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he'd passed out with his hands locked in my jacket. I had more trouble putting the gun away than I had
getting it out. Cold, adrenaline, and the man's hand stuck on my jacket, covering the holster.
Because that's what I was holding. A man, a man who had been skinned alive, but somehow wasn't
dead. Of course, it wasn't exactly a man.
"It's a man, Aikensen," Titus said. "It's a hurt man. If you weren't so damn busy pulling your gun and
shooting at things, you might see what's in front of ya."
"It's a naga," I said.
Titus didn't seem to hear me. Dolph asked, "What did you say?"
"He's a naga."
"Who is?" Titus asked.
"The man," I said.
"What the hell is a naga?"
"Everybody out of the water now," a voice from shore yelled. It was a paramedic with an armload of
blankets. "Come on folks, let's not have to run everybody into the hospital tonight." I wasn't sure, but I
thought I heard the paramedic mutter under his breath, "Damn fools."
"What the hell is a naga?" Titus asked again.
"I'll explain if you can help me get him to shore. I'm freezing my ass off out here."
"You're freezing more than your ass off," the paramedic said. "Everybody to shore, now. Move it
people."
"Help her," Titus said. Two uniformed deputies were in the water. They splashed up. They lifted the
man, but his fists had locked into my jacket. It was a death grip. I checked the pulse in his throat. It was
there, faint but steady.
The medic was folding blankets around everybody as they hit shore. His partner, a slender woman with
pale hair was staring at the naga, glistening like an open wound in the spotlight.
"What the hell happened to him?" one of the deputies asked.
"He's been skinned," I said.
"Jesus Christ," the deputy said.
"Right thought, wrong religion," I said.
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"What?"
"Nothing. Can you pry his hands loose?" They couldn't, not easily. They ended up carrying him cradled
between them. I sort of stumbled to the shore with his fingers still locked in my clothes. None of us fell. A
second miracle. The first was that Aikensen was still alive. Staring at the raw bluish skin of the man,
maybe the miracle count was higher than just two.
The medic with the pale hair knelt by the naga. She let out her breath in a great whoosh of air. The other
medic threw blankets around me and the two deputies.
"When you get him pried off of you, you get your butt up to the ambulances. Get out of those wet
clothes, ASAP."
I opened my mouth and he pointed a finger at me. "Clothes off and sit in a warm ambulance, or a trip to
the hospital. Your choice."
"Aye, aye, Captain," I said.
"And don't you forget it," he said. He moved off to spread blankets and orders to the rest of the cops.
"What about the skin?" Titus asked. He had a blanket wrapped around him.
"Bring it to shore," I said.
MacAdam said, "You sure this is the only surprise out there in that sinkhole?"
"I think this is our only naga for the night."
He nodded and slipped back into the water with his partner. It was nice not to be argued with. Maybe it
was the naked ripped body of the naga.
The paramedics had to pry the naga's hands from my jacket a finger at a time. His fingers didn't want to
uncurl. They stayed bent like the fingers of the dead after rigor had set in.
"Do you know what he is?" the paramedic with pale hair asked.
"A naga."
She exchanged glances with her partner. He shook his head. "What the hell is a naga?"
"A creature out of Hindu legend. They're mostly pictured in serpent form."
"Great," he said. "Will he react like a reptile or a mammal?"
"I don't know."
The medics from the other ambulance were setting up a pulley system and directing everybody up to the
warmth of the ambulances. We needed more medics.
The paramedics spread a warm saline solution on a soft cotton sheet and wrapped the naga in it. His
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whole body was an open wound with all that that implied. Infection was the big threat. Could immortal
beings get infections? Who knew? I knew about preternatural creatures, but first aid for the immortal?
That wasn't my area.
They bundled him in layers of blankets. I looked at the drill sergeant paramedic. "Even if he's reptilian
blankets can't hurt."
He had a point.
"His pulse is weak but steady," the woman said. "Should we risk trying an IV or ... " [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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