Officer Jones began murmuring and fluttering his eyes. Nera knelt by him. She placed her hand
on his trachea and squeezed until he was still and silent again. Her eyes met O'Flannery's, who looked
on in disapproval. She shrugged and made a face that said, what?
A moment later, Ulysses and Giles were done gathering what they needed. Ulysses looked
down at the cops lying on his floor. "Okay, so we carry them down to the curb. Then what?"
"Then you take off, and I dial 911," said O'Flannery.
"All right," said Ulysses with a sigh. His stomach was tied up in knots and his skin was clammy
with sweat. The young man couldn't be bothered to hide his uneasiness. Nera crushed Ulysses into a
hug, then immediately had to loosen her embrace when he let out reflexive gasp for air.
"I'm so sorry, Ulysses," she said, with tears in her eyes. "It's all my fault this has happened. I'm
going to do everything I can to keep things from getting worse." She reached down and grabbed
Officer Jones, hoisting him onto her shoulder without so much as taking an extra breath. "Can you
check outside?" She said to O'Flannery, whose look of alarm she ignored.
"Uh, yeah. Hold on," said the Agent. He opened the apartment door and stepped into the hall,
checking both directions. "It's clear."
Nera stepped into the hall with the cop over her shoulder.
Giles and Ulysses looked at each other, then at Officer Washington on the floor.
"What say we let Mr. Special Agent hold our bags while we carry her down?" Said Giles.
"Yeah, good idea. Give me your stuff, I'll hand it off." Giles handed over his backpack and a
small suitcase. Ulysses in turn gave his and Giles's bags to O'Flannery standing in the hallway. The
agent looked perturbed, yet he took their bags without so much as a word.
"You can help carry her down, if you'd rather," said Ulysses, cocking his head and grimacing.