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Authors: Jaime Maddox

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BOOK: The Common Thread
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“I guess I can keep a lid on this.” He winked at Nan and smiled at Katie, motioning them toward the door. “I’ll wait while until you’re on your way. You never know.”

They thanked him profusely, both for his vigilance in guarding the clinic and his understanding of their delicate situation.

Nan discreetly winked at Katie, and while the policeman escorted her down the stairs, Katie carefully placed her briefcase and the scrubs on the backseat beside the blue suitcase.

“Holy cow,” Nan exclaimed when they were back in the car. “This is more exciting than the television.”

Katie chuckled. “Thank goodness for Gerald. You learned to lie like a champion, Nan.”

Nan answered her laugh. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. We’re gonna have to put on a good show at the hospital, you know.”

Katie maneuvered the car onto the road and, after a moment of silence, she spoke. “That was supposed to be the easy part.”

“And it was easy. We’re doing fine. Just think of it as the dress rehearsal.”

Katie fought the urge to bite her nail as she drove, wishing she could share Nan’s confidence. A sense of urgency overtook her as she glanced at the dashboard. It was already after midnight; almost two hours had passed since the shooting. The clock was ticking. At any minute, someone could arrive at the hospital and take her children away. If she was going to pull this off, she needed to hurry. They couldn’t afford another delay.

“You know the drill, right?” Katie still didn’t have the whole plan together but had provisions for several different options. All of them involved Nan gaining access to the ER by feigning chest pain. Katie knew the lobby would be crowded with all kinds of people with all kinds of concerns, but none of them would have that kind of pain. It often meant a heart attack, and Medicare reimbursed hospitals and clinics based on performance in treating heart attacks. Nan would get the red-carpet treatment, no questions asked. She’d be taken right back, given oxygen, and placed on a monitor.

“I told you, Gerald Senior suffered from angina pectoris. I know all about it. Squeezing pain in his heart, shortness of the breath, sick to the stomach. You just leave it to me.”

Katie pulled the car to the ER entrance and walked around to help Nan out. The area was so well lit a movie could have been filmed there, but fortunately, no one was hanging around. The less people who saw her at this point, the less likely she was to get caught later.

“What are you doing?” Nan asked. “Go park the car and meet me inside. I’ll be fine.”

Finding a parking place at the ER wouldn’t be easy. If she took the risk and parked illegally, her car might be towed. And if she couldn’t find a spot within a reasonable distance, the police would pick up her and the kids before they could make their getaway. Fortunately, she’d planned for that. She found the spot she was looking for and put the car into park. Pulling her briefcase from the back, she found four of the pages she’d printed. She opened the car door and, after making sure there were no witnesses, she circled it, placing one of the decals on each front door, the rear bumper, and the hood. She stood back and admired her work. The black letters stood out against the car’s white paint. Satisfied, Katie grabbed the briefcase and the suitcase and walked just a few feet to the ER’s main entrance. For the first time she could recall, she left her car unlocked.

Playing the role of the frantic relative, she ran up to the first hospital worker she saw and tearfully begged the security officer for directions to her grandmother, Mrs. Arlington. Katie ignored the cries of babies and the moans of people in pain, and an argument between a husband and wife. She ignored the dirty floor and the overflowing trash can, and the foul odor it emitted. She concentrated on the role she was playing—concerned granddaughter.

After the clerk verified that Nan could have a visitor, Katie was buzzed through the locked security doors and into the inner sanctum of the emergency department. Now, her night was really about to get interesting.

Just as she anticipated, she found even more chaos in the ER than in the lobby and hoped that could work to her advantage. She was counting on noise and action to help distract people from the fact that she was kidnapping two small children currently in the custody of the police.

Hospital personnel of all ranks hurried about, family members wandered to and fro, and stretchers lined the walls displaying a tragic parade of diseases. Monitors beeped. Phones rang. Human beings cursed and wailed and moaned. It was perfect.

