The Bleeding Crowd (31 page)

“You need something from us,” Jude said in a
quiet voice, as if trying to be considerate of Dahlia, even with
the other two speaking at normal volume. “Otherwise we wouldn’t
still be alive.”

“We need one of you,” Lisa said. “We just
don’t know which one yet.”

Another woman came into the room. “You wanted
something?”

Lisa nodded at Dahlia. “Grab her. Take her to
room 540.”

Ben moved to stand, pushing against the
mattress with his good arm.

Dahlia turned over sharply, as if she had
been half asleep and finally just gave up trying to remain
unconscious. “Ben what the hell do you think...” She paused,
looking at the women before turning back to him. “Lie down.”

He stood anyway.

“Ben, I’m serious. Lie down.”

Lisa watched them, a mildly amused smile on
her face. “Do you want to take back that not a doctor line
yet?”

“I’m a doctor.” Dahlia stood, forcing Ben
back to sitting at least. “I’m not a surgeon.”

Lisa considered that, but let it go. “Clara’s
going to take you to another room.”

“Why?” Dahlia shot Ben a look as he
shifted.

“Because we are,” Lisa said. “Now you can
walk or you can have Clara throw you over her shoulder and carry
you there.”

“She isn’t going anywhere,” Ben said.

Lisa pulled out her gun and cocked it. “What
did I say about you giving orders?”

Dahlia subconsciously sidestepped to be
between Ben and the barrel. “I’ll walk.”

“Lia—” Ben hissed.

“Shut up before you get yourself killed,” she
shot back in a whisper.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Lisa
said. “Clara, watch her.”

Dahlia moved towards the door, stopping when
Lisa only moved to let her pass. “You’re staying in here?”

“You think I have to answer any of your
questions?”

“I think I swore an oath to practice healing,
and, while you are taking me away from my patient, I would like to
make sure that undue stress is not placed on him.”

Lisa looked at her steadily. “I don’t think
you fully understand our roles here.”

“I think you wanted me to prove I was a
doctor. You proved it, and now I am going to act as one.”

Lisa smirked, waving at Clara. “Take her down
the hall.”

Dahlia continued to keep eye contact with the
dark-haired woman until Clara forcefully took her upper arm. Dahlia
threw a cautionary look at Ben and allowed herself to be led out of
the room.

Lisa watched them go.

“Where is she going?” Ben studied Lisa,
adrenaline overtaking whatever weakness and pain he had been
feeling.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist.” Lisa
shut the door, holstering her gun. “She’s just going to another
interrogation room. Not like we could leave her in here.”

“Why not?” Jude frowned.

Lisa just smiled at him before looking at
Ben. “It seems I chose right. I knew she had to be here for one of
you. Only a man could make a smart, otherwise law-abiding woman,
end up here. So I had to pick one of you to shoot—”

“Thanks for that, by the way,” Ben scoffed.
“It really has been too long since I got shot.”

“I could have killed you.” Lisa shrugged.
“She barley was able to keep you from bleeding out with a little
shoulder wound. If I had hit anything more important, really
anything else, you’d be dead right now.”

“She’s never dealt with a bullet wound
before,” Ben said defensively. “I think she did a damn good
job.”

“Didn’t mean to insult your girlfriend’s
professional competency.” Lisa smiled looking him over. “I suppose
I can understand it, though.”

Ben paused before speaking. “Understand
what?”

“How you could convince her to defect. You
are a nice looking man.”

“I don’t think it was my looks that won her
over,” Ben said.

“Couldn’t have hurt.” Lisa continued looking
at his chest. “I mean, based on our records she’s twenty, so she
had you as her first rotation? Easy pickings for you.”

“I wasn’t trying to ‘pick’ anything,” Ben
said. “Sometimes you just end up places without trying.”

Lisa tilted her head in an amused half nod.
“How many others of you are out there?”

Ben just raised his eyebrows.

“Why would we tell you that?” Jude
frowned.

“Because,” Lisa said, “two of the three of
you are going to be dead by the end of this week. You tell us what
we want to know, you get to choose who the one left is going to
be.”

