Ultimate Warriors (6 page)

     
"I
need the records of one of the patients I’m treating."

     
"Name?"

     
"Nariko
Suzaku."

     
The
receptionist’s gaze flickered toward Nariko. "I’m not sure we still have
medical records on her. She was released almost seven years ago."

     
Dr.
Savage gave her a look. "I need to see all of her records--from the time
she was brought to the orphanage."

     
The
woman studied him in tightlipped silence for several moments and finally got up
and left the office once more, muttering, as she left, "You might have
asked that while I was up before."

     
Dr.
Savage turned and exchanged a look with Nariko, and she bit back a smile.
"You didn’t mention that this was such a warm place."

     
Nariko
chuckled but shrugged. "It’s the only one I was ever in. I thought they
were all like this."

     
Dr.
Savage frowned, but he didn’t comment.

     
He got
tired of leaning over the counter that separated the receptionist’s desk from
the waiting area and began to pace again. This time only fifteen minutes passed
before the woman returned--empty handed. She sat down at her desk once more and
resumed pecking at her keyboard. When Dr. Savage leaned over the counter again,
she threw him a smug smile. "Ms. Townsend says they can’t be released
without a court order."

     
Dr.
Savage fought another round with his temper. "Why?"

     
The
woman shrugged. "They’re sealed."

     
"Why?"

     
She gave
him a withering look. "I don’t know. That’s what I was told."

     
"Did
you tell Ms. Townsend that I was Nariko’s physician?"

     
"You
didn’t tell me you were," the receptionist said coldly.

     
Dr.
Savage lost his temper. "I hate like
hell to drag you
away from whatever you’re doing to do your job, but do you think
you
could ask again?"

     
The
receptionist glared at him. "I’ll have to have some identification."

     
Dr.
Savage dragged his wallet out and tossed his ID on the woman’s desk.

     
She
studied it skeptically. "This says you’re a sleep therapist."

     
He ground
his teeth.
"Exactly.
Doctor
Shayne Savage, specialty, sleep therapy."

     
The
receptionist stalked from the room, slamming the door behind her that time. She
was back within ten minutes, tossing Dr. Shayne’s ID on the counter. "Ms.
Townsend says you’ll need a court order."

     
Dr.
Savage palmed his ID and stood away from the counter. After a moment, he turned
and motioned to Nariko. When they’d left the building, she glanced at him.
"What now?"

     
He
didn’t answer at once. Instead, he escorted her to his car and held the door
until she got in. When he’d climbed behind the steering wheel, he sat staring
out the windshield for several minutes, as if he was studying the building.

     
"Do
you think it would be worth it to get a court order?" she finally asked.

     
"I
think there’s something damned strange going on here," he responded
tightly.

     
Nariko
waited a few moments, but when he said no more, she prodded him again.
"What are we going to do now?"

     
"Break
in."

* * * *

     
"Excuse
me?" Nariko asked.

     
Dr.
Savage’s face was grim when he glanced at her. "I need the information in
those files if I’m going to help you. And I have no intention of allowing
anyone to stop me."

     
Nariko
blinked at him several times, deciding she must have heard him wrong.
"But--so you’re going to try to get a court order?"

     
He
studied her thoughtfully for several moments. "That could take a year or
more. I don’t think you can wait that long. Do you?"

     
A year.
Nariko didn’t think she could stand what she’d been
going through another week. What would happen if that evil thing caught her and
finally managed to do whatever he’d been trying to do? That was what she
feared--especially after she’d woken with the bite mark. "But--breaking
in? What if you were caught? You’d be in all sorts of trouble. I can’t let you
do it. I appreciate it more than I can say, but I’d be responsible if it went
badly and you were arrested … or anything."

     
He
looked amused. "I wasn’t asking your permission. You asked me what I was
going to do … but you don’t have to take the risk. I can handle it. In fact,
it’ll be better if I go in alone."

     
She
stared at him for several moments while her shock and surprise turned to
irritation. "So--what you’re saying is that I would get us caught? If
you’re going to do it, you need me. I lived here practically my whole life. I
know it like the back of my hand. It would be better if you just let me do it.
That way, if I get caught, you won’t be in any trouble and I won’t have
anything to feel guilty about."

     
"Do
you know anything about breaking and entering?"

     
She gave
him a look.
"Probably as much as you do."

     
"We’ll
do it together," he said firmly.

* * * *

     
Nariko
gave Dr. Savage an "I told you so" look when the light finally went
out in Ms. Townsend’s office. Unfortunately, it was dark and he missed it.

     
She’d
told him the old bat always went back after dinner to do her paperwork and
never left her office--which adjoined her apartment--before ten in the
evenings. They’d been waiting for a good hour and now they would have to wait
longer still.

     
Hopefully,
the old battle ax was deaf, because she’d always slept like a watch dog and
Nariko doubted if that had changed any. One sound and she’d come boiling out of
her apartment snarling and slavering at the mouth.

