Iris Johansen - Pandora's Daughter

"I know you wouldn't." He opened the glass entrance door for her. "And that's why we're here."

The corridor of the rectangular building was shadowy and dimly lit and there was only one nurse at the circular desk just inside the door. She looked up from her paperwork as Megan and Grady came toward her. She was plain, a little plump, somewhere in her thirties. Her RN badge identified her as Madge Holloway. She smiled regretfully. "I'm sorry. No visitors are allowed in the wards after nine. I was about to lock up for the night. Would it help if I checked the latest report on your patient's condition for you?"

"We've had a report from Dr. Gardner," Megan said. "I'm supposed to meet him in Suite fourteen B."

"Oh, yes." Nurse Holloway's face suddenly lit with eagerness. "The Phillip Blair case. I was hoping I'd be here when you came. We've been so excited at his progress. Dr. Gardner never gives up. You're so lucky to have him working on the case."

"I realize that," Megan said as she moved down the hall. "The far end of the corridor?"

"That's right. Good luck."

"Thank you."

"Wait for me." Grady took her arm. "You're almost running."

"I feel like running. I'm excited." She glanced at him. "And I know you want to tell me not to get my hopes up, but don't do it. I can't help it."

"I wouldn't think of it." His gaze was wandering from side to side as they passed the hospital rooms. "It would be an exercise in futility. But I'm a realist. I'll reserve my excitement until I see Phillip coming a little closer to consciousness."

He stopped a few yards from the door at the end of the corridor. "Stay here. Let me go in first."

She glanced back at the nurse at the reception desk and frowned. "Everything seems okay here."

"And hopefully Harley and Renata are having an equally good experience outside." Grady moved toward the door. "But let's not rely on what seems to be taking place. I've shaped reality too many times myself to have any faith in it."

"Yes, but Molino is no Controller. And this is-what's wrong?" He was looking beyond her toward the front entrance. "Why are-"

"Shit!" He opened Phillip's door and dove to one side and into the room. "Get down!"

THE NURSE WAS MOVING AT A FAST WALK, almost at a run, as she came out of the annex building. Her stride was purposeful as she moved toward the SUV parked in front of the door.

Renata didn't like it. The nurse was moving too fast and Megan and Grady had just entered the building. Mark had always told Renata that any irregular behavior was a red flag in a surveillance situation. Of course, this was a nurse and there were always emergencies. She scanned the exterior of the car the nurse was now driving out of the parking lot.

No, dammit, it wasn't right.

Renata reached for her phone as she started her car and followed the nurse's SUV out of the lot.

Warn Megan. And hope Grady was observant enough to keep Megan alive.

GRADY DREW HIS GUN AND rolled over and under the hospital bed a few feet from the door.

No gunfire.

No curses or exclamations.

From where he was under the bed he could see no one in the room.

"Grady, dammit. What's happening?"

"Stay where you are, Megan. No problem that I can see."

In the adjoining bathroom?

He started to slowly ease himself from beneath the bed.

Something warm splattered on his hand.

Blood.

He froze as he watched the blood that had dropped from the bed run off his hand onto the beige tiles.

Oh, God.

Don't look at the man on the bed. Not yet. Not until he was sure there was no one in that bathroom waiting to pounce.

HER PHONE WAS RINGING, Megan realized dimly. Ignore it. Every nerve of her body was tensed and focused on what was going on in Phillip's room.

It was only a few moments since Grady had last told her to stay the hall but it seemed a century.

"Grady."

No answer.

"Unless you let me come in there I'm calling the police."

"You don't want to come in here. I'll come out."

Panic jolted through her. "If there's not a problem, why don't you want me to-" She jumped to her feet and moved slowly, cautiously into Phillip's room.

Blood.

The sheet on the bed was soaked with blood from the throat and face of the man in the bed.

"Dear God." She recoiled back against the wall. Her knees gave way and she slid to the floor. "Phillip…"

"No." Grady was kneeling beside her. "That's what I thought too. But it's not Phillip. It's hard to tell from that carnage of a face but I think it's Gardner."

"Gardner?" Her gaze flew to his face. "Dead?"

He nodded. "I'd judge it happened within the last few hours." He paused. "And there are two more bodies in the bathroom. According to his ID, one of them is Jordan, the guard Harley hired. He was shot at close range. He must have been taken by surprise. The other one is a woman in a nurse's uniform. It's probably the head nurse, Madge Holloway. Her neck was broken."

Madge Holloway. "The woman at the front desk had an ID badge with that name."

"And I saw her hurrying out the door as we reached Phillip's room. She waited just long enough to put up a normal front for us and then took off."

She rubbed her temple. "But where's Phillip?"

He shook his head.

"He has to be-How could they get him out of the building?"

"How could Molino kill Gardner and the nurse? He wanted it done. If he had Gardner prisoner for any length of time before his death, he could make him pull strings. It appears as if they toyed with him before they cut his throat."

"Sons of bitches." Her voice was shaking with anger. "Gardner was a good man. He cared about Phillip. He cared about all his patients. All he wanted to do was bring them back to-"

Her cell phone rang.

"Answer it," Grady said.

She'd already punched the button.

"Darnell tells me there was a good deal of blood," Molino said. "Isn't it good that you're a doctor and not squeamish?"

"You bastard. What did Gardner ever do to you?"

"Nothing. He was very helpful, but he would have been expensive and he was no longer useful."

Shock jolted through her. "What?"

"I offered him an astonishing amount of money to lure you there. I've had Sienna in negotiations with him for some time."

"He wouldn't sell out a patient to you."

"Everyone has a price. He's an idealist who believed in the sacrifice of one for the many. They were going to withdraw his funding."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe what you like. Of course, I told him what he wanted to believe. Blair was only going to be held as a threat. The only reason we wanted you was to get the Ledger. He bought it because he was desperate for the cash. He made it easy for Darnell. He called the guard into the room so that he could be disposed of in private. Sienna told him Jordan would just be tied up and left in the bathroom. Gardner was supposed to send the nurse away but Darnell came a little early."

An assassin had come early so another precious life had been taken, Megan thought, sick. "Is Phillip still alive?"

"As much alive as a lump of unthinking flesh can be. I was really surprised that you didn't just write him off after my friend Darnell made a vegetable of him."

"He's not a vegetable," she said through her teeth. "And he's getting better."

"So Darnell overheard when he was trying to trace you. I had him monitoring Gardner's phone from the moment you took off for Sweden."

"Was Gardner telling the truth about Phillip getting better?"

"Oh, yes, and Gardner was torn. But not enough to sacrifice his little kingdom. Sienna and I were debating whether you'd take the risk. Though neither of us understands your reasoning we thought you might since your uncle seemed to be improving. Of course, we would never be that foolish."