Killer on Call 6 Book Bundle (Books 1-6)

by Gwendolyn Druyor

  Vanessa took a deep breath. She was missing the show. But she couldn’t let this freak draw attention to them.

  “I think you have to go outside to smoke,” she suggested.

  He rocked, still staring at her chest. “Don’t want to smoke.”

  “Alright,” she asked, intrigued despite herself, “what is it you want to do with my light?”

  The patient sat up straight and still. He lifted his eyes to hers for the first time and a fierce hatred smoldered in them. “I want to burn the fucking house down.”

  A smile spread widely across Vanessa’s face. The man rocked lightly and she rocked in time with him for a moment before she whispered, “I wish I had one for you.”

  “Bitch!” The creep barked at her.

  Vanessa fingered her knife. She left it in her pocket and set the flip phone remote in her lap. Using both of her hands like the candied gem necklace was a Hawaiian lei, she lifted it over her head and offered it to him. She may be a bitch but the guy ripped the candy from her hands and gnawed at the gems with toothless gums. She turned away in disgust.

  Avi was looking over at Kissy. An orderly was standing over her. And a wheelchair had replaced the chairs behind her. Vanessa didn’t like the scene. She looked over at Avi, mad that he wasn’t closer. But dead was still dead and she had to remember her true goals. She hit send on the phone and bolted for the door. Nothing happened.

  The girl had collapsed in her chair and the orderly was holding her while a commotion rose around them. But there was no explosion.

  Vanessa looked down at the phone and hit send again. Still nothing.

  A sudden motion in the corner of her eye drew her attention to the stage. Officer Avi Kee had stopped singing. He was staring straight at Vanessa.

  She grabbed the knife from her pocket, flipped it open, and made a beeline for the cop’s girlfriend. Speed and surprise would be on her side. She dodged past the chairs that had been displaced by the wheelchair behind Kissy and saw the bitch sit back and look up at the ceiling. She saw a perfect target.

  Reaching forward, she had a clear opening to reach Kissy’s throat but as she swung her arm in, she was blinded by something hitting her in the face and fell back, pulling the knife with her. She’d cut the bitch but not as deeply as she wanted. Vanessa paused while everyone else leapt into action to stop the spurting from the little Asian girl’s neck. She wanted to slice again but the opening was gone.

  And there was Kee, running for her. She flipped around, holding the bloody knife out at him.

  “Back off or I’ll get you too,” she hissed.

  Kee never stopped running. Her only hope was to push past him with the help of her knife. She leaned into a run, aiming the blade for his heart. For just an instant she fell into his strong arms as the blade sank deep.

  Twenty

  Kissy felt like she passed out after hearing that Edward had shut down Vanessa’s control of the bomb. But then the old man was there, kneeling on the floor in front of her.

  He lifted her chin and caught her eyes as he slid the black robe off her shoulders revealing her purple bra and the wired explosives. “You’re still wearing a bomb and I need your help. Sit up. Look up.”

  She took a deep breath and did what he said. She looked up at the giant glass wall overlooking the lake. The sky was lit up with a fiery display of colors in these last moments of day. It was beautiful.

  As Kissy gazed out at the sunset, something pink flew past her face and a brightness slid across her throat. She turned to see a patient with long black hair stab Avi and shove him out of her way. She heard footsteps and saw Avi, oblivious to the knife in his ribs, run after the patient.

  Then Tim was in front of her, squeezing her throat as the colors of the sky faded. She tried to focus on what he was saying but none of it made any sense. So she looked down and focused her eyes on Edward.

  The old man ignored everything that was going on around them. She took comfort in his calm. His steady fingers untangled wires and clipped a yellow one and then a blue one crossing in front of her chest. He unzipped the vest.

  A familiar man in a white coat was trying to get her attention. He was trying to shove Edward out of the way.

  Edward’s voice was calm and serious. He knew exactly what to do and Kissy took comfort in it as he refused to obey the doctor. “I am step one,” he said. “Step one comes first.”

