“You got that right,” Steve agreed sympathetically.
Jake gave the nurse a big hug. “Don’t worry about a thing. This is all just coincidental, and hopefully this will be the last incident for a long time.” Jake said a few other things to the nurse, but Steve could tell he was more interested in the conversation between the cops and the nurses at the desk. After Jake stopped talking, he leaned closer to the nurses’ station to absorb as much from the conversation as possible.
Suddenly, as if he had heard enough, Jake looked up at the clock and then stared out the automatic doors. He didn’t move and looked mesmerized as he continued to stare out the doors.
Steve asked several times if he was okay, but Jake never responded.
Finally, something clicked, and Jake looked straight at Steve. “I need to go out for a while. Steve, I need to take off. Listen, tell Sally that I had to go talk to a friend and will be back after lunch, maybe about an hour or so. Okay? Great. Thanks.” He turned away. “We’ll make rounds early this afternoon.”
Dr. Douglas shot through the doors as if he were late for a meeting. Steve never had a chance to say anything. Jake just took off. Steve could sense there was something wrong. Besides the news about Sue, something else had triggered Jake to fly out of the OR in a flash.
Steve didn’t know what came over him, but he felt that he should follow Jake to see what he was up to. Maybe that way he could get some answers to all the bizarre happenings around the OR lately. Steve reached in his pocket for his keys and took off after the chief.
Before he exited the OR, he picked up the phone near the door and called Sally’s call room. “Sally? Hi, this is Steve. Jake and I are going out for a bite to eat and will be back early this afternoon. See ya.” He quickly hung up without giving Sally a chance to ask questions or otherwise delay him.
He scrambled down the stairs in order to keep up with Jake. He headed out toward the resident parking lot, staying about a hundred yards back from the other man. He wasn’t sure what he was getting himself into, but he was determined to find some answers to this mess.
Chapter 32
Steve watched Jake get in his car and make a phone call on his cell phone. Steve’s own car was nearby, but he didn’t want to look away in case Jake only made one call before returning to the hospital. Steve pulled a paper from his lab coat to hide his face.
Steve watched Jake shut his phone and throw it against the front passenger seat with what appeared to be great frustration. Although Steve was a short distance from the other man’s car, he could see Jake banging his hands against the steering wheel. Jake finally stopped to rest his head on the steering wheel. He stayed in that position for about a minute. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he sat upright and started his car.
Steve didn’t waste a moment of time. He shoved the paper back into his pocket and jogged to his car. By the time Steve closed the driver door, Jake was on his way out the parking lot. Steve started his car and followed.
Steve kept his distance safely behind Jake’s car to avoid being seen. Jake seemed to be in a rush, speeding down narrow roads. Steve could hear the tires of Jake’s car squeal as his car would take a turn. Nonetheless, Steve kept up.
Steve tried to figure out where they were going and why the phone call had made Jake so angry. As they continued through another neighborhood, Steve noticed that Jake would look occasionally down at the passenger seat and frantically back out the window, as though reading directions to a certain address.
While Steve was trying to put some pieces of the puzzle together, he realized that they were driving into a shady part of town. This alone made things interesting. Who would Dr. Douglas want to see down here? Was Jake involved with drugs or hookers? As Steve’s imagination filled with possibilities, he nearly missed Jake’s last minute turn.
Jake’s car was moving slowly now, so Steve thought they must have been getting closer to his destination. Jake took another quick right, went down a half block, and stopped in front of what appeared to be a vacant building. Since there was minimal traffic, Steve continued on the previous street without turning. He drove to the next block, shoved his car into park, and ran back to the intersection. As he made his way to the corner, he stopped just shy of the road to carefully spy on Jake around the building.
Steve was so interested in what Jake was doing that he didn’t notice the kids approaching him. He felt eyes looking at him and glanced away from Jake for a moment to find five faces staring at him.
They had gathered around Steve as if he were some character at a freak show. He noticed that four of the five had tattoos on their arms and two of them were smoking cigarettes. He felt a little uncomfortable but pulled his head away from the little hoodlums in order to see what Jake was doing.
He could see Jake trying repeatedly to open the door but failing against a solid lock. After several useless attempts on the door, Jake walked over to a window and leaned closer to peer inside. He raised his hands up to each side of his face to try to get a better look. He slammed his hands against the windows two times and then just laid his forehead against the glass. After half a minute, he straightened himself and then kicked the building’s brick wall. He slowly turned around and walked toward his car. Steve couldn’t make out what Jake was saying to himself, but he was obviously cussing. He got in his car and nearly burned rubber as he sped off.
Steve waited a few minutes to make sure Jake wasn’t going
to return, and then he started to walk toward the brick building. He had hoped the kids would get bored and disappear, but one of the kids stepped in front of him now. Then two others moved behind him and a couple alongside of him. They didn’t say anything but just stood there. They seemed so little that Steve thought he could handle them, but he figured where they came from were probably more and bigger. Their pants were huge and baggy, able to conceal a small tank, so he did not want to mess with them too much. He thought a little small talk might make it better.
“Do any of you guys know what that building is over there?” He pointed to the brick structure.
