Nothing Is Negotiable

by Mark Bentsen

  Bonnie slipped past the women, pulled out the cell phone, and pressed it against her ear as she hustled down the corridor. The hallway was empty and halfway down she came to room B1114. Quickly she unlocked it and stepped inside. She relocked the door, fell back against it, and released a long breath. Her first challenge was over.

  She was amazed that Chondelle had only glanced at her and took her for Dr. Owens. It worked, but she still hadn’t spoken to anyone.

  In B1114 was an old metal desk and chair. On the desk she saw a white blouse, an assortment of jewelry, and a brown leather purse.

  Bonnie pulled off the beige blouse she was wearing and replaced it with the white one. There were two gold rings—one with a cluster of small blue stones and the other one had a huge diamond in the middle with slightly smaller diamonds on each side. No one said which ring went on which hand, so she pushed the diamond ring onto her left hand. The other went on the right hand. A little tight, but they fit. There was also a gold chain with a locket. While she put it on she noticed the watch. It was a brand she’d heard of but never seen: Patek Phillippe. On the back it was engraved: To Tammy from Kim: My Eternal Thanks.

  She quickly fastened it on her left wrist and picked up the hospital bracelet. It went on the right wrist and with a snap, it was securely in place.

  Bonnie picked up the purse and unzipped the top and dug through the contents. In the billfold she found a California driver’s license with a photo of Tammy Camille Owens that looked back at her. It was like looking into a mirror.

  She returned to the contents and found several credit cards, a wad of bills, and other cards for insurance, AAA and Starbucks. She dug deeper and found lipstick, tissues, eyeliner, finger nail polish, and a pair of Brighton sunglasses. Bonnie had a pair just like them.

  Several credit card receipts were in a side pocket. She checked one and saw the signature and thought it could be easily forged if it came down to it. She also found a key for a Lexus, birth control pills and a couple of pictures. In one she sat beside a Golden Retriever, and the other looked like it was taken in Hawaii. The doctor was with a good-looking man, sitting on a beautiful beach at sunset. Both were wearing leis.

  She glanced at the diamond ring and decided it was definitely an engagement ring.

  The cell phone rang and she answered with a whisper.

  “Yes.”

  “Have you changed your shirt and put on the jewelry?”

  “I have. How about this purse?”

  “It’s hers. Carry it with you.”

  “Okay.”

  “It’s time. Take the elevator to the third floor. Go to the Dialysis desk and make sure you deal with Rosemary. She’ll check your bracelet, and then give Olivia to you. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “And this time don’t forget to hold the phone up like you’re talking on it. You almost got caught in the basement.”

  A chill ran through her as she realized they were watching her, just as they said.

  “I will.”

  Bonnie ended the connection but left the phone open in her hand. She put the leather strap of the purse over her shoulder, took a deep breath and stepped out into the hall. After closing the door behind her, she held the phone up to her ear and started toward the elevator.

  She passed several people who appeared to be visitors on their way to the parking lot but made little eye contact. When she got to the elevator an elderly couple stood patiently waiting. She stood back, listening carefully to her imaginary phone call. Every now and then she’d say something, but not enough to create attention or disturb anyone.

  “Okay... okay. That will work out fine.”

  An electronic bell chimed, and a second later the doors opened. The old folks got on first, Bonnie followed and pushed the button for the third floor before retreating to the back corner speaking in short sentences: “I’ll have to check and let you know,” then, “That’s good.”

  On the first floor they stopped and the old couple got out and a young man wearing blue scrubs got in. He was pushing a stainless steel cart loaded with folded linens and didn’t seem interested in anything but his iPod. She did not recognize him and stared at the floor while focusing her attention on her phone.

  The elevator started its slow climb. This had to be the slowest elevator ever made and now, as nervous as she was, her anxiety increased with every heartbeat. She watched the floor number change from one to two. And then finally, the elevator pinged on the third floor.

