"Scalpel." "Clamp." "How's his pressure?" "Holding steady." "Okay, I'm going through the pericardial now." "Sponge, please." "You'll have to be delicate with the incision, the artery looks stressed." "So far today, I've pulled out a spleen, two gall bladders and half of some fella's stomach... so I don't need you telling me how to unplug a heart valve," "Dr. White Cloud." "I just meant you should be careful." "What's my mortality rate?" "One percent." "I wish your clinic would get its own O.R., then you wouldn't be dumping these charity cases in my lap." "Oh, you could be your own chief surgeon." "Or in, uh, your case, would that be "Surgeon Chief"?" "Watch the carotid artery." "I was cutting chests before you were born, Doctor." "Pressure's dropping." "120 over 80." "Forceps." "I could do this in my sleep." "Clamp." "I've never seen anybody get so worked up over just an old wino." "He's not just an old wino." "No... and he's not paying the standard fee, either." "Scalpel." "All right..." "Damn!" "110 over 70, falling fast." "Damn!" "The bastard popped." "Jeffries, sutures." "Walker, get the swabs in there!" "Clamp, White Cloud." "No!" "You can't clamp the carotid!" "Help me, damn it!" "90 over 60;" "we're losing him." "You'll cut off the flow to his brain!" "He'll have a stroke!" "Just close the damn artery!" "What are you doing, you butcher?" "!" "You could have killed that man!" "I stopped that man from bleeding to death!" "Oh, and what are his chances now, what, one in ten?" "Lamar, please..." "Who do you think you are?" "Things go wrong!" "People die sometimes." "Medicine isn't perfect!" "You couldn't care less about him!" "You sanctimonious little..." "Right... you've just lost your privileges." "You don't go into surgery." "You don't admit a patient." "You can't even prescribe so much as an aspirin in this hospital." "You can't do that!" "After this..." "I can get the medical board to shut down that crummy clinic of yours." "See you around, medicine man." "Breathe the smoke deeply." "The pain is leaving you." "Rise and walk." "The spirits have other plans for you, Mr. Harrison." "You must prepare yourself." "Your time has come." "Try something else." "I have money..." "More than you can imagine." "Now, you must have something that will work." "I'm sorry." "Who was that?" "That's my grandson." "Is he a shaman, too?" "No." "I needed to talk to you." "I've got a problem." "I need some extra help at the clinic." "My place is here." "Why can't you get one of the white doctors to help you?" "Because they don't care!" "Lamar's cut off my hospital privileges." "Spotted Owl would say it's a sign you don't belong in their world." "I know, I shouldn't have gone to med school and I should be practicing Indian medicine here." "You're a born healer." "All he ever wanted was you to replace him as shaman." "Well, now he's got you to do that." "Well, at least it's still in the family." "Look, can we just drop this?" "Yeah, I have something to do." "Come on." "What's this?" "It's an old shaman's rattle." "The symbol of his power over life and death." "Now be quiet." "What the hell are you doing here?" "He's my patient." "I want to make sure you didn't do anything more to hurt him." "Dr. Lamar is going to nail your redskin butt to the wall for this." "Don't try to move." "You're gonna be all right." "Jack... would you mind covering for me for a couple of hours?" "I'm going to visit Blair at the hospital." "Do they know what's the matter with her yet?" "No, and she's starting to look really awful." "The doctor was still running tests on her yesterday." "How's she holding up?" "Well, I think she'd like to know what's wrong with her." "I mean, she's very young to be having such serious chest pains." "Well, give her my best." "Uh, which hospital is she in?" "Riverview General." "Well, don't worry;" "that's a great hospital." "It's one of the best." "Well, let's just hope she doesn't have to stay there too long." "A very rare sarcoma." "Sarcoma...?" "I never can do anything simply, even when it comes to lung cancer." "Not the news we were hoping for, huh?" "No." "What's the prognosis?" "Well..." "Uh, in about two months..." "I'll be as well off as Vera over there." "Blair... there's got to be something they can