Daniel stared at the purse Gloria had left behind. Daniel hoped Gloriahad taken her cell phone with her, in case he needed to get in touchwith her. He...slowly walked over to the purse and picked it up, lookinginside for the phone. It was gone. Daniel was relived to know he could reach Gloria if he needed to. Hebegan to set the purse back down on the floor but paused. Slowly, as ifin a trance, he slung it over one shoulder and walked over to thebathroom mirror. He made a mock pose in front of the. Then a flash, bright and hot, searing the ropy wood entangling him.Another flash and he felt them sag and loosen. "Go!" a sharp trillingvoice shouted. "I can't hold them off if you don't go now!"Jim looked down the roots that were binding him in place. They werescorched and smoldering. Another flash to his left and the stench of wetburning wood rose in his nostrils. He saw Pantra diving toward Singhwith both her hands blazing. He shook off the remaining coils andstumbled away a few steps.. "Damn fucking lucky. Never had anyone do that for me in all the years I've been traveling around. And I've spent a lot of time going up and down in elevators," he informed us."You mean you've never had a woman play with your dick in an elevator?" Mabel said in surprise.He shook his head no, pretty sure this was about as close as he'd ever come to that. And then she reached over. "Well we can't have that now ... can we?"The moment she placed her hands on the front of his crotch, I swore I saw. When I awoke, I was aware of wetness along my stomach and found one of my wounds was bleeding. I carefully slipped out of bed to avoid soiling the linen, and sat down on a stool in front of the bathroom mirror to see the damage the shooters had done to my body.As I peeled back the dressing, Catherine came in and took over for me. "Where did you learn to treat gunshot wounds?" I asked."You can't have this job without some medical training. Besides, the doctor gave me explicit instructions on how.