Lethal Force

by Mike Ryan

  “How’d you hear that already?”

  “Like I said, Mike, friends in the right places. It pays. Just thought you would like to know, since if that’s the case, I’m sure it would involve several members of the group. And if there was a person out there interested in eliminating a bunch of them at a time, they might like to know.”

  “Thanks. I’ll pass the information along in case there is such a person.”

  “Good. Be safe, Mike.”

  “Always.”

  After getting off the phone, Recker went over to the window and stared out, thinking about everything he’d just been told. Jones let him alone for a few minutes before finally trying to get it out of him.

  “May I ask what that was in reference to?”

  Recker turned around and looked at his partners. “Vincent says Billings is already out of surgery. He pulled through.”

  “Lucky for him,” Haley said.

  “Lucky indeed,” Jones said. “Well, instead of death he’s looking at a prison sentence instead.”

  “Maybe,” Recker replied.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Vincent says he’s heard rumblings that The Scorpions are gonna try and get him out of police custody somehow.”

  “That sounds like a tall order to me.”

  “He says they’re gonna try it.”

  “Like I said, it sounds like a tall order.”

  “We’ll see. Doesn’t mean they won’t try it though.”

  “I’m sure if Vincent’s heard about it then the police have as well,” Haley said.

  “Could be.”

  “I’m sure they’ll have adequate protection for him,” Jones said.

  “What would you consider adequate?”

  “I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter as far as we’re concerned though, does it?”

  “It will if he somehow manages to escape,” Recker answered.

  “I think we’re getting a little far ahead of ourselves. Him escaping still seems farfetched to me.”

  “Guess we’ll see.”

  “What about Tyrell?” Haley asked. “Maybe he’s picked up something.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll give him a call.” Recker picked up his phone again and called Tyrell.

  “Hey, whatcha want this time?” Tyrell asked. “Want me to throw myself in a snake pit or something?”

  Recker laughed. “Why do you always assume the worst whenever I call?”

  “Because I know you.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “So whatcha got?”

  “One of the Scorpions was shot and taken to Washington Hospital earlier.”

  “Yeah, I already heard something about that,” Tyrell said. “Was that you guys?”

  “You know a good shooter doesn’t kiss and tell.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “Anyway, I just talked to Vincent, and he said he’s heard rumbling that The Scorpions are gonna try and free this guy from custody.”

  “That’s bold.”

  “You hear anything about it?”

  “Nah. Don’t mean it won’t happen though. Vincent’s probably the only guy in this city plugged in better than I am.”

  “Yeah, I was just hoping you might have heard more details,” Recker said.

  “No, haven’t heard nothin’. I’ll keep checking around though, see if I can come up with something. Just have to be careful with these guys, ‘cause if they hear someone’s poking around in their business, there’s usually a price to be paid right after that. And that’s one bill I really don’t wanna receive right now.”

  “I hear ya. Just keep your ears open.”

  “Definitely will, my man.”

  Recker hung up, and Haley could see on his face that he didn’t get a positive answer. But he figured he would ask anyway.

  “Hasn’t heard anything?”

  “No,” Recker replied. “He’ll keep digging.”

  “Well, guess there’s nothing else to do right now but wait until something breaks.”

  “Yeah. That’s all we can do right now. Just wait.”

  11

  Mia was on her break, sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria. She’d been texting Recker off and on, who alerted her to the situation with Billings.

  “Everything’s fine, Mike. I’m sure if something happens, they’ll wait until he’s out of here.”

  “I know. I just want to make sure you’re OK.”

  “I’m fine. I’m just on my break.”

  “Haven’t seen anything weird?”

  “I work at a hospital all day. I see weird stuff all the time.”

  “Lol. I know. I meant weird… even for you.”

  “No, everything’s fine. Relax.”

  “I’ll try. How’s everything else there?”

  “Not much different than usual. I mean, it’s dealing with the same stuff, just talking to different people. Everyone’s been nice though.”

  “Good.”

  “I’m gonna finish eating, then get back to work.”

  “OK. When are you done?”

  “In about four hours.”

  “OK. I’ll try to meet you at home by the time you get there.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you later. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  Recker put his phone down and continued staring at it, causing Jones to look at him out of the corner of his eye.

  “Everything OK?” Jones asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Stop worrying.”

  “I’m not worried.”

  Jones stopped typing and fully turned his head toward him. “Oh really?”

  “Not… that much.”

  “It’s been a couple hours,” Haley said. “And we haven’t heard any other chatter. Could be they gave up on the plan. Couldn’t find a way to make it work.”

  “One thing about The Scorpions is once their mind’s made up, they’ll find a way to make it work. I gotta believe that if the rumors are out there, in this case it’s true. They’re bold enough to try it, whether it has a good chance of working or not.”

  “Well if something happens, I’m sure we’ll hear about it,” Jones said.

  “I just hope we don’t hear it after it’s too late.”

