Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] (3 page)

"And what? For Christ's sake, Lori, he's dead. What do you want to do? Keep him for yourself?" At her look of serious contemplation, Ryan snorted in disbelief.

"Aw, no way. You've gotta be nuts to even think about it."

He was right, she knew that. But there was such dignity and character etched in the man's face that it stirred something inside her. Something that was protective and fierce and urgent and made absolutely no sense at all. She worried her bottom lip, trying to come up with a rational explanation for the irrational direction of her response.

"You know, Ryan, I saw an Oprah show not long ago and she had these people that planned to be frozen once they died. And there were experts on the subject, too, and they were saying how it was possible to bring people back to life, only the technology hadn't been perfected yet. But they had frozen a dog and revived it and—"

"Lori, get a grip! Cryonics is out there—waaay out there. You're talking sci-fi stuff."

"Maybe," she admitted. "Maybe not. After all, that's what people once thought about electricity, television, putting a man on the moon." She shot him a challenging glance. "Of course, as Einstein once said, 'Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.'"

He stared at her, incredulous. "I don't believe it. You're actually serious about this."

Breathless, she answered, "I can't believe it either, because I really think that I am." She pressed her palm to the ice, touching, almost touching what promised to be a broad, masculine chest. She felt a small lurch, a soft flutter in her own. It was a strange sensation, an echo of the moment when the man who would be her husband tapped on the window of her car to issue a citation and ended up waving two tickets to the policeman's ball.

Never would she forget that lilting sensation. Never would she forget the tragedy of its loss. She had lost Mick; maybe that was why she had such a foolish need to try saving this surely unsavable man.

"Look, Lori, we've been friends for a long time. And you know that there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. But—"

"Ditto, Ryan. And that's why I know that I can count on you to keep a lid on this thing and help me figure out how we're going to get him from here to my place. Say next weekend? Don't try to squirm out of it, I know your schedule. We've both got next Saturday free."

Ryan quit grinding his teeth long enough to blow out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, have it your way, but just tell me one thing first. What the hell are you going to do with this frozen dude once he thaws out?"

Since she hadn't thought that far ahead, she'd have to figure it out as she went. "Before that happens, I'm going to the library and getting everything I can find on cryonics. And then there's Dr. Rashid at the hospital—"

"He's a horny lech."

"So what? That horny lech is doing research on low-temperature whatever-he-calls-it for organ preservation. I'll buy him lunch and pick his brain. After that, only two things can happen. If by some miracle our friend here can be resuscitated, I'm a nurse and he's in good hands. If not..."
I'll see that he gets a decent burial to make up for the one be didn't get.

It was more than Mick had gotten. His funeral had resembled a three-ring circus, the grieving widow's picture splashed on the front page of the newspaper. It had not been right. Then again, nursing her wounds at the expense of denying science a look-see wouldn't be right either.

"If he's a goner, I'll turn him over to Dr. Rashid, who can call in his cronies before the anthropologists and the yellow journalists and God only knows who else has at him. Fair enough?"

Ryan hesitated, shook his head, then gave a curt nod. "Jeez, I must be as crazy as you. You want him, you've got him. But we're going to need some help."

"Make that some help who can keep their mouths shut."

"Right. And that definitely reduces the pickings. As it is, there's only three who come to mind."

"Warren, Jacob, and Jennifer." Not only were they top-notch climbers, Warren and Jacob had muscle to spare. As for Jennifer, she had the moxie to keep them both in line and polish her nails while she was at it.

Ryan pulled at his chin. "Once we hack him out, getting him to the bottom won't be easy. He doesn't look light, even minus the ice, but put 'em together and we've got a mother lode of weight to haul."

Lori had to agree. "We could use a stretcher and risk the trail. It's probably the way he came up."

"The trail's too rough, and even if it wasn't, it'd take forever to push him down. Too dangerous. Forget it."

That idea nixed, she searched for another. And came up with one that could land both her and Ryan in big trouble.

"Oh, Ryan," she singsonged. "Guess what I'm thinking."

"I know what you're thinking. Lord, to think like you, I must need my head examined."

She smacked his cheek with a kiss. "I love ya, big guy. I can always count on you to be there for me, no matter what."

"Know what? I hate it when you get sappy." As he spoke they prepared to rappel like marionette birds on sturdy strings. Poised on the ledge, Ryan asked, "Ready?"

"Not quite." No, she wasn't ready. But she wasn't about to tell Ryan that she didn't want to leave the man frozen in time. "First, I want you to tell me what keeps us together."

"What else? It's your addiction to my coffee."

"Get outta here!" She gave him a playful shove and he laughed as he sailed out and down.

Lori took a last, lingering look at the man she felt an unexplainable affinity with. Regretfully she left him, assuring herself that he hadn't moved since before her great-grandmother was born, and surely he wasn't going anywhere before she came back to reclaim him.

* * *

As it turned out, they made two trips before exhuming the man from his frozen crypt. The mission was exhausting, exhilarating, a great adventure. One that, Lori guessed, would enrage the scientific community. What she didn't have to guess about was that she and Ryan would be out of a job if the hospital ever discovered that the emergency helicopter had played an important role in their master plan.

Their last partner in crime was Skip, the pilot, who also took an oath of silence. They couldn't have done it without him and the chopper.

