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He crashed into the man before he could succeed in filling her with whatever was in the syringe. The motion of his tackle brought them both down on top of poor Sarah, who started screaming. Mark cursed as the fake doc caught him with an elbow to the face, knocking him off the other side of the bed.
The perp ran out the door.
“Sarah, are you okay?”
Sarah was crying but nodded. Mark bolted into the hall after the perp, shouting for the nurses to call security and to get a real doctor to check on Sarah.
The fake doc was sprinting down the hallway. They were on the ground floor. Mark had to catch him before he reached the outside. The guy took a sharp turn down a hallway that circled around toward the back entrance.
Mark had been here long enough today to know his way around. He angled down a different hall that would allow him to cut the guy off at the entrance.
He pushed for as much speed as he could. The hospital staff looked at him like he was out of his mind, but he didn’t slow down.
Then his leg started to drag.
Shit. Mark pushed down the anger at his own body’s betrayal. He could make it. He had to catch this guy.
He burst through a door at the end of one hallway, his leg dragging further. Had he gotten there quickly enough? Slamming footsteps came from the other direction, and Mark moved, lunging out of sight so he could come at the guy sideways.
Moving at full speed, the fake doctor blew into the lobby, and Mark sprang. It felt like slow motion. He was on a collision course to take down the suspect who had no doubt just tried to kill Sarah…
And then Mark couldn’t feel his leg at all.
It was nothing more than a stump attached to his body, and he had no control. He couldn’t keep upright or maintain his momentum, crashing to the floor just behind the man. Mark didn’t have time to catch himself, and he was a blend of numbness and pain as he hit the floor.
By the time he looked over, the man was gone, flying out the doors and into the Colorado evening.
The nurses who’d seen what happened rushed to help him, but he waved them off. He slammed his fist against the wall. Shame burned in his lungs and under his skin.
His body had failed him.
Grief came hard on the heels of the shame. This wasn’t going to stop, and it wasn’t going to get better.
He pushed those thoughts away.
“Call the police,” he managed to tell the nurses. “And get a picture of his face from the cameras. He tried to kill someone.”
Lauren Marino, Callum’s Omega Sector colleague, came running from the other way. She stared at Mark on the floor. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Damn it, he still couldn’t get up, but he wasn’t going to explain that to her. “I think Joaquin sent someone to kill Sarah. He ran out the back exit.”
“I’ll call it in and get security footage and a guard placed on Sarah’s door.” She ran out the door the perp had gone through, phone already in hand.
A security guard offered Mark a hand up. His leg still wasn’t in good shape, and it probably wouldn’t be for a while. He braced himself on the reception desk for balance.
Lauren came back inside a few minutes later. “No sign of him out there.”
“Sorry I wasn’t able to stop him.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You sure you’re okay?”
He forced a smile. “Just not getting any younger.”
She was young, fit, and had obviously never had her legs just stop working in the middle of a chase. Her smile was forced. “Yeah.”
She got on her phone and called in the situation. As she walked down the hall, the last thing he heard her say was that the perp had escaped despite a foot chase with a Zodiac agent. That she didn’t know how or why. Shit happened.
Mark slumped, using the counter for more support.
