chapter 121
THE STATE TROOPER assisted the two medics in loading Moon Pie into the ambulance. They were rushing to get their patient to the hospital. One asked if the handcuffs were necessary.
“I ain’t taking ’em off,” the state trooper explained.
Moon Pie was a bloody mess lying on the white sheets of the gurney. It was obvious he had lost a great deal of blood, and nobody thought much of his survival chances.
“What’s he done?” the female medic asked as she stowed some gear.
The state trooper nodded toward their new patient. “That’s Ethan ‘Moon Pie’ Daniels. He’s violent, a world-class poacher, a con man, we suspect he’s beginning to dabble in Internet scams, we know that he’s a drug runner, and he’s basically just a worthless piece of crap who would do anything for easy money…and sometimes just for the hell of it. You should consider him very dangerous.”
Suddenly the paramedics seemed to have lost their urgency.
“Well, we’ll keep him cuffed even though the hospital hates having their patients handcuffed. We’ll tell ’em about this dude.”
“I promise you, cuffed is the only way to travel with this guy.”
“Gotcha. You’re comin’ with us, aren’t you?” she asked, feeling uncomfortable about being in the back with such a notorious criminal.
“Yeah, I guess so. I sure hate leaving my buddy out there, but I gotta follow protocol,” the trooper answered.
The trooper explained the situation to a young deputy who had just arrived and then asked him to keep an eye on his cruiser until he returned.
Before loading Moon Pie into the ambulance, the state trooper bent to his face and said, “Hey, Moon Pie? Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?”
Moon Pie didn’t move. The two medics and the deputy watched curiously.
“Moon? Open your eyes!”
Moon Pie barely opened them, and the state trooper leaned in until the front brim of his hat almost touched Moon Pie’s face. He said, “I got your sorry, gutshot ass, and I’m gonna stay right beside you.”
As the trooper stood, blocking the view of the medics, he put his hand on Moon Pie’s wound and squeezed. “Is that where it hurts?”
Moon Pie let out a quick whimper and then passed out.
“We really should go,” the female medic said awkwardly.
She and her partner loaded the gurney into the ambulance, and the decorated Mississippi state trooper climbed in too.
The trooper had a deep satisfaction, knowing that, most likely, the last thing the racist, white-trash thug would ever see was a black state trooper smiling down at him.