The Descent

'Didn't anyone understand what I was talking about?'

'Where are you going, Rau?' Thomas barked.  But Rau was already  gone.

'There  he is,' said Vera,  pointing at the screen.

'What does he think he's doing?' Thomas said.

Still  wearing  his  cowboy  hat,  Rau  shouldered  aside  a  burly  policeman  and  made  a sprightly  hop  over  a  spilled  chair.  They  watched  as  people  backed  away  from  the stainless-steel  table,  exposing  Yamamoto  to  the  camera.  The  frail  young  woman  lay still,   tied   and   taped   to   the   table,   with   wires   leading   off   to   machines.   As   Rau approached, Mary  Kay  stood her ground on the far side, shock paddles poised.  He  was arguing with her.

'Oh,  Rau!'  Vera  despaired.  'Thomas,  we  have  to  get  him  out  of  there.  This  is  a medical emergency.'

Mary  Kay  said  something  to  a  nurse,  who  tried  to  lead  Rau  away  by  the  arm.  But Rau pushed her. A lab tech grabbed him by  the waist, and Rau doggedly held on to the edge  of  the  metal  table.  Mary  Kay  leaned  to  place  the  paddles.  The  last  thing  Vera saw on the monitor was the body arching.

With Thomas pushing  the  wheelchair,  they  hurried  to  the  laboratory,  dodging  cops, firemen, and staff in the hallway.  They  encountered  a  gurney  loaded  with  equipment, and  that  consumed  another  precious  minute.  By  the  time  they  reached  the  lab,  the drama  was  over.  People  were  leaving  the  room.  A  woman  stood  at  the  door  with  one hand to her eyes.

Inside, Vera  and Thomas  saw  a  man  draped  partway  across  the  table,  his  head  laid next  to  Yamamoto's,  sobbing.  The  husband,  Vera  guessed.  Still  holding  the  shock paddles,  Mary  Kay  stood  to  one  side,  staring  vacantly.  An  attendant  spoke  to  her. When  she  didn't  respond,  he  simply  took  the  paddles  from  her  hands.  Someone  else patted  her on the back, and still she didn't move.

'Good  heavens,  was  Rau  right?'  whispered  Vera.  They  wove  through  the  wreckage as Yamamoto's body was covered  and lifted onto a stretcher.  They  had  to  wait  for  the stream  of people to pass. The  husband followed the bearers  out.

'Dr. Koenig?' said Thomas. Wires cluttered  the gleaming table.

She flinched at his voice, and raised her eyes  to him. 'Father?'  she said, dazed. Vera  and Thomas exchanged a concerned look.

'Mary  Kay?'  Vera  said. 'Are you all right?'

'Father  Thomas? Vera?'  said Mary  Kay. 'Now Yammie's gone, too?  Where  did  we  go wrong?'

Vera  exhaled.  'You  had  me  scared,'  she  said.  'Come  here,  child.  Come  here.'  Mary

Kay  knelt by  the wheelchair. She buried her face against Vera's  shoulder.

'Rau?' Thomas asked, glancing around. 'Now where  did he go?'

Abruptly,  Rau  burst  from  his  hiding  place  in  a  heap  of  readout  paper  and  piled cables.  He  moved  so  quickly,  they  barely  knew  it  was  he.  As  he  raced  past  Vera's wheelchair, one hand hooked wide, and Mary  Kay  grunted and bent backward  in  pain. Her  lab  jacket  suddenly  gaped  open  from  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  red  marked  the long slash wound. Rau had a scalpel.

Now  they  saw  the  lab  tech  who  had  tried  to  pry  Rau  loose  from  the  table.  He  sat slumped with his entrails across his legs.

Thomas  yelled  something  at  Rau.  It  was  a  command  of  some  kind,  not  a  question. Vera  didn't know Hindi, if that's what it was, and was too shocked to care.

Rau   paused    and   looked    at    Thomas,    his   face    distorted    with    anguish    and bewilderment.

'Thomas!' cried Vera,  falling from her chair with the wounded physician in her arms. In  the  one  instant  Thomas  took  his  eyes  from  the  man,  Rau  vanished  through  the doorway.

The  suicide  was  aired  on  national  television  that  evening.  Rau  couldn't  have  timed  it better,  with  national  media  already  gathered  for  the  university's  press  conference  in the street  below. It  was simply a matter  of training their cameras on the  roofline  eight stories above.

With  a  fiery  Rocky  Mountain  sunset  for  a  backdrop,  the  SWAT  cops  edged  closer and  closer  to  Rau's  swaying  form,  guns  leveled.  Aiming  their  acoustic  dishes,  sound crews on  the  ground  picked  up  every  word  of  the  negotiator's  appeal  to  the  cornered man.   Telephoto   lenses   trained   on   his   twisted   face,   tracked   his   leap.   Several quick-thinking  cameramen  utilized  the  same  bounce  technique,  a  quick  nudge  up,  to self-edit the impact.

There  was  no  doubt  the  former  head  of  India's  parliament  had  gone  insane.  The hadal head cradled in his arms was all the  proof  anyone  needed.  That  and  the  cowboy hat.

Brother, thy tail hangs down behind.

– RUDYARD KIPLING, The Jungle Book

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