Ben met her eyes.

“We’ll take our chances,” Jude said.

Lisa watched Ben for another moment before
turning towards the door. “If you change your mind, we’re only a
call away.”

* * * *

Dahlia walked to one side of the room and
then to the other, half in boredom, half to attempt to work off the
nerves that had her skin buzzing. The room was smaller than the
others, much smaller. The walls were painted a dull grey with only
one window that was maybe large enough for a child to slide through
to break up the depressing symmetry. All the room contained was a
table and a set of chairs, both of which were Spartan with thin
legs and sharp edges, built for efficiency, not comfort or
beauty.

“Sorry that these aren’t quite as nice as
your last accommodations.” Lisa slid through the door without
Dahlia hearing it open.

“I’m sure it’s eating you up inside,” she
said.

“You and your boyfriend have very similar
bantering styles.” She sat down in the larger of the two
chairs.

Dahlia just stared at her. “So what is this?
Some attempt to get us all to turn against each other?”

“We just want some information.” Lisa watched
her. “Simple enough. If you can give us that, we’ll let you go
right now.”

“Bullshit.” She crossed her arms and glared
back.

Lisa shrugged that off. “This isn’t your
fight. Why should you have to die for it?”

“I seem to have made it my fight,” she
responded.

“You’re a woman, you have a home,” Lisa said.
“Wouldn’t you like to go home?”

Dahlia studied her for a long moment, leaning
on one of the walls. “So, I tell you want you want and you’ll send
me home? Is that the deal?”

Lisa sat up straighter, nodded, and then
paused for another long moment. “Let’s not insult both of our
intelligences here. You know you’re lying out of your ass and you
should know I’m not buying it.”

A flash of anger crossed Lisa’s features, but
melted at once into a smile. “Please, sit.”

“I’d rather stand.” Dahlia didn’t move.

“All right,” Lisa said. “Let’s try this
again. You tell us what we want to know, we execute your friends in
the least painful way possible and send you into exile rather than
sentence you to death. You can spend the rest of your life on a
tropical island somewhere.”

“Now you see, you should have started with
that,” Dahlia said. “It would have made you seem less like a liar
and lend more plausibility to an unbelievable offer.”

“Still don’t find it agreeable?” Lisa eyed
her.

She didn’t answer.

Lisa nodded. “What if we send your little
boyfriend, what’s his name, Ben, with you?”

Dahlia froze.

“Let you go,” Lisa continued. “Live on your
little island, undisturbed. You two could have a long and happy
life together, I’m sure. At least as long as you can before a man
starts driving you insane. That appeal to you more?”

She paused as if considering the offer.
“Perhaps.”

“Then just tell us what we want to know.”

“It might appeal to me more than living on an
island all by myself, but it isn’t enough to make me tell you what
you want to know. It doesn’t mean I don’t think that you’re still
talking out of your ass.”

“We’ll work it out, and I’ll sign a contract
stating exactly what you get,” Lisa said.

“What good is a signed piece of paper when
the people offering it have the only means of recourse in the event
they renege on their signed promise?”

“You are really very smart,” Lisa said.

“Thank you.”

“It’s probably not a good thing. It’ll end up
with you in a lot of pain more than likely.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Dahlia
responded.

“You’re all right with that?”

“I made my bed. I’m resigned to lying in
it.”

“Strong will.”

“Stubbornness even,” Dahlia said.

“We’ll have to work on that then.”

* * * *

The throbbing pain in Ben’s shoulder made
what minutes he could get of sleep short and painful. As soon as
Dahlia had gone, the dull ache in the limb had fully blossomed into
pain. He had still yet to figure out if it was just a delayed
reaction, or if there was some psychology behind it.

He released a long breath and looked at Jude
who was sleeping on the floor without nearly as much trouble as he
was having in the bed. Something between annoyance and jealousy
shot through him briefly, and he considered ‘accidentally’ dropping
something on Jude to wake him, but managed to control the urge.
Anyway, to drop something he’d actually have to lift it, and. while
his strength was returning, he wasn’t going to be able to use his
left arm that well.