  A part of Kissy saw the doctor step back. A part of her saw him reach over and help Tim squeeze her. But she ignored them. She watched Edward. He reached up and sawed through the shoulder strap of the vest with a very sharp knife. Then he stood and lifted the vest, sliding it carefully off her arm.

  Kissy expected him to lay it on the ground and cut the final wire to disable the bomb. But he pulled it over his own arm and onto his shoulder.

  Kissy reached out. “What are you doing?”

  The old man bent over and kissed her cheek, ignoring the doctors and nurses swarming them. “You are a lovely singer.”

  Kissy searched his face, frantic. “You have to disarm the bomb,” she told him.

  The old man rubbed rough knuckles on her smooth cheek and tilted his head sadly, “I haven’t disarmed a bomb in twenty years, dear.” With the same hand, he whacked Tim upside the head. “Keep the money, jackass.”

  Kissy laughed.

  Then Edward hitched the vest on his shoulder, clutched it to his scrawny chest, and ran across the stage to the immense window. Without breaking stride, he ducked his head and dove through the glass to the lake below. Kissy tried to stand. She tried to go after him. But she was pulled down by the doctors and thrown back by the wind and water blown through the shattered pane from the explosion far below.

  Except for the quiet chaos directly around Kissy, the room was frozen, everybody staring at the window still crumbling shard by shard. Tears poured down her cheeks for a man she’d known for less than three minutes. Finding it hard to breathe, she looked down again to where Edward had knelt. Step one comes first, she thought. That’s nice. She started to give in to the black numbness begging to cradle her. But a voice broke through the haze.

  “Well.”

  Kissy turned as best she could to see the old woman in her purple wheelchair looking up at Tim. Ella skin was sallow and there were deep dark rings beneath her eyes. She had a spray of blood across her chest and dripping from her white hair. But her eyes sparkled and she sat smiling up at Tim.

  She reached out with a shaking hand and pat Kissy on the knee. “That’s a moment I’m glad I lived for.”

  Twenty-one

  After she sank her blade in his arm, Vanessa pushed off of Kee’s chest to gain speed. He had a hand wrapped around her tiny wrist but she twisted her arm in his grasp and her knife in his bicep and broke free. She had to abandon her lovely knife but couldn’t imagine a more perfect gift. She only wished she’d been able to deliver it straight to his heart.

  Free of his hold, Vanessa bolted for the exit. She shed the bulky robe as she hit the doorway. Once in the lobby, she took a hard right and dodged past patients and staff to head down the west wing corridor. She could see in their eyes that Kee was on her heels but still she glanced back to see how much of a lead she had. He was only steps behind.

  She tore the wig from her head and threw it in his face. It slowed him only long enough for her to grab a gurney along the wall and fling it into his path. She shoved a nurse down after it and ducked through a door she’d taken note of on her very first reconnaissance of the hospital. It was the head of IT’s office and as she expected, it was empty. She raced past the disorganized desk to the exit door on the far side and nearly slipped as she scrambled down the two flights and out to the docks behind the hospital.

  She used the door to change her trajectory and ran left into the ambulance bay under the west wing. She was about to climb into one of the waiting trucks when sliding doors leading into the building opened and a man and a woman in EMT gear rushed out. Vanessa fell back and leaned
casually against the side of another rescue vehicle. She forced her breathing to calm.

  “Hey.” She smiled at the guy, coming around to the driver’s side.

  “Hey.” He nodded at her and climbed into the truck.

  “You got a light?” she asked, smiling to herself.

  The guy just shook his head at her as he slammed the door shut. The woman stood on her side and shouted over the hood, “You should get back inside.”

  Both women turned to look at the water at a loud splash and both saw the explosion blast, sending water and debris flying. Even as far under the shelter of the bay as they were, Vanessa felt the spray on her face.

  “Inside,” the woman insisted again and then she shut her door and the ambulance pulled out of the bay and up the hill.

  Vanessa leaped into the ambulance she’d been leaning on and slid over to the driver’s seat. As she was reaching for the keys hanging from the visor, she saw Officer Kee lumbering by in the rear view mirror. He was walking like Frankenstein. She froze where she was and watched until he was out of sight. If he was following the other ambulance that meant he thought that’s the one Vanessa was driving.