  When the door opened, the orderly glanced toward her, a signal for her to go first. She took a deep breath then stepped off and marched down the hall with the phone held close to her ear.

  She passed a nurses’ station where a woman typed furiously at a computer. A male nurse with a shaved head—James, she thought—stood behind her, putting folders into a filing cabinet. No one seemed to notice her.

  At the end of the hallway she came to the sign that said Dialysis Unit, with an arrow pointing toward two swinging doors, both closed. She pushed one open and stepped inside and saw DeWayne was standing over against the wall. As soon as they made eye contact, he gave a slight nod and left. There were two nurses standing there. Rosemary, who she recognized immediately, was typing on a keyboard, and the other was squatted down in front of a stroller cooing at its occupant. The stroller faced away from Bonnie so she wasn’t sure if it held Olivia or not.

  Rosemary glanced up and cast a quick smile at Bonnie, then returned to her computer screen. “You’re just about ready,” she said as she reached around and pulled a piece of paper off the printer.

  The other nurse said, “If you don’t want her, I’ll take her home with me. She’s so precious.” It was Angie, the one whose description was slow and lazy, but patients love her.

  Bonnie made no comment.

  “Okay, Dr. Owens,” Rosemary said, sliding a clipboard over to Bonnie. “I just need your initials on the bottom and you’re good to go.”

  Bonnie grabbed the pen and scribbled “TO”, making it like the signature on one of the receipts in the doctor’s purse. She saw Rosemary turn around and say, “Angie, you need to get back and check on Mr. Webber. You know how he is.”

  “Okay,” Angie whined. She stood up and looked at Bonnie, who lowered the cell phone from her ear. “Dr. Owens, you still going to be in town on Monday or will you be back in San Francisco?”

  Bonnie’s heart fluttered, reminding her of high school when the teacher called on her and she didn’t know the answer. “We’ll be here,” she said.

  “Good,” she said. “See you then.”

  Bonnie smiled at her then looked away.

  Rosemary stood, went to Olivia’s stroller, and pushed it around her desk to Bonnie. “Okay, let me make sure you’re who you say you are.”

  Bonnie’s heart lurched. She held her breath as she held her wrist toward her. Rosemary checked the ID bracelet, and murmured, “Um hum.”

  Bonnie dropped her arm and took a deep breath. She looked down and saw the sleeping child. Instantly goose bumps rose on both of Bonnie’s arms. Olivia’s pretty blonde hair framed her angelic face. She was, as Angie had said, precious. Without thinking, Bonnie squatted down and reached out to smooth her soft hair.

  A few seconds later Rosemary bent down beside her and in a quiet, but firm voice, said, “You need to get going.” Bonnie looked at Rosemary, whose unsmiling eyes burned into hers. A second later her expression changed. She stood and smiled warmly. “Your driver will be wondering where you are.”

  Bonnie snapped back to reality. “Thank you.”

  Rosemary’s eyes gave her a knowing glance. Bonnie knew—Rosemary was in on the kidnapping.

  Rosemary watched as Bonnie turned and pushed the stroller through the doors and down the corridor at a deliberate pace. Along the way no one seemed to notice her until a nurse named Jackie barely looked up and said, “Have a good evening, Dr. Owens.”

  When she reached the elevators she punched the down button and waited for wh
at felt like an hour. When the chime sounded, the elevators on the left opened and two middle-aged ladies stepped out. Bonnie pushed the stroller through the open doors and pressed the button for the basement. Just as the doors started to close, she heard someone yell, “Wait!”

  She froze.

  Did someone already realize I’m not Dr. Owens? Have they called security and the cops?

  No one appeared and the doors started to close, but at the last second an arm was thrust between them.

  The doors opened and two teenage boys with their ball caps on backwards stepped into the elevator.

  “Sorry, ma’am,” one of them said. “I didn’t mean to yell, but these elevators are so slow I didn’t want to wait for another one.”