  Mia had just put her tray away and started walking toward the door when the lights started flickering. She stopped and looked up at the ceiling. It made her a little nervous considering what Recker was talking to her about. But considering the lights were still on, she chalked it up to just one of those things. She had just walked through the swinging doors and stood in the hallway when she heard a woman screaming. She looked down the hallway, then saw the woman come into view.

  “There’s men with guns!” the woman yelled.

  Mia stood there motionless as the woman ran past her. Though the hallway was usually a pretty packed place, it was eerily quiet now. Wanting to get back to her floor, she ran over to the elevator and pressed the button. Once she got to the fourth floor of the ten-story building, the elevator suddenly stopped, and the doors opened. There was nobody getting on though. Mia stepped out and looked around, not seeing anything unusual. There were doctors, nurses, patients, all walking by. Nobody seemed to be aware of anything unusual going on. Mia went over to the station desk where one of the nurses were standing.

  “Have you guys heard anything about someone with a gun in the building?”

  “What?” the nurse replied. “No, I haven’t heard anything like that.”

  “Oh, OK. Must’ve been a false alarm or something.”

  Mia turned around to get back on the elevator, but the lights went off, and the elevator door closed. A few seconds later, one of the buzzers started sounding, a loud screeching noise that went off every two seconds, with an accompanying red light that started blinking in every hallway. An announcement then came over the intercom.

  “This is hospital security. We have an emergency situation. There are armed gunmen in the building. Please
stay inside your rooms and lock them. Do not attempt to leave the hospital and do not attempt to roam the hallways for your own safety. We will let you know when it is safe to exit again. Again, stay in your present location and lock your doors.”

  Doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors all started scrambling around, trying to take whatever kind of cover they could. The hospital staff first tried to get everyone in the hallway or in a waiting area into a room. Once most everyone was secure, a few of the doctors and nurses, including Mia, huddled together to come up with a plan.

  “OK, first we have to figure out which patients need something immediately,” a doctor said. “Just in case we’re barricaded for an hour or two and not able to leave our rooms, and a patient desperately needs something, we’re able to give them what they need. So, let’s quickly figure out who needs what and grab it now.”

  They went over to the station and started looking at charts, hoping to get the medicine they needed quickly, not knowing exactly where the danger was lurking. It turned out that it was lurking everywhere. Around forty Scorpions had entered the building, locking and blocking entrances and exits, taking out the security room with the cameras to hide their movements. Two men remained at each entrance to make sure nobody came in or out. The rest started going up and down each floor. It wasn’t known which floor Billings was on, as it was being kept a secret, but they also knew there were police officers in the building guarding him.

  Less than three minutes later, gunfire erupted on the fifth floor, as The Scorpions found their target. There were four police officers on the floor, and they were quickly overwhelmed by the amount of men they were facing. The Scorpions were heavily armed and meant business. The battle between the two sides lasted several minutes as bullets flew everywhere, hospital staff and patients taking cover under beds, in bathrooms, wherever they could find, as bullets penetrated through some of the doors.

  On the fourth floor, as the staff was looking through charts, one of the doors that led to a staircase opened up, several Scorpions stepping out. As soon as they were in sight, most of the staff scattered, finding the nearest door that they could get behind. Only three nurses stayed in their spot, Mia included. As two of The Scorpions cleared the floor, the other one came up to the desk and looked at the nurses. The man was tall, well-built, bald, sunglasses on, and chewing gum. If there ever was a tough-looking guy, he was it. As the man looked at him, he listened to the radio that was clipped to his belt.

  “Hey, who’s nearby that has a doctor or nurse in sight?” a man asked.

  The man picked up his radio. “I got three nurses standing in front of me.”

  “Bring them to the fifth floor.”

  “Ten-four.”

  “All right, you three are coming with me.”

  The youngest of the three nurses, just barely on the job for a month, instantly looked terrified. She started shaking her head and backing up.

  “No,” she said. “I can’t.

  “You can and you will,” the man said.

  “No, please.”

  The man, armed with an assault rifle, brought the weapon up in front of him and pointed it at the young lady. He looked like he didn’t mind using it if he had to.

  “Last chance,” he said.

  Mia jumped in front of her, with her arms up. “She’ll come. She’ll come. Just relax.” The man lowered his weapon slightly as Mia turned around to look at her young counterpart. She put her hands on the nurse’s arms to calm her down. “Listen, everything will be fine if we just do what they ask, OK?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “We don’t have a choice right now. Just calm down, do what they say, and everyone will get out of this alive. But you gotta calm down.”

  The young nurse nodded. “OK.”

  Mia turned around to the bald-headed Scorpion. “We’re coming.”

  The man had a smug look on his face and pointed with his head. “Up the stairs. Just so we’re clear, you do anything other than exactly what I tell you, or you try something stupid, you’ll leave this hospital in a body bag.”

  “Understood,” Mia replied. “Everyone’s fine.”

  “Let’s go.”

