Vespers

Seventeen

Detective Gentry and Dr. Joyce arrived by squad car at St. Vincent ’s Hospital on Seventh Avenue and Eleventh Street. That was where Field Sergeant Rhodes and Officer Hotchkiss had been taken.

Rhodes had been hurried from the emergency room to surgery. She’d suffered two badly broken ribs, a punctured lung-it had been penetrated from the outside, not by one of the ribs-and dozens of severe bite wounds up and down her body. The back of the top of her right thigh and one of her heels were practically gone. The bottoms of both ears had been chewed away. She had lost a great deal of blood.

Hotchkiss had suffered severe lacerations of the face, scalp, back, and legs. He was pale and bruised, and it hurt to move. But when Gentry and Joyce asked to see him, he agreed. His physician and a burly, balding ESU lieutenant were standing beside the bed when they arrived.

Gentry always felt honored to be with someone who had put it on the line like the ESU squad had. They’d known there was danger and they walked right the hell into it. Gentry felt miserable about the deaths but it was partially offset by the pride he felt in this man.

Gentry smiled as he walked toward the bed. The men moved away. “Officer, I’m Detective Gentry, Midtown South. I want you to know you’ve got a lot of people proud and pulling for you, Officer Hotchkiss.”

“They cut us to pieces,” young Hotchkiss replied thickly from between slashed lips.

“You went in knowing there was bad news down there,” Gentry said. “That didn’t stop you.”

Lieutenant Kilar touched the officer’s shoulder. “You also saved the life of Sergeant Rhodes.That’s what happened down there.”

Dr. Joyce walked toward the bed. The men moved away.

“Officer, I’m Dr. Nancy Joyce. I’m with the Bronx Zoo. How are you?”

“Do I need…a vet?”

“No,” she smiled.

She knelt beside him and touched his left cheek with the back of her fingers. It was the only part of his round face that appeared unhurt. The injured police officer smiled up at her with his eyes.

“I want to ask you a few questions. You okay with that?”

He nodded once.

She smiled back. “What can you tell me about the little bats?”

“Not much. It was dark.”

“Do you know what size they were?”

He thought for a moment. “About mouse size. Mice with wings.”

“Their color?”

“I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right. You’re doing fine. What did the bats do first?”

“They attacked Sergeant Rhodes.”

“Where was she relative to you?”

“South of us, maybe two yards.”

“Did the bats come at you in a wave?”

“There were several waves, I think. It was difficult to see.”

“And they all flew at Sergeant Rhodes?”

He nodded. “Until we tried to help her.”

“Then what happened?”

“Some of them peeled off,” Hotchkiss said. “It felt like they were trying to push Brophy and me to the side while they also bit us.”

“And when you were leaving the tunnel? Did they follow?”

“Some of them did for a while. Then they stopped. Very suddenly.”

“One more question,” Joyce said. “The other two officers who were down there with you-”

“Lord and Nicco.”

“Lord and Nicco,” Joyce repeated. “What happened to them?”

The remnants of Hotchkiss’s smile vanished. The pain of the memory was evident in the slow downturn of his mouth, in his distant eyes. “The vic fell off a girder-”

“The who?”

Lieutenant Kilar explained, “The victim. The man they went in to find.”

“He fell,” Joyce repeated. “Then what happened? What did you see?”

Officer Hotchkiss continued slowly, “A shape. All I saw was a big, black, moving shape.”

“Could that have been a bat too?”

“What?” Kilar said.

Hotchkiss’s eyes grew red. “I don’t know. It was like Lord and Nicco just rose off the ground and dropped. They didn’t move after that. Brophy was fighting more of the bats than me, so he yelled that I should go get Sergeant Rhodes out of there. I did. Then we heard Brophy. He, uh…he wasn’t having a real easy time, screaming…” Hotchkiss began to sob.

The doctor moved behind Joyce and said, “Let him rest.”

Joyce nodded and rose. She looked down at Hotchkiss. “Thank you,” she said.

Hotchkiss nodded once and tried to stop crying as she walked away. The lieutenant and Gentry joined Joyce by the door.

“Doctor, what kind of crap was that?”

