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****************************************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" <killashandraRey@hotmail.com> Date: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:39 am Subject: That Personal Touch.. Peri the security guard stood by Marco Lopez as the last stair skirt was burned away and thrust aside by eager firefighter hands. Leo's scoop stretcher was the first of Station 51's injured to be evacuated into the casino vault's access tunnel leading into the heart of Softcount. "He looks pretty good." said Peri to Lopez. "Yeah, he's not the worst of em. My captain is. Some criminal out in the mall shot him, thinking there was a police watch dog after him." said Marco, watching the first set of four firemen take up shoulder and feet carrying positions to walk Leo out. "So you know about that..." sighed Peri. "Mr. Blaze was hoping to stop those perpetrators without you fellows having to worry further about it." "What's that supposed to mean?" "The last radio message we received had a point going into the red in a ventilation shaft above the restaurant coat check station." she replied. "Only there's no fire. The temperature gradient read as nominal. It's just dust blowing up. Because somebody inside was moving it around. Those unknowns are trying to get into the casino Mr. Lopez. Right now." she answered truthfully. "And the place where they are is by the only way we have to get your people out to the mall." "So what's going to happen? My captain can't wait." Marco said. Peri the guard stepped back out of the rescue party's way in the semi darkened, emergency lit tunnel and radioed out. "Security to Surveillance. They're extricating those wounded men now through the vault. Two stretchers." ##Surveillance copies. Continue the rescue operation. Know that PD swat is maneuvering into a surround. You have close coverage.## Peri sighed, "That's a relief." "What is?" said Marco, aiming his flashlight down the dusty hallway for signs of Roy and Johnny coming through with Cap's scoop and I.V.s. "We're not alone anymore. The cops are moving in to intercept." she replied. "Doesn't that put us into a whole lotta danger?" Marco fidgetted. "Not really. Not if we pretend that everything's normal. Those robbers won't pay any attention to us if we don't pay any to them. It's on some form of money that they're going to focus on. Not on any people. So far, their MO's aren't suggesting any active homicidal tendencies. We've photos and names on the two involved so far with your captain's shooting." Peri replied. "That was fast." "It always is. We can get right down to any moving traffic violations off a photo sometimes." But Marco wasn't listening. "Here Cap comes. Grab his I.V. lines. They're going to be busy bagging him. This is Johnny and Roy at his head. Stoker and somebody at his feet." "I got em.." said Peri, accepting them from Roy DeSoto. "Turn ninety to the left once you see the money sorting table." she told them all as they came past her. Captain Stanley was fully unconscious once more and lying quietly in the scoop stretcher, being breath supported. The blood filled, sealed off chest tube lay carefully along his side, still protectively wrapped in the stained blue surgical sheets that Dr. Brackett had used beneath the spaghetti pile of his deattached EKG wiring. Johnny Gage had a set of fingers clamped on Cap's brachial pulse as he walked. "Do you need your doctor to meet us at the main doors?" Peri asked, tapping her ear bud and coil resting behind her neck. Gage shook his head. "Thanks for guiding us. Your answer's no. He's been treated as much as he can be at the mall. Now there's just getting him outta here. How far now?" "Forty yards, through secured hallway, then another ninety to the right down the middle of the gaming floor. You'll see the sunlight by the exit at the main doors." Peri answered, making sure the I.V. lines were free and still flowing as they hurried through the maze deep inside the casino. "Expect a little excitement on the way." "Ooo, I take that to mean that we all should take cover getting out of the way when the police make their final move?" Roy guessed. "Yeah." said Peri. "In between the slot machine rows is best, against a wall." |
