Page 70 of What Remains

He nodded. “Quite a few times. Haldol’s injectable. Works faster that way, but you normally give it intramuscularly not through a vein. If I had to guess and knowingher, they wanted to really sedate then question her or maybe just get her to shut up. Their problem is the med made her nuts. Paradoxical effect. No way to predict who will have one either. I’ve known youngrecruits, eighteen, nineteen, who pop a benzo and then go nuts and start throwing furniture through the window. Same thing here.”

“So, instead of sedating her, they got her wired?” When he nodded, Driver asked, “That’s why she was twisting around like that? Sticking out her tongue and grunting and stuff?”

“Sort of. Those movements are a dystonia. It’s a side-effect. It happens sometimes. Easy to fix but you gotta know what it is first. She’d have been tough to handle.” He didn’t add that she was lucky her captors hadn’t put a bullet through her head. “Driver, do you know why she’s here?”

“No.”

He hooked a thumb toward the shyrdak. “What about him?” When Driver shook his head again, he pressed. “Seriously? You said you’d been sent to retrieve two people.”

“I was,” Driver said. “But not these two. Neither should be here. Whatever’s going on, I’ve been kept out of that loop. Unless…”

“What?”

Driver’s tongue skimmed his lower lip. “Unless they decided to mount their own operation independent of, you know…” He made a vague gesture. “Channels. Me. Remember, I’ve been put in the corner for bad behavior. So, they might have.”

“Because...” He waited. “You’ll notice I left that nice ellipsis there for you to fill. Why would Shahida andMacbe here?”

“Because of whom I was sent to retrieve,” Driver said. “Meeks and Flowers.”

2

There wasno asking Mac what happened either.

“You going to be able to do much for him here?” Having masked and gloved, Driver had helped roll Mac onto his left side so John could get a look at the exit wound. “Or am I calling for an evac, like, yesterday?”

“Yesterday,” John said, a little abstracted. The exit wound was an ugly mess of macerated flesh and muscle. The good news was that the blood coming now wasn’t clotted or pulsatile but thin and bright red, more ooze than something from active bleeders. Mac still smelled a bit like the outhouse he must’ve tumbled into, but that was the least of his problems.

“Let him down now.” As Driver carefully lowered the unconscious man onto a large sterile pad spread on the pallet, John stripped out of his gloves, turned off his flashlight, and said, “Here’s what I think. Given where we are and the sound of those shots this morning, the wound’s more likely than not from an AK. Near as I can tell without inserting a probe, this is a right flank, through-and-through. But he’s still lost a fair amount of blood. “What he needs is an exploratory laparotomy and cleanout in an OR and then, like Davila, IV antibiotics. Unlike Davila, he probably needs a transfusion and then a stay in anICU. All that translates to evacuation in my land. The question is, can you arrange an evac?”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Well, look, if it makes it easier, just have them drop a body bag. That way you can call for help tomorrow. Or next week. Or whenever the hell it suits you. The body will keep on ice—and don’t.” John raised a finger. “Don’t even think about telling me to shove it. If you guys did a night drop, you can do a night pick-up. And don’t you think it’s about time you read me in? You said you were called to extract Meeks and Flowers, but then why is Mac here? There is absolutely no way this is a coincidence that either ofthemjusthappensto be in the neighborhood.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Driver ran a hand through his hair. “Look, I agree. It can’t be a coincidence. But I honestly don’t know whyshe’shere. Him…I have an idea.”

“Well, don’t keep me in suspense.”

Driver opened his mouth to reply, but then the boy, Poya, called, “Doctor John, she is waking up.”

“Whoa.” John checked his watch. “She chewed through that pretty fast. On the other hand, with all those old tracks, she got shot up a lot. Probably built up a tolerance.”

“Will she be coherent?” Driver asked.

“Only one way to find out.” John pushed to his feet. “Make that call. Then let’s hope we get some answers.”

“Got the medics,but seven hours until a pickup,” Driver said, pocketing his satellite phone.

“That long?” John shook his head. “I’m good, but I’m not a Houdini.”

Driver glowered. “I don’t know what else you want me to do. Remember, this is unsanctioned. My superiors didn’t know they’d be here either. Speaking of which…” He rounded on the woman, who was sitting and sipping from a mug of hot broth John had whipped up. “You mind explaining now?”

“Easy, man,” John said, but the woman interrupted. “I can speak for self. Mac help me go into mountains for my boys.”

“Your boys.” Driver’s jaw set. “After all this time?”

“Yes, after all thistime,” Shahida shot back. “I need go to mine.”

“Mine,” John echoed. Thought:Ustinov.“This wouldn’t happen to be a lithium mine, would it?”

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