“Whatever you want. Do you want me to call anyone?”

“Call my mom and dad when we get there.”

“I’ll do better than that.”  He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.  “They live on Harding St. don’t they?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the house number?”

“2753, phone 777-3435.”  She alternately functioned like a cop and a victim.

He wrote it on the paper.  With that the ambulance crew was getting ready to load her.  He handed the paper to Officer Lambert, “Margie, can you take this, pick up our unit, have the station call her parents.  Tell them Penny has a leg wound and we’re taking her to the hospital.  You pick them up and take them there.  She asked me to ride with her.”
“Sure.  I can do that.  You go take care of her.”

“Just tell them she has a leg wound and is in good shape.”

“OK.”

With that he saw them start carrying her to the ambulance and ran to catch up.  Inside he held her hand as they rode to the hospital.  She was so young, only six years older than his youngest daughter.

She started crying. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I broke your record.  You’ve never had a partner hurt before.”

“Damn it Penny.”  He very rarely swore, “My damned record doesn’t matter.  I was proud of it because I never had to do this before.  My other partners benefited from the record that is the only reason it was important.  And I didn’t have to work about them.”

“But.”

“No buts. I didn’t see the guy who shot you.  You didn’t see him.  We just had one rifle crack.  By the time we knew anything was up you had a bullet in you.  What makes me mad is I may have missed something that would have warned us.”

“God it hurts to get shot.  I never thought it would be like this.  I knew it would hurt but when it hit there was pain up and down my whole leg.  At least the bottom of the leg isn’t hurting anymore.  Where did the bullet come from?”

“It must have come from behind us.  I couldn’t see the entry wound so it must be from behind, and I can’t see an exit.  That’s why I think it hit the bone.  That and the bottom of your leg is bent funny.  It looks broken.”

“I broke my left leg when I was thirteen.  I fell off my bike.  That hurt really bad.”

“They’ll patch you up, put on a cast and you’ll get about two months to sit around and watch the soaps while they pay you to do it.  At worst the Captain will have you come in and put you on a desk.”

“Oh, no, no desk.  If I have to patrol on crutches that is fine with me.  I can handle that but don’t give me a desk job.  Pushing pencils is hard work.”

He laughed, “You’re like your uncle.  You have always been allergic to desks.”

With that the ambulance pulled into the emergency room entrance and stopped.  Penny was rushed to a treatment area.  Bart was giving the woman at the desk some information when someone called, “Officer Donnely, Officer Merris wants you to come back with her.”

Bart was somewhat embarrassed but followed the woman.  He was not accustomed to seeing any woman but his wife without clothes.

When he came into the area she was already on the table and undressed.  A sheet covered everything from just above her breasts down.  Only her right leg was exposed.  Her belt was still around her thigh, the lower portion of her leg was a sickly grayish in color.  Bart wondered why they hadn’t removed the belt.  A band about 6 inches wide looked like it had been bruised and beaten to a pulp, as if by multiple blows.  She reached for his hand and he held it.

The Night Sniper Chapter One: On the Beat

The Night Sniper – Ch. 003 Changes are Made

The Night Sniper – Ch. 005 Treating an Injured Officer