An Impossible Task

Chapter 10

TW: Implied violence, kidnapping, tension, angst.

Cassie was an hour late getting to the emergency room at Braxton Community Medical Center. She ran to the physician locker room without her usual wave to staff, where she hung up her coat, grabbed a cup of coffee and was out on the floor in minutes. There were only a chest pain, a minor car accident, a rotovirus sufferer and a woman who cut herself at home with a kitchen knife in the ER.

"Nobody missed me," she said to herself. She didn't even see Edwin Baker. "Made it under the radar," she said proudly.

She took a sip of her coffee as Edwin approached her. "In my office Dr. O'Hara."

"Oh shit," she said to herself and followed him down the hallway.

John was feeling something not quite right in the pit of his stomach as he approached the Braxton Police Department. After parking, he exited his car and headed for the front entrance. There was no one at the front desk, which being a smaller town, didn't surprise him.

He wanted to settle this for Cassie or he would have let it go, so he took a seat in the front lobby. He waited about 10 minutes before an officer came to the front.

"Can I help you?"

Before John could speak, 4 men dressed in black came running at him from behind the desk. He suddenly felt trapped, but realized because of the small lobby, they could only get to him one or at most two at a time and he stood braced for the first attack. He bent his knees, one foot in front of the other and balled his hands into fists.

"Why?" flashed into his mind and concern for Cassie followed as John deflected a punch and felt his fist connect with the first man's chin with the sound of a crack. John grabbed the assailant's gun from his holster as the man went down with a solid thud.

Armed now, John threw his back against a wall, aimed and fired. It was like shooting bugs in a barrel. "How could they be so stupid? " he asked himself as he shot the second and third man coming at him. The fourth man smartened up and turned back. John didn't want to stick around to see if he was getting reinforcements or just running away. He shot the first man in the head before exiting.

John ran to his car, jumped in and fled away at high speed. The Braxton Police Department? What or who was in Braxton? The whole situation was unnerving and wasn't logical. What he thought now was to get Cassie, get the dog and get to the Continental.

John headed to Braxton Community Medical Center, his tires squeeling with every stop and turn. Driving into the ER parking lot, he slammed on his brakes, threw the car into park and jumped out. Running past where Cassie found him, he rounded a corner and went through the double doors of the front entrance. The triage nurse greeted him immediately and he took a breath to settle himself down, asking, "Could I see Dr. Cassie O'Hara please?"

This began a 15 minute discourse on why he wanted to see Dr. O'Hara and if he was ill or injured. John tried to keep his temper in check as he explained he was a friend and needed to speak to her; it was urgent.

She took his name and went back into the ER, appearing a short time later to announce Cassie hadn't come into the hospital yet.

"That's impossible," he answered her, evenly. "She was running late, but she definitely left the house for work."

The nurse eyed him suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. Was this Cassie's partner? She was always so private about that. "Well," she thought. "She has good taste."

"Look," she answered him. "Go through the door to the main ER unit secretary. She's right inside the door. You can check, but I'm telling you, she's not here."