The waiting had to be the worst of it. He
could deal with the pain. He could deal with the stress. He just
couldn’t stand this waiting game Lisa had set up. He didn’t know
where Dahlia was or even if she was all right. He assumed they’d
keep her alive if nothing else, if only to use her as a bargaining
chip.

His stomach flipped. She should be with them.
Well, she shouldn’t have been there at all, but if she was going to
insist on putting herself in danger, she should at least be where
he could protect her. She wasn’t like the rest of them. She hadn’t
grown up with the knowledge that something needed to be done. She
hadn’t grown up learning the skills one would need to be able to do
that. The face she had shown while trying to help him. She was
scared. She had no idea what she was doing. Truthfully there was no
reason she should have known.

He released another breath, finally forcing
himself up to sitting. He stood and moved to the door favoring his
hurt shoulder. He knocked on the door.

Lisa opened it within seconds.

Ben frowned. “You’re sort of scary, you know
that?”

“I try,” she said. “Need something?”

He looked back at Jude for a second, and then
her. “You’re deal’s still good I take it?”

She smiled smugly.

The room she took him to was small but
comfortable. It had a full-sized bed with only a couple inches
between it and the wall across from it. She motioned for him to
take a seat. He didn’t.

She sighed. “If you’re going to want to deal,
not using up all your energy trying to stand will probably be a
good idea.”

He frowned, but sat all the same.

She studied him. “How’s the shoulder?”

“How do you think?” he responded.

She moved to the small dresser in the room,
pulling out two white pills. She offered them to him with a glass
of water, smiling at the wary look he gave her. “It’s just a
painkiller.”

“I’m good.”

“I haven’t gotten anything out of you so
far,” she said. “Why would I poison you now?”

He hesitated, but swallowed them.

She sat in a chair across from him. “So then,
what deal are you looking for?”

“Simple enough.” Ben leaned back, clenching
his jaw. “I tell you what you want to know, and you send Dahlia
home. She’s here for me, not the cause. Without me she’ll be a
model citizen, I assure you.”

“We can’t just pretend she isn’t a
threat.”

“So monitor her. She’s not a fighter. She’s
not going to get any wise ideas like I would.”

“You think she would like being monitored the
rest of her life?”

“When the only other choice is not to have a
life at all?”

Lisa nodded, assessing him. “In return you
tell us what we want to know.”

“That’s the deal.” Ben nodded.

“I think it’s a fair trade,” Lisa said.

“So what?” Ben swallowed. “Do we shake on
it?”

Lisa held out her hand, shaking his before
pulling back. “I’ll get someone to interview you. Don’t go
anywhere.”

“Where would I go,” Ben mumbled quietly
enough that she wouldn’t hear him.

The door shut and clicked after her.

* * * *

A guard came for Dahlia and grabbed her arm.
She shook the woman off. If she was going to be shuffled around
like a farm animal, she was going to do it without being
manhandled. The woman pressed on her back, shoved her into another
room, and shut the door behind her. The door locked before she so
much as had the chance to regain her footing.

Jude stood. “You’re back.”

Dahlia caught her balance from being
unceremoniously shoved into the room. “Seems that way.”

“I was worried...” Jude didn’t seem capable
of finishing the thought.

“I’m fine.” She looked around the familiar
room. “Where’s Ben?”

“I don’t know,” Jude said, the relief on his
face from seeing her faded at once.

“Please don’t let him have done something
stupid,” she mumbled, searching the room as if it held some
clue.

“You’re all right?” Jude looked at her.

“Fine.” She released a breath. “They tried to
convince me to tell them where the others were. Gave me some cock
and bull story about letting me go if I told them. I told them to
go to hell...not that I could have told them anything if I wanted
to.”

“They tried the same thing here.” Jude
nodded. “Said...fuck.”

“They said to fuck?” Dahlia’s eyebrows
knitted.

“No.” Jude rubbed his hand over his face. “I
was just swearing.”

“I’m confused.”

“They said that if we told them what they
wanted to know they would let us choose which one of us was going
to make it past this week.”