“Lieutenant?”

“You can’t be serious about what you were asking him,” the lieutenant said. “A giant bat?”

“We’re definitely looking into the possibility of a bat of unusual size and strength,” Joyce replied.

Kilar sneered. “If this is a joke, I’m definitely not in the mood for it.”

“Lieutenant, this is no joke,” Gentry said.

Kilar looked at him. “How do you know?”

“A deer was found way up in a tree,” Gentry went on. “People have been carried off and mauled. We’ve got impressions of teeth that match bat teeth, only much, much bigger.”

“You’ve also got bats on the brain,” the lieutenant said. “The two of you. This is ridiculous.”

“What would you think?” Gentry asked.

“Exactly what we’ve told the media.”

“That there’s a wacko down in the tunnel-”

“That’s right. An unbalanced individual who’s swinging an ax or knife and scaring up the bats that live in the tunnel. Teeth and knives are sometimes difficult to tell apart in badly mauled corpses-”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Gentry snapped.

“No, Detective,” Kilar snapped back. “A giant bat or rat or alligator in the sewer-that’sbullshit.”

“Lieutenant,” Joyce said, “I understand there’s another team ready to go into the tunnel.”

Kilar glanced over at Hotchkiss. He ushered the group into the hallway and shut the door.

“That’s right, Doctor,” the lieutenant said. “We’ve got three subway lines shut down. We’ve got the media way up our butts. The mayor has Gordy Weeks at the Office of Emergency Management ready to take this whole thing over if we don’t clear it up by the evening rush hour. I don’t want this slipping past the ESU, not on my watch. As soon as the mayor comes up to commend Officer Hotchkiss for his bravery, I’m going back to the command truck, and the team is going in. We’re going to find and stop whoever orwhat ever is behind this.”

“How will your people be protected?” Joyce asked.

“With exposure suits, which are thick and heavily insulated. They’ll have self-contained breathing apparatus, goggles, and electrical gloves and boots tight at the wrists and ankles. They’re to get in,” he lowered his voice, “recover the bodies, and get out. Once they do that, we’ll go in again, this time a little deeper.”

Joyce said, “The problem is that if the bats-not the large one but the ordinary little ones-decide to attack, all of your protective clothing may not be enough.”

“The team will also be armed.”

“Bats are notoriously uncooperative targets.”

“Look, Doctor,” Kilar said. “I don’t know enough to argue with what you’re telling me. Do you know Al Doyle at pest control?”

Joyce shook her head.

“He’s a good man. He’s on his way to the site, and he’s going to be running that side of things. He knows the weaponry, and he says we’ll be all right. But if you’d like to come along and advise him-”

“Lieutenant,” Joyce said, “these bats aren’t pests. We’ve tested saliva we found in the wounds. They don’t appear to be sick or rabid.”

“Al’s still in charge,” Kilar said.

“That’s not what I mean,” she said through her teeth. “The way the attacks start and stop all seem to be tied to geography. That’s not typical bat behavior-it’s not typicalpest behavior. This is a pattern no one’s ever seen before. Not me, not a rat catcher, not anyone. What I’m saying is you have to approach this very, very carefully.”

Kilar’s radio came to life. The dispatcher informed him that the mayor’s limousine was on the way. The lieutenant said he would inform the medical team, then come downstairs to meet him.

“As I said,” Kilar told Joyce, “if you want to give us the benefit of your expertise, I’d love to have it.”

“Thanks for the invitation, but I think I’ll tackle this from another direction.” She excused herself, then left.

Kilar glared at Gentry and stepped closer. “I lost some good people today. You oughta know when to back the fuck off.”

“I’ll back off when I’m sure more good people aren’t going to be butchered-”

“Thanks for the advice. If you find out anything about this perp, something I can use, you’ll let me know?”

Gentry nodded. Kilar returned to the hospital room.

Gentry ran after Joyce. He caught up to her, and the two walked quickly toward the elevator.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“Right.”

“I am. You’re not having a very good afternoon.”

“You don’t know the half of it.”

“Tell me.”

“I thought it was obvious back there. Another case of SDS.”

“SDS?”

