A chill swept through her. “What are you talking about?”
“Will you help me? You have questions, right? I’ll answer everything, but I can’t just wait here for them to find me.”
“Who is ‘them’?”
“Later!” Urgency rang through his voice. “We have to leave. We’re both in danger here. Those bullets at the hospital? They weren’t just for you.”
“Bullshit. You set us up.”
“Yes, but just so I could see who you were. I didn’t try to shoot you! I had nothing to do with that!”
Did she believe him? She wasn’t sure, but his fear was certainly real.
He clutched at her hand. “Please, I need your help! I don’t think I can walk yet. These painkillers are messing me up.”
“Okay. I’ll help. But you gotta give me something first. Who’s after you? Who shot at us?”
“I think it was someone working for that South African dude dating my sister. Everyone on that boat reports to him. They probably overheard me talking to Celine.”
That made a lot of sense, actually. “And you aren’t working with him?”
“No! He wants to take something good and twist it around so people suffer. I don’t want that. I just want people to be happy. He’s a scary guy, I’m telling you. Hendrik something, I can’t remember now.” He rubbed his forehead as if still trying to get his brain working. “He owns a security firm and they’re probably on their way here right now. Come on!”
Everything he said matched up with the state of play. Tina decided she couldn’t take a chance that he was being paranoid. Better get the hell out.
“Let’s go, then. But you have to do exactly what I say. Understand?”
He nodded. She quickly unhooked him from the IV and his various monitors. No doubt medical staff would come running, so they’d have to be fast. She changed the position of the hospital bed so Adam lay flat, then pushed it from the room.
When she passed a laundry bin parked outside a room being cleaned, she snatched up a dirty scrubs coat and pulled it on. After that, no one looked twice as she propelled the bed—now a gurney—down the corridor. If only her parents could see her now. They’d always wanted her to be a doctor.
As they waited for the elevator door to open, she adjusted the sheet so it covered half of Seth’s face. When the elevator arrived, an overly muscular man got off, his cold eyes moving past her to scan the room numbers. She kept her gaze lowered, shifting imperceptibly to block his view of the patient on her gurney, until he’d moved onto the floor.
She didn’t breathe again until they were inside the elevator with the door closed. Seth was right. They were going after him.
In the ambulance bay, the only other person she saw was a paramedic who was busy resupplying her van. “This patient is supposed to be transferred to Rutland Medical Center, the psych wing.” It was the only hospital name she could come up with at the moment.
“Psych wing? Jesus, what’s wrong with him?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to leave him alone here. It might not be safe. Can you check with the desk and see if they’ve gotten the order yet?”
“Yeah, hang on.” She stepped away, while Tina scanned the area for a good escape route. Her car was close, so if she could just leave Seth and the gurney here for a moment…No way. She couldn’t take the chance. For all she knew, that muscle guy was already coming after them.
She called to the paramedic, who was still on the phone. “The van from Rutland’s here. They pulled around to the side, so I’ll just take him that way. Thanks for your help!”
Without waiting for an answer, she pushed the gurney out of the bay into the sunlight, then steered it around the corner, out of sight. At that point, she ripped off her scrubs and glasses and attached her badge prominently to her shirt.
“You have to get off this gurney now,” she told Seth. “Can you walk, with my help?”
“I can try.”
He was more awake now; the adrenaline of their escape from his hospital room had done wonders. He swung his legs off the gurney and reached for her arm for support. She helped him, holding him steady as he tried a step.
“Fuck.” He winced as his foot touched the ground. “Kinda missing that morphine right about now.”
“You’re okay. She said it was just bruises. Now come on.” She took his arm as if she was hauling him into a police station.
“You aren’t arresting me, are you?” he asked uneasily.
