Been a Long Day

363.

I ask for the update in my best 'give it to me straight' monotone. The ER nurse gets the message and begins with a solemn, "There were complications."

"Is she alive?"

"Yes, sorry, but still in surgery, the gunshot wounds caused more damage than we initially estimated, and, please, can you tell me the approximate time between the incident and the arrival of the paramedics?"

"I would say about twenty to thirty minutes, no more than that. Why?"

"Well, the ER surgeon is still amazed that she, how do I put this?…."

"Lasted as long as she did without bleeding out?" I answer.

"Yes."

"Because she is the toughest cookie in the jar and knew that our work wasn't over. She hung on because we needed to finish the job, simple as that."

The silence leads me to believe that the nurse relies more on scientific fact and medical cause and effect rather than faith in the unlimited human spirit and commitment to an alternative power source. Either way, the conversation ends as my back-up phone begins to ring, buzz, hiss and shout. "Please do your best, I am on my way and be there in fifteen minutes, thank you sincerely for all your effort. Try talking to her."

Julie tells me that the news has traveled faster than the speed of sound. The Directors of both Homeland Security and the DOJ  called to voice their concerns about my flagrant disregard for their exacting release protocols.

"I asked them for patience and understanding, citing that under the circumstances the insurrectionists are in better, safer and more secure hands than being jammed into a dark cell beneath the still smoldering Capitol building." She reports.

"Insurrectionists? Is that what they are calling them? They are Domestic Terrorists in every sense of the word. That they are all uneducated white males doesn't change the reality of their crimes. I realize the slimy politics of wanting them to be black Islamists, brown Cartel thugs or Asian ninja assassins but that is simply not the reality."

"I know. But…"

"But what Julie? But what?"

"You know as well as I that there is a public relations balance we need to dance with…

I pause to breathe. She is right - not so much in the fact that our PR concerns or our need to put tact and diplomacy on the same scale with the violence and grit of fighting terrorism, but that if we are to continue our noble efforts to do so, we cannot bite the hand that feeds. It is a slice of humble pie that right now I haven't the stomach for.

"I also have the goods on an inside conspiracy, including the Capitol Police, FBI and local agencies. I am going to sit on it until this blows over. Mostly to see how they respond. You think I am in hot water with the DHS and DOJ? Tepid compared to this pot of boiling bovine urine."

"We'll talk about that soon. How is Mustang?"

"Pulling into the parking lot now, I'll report back as soon as I have an update."

"Hey," She says in that soft voice I remember so well.

"Yes?"

"You OK?"

"I'm good. Been a long day. Thanks."