Walking slowly, Katie reoriented herself to the layout of the emergency department. It was the closest one to her home, and with two small children she’d had occasion to visit half a dozen times for such issues as croup and vomiting and one small broken wrist. The nursing station was centrally located in the large rectangular space, and those rooms closest to that hub were in the direct line of sight of anyone who happened to be looking. They were equipped with monitors for a constant assessment of vital signs in the sickest patients. Beyond the nucleus, patient rooms were positioned every ten feet, and here a variety of workers skated about trying to provide care for the many patients seeking treatment on a busy Tuesday night. The ER was huge, with hallways leading to x-ray suites and supply areas and other departments jutting off the main area at irregular intervals. In spite of the fact that she’d been here before, if she took a wrong turn she feared she’d be lost.

No one noticed her presence as they scurried about in every direction, and Katie took advantage. The guard had given her a room number where she’d find Nan, but instead of heading directly there, she began a discreet reconnaissance mission. After all, she wasn’t here to see Nan but to find Chloe and Andre.

The decision to wear scrubs had been wise. The majority of employees she noticed were similarly clothed so she blended in easily. Her ID badge indicated she was from the lab, and although it wouldn’t unlock any doors to give her access, it helped create the shield of invisibility she needed to move about unencumbered.

Passing Nan’s room, she paused outside the door to listen as Nan relayed the story she’d rehearsed. Once again, she was a convincing actress, and Katie smiled as she heard the nurse’s sarcastic reply. “So this pain started at dinnertime and you waited until midnight to come in here? Don’t you watch television? You’re supposed to come right away.”

Katie didn’t linger long enough to hear Nan’s retort. Rounding a corner, she walked the length of the hall quickly and then turned again. She was moving in a counter-clockwise direction and covered the entire perimeter in just a few minutes. She didn’t find her children. She’d expected to find a nosy police officer loitering in the hall, but that hadn’t been the case. Unless she went to the desk and inquired, she’d have to knock on every door to find them.

She began the task. A sign on the first door read
Caution: respiratory isolation. Masks required
. Katie picked up a mask and tied it around her neck. It would help hide her face, and the disguise might buy her time if she needed it. She didn’t enter the room but proceeded to the next room. There were thirty in all, and she planned to check every one of them if she needed to, but at the moment she didn’t go into the quarantined room. Even in a crowded ER she knew they wouldn’t house two small children and a police escort in a room with a contagious patient.

Pulling the mask over her face, she entered the next room. An elderly man was sleeping and didn’t stir as the door opened and an arc of light filled the room, heralding Katie’s presence. The next several rooms were the same. As she turned the corner and entered yet another closed door, Katie was startled to find a nurse seated at the bedside. When she looked up and saw Katie, she smiled.

“Thank God! I’ve stuck this poor woman three times and haven’t gotten a drop of blood.” Standing, she smiled at the patient, who looked as relieved as she did. Seeing the fear on Katie’s face, the nurse smiled and whispered to her, “First night for you?”

Katie nodded.

“You’ve done this before, though, right?”

That Katie had. Thousands of times. Drawing blood was one of her many duties at the clinic. She nodded again.

“Well, get to it then. I need a rainbow,” the nurse informed her, indicating one tube of every color.

Seeing no way out of this dilemma, Katie pulled gloves out of the basket at the bedside and applied a tourniquet to the woman’s forearm. She draped the woman’s arm from the bedside, allowing gravity to pool the blood in her extremity. Then, tapping the back of her hand, she watched as the vein there dilated. She easily drew four tubes of blood and handed them to the watching nurse, who applied identification stickers. “Good job,” she said. “And thanks. By the way, I’m Liz. What’s your name?”

Katie hesitated. What was her name? Then she remembered. “Mary.”

“Well, Mary, welcome to night shift. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again before it’s over.”

She had to take a few deep breaths before she found the courage to leave the room. She hadn’t counted on getting that close to any actual staff members. If Liz had paid closer attention to Katie’s ID badge, her cover would have been blown. Finally, knowing she was racing the clock, Katie emerged from the room and continued her search. She was nearly back at Nan’s room and losing hope when she saw a police officer, straddling the doorway and watching the commotion as a belligerent patient gave the nursing staff a hard time. He stood ready, hands on his hips, the left one dangerously close to the gun holstered there. Yet he didn’t seem inclined to help the staff as they wrestled with the intoxicated man. Instead, he watched, smiling and shaking his head. No doubt he’d seen the same show many times before.

