Coffee (29 page)

“If
the Doctor doesn’t get back, I’ll be setting off your
death. I can’t do that!”

Etty
touched Bryce’s arm to get his full attention. “If you
don’t push those buttons, they will. I know this sounds
fatalistic, but I’d much rather have you do it than they. And
the longer you wait here, the more likely you won’t get
through.” She kept her eyes on him.

“Shit.
I suppose you’re right. Goddamn these people!” He
turned to the Doctor. “How long does she need to be hooked up
on the IV?”

“30
minutes at the absolute minimum. I’ll prescribe some oral
antibiotics for follow up. But this office won’t work. There
are other patients coming here.”

“Where
then? Can you recommend another place? Something near the exits
that won’t be used for at least a few hours? Something with
windows?”

“I
know - Bookkeeping on the ground floor, room 205. I have a master
key.”

Bryce
planned quickly. “I guess we’ll go for it. Take her
down there and lock her in. Get the drugs, then set her up to the
equipment. Then you should get out. I’m afraid you’re
in this now. Go before it really blows up. Leave the key someplace
I can get it.”

“I’ll
tack it to the bulletin board across the hall under the cafeteria
menu.”

“Lay
low, until you hear about Etty in the news. Then contact the FBI.
We’ll want your testimony.”

“I
can’t believe it’s come to this!” the Doctor
whispered as she opened the door to let them out.

Bryce
heard his beeper pen in the bag Etty held. He pulled it out and
read the display. “It’s Brooke I bet. Let me take this
quick, could be important. Can I use the phone?”

The
Doctor pointed to the wall. “Nine first.”

“.
. . Hi Brooke, talk fast, what’s up?”

“Bryce.
I got your evidence yesterday afternoon. No way Lange would let me
process it, but Heller had his Dad at the New York Police call in a
rush to a local lab. I got something.”

“Go.”

“Blue
melanin dye. It’s the stuff they use in tattoos. Did Bishop
have a tattoo on her hand?”

“She’s
standing here, so I know it’s not her hand anyway.”

“She’s
there? You’re kidding! You son’of’a’bitch,
you did it!”

“Yea,
well, not yet. I’ll tell you later. If this gets really
crazy, I may call in for support. If that happens, you tell
chubo-Lange that I have Bishop, alive and well, and to get help down
here immediately. Otherwise, keep it quiet for now, he thinks I’m
sick.”

“No
he doesn’t. He’s going to send you back to boot camp if
he can prove you’re screwing with the case.”

“What
about Knut’s glass?”

“It
hadn’t been washed for months. The lab guy told me it was
like walking in a jungle - no conclusive prints except for Knut’s.
They found a lot of bacteria, common stuff, but nothing strange.”

“Have
them look closer at those bacteria. Clever stuff, it must be hard
to detect. I think those babies carry some kind of killer toxin.”

“No
can do, I’ve played my last cards on this one.”

“That’s
fine. Thanks for your help.” He hung up. “The dead
girl in the car had a tattoo on her forearm, a blue one. No telling
what it said.”

Etty
cringed, realizing they were speaking of the woman who died in her
place. “I bet they used one of the dead prostitutes.”

“Why
don’t you take this.” He handed Etty the pager pen,
then wrote out on a piece of paper two numbers. “Type them in
order, then hit the send key. It will get a message to FBI, and
then me if we’re separated, and it sends your location. Works
anywhere in the world. You better hide it.”

Etty
took a role of surgical tape off the counter, and taped the pager
and codes under her upper arm. “You’ve been amazing
Bryce.” She smiled softly.

Bryce
noticed the security bracelet when she rolled up her sleeve. “That
looks like a tracking device. Do they know where you are at all
times?”

“Oh
God, you’re right! They’ll find me in a second.”

“You’ll
have to cut it off.” He retrieved the wire cutters from his
bag. “As soon as it’s cut, they’ll probably know.
All hell will break out, so move fast.”

“I’ll
take care of it.” She took them from him.

Bryce
tapped his watch. “I have 6:45.”

“Mine
too,” said Jenkins.

Etty
looked at her wrist. “They robbed me of that too. Scums.”

