Chapter 13

Do you really think this is going to work?” Amanda whispered, peering across the dark parking lot at the glass-paneled entrance of the Central Utah University Neuropsychiatric Institute.

“No, I just thought it would be cool to get you arrested,” Bones said. “Relax. It’s going to be fine. I’ve got a feeling this won’t be the first time you’ve bluffed your way into somewhere you weren’t supposed to be.”

“True, but I look like a tramp in this,” she said, looking down at her tight, black leather miniskirt and fishnet hose.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Bones said, leaning back to avoid her playful slap. “Seriously, you look great and you’ll definitely get the interest of the guy at the front desk.”

“What if it’s a girl at the front desk?”

“You know, that never actually occurred to me,” he said. “I guess you’d better hope she likes chicks. Either that, or you’re going to have to put on the coveralls and I’ll wear the skirt and hose.”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Amanda said. She slid gracefully out of the car and set off across the parking lot in a purposeful, yet delicate, walk. Bones watched as she disappeared into the lobby, kicking himself all the while for not making sure the person on duty was a guy. Amanda would just have to wing it.

He told himself he was being overly cautious. This was a university mental health center, not a prison or a military installation. But if the Dominion was holding Orley, they might have extra security. Then again, what reason would they have to think someone would be coming after Orley? He was banking on lax security to get them through.

He gave Amanda one minute, then retrieved the toolbox from the back seat and hurried to the door. Careful not to be seen, he peered into the lobby. Score! The kid at the front desk couldn’t have been more than twenty-five and from the look on his face, he’d never seen a girl dressed this sexy outside his favorite websites.

Amanda and the rent-a-cop spoke briefly, with her doing most of the talking and the kid doing most of the mouth-agape, dumbstruck nodding. Finally he gave a halfhearted shake of his head, at which point Amanda bent way over his desk and said something that must have done the trick. He removed his headset, stood and looked around before slipping out from behind the desk and leading Amanda down the hallway to the left.

Bones slipped in the front door and headed in the direction Amanda and the guard had gone. He moved silently- he told everyone it was an Indian thing, but actually it was just lots of practice- and soon he could hear Amanda somewhere up ahead. Good girl! She was sticking to the plan, acting the brainless babe coming to visit her sick uncle. The guard should be leading them to Orley’s room.

He paused at a cross-hall, not sure which direction to go. He heard an elevator down the hall to his right, and he stole a quick glance around. Amanda stepped inside and the guard turned and headed back in Bones’ direction. Crap! This wasn’t the plan! He needed to get to the elevator in time to see at which floor it stopped, or he’d have a hell of a time finding Orley’s room.

The footsteps came closer.

He looked around for somewhere to hide. He could deal with the kid if he had to, but he hated to involve someone who was just doing his job and had no idea what was going on. The only nearby door was the ladies’ room. The light was on, but at this time of night there was probably no one in there. He took a deep breath and ducked inside.

The first stall was occupied.

Hoping whoever was inside would not see his boots, he moved to the far wall and made his way to the last stall. Shutting himself in, he sat down on the toilet tank, toolbox on his lap and his feet on the seat. Hurry up, Lady! He checked his watch. Amanda was definitely off the elevator by now. He pulled out his phone to text her. No signal.

Just then a cell phone rang in the other stall, sounding like a fire alarm in the quiet room, and nearly eliciting a curse from Bones.

“Hello? Oh, hi! I’ve been meaning…” She dove into a lengthy conversation that left Bones fuming. He tried his cell phone again. Nothing. I need to find out who her carrier is, he thought. Perhaps he could slip out while she was talking. He didn’t know where he would go from there, but he could at least start looking.

“I’ve got to go,” the woman said. “We’ve got this problem patient up on the fourth floor. A grumpy old rancher who keeps telling us he’s been kidnapped. Totally paranoid. He’s due for another sedative in about five minutes.”

“Fourth floor,” Bones whispered too low to be heard. “At least I caught one break.”

* * *

Bones had no trouble finding Orley’s room. He just followed the sound of profanity.

“…putting no needle in me!” The rancher’s familiar voice lifted Bones’ spirits. He liked the tough old fellow and was glad he had not been hurt. The fact that Orley believed he was being held against his will only served to confirm his and Amanda’s suspicions.

“Mr. Orley, you need something to help you calm down,” the woman from downstairs was saying. “Your niece…”

“I done told you I don’t know this girl!” Obviously Amanda was in the room with them. Bones took a peek around the corner just as Orley turned toward him. The rancher scowled, but then his eyes widened as he realized who Bones was.