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The two paramedics nodded as they saw another guard swipe open the final door out of the secured area of the vault hallway. The noise of normal casino electronic bells and slot machine music met their ears. Marco's hands tensed on the foot handle of Cap's stretcher. ::Now what? I feel like a goldfish in a shooting barrel.:: He spoke into his walkie talkie. "HT 51 to Battalion One. We're out and headed for the mall. We'll need another oxygen tank in less than five minutes." he reported tapping the regulator dial on Cap's cylinder. ##One will be waiting for you when you emerge.## replied the chief. "Look sharp.." said Peri, as they were joined by more unarmed security guards who cleared out some completely obvious, lounging slot players and pushed in chairs that were in their way. "Hug the wall, sirs." she told Johnny and Roy. "We have to go around the early drop power shift over there." Station 51's three saw another cluster of security guards working around a very large DBA money cart exactly like those in the vault room with another team of navy tunic-ed machine money pullers. The area was courdoned off with yellow plastic chains which outlined the area cameras were watching even as they kept out the milling casino guests as full money boxes were replaced with empty ones and shelved onto the money cart. The guests inside the chained areas were asked to abandon their coats and coin buckets while things progressed. The stretcher line rescue party made their way slowly by the drop detail. Marco was more than just nervous and it began to rub off on Johnny, Roy and Stoker, who crouched even lower over Cap without even knowing it. Suddenly, Peri and the other security guards shouted a warning. "On the floor! Everybody, get under cover!" she said, gripping the sound piece in her ear, urgently. The gang needed no encouragement. They dropped Cap and Leo's stretchers onto the patterned carpetting and pushed them under the protective bulk of a row of slot machines underneath gaming chairs before they themselves laid onto their stomachs next to them. Mr. Blaze snapped out an order on the guard channel. ##10-91! Lock it up! And disappear!## The power shift officers literally threw any loose full metal money boxes being pulled from open slot machines onto the cart and then they slammed the metal doors of the cart shut. One guard locked a thick padlock on it before crawling away behind a row of machines. The hardcount team fled in all directions, leaving the cart alone. Gage and Roy watched as Peri and the other security guards peeled out of their conspicuous white and black uniform shirts down to their T shirts. They immediately grabbed some guest sweaters and jackets still draped over the voluntarily vacated chairs in the drop area and slowly put them on where they crouched, watching the open areas of the casino intently. In seconds, not a single security guard uniform was in sight. They now blended in wonderfully, looking like guests. Now, they were much safer than they had been before. "What's going on?" Marco whispered at Peri. "The robbers are headed this way. The cameras have spotted them. Do nothing! It's not any of our jobs to confront them!" Peri said. "They're going for the drop cart!" Roy and Johnny wormed their way deeper under the machines, still keeping the ambu bag working where they were hidden, for Hank. "We're not getting paid enough for this.." Gage hissed in frustration, getting himself out of line of sight. "You took the words right out of my mouth.." Peri said, eyeing the ceiling and listening to something over her radio intently. "D*mn it, Cap, just keep a heartbeat through all this. We've no headroom for any CPR.." Stoker grumbled. "I think he heard ya.." Johnny joked. " His pulse just leaped out a little stronger..." he whispered. "He's sure not in danger here." "Good." hissed Stoker, his face warring between a smile and a scowl. A trio of three in black lappelled jackets and gray pants arrowed by the firemen's location, giving Peri and the other concealed security guards a thumbs up before they just as silently moved off for the direction of the money cart. Handcuffs winked at their leather belts next to metallic badges. "Who were they?" asked Marco. "S.L.'s. Our supervisors." Peri grinned. "Looks like they're taking action. Stay close and stay very still." she said, her face growing serious as she studied the direction in which they had gone. Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of guests startling as new suspicious figures in black, erupted out of the shadows in the dim casino lighting, for the money cart. The robbers! Marco saw Peri nod at a command given to her on her radio and she leaped up to heave a shoulder against the heavy silver metal drop cart. It tipped over with a thud and pinned a man in a black ski mask by the legs and his gun with a silencer was knocked out of his gloved hands as he went down. Lance screeched in pain and grabbed the edge of the massive cart but he was no longer a threat. Gage shouted out a warning. "Look out!" as another robber rushed to attack Peri. The guest sweatered security guard went down in a heaping tangle of legs and collapsed into stillness as the infuriated Mugsy started kicking her. "You stupid girl! Things were going so well! We had it m---!" That was as far as the mastermind got. A team of swat men buried him to the floor and away from the security guard and he was quickly cuff immobilized in front of a furiously barking Luke on the end of Vince Howard's leash. |
