AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There was a tension in the corners of his eyes, creating tiny creases there. “The less you know, the better.”
“Why—” I slammed my mouth shut. “Because you don’t trust me. If I know what you’re going to do, you worry I’ll try to foil your plan.”
He turned into the hospital’s parking lot without confirming or denying my suspicions, but it wasn’t necessary. I’d received the message loud and clear, a message that created a far more uncomfortable sensation in my chest than I would have expected.
“There will be three to four nurses on the ward,” I said, offering up the information I’d promised as an idea formulated in my mind. “If there is one at the nurses’ station, she’ll be your primary concern. The others will be busy checking on patients and such.”
“So, if we—”
“I can distract the nurse,” I cut in. “You’ll need someone dressed in scrubs with an ID badge to wheel the boy off the ward into the ward next to it. From there, the staff won’t know who he is, and you can use the elevator at the other end to take him down to the parking level. If you’re stopped, tell them you’re taking him for X-rays—it’s the best I can think of.”
“Heidi, I—”
“You’ll need a cargo truck,” I interrupted once again. This boy had been my patient. I’d stood in a room with the man who might have shot him. “He has to be transported on a gurney. Once I’m sure you’re off the ward, I’ll collect supplies—”
“No.” Apparently, it was Amadeo’s turn to cut in as he pulled into a parking spot near the side of the building. “I can’t let you do this, Heidi. Even if I decide to trust you, if you get caught helping us, it could cost you your license.”
He was right. So, was I to abandon one patient to save many? It was a classic philosophical debate, though it seemed there was little to debate for me at the moment.
“It’s a risk I’ll have to take. That boy was my patient, Amadeo.”
“Not anymore.” He shook his head again. “We’ll take care of him.”
“No,” I said firmly.
“Excuse me?” He’d turned off the car, and he shifted in his seat to look directly at me. I’d been correct in my assumption that it wasn’t often this man heard the word “no”.
“If you insist on taking that boy out of the hospital, then it will be under my care. And he willremainunder my care until I say otherwise.” Despite the large, muscular, and very intimidating man sitting next to me, I would not bend on this. I’d stood between my patient and Death once already, and it seemed my job wasn’t done yet.
He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time. “This is about more than being a doctor,perla;this is personal to you. Why?”
“I hadn’t the skill to save a man once. So long as it’s within my power, I won’t allow that to happen again, and that includes letting people with no medical training take this boy from the hospital without medical supervision.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw two cars pull up beside me and three men and Raven exit them. Still, Amadeo looked at me, eyes searching mine.
“All right, we’ll do this your way,perla.But I advise you not to make me regret this. I’d enjoy punishing you for it far too much.”
Hot and cold shivers danced up and down my spine, but I ignored them and nodded demurely like the large, muscular, and very intimidating man sitting next to me hadn’t just threatened to ‘punish’ me. It was easier to do than I’d expected, likely because my entire code of ethics was crumbling before my eyes. I was about to break the law, to become a criminal. And if that was the cost of protecting a fifteen-year-old boy, then the law be damned.
***
“I was reviewing my charts from this morning, and I’m missing information on a patient that was transferred here from surgery this afternoon. Grayson Thomas,” I explained to the woman behind the desk at the nurses’ station. It wasn’t the usual nurse with the butterfly scrubs. I’d never seen this nurse with the short, gray bob and plain purple scrubs, but she gave me the automatic acceptance my badge and scrubs granted me
My heart was already racing, and my hands were cold and clammy. When Amadeo and Raven stepped off the elevator, I swear, half the oxygen in the room evaporated. I forced myself to take slow and even breaths as they made their way toward the hallway, pushing an empty gurney in front of them.
“Of course,” the nurse said, leaning across the desk in search of the file.
The position kept her back to my accomplices, but she could turn around at any moment. Raven appeared right at home in her green scrubs, but Amadeo looked out of place in his. The fabric of his ‘borrowed’ scrubs stretched across his broad back and wrapped tightly around his biceps. Even from this distance, I could see the rough outline of his gun, poorly concealed beneath his shirt.
“Ah, here we go. Is this what you’re looking for?” the nurse asked, handing me Grayson Thomas’ chart.
“Yes, it is. Thank you,” I said, opening it up and scanning from the top of each page to the bottom.
Acute respiratory distress
Posterior incision
Thoracic region