“It’s okay,” Bones mouthed, hoping Orley would understand that he and Amanda were there to help. Thankfully, Orley relaxed and quieted down.

“This will only take a moment, and then you’ll feel much better,” the nurse said. In short order she had given him the injection.

Orley looked at Bones as if to say, You’d better know what you’re doing. Bones gave him the “thumbs-up” and ducked into the bathroom just inside Orley’s doorway. He hid in the shower until Amanda came to tell him the nurse was gone.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Bones said to Orley as he hurried into the room. He helped the wobbly man to his feet.

“Damn stuff’s already gettin’ to me,” Orley mumbled. Amanda found his clothes and helped him get dressed.

“What’s going on here?” A muscular man with a square chin and a shaved head stepped through the door. He wore a white hospital coat and held a clipboard, but Bones could tell this was no doctor. “I haven’t discharged this patient.”

“My uncle wants to walk a little,” Amanda said. “He doesn’t feel comfortable wearing the gown, you know.”

“He can barely stand,” the man said. Orley’s knees were weak from the sedative. “Put him back in the bed now.” He took two steps before Bones’ presence finally registered. He glanced at the coveralls and toolbox, turned away, and then jerked back. Their eyes met and recognition shone in his face.

Bones swung his toolbox up at a tight angle, catching the fellow on the side of the head. The man had good reflexes, and was able to turn away from the blow, catching most of the force on the back of his head. He spun away, but recovered his balance quickly.

The man drew a pistol from the pocket of his coat, but Bones was ready. He swept a vicious crescent kick at the man, sending the gun flying across the room, and hurled his toolbox at the surprised man, who managed to dodge it. Bones leapt forward, landing a quick jab, and following with a right cross that just missed. Lab Coat Man bounced a punch off Bones’ solid abs, and struck with a knife hand that whistled past Bones’ throat.

A meaty fist appeared seemingly out of nowhere, catching the man clean on the chin, and he crumpled noiselessly to the floor. Bones turned to see Orley slumped against Amanda.

“That’s all I got left,” the rancher said. “Get me the hell out of here. There’s always at least two of ‘em around.”

They helped the stumbling rancher into the hall and back toward the elevator. Orley was heavy — years of ranching had turned him into a veritable chunk of muscle. Those muscles were not of much help, though, as the sedated rancher struggled to keep his feet under him.

“Hold him,” Amanda whispered, shifting the weight to Bones’ side and ducking out from under Orley’s arm. She disappeared around the corner and returned with a wheelchair.

“Nice,” Bones whispered. “I think I’m going to keep you around.”

“Like it’s up to you,” Amanda replied with a wink. “Give him to me and let’s get him out of here. Head for the elevator.”

Bones took a moment to get everything situated, took the wheelchair and headed down the corridor. Reaching the cross-hall he made the left that would take him to the bank of elevators. He heard footfalls behind him.

“Hey! Where are you going with that patient?”

He glanced over his shoulder to see a man in a security uniform round the corner at the far end of the hall. This was not the rent-a-cop from down the hall. This guy had every bit of the military bearing that Lab Coat Man had.

“What did you say?” Bones shouted. He quickened his pace and was careful to keep his body between the wheelchair and his pursuer. “I didn’t hear you!”

“Stop!” the man yelled and began trotting toward Bones. Good. The fellow wasn’t overly concerned yet. “What the hell are you doing taking a patient out of here anyway?”

“He’s being checked out. The nurse asked me to help her with him.” He looked back over his shoulder. The man was closing the distance quickly. Bones kept the dialogue going as he passed an empty nurse’s station. “She was blowing chunks. You should have seen it. I think she had pizza for dinner.”

“I’ll take care of the patient,” the man yelled. “Just leave him there for me.”

Bones stole one last glance at the elevators, only ten feet away, and saw that all of them were on the first floor. The man was no more than fifty feet away.

“Suit yourself,” Bones said. He turned and shoved the wheelchair through the nearest open door, a patient’s room, and ducked into a nearby stairwell. As the door swung shut behind him he heard a crash as the wheelchair spilled its contents: the toolbox he had hidden under a blanket. By now, Amanda and Orley were hopefully making their way out through the basement service exit they had discovered in the hospital floor plan they’d reviewed before attempting to retrieve the rancher. Angry voices told him he’d at least created a small diversion. He hoped he hadn’t hurt any patients in the process, but what could he do? If anyone was injured, at least they were already in a hospital.