Her head down, Katie walked past him, moving quickly, with no opportunity to see inside the room and check if her children were hidden behind his large frame. Behind him, the door was open only a hair. But they had to be in there, unless Nan’s intelligence was wrong and they’d been transported to another hospital. She had to find out, but how?

With a glance over her shoulder, Katie pulled back the curtain and disappeared into Nan’s room. Their eyes met, and for the first time all evening, Nan had a concerned expression. “Any luck?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. I need your help.”

Standing at the bedside, Katie explained the dilemma, and wordlessly, Nan sat up in the bed and began to disconnect the various wires attached to her body. Immediately, a monitor began beeping in protest, and Katie furiously pushed buttons to quiet them. She didn’t relax until the last fell silent. When Nan was ready, Katie went to the edge of the curtain and pulled it back, checking the hallway for any problems. All was well.

“Remember to wait until I’m in position, okay?” Katie asked. “I just need one minute.” Nan nodded in understanding.

Katie exited the room with her head down, walking purposefully to the right, Georgia’s little blue suitcase in her hand. To her left, the scuffle with the belligerent patient was drawing to a close and the crowd was thinning. Perfect. She circled the corridor and, to her relief, the guard she’d noticed earlier was still at his post. Katie needed him there, for the moment.

Slipping into a restroom, Katie slipped the suitcase behind the trash can and was back in the hallway a few seconds later. A full minute had passed, but she still didn’t see Nan. The officer was still at his post.

She hesitated outside a patient’s room, bent her head, and pretended to read something she pulled from the pocket of her coat. Next, she stooped and tied her shoe, waiting. C’mon, Nan, she said to herself, counting the seconds by the pulse beating in her ear. Just when she thought she’d faint, Nan appeared. Always thinking, she’d had taken time to change out of her hospital gown and back into her clothing. After this, things might move fast.

Nan scanned the hallway, and after noting Katie in position, she embarked on her mission. Turning left, she took the route opposite of the one Katie had, approaching the police officer from the other direction. They now had him surrounded—two women, one old and one wanted by police. It wasn’t ideal, but it would have to do. Katie didn’t have any other options.

Holding on to the wall, Nan made slow progress, and Katie winced as she watched, keeping one eye on Nan and the other on her target. If he disappeared into that room again, Katie would have to resort to plan B. But luck was with them. Apparently he’d grown bored in the room and was enjoying the scenery in the hall, because he seemed planted now, watching the activity. When she reached a spot about twenty feet from him, Nan began to sway. Her knees started to buckle and she leaned into the wall for support.

The policeman might have stood and watched as the nurses suffered broken ribs in a scuffle with a drunken patient, but apparently he wouldn’t allow an octogenarian to fall and break a hip. As soon as the officer saw Nan tottering on those old legs, he was off to the rescue. Before he even reached the woman’s side, Katie slipped through the door he’d been guarding and into the semi-darkness of the room.

A forty-watt bulb above the bed provided the only light Katie needed. There, nesting in its glow, were the two loves of her life. Andre was snuggled in the arms of his big sister Chloe, sleeping. Just as the police officer had been guarding their doorway, so his big sister was guarding him. Tears of relief filled her eyes, but she immediately wiped them and steadied herself as she pushed forward into the room. She still had a job to do.

Chloe’s eyes flew open and she sat up as she saw Katie. “Mommy!” She squealed in delight, a huge smile lighting her face. Her arms opened for a hug.

Katie brought her pointer finger to her lips to instruct Chloe to remain quiet. The shift in Chloe’s position awakened her brother, but it took him a moment to come around fully. Katie took advantage of the delay and crawled next to them on the bed, pulling them both tight into her arms. “I’m here, now. Everything’s fine,” she said. Then she pulled back and looked at them.

“We’re going to play a little game now. I want you to listen carefully while I tell you the rules.”

BOOK: The Common Thread
4.5Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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