Notorious Nineteen

had a chance to look at my watch before my wrists were taped and I knew the audio was active. The plus sign was visible in the watch face. My hope was that Ranger had rescued Morelli and Briggs by now and gotten help for Morelli before he lost too much blood. I was trying to stay calm. This was helped by the fact that I was exhausted.
    The cemetery was dark, lit only by a sliver of moon. We drove through acres of headstones. All uniform. The Levittownof cemeteries. Sunshine took a road that went off into a raw field. No headstones here. I was in the back of the van with the body bags but I could see through the windshield. Sunshine pulled to the side and stopped.
    The Yeti hauled me out of the van and went back for the body bags. He dragged them to a big hole in the ground and pitched them in.
    “God bless,” the Yeti said.
    “Now you,” Sunshine said. “Get into the pit.”
    “I thought I was a hostage.”
    “Only for this far. The facility can’t handle more than two patients at a time. The process becomes too complicated. We have to hold the donor and keep him healthy until all the recipients are in place. It’s most lucrative when you can harvest multiple organs, but that requires precision timing.”
    The Yeti shoved me to the edge of the grave. “Get in,” he said. “Jump.”
    “Are you going to bury me alive?”
    “No. I’m going to shoot you,” the Yeti said, “but it’s neater if you’re already in the hole.”
    He shoved me again, I lost my balance and fell into the grave, on top of the body bags. I saw the Yeti raise the rifle to shoot me, I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could make a sound I heard Crack, crack! The Yeti and Sunshine went down. I was on my back on the frozen corpses, numb not just from the cold seeping up into me but from the horror of the day.
    I struggled to my feet and stood on one of the body bags to look over the edge of the hole. The Yeti and Sunshine were sprawled on the ground, not moving. I tried to climb out, but the dirt gave way under me. A car drove up in the dark, no headlights but I could make out the outline. The car parked and Ranger and two of his men got out.
    Ranger walked to the edge of the grave and jumped in. He lifted me up into the arms of one of his men, and I was back on solid ground. The man gave Ranger a hand up, and Ranger was next to me, cutting the tape off my wrists.
    “This is getting to be a bad habit,” Ranger said. “This is the second time I’ve had to cut you out of tape today.”
    “Morelli?” I asked him.
    “He’s fine. Getting locked in a freezer is a good way to stop bleeding from gunshot. Tank and Eugene got him out and took him to St. Francis.”
    “I love this watch,” I told him.
    “Remember to shut it off when you go into the bathroom. I don’t want my men in the control room getting distracted.”
    A second car drove up, and Hal got out.
    “I’m going to have Hal take you home,” Ranger said. “I have some cleanup to do here.”
    “Are you just going to shovel dirt on them?”
    “I’d like to. That would be much easier. Unfortunately the police will have to get involved.”
    Morelli, I found out, was still in surgery when we got to Trenton, so Hal dropped me off at St. Francis. I thanked him and told him it wasn’t necessary for him to wait. He said the Buick was parked in the garage, and Morelli had the key.
    I waved Hal away and walked into the ER reception area. Briggs was there huddled in a blanket, looking tired. He jumped to his feet the instant he saw me and rushed over, suddenly all smiles.
    “We heard you were okay! What happened?” he asked.
    “I got pushed into an open grave. It was awful.” I felt myself choke up and I swiped at tears. “Sorry,” I said. “It’s been a long day.”
    “Tell me about it. I was bawling like a baby in the meat locker. The tears were all frozen on my face when the Rangeman guy broke in.”
    “How’d they get the door open?”
    “The little guy, Eugene, had an electronic gizmo that figured out the combination. The whole operation was freakin’ impressive. Rangeman had an EMT truck and medics waiting for us when we got out.”
    “Thanks for staying with Morelli.”
    “No problem. I guess you’ll take over now.”
    I nodded. “I’ll wait here.”
    “That would be great. I think I pissed my pants when I got shoved into the freezer. I wouldn’t mind going home and throwing these clothes away. I don’t want anything that reminds me of