Twenty yards away a bus had stopped, an impressive crack in its windshield and a smear of blood in the center of the crack’s spiderweb pattern. In front of the bus, a few yards away, a woman was crumpled in the street.

Langdon and I were both out of our chairs and heading toward the woman.

The driver was out of the bus and holding her arms out, in a defensive motion, as we approached. “She walked in front of the bus!” she said. “It’s on the dashcam! I tried to stop but I couldn’t!”

“Yours,” I said to Langdon, who nodded and headed to the bus driver. I kneeled down in front of the fallen woman and assessed her.

The woman looked to have been hit by the bus from the left side, which would have been consistent with her walking out in front of it. Her left arm was shattered and either her radius or ulna was sticking out of its lower portion; I wasn’t qualified to say which it was. Her skull above her left temple was cracked and flattened. That was probably the part that left the spiderweb crack on the windshield. I glanced up and looked around on the street and found what I was looking for; a cell phone, its screen shattered. The screen was still on, showing a half finished text.

“Idiot,” I said.

“How is she?” Langdon asked, coming up to me. The driver stood next to her bus, uncertain what to do next.

“She’s alive, but not for much longer,” I said. “Broken bones, massive head trauma and by the sound of her breathing, punctured lung and internal bleeding.”

“Are you qualified to make that assessment?”

“Dispatchers get first aid assessment and treatment as part of their training. I recertified last year. And anyway look at her.”

“The hospital’s one street over.”

“She’s not going to last that long.”

“What do you want to do, then?”

“Give me your gun.”

Langdon blinked. “The hell you say.”

“I’m serious.”

“I’m not going to give you my gun, Valdez. I’ll get fired for that.”

I shook my head. “Law enforcement officials are allowed to assist dispatchers. You’re legally protected. Give me your gun.”

“No.”

“Look, Langdon, she doesn’t have any time. If you don’t give me your gun I’m going have to dispatch her another way. The only way I’ve got right now is manually. So if you want me to strangle her right here in middle of the street, fine. But your gun would be faster. And merciful.”

Langdon thought for a second. “You’ll come with me to talk to Katie Albert.”

“What?”

“I give you my gun, and you come with me to talk to Katie Albert when we’re done.”

“You’re fucking bargaining with me right now? Are you shitting me?”

“That’s the deal.”