Broken Locks

The Rush

We ride in silence to the hospital, me holding back the flood. He pulls into the parking lot swiftly, parking with precision and perfection. Without waiting for him to stop the car, I open the door getting out and rush to the entrance of the hospital. 

Nearly sprinting in I make it to the receptionists desk. "Marissa Colliner."

She looks up at my frantic face with a calm expression. "Name, are you family?"

My forehead creases, family, why would it be limited to family? "Vivianna Morrison, no I'm not family."

"Sorry sweetie. You can't go see her if you're not family." She quickly dismisses me.

"No, no you don't understand. Her mom she called me to come! Why can't I see her?" I nearly breakdown and yell at her, but I don't. I try my best to remain calm, the ball in my throat making it hard not to let my voice waver.

"She's in ICU, miss. Only family is allowed to see her in ICU." She states. "Now please, you can go home or take a seat and wait. But with her injuries, it might be a while before she's taken out of the ICU unit. We can't say for sure."

I close my eyes and put my head on the counter top, numb I began to move away from the reception area. Not watching where I'm going I run into Jack.

"I can't go see her, shes in ICU, only family is allowed in..." I mumble.

Jack perks up a smirk on his face, a twinkle in his eye. "Then we will get you in another way."

I sigh, not in the mood for games. "How could you possibly get me in?"

He shrugs "Think of this as a little bit of training, and let me show you what it is we do in the group."

I shrug, sure this wouldn't work, to heck with it, lets hear what he has to say.

"Scan the room, tell me what you see." 

I roll my eyes then look around, I'm standing in the middle of the lobby, The rows of chairs against the walls for the less urgent cases, or worried friends filled with people, you could tell where one family or group ended by the empty chairs between them. 

Looking behind me I see the woman behind the receptionist desk, two points of entry on either side of the desk, no doors, just hallways. The lady behind the desk is occupied with another family at the moment and they seem to be giving her a hard time based off of the strained look on her face. 

Down one hallway is an elevator down another hall is the rooms for the patients that don't need urgent care. A doctor, comes out setting his coat down on the desk, judging by the takeout bag in his hand he's taking his break. 

To my right is a map of the hospital, saying what each floor is. The ICU unit is on floor 5, closest to the heli pad in case they need to fly a patient elsewhere. Finally to my left is the elevator for the patients, but it only goes to floor 4 for safety issues with ICU patients.

"Lots of eyes, ICU is the 5th floor but the elevator only goes to the 4th unless you have a pass or you have an escort, the elevator over there is for staff, probably the best option to get to the ICU floor. There is a fire escape out side but it'll only drop if the alarms are sounded. A doctor took his lunch break, leaving behind his coat, and the receptionist is to busy with the family." I look at Jack to see that he's impressed, a hint of awe in his eyes. I guess I shocked him.

"Right. So lots of eyes means you need a distraction, what here can you use as a distraction?" He asks.

"Fire alarm." I state instantly.

Jack shakes his head. "Wrong. Think about it, it's a hospital, the fire alarm goes off the patients get evacuated. then the hospital goes on lock down."

I realize he's right and think a little harder, noticing something I missed, security guards. "The security guards, use them to get the family and the nurse riled up. No one would miss the opportunity to see someone get escorted out of the hospital."

He nods "Right. So after we get the peoples attention focused on the family, how do we get the jacket?" 

I see how that could be hard, being as how the focus is going to be up at the desk. "We could wait till the commotion moves to the exit?" I suggest. 

"It could be to late and people may lose their focus." He stops then motions to my right just past me, a janitors cart. "The cart, use, his spare uniforms are on the bottom, me and you act like maintenance, and pick up the jacket."

"Okay yeah, I see how that works, then once at the elevator we swipe the doctors card and make it up to the 5th floor, on our way up strip out of the uniforms and were done." I smile "This has a chance of working."

"It does, now here." He rushes to the cart and tosses me a uniform jumper and cap, then pulls me behind a pillar so we could put them on. 

Once we had them on I was to go up to the guard with a mop in hand. "Sir, the receptionist said she needs you to escort the family out, they are causing to much of a scene."

The guard heads off to the desk in a hurry realizing I'm right. I nod at Jack and we both move into position with the cart we pick up the jacket and I scan the card with shaky hands, adrenaline pumping. The doors open and we slide in with the cart. I look over to Jack as the door closes and he's smiling, not once breaking a sweat.

"You're not even slightly nervous?" I ask as we start stripping off the uniform, I pull the hat off of my head and my hair falls out, Jack asked me to tuck my hair into my hat so I wasn't so noticeable.

"Like I said, it's what the group does best. We con our way into things, and when all else fails we fall back on our charm." He shrugs "You got nervous?"

I smile "More like pumped full of adrenaline," I laugh as the door opens "and that was actually really fun! I loved the rush."

He finally smiles at me, even though it's a small one. "Once you feel the rush of the Con, you can't get enough of it." 

I know what he means... I look up and my eyes make contact with Gloria sitting alone in the chairs, her red rimmed eyes streaming with tears and I rush at her giving her a big hug.

"I ran into a few snags but I made it." She leans into me, soaking my shoulder.

"I - I told you I'd tell you what is happening when you got here and... The doctors said she's in a coma..."

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So my little loves!! 1187 words long, one of my longer chapters!! Hope my double update and the length of this chapter makes up for leaving you guys all weekend!!

What do you think about Jack and Vee? What about the Con they pulled? How do you guys feel about Mari's condition?

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--Julia Grace Cooper