Infringement (18 page)

“What’s going on? Is he in some kind of trouble?”

“Yes, and I need you to help me get him out of this hospital and to the airport right away.”

December 26
^th

Evan handed his security card and car keys to Megan. “Remember, you can’t remove his IV, or you’ll set off an alarm and prompt one of the nurses to come in to replace it. Just hang it on the back of the wheelchair.”

“Got it,” Megan responded.

“Also, remember his hospital bracelet has a GPS chip in it, which will alarm if he gets beyond the secured areas of the building. Here is the key to remove it, but once you take it off you’ve got to reconnect it within a few seconds or it will trip the system. Take it off once you get out to the east patio, reconnect it and toss it into the trash can near the doors. Don’t take it with you or you’ll set it off.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll wait a few minutes after you go in and then I’ll do my best to distract whoever’s at the nurses’ station. You’ll want to get him in the chair and have him ready, then go out and hit the elevator button because it could take a few minutes. Here, put these scrubs on when you get into the room and just hang this badge backwards on your waist, so that the picture isn’t showing. It’s one of my old ones. That should be enough not to attract anyone’s attention when you get down to the main floor.”

“Alright, thanks.”

“Wheel him casually out the east entrance; that’s the one to your left when you come off the elevator. If anyone asks, which they likely won’t, just say you’re taking him out to the east patio for some fresh air. Make sure not to rush or appear hurried, just take your time. When you get outside, wheel him down the sidewalk past the east patio and into the doctor’s parking garage. My car is parked in the second space across from the walkway, No. 183. I’ll meet you at the car, but if I’m not there for some reason, don’t wait. Get Declan into the car and go. There are security cameras all over the parking garage, and the entire building for that matter, so you’ll be picked up on at least one of them somewhere.”

“That means they’ll likely know which car we’re in.”

“Most likely. That’s why I want to drive you, so you don’t have to leave my car at the airport. But, again, if I’m late, don’t wait for me.”

Megan took a long deep breath and said, “Okay, I can do this.”

“Don’t worry. The difficult part will be getting him out of the room and onto the patient elevator without one of his nurses noticing. After that, it should be relatively smooth sailing. Like I said, I’ll try and keep whoever is there distracted.”

“This is going to work, right?”

“It’ll work, but let’s both keep praying just to be sure.”

“I’ve never been really good at praying, Evan.”

“Well, now would be a good time to get some practice in,” Evan replied with a reassuring smile.

Megan stuffed the light-blue hospital scrub into a small cafeteria take-out bag and said, “We’ll see you at the car.”

“Yes you will.”

_______________________

A few minutes later, Megan quietly rolled an empty wheelchair from the hall into Declan’s room. She looked over to the bed and saw Declan sleeping and, wanting to take no chances, rolled the wheelchair into the bathroom, then closed the bathroom door so she could put the scrubs on over her clothes.

Once dressed, Megan came out of the bathroom and brought the wheelchair next to Declan’s bed. Noticing Declan’s hospital chart on his bed, she took it and slid it into the back of her jeans, under the loose fitting scrubs. She leaned over and gently kissed him on the forehead. “Declan, babe, wake up,” she whispered.

Declan slowly opened his eyes and smiled softly. “What time is it?”

“It’s a little after four.”

“Where’ve you been?”

“Just taking care of a few things so I could give you a chance to rest.”

“You know Bleeker came to see me?”

“I know,” she replied, while at the same time motioning for him to be quiet and not say anything further.

Still holding her index finger to her lips, Megan drew Declan’s attention to the wheelchair. He looked back at her with a puzzled expression, still silent.

She asked, “How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I suppose.”

Megan handed Declan a piece of paper with the words “We have to leave NOW” written on it. He read the words and looked up at her, still unsure as to what was happening.

_______________________

Evan exited the main elevator and approached the nurses’ station, where he saw two nurses sitting. One was on the phone and the other appeared to be doing something on the computer. “Good afternoon,” he said as he reached the desk.

“Hello, Doctor. What can we do for you?”

