Dirty Work: Volume 2

Story Six - The Breaking Storm: Part 1 - 2

Heading back down the hallways to the lobby I wondered if Reyna would ever come out of the black hole she'd fallen down. Even if Siala recovered, which there was no guarantee of, she'd been in that mental blackout for so long that Siala returning once again might never chase away the memories of those long weeks spent mourning her still breathing body. Some things you can recover from, but with others, you can still see the cracks where the seams have been rejoined.

     The hospital was quiet. It was never busy at the best of times, but it was like I'd stumbled down to the morgue. Not a mourner in sight, not a tired, shambling doctor running to get another 10ccs of inexplicamil or makingthisupamol or whatever it is they need. Remember that this is Celestria. It's never quiet.

     Emerging round the corner into the main lobby area my hand naturally fell to my side. Brushed away the flap of my coat and found the inside pocket. The cold of the gun was there, ready and waiting. There was no logical reason to fear anything, but still...

     The woman at the reception desk (whose name I still to this day cannot remember) was gone. Music still whispered like the voices of the charming dead over the speakers. Now it was bugging me. The doors were right there. I could just walk straight out.

     I stopped in the middle of the room. On the reception desk was a tiny spot of red. Hospitals are cleaned to within an inch of their life, and this one was so spotless that the paint was starting to fade from the chemicals in the cleaning spray. You see the tiniest fleck of grime or dirt and the place puts in shutdown measures, bars the doors, calls in quarantine teams, and you end up a week late to your job and out on your ass when your boss fires you.

     I looked for hiding places. Behind the desk, yes. But too obvious. Behind the seats was an impractical choice; I could see underneath them. Nobody there. A doorway to a storeroom just ahead. Slightly ajar. Could be. But then again, I had to stare directly at it to get out of the building. I'd be seeing it, whatever it was, coming.

     So I spun, gun drawn, to take him out as he snuck up behind me...

     Nobody. Just empty space.

     I breathe a sigh of relief, and that's when the cold ring of metal gets pressed against the back of my skull.

     I hear the click of the safety being removed. Without turning I feel the shake of someone in the grip of the other arm. The receptionist, no doubt.

     'Double bluff,' I said. 'Clever.'

     The storeroom door swung back closed on its own.

     'I'm upset that it worked.'

     The voice was familiar. I couldn't place it, somewhere in the back of my mind.

     'I thought I could kill you, but it turns out I need you.'

     'Carea Euphero,' I said. 'Glad to finally have a conversation with you.'

     'Ok, drop the gun and hands where I can see them.'

     I did as I was told.

     'You going to conduct this conversation to my face or not? Would be so nice to see who I'm talking to.'

     Behind me, Euphero let the receptionist go, quickly pulling out another gun and training it on her. 'If there's anything funny, you end up downstairs in the cooler. Go it?'

     'I've got it, Miss,' the receptionist answered in a voice remarkably flat and cool for what must have been her first time being held hostage. Or maybe not. Considering it was a private hospital, maybe it got held up all the time by disgruntled henchmen of rival CEO's. Who knew?