“The Feds coming in and out didn’t help,” Ginny added irritably. “I don’t know what they expected the man to tell them. He was too out of it to know his own name, much less what happened.”
“Speaking of Mr. Olment…” Ami ventured. “How’s he doing this morning?”
“I was just about to go check his vitals,” Kathi told her, selecting his medical chart from the rack.
“I’m glad it’s you and not me,” the younger woman said, relieved. “Those guards give me the willies.”
“Would you like to join me?” Kathi asked Ami, ignoring her co-worker’s remark.
“Sure.” Ami tossed her empty foam cup into a trash bin and followed Kathi. She was older than Ami, thirty maybe. But her blond hair, perpetual tan and petite figure made her look far younger than her years.
“So Olment had a rough night?” Ami inquired nonchalantly.
Kathi nodded. “We had to up his meds for him to get any real rest at all. He kept mumbling in something besides English and every once in a while he’d try to climb out of his bed. We finally had to put him in restraints.”
“Did evening shift have the same trouble?”
Kathi paused, taking a moment to glance at his chart. “They’re the ones who got the order for a sedative to be added to his meds not long after he left ICU. The dosage was too low, though. It wore off in no time.”
Ami didn’t have to ask which room was Olment’s. The guards posted on either side of his door left no doubt. The two dark, grim-faced men gave Ami the willies, too. When the stiff-looking soldiers let them pass, Ami took a deep breath before going into the room. She had to do this for her own peace of mind. Her pulse skittered into overdrive and her palms began to sweat. This was the right thing to do. She needed to see if Olment would react to her presence this morning. She…had to know.
Once again luck was not going to be on her side. He was asleep. Disappointment flooded Ami. Dammit, why did he have to be asleep right now? Kathi moved to his bedside, leaving Ami at the foot, and began the routine of checking vitals, which was second nature to a nurse. Oh, well, it wasn’t as though Ami could kick his bed or anything and hope he’d wake up. She’d just have to come by again on her break. If her friend Miranda was on duty today, she wouldn’t mind Ami tagging after her to the man’s room.
“How is he this morning?”
The male voice that sounded from the doorway behind Ami was heavily accented, just like Mr. Olment’s. Kathi looked up at the same time Ami turned to face the man.
“Everything looks fine,” Kathi said as she removed the BP cuff from Mr. Olment’s arm.
In spite of the fact that Kathi had spoken to him, the man hadn’t taken his eyes off Ami. A strange feeling stirred in the pit of her stomach. She watched in morbid fascination as recognition flared in the newcomer’s eyes. She didn’t have time to react or to even think before a pallor slid over his face and a barely banked fury devoured all other emotion in his eyes.
“You!” he snarled.
Whatever he said next was in his native tongue and completely lost on Ami. He shouted something to the guards and they came running.
Kathi moved next to Ami at the end of the bed. “What the hell is going on?” she whispered.
Ami shook her head, her voice suddenly paralyzed by a terror she couldn’t quite name. The guards seized her, one on either side of her, forcing Kathi away. Only then did Ami’s brain register the imminent threat and issue an appropriate response.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Let her go!” Kathi shouted.
Ami struggled, but it was as if iron manacles had been clamped around her arms. She could hardly move, much less hope to break free. The man who’d issued the order was snarling at her in that foreign language again. What was he saying? Why were they doing this?
“I’m calling Security!” Kathi warned.
During the seemingly endless minutes it took Security to reach the room, everything lapsed into slow motion for Ami. All sound grew distorted, including the man’s voice as he continued to rail at her. She shook her head in denial of whatever he was charging. She tried again to break free, but the men holding her were too strong. She blinked, the effort taking what felt like forever. Some instinct deep inside her urged her to flee, but she could neither understand it nor act upon it. She could only stand there, stunned.
Hospital Security charged into the room, shattering the strange slow-motion scene. “What the hell is going on here?”
Ami thought she recognized that deep commanding voice and craned her neck to see if the security guard speaking was Jason Stanford. It was. Thank God. She’d been on shift when Jason had worked a few incidents in the ER. He would know how to handle this.
“They’ve lost their minds!” Kathi shouted. “That man started barking orders and they—” she pointed to the two guards “—grabbed Ami. They won’t turn her loose.”
Jason moved in toe-to-toe with the guard closest to him. “Step aside,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. The Israeli man didn’t move. Hell, he probably didn’t even understand a word Jason said. Ami’s anxiety rocketed to a new level.
Jason turned back to the man in the richly tailored suit, the one who seemed to be in charge. “Sir, you will ask your men to release this woman. Her name is Ami Donovan. She’s a nurse at this hospital. I don’t know what you think is going on here, but whatever it is, you’re wrong.”