  Vanessa slipped into the back of the vehicle. She grabbed a ball cap from an upper shelf and pulled a jacket off the side bench. Slipping it on, she cracked the rear door and stepped out. She left the door open to avoid any noise and ducked around the side as a group of people rushed past to investigate the explosion.

  The sliding doors were pulsing as more people came outside. Vanessa walked purposefully and they ignored her. Inside, she found a ladies room with lockers inside. She quickly jimmied a keyed padlock and grabbed the uniform inside. She’d been hoping for street clothes but a uniform might be even better. Seconds after she closed the locker and secured the shackle, a woman came through the door. Vanessa glanced at the newcomer as she ducked into a stall.

  The emergency medical tech was young. Her depressingly brown hair clung to her head in a practical cut and the black pants and stiff blue dress shirt did nothing but accentuate her short legs. On the plus side, she looked small, pixieish despite the haircut.

  Vanessa stripped down to her lacy black skivvies. She folded the pajamas neatly and lay them over the toilet head. The tan uniform pants she had stolen from the locker were unsurprisingly too long and she would swim in the shirt. So she wrapped the shirt around her hands as she listened to the better-sized EMT pee.

  The girl flushed and a moment later, Vanessa did too. She waited another moment and then stepped out of the stall, still wearing only her undies. The girl barely registered her before Vanessa punched her in the neck to make her fall and wrapped the too-large shirt securely around her neck, silencing her cries and quickly rendering her unconscious.

  Vanessa didn’t have time to kill the woman. She just needed her unconscious long enough to strip her naked and prop her in a stall which she handled with practiced efficiency.

  In moments she was dressed and on her way up to the lobby. Again, she walked with intention and nobody stopped her. She detoured for just a moment to follow the gurney being rolled out of the lounge with a half naked Kissy on it. She was still bleeding but not in the gushes Vanessa would have adored. And the slut’s eyes were open. Vanessa glanced around to see if there were anything near that she could use to finish the job but there were just too many people surrounding the little singer.

  Vanessa peeled away from the group before they had to show ID entering the emergency room corridor. She turned and headed straight for the ER entrance, bumping into a hastily dressed soccer mom wrangling three kids under ten. She apologized profusely, admired the baby, and wished her luck.

  Once outside, the minivan was easy to find. Vanessa started the engine and evaluated the increased police traffic. As she pulled out of the parking spot, she swapped out her caduceus adorned ball cap for the bright blue sun hat laying on the passenger seat. While waiting at the short light at the entrance to the circular drive, she reached back and grabbed a filthy blanket from the back seat. She slung it around her shoulders like a shawl and pulled out into traffic.

  By the time she plucked the Ray Ban knockoffs from their case built into the roof, Vanessa was half a mile down Eastlake Drive.

  Twenty-two

  Tim smiled with Ella even as he kept pressure on the slice across Kissy’s neck.

  “They’ve got to get her to surgery.” Julia’s orthopedist, Dr. James urged Tim to release his hold as new doctors and nurses arrived with a gurney. “She’s got a good chance but you’ve got to let her go.”

  Tim knew the medical professionals surrounding her were far more capable than he of saving her life. But years of living with Finn’s distrust of doctors made it hard for him to let them take her. He stepped back when Julia choked out his name.

  As the doctors lifted Kissy to the gurney and rolled her away, Tim turned to comfort his sister only to see her gasping for air. He glanced down at her chest. The largest gem on the necklace was gone. Barely thinking of the secrets he might be revealing, Tim caught Julia as she fell. He pulled the antidote pouch from his satchel and fumbled unzipping it. The chaos around them was so rampant that no one noticed one more emergency on the floor.

  Tim calmed his fingers enough to draw 3 ccs of the same sickeningly yellow fluid he’d used to treat Edward Parker into a syringe. He stuck it in Julia’s arm and depressed the plunger. In moments her breathing relaxed. He slipped all of his tools back into his satchel and murmured to his sister, encouraging her to breathe slowly, deeply.

