Frost Bite

by S A Magnusson

  Shit.

  Had he even helped me? What if he’d pretended to do so in order to gain my trust?

  I knew what I needed to do, which was to out him so he couldn’t come into the ER, but more than that, I needed to figure out why he was there in the first place.

  A part of me still wondered if this was nothing more than a misunderstanding. Maybe that was it. It was a misunderstanding; then I needed to be cautious.

  Getting to my feet, I was making my way through the lounge and into the locker room, when I heard a voice.

  “Dr. Stone.”

  I turned slowly, carefully, and came face to face with Matt Gillespie. I looked around, but no one else was there.

  I focused on magic, trying to drive it up from deep within me, but it didn’t come. Maybe I’d just used too much throughout the evening, drawing upon everything I could to help Barden; now I needed it for my own protection, I wouldn’t have any. Worse, I didn’t dare use the wand with Barden already as incapacitated as he was.

  Why hadn’t I taken more time to understand magic?

  “What is it?”

  “I thought you were done with your shift for the day.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Shift was over, but I came across someone while I was out at the Red Pen and needed to intervene.”

  “Someone choke or drink too much?” He grinned, and I forced myself to smile, to go along with it, hating that I did. He appeared to be watching me, something in his eyes alerting me that he knew I was onto him.

  “Tripped. Injury. Nothing more than that.”

  “Oh, yeah?” He took a step toward me, forcing me back. In the locker room, there was only one way in and out. I was effectively trapped there and knew I wasn’t going to be able to get out without someone coming in to distract him. He had training, and even if I attempted to run, I didn’t know if I would be able to do so quickly enough to get away.

  “What are you doing in here? This isn’t the typical shift turnover,” I said, glancing at my wrist as if it was a watch. All it did was draw attention to the bracelet I wore.

  “Not the usual shift turnover, but I got in a little late.”

  He took another step toward me, and I took another step back. I could feel the presence of the lockers behind me, knew they were looming close, and knew there wouldn’t be anything for me to do to escape. I might want to run, to get away from Gillespie, but how?

  I needed a distraction, but as it wasn’t the usual time for a shift change, I didn’t expect anyone to come in there.

  “Would you mind giving me a little space,” I said.

  “Sorry,” he said, raising his hand. “I couldn’t help but be captivated by your bracelet. I haven’t seen anything like it. Is it—” He reached out to grasp my wrist.

  “None of your business,” I snapped, pulling my arm back.

  He frowned. “You realize I did help you.”

  “That’s what you tell me, but—”

  “You think I was making it up?”

  “I don’t know what you’re doing.”

  He studied me, then smiled, taking a step away from me. I took in a deep breath, thinking maybe this would be the end of it, but he didn’t move. He stayed right in front of me, blocking my way out of the locker room.

  “You were there, weren’t you?” he asked.

  “I was where?”

  “The street. The attack.”

  My heart hammered. I feared he would have a way of detecting that and considering that he had a greater connection to magic than me, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that he did. I tried to steady my breathing, focusing on keeping myself calm, thinking I needed to react as if this was nothing more than a trauma that came in. If I could handle those situations, then I could handle this one.

  My gaze darted to the door and Matt smiled slightly.

  “You were there, weren’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I think you do, Dr. Stone. You don’t need to hide from me that you were. We both know who the other is.”

  “Is that right?”

  “Yeah. I’ve told you about my background. And you’ve told me you don’t really know about your connection to the other side. I can help with that, you know.”

  “I’m sure you could.”

  “What do you mean?”

  If he was going to hold me there, I had one of two options. I could either banter with him, hope he’d let me go, or I could try to surprise him and get past him.

  I didn’t like anyone holding me in place, trapping me. It brought back the wrong kind of memories.

  There might be one way to disarm him long enough to draw his attention away so I could escape, but the moment I did it, I’d be playing out the extent of my knowledge. And if I was mistaken—even if I thought I wasn’t—it might enrage him. Someone with military training would be particularly dangerous.

  When he didn’t move, that familiar helplessness surged up within me. I hated it, and with it came a sense I needed to do something. Anything.

  “I was taking a look at the residency list. I noticed your picture wasn’t on there.”

  His smile slipped a little bit. “I think it’s because I got added late. I had to do an extra few weeks of medical school because I had a brief deployment, and that threw off the start of my residency.”

  It was plausible, but seeing as how there were twelve interns listed, and I knew we only had twelve per year, it wasn’t likely.

  “You aren’t listed as credentialed with the hospital, either.”

  Matt faltered. You could fake many things, but the credentialing process was pretty thorough. It was the hospital’s way of ensuring the physicians who took care of patients within their walls were who they said they were and had the training they claimed they did. When I went through the credentialing process, I had to report on any malpractice claims, provide a background check, and allow the hospital to investigate whatever they wanted about my training and background.

