Cruel Lover

As soon as Brian’s words sank in, I tried calling the hospital, but all I got was a recorded message. That put my hackles up. Hospitals don’t close, but something is going on here.

“I want you to stay in the car,” I tell her, but she shakes her head.

“No way. He’s my dad.”

“Baby, this is non-negotiable. You stay here with Roxie, I’ll go in and see what’s going on.”

She looks across at me, and all I see in her eyes is fear. “I’m safest with you,” she says simply.

I grit my teeth, turning to stare straight ahead at the road. We’re doing seventy in a forty zone, and I’m only slowing a little every time we take a turn. But that’s just it, she’s right. The safest place for her right now is under my protection, because there’s no way in hell I’ll let anything happen to her.

“Fine,” I say. “But you stay behind me. Anything bad happens, you and Roxie take off. I mean it, leave it to me.”

“OK.”

I slow a little and take a right, the back end of the old car swinging out before I right it and speed ahead toward the big hospital building coming into view. Even from this distance I can see the lights. Fire engines, police. Something is fucked up.

Parking at the side of the road on the approach is illegal, but right now I don’t give a shit.

I step out, then come around to Malta’s side and open her door, helping her out. Then together we approach across the dark hospital parking lot. Most of the crowd is outside the main entrance to the building, so I take us around the side, looking for a way in. I see a couple of nurses standing at a maintenance entrance, a man and a woman, passing a cigarette between them.

“Hey,” I try to look as unthreatening as possible, sticking my hands up in the air.

“You can’t go in here. Place is shut down,” says the male nurse. “You didn’t see all the cops?”

I shake my head. “What’s going on?”

“Some sort of bomb threat,” the woman says.

“Seriously, man, you can’t go in. Even we’re not allowed in.”

“Patients still inside?”

The woman nods quickly. “Not all the staff are out here, just the wards near where the guy was. Other wards are fine, we have them locked down, nothing to worry about.”

“Where’s the threat?” I ask, and grab a roll of hundreds out of my pocket. Emergency money. Well, this is a fucking emergency. I peel off two for each of them.

“I.C.U.,” says the male nurse, shrugging.

“Winston,” Malta mutters, and Roxie whines beside her, sensing her distress.

I hand each of the nurses a couple more hundreds, then push past them to the door. “You never saw us,” I tell them, and they just shrug, nodding.

Once we’re inside, I rush down the corridors. I know this hospital. I remember when my mom was in here after her car accident. She held on for three hours, just long enough for me to say goodbye, but I’ll never forget the long, winding halls that led to her room.

The cops are outside, but they have protocols to follow. I don’t. And I’m ending this right now.

When we get to I.C.U., I turn to Malta. “Now I really do need you to stay here. I’m going to go in there and get that motherfucker. I’ll save your dad, you have my word, but I can’t concentrate if you’re anywhere near this thing. If there really is a bomb, I need to know you’re safe.”

“No, I—”

“Malta.” I fix her with a stare and she falls silent. “No arguments. You stay here.” I turn to Roxie and point at the floor. “Stay.”

The husky whines, but sits down as she’s been taught. Whatever happens, I know she’ll keep my girl safe.

Heading inside, the place is eerily normal. I might have expected a war zone; it’s anything but. Patients are still asleep in their beds, attached to equipment that’s monitoring them, and some brave staff are still attending to them. One nurse looks up when I walk in, but I put my finger to my lips and head over to her.

“Where is he?” I ask.

She looks me up and down. “Are you a cop?”

I won’t lie to her, but at the same time, she needs some sort of comforting. I simply nod as I say, “I’m here to negotiate a peaceful end to this.”

She looks relieved, dropping her voice as she points through to a private room. “In there. He only has one hostage, he seemed to know exactly where he was going.”

“Thanks.” And I know who that hostage is.

The truth is, I never thought I’d be in a position to decide Winston Green’s fate. Right now I can help him or throw him to the wolves. It’s an odd feeling as I head in the direction the nurse pointed, dropping low to get a glimpse through the window before I enter. Winston is in his bed, looking peaceful and helpless, while the dark figure of the man I assume to be Robert McKenzie sits in a chair at the end of the bed.