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transfusion the way he is. I have to warn them. Can someone get me the H-Lectin from the van?’
    ‘Sure Sue, I’ll call down and have one of the orderlies bring it over. Be with you in a moment.’
    The last thing Lars needed was either of those knuckleheads heading back into the van, so he offered to fetch the H-Lectin himself, telling the administrator it would be quicker if he went, he knew exactly where it was. He walked back out through reception, into the small parking lot, past the KHNV reporter who was busy talking gravely into the camera. The van had already been cordoned off and he ducked under the yellow police tape. The H-Lectin was in the refrigerated cabinet in the back where he had first found it, next to the three vials of blood. He brought the container back and handed it to a nurse at reception, explaining that it was needed urgently in the lab. Fifteen minutes later he was back in Whitley’s office, listening as Sue Ellis explained what she had found.
    ‘I’m still waiting for the results of the serum grouping but I’ve tested the guy’s blood with the H-Lectin from the van, Doug, and he’s definitely not expressing the H antigen. I’ve only read about this phenomenon in individuals with the hh phenotype. People with that blood group test as group O. But their blood produces antibodies to the H substance, which means they’re not compatible with group O donors, only other hh phenotypes. I need to run more tests; we’ll need to get the results of the serum grouping and cross match with other O group samples to be absolutely sure. But it would certainly explain this guy’s reaction to the transfusion.’
    ‘Okay, so what can we do for him? Now that we know the issue can we just transfuse him with the correct blood type and get him back into surgery?’
    ‘Unfortunately it’s not that simple Doug. This guy needs a transfusion from someone of exactly the same blood type. The condition is extremely rare, so rare that hospitals don’t test for it and blood banks don’t bother stocking it. There’s probably only a handful of people in the whole United States who have the same blood, and no way of finding them. I’d bet most of them don’t even know it themselves. I put a call in to United Blood in Carson City on the off chance that they might have stocks but they don’t and they don’t know of anywhere that maintains them.’
    ‘So you’re telling me there’s nothing we can do for this guy?’
    There was a pause before the lab technician came back.
    ‘Listen, Doug, I’ll run a full set of tests on this guy’s blood to see if anything else shows up that might help us. And I’ll keep ringing around the hospitals and blood banks in case anyone’s got stocks of this stuff. But I wouldn’t hold your breath. If Lionel’s giving you other options I’d suggest you consider them seriously.’
    She rang off.
    The administrator called the front desk and paged Lionel Keegan, the surgeon who had been due to operate on the wounded man. A moment later the phone rang. Whitley listened, asked a few succinct questions then hung up.
    ‘Well, Lars, it doesn’t look good. This young man’s in a bad way. One kidney is shot to hell and the reaction to the group O blood he was given has caused the other to pretty much shut down. Lionel doesn’t want to operate on him without stabilizing his condition as he thinks he’ll just die on the table. But without a transfusion of the correct blood he doesn’t see this guy making it through the night.’
    ‘Alright Doug, I hear you. But the third man from that van’s still on the loose, most probably armed. Any chance he’ll regain consciousness long enough for me to speak with him?’
    ‘Probably not. Even if he did he’d be too weak for you to question him. Sorry, Sheriff.’
    Lars thanked the administrator and headed back to the parking lot. As he passed the hospital waiting room on his way back outside he saw that the story had already made the local