Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

“Let me clear a space here,” Morgan said. A smile flickered on her lips. “Jeez, mother, I haven’t seen you look this alive in years. Maybe you should have people shoot at you more often.” The smile disappeared when it became apparent that neither Harriet nor Legroeder could make light of the situation. “Sorry. Let me see if I can get this going for you.”

“Any calls while we were gone?”

“ Yes —I almost forgot. There was a call for Legroeder from the hospital. It was sealed, so I saved it for you.” Morgan tapped on the phone pad and turned the viewer toward Legroeder. “Do you want to take it in private?”

Legroeder shook his head. Did Maris wake up? he wondered hopefully. He keyed the call and saw the face of the attending physician.

“Mr. Legroeder,” said the doctor, “I’m calling to let you know that Maris O’Hare is about to be transferred out of our facility. Some of her relatives came by and made the arrangements. I know you were concerned about her, and I hope this reaches you before she’s gone. Please give me a call back. It’s now nineteen hundred hours.”

Oh, sweet Jesus . Legroeder looked up at Harriet in fear. “Somebody got to Maris.” He checked the time. It was 2430, getting late in the evening.

Harriet hurried to his side. “What happened?”

He shook his head and pressed the callback button.

The phone blinked on, displaying the face of the duty nurse. Legroeder asked for Doctor Goldman and was promptly put on hold. He fumed helplessly until the doctor came on. “Mr. Legroeder—I was just on my way out. I’m not sure if Ms. O’Hare is still here. They were supposed to come for her a little while ago.”

“ Who was?”

“Their names were—ahh, MacAffee and Squire. Man and woman. As I said in the message, they were family. Half-siblings, I believe.”

“Doctor, she doesn’t have any family on Faber Eridani! She told me her closest family was on Gamma Ori Three. That’s about as far away as you can get and still be in the same galaxy! There’s no way they could be here now even if they’d been sent word!”

The doctor leaned away from the phone, frowning. “Well, that’s very strange. They had all the proper credentials. Are you sure? From what you told me, her knowledge of her family was years out of date.”

Legroeder shook his head vigorously. “No—this isn’t right!” His heart was sinking.

“Well, it was all according to procedure—though I did argue against moving her. I said she was better off here—”

“Wait—doctor—where did they say they were taking her?”

“They had papers from a private hospital in another city, where there were physicians they knew. Legally, since she was stable, I couldn’t refuse.”

Legroeder’s grip tightened on the phone pad. “Is she gone yet?”

“Hold on, let me check. I’m not on that floor right now.”

Legroeder asked Harriet, “How fast can you get me to the hospital?”

Harriet touched her earring and began muttering urgently.

Dr. Goldman returned to the phone. “Apparently they arrived just a few minutes ago to check her out.”

“Stop them!”

“Well, I can try, but I—”

“You have to! I’m on my way. Don’t let them take her! ” Before the doctor could reply, Legroeder lunged for the door.

“Wait, I’m coming with you!” Harriet called. “Morgan, keep copying this material!”

The ride to the hospital with Peter’s man took ten frantic minutes. Legroeder jumped out ahead of Harriet and dashed through the lobby and up to the third floor. “Maris O’Hare! Is she still here?” he cried, running past the front desk.

“Sir! Just a moment!”

Legroeder ignored the shout and rounded the corner to Maris’s room. He stopped, panting, inside the doorway. “ Maris?” he shouted. The bed was empty, stripped. He turned. “Where is she?”

“Sir!” A nurse was behind him, followed by a robot security guard. “Please come this way. If you want to talk to—”

“Dr. Goldman! Where’s Dr. Goldman?”

“Dr. Goldman’s not—”

“I’m right here,” said a voice from down the hall. The doctor hurried into view. “I tried to call you. I wasn’t able to stop them.”

“What?”

“I’m very sorry—they were gone by the time I got downstairs.”

“ Damn it to hell! ” Legroeder clenched his fists, fingernails biting into his hands.

“I really am sorry. But they identified themselves as closest kin. They had the right to insist. I simply had no legal authority to hold her here.”

“Damn the legal authority!”

The doctor drew back. “Excuse me, I know you’re upset…”

Legroeder took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He could feel the blood pounding in his head. It would do no good to scream at the doctor. “I’m sorry—what hospital did you say they were taking her to?”

The doctor checked his compad. “Symmes. In the town of Arlmont in the Northern Province.”

“And you did verify that this hospital was expecting her?”

“Mr. MacAffee showed us the admission order, yes.”

“But did you call the hospital?”

The doctor looked pale, both defensive and frightened. “There seemed no need. All of the documentation was in order. Mr. Legroeder, are you sure that—”

“I’m telling you those people were not her family! I don’t care about their documents. They were not her brother and sister!” Legroeder turned with helpless fury to Harriet, who had finally caught up.

“Then who were they?” Dr. Goldman shook his head in dismay. “If this was an abduction, we’d better call the police at once.” He turned to the robot guard. “Check the door security. See if there’s a record of the vehicle that Ms. O’Hare left in.”

Harriet spoke quickly. “We’ll need that, and we’ll need all of the purported documentation.” She pulled at her earring and spoke subvocally for a moment.

“May I ask who you are?” Dr. Goldman said.

“Harriet Mahoney, attorney at law,” she said brusquely. “Doctor, there will certainly be a legal investigation into this matter, and it is paramount that all of the documents be preserved. We’ll need to examine them for evidence of forgery.”

The doctor’s alarm deepened visibly. “Yes, of course. But hadn’t we better concentrate on getting the police on this?”

“Absolutely. Please do that. We’ll be in touch. But right now, we must see if we can put a pursuit on that vehicle.”

“They told me they were headed for the Northern Province,” Dr. Goldman said.

“Then they probably aren’t. Legroeder, let’s move quickly. Thank you, Doctor.” Without waiting for anyone to reply, Harriet seized Legroeder above the elbow and propelled him down the hall toward the lift and the exit. “If there’s any more to learn here, Peter and his people will learn it. I don’t think we want to be here when the police arrive.”

“Are we going after the car that took Maris?”

“Peter’s getting someone on it right now. But Legroeder—understand there’s very little chance of catching them. If they could produce papers to fool the hospital, then they aren’t going to be waiting around for us to catch them.”

“But we’ve got to do everything we can—”

“We will, Legroeder. We will.” Harriet steered him out a side exit onto the street. In front of the hospital, a police flyer’s lights were flashing. As they strode away quickly, she added, “But we’ll let the people do it who can do it. You , my friend, have other business. And no time to delay, before the police start to suspect you.” She shook her head worriedly. “And what am I doing? Helping you to become a fugitive? God. There’s the car…”