  “That’s okay,” Bonnie said, trying to calm her pounding heart.

  Then she heard another chime. It must to be the other elevator arriving, she thought. Just as the doors of the elevator started to close, she saw a woman with red hair run in front of the elevator. When she looked back into the elevator Bonnie saw a look of panic on her face. As the doors closed, their eyes met.

  It was Dr. Owens.

  Something had gone wrong.

  Chapter 38

  As the elevator began to descend, Bonnie started to tremble. They said Dr. Owens would be out for at least an hour. But she was not out and from the looks of things she must have put up a fight, for she had a red bruise on one side of her face. If the elevator had gotten there ten seconds earlier, they would have met in the corridor, face to face.

  Now it was a race against the clock. If she didn’t get out of the hospital with Olivia, they’d kill Luke and come after her, too.

  While Bonnie tried to stay calm the boys on the other side of the elevator started to argue. One wanted to eat at Taco Bell, the other at Pizza Hut. One reached over and pushed the button to stop on the first floor.

  Bonnie rubbed her hands across her face and tried to settle her nerves. She checked the illuminated number above the door. It changed from three to two.

  A falling feather would move faster than this elevator.

  Finally it changed to one. When it stopped the boys got off. Bonnie jabbed the button to close the door three times. Two seconds later, it started down and slowed to a stop in the basement.

  She cautiously peered out as the metal doors opened. Everything appeared normal so she pushed the stroller out and fell in behind two men who were walking toward the visitors’ parking lot.

  Ahead she saw several directional signs attached to the wall. One sign pointed to the parking lot, the other two signs pointed to the left—one for the employee parking lot and the other to the service elevator. Another sign pointed to the right to a small alcove where she saw a door with a small window and a sign above it that said, Stairs.

  She turned left toward the employee parking lot and picked up her pace.

  Behind her a door slammed, echoing down the empty corridor. Without thinking, she looked over her shoulder and saw a man entering the stairwell. He wore dark blue pants, a white shirt, and a black holster with a gun on his belt. It didn’t take but half a second to know it was Rocky Giovino, the security guard.

  She walked faster.

  “Excuse me, Dr. Owens?” the guard called out.

  “What is it, Rocky?” she said without turning or slowing down.

  “Doc, could you hold on a minute? There’s been some kind of problem upstairs and they told me to stop you.”

  Rocky was good-looking, about five-ten and built like a brick wall. She remembered the information on him. About a year ago he had gotten out of the army after a two-year tour in Iraq. He was married with a two-year-old son. At the hospital, he was the closest thing there was to a war hero.

  He came up behind her and grabbed her by the bicep.

  Jerking her arm free, she turned to face him. “Rocky, I’m really in a big hurry,” she said tersely, averting her eyes. “Could you tell them to call me on my cell phone? I don’t have time right now.”

  She glanced back at him and saw a look of confusion cross his face. “They said the person who took Olivia wasn’t you, Dr. Owens.”

  “You can see it’s me, okay?” she said curtly. “I really need to be going.”

  Bonnie turned to push the stroller, but Rocky grabbed it by the handle, preventing her from leaving. His jaw locked and all signs of friendliness were gone. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but they told me not to let Olivia out of the building.”

  “Rocky, please. I don’t have time for this.”

  He grabbed the stroller by the handle and pulled it away from her. She looked from side to side, avoiding his eyes. His expression slowly changed from being confused to being perplexed. “You... aren’t Dr. Owens, are you?”

  “Of course I am,” she snapped.

  Rocky leaned a little closer and looked her up and down, even more confused. “I’m sorry, Dr. Owens, but I can’t let you go.”

  She reached and grabbed the handle and pulled it, but he wouldn’t let it go. Bonnie looked away, toward the door at the end of the hallway, then the other way. Finally, she looked back at him with pleading eyes. “Rocky, please.”

  He held his position and looked deep into her eyes.