“What’s it to you, punk?” said one of the kids.
Steve couldn’t believe his ears – punk? “As a matter of fact, it is kind of important, so I just need to know.”
Another kid answered, “Yeah, sure looked important to that guy you were following too. He seemed a little pissed off, huh? What’s it worth to you?”
Steve reached in his pocket to see if he had any money. He pulled out a twenty.
The kids all laughed.
“Hey, that’s all I’ve got,” said Steve. He pulled his pocket inside out to show the testy little hoodlums.
One of the kids finally caught his breath after laughing, “Alright, punk, so you’s got no money. How about that twenty and your watch?”
“What? No way! That watch was a gift from my- never mind. Fine. Here you go. Now tell me about that place.”
The older kid who seemed to be the leader started talking as he led Steve and the other kids across the street.
Steve initially wasn’t listening. He was more interested in what was inside the building than its history. Steve peeked through the windows just as Jake had done a few minutes ago. “Nothing! There is nothing in there,” said Steve quietly.
“Yeah, duh. There hasn’t been anything in the joint for about three years,” answered one of the kids.
Steve turned around and tried to understand what Jake was looking for or what he needed from there. He gazed up at the sky, at one of the kids, and then down at the pavement. There he saw a matchbox. He reached to pick it up about the same time another kid noticed it. Steve got there first. “Huh, nice try. Besides, I don’t have any more money.”
“Yeah right, punk,” said a little voice.
Steve looked at the box and saw ‘Joe’s Pub.’ It had the address 402 East Third. Steve looked up at the address of the building, and on the door, it read 402 East Third St. The address was correct, but no bar was inside. There wasn�
��t even any evidence of a bar – counters, tables, chairs, liquor, or anything suggesting that a bar once existed there. What was Jake trying to find at this Joe’s Pub anyway? Steve had a lot of questions.
He turned to the little gangbangers. “Was this place ever a bar?”
Once again, the little leader took charge and answered, “There hasn’t been notin’ in that building for like a real long time. But comes to think ‘bout it, there was this like, uh, like a party or something about two or three weeks ago. They had all these people and stuff for the night, but there were like these security guys that wouldn’t let you get too close to the building, if you know what I mean.”
“So you never could get close enough to see what was happening inside?”
“Yep, you got that one right, punk. And that pissed me off
’cause this here is our territory, and we have the right to see all that goes on. You know what I mean, punk?”
Steve looked at him and then at the building again. “Thanks for your time.” Steve slapped his hand on the kids shoulder. “You have been a great help.” He turned around, slowly made his way to his car, and then drove off as quickly as possible.
Chapter 33
The next day at the hospital, Steve made an effort to watch Jake for more clues. After rounds, Steve followed Jake through the cafeteria and up to the OR where it was business as usual. Jake had two surgeries scheduled, and he was discussing the anesthesia plan for one of the patients when he noticed Steve close by.
“Carmichael? What is your problem today? You are following me like a little puppy. Oh, I bet I know what the deal is. You need some time in the operating room today, don’t you? I’ll talk to Sally to see if she can manage the floor work today. Let me finish up here, and I will let her know about the changes for the day. But when we are done, I need you to get back on the floor and help…”
Just as Jake was finishing up, they heard Jake getting paged to the floor stat over the intercom. “Dr. Douglas, please come to Med Surg immediately. Dr. Douglas, please come to the Surgery floor immediately.”
Jake and Steve stared at each other, “I never got a page like that before.” Jake said. “I wonder who could be coding. And more important, where the hell is Sally? I better get down there.” As Jake headed out of the OR, he added, “Steve, make sure the patient gets in on time and prep her. I’ll get Sally to manage the problem down there, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Jake left the OR, and Steve wondered if indeed there was a code, then why the “Code Blue” wasn’t used instead of specifically asking for a certain doctor. He walked over to the preop area and gathered the needed information for the first patient. He recognized her from clinic as he introduced himself. She had problems with varicose veins, and the plan today was to strip the veins in her legs. Steve certainly was not following Dr. Douglas to get into surgery, but he was sure happy that it turned out that way.
Just as Dr. Douglas dictated, Steve got the patient into the OR and anesthesia was putting her to sleep. Steve looked up at the clock and noticed that nearly fifteen minutes had transpired, but Jake was nowhere to be found. Steve called down to the floor and asked for Dr. Douglas.
“Dr. Douglas never came down here,” answered one of the nurses. “I heard that strange page for him, but we never actually needed him. All of his patients are fine.”
Steve heard the words and began to put the bizarre intercom page into context. He looked at the patient on the table already asleep. Where did Jake go? Who paged him to the surgery floor and why? And most importantly, where the hell was he now?
Steve looked at the operating room door, hoping to see Jake walk through and start bitching about this and that. But the doctor was nowhere in sight. Steve glanced at the clock and realized almost twenty minutes had passed since the time he disappeared. Steve looked at the OR team and then the door again, but still no Jake.
“Dr. Carmichael, let’s get on with it. Where did your beloved leader go to this time?” asked Charlene, the circulating nurse.