“Well, I’m hoping you can give me the status on the patient in 422.”

“Oh, do you mean Mr. Peterson or Ms. Kiser?”

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was a double,” Evan replied as he looked past the nurses’ station to see Megan quickly pop out of Declan’s room and go toward the patient elevator. “Um, Mr. Peterson. He’s the one in recovery from CABG this morning, right?”

“That’s right, Doctor.”

“Good. And, can you tell me how he’s doing?”

“Of course, Doctor. Let me just pull him up here real quick.”

Evan saw Megan hurry back into Declan’s room, while the nurse looked intently at the computer screen. The other nurse hung up the phone and said to the nurse on the computer, “I’m heading down to 440. It’s time for Ms. Costa’s pain meds.”

“Okay,” the other nurse replied.

Just then, Evan saw Declan’s room door open and Megan quickly wheel him out into the hall. Trying to think of some way to keep the other nurse from turning around, he quickly said, “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Evan.”

“Um, I’m Alisa Foster.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Nurse Foster. How long have you been here at the hospital?”

Megan had Declan sitting in the chair at the elevator, waiting for it to open. Evan had to keep Nurse Foster distracted until they were on the elevator.

“Not long,” she replied. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Carol.”

“Okay. Here, Doctor. I have Mr. Peterson’s records up. Do you want to take a look?”

_______________________

“C’mon, c’mon,” Megan whispered nervously, looking at the elevator door and then over to Evan, whom she could see talking to the nurses. “C’mon dammit… open.”

Declan sat motionless in the wheelchair, feeling the soreness from his bullet wound and the throbbing in his head. Megan kept her eyes on the nurses’ station, praying silently that neither of the nurses looked down the hall toward them. “C’mon.”

_______________________

Evan could see Megan and Declan were still sitting in front of the elevator and quickly stammered, “Where were you before?”

“I’m sorry,” Nurse Foster replied, turning toward Evan again.

“Where did you work before coming here?”

“Nowhere. I mean, this is my first hospital job. I graduated from nursing school a few months ago.”

“Which school?”

“State,” she replied impatiently.

The patient elevator finally dinged and the door began to open slowly, too slowly.

“That’s a good program, don’t you think?”

“It was fine.”

The elevator doors opened completely and Evan watched Megan quickly wheel Declan inside, and heard the doors begin to close.

The nurse on the computer asked, “Was that the patient elevator I just heard?”

“Yes,” Evan replied right away. “It looks like they had the wrong floor. I just saw a head pop out, and back in, then the doors closed again.”

“I hate that. I really don’t see how it’s that difficult to pick the right floor.”

“It was nice meeting you, Doctor,” Nurse Foster said. “I’ve got to get down to Room 440 now.”

“Of course. Nice meeting you too.”

“Doctor, do you want to see Mr. Peterson’s records?”

“Absolutely.”

Evan leaned over, pretending to review the patient records on the computer, but really watching Nurse Foster walk down the hall toward Room 440, only she didn’t make it to Room 440. Instead, she stopped in front of Declan’s room, and began to open the door.

“Thank you, it looks like his recovery is going well,” Evan said and walked briskly down the hall after her. The phone rang and the other nurse picked it up, no longer paying attention to Evan, who hurried into Declan’s room after Nurse Foster.

When Evan entered the room, he saw Nurse Foster picking up the telephone on the table next to Declan’s bed. Without thinking, Evan rushed toward her, shoving her with all of his force. Nurse Foster’s body jerked violently backward. The phone fell from her hand, and her body crashed into a heap onto the hard white floor. Her head snapped back against the unforgiving floor then bounced up slightly and fell against it again.

Evan stood over Nurse Foster’s unconscious body, immediately stricken with a pang of remorse and hoping he hadn’t accidentally killed her. “What have I done?” He quickly kneeled down next to her and felt her pulse. She was still alive.

Evan hung the phone up and lifted Nurse Foster gently onto Declan’s bed. He placed her head softly onto the pillow, turned her so that she was facing away from the door, and pulled the sheet and blanket up so that it covered everything but her head.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m truly, truly sorry.”