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Every television screen in the Surveillance room except for the ones watching the vault were tuned into every microscopic detail of the assault taking place on the casino. Chet practically dug his fingernails into the back of Mr. Blaze's surveillance chair when he saw the fighting so near his coworkers and Cap. He gave another gasp when he saw the female security guard go down. "Relax, Mr. Kelly, things are under control.." said Mr. Blaze. "But, but...but she's hurt! And Johnny and Roy can't get to her from where they are." Kelly insisted. "She's not. Look." and Chet was shown a close up of Peri's face, where she lay quietly waiting for the SWAT team to secure the area. She had a predator's grin on her face. "The ground's the best place to be in an all out kicking fight. My guards know that." he replied. "She's just not drawing attention to herself at the moment." Chet's mouth popped open and a smile flicked there momentarily before it was swept away once more into intense worry for his stationmates. He lifted his HT to his mouth. "Gage, that guard's fine. Hold fast." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Out on the casino floor, Johnny immediately halted his move to cross the floor distance over to Peri on his belly. "What? Ok..." he said vocally, throwing his hands up into the air. Soon, his sharp eyes spotted the normal breathing on her and he shifted his attention once more onto Cap and his I.V.s. Roy had figured it out. "Clever girl. She's just background now." He watched as another black jacketted S.L. crawled forward to handcuff Lance, too, with a knee to the chest. She didn't bother to move the cart trapping his knees firmly. But she did look up at the firemen. "Left leg's broken.." she gestured. But then she gave them a stay gesture and froze, listening to her ear radio suddenly as a surveillance technician updated her on a new change in her ongoing situation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chet watched as the remaining four robbers abandoned their buddies to make an escape through a nearby Safeco store on surveillance camera. A team of swat gave hot pursuit soon after. Sighing, Chet sank down onto an empty chair. "Does this happen every day of the week?" "Often enough to keep us on our toes." smiled Mr. Blaze knowingly vague. "Your work's done here, Mr. Kelly. How about you go out and join your friends? Just follow this guard and he'll show you a way fast enough so you can catch up to them." Chet didn't have to be encouraged in the slightless to leave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out on the casino floor, Roy had already crouched over Lance with a new team of firefighters to start the robber's rescue from underneath the hundreds of pounds money cart. Gage was too mad at him to participate so instead, he contented himself with giving Stoker unnecessary orders on Cap's continued care while they loaded him up into a Mayfair. Marco Lopez helped Peri off of the floor. "You ok?" "Never better, Mr. Lopez. Now that, was invigorating.. Nothing like a little action on day shift." Lopez laughed as he hurried away to go help DeSoto get the splint he needed for the crook's leg. "Thanks for everything." "Come back again. But just for fun next time. And not just on one of our medical calls. I wish you luck with all those injured people out there, Mr. Lopez." Peri waved, "All my prayers." she said returning the guest sweater back to the chair it had come from. She winked before turning to make sure the money cart was still secure and locked. It was quickly muscle hauled back onto its steel running wheels and soon the push team rapidly returned to mind it. The last the firefighters saw of her was her contacting Mr. Blaze to say that the drop cart was on the way to the vault, fully intact. =========================================================== |
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=========================================================== It was a few days later, and Kel Brackett was sitting in his office, surrounded by charged up, worked up, worried paramedics at the recertification meeting. "Now gentlemen, you're all making me out as the Spanish Inquisition! A few changes in departmental policies never hurt anybody." declared the brown haired doctor. A sharp clearing of the throat timed perfectly to fall clearly into a quiet moment, from Dixie McCall, immediately made Kel blush right down to his toes. "Well, all right. It bugs everybody a bit for the first few days or even weeks, until everybody finds themselves used to it. Now these are some, for instance." he said, handing out editted versions of the thick packet that once was the Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic procedure manual. "Outlined in here is everything that you fellas seem to do automatically even when one of us doctors is on the phone line with you. Getting the right I.V.s set up, or the correct airway for the situation presenting itself. Even down to working a cardiac arrest case, step by step. It's high time for us doctors to take