"Will I live?" she said and realized that her swollen mouth made her slur her words.
The nurse laughed. "Oh yes. You've got a broken nose, a split lip, a ton of bruises and you are terribly discolored, but that will all go away in a few days."
"Really?"
"Actually, more like a few weeks, but I'm supposed to say days to cheer you up. On the positive side, you don't have any broken bones, except for your nose and that should heal like new. Everything else will heal and that includes your loose teeth, and yes we checked while you were unconscious. Just don't eat anything other than mush for a couple of days until they settle back in. At any rate, a couple of army officers would like to see you."
No sense waiting, Alicia thought and told the nurse to admit them. A moment later, two men entered. One was a balding colonel and the second a younger major with his arm in a sling. The major also had bruises on his head and Alicia wondered if he'd been attacked as well.
"Lieutenant Cutter, I'm Colonel Mark Downing and this is Major Tom Grant. We're both on General Truscott's staff and we need to talk with you. If you're up to it, that is."
"Yes, sir. I only hope you can understand me. First, though, what happened to the two men who were with me?"
Downing winced. "Wilkins is in the hospital with a fractured skull. He's still unconscious, but they say he will pull through. Corporal Henry, I'm sorry to say, didn't make it."
Alicia tried to fight back tears. She couldn't. "I'm not surprised. I saw them shoot him so many times. He was a hero. He saved my life."
"He'll get a medal," Grant said softly, "not that it'll mean a whole lot to his family. He managed to save you and possibly Wilkins, but we need any help you can provide so we can hopefully recover the pouch that they stole. They might have been common thieves, at least that's what we've told the papers, but we really think they were after the pouch."
"Is it that important?" Alicia asked. Maybe she had done something right after all and maybe Henry's distracting the attackers had actually accomplished something.
"I'd say it was," Downing responded.
Alicia managed half a smile. "Then they didn't get it, or at least I don't think they did. When they began killing Henry for shooting somebody named Paul, I ran into the bushes and threw the pouch as far as I could. They started yelling at each other that they didn't have any more time and I think that's when they took off. I passed out so I'm not totally certain, but I don't think they looked very hard for the pouch if they looked at all. I heard sirens and they weren't going to stick around."
Both men grinned like little kids who'd gotten an unexpected present. "Can you travel?" asked Grant. "It'd be a big help if you could show us exactly where you were when you tossed the pouch."
She tried to sit up and winced. "Get someone to repair my uniform and help me get dressed, and we can leave in a little while. By the way, there's one other thing you might find helpful. They weren't common thieves, at least not local ones. The three men who attacked us were Canadians."
It took longer than planned to get organized and out to the attack site. First, the damage done to Alicia's uniform was more extensive than they thought. Along with being torn, it was spattered with gore; some of which was Alicia's and the rest was her attacker's. She informed them that there was no way on earth she would wear it in that condition. Downing's wife Missy, a civilian volunteer at the hospital, chose that moment to arrive and she completely supported Alicia. Thus, there was a delay until some men's fatigues were found that would decently fit her. Tom thought she looked like a lost child in the baggy uniform that was still too large for her. Downing said that Tom could find the pouch as well as anyone else and let the two of them go off by themselves.
Since neither was in any shape to drive, Downing got them a staff car and one of his clerks as a driver. Tom and Alicia sat uncomfortably in the back seat. Behind them, two trucks were filled with a squad MPs to help with the search and act as bodyguards.
"Are you in as much pain as I am?" she asked.
"Probably not, but I am a big baby."
She laughed and then grimaced. It hurt to smile. At least she had gotten a nurse to remove some of the bandages so she didn't look like she was wearing a turban. Her nose was swollen at least twice its size, she had shiners under each eye, and there were stitches in her upper lip. At least now she didn't have to worry about looking too attractive. Maybe she was being a fool about the whole thing. The major was kind of cute even though he was banged up. Perhaps the next time she'd dress up a little better.
"How did you know those guys were Canadian?" Tom asked.
"One of my college roommates was from Canada, Hamilton, which is near Toronto. She had a strange little what we called an 'ok-sent' which annoyed her when we pointed it out. I vacationed with her and her family and they all spoke that way."
Tom thought about the Canadian accents he’d heard during his travels around Ontario. "That was a good catch. It pretty well eliminates any idea of this being just a robbery. By the way, the cops found the truck they used."
"Let me guess. It was stolen."
"Yes, and it gets worse. They murdered the owner."
She put her head back on the seat. "You're right; this just gets worse and worse, major."
Tom winced inwardly. He didn't like being reminded of the difference in their ranks. Alicia Cutter was reasonably attractive and he thought she would be much better than that when she got rid of all those bandages and the swellings went down. It might help if she wore some makeup and did her hair. She reminded him of a girl he knew in high school who went out of her way to look plain, and then wound up joining a convent. The light brown haired Alicia Cutter looked studious but not the convent type. Despite the baggy clothes, he thought she had a nice, slender figure. Hopefully, she had great legs. He liked legs. Damn it all, he'd better get back to reality.
"How did you hurt your shoulder, major?"
"Several years ago in an accident, and then I aggravated it trying to swim the Niagara River a little while ago."
Her eyes widened. "My God, sir, was that you who swam it while being shot at? Everybody says it was wonderfully heroic."
"Guilty, and it wasn't heroism. I didn't have much of a choice." He was genuinely surprised and pleased to know that his exploit was so widely known.
Finding the attack spot was easy since a squad car was parked on the side of the road with a bored officer inside, trying to stay warm. They parked and got out. The cop stared as the squad of MPs took up station. He clearly wondered what was going on but was smart enough to keep quiet.
Tom watched as Alicia walked around, her eyes down. She was clearly looking for something. She looked up. Her face was pale.
"Here is where they shot Henry." She pointed at the ground. "See the bloodstains? Those are Henry's and those over there belong to that guy named Paul." She moved off towards the bushes and in a few yards. She was quickly invisible, so Tom followed her. "I was woozy, but I think this is about where I threw the pouch."
"Sounds good to me,” he said. He called for the MPs and had them begin a search. Their orders were to find the pouch, but not touch it.
Locating it didn't take long at all. After only about ten minutes, one of the MPs called out that he'd found it. The pouch was resting on a bush of some kind, but had been torn open. Some papers were lying loose on the ground.
Tom glared at the MP. "You didn't touch it, did you?"
The MP was totally unperturbed by the implication that he had. "No sir. That's exactly the way I found it."
Of course it was, Tom quickly realized. Even if the soldier had been nosy, he hadn't had time to do anything about it. "How did it get torn?" Alicia asked.