do." "Oh, yeah..." "I could always be in the one percent that survive." "John..." "I'm late for my rounds." "I'm really sorry about yesterday." "But it's your own fault." "We were all doing our best." "Yeah, well, your best gave my patient a stroke." "It was just a minor occlusion." "The guy's fine this morning." "You've put the medical establishment around here on the warpath for nothing." "Only Dr. Lamar, resident butcher." "He isn't a butcher." "Okay, he doesn't have your bedside manner, but he's a damn good doctor." "Are you kidding me?" "He doesn't care about people." "All they are is dollar signs to him." "He's got enough clout to make the medical board close your clinic." "Anything else?" "Did you hear about Walker?" "Ruptured an artery in ICU." "He's dead." "Yeah, I heard." "It's a real shame." "Morning, Blair." "Hi, Vera." "How are you today?" "I can't take much more of this pain, Doctor." "I know." "I'll speak to Dr. Lamar again about surgery." "We've already done all we can." "Why don't we at least try?" "I mean, what has she got to lose?" "I'm afraid there are people we can save booked for O.R." "Nurse, increase Mrs. Anderson to 200 milligrams of secobarbitol." "Get on with your rounds, Doctor." "I don't want to see you in my hospital after this morning." "Meredith, you cannot just drug her into unconsciousness." "Dr. Lamar's in charge here, not you." "Now, if you'll excuse me..." "I have my orders." "You're not allowed on this floor anymore, Dr. White Cloud." "Why?" "Because I help people?" "It's Dr. Lamar's orders." "You do everything he says, don't you?" "You just dope 'em up and wait for 'em to die." "This is a terminal ward, Doctor." "It's all we can do." "Not anymore." "I can't breathe..." "I feel great." "The pain is gone." "You appear to be in remission, but we'll have to do some tests before we can be sure." "No, we won't." "I've had enough tests." "I can't release you until we're absolutely certain that you're well." "I'm well and I'm leaving." "That's all there is to it." "Mrs. Anderson, this has not exactly been a good morning." "Vera, please, it's for your own good." "I'm not a prisoner here!" "I'm walking out that door and that's it!" "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." "If I were you, I'd go see Dr. White Cloud, before these guys make you as sick as I was." "What happened?" "Vera was cured by an Indian medicine man." "What?" "I saw him, Micki." "He came in here late last night." "He started chanting and Vera woke up healthy this morning." "They were ready to write her off!" "Now, Blair, why don't you just take it easy?" "I'm going to go find a nurse, okay?" "Forget it." "They're all downstairs." "They found one of the nurses dead last night." "Micki, we have to call Dr. White Cloud." "I know he can help me." "Blair, listen, if there's anything this man can do for you," "I'll find out about it." "Okay?" "Trust me." "Tell me, why did you visit my grandfather the other night?" "I don't relish the idea of dying." "I'm not giving up without a fight." "How much would a cure be worth to you?" "What do you want?" "A fully staffed, state-of-the-art clinic." "I've had other doctors, you know, try to bleed me dry." "Listen, you give me that... and I'll cure you." "Now, look, I've read all kinds of books published on this disease, and I've followed up every rumor, and if there had been a cure, well, I would've known about it." "You want proof?" "You bring me a patient, anyone you say." "Doctor, if you're telling me the truth," "I'll provide you with the finest clinic money can buy." "And the nurse that died was perfectly healthy yesterday." "I saw her myself." "Then they find her this morning, both lungs collapsed..." "For no known apparent medical reason." "So, we've got a miraculous cure and a mysterious death, both in the same place and in the same night." "Even if it is a hospital, that sounds like a..." "A curse." "That's what I thought." "And then this Dr. White Cloud performed some ritual ceremony?" "Yeah, a healing ritual." "Blair said that he was chanting and holding something over the bed but, then again, she was so sedated she barely remembers anything at all." "Did Uncle Lewis handle any Indian artifacts?" "Yes, I think so." "Something caught my eye