Echo Park

He pulled his gun again and fired five more shots but Waits never slowed.
    Bosch got up, ready to give chase. But then he saw his partner’s body lying crumpled and bloody in the nearby brush.

16

    KIZ RIDER WAS FACEUP , clutching her neck with one hand while the other lay limp at her side. Her eyes were wide and searching but not focusing. It was as if she were blind. Her limp arm was so bloody it took a moment for Bosch to spot the bullet entrance in the palm of her hand, just below the thumb. It was a through-and-through shot and he knew it wasn’t as serious as the neck wound. Blood was steadily seeping from between her fingers. The bullet must have hit the carotid artery, and Bosch knew that blood loss or depletion of oxygen in the brain could kill his partner in minutes, if not seconds.
    “Okay, Kiz,” he said as he knelt next to her. “I’m here.”
    He could see that her left hand, holding the wound on the right side of her neck, was creating insufficient pressure to stop the bleeding. She was losing the strength to hold on.
    “Let me take over here,” he said.
    He moved his hand under hers and pressed against what he now realized were two wounds, bullet entry and exit. He could feel the blood pulsing against his palm.
    “O’Shea!” he shouted.
    “Bosch?” O’Shea called back from below the drop-off. “Where is he? Did you kill him?”
    “He’s gone. I need you to get on Doolan’s rover and get us a medevac up here. Now!”
    It took a moment before O’Shea responded, in a panicked voice.
    “Doolan’s shot! So is Freddy!”
    “They’re dead, O’Shea. You need to get on the radio. Rider is alive and we need to get her—”
    In the distance there were two gunshots, followed by a shout. It was a female voice and Bosch thought about Kathy Kohl and the people up at the parking lot. There were two more shots and Bosch heard a change in the overhead sound of the helicopter. It was banking away. Waits was shooting at it.
    “Come on, O’Shea!” he shouted. “We’re running out of time.”
    When he heard nothing in response he brought Rider’s hand back up and pressed in against the neck wounds again.
    “Hold it there, Kiz. Press as hard as you can and I’ll be right back.”
    Bosch jumped up and grabbed the ladder Waits had pulled up. He lowered it back into place between the bodies of Olivas and Doolan and quickly climbed down. O’Shea was on his knees next to Olivas’s body. The prosecutor’s eyes were as wide and as blank as those of the dead cop next to him. Swann was standing in the lower clearing with a dazed look on his face. Cafarelli had come from the grave site and was on her knees next to Doolan, trying to turn him over to get to the radio. The deputy had fallen chest down after being shot by Waits.
    “Cal, let me do it,” Bosch ordered. “You go up and help Kiz. We’ve got to stop the bleeding from her neck.”
    Without a word the Forensics tech scurried up the ladder and out of sight. Bosch turned Doolan over and saw that he had been hit in the forehead. His eyes were open and looked surprised. Bosch grabbed the radio off Doolan’s equipment belt and made the “officer down” call and requested a medical airship and paramedics to the lower parking lot at Sunset Ranch. Once he was assured that medical help was on the way, he reported that an armed murder suspect had escaped custody. He gave a detailed description of Raynard Waits, then shoved the radio into his belt. He went to the ladder and as he climbed back up he called down to O’Shea, Swann and the videographer, who was still holding the camera up and recording the scene.
    “All of you get up here. We need to carry her out to the parking lot for the evac.”
    O’Shea continued to look down in shock at Olivas.
    “They’re dead!” Bosch shouted from the top. “There’s nothing we can do for them. I need you up here.”
    He turned back to Rider. Cafarelli was holding her neck but Bosch could see that time was growing short. The life was leaving his partner’s eyes. Bosch bent down and grabbed and held her unhurt hand. He rubbed it between his two hands. He noticed that Cafarelli had used a hair band to wrap the wound on Rider’s other hand.
    “Come on, Kiz, hang in there. We’ve got an airship coming and we’re going to get you out of here.”
    He looked around to see what was available to them and got an idea as he saw Maury Swann come up the ladder. He quickly moved to the edge and helped the