A whoop of jubilation went up from Lori and Jennifer once the icy weight was deposited in the back of Warren's monster truck. Lori blew kisses to Skip, who departed with an enthusiastic thumbs-up signal.

As they waited for the others to return, Lori covered the bulk with a length of heavy canvas, stroked it with a protective caress.

"Now I can breathe again," she said, sighing her relief.

"The question is, will
he
breathe again?" Jennifer gave the canvas a neat slap, which Lori didn't much care for.

"Not likely," she admitted. "The big problem seems to be that when the body's fluids freeze, ice crystals form and damage the cell tissue. There is a chance, though, a really, really slim chance, that if he was frozen almost immediately, the ice crystals wouldn't have had time to form."

"Hey, I'm impressed. Sounds like you know your stuff."

Lori snorted at that. "Don't I wish." If she never read another article on cryonics, it would be too soon. Despite her BSRN degree, the technical mumbo jumbo supporting the theory that life could be held suspended by totally mind-boggling means had been daunting. As for the phone call she'd made to the cryonics organization, she'd felt like a fledgling Trekkie talking to Starfleet Command.

But then there was Dr. Rashid, who had been flattered that she had taken an interest in his research. So flattered, in fact, that he'd asked her out twice so they could pick up their lunchtime conversations over dinner.

Dire as her need was to learn as much as she could, she'd turned him down both times. The jerk was married.

"I wonder if he's married," she mused, eyeing the canvas.

"If he was, he sure ain't now," Jennifer pointed out. She cocked an eyebrow. "Know what, Lori? You seem to be a lot more interested in this guy than in any of the others who've been trying to make time with you since... well, you know."

It was true, but Lori wasn't about to admit to her romantic fantasies involving the "amazing human Popsicle" as her friends had dubbed him.

With a mischievous smile, Lori said, "actually, Jenn, if you think about it, he's got some great points in his favor."

"And just what might those be?"

"For one thing, he's harmless, and that's a lot more than I can say for some of the studs who hit on us at the Kick and Kaboodle. The only line dancing they're after is the horizontal two-step."

"You've got that right," Jenn readily agreed.

"And, he's a hunk."

Jennifer peeked under the canvas. "Mmmm... definitely yummy." She gave Lori a broad grin. "Actually, toots, I believe you're one hundred and ten percent right. What we have here is no less than the perfect man." With a wink, she said, "the kind of guy who listens and doesn't talk back."

Chapter 2

The darkness was timeless, a place that was warm, where he floated between dreams and nothingness. Since the dreams were often painted in slashes of violence and rage, the escape he found in that dreamless nook was a welcome thing. It was there that Noble found peace.

At first he didn't overly appreciate the distant trickle of sound that came to him at odd intervals, intruding on his blissful, black slumber. But it grew increasingly familiar, moving in cadences not unlike speech. And yet he didn't hear words, but rather a resonance he could only interpret as shades of emotion.

"Damn, come on, will you? Just wake up instead of lying there like Sleeping Beauty waiting for a magic kiss. I'm lonely, you know? So damn lonely. And I'm sick and tired of sleeping alone—or make that not sleeping. See, I've got this problem with insomnia, ever since Mick died—but I already told you that, didn't I?"

By degrees, closer and closer the presence came. He sensed no menace in it, none whatsoever. On some instinctive level he felt himself responding to this presence, one that began to assume a distinctly feminine quality.

"So, tell me, how do I look? I'm all dressed up with no place to go, no thanks to you. I needed a night out, but nooo, I had a guilt trip that stopped me in my dancing boots. I certainly hope you appreciate me canceling out just in case you decide to start breathing again. And don't forget I'm spending all my lunch hours racing home to check on you. Ryan's giving me a hard time about that, you know. As for my other pals, they've got better things to do. Like dancing.

"Jeez, it's sweltering in here, no wonder my makeup's sliding off like butter on a griddle. Too warm for me, but maybe not warm enough for you. Better turn up the thermostat a notch and add a few bucks to my water bill. By the way, I hate to take showers and I really want my tub back. Nearly a week you've been sacked out in here and just look at this stuff all over the floor.

"Let's see... thermal blankets, check, a homemade crash cart that might earn me a Girl Scout badge in a pinch, double check. Time to check your vital signs again. Hmmm... blood pressure... forty over twenty. Probe in the ear, since I can't stick a thermometer under your tongue or up your butt... hey, great, seventy-two-point-five degrees... yep, you're warming up. And now roll the drums for a pulse... still not there. One more day, bronco, I'll give you one more day—okay, two days—and if I can't pick up some kind of a pulse, sorry, you're out of here.

"In the meantime, did I tell you about when I was a little girl and..."

A woman? Yes, he believed a woman must be keeping him company. If only he could wake up and enjoy the favors she might bestow once this endless night was over. Noble struggled for consciousness only to be weighted down by a force he was beginning to loathe.

Perhaps if he shifted, rolled atop her, her lullaby whispers would turn to sharp sighs of pleasure. Surely that would wake him up. With a strength of will that had served him well in life, he commanded his body to obey what his mind decreed. But his body felt sluggish and his will felt strangely weak, as if he hadn't used it in some time and it had gone to sleep along with the rest of him.

He embraced the destructive force that had thus far kept him alive, and it fed his determination to throw off the dark curtain of sleep.
Wake up, dammit. Wake up and fetch some blankets. Lord, but it's getting cold. Freezing cold.