here the other day." "Maybe it's got something to do with medicine." " Mm..." "Ah!" " Here it is." "An Indian ceremonial rattle." "And Lewis sold it to someone called Spotted Owl, some four years ago." " Spotted Owl?" " Mm." "Does it say where he lives?" "Yes, the Iroquois reservation just out of town." "He was the tribal Shaman." "The Medicine Man." "You know..." "This could be a very sensitive matter to a man like that." "Instead of all three of us," "I think maybe I ought to handle this alone." "Well, while you're out there," "I'll see if I can track down Dr. White Cloud." "Directness is always appreciated when a person reaches my age." "Then you understand how important it is that I buy back that rattle." "I understand that you believe it's important." "Well, I'm telling you the truth." "The only safe place for it is in our vault." "You're talking about the white man's curse, of the white man's devil." "Evil belongs to all men, Spotted Owl." "Perhaps." "But this rattle belongs to my tribe." "I've held it in my hands;" "it does no harm." "In a good man's hands it will do no harm." "But not all men are good." "When the white man first came, he stole our tribal relics and sold them." "It has taken me years to gather back the few we have." "You have too much wisdom to hold all white men responsible for that." "I have enough to know that you mean well, Mr. Marshak." "Then you'll let me have the rattle?" "It is in a safe place, guarded by the shaman spirits." "I am sure that someone is using it to do evil." "If that's so..." "I'll find the truth in my own way." "He seems to have very little trust for white men." "Can you blame him?" "Your people have caused him great pain." "He has seen many of us leave for your world." "Even his grandson has left him." "Yes, why do you stay?" "I'm his apprentice." "Ah." "Somebody has to preserve our culture." "Don't worry, my grandfather is a very wise man." "If evil does have control of the rattle, he'll know how to handle it." "Don't count on it." "Bye, Sasheena." "He's gone." "Who else has come here with you?" "White Cloud." "Hear me, O spirits of my ancestors." "Give me a vision that I may know the truth I seek." "How's the patient in 5A doing?" "He's going to be fine." "That new technique I used for sealing him up is terrific." "It's going to revolutionize chest surgery." "Are you sure it's safe?" "Is everybody around here a doctor this week?" "No, I just thought..." "Nurses aren't supposed to think." "Grandfather?" "What did you see?" "We both have the same illness, Doctor." "This boy is very critical." "I want to find out how good your cure really is." "If you'll excuse me." "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit." "Micki, I've got to go to him." "All they do is pump chemicals into me all day long." "Blair, this is one of the best hospitals in the country." "Then why does everything they do make me feel worse?" "Because that's the treatment." "That's chemotherapy." "They told me that you were going to feel worse before you felt better." "Well, I can't take it anymore!" "Blair, you have to." "You've never been a quitter." "So don't quit on me now, okay?" "It just takes time." "Well, I don't have time." "He cured Vera in one night." "I know he can do the same for me." "I know it!" "How can you be so sure?" "You were drugged when you saw it happen." "You have no proof that he did anything at all." "Micki..." "I'm gonna die." "What have I got to lose?" "Shall we say tomorrow morning, 10:00 a.m.?" "Let's go." "Thanks." "All right." "Okay." "All right, take care." "All right?" "See you in the morning, Doctor." "My accountants will be in touch." "Dr. White Cloud?" "Yeah." "Ryan Dallion." "I've been looking all over for you." "A friend of mine, Blair Gerrard, she's a terminal patient at Riverview General." "She said she saw you cure her roommate with some kind of ritual." "My work is not shamanistic, Mr. Dallion." "I treat my patients with natural herbs and extracts." "That's what brings on the remission." "Well, she said she saw you use some kind of rattle." "Miss Gerrard saw me chanting a mantra to relax Mrs. Anderson so she could sleep." "There's no magic in what I do." "I simply cure people." "If you'll excuse me, I'm very busy." "And you're