't say anything else. She begged him silently.

“Maya...”

Maybe we're safe.

“Maya...”

Yeah.

“Why are you stopping? Get him loaded up.” she snapped to the paramedics.

Nel followed the men out to the ambulance with her gun, and Alice grabbed a quick, whispered word with Rob.

“Are you doing alright?”

He sniffed and glanced at her gun. “Yeah. Of course.”

She sighed and touched his shoulder quickly. “It's not loaded. Don't worry.”

He brightened considerably.

“You can do this.” she encouraged.

“Yeah, yeah I can.”

Alice backed away a few steps, nodded at him, and said firmly.

“You better have everything you need.” 

He nodded, and this time she could see that his trembling was fake. She smiled under her mask.

As Alice had instructed, Nel had been driving the ambulance in almost random circles for over an hour. To avoid attention, she hadn't activated the sirens and lights. They drove slowly down back roads and lesser highways.

Alice was sitting behind Will's head, watching nervously as Rob performed the surgery. Alice had made them wait a while to begin; she wanted to feel out Nel's driving patterns. So far it had been smooth, but she warned Nel to honk the horn if an unavoidable bump or pothole was approaching. When she honked, Rob would stop cutting, pulling, and stitching, and pull his hands away from Will's open torso until the bump had passed.

The ride was awkwardly silent except for Rob's occasional commands to the other two “hostages”.

“Clamp...scalpel...suction...clamp.”

Alice bit her lip until it bled. Despite her intense training and tough personality, she felt her female caring side kick in. Will was so pale...and a doctor had his hands buried in his insides as they bumped down the road. She wished she could have thought of some other way to make it all work, but it was too late and she was fully out of ideas.

“Well?” she asked in her kidnapping tone as they waited for a series of bumps to pass.

“So far so good.” Rob said shortly.

The bumps were over, and Rob went back to work. A few short moments later, he triumphantly held up the bullet.

“Here.”

Alice let her head droop over Will's.

“Thank you, thank you.” she whispered to no one in particular.

“I'll close him up.” Rob said, relief flooding his own voice as he set the bullet aside and reached back inside of Will. “We should be....”

His words were cut off in a horrified gasp as the ambulance jumped over a little, rattling bump.