Page 35 of JoyRide

Doctor Olsen was ten minutes behind the ambulance, and I stayed with him while he worked through the guys I’d shot. Ted had written down their IDs and taken down the addresses of each one for the notifications. Surprisingly, none of them lived in Sunburst Acres.

A couple of the dead guys were from Canada. Not too far away—twenty miles to the border. Maybe this trailer was the spot they squatted in to sell their goods on this side of the line.

“Finding any goods, Ted?” I gave him a shout out.

“Bagging them. Lots of guns to mark. I might need more bags, Harlan. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“More bags in the back of the squad. Doctor Olsen is going to need a hand to load these guys into the back of the van, when you get a minute.”

“Copy. I’ll be done with the evidence in a few.”

As soon as the doctor finished up, Ted and I carried the body bags to the van one by one and loaded them in. Doctor Olsen was in his fifties, and he couldn’t lift an occupied body bag by himself.

“You got help at the morgue to get these guys inside, Doc?” asked Ted.

“Yes. I have help at the clinic. Thanks, Ted.”

The doc left and Ted and I finished up inside the trailer. I locked the front and back doors and sealed them with yellow tape.

“Think we remembered everything, Ted?”

“Yep, I do. Don’t want the boss to be pissed at us when he wakes up.”

“Both of them in the hospital now, Ted. We’re kind of on our own.”

“No shit.”

Cut Bank Hospital.

I rode in the back of the ambulance with Travis and held his hand. He opened his eyes and looked at me a couple of times, but his eyes were weird and not focused. I didn’t think he knew what was going on.

When we got to the hospital, the ambulance drove right into the garage. The doors opened at the back and the driver and theguy in the back with me took the stretcher out, and they wheeled Travis down the hall to the operating room on the same level.

I couldn’t go in with Travis, but across the hall there was a waiting area. I grabbed a chair and called Molly.

“Tammy, is that you, dear?”

I choked back my tears and tried to tell her what happened. “Travis got shot at the trailer park, Molly. He’s in surgery. I’m at the hospital by myself. Harlan and Ted are still at the scene.”

“Oh, no. Not Travis.” Molly started to cry. She sniffled a couple of times and then said, “See if Savanna is there with Billy, dear. If she’s at the hospital, she’ll sit with you until the surgery is over.”

“Okay. I’ll go to Billy’s room and see if she’s there. Thanks, Molly.”

“Is Harlan coming to the hospital when he’s done at the scene?”’

“Yes.”

“Good. He’ll be there with you. Let me know when you talk to the doctor. I’d like to know Travis’s condition. I’m so sorry this happened, honey. I’m sure he’ll be okay. He’s very strong.”

The operation to get the bullet out would take a couple of hours at least, so I went upstairs to Billy’s room to see if Savanna was sitting with him.

Billy flashed me a smile when I walked in the door of his room. “Tammy, I didn’t expect to see you in the middle of the day. Come and give me a hug.”

I hugged Billy and felt so bad he was beat to shit. All black and blue and his damaged leg was way worse because of those rogue punk juvies.

“Don’t cry, girl. I’ll be okay.”

“Those boys were so mean to you, Billy.” I didn’t mean to, but I started to sob on his shirt. “We were on a call up at the Acres and Travis got fuckin shot.”

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