  If Gillespie was who he said he was, he would’ve gone through the same process. Seeing as how his name wasn’t on the credentialed list, I couldn’t believe he was.

  “What are you doing looking into my credentials?” he asked.

  “Where did you say you went to school again?”

  “Out east.”

  “That’s pretty vague. I make sure everyone knows I went to the University of Minnesota.”

  “A hometown girl, huh?”

  “This isn’t about me, Matt. This is about you. Who are you, really?”

  His entire demeanor shifted, and he took a quick step toward me, and I jerked back, slamming into the locker.

  The door to the locker room opened, and Roberts leaned in. “You in here, Stone?”

  “Brad?” I called out his name in a strangled voice, barely able to get it out. I’d never been more thankful to hear Roberts and couldn’t believe I felt that way. “I’m in here. It’s just me and Gillespie.”

  “Did the two of you need another minute?” Brad asked, stepping forward and grinning. His grin slipped when he saw the way Gillespie was looming toward me. “What are you doing?”

  “I was just talking to Dr. Stone about a patient we took care of earlier.”

  Brad continued forward and as he did, Matt took a step back.

  “Yeah? Which one?” Brad asked.

  “The hypothermia patient.”

  “Really? That one came in a couple of days ago, right? From what I understand, you had to resuscitate him for quite a while. I always hate it when those codes go long like that. Back when I was an intern like you, Gillespie, I didn’t mind it so much, but now I prefer to let the residents on them. Give me a good car accident anytime.”

  Matt smiled, playing to Roberts, but I had to wonder if Roberts wasn’t doing the same to Matt. In any case, his presence gave me a chance to move.

  I decided to use that as my opportunity to slip away. I darted toward Brad, putting him between me and Matt, looking
over his shoulder.

  “How’s your patient?” I asked Brad.

  “He’s going to be fine, like I said, Stone. You don’t have to worry about your grandfather.”

  I clenched my jaw. That wasn’t what I needed. The moment Gillespie realized I’d come in there with someone of importance, he’d realize it had to be the mage contact that I had.

  “Your grandfather is the person who got injured? What did he trip on?”

  “Trip?” Brad asked, glancing back at me with a puzzled expression in his deep blue eyes. “You never told me he tripped. Looks like he got shot.”

  “I don’t know what happened,” I said.

  I started back out of the locker, and Brad followed me. Gillespie stayed in place, and when I stepped out of the room, I took a gasping breath, trying to calm myself and study my nerves.

  “Jesus, Stone. You okay?” Brad asked.

  “I’m fine. Just relieved my grandfather’s going to be okay.”

  “What was going on in there?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “If you say so, but I didn’t like the way it looked.” He glanced toward the door before turning his attention back to me.

  “Why was that?”

  “Listen, Jen. I know what you think of me. Hell, I know what everyone thinks of me. It doesn’t mean I force my way onto women. If he was doing anything that upset you, just let me know.”

  “What do you know about him?” I asked.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I just realized his picture wasn’t on the residency list.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Not that I could see.”

  “I’m sure it was just an oversight.”

  “There were twelve other residents on that list,” I said.

  “Really? We only take twelve a year.”

  “I know.”

  “Maybe one of the twelve we thought we were getting couldn’t make it. I know we sometimes fill a slot last second, but I don’t pay attention to those things well enough to know if he was someone like that.”

  Leave it to Roberts to leave a completely realistic possibility. And while it might be true, I still couldn’t shake the belief that Gillespie wasn’t at all who he claimed he was.

  There was a part I believed. I did believe he was in with some paramilitary organization, but the real issue was what he might be after.

  I had talked to Barden about it but hadn’t asked Jean-Pierre.

  That was who I had to go to next.

  “Where are you going? Jen?”

  “There’s just something I’ve got to check on,” I said.

  “Why your grandfather is down here?”

  “I’m not leaving the hospital, Brad. I’m just going up to check on a patient I cared for earlier today.”

  “Really? You do that?”

  “Some of us care about what happens to the people we’ve seen.”

  “I care.”

  “Do you?”

  “Mostly, but extensive follow-up isn’t exactly the reason I went into emergency medicine. That’s not the point, is it?”

  “I suppose it’s not,” I said. “Some of us do it, anyway.”

  “Anyway, what patient is this?”

  “Nothing more than a patient who came in with a strange heart rhythm. I want to see if the cardiologists have come up with anything.”

  Brad waved at me. “You go ahead and do that. I can let you know if anything happens with your grandfather.”

  I smiled, and as I started off, I looked behind me, checking to see if Gillespie might be there, but he wasn’t. Until I knew what to make of this, I wasn’t about to leave the hospital.

  20

  The ICU bed was empty. When I reached the room, there was no sign of Jean-Pierre. The room hadn’t yet been turned over, so the departure had to have been fairly recent, making the timing suspect.

  I stared at the inside of the room, trying to come to terms with what was taking place, and struggling.