sure that that little boy was really sick?" "Yeah, the chauffeur said he has the same rare heart ailment that Mr. Harrison has." "And Harrison's been looking everywhere for help." "He's very rich and very terminal." "So John White Cloud has now cured two terminal cases." "Better make that three." "And there was another mysterious death at Riverview General last night." "I went to visit Blair and heard that one of the patients had died in an unusual way." "Now, I couldn't find out any details, but the nurses seem pretty shaken up." "And this morning, John White Cloud cures his second terminal case." "I thought you said three." "Well, yeah." "The night before Vera was cured, a patient of Dr. White Cloud's recovered from a stroke in intensive care." "And someone else died?" "An intern." "He burst a blood vessel at a patient's bedside." "He must have got that rattle from Spotted Owl." "Yeah, and the killing must fuel the healing." "One life for one death." "Right." "I think I better go and see Spotted Owl." "Micki, would you go back to the hospital and find out all you can about" "White Cloud's background?" "I don't understand it, Jack." "It just doesn't make sense." "The guy cares about people, you can tell." "Why would he buy into a cursed object?" "Tell my grandfather this Marshak guy's lying to him." "White men aren't to be trusted, remember?" "You've got to give us the rattle back." "I can't do that." "You had no right to take it." "It belongs to our people." "It can do them much more good here." "In my hands, it can save lives." "He told me... you were using it to harm people." "Sasheena, he lied to you." "It's going to help more people than you or he could ever imagine." "He's never lied to me before." "Ever since I was a little girl, all I can ever remember is you wanting to be a doctor." "You've changed." "Come back to us before it's too late." "Then at least bring the rattle back." "If you don't, he'll take it from you." "I can't do that." "Tell him for both of us... not to try." "He's preparing a ceremony, tonight, to take away the rattle's power." "I have nothing more to say about the great Dr. White Cloud." "I kicked his Native American behind out of here, and I'd do it again." "Please, Dr. Lamar, can't you just..." "I've told you." "I have nothing more to say on this subject." "But..." "Our chief surgeon's a little short today." "He was just served with a malpractice suit." "Dr. Jeffries." "Micki Foster." "Do you think that has something to do with the patient who died last night?" "He was healing perfectly, practically ready to go home, and then..." "And then?" "His incision just opened." "It sounds impossible, but it happened." "And they think that it's Dr. Lamar's fault?" "Why were you giving him the third degree about White Cloud?" "Oh, I was just trying to find out some things about him." "Well, Lamar's the wrong man to ask." "They hate each other." "Oh, yeah?" "Why?" "Because he's an Indian." "And White Cloud hates Lamar's insensitivity." "They just feed off each other, always making it worse." "Do you think that White Cloud really cured Mrs. Anderson?" "Your friend Blair certainly thinks so." "She's checking out to visit his clinic." "Thank you." "Blair, where are you going?" "I'm leaving." "Wait a minute." "Wait for what?" "I'm living with a death sentence." "I've been doing some checking on Dr. White Cloud." "For every patient that he cures, another one dies." "So his success rate's 50 percent." "Those odds are a lot better than mine right now." "You don't understand." "I understand all too well." "I'm fighting for my life here, Micki." "And you're supposed to be my friend." "So why aren't you fighting with me?" "John White Cloud is my grandson." "And I now know that the curse you told me about is true." "Then will you help us get the rattle back?" "It has given him the power of life and death." "No one will survive a fight with him." "And I do not wish anyone else to die..." "Especially you, Mr. Marshak." "A good white man is hard to find." "But if you go up against him..." "Death is a journey I'm not afraid to take." "You are a man of some knowledge of our ways." "Return tomorrow." "I will either bring back the rattle or Sasheena will show you how to defeat him." "You have