Out of the Black - Lee Doty [88]
"I'll buy." Hawthorne said, fishing for her Uni.
***
The man in the Hawaiian shirt entered the deserted lobby of the hospital. He carried an athletic bag, and walked with a slight limp. He was perhaps forty-five, heavy, but not overweight. He was tall, but not scraping the doorframes. He looked pleasant, but uncomfortable.
The lobby's only other occupant was a uniformed hospital guard behind the reception desk. "Sir, our ER is closed. We can get you a shuttle to DePaul if you need non-urgent treatment..."
"Nah." The visitor drawled, "I'm here to visit one of yer inmates." He favored the guard with a bright smile and continued toward the other end of the lobby. "Ya know, you've got a bunch of vagrants out there." He said, glancing back toward the door to the ambulance run.
The guard moved from behind the desk and intercepted the visitor a few meters from the inner door. "Sir! Visiting hours are temporarily..."
"All right, sonny. I admit it... I'm here for some of that elective surgery." He slapped his butt and winced. "I just don't want it hollered all about the building, okay buddy?"
"Uhhhh... oh..." the guard stumbled for a few beats but then finally regrouped. He moved between the visitor and the door again as the visitor tried to step past. "Sir, the Feds have the building locked down... there's some kind of investigation underway..."
He never hit the floor. The man in the loud shirt grabbed the guard before the stunner rendered him unconscious. Now without his limp, the big man dragged the insensate guard back to the chair behind the desk. He sat the unconscious guard in the chair, knocking a potted plant from the desk as he arranged the guard in an approximation of sleep.
As he replaced the plant on the desk, two women slipped in through the outer doors. The first was Elena Mendez, her dark hair now pulled back into a ponytail. The other was fair-skinned with glossy red hair. Both had the same determined look and efficient manner. As the women passed the scanners, the Hawaiian-shirted man used the security console to approve the many weapons beneath their light jackets and in their dufflebags.
"Subtle. As always, Derry." The redhead said as they approached.
"The word you're looking for is 'effective'." The big man said, using his foot to sweep dirt from the upended plant beneath the desk.
***
Anne was mowing through the second pack of vending machine donuts. They were bland and far too healthy to truly be called donuts, but this was a hospital, not a den of culinary iniquity. She was starving, but she still had issues with anything vegetable-infused being called a donut. Nothing says yummy like a broccoli-infused, protein-enriched, amino-balaned, chocolate-spice-flavored, piece of baked heaven from Sara Lee.
With a mental shudder that ended in a shrug, she reached for another. "Well, at least I'm not restricted entirely to blood!" She enthused around the food. "You don't know how relieved this makes me!"
Hawthorne took a sip of her protein smoothie and nodded. "Me too."
***
The whispercraft touched down on the roof of the hospital. It disgorged its compliment of five hard men and two harder women. As the last boot hit the roof, the craft took off, moving into a holding pattern above.
Three of the men were wearing suits and carrying Federal badges, which was to say they were in disguise. Two other men and one of the women wore dark, durable street clothes. The final woman wore an elegant suit the color of dark chocolate. Her skin and lustrous black hair belied her roots. She'd been born in sunny Goa, on the Indian coast, but now Shiva called no place home. For four hundred years now, her only home was Asado.
On her fingers were eight delicate rings of platinum and rubies. Around her neck was a dark leather choker. Her thick, straight hair was pulled back, fastened at the nape of her neck with more platinum and rubies. She strode ahead of the rest toward the roof access, arrogance in her face and stride.
Those in the guise of Federal agents had only light armament, but