“I’ll
throw the switch at 7:00.” Bryce hugged Etty hard. “This
better work. If I don’t show up by 7:30, run for it. Jump
out the window if you have to. Go right to the police. I’ll
catch up.”

Etty
kissed his cheek. “It will work. My death code is 5358.
Don’t forget. Now get out of here, and be careful.”

She
shoved him down the hall. She snipped the bracelet, and the two
women quickly left.



At
the Security Console at WIC, a beep and blinking light caused the
guard to study one of the screens. “Call Bart - look at this,
she just cut off her bracelet!” A second guard crowded over
to confirm.

Bryce
moved at a normal pace through the hospital and into the Rotunda.
His guard outfit might work a little longer, but this time he did
not have Etty as a distraction. He still had the radio, and a
handful of keys. As he approached WIC, he noticed a buzz of
activity around the screens. One held a phone to his ear while
waving the other hand. Three more bent over a terminal with their
heads nearly touching. Bryce pulled out his access card, and
readied it for a quick swipe.

The
guard was nearly shouting. “Stan brought her over! I swear
Bart! He ran through a little late. ... Yes, we already sent two
men over to the hospital to check it out.” He kicked the
backs of two guards with his foot, and sent them away with a sharp
nod of his head. They scrambled off, running right by Bryce without
noticing.

Bryce
passed the card through the reader. He raised his right hand to wave
casually to the guard. He didn’t look as he coughed out a
“Hey there!” and pushed the turnstile door around to
pass.

Stan’s
name appeared on the screen. “Stan? What’s he doing
here!” He looked up, still on the line with Bart. “Hey!
That’s not Stan!” Bryce bolted.

Bart
heard the comments, and screamed so loudly the guard had to pull the
phone away from his ear. “What’s going on down there!”

“Stan,
I mean someone just came through - dressed like Stan. Says on the
readout he had Stan’s card. I know it wasn’t him. He
was already gone by the time I ....”

“Shut
up. Call in everyone you can. Get guards at every door that leads
to the unsecured part of the hospital. Have at least six guards
search WIC, one per floor. For now, do not use the airwaves, put
everyone on a silence status unless they see the girl or the phony
guard. Hurry!”

Bart hung up and pulled out his two-way radio. He stood in the
bathroom, his cheeks still half covered with shaving cream. He was
losing control of the facility fast. Etty could be on the way out
the Hospital door, and now an impostor entered WIC. Why?

He
came up with a name he knew no guard had, and pushed ‘talk’.
“Hey, Stan, come in - this is Fred Sparling. Come in.”
Bryce was climbing a back utility stairwell on the way to the sixth
floor. He stared at the device clipped on his belt, wishing it to
stop talking to him. Bart went on, “Stan, how’s my
little girlfriend? She in with the doctor?”

It
sounded innocent enough. He decided it was better to answer than to
keep mute. He conjured up his scratchy cough voice again. “Yea
(cough), sorry ‘bout the cold, (cough), yea, the bitch is
fine. I’ll let you know when we leave.”

Bart
continued, “Where are you now, Stan?” Suddenly a new
voice sounded - it was the guard at the WIC station. “Who the
hell is Fred? There’s no Fred here!”

Bart
made a fist. “You fool, Sanderson!” he shouted with the
radio off.

Bryce
stopped short on the sixth floor. He knew now they were on to him,
that the call was a trick. He looked both ways on the stairwell,
but heard no footsteps. 6:50, he had to kill ten minutes.

The
stairs ended at a wide platform. Four large plastic wastebaskets
filled to the brim with crumpled paper lined up along the smudged
wall. Two doors left the landing, one marked
Roof Access
,
and another leading into the sixth floor office hallway. He rifled
through the wad of keys on his belt until he found one that opened
the roof door. He locked himself in the small stairway that led to
the roof and waited.



Jennie
and Warren had made their way into the secure part of the hospital
with Jennie’s key, and then on to the third floor. Warren
gasped when he saw Etty walking toward him, but pulled Jennie back
into a side hallway while he assessed her female escort. He
expected Bryce to be with her. But there was Etty! Alive! He
watched her long hair shutter with each step. He followed her eyes,
hoping she’d look up.

“Warren?
Is that you?”

