I emerged into consciousness to find the pressure gone, but a red haze
of pain remained. I lay on my back and saw men sitting on the floor
around me.
A blow from somewhere made my head ring. I tried to sit up. I couldn't
make it. Then Kramer was beside me, slipping a needle into my arm. He
looked pretty bad himself. His face was bandaged heavily, and one eye
was purple. He spoke in a muffled voice through stiff jaws. His tone was
deliberate.
"This will keep you conscious enough to answer a few questions," he
said. "Now you're going to give me the combinations to the locks so we
can call off this suicide run; then maybe I'll doctor you up."