He jumped ten or so stairs and landed with a resounding thud on the landing. Ignoring the pain that surged up his legs and spine, he turned and leapt down the next flight. A sign read Second Floor. They would expect him to go all the way down to the ground floor. He slipped through the door and hurried down another glistening white hallway, similar to the one above.

A middle-aged nurse with graying brown hair and a smudge of chocolate frosting on her cheek stood up and peered with alarm over the nurse’s station desk as he ran by.

“Big mess upstairs,” he huffed. “No nurse on duty, either. You might want to get up there.”

“But I’m not…”

He was gone before she could finish her sentence.

Bones tightened his grip on the .22 he held hidden under his sleeve. He really didn’t want to shoot anybody. Under any circumstance it would be difficult to explain why he was kidnapping a patient. Considering the political clout the Domain apparently wielded, it would be doubly hard to justify putting a bullet in anyone.

He made a right turn and dashed down the empty hallway to the back of the building where he came to a break room with a huge plate glass window overlooking the back parking lot. Amanda sat parked directly under the window in the old van she had borrowed from her uncle. The magnetic “Patton Plumbing” sign Bones had stolen off a parked vehicle they passed along the way completed the ruse nicely. They’d mail the sign back to the rightful owners, and have the rental company pick up the car in which they had arrived. They’d rented it under a false name so it wouldn’t trace back to either of them.

He was about to head to the back exit when he heard footsteps in the hallway. He had not bought himself as much time as he’d hoped. He took a long look at the window.

“Oh, what the heck?” he whispered. “Let’s just hope it’s not heavy-duty safety glass.”

He picked up one of the break tables, a heavy, round job with a Formica top and black metal trestle, and heaved it into the window. The table rebounded with a crack and a thud, crashing to the tile floor, but the damage was done. A hole gaped in the middle of the window and a web of cracks spreading three feet all around. Hoping he’d judged the distance correctly, he got a running start and leaped, shielding his face as he smashed through the glass.

There was a moment of groin-tingling free-fall, and then he crashed with a metallic thud onto the roof of the van. Amanda yelped and stuck her head out the driver’s window.

“Where did you…”

“Just drive!” he yelled. He grabbed the front edge of the van roof as Amanda hit the gas. The van surged forward, then sputtered and lurched to a halt. Bones tried to dig the toes of his boots into the pitted, dented surface, but to no avail. He slid forward and tumbled down the windshield and over the hood. He slowed enough to get his feet under him as he dropped to the asphalt.

“Sorry!” Amanda said. “I forgot the transmission on this thing sometimes…” The staccato crackling of gunfire rang out, and bullets whizzed past the front end of the van.

Bones returned fire, sending two well-aimed shots through the remains of the second-floor window. The van had rolled forward far enough to make for a difficult angle, and he had no idea if he’d hit his target, but it bought sufficient time for him to take the wheel from Amanda and hit the road.

“You have to baby the gas a little or else it stalls,” Amanda said.

“Yeah, I sort of figured that out.” He checked the rear-view and side mirrors and saw no pursuit. He doubted it would last.

He was right.

Headlights appeared behind them, growing fast as the vehicle sped toward them. Bones had no doubt it was their pursuers. He cut off the van’s headlights and hung a right down the nearest street, careful not to tap on the brakes, lest the brake lights give them away. He stood on the gas, praying no one would pull or walk out in front of him. The odds were slim this time of night. He took another right, this time the van felt like it was going up on two wheels. Orley, lying on the back floorboard, groaned as he rolled over.

As they zoomed down another deserted street, Bones spotted an old white van nearly the twin of the one they drove. He slammed on the brakes, bringing the van to a halt.

“Why are we stopping? Are you nuts?” Amanda shouted.

“Here,” Bones said, reaching out the window and yanking the magnetic sign off the door. “Slap this baby on that van. With any luck it’ll slow them down.” When she was finished he whipped the van around the next corner just in time to see headlights from the direction they had come. He sped up, hoping they had not been spotted. They flew down the darkened street with no sign of pursuit. The false trail had apparently bought them some time.

Bones made three more turns before he was satisfied they had left their pursuers behind. He slowed the van and turned the headlights back on.

“Can I breathe now?” Amanda asked, releasing her vise grip on the armrest. “I’ve never been shot at before.”

“I think we’re good,” Bones said, still keeping a wary eye out for pursuit. “How’s Orley?”

“Still doped. It isn’t safe to take him home. Where should we go?”

“Considering we’re both probably on hospital security video,” Bones said, “I vote we get out of town.”

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