a step back and let you paramedics leap a few forward. You're all highly trained professionals at the absolute height of your best game. Gee, I thought I'd never hear myself say this but,..now it's time to let you guys fly solo. We're giving you your heads to treat every medical or trauma situation to the best of your training without a constant radio presence in the hope of greatly shortening up the time span it takes for you to deliver a victim to us personally. And that, gentlemen, takes a giant leap of faith.. Shall we begin outlining the new changes? Say, five minutes from now." Dr. Brackett said. Dixie McCall began smiling secretly to herself where she said cross legged in a chair as the paramedics around her began to squirm. "Oh, come on, fellas. I promise this'll be painless. I've gone through it.." she admitted. "Yeah, and how many deaths did you die breaking old habits for new?" "Not even once, Johnny Gage." she chided, nailing him with her eyes. "I had fun being your victim hanging way up on that building." Roy chuckled. "Yeah, that's after we covered your face with the tarp so that you couldn't look down." "That scoop stretcher's tiny!" Dixie said in mortified indignation. "And so are you..." said Johnny. "It was a piece of cake. We had ya down in a few minutes. Not even enough time for you to wet your shorts." "I wasn't scared..." Dixie insisted. "And I didn't pee myself." "No, but it woulda made your supposed unconscious state seem more real to us." "Don't be such a detailer.. Gross." Dixie laughed uproariously. "All our recertification training's supposed to be realistic, right?" Johnny said seriously. "Not that realistic." she said making a face. "Even the moulage wounds are rubber." "But the fake blood's still red. I like that part.." said Gage, getting into it. |
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"It feels gross when you're soaked in it." admitted Dixie. "Really?" Roy asked. "I thought Brice says it dries on pretty good." "It doesn't. It ruins your clothes, too. I had to throw mine away." "You mean, even that bathing suit you wore underneath after I cut your clothes off? Man, that one was classy.." Johnny said, leaning close. "Johnny! I heard that.." said Brackett, ever protective of his nurse. "Sorry.. Never let it be said that Dixie's shapely chassis is sub par." toasted Gage with his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee. The room erupted in cheers and cat whistles much to Dixie's chagrin. She hid briefly behind a hand to hide her embarrassed reaction. Then she got a look of pure mischief in her eyes and leaned in closer to both Roy and Johnny. "How'd ya like the fake seizure I threw in when you least expected it?" It was Johnny's turn to blush unexpectedly. Roy just sat back in his chair and started laughing. "Ha! I know better than to squat over a patient's arm and hand. Ya goosed him good, Dixie. He must've jumped up a mile high.." "I did not.." Gage hissed through tight teeth. "You did, too. I was watching the whole time.." said Brackett from across the room. "Remember I was your protocol tester yesterday. Nice move, Dix. Every paramedic should learn the lesson Roy knows already." "I aim to please." Dixie said bowing her head with a grace that spoke of gentle self congratulation. "Somebody's gotta protect these boys' assets." That only made Gage blush redder. "Changing the subject. Cap says hi. Roy and I visited him in his room just before the meeting began. Doc, nice bit of surgery. Didya give him the bullet?" "Of course." said Brackett with feigned insult. "He's gotta have something to show the missus for his trouble. And it'll be a whole lotta fun for him to show that to some new probie when it comes time to show off that medal of honor of his during any fire training." |
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Roy smiled. "Do you know, he's the first one in our station to ever receive one? I mean, the one Johnny and I got by mistake, doesn't count. It was rescinded as soon as someone realized it. And he's proud of it, too. He thinks that getting it'll chill McConnike for a while about remembering when Hank burned his hat. He's hoping the effect will last long enough to get us through the summer without even a single surprise inspection." "That'll be the day.." Johnny said, rolling his eyes. "Say, Dix.. Uh,..If I can ask, what tripped up Brice earlier about all this freedom we're getting granted working as paramedics?" Dixie took a knowing sip from her coffee and made sure the room opposite Craig was preoccupied with the new manual before she answered. "There weren't enough rules. He choked working on his victim in the building scenario." Gage bit his lip suppressing a chuckle. "But he's still working, Dixie. How'd ya get him over that kind of reaction good enough to pass?" "I didn't goose him." Roy spit out his mouthful of coffee all over the floor. FIN Episode Twenty, Recertification |
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