Dr.
Jenkins jumped back, fearful Etty’d recognized a guard.

“He’s
ok. Warren, what are you doing here?”

“What
do you think?” He approached to embrace her.

Annoyed,
the Doctor pushed past. “No time for that. We’ve got to
keep walking.”

“I’m
just a little excited to see you, you know, Etty.”

“I
thought you were safely out of here. Who is she?” Etty
pointing at Jennie.

Dr.
Jenkins led the way, quickly descending the stairs. ”Hurry,
and quiet everyone! Wait ‘till we get there.”

Once
to the bookkeeping office, the Doctor herded them in. “Keep
your voices down to a whisper.” Her strained face looked
through the nearly closed door. “I’ll be back as soon
as I can.” She tried a subtle smile.

“Joyce,”
Etty said calmly. “You’ve done more than enough
already.”

In
her medical career, she’d been trained to deal with life
threatening conditions. But this. A healthy young patient’s
life depended on her running through halls, evading guards, stealing
medicine. The perversion sickened her. She reached through and
touched Etty’s shoulder, then rushed off.

Etty
twisted the dead bolt. Sunrise shed a red glow over the small
office of three desks, copy machine, laser printer, and some filing
cabinets. She checked the window view from a safe angle, then
turned. “Warren, who is she?”

Warren
repelled Jennie’s clutching arm. “An employee, she has
keys to ...”

“An
employee? What have you done!”

“She’s
running too, and she can get us out. I’m part of this you
know. I’m trying to help!”

Etty
shook her head, dismayed. “This whole company needs to be
liberated. But we can’t help any of them until we get on the
outside.”

“Where’s
Bryce?”

Jennie
looked up. Etty noticed. “I don’t want to talk about
it any more in front of her.”

Jennie
protested, “Hey, I’m in trouble here too you know! What
do you think I am?”

Warren
stared at her, embarrassed to be reprimanded by Etty, but not sure
what to do. Jennie stared back. “You too? Oh I see. Fine,
I’ll go wait in the hall so you two can have a nice little
chat.”

She
headed for the door, but Warren caught her elbow. “You can’t
go out there! You’re being chased, remember?”

“I
didn’t think I had a choice. You want me to wait in the
closet?” she said sarcastically.

Warren
saw the slightly opened closet door. He looked in at the spacious
interior, then rolled in a chair from a desk. “Not a bad
idea. Go on in, we’ll be right out here so you’ll be
safe.”

Jennie
braced. “What! You’re
not
putting me in ... “
Warren had done enough to complicate things, so with no second
thoughts, he pushed her in. He pulled a desk in front to keep her
secure. “Let me out! I’ll scream!”

“You
make one more sound, and I’ll come in and knock you out. I’m
not kidding. I want to help you Jennie. Do what I say or we’ll
all suffer.”

He
waited by the door until convinced she’d be quiet.

Jennie
decided to go along. At least she was with the woman, and she’d
be able to tell if they left the room. And now she knew there was
one other. She listened carefully trying to overhear their
conversation.



Only
a minute before 7:00, Bryce re-entered the stair well. He entered
the plush office space confidently, and winked at a woman carrying a
handful of papers. He easily found the President’s office, as
the hallways naturally built up to its grand entrance. A secretary
at a huge desk took off her headset as Bryce stepped up. “May
I help you, Sir?”

“Yes,
I need to talk to the President right away.”

“I’m
sorry, you’ll have to take a seat, he’s with an
important customer.”

“I
don’t care, this is a matter of vital security, and I must see
him.” Bryce rounded the desk, and headed for his door.

Standing
up, she pleaded, “Sir, please, let me call in and announce you
at least!”

Bryce
turned the heavy brass knob and pushed open the door. McKinsey and
an older Asian woman sat in elaborate chairs, facing each other over
an odd looking glass table. McKinsey shot a bothered expression at
Bryce. “I’m not to be disturbed right now.”

“Sir,
this is important, I need to talk to you.” He’d hoped
the office would be empty.

“This
better be good. Mrs. Kinichi has come from Japan, and has limited
time.”

Bryce
hastily decided that a little truth might give him the offensive.
“Sir, someone has broken security and is in this wing as we
speak. I need to talk to you in private.”