Beethoven Virus Ch. 02

I said "Do you think the Hinton Brothers are up to it?"

Laura said "They have the skill to get it done, so I hope so..."

Part 8 - All At Once

2:05pm, Tuesday, March 30th. Teresa and I were on the roof of University Hospital. The Life Flight helicopter had been flown to University Memorial Stadium and landed on the football field, clearing the way for the other life flight chopper that was inbound.

Teresa was scanning the skies with her binoculars, and I had no idea from where she'd gotten them. As for me, Your Iron Crowbar is a sneaky Iron Crowbar. I had an app on my Police iPhone that could listen in on the conversations of the tower at County Airport.

"TCA Approach, this is MGLF One-Niner Life Flight on approach to University Hospital. Request clearance to enter TCA airspace and land at University Hospital."

"MGLF One-Niner, this is TCA Approach. You are cleared for emergency approach. Fly straight and level three-five-five degrees..."

I said "It should be here any time now."

"There it is." said Teresa, pointing southward...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tommy Hillman's parents came to the O.R. Waiting Room as he was prepped for surgery. On the roof, medical staff rushed out to the helicopter that had landed. Two of them took the liver in its container, then the rest of them took Bobby Sedgwick out and to the elevator.

Teresa and I made our way to the O.R. Waiting Room, where Laura was waiting. Teresa told Tommy's parents that the liver had arrived. For the first time in a very long time, hope appeared on their haggard faces.

And then that hope was yanked away.

"Where are the Hintons?" Dr. Leonard Cordell said angrily as he appeared in the hallway.

"Right here." said Dr. Jerry Hinton, coming up from the other side, followed by his brother Chris.

"Why aren't you scrubbing up?" asked Dr. Cordell.

"Because we can't perform the operation." said Jerry Hinton.

"What?!" Dr. Cordell almost screamed. "Who told you that lie?"

"David B. Palmer, of BigBenefitInsurance." said Jerry Hinton with alacrity. "He told us that if we perform that operation without the Hospital and its equipment being at fully functional capacity, he'll cut off the Hillmans's insurance coverage. And he'll essentially (air quotes) 'excommunicate' us from being compensated by anyone using BigBenefitInsurance's coverage."

"You gutless cowards." said Laura Fredricson, levelly but menacingly, as she came through the gathering crowd to confront the Hintons.

"We're not heroes, Dr. Fredricson." said Jerry Hinton. "We're doctors. We can't save lives if we're cut off by the Insurance industry."

"Hell's bells." said Dr. Cordell. "I'll do the operation myself."

"I'm with you, Doctor." Laura said, moving towards the O.R. doors, where Dr. Cordell was.

"You can't!" yelled Chris Hinton. "It's illegal! You're not certified to do liver transplants!"

"I am."

Everyone turned to see celebrated cardiologist Dr. Richard Searles walking down the hallway from the E.R. side. "I'm certified. And I'm with you too, Dr. Cordell."

"Thank you." said Dr. Cordell. I noticed that Cindy had come up, and was in her Sheriff's Department uniform. She also had her iPhone out.

"Doctor Cordell!" the Senior Nurse at the station said. "Dr. Hinton is correct. This hospital is not at peak functionality. It doesn't have the computer systems, and the automated equipment. You can't operate, or BigBenefitInsurance will cut off the entire Hospital."

Dr. Cordell turned and faced the nurse, his eyes blazing. I thought he might attack her, but instead he began speaking as Cindy began recording:

"Young lady, let me tell you something." Dr. Cordell began in the otherwise utterly silent hallway. "When I was in Afghanistan, we had evacuated several casualties when the Taliban attacked us. We had to take cover in a cave, and I had six Army Rangers with serious, life-threatening wounds."

Cordell: "We had my surgical kit with three scalpels and two clamps, one coil of suture string, and a few cloth bandages. We had one metal canteen cup to boil water in, to sterilize the equipment, and two flashlights as it got dark. We didn't know if the Taliban would attack our position and finish us off. It was like the Stone Age compared to this Hospital, even right now."

Cordell: "We went to work on those six Rangers. We operated on them in that cave in the middle of nowhere in that God-forsaken land. And by God, we saved them. When the Green Berets rescued us the next morning, all six of those Rangers were alive. And all six of them made it. They lived on, and they have families now. So don't start preaching to me about all this newfangled technology being necessary to perform this surgery and save this child's life."

