Page 56 of Dark Night of the Soul

One guard came toward me, moving against the flow. He noticed something—the jacket, my face, the way I moved. His hand went to his radio.

I closed the distance fast. He blocked, went for his sidearm. I got there first. Took him down with an elbow to the throat, knee to the ribs. He dropped. I pulled the gun from his holster, checked the magazine. Full.

I left him gasping and kept moving.

The medical wing was chaos. Staff running, patients being evacuated, doors hanging open. I moved down the corridor checking rooms. Empty. Wrong patient. Empty. Wrong patient.

One door at the end was closed. Locked.

That was her.

I tried the handle. Solid. I’d need a keycard or—

Footsteps behind me. Heavy. Fast.

“Hey! Stop!”

Guard. Young. Nervous. Gun already drawn but his stance was off, weight too far forward.

I turned. Raised the gun. Fired.

His kneecap shattered. He went down screaming, gun clattering across the floor. I stepped over him, took his keycard from his belt.

Swiped it. The lock clicked green.

I pushed inside and locked the door behind me.

Anna was on the bed. Pale. Unconscious. Breathing steady but shallow. There was blood seeping through the gauze on her cheek. Fresh. From the fight with the nurse.

An IV line ran into her left arm.

I crossed to her. Pulse was strong. Sedated but stable.

A door opened to my right. A nurse stepped out of the adjoining supply room, froze when she saw me. Her eyes went to the gun. To Anna. To the guard bleeding in the hallway visible through the door window.

“The IV,” I said. “Take it out.”

She didn’t move.

I raised the gun. Not pointing at her. Reminding her it was there.

“She needs fluids,” the nurse said. Voice shaking but steady enough. “She’s been sedated. You can’t—”

“Now.”

She moved. She released the line with trembling hands, withdrew the needle cleanly, applied pressure to the site. She grabbed medical tape, secured the cotton. Stepped back.

I lowered the gun. “Stay here. Don’t follow.”

She nodded. Smart enough not to argue.

I shoved the gun into the small of my back, tucked under the jacket, then lifted Anna over my shoulder. She was dead weight, heavier than she looked. I adjusted her position, kept my right hand free.

Confusion in the corridor still when I stepped out. I locked the nurse inside and moved toward the stairwell.

Two guards were coming up from below. They saw me. Saw her.

The first one shouted something. Went for his weapon.