Chapter Thirty-Two
heard myself scream Ryan's name as I watched him fall to the floor. Cece grabbed me and yanked me around the backside of the lab table, motioning to me to be quiet as she held her gun in her shaking hands. We waited a few moments, and then hearing nothing, she stuck her head up over the edge of the table and saw the goon on the ground as the second captor raced toward the door. Without hesitating, Cece raised her gun and shot the fleeing captor in the shoulder.
"You fucking bitch!" the captor's words were garbled through the voice modulator before dropping the gun. Cece fired again and brought him down to the ground. He writhed on the floor as Cece stood over him and kicked his gun out of his reach.
"Do not fuck with me, Mister," she said as she pointed her gun at his head.
"You shot me, you stupid bitch!" the voice screamed.
"Yeah, because you were trying to kill my friend, you idiot," she said as she nudged the wounded arm with her foot and listened to the painful scream that followed. Cece looked at me as she pulled out her phone and said, "911, dial it and tell them we have two wounded and two questionable."
"You bitch! You can't kill me and get away with it!" came the high-pitched reply as she nudged the arm with her foot again.
"Wouldn't want to deny you your day in court, asshole," she said. "Don't get your panties in a wad, I'm not going to kill you — unless you don't shut the hell up."
As the second captor went silent, I quickly moved toward Ryan and unzipped his hoodie. His side was covered in blood, but I couldn't tell how bad it was. He groaned a little when I tried to lift his shirt.
"Don't touch it," he croaked. "Medic...need a medic."
"Help is on it's way, don't give up," I said as I gripped his hand and touched his face. My fingers were covered in his blood and left prints on his cheek.
"Hard drive," he mumbled. "Get drive, Echo"
"Shit the hard drive!" I yelled at Cece. "I need to find it! Where the hell is it?"
"Calm down and think, chica," Cece said as she aimed her gun at the man at her feet. "Where would Dr. Powell have put it?"
"My. Office," came a groan from the front of the room.
"Who said that?" Cece called.
"My. Office," came the voice again. Cece motioned for me to check it out as she covered me with her gun.
"Butch, is that you?" I said when I saw the security guard laying on the ground near the front of the lab.
"Mmm hmm," he nodded slightly as he struggled to breathe. "Drive. My office."
"You've got Dr. Powell's hard drive in your office?" I asked as I frantically tried to staunch the flow of blood coming from his neck. Cece tossed me her hoodie and I used it as a pressure dressing as I wondered what was taking the medics so long. I shouted, "Cece! Check Ryan! Make sure he's still conscious!"
"Mmm hmm," he said as he gasped for air.
"Hang on, Butch," I whispered as I gripped his hand. "Help's coming."
"Drive under desk," he grunted as his eyes fluttered closed. "Don't miss it. Hiding."
"Butch, stay with me," I called as I squeezed his hand. "Butch! Butch! Don't let go!"
The next thing I knew the paramedics were pushing me out of the way as they scooped up Butch and Ryan. I looked around for the whining captor and realized that he'd disappeared while Cece and I had been focused on keeping Ryan and Butch alive. The goon had bled out making the lab floor slick and slippery.
"Where are you taking them?" Cece asked several times. "Hey, where are you taking these guys?"
"Probably Bellevue, it's the closest!" one of the paramedics shouted as they pushed the stretcher out the door and ran for the elevator.
I moved out of the way and stood near Cece off to one side of the room and surveyed the lab. Directly across from where we were standing were two huge glass tubes. They were filled with some kind of smoke like gas that moved up and around as if it were actually breathing. I thought it kind of a miracle that they hadn't been shattered in the crossfire.
"What the hell is that?" Cece whispered.
"Not a clue," I replied as I stared at the tubes. They were roughly six feet around and rose up to connect the floor to the ceiling. I couldn't see anything but smoke inside both of them, but there was something about the smoke that seemed alive. I grabbed Cece's arm and whispered, "We need to find the hard drive. It's down in Butch's office under the desk."
The room was full of movement and motion as the rescuers carted off the injured. One of the police officers pushed us off to the side and told us to stay put while they evaluated the scene. Cece and I took one look at each other and knew that we were going to have to find a way to take advantage of the chaos and slip out the lab door. We both watched as the investigating officers began sizing up the scene, and then I asked if I could use the bathroom. The first officer said no, but when Cece made a fuss about how I had been kidnapped and held hostage, he gave in and told us to come right back. We nodded, headed toward the bathroom and then took a sharp right turn at the end of the hallway and hightailed it for the back stairway.
"Cece, the second guy escaped," I said as we pushed through the door. "He's going to come after me."
"Nah, not after I winged him," she said in a confident tone that I knew was designed to reassure me rather than speak the truth. She pointed out how she'd spray painted the cameras, and I laughed when I saw that she'd used silver sparkle spray paint to do the dirty work.
We were breathing heavily by the time we reached the bottom floor, and pushed our way into Butch's office. He'd left the door open when he'd come to check on the commotion in the lab, which made me breathe a sigh of relief that we wouldn't have to break in. We'd done enough damage already.
I searched under the desk, pulling out boxes of old security tapes until I found one that looked out of place. It was a new box that was marked, "SAI 001_DON_AR." I pulled the lid off and inside found a hard drive with a handwritten note taped to it.
Ms. Frost,
If you are holding this, then I am dead. Please get this to Commander Arvin Donnelly 207 W. 24th Street. It is of the utmost importance that he receives this ASAP. He is expecting you. Put this in his hands only. No one else's.
Regards,
Dr. Alan Powell
P.s. Please tell my son I am sorry, and that I have always been proud of him.
"Oh God," I said as I held the drive and note out for Cece to read. "We need to get to find this Commander Donnelly. Now."
"Got it," Cece said turning toward the back door. "Follow me, chica!"