Decker stuck the end in the young man’s nose and squeezed.
He waited for a few seconds,but nothing happened.
Kemper looked at the syringe and said, “There must be some fentanyl mixed in with what he took. It’s more tightly bound to the brain receptor than morphine.”
“That’sheroin, not morphine, lady,” said the thin man. “Don’t you know nothin’?”
Kemper whirled on him and flashed her badge. “I know a lot more than you do. When the body breaks down herointhe instant by-productis morphine!” She turned back to Decker. “Hit him again with the Narcan. We have to move the drug off the brain receptor.”
Decker squirted in another dose.
A few moments passed and then the young man exhaled a long breath, sat up straight, blinked, and looked around, his expression foggy.
“Great,” said the man sarcastically. “You brought himback. ’Til the next time.”
Decker looked at him. “Who are you?”
“I’m his uncle. And the bastard didn’t have the decency to wait till his sister was buried before pulling this shit. Talk about showing no damn respect.”
“His sister?” said Kemper. “How’d she die?”
“Damn heroin overdose,” said the uncle. “Didn’t get her the Narcan in time.” He pointed to theyoung man. “That asshole coulda saved her, but he was in the bathroom doing lines of coke.”
A moment later the young man leaned out the window and threw up.
They all jumped back to avoid the vomit.
The young man looked angrily at Decker until he saw the bottle in his hand.
“You almost bit the bullet for good, buddy,” said Decker.
“Thanks, man,”he said groggily, wiping his mouth.
Decker looked at Kemper and then back at the young man.
He tossed the bottle of Narcan to the woman, walked back to the SUV, and got in.
Kemper turned to the aunt and uncle. “An ambulance will be here shortly. He’ll need to go to the hospital.”
“Right,” said the uncle. “Whatever.”
As Kemper walked off, he slappedhis nephew on the back of the head. “Dumbass!”
Kemper hurried after Decker and climbed into the truck.
“You okay?” she said once she’d settled in.
Decker didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’m just wondering whether we’re ever going to dig ourselves out of this hole.”
“I’ve seen it all at the DEA. Every foul thing a human being can stoop to when they’rehooked on drugs. Even that back there didn’t surprise me. I’ve seen worse. Five-year-olds performing CPR on their parents. A grandmother knocking in her son’s head for the cash to feed her addiction. A mother selling her ten-year-old daughter for sex to get her heroin pops. But we’ll make it through this, Decker.”
He glanced at her. “You really believe that?”
“I have to. Otherwise,I couldn’t do my job.”
A minute of silence passed before Decker broke it.
“You mentioned insurance companies rating the value of a life,” he said.