Out of the Black - Lee Doty [158]
"Hold it right there, sweetie..." Anne said, "These folks've had a long day and visiting hours ended at eleven."
"That's my husband." Elena said with an uncomfortable amount of emotion.
The flebotomist's face touched surprise lightly on its way to sympathy. "Sorry." She said, stepping out of Elena's way. That's when Elena had a revelation: the flebotomist wasn't an alien from the larger and more frenetic planet of flebotoma. She was just a rather large woman, covered in blood and gypsum dust. Her even features were partially obscured by the layered coats of blood, but there was symmetry there, natural beauty. Her gaze was direct and uncomfortably bright, yet she broke eye contact when Elena matched her stare.
She struck Elena as two people. Heavy yet starving, bright yet hamed, beautiful but filled with doubt... determined but unsure. Elena was afraid this woman was going to rip her limb from limb, but the flebotomist looked like she was afraid she wasn't cool enough to be Elena's friend.
Her torn and stained clothes were those of a nurse. The cracked nametag that still hung on her chest said "Lab" on top and "Kelley" in a different font at the bottom.
"He saved us, Hawthorne and me." Anne said, looking at Mendez, "He was already down, but he saved us both."
Elena had so many questions. But instead of asking them, she took the final steps to her husband's bed. He lay swaddled in plastic and cloth with only his face visible. He looked funny, like the centerpiece in an elaborate practical joke. These light thoughts didn't help. They only served to free the sob she'd kept bottled in her throat.
Alex's eyes fluttered open. "Gotta..." he croaked, struggling against Rae.
"Shhh now baby... we won."
"Gotta get...out." He continued to struggle as he spoke. "Kaspari... stairwell!"
"Stairwell, my butt." The cop said hopelessly.
"Wha?" Alex shook his head as if to clear it then stopped, wincing in pain. "He's on ten... coming down."
Miranda was surprised how quickly everyone moved.
***
Issak Kaspari walked down the empty hall, the sound of his footsteps his only companion. His pace was deliberate, measured. Haste was for the careless.
The entrance to the stairwell was about ten meters distant when the door burst open.
Though the Simulacra he'd constructed appeared now to be on the ninth floor, Issak could only see the first three floors of the hospital clearly. He'd seen the four fleeing hospital workers long before they burst from the stairwell and into the hall. They shouted for him to get out, that there was danger here, but they didn't slow down as they passed him on their way to the exit.
Yes, danger here.
About four meters ahead, behind a closed door, Issak's Vision showed him two security guards. One was unconscious; the other clutched a stunner with fervor you could only call desperation.
It wasn't in Issak's nature to allow this kind of unquantified threat to complicate the coming confrontation. The easiest thing to do would be to simply inform the guards that it was safe to leave, and let them scramble away. He checked his shield again, feeling a little more obsessive-compulsive than cautious. Even if this frightened guard were clutching a small nuclear weapon, he wouldn't be a serious threat to Issak.
Issak grabbed the knob and pulled the door outward.
There was a strangled cry and a shot in the darkness of the supply closet. The stunner shot didn't surprise Issak... the guard had looked pretty jumpy. What did surprise him was the target. The guard had obviously panicked when the door opened and shot himself in the neck.
Poor guy. All indications were that it had been a spooky night at the hospital.
With a small shake of his head, Issak closed the door. He'd let them sleep it off in peace. He turned to the first-floor stairwell. This was as good a pr s to wait as any.
The Road to Hell
Issak struggled upward through the static, through the pain. He struggled for consciousness through a shadowland of inky black and phantom light. He struggled to regain the Loom.