     
It had
only taken Nariko one such nasty encounter to decide that she wasn’t doing
anything else that might get her into trouble.

     
When
another hour had passed and virtually every light in the orphanage had been
switched off or dimmed, they finally left the shrubs and moved stealthily
toward the building.

     
They’d
fed the watch dogs meat laden with something to make them sleep. She sincerely
hoped they could get in and out before the damned dogs woke up. One thing she
didn’t need to top her evening was a Rottweiler chewing up her ass.

     
When
they’d reached the kitchen door, which, in Nariko’s time was often left
unlocked because the mechanism was so old it was hard to turn, they discovered
a bright, shiny new one had been installed.

     
Nariko
stared at it in dismay, but Dr. Savage merely pulled something from his pants
pocket and began working on it. In a few minutes, he had the door open. She
looked at him with a mixture of surprise, doubt, and … respect. "How did
you do that?" she whispered.

     
"An
old trick I learned in my misspent youth."

     
When
they were inside, they closed the door quietly and locked it behind them. The
orphanage only had a couple of security guards that patrolled the interior of
the building, but they didn’t want to take the chance that the unlocked door
would be discovered and alert them to an intruder.

     
Waiting
until their eyes adjusted, they set off through the kitchen to the corridor.
After peering both ways, they left the kitchen and moved quickly down to the
stairs at the end, staying close to the wall as they ascended. The stairs
creaked anyway. Every time one let out a noise, both of them paused, holding
their breath.

     
One of
the security guards passed the stairwell as they reached the second floor. They
waited, listening as his steps came closer and closer and then began to
diminish once more as he passed the stairwell and disappeared down the hallway.
"Midnight rounds," Nariko whispered when he’d passed beyond hearing.
"He’s supposed to come every half hour, but he probably won’t be back
before one."

     
Savage
glanced at her.
"Probably?"

     
"When
I was here, their rounds took forty-five minutes … because he’d usually stop
for a smoke or a cup of coffee. I don’t know if it’s the same guys … or even
the same schedule … but it is midnight and he just passed."

     
Savage
studied her a moment. "If we should happen to run up on the guards, just
do as I say."

     
Nariko
stared at him wide-eyed a moment, wondering what she’d gotten
herself
in to, but finally nodded.

     
Opening
the stairwell, he glanced in both directions. When he saw it was clear, he
motioned for Nariko to show him the way and they moved quickly but quietly to
the door to the main office. Again, Savage picked the lock. Moving across the
office, Nariko headed toward the records room and went in. Savage pulled a
small flashlight from his pocket and flicked the light over the filing
cabinets.

     
Ten
minutes later, they’d located Nariko’s file. To Nariko’s horror, Savage pulled
the contents out, replaced the papers with part of several other files and
stuffed the contents of her file into his shirt.

     
"You’re
taking it?" she said on a breath of sound.

     
He put
his fingers to his lips, shut the drawer and turned off the flashlight.

     
Nariko
had already grabbed the doorknob when they heard the office door slam open and
heels clicking briskly across the floor. She turned to Savage wide-eyed with
horror. Grabbing her arm, he hauled her to the back of the tiny room, pushed
her up against the wall and pressed up against her. "Not a sound," he
whispered,
his lips against her ear.

     
A shiver
skated through her as the heat of his breath touched her ear.

     
Nariko
heard the doorknob creak as it was turned. "Sh--"

     
Savage
grabbed her upper arms, pressing her tightly against the wall with his body,
covered her lips with his and thrust his tongue into her mouth. The jolt that
went through her was fifty percent pure physical reaction to Savage’s rough
caress and fifty percent sheer terror when the light abruptly came on.

     
He was
totally mad! She should have known he was crazy when he suggested they break
into a state run facility to steal her records.

     
Why had
she allowed him to talk her in to this?

     
She
stiffened when the light came on, expecting any moment to hear Mrs. Townsend’s
screech. Instead, after a few moments, the light was turned off again and she
heard the retreat of the heels across the office floor.

     
It
wasn’t until total silence reigned once more that Nariko realized Savage was in
no great hurry to pull away from her and break the kiss. Her lips throbbed from
the pressure of his mouth, sending inappropriate signals to places that had no
business getting calls in this sort of situation. Finally, however, he lifted
his lips from hers and stepped back.

     
Nariko
was too stunned to fully appreciate the kiss they’d just shared. In fact, she
couldn’t remember doing anything but standing there with her mouth hanging open
as he plundered it. Vaguely, she could taste him on her tongue--sweet with a
bite, like sugared mint. She looked up at him in the dimness, gasping for air,
not quite believing what just happened. "She didn’t see us. How could she
not have seen us?"

     
A faint
smile curled his lips. "They’ll hear us if you aren’t quiet."

     
Nariko’s
jaw dropped when she realized what he was suggesting--thought he was
suggesting,
that she wanted to him to use his ‘trick’ again.
Glaring at him, she led the way from the office and down the stairs. She didn’t
know whether she was more relieved or disappointed when they emerged from the
building without further incident.