“Swinging dick syndrome. The idea that men do things better.”

“Another? Is that what you thought I was doing in the tunnel?”

“Weren’t you?”

“Oh, come on, Nancy! I thought I explained-”

“You did. I never said I believed you.”

“Well, it wasn’t SDS,” Gentry said. “And neither is this. The lieutenant may not have much of an imagination, and I can’t say I blame him for not believing there’s a giant bat on the loose. But he cares about the problem and he did want your help. He asked you to come to the command center.”

“In support of his man.”

“No. But it’s like anyplace else. There’s a pecking order-”

“A pecker order, you mean.”

Gentry swung in front of her and stopped. So did she. “Look, I’m not saying that doesn’t exist in the NYPD. But that’s not what you got from the lieutenant and it’s not what you got from me. You have to believe that.”

“I’ll try,” she said, then moved around him.

He turned and walked with her. She reached the elevator and jabbed the button.

“Let them stick to their ‘pecking’ order,” she went on. “Only if they do, there’s going to be a lot less order and a lot more pecking. The kind you saw in the tunnel. This isn’t a job for pseudo-experts.”

The elevator arrived and they stepped into the empty car. Joyce leaned against a corner, her eyes downcast.

“Like I said before, Nancy, I’m sorry this hasn’t worked out the way you wanted.”

They were quiet for a moment. It was the silence of cooling off.

“I can’t remember,” Gentry said. “Did I ever thank you for coming?”

“I wanted to come.”

“Well, thank you anyway. Whatever this thing is, we’re going to figure it out and lick it.”

She was silent again. Gentry didn’t know what else to say, so he said nothing.

When the elevator door opened, they walked down a crowded corridor toward the Eleventh Street exit. Gentry had to hustle to keep up with the woman.

“Whatare you planning to do?” he asked.

“I was thinking about heading back to my office and getting on-line,” she said. “I’m relatively up-to-date on all the current bat literature, but I could’ve missed some research somewhere. Occasionally the reports about bats show up under different headings.”

“You mean like dead livestock or missing persons or things like that,” Gentry said.

She nodded. “You may also be onto something with that Hudson route you mentioned before. I want to check it out.”

“Y’know, I have access to a lot of reports that aren’t a matter of public information.”

“That could be useful.”

“I was thinking that maybe we should pool our resources.”

“Don’t you have cases and crimes to work on?”

“Always. But this one’s got me hooked. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He smiled at her. “What about you?”

“My assistant Marc will cover the school lectures.”

“Excellent. So how about it? We can work together.”

She thought for a moment. “Sure. It makes sense.”

“Then I have a suggestion. The subways are going to be screwed up for a while, and getting to the Bronx will be a pain. My apartment’s a short walk away. Why don’t we go there?”

“Nice one.” She allowed the hint of a smile. “You inviting me up to see your guano?”

“Absolutely. It’s a babe magnet.”

Her smile flowered a little more.

“You can use my computer, and if you’re hungry we can eat. Also, if they find anything in the subways, I’ll hear about it and we can go right over.”

Joyce nodded. Now Gentry smiled.

Fortunately, the mayor was arriving as they were leaving. The cluster of reporters gathered outside-Kathy Leung among them-failed to notice Nancy Joyce.

Gentry stopped at a pay phone and called NYPD ICCU, the Inter-city Correspondence Unit, also known as the Stat Unit. He wanted to get them working on the bat attacks as soon as possible. This small division, which is composed mainly of civilians, primarily involves itself with collecting information from and disseminating information to police departments in other cities. The wait time for information is typically a day or two. But Gentry got preferential treatment. That was because he made it a point to remember the birthdays of key personnel with flowers or Knicks tickets. It was a habit he’d started during his days as a narc, when he couldn’t afford to wait more than a few hours for background checks on possible perps in Bridgeport or New Haven or White Plains.

Gentry asked Max Schneider to go back a year and check bat assaults in the northeast and up into Canada. Max promised to beep him as soon as he had something.

Ten minutes later, after paying for a sausage and onion pizza at a small shop on Hudson Street and Eleventh, Joyce and Gentry were on their way to the detective’s apartment.