The men gathered around Rufus, holding him down. Even with their combined weight, it was barely enough.
Rufus looked back at them, so enraged, so terrified, he could barely keep his senses. Just like the night when Ruth Ann Mosley had perished. They ripped his shirtsleeve up, exposing his sinewy forearm, the veins strong and pronounced. He shut his eyes and then opened them again as he saw the shiny needle coming his way. He shut his eyes one more time. When he opened them he was no longer in the infirmary at Fort Jackson. He was in the stockade in South Carolina a quarter of a century ago. The door burst open and a group of men walked in like they owned the place, like they owned him. There was only one he didn’t know by sight. He had expected to see the batons come out, to feel the sharp thrusts into his ribs, against his buttocks and forearms. It had become a morning and evening ritual. As he absorbed the blows in silence, his mind would recite a Bible prayer, his spiritual side carrying him past the physical torture.
Instead, a gun was placed against his head. He was told to kneel down on the floor and to close his eyes. That’s when it happened. He remembered the surprise, the shock he had felt as he stared up at the grinning, triumphant group. The smiles vanished when, a few minutes later, Harms rose, threw off the men as though they were weightless, burst through his cell door, bowled over the guard on duty and was out of the stockade, running wild.
Rufus blinked again and he was back in the infirmary, looking at the faces, the bodies bearing down on him. He saw the needle coming closer to his forearm. He was looking up, the only person doing that. That’s when he saw the second needle puncture the IV bag, the fluid from the hypodermic flowing into the lidocaine solution.
Vic Tremaine had carried out his task calmly and efficiently, as though he were watering flowers instead of committing murder. He didn’t even look at his victim. Rufus jerked his head back around and eyed the IV needle held by the doctor. It was just about to puncture his skin, discharging into his body whatever poison Tremaine had chosen to kill him with. They had taken half his life already. He was not about to let them take the rest, not yet.
Rufus timed it as best as he could.
“Shit!” the doctor yelled, as Rufus ripped free from the restraint, grabbed his hand and whipped it across his body. The IV stand came tumbling down; the IV bag hit the floor and burst. A furious Tremaine took the opportunity to quickly leave the infirmary. Rufus’s chest suddenly tightened, and his breathing became constricted. When the doctor managed to stagger up, he looked at Rufus. So still was the prisoner that the doctor had to check the monitor to make sure he was still alive. As he stared at vital signs that had dropped to dangerously low levels, he said, “Nobody can take this many extremes. He could be going into shock.” He turned to a nurse. “Get a medevac helicopter up here.” He looked at the head guard. “We’re not equipped to handle this kind of situation. We’ll stabilize him and then fly him to the hospital in Roanoke. But we need to move fast. I assume you’re sending a guard with him.”
The guard rubbed his bruised jaw and looked at the docile Rufus. “I’d send a whole platoon if they could fit in the damn chopper.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
* * *
Escorted by an armed guard, Michael Fiske walked unsteadily down the hallway. Waiting at the end of the corridor was the uniformed officer who had questioned him earlier. Michael could see that he was holding two pieces of paper.
“Mr. Fiske, I didn’t identify myself when we first met. My name is Colonel Frank Rayfield. I’m the commanding officer here.”
Michael licked his lips. Frank Rayfield was one of the men Rufus had named in his appeal. The name had meant nothing to Michael at the time. Inside this prison, it meant that he was going to die. Who could have imagined that two of the men Rufus had accused of, essentially, murder in his appeal would be here of all places? But now that he thought about it, this would be a perfect place for them to keep close watch on Rufus Harms.