He then looked up and said loudly: "I won't make anyone go in there. Only volunteers." Laura stepped up, and so did her nurse Connie, who'd survived the Hospital bombing with Laura (Author's note: 'Only Time', Ch. 02.). Two other nurses joined them, earning hateful glares from the Senior Nurse.

As the others disappeared behind the double doors leading to the O.R., Dr. Cordell turned back and yelled "And I damn sure didn't worry about what the God damned insurance company was going to say!" He turned and went through the doors to the O.R.

"I'm going to stop this. I'm calling the Police." the Senior Nurse spat as she reached for the phone at the Nurses Station.

"Please do." said a voice behind her. "Ask for Police Chief Sean Moynahan, and have him send Police Commander Troy straight to the scene."

"You bet I will!" the nurse said. Then she realized who was standing behind her and looked over her shoulder... into the gray eyes of the Police Commander.

"Oh. You're already here." she said. "Are you going to do your job and arrest them?"

"Nope." I said. "But I will arrest anyone who tries to stop them." I looked squarely at the Hinton brothers as I said "Well... let's just say that anyone who tries to stop them may need medical attention themselves, once I'm done... though you two are too cowardly to try." I really was hoping they'd try.

"You have no right to judge us." Chris Hinton said.

"I do." said Teresa Croyle, coming up to them. "I have every right to judge you. And you are cowards------"

"Who the fuck do you think you are to say that to us?" Jerry Hinton snarled.

I intervened. "Why, she's the most decorated Police Officer in Town & County Police Force history, having earned the Medal of Valor, Police Cross, and six, count them SIX! Purple Orders for being wounded in the line of duty. She's a badass, and she's my hero. By way of contrast... you were right, you're not heroes..." I shook my head sadly.

"And you're not going to be doctors here much longer, if I have anything to say about it." Teresa said menacingly.

"And she does." I said, right on cue.

"Now get out of my sight, you worthless cowards!" Teresa ordered, giving them the full 'Teresa Cunt' look, her eyes blazing with fury. The two doctors glared at her, then turned and went down the hallway. The hallway cleared quickly.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Teresa was staying with Tommy's parents in the waiting room, reassuring her that his medical expenses would be covered no matter what. Cindy also stayed there, and four TCPD Uniformed Officers were sent up to make sure nothing 'untoward' happened.

Meanwhile, I went down to the I.T. Room. Only Mary, Myron, and Cameron Wakefield were in the room, and they were busily working on the problem.

"I sent Marty Steen and his techs to take a break, then start disconnecting all the equipment from the ethernet." Mary said as she paused to report to me. "As to the virus, the information that Cameron's brother gave us on that jump drive------"

"Wait." I said. "How did you know that?"

"I told them, sir." said Cameron Wakefield. "I know he endangered himself by coming here at all, but if you trust these guys, I sure do."

"And I do." I said. "Still, let's not endanger him further by any discussion of him. So how's it going?"

Mary said "It's Cerberus and Charrington, sir, being used together in an insidious way to invade the systems, shut them down, then to prevent us from getting back at them."

Myron said "What Donovan gave us was pieces of the codes... he didn't have all of it, nor does any one person on earth, that we know of... but they give us a framework to attack the virus. Cameron here is taking the lead on it."

"It's a bitch, though." said Cameron. "Every time we try something, it just blocks us off. I try feinting in one place then moving to another, but it's like it knows in advance what I'm doing, and just blocks it off. And we've tried mounting multiple inroads, but it just blocks them all. It's totally in control."

Mary said "Sir, what is your vision for an endgame for this? Recover the files that we can? The Hospital will probably have to completely replace all of its systems and servers, and all of the equipment will have to have their electronics scrubbed or, more likely, replaced. And we're talking in the millions of dollars to do that. Probably more than $100 million, sir."

"You're not giving up, are you?" I asked, understanding what Mary was really saying. My eyes bored into hers.

"No sir, we'll never give up." Mary said. "But neither did the Greeks at Thermopylae------"

Just then, the door to the I.T. Room opened... and in walked Donovan Wakefield. He took off his mask and paper hat. His skin was darker than white but lighter than black or Hispanic. His eyes were dark, and his tightly curly hair was black. He was clean-shaven. The resemblance to Cameron was apparent, but there were distinct differences between them.

"You're endangering yourself." I said in warning.

"Yes, Commander, I am." said Donovan Wakefield, his dark eyes looking squarely into my gray peepers. "But I'll be in danger all my life, anyway. And the danger to me is nothing compared to what the Croyle Foundation money means to a lot of kids, now and in the future. Cameron is better than me at this, but maybe I can help."

