Again with the glare-both eyes, this time. Im not made of glass. Just put me down.
So he did. And the minute her feet touched the ground she sort of gasped and clutched at her belly, then whispered, Oh, God. It wasnt a prayer.
Moonshine whimpered and moved off a little ways, looking perturbed.
J.J.s stomach lurched. What?
Half doubled over, not looking at him, she said tensely, I think my water just broke.
Chapter 3
J.J. uttered a string of words he wouldnt use in the presence of a real nun and got another of her fierce black looks in return. This one, though, seemed to hold less anger and more of what he interpreted as mute appeal. Help me. Words he was beginning to suspect this particular woman wouldnt find easy to utter out loud under normal circumstances.
He touched on his radio mic. Katie, Im gonna need an ambulance out here, ASAP. Uhscratch that, he said as the woman abruptly sagged against the side of his patrol vehicle and began doing that pant-moan thing again. Make that a chopper. And give me an ETA.
Im on it. Let me get back to you on that ETA
The radio went silent. J.J. opened both drivers side doors and waited while Moonshine jumped in ahead of him and clambered across to the passenger seat, then sat in the drivers seat and got the SUVs engine started and the air conditioner going full blast. When he went back to see how his pregnant nun was doing, he found that shed taken off the head thing-wimple?-and was using one corner of it to mop sweat off of her face and neck. It came as no surprise to him that her hair, which shed twisted into a knot at the back of her head, was ink-black and also soaking wet.
The radio crackled. Uh, Sheriff? J.J.?
Yeah, go ahead.
Dispatch wants to know the nature of the emergency. Are we talking MVA trauma or heatstroke?
Uhthats a negative on both. Make thatwoman in labor.
Labor? Katies voice rose to a squeak-not very professional of her, in J.J.s opinion. Are you telling me this is the nun?
J.J. grunted, being involved at the moment in helping the nun in question into the backseat of his patrol vehicle. He watched her sort of crumple onto her side and pull her knees up onto the seat before he closed the door. She was whimpering softly now. There was a knot forming in his belly as he turned his back to her and spoke to his radio mic. Yeah, well, that seems doubtful. The nun part, not the labor. You got an ETA on that chopper?
Uhthats the problem. Ridgecrests choppers are out on a multi-vehicle MVA up on 395. No idea how long theyll be.
J.J. looked up at the sun-washed sky and swore. He was pondering his best course of action when his radio crackled to life again.
I could get you somebody out of Barstow, but it would probably be just as fast if you take her in to Ridgecrest yourself, that would be the closest. How far along is she? Katie had three kids, which probably made her the closest thing he had to an expert at the moment.
In months? Im guessingnine.
No, I mean the labor. She didnt say the word dummy. J.J. being her boss, but he could hear it in her voice just the same.
How the hell should I know? he said. Her water just broke.
Yikes, said Katie. Well, that could meanjust about anything, actually. She could have hours yet. Or minutes.
Well, dont ask me, J.J. growled. Im not a doctor.
Iam. That came, surprisingly, from the backseat.
He jerked around to look at the woman, who he could see was now half propped up on one elbow. Her exotic eyes seemed huge in her chalk-white face. You are what? A doctor?
She nodded, then closed her eyes and sank back onto the pillow of her folded arm. Wellsort of. I never finished my internship. But I know enough- she broke off for a couple more pants and groans, then finished with clenched teeth -to know I havent got hours.
Grimly, J.J. relayed to his mic, She doesnt think shes got hours.
How far apart are the contractions?
Hell, I dont know. Seems to me theyre more or less continuous.
Oh, Lord, said Katie. Thats not good.
If youre going to take me to a hospital, youd better get going, came the faint, gasping voice from the backseat, at the same time Katies voice on the radio was saying, Well, youd better hurry. Ill let Ridgecrest know youre coming.
Ten-four. He put the SUV in gear and made a U-turn, tires spitting fine gravel.
Okay, drive safe. The radio went silent.
He didnt turn on his siren, since it would only make the dog miserable, and there werent any other vehicles in the immediate vicinity anyway. He brought the speed up to what he considered the maximum for safety, then glanced in his rearview mirror.
How you doin back there?
No answer for a moment. Then, Just lovely, thank you.
He couldnt believe he was even thinking of smiling.
How you doin back there?
No answer for a moment. Then, Just lovely, thank you.
He couldnt believe he was even thinking of smiling.
As he drove, although his attention was totally focused on the road ahead, part of his mind kept jumping and skittering every which way, so full of the questions he wanted to ask, his head felt like a nest of spooked jackrabbits. For a long time he didnt ask any of the questions because he couldnt decide which one to ask first. Finally, though, when it seemed one kept popping up more often and more insistently than the rest, he looked up to his rearview mirror and said, Maam, if youre not a nun, whats with the habit?
