Russian Amerika: Chapter Forty Five

45

    Wing and Karin worked frantically on Nik, trying to staunch the flow of blood. They contained the arm wound, but the chest wound continued to seep. The bubbles around the edges weren't a good sign, either.

    Wing stared at his face and found him staring back at her.

    "Not gonna make it, am I?"

    "Nik," she said softly, not wanting to admit even to herself that he was in a bad way.

    "'S okay, think I'll catch up with Cora." he coughed. She wiped his mouth with her hand and found dark blood mixed with the sputum.

    "I thought I hit the bastard!" Grisha said, searching the area with the second lantern. "It was Crepov - I saw him drop."

    "We have to get out of here," Nathan said. "Can he be carried?"

    "How cold is it outside?" she asked.

    "About 40 below."

    "Why can't we just stay in here?"

    "Whoever shot Nik knows about the back door, Wing," Nathan said tiredly. "They'll be back with Russian troops sooner or later."

    "Nathan," Grisha said from the darkness. "Why don't we post guards and rest for awhile. The Russians hit us with planes, not ground troops. Even if they do roll in soon, things have to be crazy up there. They won't search the ruins until they get reinforcements."

    Thank you, Grisha, Wing thought.

    "Okay," Nathan answered. "You take charge of the guard and I'll get everyone in here sorted out. By the way, Wing, when you have a minute, I think my arm is broken."

    "Let me see." She sat back and looked up at him.

    "No, you take care of Nik."

    "Nothin', she can do, for me." Nik said. "Let 'er, fix it."

    Wing knew Nik was right, but she didn't say anything. "Let me see your arm."

    Nathan awkwardly slid his coat off. She saw white bone, jagged and sharp, dripping blood, sticking out of his arm.

    "My God, you've got a compound fracture. Grisha, give me a hand here."

    Grisha moved out of the darkness and she saw tears streaking his face as he stared at Nik. She glanced down at the dying man. Nik's eyes were closed and his chest shuddered with labored breathing.

    "Grisha," she said softly, "we have to go on or it was all for nothing."

    "What do you want me to do?"

    "Put your arms around Nathan's chest. When I say 'now' you pull him back a meter - just as hard as you can. Understand?"

    "Da." He wrapped his arms around Nathan's chest and watched her face with bright eyes.

    "Nathan, this is going to hurt, a lot." She gripped his wrist with both hands. "Now!"

    Grisha pulled the slightly taller man completely off his feet as she jerked his wrist in the other direction. The arm straightened with a liquid snap and Nathan silently sagged, a sudden dead weight.

    "Lay him down. See if anyone has an emergency medical kit with them."

    Grisha moved off into the gloom and she looked around for something to tie around Nathan's arm. The leather ties in Nik's mukluks caught her eye and she pulled them free without hesitation.

    For a splint she tied a long fragment of wood to Nathan's arm, Grisha came back with a medical field kit.

    "Give me the syringe," she said.

    He started to hand it to her, then stopped.

    "What's in this?"

    "Morphine, I want him to sleep."

    Grisha hesitated. "Nathan has to travel, soon. Why don't you give it to Nik?" His lower face shone with moisture.

    Pulling her gaze from Grisha to look at Nik was one of the hardest things she had ever done in her life. His eyes were still closed and his chest heaved as his drowning lungs tried to process enough oxygen to keep his body functioning.

    She remembered how happy he had been with Cora, how radiant the two of them looked when they were together. For both of them to die in such a short space of time broke her heart. She had unconsciously seen them as a test case for her and Grisha.

    Abruptly she wondered if that had doomed the couple. For some reason, a spirit or god or something hated her. Violence had taken her husband, then Alex, and now these two beautiful people. She couldn't endanger Grisha in the same way, it wouldn't be fair to him.

    Nik's eyes opened and stared at her. "Don't, waste time," his chest gurgled with his words, ".waiting. Love him, now."

    And then he died.