The doctor waved a bloody instrument in the direction of another door at the far end of the small surgery and then continued probing the wound, seeking to remove bits of cloth that could cause infection. McDonald groaned. Ira and Potter walked through the door and found Edgar Armstrong and Ben Timmons lying beneath bloodstained sheets. The pallor of death replaced life, vitality and friendship.

Edgar was shot through the heart; Ben had been stabbed in the abdomen. ...