  “Back again?”

  I turned and smiled at Tom. “Yeah. It was a busy day, so I figured I’d come up here and visit.”

  “Really?” His gaze darted past me to the empty bed. “What is it about this guy?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean he had a couple of younger guys come in. Pretty serious-looking ones, too.”

  My heart started hammering. “He did?”

  Tom nodded. “Probably family. My guess is grandchildren, considering he was a little bit older, but with those sorts of things you never know.”

  “What sorts of things?”

  “Old men with money. Things get weird when that’s involved.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. I try not to ask those questions, Jen. The longer I’m here, the stranger I realize the world is.” He looked around. “Why did you come back up?”

  “He was in the middle of his story and we didn’t get a chance to finish.”

  “You know, Jen, I think you should have gone into primary care.”

  “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult.”

  “I would say a compliment. You’ve always been so caring. You realize that in my entire residency, you are one of the few people who would ever call up to see how patients you admitted have done?”

  “I’m sure others did the same.”

  “Oh, I’m not saying others don’t look in the chart to check whether they made the right decision. I think most do that. All I’m getting at is that you actually come up here, take the time to visit with the patients and get to know them. That’s the mark of a caring person, the kind of caring person who should be in primary care.”

  “You do realize there are plenty of caring docs in the emergency room.”

  “I know there are,” Tom said, waving his hand. “And I’m not trying to demean your specialty, but you have to admit most who go into emergency medicine do so because they don’t want the continuity of care. They might like the challenge of medicine, and they might like the interactions, but there are plenty of ER docs I’ve met over the years who do it because they love the thrill of the challenging cases.”

  “Yeah. I think the saying is that emergency medicine is ninety percent boredom and ten percent terror.”

  “There are times when cardiology’s the same way, and I always prefer to have the quiet times when I can think through my patients, really get a handle on what’s going on with them, you know?”

  “I know. And there are times when I do like not having to take care of the patient again, Tom.”

  “I understand that.”

  I looked back into the room. The cabinet holding his belongings was slightly ajar, and I realized most of his things had gone with him, but not all of them.

  “It looks like he left something behind,” I said.

  “Really? Those three looked like they were in a little bit of a hurry to go, so I guess I’m not terribly surprised, but they tore through the room, making sure he had everything.”

  I nodded to the cabinet. “He was pretty adamant he had everything with him when I visited last time.”

  “He only just left, let me call down to the front desk and see if we can’t catch them.”

  I headed toward the cabinet, sweeping the pouch up off the ground. “Don’t bother. I’m heading back down anyway, I’ll see if I come across them. If I don’t, then I’ll leave it with the front desk and have them call him.”

  “That would be great, Jen. I’ve got a lot more work to do here tonight and tracking down some patient’s belongings is just going to irritate me.”

  I looked around the ICU. There wasn’t even the sound of any beeping to distract tonight. There were a couple of nurses popping in and out of rooms, heading to the nurses’ station, but otherwise, there was a certain calm about the unit. It was so different from the emergency room.

  “No problem.” I started to turn, heading out of the ICU when I paused. “What did the other three loo
k like?”

  “Dark hair. Sharp jaws. Jackets a size too small.” He grinned. “You know, real bro types.”

  I nodded. “I know the type.” And I thought he had it wrong. They weren’t the bro type. What he was describing was military. And not just military but paramilitary.

  What I reached the hall, I started running. What did I think I was going to do?

  I pushed the thought out of my head, hitting the stairs, jumping down them. I wasn’t about to let the paramilitary take Jean-Pierre without knowing what exactly was going on.

  All of this was tied together somehow, and it angered me that I had no idea what it was or what was taking place.

  Worse still was the fact Matt was in on this somehow. He probably had been from the start, and I suspected he’d known all about the vampires, and even why they had been attacked. Maybe he’d been hanging out in the ER to make sure those they attacked didn’t survive.

  At the main level, I hurried forward, no longer sprinting, but fast walking my way through the halls. I didn’t see any sign of Jean-Pierre or the three paramilitaries, and hesitated.

  They wouldn’t have come through the front door, would they?

  I doubted that. More likely they’d have gone through another way, sneaking through the hospital, not wanting to draw attention.

  And they would be using magic.

  That part I felt the most certain of. If they were drawing on magic, I thought I could detect it. I might not be able to counter anything they did, but if I focused, I at least had the hope of figuring out where they were going.

  And if I did?

  Pulling out my phone, I tapped in Barden’s number, sending a message to him. If he was awake—even a little—then he could pass on word to the rest of his Dark Council mages. I should have gotten to know some of the others he worked with so I could reach out to them, too.

  Until I knew one way or the other, I didn’t dare turn away.

  As I focused on the sense of magic, the tingling along the bracelet indicated that it came from someplace below me.

  Heading toward the stairs, I realized where the group was going. The parking garage.

  Why was it always the parking garage?