Of course it was not okay. It was a minefield.
Cody was still there. Thank goodness. His presence and calm manner gave her strength. Catching her eye, he nodded once, tightly. Had he heard what their patient had said? Whatever message he was trying to send her, she wasn’t understanding, and they were wasting time if Mick stood any chance at all of surviving the poison streaming through his body.
With a shaky breath she turned to the man causing her problems. ‘This is an emergency department. Anything you want to ask my patient will have to wait until we’ve treated him.’ If he survives. ‘So please head out to the waiting area. Now.’
‘Or what?’ A rapid movement and a gun appeared between them.
‘What are you doing?’ she gasped as that trickle of apprehension became a torrent of fear. She was unable to stop staring at the weapon pointed directly at her chest, where her heart was beating the weirdest, sickest rhythm against her ribs. Definitely not a detective, then. Glancing out of the wide opening of Resus One, she could see only one person at the desk, and he was rapidly removing himself from sight. ‘Call the police,’ Harper begged silently.
‘Hey, what do you think you’re doing?’ Cody moved around the bed fast, stepped up close to her so his arm touched hers and eyeballed her aggressor, anger darkening his face. ‘Put that away.’
‘You want to argue?’ The man smirked as he waved the gun at Cody, taunting him to take a crack at him. ‘I’m here to collect what’s mine.’
That gun mesmerised Harper as it was moved between her and Cody in a very deliberate, menacing way. One little squeeze and someone could die. Just as simple, and horrific, as that.
She had to do something. Drawing what she hoped was a calming breath, but felt like an asthma attack, she said in a voice that didn’t sound like hers, ‘Stop this. Now. Our first priority’s to save Mick’s life. So get out of the way while we do all we can.’ She glanced sideways to her patient. Damn. ‘Cody, oxygen. Now. Jess, bring the fan closer. We need to get his temperature down fast.’
The girl was paralysed with fear. ‘Sorry, yes, Harper.’
With Mick fighting him all the way, Cody struggled getting the mask on.
‘Matilda, the water.’ No reply. ‘Matilda?’ Harper glanced around but there was no sign of the junior nurse. When had she snuck away? Now they were down to three. Not enough to help their patient, but fewer to be confronted with that gun. Hopefully it also meant they could expect help in the form of security or, better yet, armed police, shortly. Then what would Detective Strong do? Her skin lifted in goose bumps as she struggled to tamp down the fear threatening to rage through her and flatten her thought processes. Would they find themselves in the middle of a shooting match? She had a patient to care for; other staff to try and keep safe.
‘The oxygen’s flowing.’ Cody’s calm voice cut through her panic.
Her eyes met his and the fear backed off a few notches. Darn, but he was good. Cool as. She straightened her shoulders and dipped her chin to acknowledge she was on her game, however shakily.
Cody nodded back. ‘I’ll get the water.’ He caught Mick’s flying arm and tucked it down against the young man’s body. ‘Steady, mate. Think we’ll strap you down for a bit, okay? Can’t have you knocking out your doctor, can we? Jess, maybe you should get the water.’
Harper took the end of a strap he handed her. He had it all together—seemed completely unfazed about their unwanted spectator. She drew more strength from him. ‘You and Jess do this while I go get some drugs.’ She turned to come face-to-face with their interloper, and felt the cold, hard reality of a gun barrel poked into her stomach.
‘I don’t think so.’ Those chilly eyes fixed on her. ‘No one’s going anywhere.’
‘I am trying to save this man’s life—a life that you mightn’t care about—’ she stabbed his chest without thinking ‘—but I do. We do. So get out of my way.’
‘The only thing I care about are those packs in his gut. They belong to me.’ Cold steel jabbed deep into her stomach. ‘Nothing, no one else, matters. Get it?’
She nodded. ‘Sure. But I am going to do my absolute best to save Mick’s life, whatever you think, so move out of my way.’ She locked eyes with the man, fighting down the returning panic weaving through her tense muscles.
He waved the gun in her face, so close she tipped her head back. ‘What are you going to do about it, doc? Eh? Wait until idiot here dies? Because he’s going to. One way or the other. They all do.’
