Rocket City Blues

to fill yore lungs with air … but they just won’t obey!”
He looked at the medicine making its way toward the IV tube. He bent down, close to Frost’s ear. “Won’t be long now, asshole,” he whispered.
Frost silently prayed that the old bastard’s breath wouldn’t be the last thing he smelled before dying.
***
“It’s true. He was admitted last night.” Stella could sense that Burlington was about five seconds away from erupting like a volcano.
“And I wasn’t informed?” This revelation floored Burlington.
She braced herself for the blowback she knew was coming. “One of his men received substantial injuries last night at the Inn. At the time, we had no idea that DeWitt was going to end up here as well.”
“And then they brought Frost here?” Matt felt his face growing red.
“They came in at separate times.” A dangerous calm crept into her voice, as her teeth gritted tightly, a warning not to take it any further. She did not intend to be dressed down in front of this two-bit merc lackey. “They were brought in from two different locations. With everything that was going on all over the city, no one realized it until it was too late.”
Well, look at you! Standing up to the cocky little tin god! Cee Tee was impressed by the spunk of the cute, red-headed cop. Petite, she might be, but she wasn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with her superior officer. Then, as he caught the exchange of heated glances back and forth between the two, the real truth suddenly became clear to him.
He’s fucking her! He’s fucking his own Ex Oh. Looks like our badass Inspector has been inspecting more than he should. Interesting. He tucked that little piece of info back in the filing cabinet of his brain. Cee Tee might not have been the fighting man Frost was, but he made up for it with his conniving skills. He was always filing away tidbits of data in his brain. Information could be just as deadly as a rail pistol.
“Besides, we have no control over the Medical Directorate,” she was explaining to a frustrated Matt. “They decide who goes where as far as the routing of patients. You know that.”
“Well, I’m glad someone in the ZiP knows the law in this town, Miss.” Cee Tee decided to rub salt into the wound. Stella was right. Ever since the advent of universal healthcare in the mid-twenty-first century, the Medical Directorate was a law unto itself. They answered to no one but a select Congressional oversight committee.
Stella never had time to answer. Matt cut her off. “Stow it, you little jackass. And you’re still not getting into this hospital, Directorate or not. Not while I have a man in here at the point of death … at the hands of you.”
“You can’t stop me from seeing my men. This falls under Workman’s Comp guidelines,” the merc protested.
“He’s right,” Stella shook her head. “You can’t do that, sir.”
“No, you can’t do that, sir,” Cee Tee echoed snidely.
“Take it up with a judge,” Matt was still persistent, although his gut told him Stella was right. It was all just a bluff. “In the meantime, I’m having your men relocated to another hospital.”
“I don’t need a judge. All I need to do is make a phone call to your Post Commander.” Cee Tee pulled out his PDC.
“Make the goddamn call!” Matt growled.
“Wait! Hold on a second, please!” Stella stepped in, putting her hand atop the PDC to prevent him from browsing for the number. Turning to Matt, she gave him a wide-eyed “have you lost your goddamned mind?” look. “Special Inspector Burlington,” she spoke with an almost parental sternness, “may I speak to you a moment … in private?”
He wanted to explode physically, to break or smash something, but she stared him down, her fearlessness and determination withered his anger down to the point that he began to see reason again. He was in a hospital. He was a high-ranking officer in the Zone Patrol. The rank and file may love him, but the upper brass considered him a bit of a loose cannon and a liability most of the time.
Stella understood that. He knew she was trying to prevent another incident. She was a blue-blood from a long line of cops and understood the politics of the Zone Patrol. She knew the intricacies of the machine, how things worked and how to work things. She knew how parts meshed, what made things run smooth … and what didn’t. And she knew how some parts got oiled when they squeaked too much. She had taken it upon herself to see that her lover climbed the ladder of command as quickly as possible. But he needed a lot of maintenance.
Matt wanted to advance, too, but cared a lot less about playing the required games than she did. For him, it was more about doing your job, getting the bad guys off the street and keeping them off. After all, wasn’t that what being a cop boiled down to?
“Please?” she added, after a long pause, allowing him time to cool some more.
With lips pursed tightly, he walked away from Cee Tee, Stella following a step behind. A reasonable distance from the young merc, he turned to face her, but she could tell he was still livid, as he folded his arms stubbornly across his chest.
“Look, I understand. You’re mad. You’re mad at me. I get it! I fucked up!” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “I dropped the ball. But there’s nothing we can do now. Don’t end up on the carpet again because of my incompetence. You’ve only got so many “get-out-of-jail” free cards.” She sighed. “And you use yours far too often.”
Matt exhaled resentfully through his nose, squeezed his chest tight with his arms and stood on his tiptoes for a few seconds, the frustration eating at him. But she was right. What could he do? Still, it galled him to no end.
He turned without saying and word