Perseverance (The Resident FF) by Frances51163

CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE: Unexpected Arrival

The first thing which struck Conrad as the glass showered in was that a branch must have broken the window. Immediately however he realized the surrounding trees were too far away for a branch to have enough force behind it for the strength required to puncture the barrier. A quick glance around at the debris confirmed his thinking. The blinds although open had provided a partial shield from the deadly pieces.

"Are you alright?" Jude stood up and checked his friend over for any cuts from flying glass.
"Yeah. We were lucky. What do you think it was?" Conrad stepped back into his jeans hurriedly.
"Not sure," Jude shook his head as he too dressed, "when ...," he turned as a voice spoke from outside.
"Hey I need help!"
"What the hell?" Conrad frowned and shoved the damaged blinds aside only to have a torch shone on him.
"I need your help," the voice behind the light noted.
"Put down the torch," Jude stood by his friend and looked at the figure.
"You broke the window instead of using the door?" Conrad questioned as the light was turned off and he saw the newcomer.
"Couldn't risk her knowing I was here," John Wilson stood shivering in the wind and rain.
"Well get in then," Conrad ignored his companions' look of surprise and offered a hand as the man climbed through.
"Let's get you dried off," the fair haired man suggested as he pointed to the ensuite, take a hot shower to warm up. There's jeans and a shirt in there you can put on."
"You sure?" Wilson looked from Conrad to Jude and back again.
"Yeah go on," the Resident nodded and turned to his friend as the ensuite door was closed behind the new arrival, "good thing you went shopping. So you want to play host and tell our guest upstairs a branch broke the window?"
"She probably didn't hear it," Jude argued as he went over and closed the broken blinds as far as they would go as the wind and rain outside continued to batter the cabin.
"Don't want to risk it," Conrad sighed and rubbed his eyes, "you know what we can use to block this off?"
"Yeah. Tom has some sheets of wood out in the supply shed but I don't want to leave you alone with Wilson."
"Well we need to fix the gap and to be honest I don't really feel up to battling my way through the wind and rain," Conrad reluctantly admitted.
"You trust Wilson but not Janice?" Jude sought confirmation of his own feelings even if he wasn't willing to trust the fugitive as much as his friend clearly did.
"I just think there's more going on than him simply going off the rails. Come on I'll be fine. You tell Janice you're staying with me because I'm still unwell."
"Okay. Guess I should have said that to her earlier anyway. I'll talk to her and check in before I go out."
"Just be careful okay."
"You too. Don't worry buddy," the older man instructed with a smile, "I'll be quick. Lock the door after me."
"Too many horror films," Conrad rolled his eyes in exasperation but complied with the request wishing the daylight hours weren't so far away.

Ninety minutes later Conrad, Jude and Wilson sat around the small wooden table drinking coffee from one of two flasks the Surgeon had brought on his return. He had also brought several sandwiches figuring it was going to be a long night and it would be easier to keep up the ruse of Conrad being ill if he wasn't going in and out to the kitchen. The Surgeon had explained that Janice seemed to have accepted his explanation about the broken window and he had imparted that in fact she seemed relieved. She had heard the noise but said she was afraid to check it out. Sharing a glance with Conrad as he put down his mug the Surgeon looked to the fugitive in their midst and arched a brow.

"So how about you tell us what's going on."
"Ye know I'm on the run right?" Wilson replied quietly as he put down the remains of his second ham sandwich and looked around in the dim light of a candle flickering artificially in a lantern in the corner of the room.
"Yeah."
"Guess first I should say sorry about what happened in the clinic," Wilson looked at Conrad in apology, "it happened so fast I didn't know what to do. I should have just stopped things there and then."
"How do you mean?" Conrad asked with a frown as he poured some more coffee for them all.
"Janice said to do it and I just did what she said. So dumb!"
"Wilson you're not making much sense," Jude put in.
"Please call me John," the distressed man looked at his benefactors thoughtfully, "ye'll think I'm lying if I tell ye and ........,"
"John just tell us what exactly is going on," Conrad encouraged patiently before continuing on a hunch, "you came to us after all. You knew it was us in this cabin."
"Yeah I did. Saw ye out rafting."
"So?" Jude cut in trying to keep frustration out of his voice.
"Figured I could trust you," John looked at Conrad, "anyway long story short I met Janice about a month ago and we kinda .... well we started seeing each other."
"Okay," Conrad was nonplussed, so what if there was a big age difference they were consenting adults, "so why is that a big deal?"
"It turns out I wasn't the only one she was seeing," John grimaced in disgust, "anyway when I confronted her at the clinic she said it had all been a misunderstanding and she was only interested in me."
"Go back a bit," Jude ordered, "why did you try to steal a car and stab the guy?"
"I didn't. I got into a fight with Glen in the car park, about Janice, and his friend Pete smashed a bottle and went to hit me with it. I moved out of the way and Pete stumbled into Glen. It was an accident."
"Why take off then? You must have known Glen was seriously injured."
"I did," John shrugged a shoulder awkwardly, "I just panicked. I ran off."
"Pete said someone was trying to steal a car and when they came along Glen got stabbed," Conrad offered, "you know Pete as well?"
"Yeah."
"So Pete hurt Glen accidentally," Jude mused, "but who took the glass out of his leg?"
"What do you mean?"
"Pete came looking for help and found us. He said he had wrapped the wound to keep the glass in place. By the time we got there some guy had pulled out the glass and walked away."
"But that could have killed him," John said in shock.
"You know first aid?"
"Did a course once. Why would someone try to kill him?"
"We're only visitors," Conrad reminded, "this is looking very complicated. Also a guy in the crowd of onlookers said he had called an ambulance but he took off when Jude let him know he knew he was lying."
"I don't know about anything that happened after I left."
"But the Officers we spoke to believe you did the stabbing," Jude pointed out.
"Yeah. I tried telling them what happened but they were up the walls with calls over the storm heading in. Officer Palmer said I was being arrested for what I did in the clinic and the other matters would have to be checked out."
"Forget about that for now," Conrad ordered as he rubbed his aching temple, "tell us why you're afraid of Janice and what she made you do in the clinic."
"She .......... she told me to take her hostage."

Conrad and Jude struggled to make sense of what they had been told. Either John was an inveterate liar or they had just become embroiled in a very messy situation.

tbc