The firearm was menacing but even more so were the eyes locked on her as he continued. ‘Save us all the trouble and cut him open so I get what I came for. Then I’ll get out of your hair.’ If he’d shouted or snarled, she’d have handled his statement better, but he’d spoken softly, clearly, and set her quivering with dread.
There was no getting rid of the man, nor was he going to let her get the midazolam Mick desperately needed. She wanted to call out for someone else to bring the drug but that meant putting another person in jeopardy.
‘I’ll go,’ Cody intervened. He flicked her a quick look that seemed to say, Hang in there, I’m on to this, but she could be far off the mark. It had been a very fast glance.
The gunman snarled, ‘No you don’t.’
Cody shrugged exaggeratedly. ‘We need more water and drugs and, if you think I’d do a bunk and leave Dr White alone with you, think again. The drugs cupboard is just on the other side of the doorway.’
Phew. Relief warmed Harper. As much as she’d like the nurse out of here and safe, she didn’t want to be left without him watching her back as much as it was possible.
Her relief lasted nanoseconds. An arm slung around her throat, cutting off anything she could’ve said to back up Cody. Her assailant hauled her backwards, hard up against his torso.
‘Let her go.’ Cody stood right in front of them, his hands loose at his sides, those impressive feet spread wide, looking for all the world like he regularly dealt with this sort of situation, this type of villain.
‘Want to try and make me?’ the man snarled, then tightened his hold around Harper’s neck. Was he getting upset that things weren’t quite going his way?
They weren’t going her way either, but she could try to regain some control over the situation. Struggling to straighten up, she got hauled further off-balance for her efforts.
The grip tightened on Harper’s throat, making her eyes water and feel as though they could pop out of their sockets any moment. Her windpipe hurt. But it was the latest wave of fear rolling up from her stomach that really threw her off-centre. She didn’t have a chance of getting away from this man, or of saving Mick.
Mick. ‘Let me go,’ she tried to say, but nothing got past that arm pushing on her throat. Her fingers clawed at it, trying to loosen the throttling sensation. She couldn’t swallow and breathing was a strain.
Her eyes fixed on Cody’s. She hoped he couldn’t see her fear. Looking deep into his steady gaze, she tried to draw strength from him, to calm down. She couldn’t afford to let the assailant beat her. Count to ten, think what to do.
How in Hades did she count when even getting enough oxygen into her lungs was a mission?
*
Cody gulped. Strong was hurting Harper. But she was good. She might be terrified—he definitely was—but she wasn’t taking any crap from the lowlife. Go, girl. No. Be careful, stay safe. Lowlife had the advantage and not once had he looked as though he’d be afraid to pull that trigger.
He guessed the guy had nothing to lose. No one would stop him walking out of here while he held that gun. Hopefully the armed-defenders unit would arrive soon and be able to work out a solution without anyone getting injured or worse. If someone in the department had dialled 111. If Matilda had stopped to tell anyone on her mad dash to freedom. He was afraid to look out into the department in case he alerted Lowlife to other staff or anyone that might be working towards taking him down.
In the meantime the three of them still stuck in he
re had to deal with the situation and keep out of harm’s way. They weren’t going to get the drug that might calm Mick down a little. The odds were stacking up against him as time ran out fast. And, while Cody abhorred drugs and the people who made a living out of them, this young man was paying a huge price, way too huge. He wouldn’t be making the big bucks that people like Lowlife here would be. ‘I’ll run towels under the cold tap,’ he told Harper. ‘Then you outline what we do next.’ He was trying to warn her to stay put, that they’d get this sorted.
But either she was playing dumb or was just being plain brave because she shook her head, and managed to speak, which indicated that the arm had loosened on her throat. ‘We need icy-cold water, not tap water.’
Lowlife tightened his grip around Harper’s neck again and heavily tapped the gun barrel against her skull. ‘No one goes anywhere or the doc gets it.’
Harper’s eyes widened and all the colour drained from her cheeks. Her front teeth dug deep into her bottom lip.