I nodded. "Thank you. And one thing's for sure, Donovan. You are not a coward..."

Part 9 - Victory

"From far away in mountains deep
The night of blood in twilight sleep
The armies fight for king and queen
There will be no, no victory...

The swords collide with power and force
As mighty men show no remorse
It is the time, the snow is melting
It is the time of reckoning..."

------ Two Steps From Hell, 'Victory'.

"Okay." said Dr. Cordell as he and the others came into the operating room. "We've got a good life-signs monitor, and he's doing well, so far. Do we have units of whole blood of his blood type?"

"Yes Doctor." said the nurse Connie. "But we had to type him with the paper test, so we've got O-Negative blood to make sure it'll be okay.

"Good." said Dr. Cordell. "Do we have a cryo machine, to cool him down and slow his heart rate?"

"Yes, Doctor." said Dr. Fredricson. "But it's not synced up to the life-signs monitor, so we'll have to monitor his signs manually."

"We can do that." said Dr. Cordell. "Okay, Dr. Searles, are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, Doctor." Dr. Searles replied.

"Okay then, I'll open him up." said Dr. Cordell. "Scalpel..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wow, this thing is just not playing." said Donovan Wakefield as the four cyber-gurus worked feverishly. "I'm not seeing any way to trick it into looking one way while we advance in another way."

"It's practically giving us hints of places to come at us," said Myron, "only to shut them ff when we try."

"Sounds like that game 'Stratagema' on Star Trek." I said. "When the Kolrami grandmaster was playing Mr. Data." (Author's note: 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', episode 'Peak Performance'.) I don't know what brought that thought into my head, but it had an effect.

"Wait, that may be it!" said Cameron Wakefield. "It's literally expecting us to try to make inroads... what if we don't?" He began typing furiously...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oh wow." said Dr. Cordell. "There's not much left of this liver to extract. He wouldn't have made it three more days." As he and Dr. Searles made the necessary clampings and cuts to remove Tommy's diseased liver, Laura brought over the donated organ.

"Okay, it's out." said Dr. Searles. "No bleeding anywhere. What are his vitals?... Damn, it's hard to tell if he's too cold or not."

"His vitals are slow but steady." said Dr. Cordell. "Let's keep going..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hey, you did something!" Mary Milton said. "We've isolated part of the core. It tried to take it back over, but it can't."

"Keep blocking it." said Donovan Wakefield. "What did it let us have when it tried to retake that stack?"

"The memory... oh no you don't!" Cameron said as he typed some more. Then he said "This thing is doubly insidious... if it can't take something over, or take it back, it tries to just destroy it. But that... we can stop cold. Okay, we've got most of the core back..."

I could sense that they were making progress, even though I had no idea of what they were doing beyond typing. I was hearing the music of Two Steps From Hell's 'Victory' in my head, so I figured we must be winning...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"There's bleeding, Doctor." Dr. Fredricson said as she took a clamp and attached it to a blood vessel, stanching the trickle of blood.

"Good catch." said Dr. Searles as he worked to attach the liver to the blood vessels it would need to function properly. His brow began sweating, and Connie the nurse wiped his forehead. "I'm not... I'm thinking something's not right. I'm missing something!"

"Take a breath, Doctor." said Dr. Cordell.

"I just..." said Dr. Searles. "I'm certified for this, but it's far more complicated than the heart surgeries I do. And I've got to get it perfect."

"Trust your experience, Doctor." said Cordell. "And trust your instincts. And you've got a great team here helping you where you need it."

"Doctor Fredricson, can you get that vessel clamped down?" Dr. Searles said. Laura took care of that, then Dr. Searles said "Ah! there it is. That tricky little blood vessel was trying to hide under there. Come to Papa... there we go..."

"Good work, Doctor." said Cordell. "Keep it up. We're almost there."

As they worked, Laura and Connie glanced at each other, knowing that they had just seen a sterling example of leadership... the leadership that made Leonard R. Cordell a United States Navy Admiral. And a damn good trauma doctor...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Oh man, I'm losing it." said Cameron Wakefield. "It's taking that back... I've got to stop it, but I can't stop this. Whaa?"

He'd felt a hand on his shoulder. It was mine. I said "Just relax, Cameron. You've got this. Just take it one step at a time. Don't be distracted..."

"It's too fast for me!" Cameron said.

