"Then either find Chet in the next three minutes or send an armed guard down here to stop me! There's a life at stake."
"Not one of ours."
"Oh, you're not a member of the human race? I'll remember that the next time you come in here. What you do with your regulations is your problem, but I can make a medical suggestion ..."
"Okay, okay!" Kelly threw his hands up. "I'll write out the order and ask Chet to sign it when he gets back to his office."
"All right," Jill said. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me. I'm just doing what Kinsman would do if he was here. If it was up to me . . ."
But Jill had already dropped the handset and was racing down the corridor toward the Russian half of the hospital- Four hours later she was slouched on a softly padded sofa, sipping a glass of scalding tea. Alexsei Landau sat next to her. He was tall, with broad shoulders and the strong, sure hands of a surgeon. Behind his beard he was smiling.
"There is an old Russian proverb that I just made up: If you have five cardiac emergency units available, you will get six cardiac emergencies."
Jill smiled back at him. "At least we got him in time."
"H'mm, yes. But he's going to need support for many days. Weeks, more likely."
"We can bring him back to our side. There's plenty of room."
Landau shook his head. "The rules forbid us to send our patients to your side of the hospital."
"Rules!" Jill snapped. "If we played by their rules your patient would be dead now."
The Russian nodded gravely.
"I'll have Kinsman talk to Leonov, They'll work it out."
"I doubt it. Leonov is due to leave shortly anyway. We don't know who will be taking his place."
"Chet Kinsman will figure out a way to do it," Jill said firmly, dismissing the problem. "Who is the patient? He looked vaguely familiar to me." 327
"He should. He is Nicholai Baliagorev."
"The ballet master?"
"Yes."
