Asprin, Robert Lynn – Catwoman – Tiger Hunt (With Lynn Abbey)

“But he’s likely to pull through?”

The green-clad surgeon winced and looked uncomfortable. “We’ve done a lot of work. We think we’ve repaired the worst of the damage and stopped the bleeding. But the risk of infection is high. We’ll know better in a day or two.” He backstepped, effectively ending the conversation.

The police officer started moving again. Batman promised that he’d call in the morning. He blamed himself for the Russian’s sorry condition. In his effort to gain more information and land bigger fish, he’d allowed a crime to progress beyond the point where he had it stopped. He’d needlessly exposed a young man—an ignorant and naive and therefore innocent young man—to the naked danger of the streets. And, in the end, he hadn’t learned anything.

“Batman?” The officer had stopped just beyond conversation distance. He was clearly uncomfortable with his assigned duty. “The Feds came and took the body, before we could identify it. They chewed up Commissioner Gordon pretty bad. Now Gordon wants to meet with you in his office. We’ve got to hurry. We had trouble finding you, and we’re going to be late.”

Gordon’s office wasn’t any place Batman particularly wanted to be, but to refuse the officer’s invitation was to endanger a long-standing, but always delicate, relationship.

“Let’s not be any later than necessary,” he said with more enthusiasm than he felt, and followed the officer through the hospital.

He followed in silence. He held little hope that the meeting with Gordon would be productive, and that little was squashed when he saw a quartet of unfamiliar faces waiting with the Commissioner.