"I've got it blocked." said Mary. "Finish protecting the core."

"Yeah, but it's------"

"Finish that." I said. "Like the Navy SEALs are taught... do one task, only that task, before moving to the next. You've got a great team around you. Let them take care of that other stuff. Just finish that one task... there you go..."

"I've got that backdoor it's attempting." said Donovan. "Just keep on the core."

Cameron typed furiously then exhaled loudly and said "Okay, I got it. The core is protected. Now we can start taking back the file system..."

As he began isolating the next thing, Myron and Mary glanced at each other, knowing they had yet again seen an example of leadership... the leadership that had made Donald Troy the Town & County Police Commander...

...and the Iron Crowbar.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Okay, that's it." said Dr. Searles as he removed the last clamp.

"Let's start warming him back up." said Dr. Cordell. "Slowly. Watch his vitals." They watched, almost forgetting to breathe. Tommy's heart rate started to speed up, as did his own breathing.

"Everything looks good, Doctor." Laura said. "No bleeding anywhere."

"And I haven't left anything inside him." Dr. Searles said, checking the items he'd used to make sure they were on the table, and not inside Tommy.

"I'll start closing him up." said Dr. Cordell, personally taking the role usually left to junior doctors...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

6:45pm, Tuesday, March 30th. I had left the I.T. Room and come up to the O.R. area, to check on the transplant surgery. The Sheriff and Chief Moynahan decided to come with me, maybe to stretch their legs.

Teresa met us in the hallway near the Nurses Station. "Tommy Hillman was taken into post-op, where old but usable equipment are monitoring his vitals." she said. "It looks like the transplant was successful, but we'll wait for the doctors to tell us."

Meanwhile, the three doctors and the nurses cleaned up, then walked towards the doors to the main hallway. "I appreciate the pep talk in there, Dr. Cordell." said Dr. Searles. "It really helped me keep going."

"You did an outstanding job, Dr. Searles." Cordell said. "And you too, Dr. Fredricson."

"Yes, we couldn't have done it without your help in there, Dr. Fredricson." said Dr. Searles. "You've got ice water in your veins. How do you do it?"

"Oh, I knew that both you and Dr. Cordell are great doctors." Laura said. "And being married to the Iron Crowbar rubs off on me, I guess." Dr. Cordell laughed out loud at that.

As they stepped into the main hallway, they found a gathering of nurses, doctors, orderlies, other staff, including the Hospital Administrator, and Police Officers. As Chief Deputy Sheriff Ross recorded on her iPhone, the crowd burst into a loud and sustained round of applause.

"Thank you, everyone." said Dr. Cordell after a moment. "But let's make sure Tommy recovers fully, eh?"

"Thanks to you, Doctors, he has a good chance." Teresa Croyle said. There was more applause.

Dr. Cordell and Dr. Searles went into the waiting room, where Tommy's parents were waiting with a Police Captain in a dark blue uniform... with a clerical collar instead of a tie. Father Alberto Romano had worn his uniform in case he was needed to help maintain order... and his clerical collar in case he was needed for more Spiritual things.

"He's in post-op." said Dr. Searles. "We'll keep monitoring him to make sure there's no infections and that he's not trying to reject the new liver. But I'm cautiously optimistic that the operation will be a success."

"Tommy still has a long road ahead of him." said Dr. Cordell. "But he's a strong kid."

Tommy's parents were sobbing. "Thank you, thank you." said Mrs. Hillman.

"And thank you for going in there." said Mr. Hillman. "I just hope it won't come back around to hurt you. BigBenefitInsurance is insidious."

Teresa had come in, and said "Forgive me for saying this Father Romano... but to HELL with BigBenefitInsurance!"

Outside in the hallway, the crowd was about to break up, but everyone stopped when they saw Mary Milton come out of the stairwell on the E.R. side. They had stopped because her face looked weirdly surrealistic as she stood before us.

"Well?" barked Sheriff Griswold. "What happened?" Mary could no longer hide the smile on her face as she raised her right fist in the air and yelled:

"K'PLAA!"

Everyone knew what that meant: success! The hallway crowd again burst into another sustained round of applause.

Sheriff Griswold was very un-Klingon-like in his response. He went forward to shake Mary's hand, then pulled her to him in a bear hug. "Outstanding! I knew you could do it!" he said, considerable emotion in his voice.

"I admit that I didn't think we could." Mary said. "Thank that guy for not letting us give up." She was pointing right at me...