_______________________

Megan looked back at Declan, who was lying in the backseat of Evan’s car, then looked nervously at her watch, and, finally, turned the ignition and began to back the car out of the parking space.

“Megan, wait,” Evan called hurrying into the passenger seat.

“What took you so long?”

“I had to get extra medications for Declan to take with him. Let’s go, we’ve got to hurry.”

Megan slammed the car into drive and screamed out of the hospital parking garage. A few minutes later, they were on the highway headed toward the airport, and soon thereafter they were within a few exits of the airport. The drive both flew by and dragged on, as though the airport was hours away.

Evan saw an exit with a truck stop. “Get off here for a minute.”

“Why? We don’t have time for a stop, Evan,” Megan responded.

“Just exit here and go to the truck stop.”

Declan asked weakly from the backseat, “What do you have in mind?”

The car pulled into the busy truck stop and parked outside. “I’ll be right back,” Evan said, and he hurried into the truck stop. About a moment later he got back into the car with a roll of duct tape.

“What’s that for?”

“Here, give me your phones.”

Megan handed her smart phone and Declan’s smart phone to Evan. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to send these, and their GPS chips, on a little trip.”

“That’s brilliant.”

“Okay, pick me up over by the gas pumps in a minute.”

Evan got out of the car and walked quickly toward where a large number of semi’s were parked. When he found one that looked like it was getting ready to leave, he walked around to the back, ducked underneath and taped the iPhones to the bottom of the trailer.

When Evan got back into the car he said, “I’m not sure where that truck is headed, but as long as it doesn’t end up at an airport in D.C. in the next few hours, that should keep anyone who figures out you’re gone busy for a bit.”

“Let’s go,” Megan responded, and they were off to the airport.

December 26
^th

The plane landed without incident at Potomac Airfield shortly after 7:00 p.m. Megan left Declan sleeping safely on the plane with her father’s longtime pilot and trusted friend, Tom Langham, and drove into D.C., to Homeland Security Headquarters. She passed numerous fast moving emergency and military vehicles on the way into the city, a combination of police, various fire departments, Army, and Homeland Security personnel presumably responding to the protests which had been sparked by the passage of the Firearms Protection Act.

Once Megan had finally made it to Homeland headquarters, she cleared the outer security perimeter, parked in a spot somewhat away from the building, and made her way inside. For the first time, she was struck by the realization that the use of her security card would create a record of her location which could surely be found by anyone who’d be looking for them.

Unable to turn back, Megan swiped her security card and peered into the retinal scanners. The security doors opened, and she was back inside Homeland, for what would very likely be the last time, she thought. As she entered the elevator and pressed the button for her floor, she calculated that it should take roughly ten minutes to boot up the system, access photos of her and Declan from the database, and create two alias passports. If she could keep her total time in the building under fifteen minutes, everything would likely go as planned.

_______________________

Alisa Foster groggily came to with a splitting headache in the pitch black hospital room. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realize she was lying in a bed. Slowly, and with considerable effort, Foster sat up and the throbbing in her temples increased to an almost unbearable degree. She tried to steady herself, then stepped clumsily onto the floor, and reached over to turn on the bedside lamp. The sudden light initially blinded her, shooting a feeling akin to a puncture wound through her head. When the pain finally subsided somewhat, Foster picked up the in room phone.

A voice answered, “Costello.”

“He’s gone,” she stated flatly. “Parker and the girl are gone.”

“When?”

“I’m not sure. It could have been hours ago.”

“Where were you?”

“Incapacitated.”

“Come again?”

“I was incapacitated. I got hit by a doctor, or someone saying he was a doctor, and woke up just now in Parker’s bed.”

“Alright, I’ve got to make a call. You find out who the doctor, or whoever, was that took you out.”

“I’ve got an idea.”

“Well, figure it out and be ready to give me a name. I’ll get back to you on your cell shortly.”

“Okay.”

_______________________