  When she could, Tim helped her sit up and lean against him. They were surrounded by overturned and abandoned chairs. Most of the crowd had moved away with the gurney. But Ella sat still in her winged wheelchair, watching Tim. When he met her eyes, she nodded at the oxygen tank still waiting where Danny had been seated.

  “Could you get me a hit of that?” she asked.

  Tim knelt up and careful not to drop Julia, he dragged the wheeled tank over to Ella. She pulled the plastic mask off the handle and slipped it over her head. She tried to open the valve but her hands failed her. She looked around for professional help but Tim had become familiar with a lot of medical equipment when he’d learned about poisons and treatments. He reached up, turned the valve, and set the flow meter to a low level.

  Ella turned back. She pulled the mask off and whispered, “Five oh is coming.”

  Tim hugged his sister. He buried his face in her shoulder seconds before he heard an authoritative voice ask, “Everything okay here?”

  “Oh officer,” Ella mumbled through her mask. “My friend fainted in all the commotion. I think she hit her head. Will you look her over, please?”

  Tim was doubly glad his face was hidden. Ella was speaking in the tremulous high pitched voice of a helpless old lady. He could have cursed her though, for keeping the cop around.

  The policeman and Julia demurred at the same time.

  “I’m not a doctor.”

  “I’m fine.” Julia pushed herself back from Tim and scooped up the necklace Ella had thrown. “But I think there’s something wrong with this candy.”

  “Yes. It tastes very strange,” Ella added.

  The policeman snatched the string of candy gems from Julia. “This is poisoned,” he said. “You can’t eat this. A kid died from eating this.”

  “Oh my god. Everyone’s wearing these necklaces.” Julia looked at Tim who was industriously searching through his satchel with his head down. “We have to gather them all.”

  “Oh,” Ella moaned from behind her oxygen mask, “don’t leave me.”

  The policeman concurred. “The police are handling this. Stay with your grandmother.” He walked away yelling, “all candy is being confiscated by the City Police! Turn over your jewelry to the nearest office or medical professional!”

  He failed to even notice the gems still hanging around Julia’s neck.

  Tim smiled up at Ella. “Was that another good moment?”

  “Definitely,” s
he replied with no hesitation.

  Tim shook his head as he pulled a water bottle, a folding knife, and a muslin grocery bag from the satchel. He loosened the cap of the bottle, took a sip, and handed it to Julia. He used the knife to cut her necklace off catching the gems in the bag. When she’d taken a deep drink of water, Tim helped Julia to a chair beside Ella.

  “Can you stay with Ella?”

  Julia smiled as Tim’s stomach growled. “Are you finally gonna find something to eat?”

  “I hear there’s a lot of uneaten candy around.”

  Julia reached out and took the muslin bag from him. “We’ll collect the candy. You find a sandwich.”

  “Trick or treat!” Ella giggled.

  Tim kissed each lady on the cheek and left them to their own devices. He kept his head down as he headed for the doors through the crowd of uniforms. Glancing back, he saw the pair surrounded by the remaining GinNtonix who were taking off their necklaces. As they passed the bag around, Julia accepted a hit of oxygen off of Ella’s tank. And bit by sharp bit, the glass of the window was still collapsing in the breeze off the waterfront.

  Twenty-three

  Avi rolled to his knees on the cement loading dock, blinking to clear his eyes. Water and debris continued to rain silently around him. He shook his head and that made his head spin.

  He’d seen blood spurting from Kissy’s neck. Then Vanessa had used the same knife to stab him. He’d been searching for her since the day he and Kissy had met, before then really, and he wasn’t about to let her get away. He’d followed her out here behind the hospital. He’d burst through the exit door to find himself on a loading dock bordered by the lake. To his right the shore curved in to a small patio under the lounge. To his left, the cement widened to form a small road leading up the hill and around to the front of the hospital from a small parking bay.

  He’d heard a car door slam and taken two steps towards the sound when a crash and a splash drew his attention just in time for an explosion to slam him back against the building.