brought back the rattle?" "I'm keeping it." "It's important to my work." "I know of your work." "I saw you kill that young white man in a vision." "Return it or I'll call on the spirits to take back its power." "This has more power than all your spirits put together." "Grandfather, I need it!" "It gives me more power than any white man." "Grandfather, don't!" "I don't want to hurt you!" "Don't make me do this!" "There is no other way." "White Cloud, stop this!" "White Cloud, make it stop!" "Please!" "Grandfather!" "This shouldn't have happened, Grandfather." "They shouldn't have forced me to do this to you." "All I wanted was my rightful place as a doctor." "I swear you this... on blood oath..." "They shall pay for your death!" "Now they'll know just how much power I do have!" "Thank you." "Here, you can burn this damn thing!" "I won't need it anymore." "Now, Doctor, tell me, you sure you don't need anything more than a hospital?" "No." "Okay." "Thanks again." "Another miracle, Dr. White Cloud?" "Well, good for you." "I'm fine." "I'm fine!" "I hope it was memorable, because it's your last." "Oh, I asked the medical board to let me deliver this myself." "They're shutting you down, Doctor." "That little incident in the O.R." "has finished you once and for all." "Oh, good!" "Hit me!" "I'd love to put you in jail as well." "Be careful, medicine man." "You so much as wipe someone else's nose and I'll have you up for practicing without a license." "You think Dr. White Cloud is using that rattle to revenge himself on the staff of Riverview General?" "Yeah, well, it fits right in with everything Dr. Jeffries told me." "And both the dead intern and nurse had had run-ins with him?" "Confrontations encouraged by a certain prejudiced chief surgeon..." "Dr. Lamar." "His patient died when his incisions opened." "Dr. Lamar sounds like a good candidate for the next victim." "Yeah, right." "Just when Blair's next in line to be healed at White Cloud's clinic." "Micki." "Lamar's a miserable excuse for a doctor." "You can't just stand back and let White Cloud kill." "But Blair's so young." "Surely she's worth more than just..." "Come on." "Let's go back to the reservation." "Maybe Spotted Owl has got the rattle back." "Okay?" "But you can still help me, even if the clinic is closed." "There are certain preparations I have to make." "Give me a couple of days, then come back." "You don't think Dr. Lamar will mind that I came to see you?" "No." "In fact, I'm thinking of having him assist with your recovery." " Dr. Smith to fourth floor." " Dr. Smith." "Jack, look." "What in the name of...?" "Ryan, light that lantern over there, will you?" "What is it?" "He said he would give you a way to defeat White Cloud." "Sasheena?" "My grandfather's dead." "What do you want me to do?" "You will help me awaken the spirits of my ancestors." "This is the death our people used on their special enemies." "The captives were first skinned alive." "Then roasted..." "A burnt offering for our spirits." "You've only yourself to blame, Doctor." "What is this place?" "It's the burial cave of the shaman." "Jack, are you sure about this?" "Yes." "We don't have any choice." "What's he doing, Sasheena?" "It's a blood sacrifice." "He thinks he's purifying himself of evil." "There's the rattle." "Let's get it." "No." "He'll kill you." "We have to do this the right way." "O, Great Spirits, release these holy men to stop the evil of White Cloud!" "It's time for you to return to your people, my grandson." "d d" "d d" "Well?" "I watched her put the rattle back in the burial cave." "Good." "I think it should be in the vault, Jack." "Yeah, but it's not ours to keep, Ryan." "I think Sasheena and her ancestors will guard it as well as we could." "How's, uh, Dr. Lamar?" "Oh, he'll, uh, he'll make it." "It's not fair, Jack." "We managed to save Dr. Lamar..." "Meanwhile, condemning Blair to death." "Micki, we don't make the rules." "Maybe Dr. Lamar will be better for this." "Maybe he'll save a lot of lives..." "Jack, please." "I've heard all the moral arguments." "They don't help." "I know, believe me, I do know." "Good people leave us too soon." "The bad ones seem to be around forever." "But... it's just not up to us to play God, choose someone else's time."