The Sandman

160

Saga leaves the room with a horribly empty feeling inside.

‘Dear God in heaven, dear God in heaven...’

She runs along the corridor, oddly numb with shock as she approaches the security airlock. The guard is sitting on the other side of the far door. The toughened glass makes him look indistinct and grey.

Hiding the little vegetable knife in her hand so as not to frighten him, Saga slows down and tries to control her breathing as she walks up to the glass and knocks on it.

‘We need help in here!’

She knocks louder, but he doesn’t react, so she moves to the side, towards the door, and sees that it’s open.

All the doors are open, she thinks as she walks through.

Saga is about to say something when she sees that the guard is dead. His throat has been cut so brutally that it’s sliced right through to the vertebrae. His head looks almost as if it’s hanging limply from a broom-handle. The blood has run down his body and gathered in a pool around his chair.

‘OK,’ she says to herself, and she runs across the wet floor with the knife in her hand, then up the steps and through the open gate.

She tugs at the door leading to secure forensic psychiatric Ward 30. It’s locked, it’s the middle of the night. She bangs on it a few times, then carries on along the corridor.

‘Hello,’ she calls out. ‘Is there anyone here?’

The doctor’s other shoe is lying on the floor in the harsh glare of the fluorescent ceiling light.

Saga runs on, and sees movement up ahead, through several panes of glass at different angles. It’s a man, standing and smoking. He flicks the cigarette away, then disappears off to the left. Saga runs as fast as she can, towards the glassed-in exit and the passageway leading to the main hospital building. She turns the corner and suddenly notices that the floor beneath her feet is wet.

The light is blinding her, and at first it looks like the floor is black, then the smell of blood becomes so tangible that it’s all she can do not to throw up.

There’s a large puddle, and footsteps lead away from it towards the entrance.

In an almost dreamlike state she carries on, and sees the young doctor’s head. It’s lying discarded on the floor, beside the rubbish bin against the wall to her right.

Jurek aimed and missed, she thinks, as she starts breathing far too quickly.

She keeps moving forward, out over the dry floor, while her thoughts drift hollowly, unable to make sense of things.

It’s impossible to understand that this is happening.

Why has he taken the time to do this?

Because he didn’t just want to get out, she tells herself. He wanted revenge.

Suddenly she hears heavy steps from the passage leading to the main building. Two guards are running towards her, with bulletproof vests, guns and black clothing.

‘We need doctors to the secure unit,’ Saga calls.

‘Lie down on the floor,’ the younger one says, walking closer.

‘It’s only a little girl,’ the other one says.

‘I’m a police officer,’ she says, throwing the knife away.

It bounces across the vinyl floor and stops in front of them. They look at it, open their holsters and draw their service pistols.

‘Down on the floor!’

‘I’m lying down,’ she says quickly. ‘But you’ve got to warn—’

‘Fuck,’ the younger one exclaims when he sees the head. ‘Fuck, fuck...’

‘I’ll shoot,’ the other one says in a shaky voice.

Saga slowly gets down on her knees and the guard hurries over, pulling the handcuffs from his belt. The other guard moves aside. Saga holds out her hands and stands up.

‘Nice and fucking slow now,’ the guard says in a jagged voice.

She shuts her eyes, hears boots on the floor, feels his movements and takes a little step backwards. The guard leans forward to cuff her hands, and Saga opens her eyes at the same moment as she throws a right hook. There’s a crunch as she hits him hard above his ear. She swings round and meets the jolt of his head with her left elbow.

The only sound is a brief thump.

Saliva sprays from his open mouth.

The two blows were so hard that the guard’s field of vision shrinks to a pinpoint of light in a tenth of a second.

His legs give way and he doesn’t notice Saga snatching his pistol from him. She releases the safety catch and fires before he hits the floor.

Saga shoots the other guard twice, right in his bulletproof vest.

The shots echo in the narrow passageway and the guard staggers back. Saga rushes over and knocks the pistol out of his hand with the butt of hers.

The gun clatters across the floor towards the bloody footprints.

Saga kicks both his legs out from under him, and he falls flat on his back with a groan. The other guard rolls over onto his side, clutching his face with one hand. Saga grabs one of their radios and takes a few steps away.