  The nurses complied with his directions and started moving to the stairwell, the big man walking behind them to make sure they did as he wanted. Once they got to the fifth floor, they immediately saw what could have been close to a hundred people sitting on the floor. Doctors, nurses, patients, visitors, anyone who wasn’t tied to a bed or needed to be on one for medical purposes, they were all rounded up. There were ten Scorpions wandering around on the floor.

  “What’s this about?” Mia asked.

  The bald man behind her just pushed her further into the room by shoving his rifle into her back. “Just move and sit down.”

  The nurses sat down with the rest of the bunch, who were lined up throughout the hallway. The tough-looking man that brought them up then sought out one of his friends.

  “What’s going on, why are we waiting? What’s taking so long?”

  An equally tough-looking man responded. “One of the doctors said Tommy shouldn’t be moved yet. They said he needs to rest for at least two or three more hours to give his body a little more time to recuperate.”

  The bald man chewed on his gum. “I don’t know if we got that kind of time. Cops’ll be swarming on this place in a few minutes most likely.”

  “That’s fine. Whether we leave now or in a couple hours won’t affect our getaway plans at all.”

  “Except what happens if they swarm the building before then?”

  “Then we’ll deal with it. I didn’t come in here to get him just to watch him die getting him out. We’ll wait a couple hours. If we need to buy some time, we’ll buy some time.”

  Mia, looking around at the other workers, immediately thought of the patients. She put her hand up, just like she was back in school, to ask a question. The two men talking noticed her move and looked at her.

  “What do you want?” the bald man asked.

  “I heard you talking about being here for a few hours.”

  “So?”

  “What about the patients who need care?” Mia asked. “What about them? We have to be able to take care of them. We can’t just leave them.”

  The second man took his pistol out of his belt and pointed it at her and fired. Mia was instantly knocked over by the force of the bullet and held her stomach as she lay on her back. The bald-headed man continued chewing his gum, though he looked at his partner with a little disgust, thinking it wasn’t really necessary.

  “Anybody else got any questions?” the second man asked. There wasn’t a sound to be heard. “Drag her out of here.”

  One of the other Scorpions came over to Mia’s body and grabbed her by the back of the shirt and drug her across the floor, blood smearing all over it, pulling her into a nearby patient room that was empty. The rest of the staff members looked on in horror, stunned by what they’d just seen. A few people started crying.

  “If anyone else has any questions, remember this moment,” the second man said. “Remember it good.”

  12

  Though the room Mia was brought into had no patients inside, there was a doctor and a nurse seated on the floor by the door. As soon as the man bringing her in left, the doctor immediately started working on her.

  “She’s already lost a good amount of blood,” the nurse said.

  The doctor sighed, not liking the situation. “If this thing doesn’t end soon and we don’t get her on an operating table, I’m not sure she’s going to last too long.”

  Only a minute after the doctor started working on Mia, the bald-headed man that brought her up from the fourth floor appeared in the frame of the door. The doctor and nurse each stopped working on Mia, fearful of what might happen, thinking they might be the next victims, and they put their arms halfway up. The man, holding his rifle out in front of him, just looked at them and nodded. He then disappeared back into the hallway, all
owing the doctor to get back to work on Mia.

  “First thing we gotta do is stop the bleeding,” the doctor said. “Look around for bandages, tape, anything we can use.”

  Though weak and losing more energy by the second, Mia somehow managed to put her hand in her pocket and remove her phone. Her hand was shaking, but she held the phone in the air to get the doctor’s attention.

  “Just relax,” the doctor told her.

  “Take… take my phone,” Mia wearily said. The doctor begrudgingly took it, though he really just wanted her to calm down. “Call Mike… he will come.”

  “Who’s Mike?”

  “Let him know… what happened… he will come.”

  “Oh no,” Jones said, suddenly shifting positions in his seat as if something had just grabbed his attention. He was getting the attention of his two partners by his mannerisms though.

  “What?” Recker asked.

  Jones only briefly looked at him, though he didn’t answer, and continued looking at his computer. Haley got up from his chair and walked over to him, standing behind him.

  “What is it?” Haley asked.

  Jones licked his lips and cleared his throat before responding. He knew what he was about to say would not go over well.

  “It seems that Washington Hospital has been overtaken and is under siege.”

  “What do you mean it’s under siege?” Recker asked. “From who?”

  “Reports are coming out that the hospital is currently under control of a group of armed men who stormed the building not too long ago.”

  “It’s The Scorpions. It’s gotta be. This is what they had in mind to get Billings out.”

  Jones put his hand on his head and started rubbing his forehead. Everyone’s mind immediately turned to Mia, praying for her safety, though it was in nobody’s mind more than Recker’s.

  “Any casualties?” Recker asked.

  “There’s been no reports yet that I can find,” Jones said.

  Jones grabbed a remote for the TV and put it on, assuming there would be some coverage about it on the screen. They were right. They turned it on just in time to hear a reporter talking about how the police had locked down the perimeter and had the building surrounded.