The Loch

Chapter 33

There were no members of the media present, only two shell-shocked guards and Francesca Kasa, my father's private nurse, who hovered over Angus as he lay slumped on the floor of his cell.

"Angus, listen to me! You're having a heart attack! Hang on, I've called the hospital, an ambulance is on the way."

The nurse turned to the two guards as Angus lay there groaning. "They'll never get a gurney down that circular stairwell. We need to carry him up. Now! Come on, move!"

The two guards hurried into the cell.

Sirens blaring, the ambulance roared up the driveway behind Inverness Castle, then backed up to the police barracks just as the guards emerged carrying Angus.

A female EMT jumped down from the back of the van, her long, raven-colored hair tucked beneath her cap. With one of the guards help, she removed the gurney, "Lay him down, quickly!"

The guards complied, just as their superior, Captain Douglas Galliac, hurried over from his post. "Whit's a' this?"

Nurse Kasa secured Angus to the gurney as the female paramedic hovered over him, listening to his heart with her stethoscope. "Myocardial infarction… it's a massive heart attack."

"Probably a blood clot in one or more of his coronary arteries," called out the EMT. "I'm startin' him on Retavase."

The paramedic hooked up a clear IV bag to the gurney, passing the needle end to the nurse, who jabbed Angus in the arm.

"Ahh!"

Captain Galliac went pale. "Is he gonnae make it? Where are ye takin' him?"

"Where dae ye think?" the nurse yelled back.

"Well, I cannae jist let him go, he's been convicted o' murder!"

"An' he could die if ye keep us here. Then you can explain tae the media how the sheriff's office executed their prisoner without him ever bein' sentenced."

"What's the holdup, people?" the female driver yelled from the front seat of the ambulance. "We've got a surgical team standing by for an emergency angiogram and stent."

"Oh Bloody Hell… Mastramico, Edwards, load him aboard, then follow them tae the hospital. I've got tae find the sheriff. An' no media!"

The paramedic and nurse climbed in the back of the van as the two guards lifted Angus and his gurney to them. The double doors were slammed closed, and the ambulance accelerated away.

The emergency vehicle raced down the winding path of Castle Street, its blasting siren alerting a second ambulance, identical to the first, that had been waiting at the bottom of the hill for the last ten minutes.

The first ambulance, driven by Theresa Cialino, turned right onto the main road, forcing traffic to one side while the second emergency vehicle, driven by her cousin, James Fox, hesitated just long enough for the trailing sheriff's car to appear in his rear view mirror. When it did, he accelerated into traffic, turning left.

Brandy watched the scene from the back of the first van as she removed her EMT's garb. "That was fun. I've never been a fugitive before."

"Accomplice, lass, I'm the fugitive." Angus winced as he removed the IV from his arm. "Theresa, how much farther?"

"Two minutes, hang on." Theresa cut the siren, then pulled off the main road into an industrial park. Slowing to traverse the speed bumps, she followed an alleyway back to a row of self-store garages.

Reaching into her jacket pocket, she removed a garage door opener and activated it.

The second to the last garage door rolled open, revealing a silver 2004 Audi TT Roadster.

Angus, now dressed in a black Nike sweat suit and sunglasses, climbed down from the back of the ambulance. "Well done, team. Brandy, ye're wi' me. Theresa an' Francesca, ye ken whit tae dae."

The nurse reached up and kissed Angus passionately on the lips. "Don't worry about us, we'll be fine."

Angus swatted her playfully on the behind. "Indeed ye will, but another kiss like that, an' I'll really end up in the hospital."

True MacDonald's eyes grew wide as a thousand feet of umbilical cord quickly disappeared below the surface. "Zachary, can ye hear me? Zachary, come in!"

As the last of the slack was taken up, the floating aluminum barrel suddenly shot across the surface, moving at fifteen knots as it sped toward the eastern shore.

"Shyte!" True hurried into the wheelhouse and started the twin engines, racing the trawler yacht after the barrel.

The aluminum tank struck the embankment with a resounding, bong, spun around three times, then was forcibly yanked underwater.

"Gee-zus!" True cut the engines and waited for the barrel to reappear. When it didn't, he gunned the motor, heading south toward Aldourie Pier. "I warned him an' warned him, but did he bloody listen? "Course not!"

True reversed the engines and drifted in to the pier, tossing the bow-line to his father. "Tie that off, will ye, Pop?"

Alban complied. "Whit happened?"

"Ye ken whit happened. The monster took him."

"Then he's deid."

"He's no' deid!" True rummaged through a wooden crate, grabbing a flashlight and the two remaining underwater charges. Climbing over the starboard rail, he jumped down to the pier and double-timed it toward shore, his father in tow.

"Whit are ye gonnae dae now then, laddie?"

"Rescue Zack."

"Ye cannae! The lair's off-limits, ye ken that."

"I dinnae care aboot breakin' the blood oath," he said, hurrying up the grassy acreage to Aldourie Castle. "Zachary's my best friend."

"Son, listen tae me… if the creature took him, ye ken it's a'ready too late."

"He's wearin' a dive suit. He could still be alive."

"No' likely." Alban ran ahead of him, blocking him as he reached a castle drive overrun by weeds. "Finley, wait!"

True paused.

"I didnae stop ye when ye went after him in Invermoriston. But this is different. I cannae stand by an' allow ye tae violate yer blood oath."

"It's ower, Pop. Angus wis right. This creature's got tae be dealt wi', an' Zack cannae dae it alone. Now ye either help me or get oot o' my way, but ye willnae be stoppin' me. No' today."

True pushed past his father and walked around to the side of the baroque dwelling. Rust-stained concrete walls were overwhelmed by a growth of vines, concealing an open, first floor passage.

True pushed the foliage aside and climbed through.