Her voice sounded tired, out of sorts and groggy. NoobviouslyIm not a nun. The habit-and the car-belong to a friend of mine. When I drove the car into that ditchwhen I knew I was going to have to walk for help, I thought the habit might help protect me from the sun. You know, like the robes Arabs wear.
J.J. nodded. He was thinking, Okay, shes no dummy. But he wished he could see her face, because to him the speech sounded a little too long, a little too glib, like something shed practiced in her mind ahead of time. It sounded plausible, might even be true-as far as it went. But he had a feeling there was more-a good deal more-she wasnt telling him.
And it sure didnt explain those bruises.
He said, You ready to tell me the truth about how you got those bruises on your face?
This time the only answer he got was some loud groans and whimpering cries, which he found both alarming and frustrating. Frustrating, because for all he knew she could be faking, or at least exaggerating her situation to evade the question. But if the sounds she was making were for real
His radio coughed and Katies voice said, Okay, J.J.? Ive got Ridgecrest on the phone. Just in case.
Just in case. Swell. He didnt like the sound of that. Copy, he said on a gusty exhalation, but Katie wasnt through.
Okay, I gave them what you told me, about the water and all, and the contractions. They want to know if shes feeling the urge to push.
J.J. mashed the button to answer, but before he could get a word out, here came one of those gut-wrenching groans.
Wow, Katie said, I heard that.
Heart pounding, J.J. said, Maam, are you all right?
What he got for an answer was a sound that raised the hair on the back of his neck-a primal sound somewhere between a growl and a scream. It even got to Moonshine, who whimpered and licked her chops nervously.
Ridgecrest says dont let her push, Katies voice crackled from his shoulder.
Maam, you got that? J.J. was trying hard to keep his voice calm, and on the whole wasnt displeased with the results. So far. Youre not supposed to push. Try not to push, okay?
Okay. She said that in a thin, pitiful voice, like a scared childs. And in the next second, sounding like someone trying to bench press a Harley, Icantstop!
She says she cant stop, J.J. relayed to Katie. And he was shaken enough to add, What the hell am I supposed to do?
There was a pause, and then, Ridgecrest says get her to pant.
Pant?
You know. When she feels the urge to push, tell her to take in a breath and blow it out through her mouth in short puffs.
Maam? You got that?
Yeah. Okay Now she sounded like a little kid trying to stop crying.
Oh, and J.J.? Ridgecrest says that wont work indefinitely. Itll only slow things down, and unless youre less than ten or fifteen minutes out, you might want to pull over sometime soon.
J.J. swore, muttering under his breath. The woman in the backseat was silent, for the moment, thank God. And for a moment, hope flared within him. Maybejust maybe, she was slackening off this pushing business. Maybe things would ease up enough to give him time to get her to the hospital in Ridgecrest. Maybe
J.J., you copy?
The woman in the backseat picked that moment to start with that awful noise again, causing Moonshine to whine and flop down on the seat with her head on her paws. J.J. bet shed have put her paws over her ears if she could. He wished he could.
Dont push! Take a deep breath and blow! he yelled over his shoulder, then said to his radio, Yeah, copy. Ten-four. Back to the woman again: Like this- And he was puffing like a steam engine, all the while craning to see the backseat in his rearview mirror.
The hell with this, he muttered, and pulled onto the wide dirt shoulder and jerked to a stop in a rising cloud of dust. He left the motor running for the air-conditioning and got out of the vehicle, telling Moonshine to stay put-not that it was necessary; the dog obviously wasnt going anywhere except maybe to hide under the seat.
When he opened the back door, his passenger raised herself on both her elbows and stared at him, and this time her eyes were bottomless wells of fear. That kind of got to him, more so than the fact that she was breathing hard and her face was wet with sweat so that wisps of her black hair clung to her pale cheeks like seaweed on a drowned corpse.
Why are we stopping?
He really wished he had a more gentle and nurturing nature, but in his defense, those werent exactly qualities that made for a good homicide cop-or probably any kind of cop, for that matter. Still, he tried his best to be patient. Because youre about to have a baby, maam, and I cant be much help to you if Im driving.
It wouldnt have seemed possible for her face to get any whiter or her eyes any blacker, but he could have sworn they did. No! We have to go to the hospital! She struggled to sit up, at the same time yelling, fierce and stricken at the same time, her words tumbling from her with gasping breaths. I cant have my baby here-I cant. I wont push. I promise-just dont let me-OhGod! And then she was doubled up, hands gripping her drawn-up knees, face contorted, making that awful sound.