“I’m not sure, Char, but I’ll call Dr. Jenson. She’ll be up in a second.” Steve picked up the phone and dialed the cafeteria. He explained the bizarre situation to Sally. “She’ll be here in a few minutes,” he announced as he hung up the phone. “I need to go and check the floor work, but Sally will be here soon.” He walked toward the door.
“Dr. Carmichael, you can’t leave until Sally or another one
of the doctors from your team arrives. We can’t have this patient unattended from your service,” said Char. “Dr. Carmichael? Dr. Carmichael, do you hear me? You can’t leave yet!” she shouted.
Steve had a different agenda. He needed to find out where Jake was and why he had been paged over the intercom. Steve was out the door and down the hallway as Char continued to scream at him.
He rushed to the elevators first and pushed down. He hoped Jake would realize there was a mistake once he was on the surgery floor and head to the cafeteria to get a bagel or something.
Steve waited impatiently for the elevator. Finally, he glanced up and realized that it was stopped on the top floor. The cafeteria was only two floors down, so he decided to take the stairs.
He opened the door and started taking two stairs at a time. He was racing down the stairwell when he thought he heard something. He paused his pace to listen for a second but heard nothing, so he continued down the stairs. Half a flight later, he heard another moan. He looked over the railing of the stairs and saw a body against the railing another floor down. The person had a white lab coat with a dark red stain. Steve’s first guess was that one of the hospital employees or a resident missed a step and fell down a few stairs.
He quickly ran down another flight of stairs, but as he approached the body, he began to get nauseous. The odor in the stairwell was horrific. As he approached the body, Steve confirmed that the stain was definitely blood, but there was also blood near the person’s head. The body was faced down. Steve reached down to carefully roll the patient over. The airway needed to be open, and the intern wanted to make sure the person was still breathing. He thought about getting some help to properly brace the body, but getting the airway open and protected was a time sensitive issue. Someone else was likely to take the stairs anyway, and he could call for help then.
Steve put one arm around the person’s shoulders and used the other to stabilize the head as best as possible in order to protect the neck and prevent further injury in the neck. As his hand traveled under the body, he felt something wet and knew it was most likely blood. He slowly rolled the person over.
When the face came into view, Steve gasped in disbelief. There in the middle of the stairway was Dr. Douglas, blood oozing from several large tears along his scalp.
Steve cradled Jake with his mouth wide open, but no audible words came out.
Jake’s breathing was labored and shallow. Steve released one of his hands in order to check Jake’s pulse. He could barely palpate the pulse, but it was there. It was very thready and shocky but not completely gone. Steve quickly looked up and down the stairs but saw no other passersby. Jake was going down the tubes, and no one was around to help. Steve had to get help, and his only option was to let Jake rest on his own on the stairs.
As Steve was adjusting the chief’s head to rest on its own, he noticed Jake opening his eyes. “JAKE! What the hell happened? What’s going on?”
Unfortunately, the man had no energy to answer questions.
Steve then started to get up but felt a hand grab his coat. He quickly moved his eyes to Jake’s face.
“Carmichael?” whispered Jake, “Is that you? Carmichael, is that you, damn it?”
“Yes, Jake. It’s me. What the hell happened here?”
Jake tried to get up, but he barely had enough strength to breathe.
“Jake, just chill. You are in major shock. Let me go and get help.”
Jake tried to talk again. “Steve, there is no time for that.” He took a long but shallow brea
th. “You need to get out of here now. They are after you too!”
“Who? Who the hell are they?” Steve asked.
“There is no time for answers. Just don’t trust the CIA. There is some sort of scam going on, and they are all after us. I mean it…” Jake’s voice sounded increasingly fatigued. It was getting difficult for Steve to make out what was being said. “Steve…I mean it…get to Milo-Kerr and leave. They…are all over and will get you too.”
Steve heard a door in the stairwell open, followed by several footsteps, as if several people were in a rush. He glanced up the center of the stairwell and saw two or three men in black suits. Steve thought to himself, CIA suits.
“Jake, they’re back!” Steve rasped. “They are upstairs and…” He looked down as he felt Jake’s head fall. Jake wasn’t breathing any more. Steve glanced up the stairs and quickly back at Jake. Finally, he lowered Jake’s body to the ground.
The footsteps and voices were getting louder, so Steve popped up and looked for the nearest set of doors. Just adjacent to him was a set of doors leading to the cafeteria. He glanced down at his coat and saw blood. In one fierce motion, he ripped his coat off and dropped it next to Jake’s body. He then flew through the doors in a terrific panic.
As he dashed into the cafeteria, Steve nearly decked Erica, who was making her way to a table with a tray of food.
“Shit, Steve. Slow it down!”
Steve didn’t say a word.
She noticed his face was white as a ghost and filled with fear. “Dr. Carmichael! Dr. Carmichael, wait for a second-”
Steve disappeared as quickly as he had entered the cafeteria. Erica realized something was seriously wrong, but Steve was gone in a flash.
Steve sprinted through the main corridor of the first floor in attempt to reach his car before the CIA could figure out where he was. As he cut through the ground floor, he saw Mike, one of the medical students on his service. “Mike! Tell Sally I am sick and going home!”
Foreign Threat Page 26
