"We retrieved them."
Jasper's eyes glowed, making Elizabeth realize her ill-chosen words. He wrenched her left arm, dragging her to her feet. "Where are they? I want my property now."
"I don't have them. The detectives took them." The ominous man was too strong for her to pull away.
May pulled back the curtain, holding a bucket. "Dr. Massey ordered more bloodwork for Tonette's pregnancy." She bobbled everything in her hands at the sight of the blade against Elizabeth's throat. Blood tubes trailed after May as she ran screaming for help.
Cornered, he jerked Elizabeth’s left arm higher, dislocating her shoulder. "Toni is knocked up? She told me she can't make babies. She got that endo something. Besides, she's been locked up. She only fucks me. I'll kill her if she cheated."
The weapon's sharp stainless steel nicked Elizabeth’s skin. She cradled her elbow to support her useless arm. "It could be a mistake."
Patrick was sitting at a computer going over Austin's latest results when May's screams reverberated in the hallway. "What's wrong?"
"Tonette. A man. Beth. A knife," May's voice faltered.
"Where are the police?" Patrick searched the hall.
"With...with Sergeant Bailey," May babbled.
Tommy returned to the station from another room as Patrick scrambled into action. "Dial 911 and security. Keep the other patients and their families in their rooms." He found Austin asleep and no sign of his law enforcement visitors. "There is a hostage situation on the floor. Are either of you armed?"
The second Chase PA, Jonathan, passed him his Beretta M9 holstered around his ankle.
In the waiting room, two of Austin's colleagues were chatting with Martin and Tate Webster. Their radios squawked. "Meet units at the Horizon ICU, a man with a knife."
Patrick's lips flattened entering the room. "A man is holed up in room five, holding a patient and a doctor hostage. He's a meth dealer. He's got two exits: the window and an eighteen-story fall or the door."
The one thing serving in combat taught was unspoken communication. "Viper?" Martin, eyes alert and scanning, called Patrick by his call name. There was no need to ask the question.
"He has Beth." Patrick’s lips pressed together.
Officers Pellegrino and Forrester and Detective Beck Ferguson reappeared and stood to await Silverton SWAT in front of Tonette's room. Austin's fellow sergeants assisted Chase personnel Janice and Matteo to isolate the area.
The first contact with Jasper ruled out him giving up anytime soon. Martin and Tate walked into the lounge. Patrick, a minute behind, grabbed scrubs and lab coats for them. "SWATs en route."
"Farmer, I put the call out for any of our available people at the hotel to respond for a possible roof drop. The floor is secure." Matteo supplied him with a com.
“Thanks." Martin inserted the earpiece. "Viper, think we might make it with both of us walking in?"
"No way. He's seen the responders. This isn't his first time, and I'm sure he's high. Even one going in is risky, but these outfits may buy you a momentary pause.
Elizabeth's chest was heavy, and she fought back the desire to throw up. "Please, I understand you're upset about Toni. No one needs to get hurt."
"Hahaha, funny. Not how the cops work. Those balloons didn't belong to me; Toni was paying back a debt. My ticket out and yours is you. We’re gonna walk outta here and go to the bank. You have cash, right? When you give me the money, you can go your own way, and I'll disappear."
Elizabeth couldn't suppress her nervous laugh. "Toni needs more medicine. Please, let me keep her alive?" She was covered in sweat, the odor of her own fear taunting her.
"Use the intercom. You ain't going near the door. And if she's pregnant, she don't deserve to live, and neither do you."
Elizabeth depressed the button over the bed. "I need a bag of normal saline, please."
Janice Fitz from Bravo team answered the request, "Anything else, Dr. Reed? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. I need 20 milligrams of lorazepam, a negative HCG, and a fourteen-gauge syringe for blood too."
"Beth's one smart woman; she just gave us the in. Crazy but brave. She asked for a sedative in a dose that would knock out a hippo and a large needle." Patrick touched his hand to his chin.
"What?" Tate read the confusion.