  This was exactly what she feared. She couldn’t lie any more. She sighed loudly and said, “Okay, I’m not Dr. Owens. But I only did this because some men are holding my husband hostage and said if I didn’t kidnap Olivia, they’d kill him.”

  Rocky’s eyes narrowed and he leaned his head forward, as if he was trying to understand. “What did you say?”

  Bonnie didn’t know what else to do. Talking faster than before, she said, “I know it’s hard to believe but this is what happened: these guys abducted me and my husband. Then they said that since I looked just like that doctor, I had to impersonate her, kidnap this little girl and then turn her over to them. If I didn’t do what they said, they were going to kill me and my husband. And they’ll even kill Olivia.”

  “Ma’am, I think you need to come upstairs with me,” Rocky said as he took her arm.

  She jerked away. “I know this sounds unbelievable but it’s the truth. You have to believe me. There’re about four or five of them. Even one of the nurses is in on it.”

  “Ma’am, please drop your purse and step back and face the wall,” he said, now not so friendly. He reached down, pulled a small radio off his belt and toggled a switch on a microphone. “Base, this is Giovino, come in.”

  A garbled squelch came back over the radio.

  “I have the child and the woman impersonating Dr. Owens. I’m on my way up.”

  Bonnie hesitated briefly but didn’t turn away. “So I did what I had to do. You’ve got to believe me. Call the cops and send them to that parking lot.” She pointed toward the basement. “That’s where I was supposed to meet them and turn Olivia over to them. They’re in a white van that says White Swan—”

  “Shut up, you whore.”

  Bonnie and Rocky jerked their heads around to see a stocky man in a brown leather jacket. He had a trimmed mustache, aviator sunglasses, and a San Francisco 49ers cap pulled low on his head. As he raised his right arm Bonnie recognized the unmistakable form of a chrome pistol, but the end of the barrel had an extension that wasn’t chrome. She’d seen enough cop shows on TV to know the gun had a silencer.

  The gun leveled on Bonnie, she instinctively dove across the hall just before he fired.

  Pfft. Pfft. The sheetrock wall exploded where she had been standing.

  Rocky reacted with the speed of a combat soldier, pulling his weapon to return fire. But the gunman was ahead of him, firing before Rocky could get his gun up.

  The shot missed and Rocky pointed his gun and pulled the trigger at the same time the gunman fired again.

  Rocky’s gun was not silenced and the noise sounded like a bomb exploding in the narrow hallway. The sleeping baby came awake and screamed at the top of her lungs.

  The gunman’s shot hit Rocky high on the chest. Th
e shot spun him around and his gun fell and clattered across the floor.

  But Rocky’s shot found its target too, hitting the shooter in his left arm.

  “Son of a bitch,” the man growled as he twisted with the impact of the bullet.

  Bonnie could see Rocky’s pained expression as he bent down and picked up his gun, but as he raised it to shoot again, Bonnie heard another shot from the silenced pistol. Rocky grunted, grabbed his gut, and fell to the floor.

  She twisted around and saw the gunman coming at her. His breathing was rapid and shallow. “Where do you think you’re going? We told you we’d be watching and I’d kill you if you fucked up.”

  The fury in his voice told her he intended to carry out his promise. He stopped beside the stroller and glanced at Olivia who was wailing at the top of her lungs. He looked down at Bonnie, who was on her hands and knees, and raised his pistol.

  Bonnie’s legs felt glued to the floor. At this range he couldn’t miss.

  “And you fucked up.”

  But before he could shoot, a cry of terror came from behind him.

  The man spun around to see a woman in a blue business suit standing in an open doorway. She had probably stepped out of her office to investigate the noise.

  The man turned and pulled off two rapid shots; both hit the woman in the torso. Her scream was cut off as she flew back against the wall and crumpled to the floor. Bonnie stared as a red puddle of blood began spreading around her body.

  The shooter’s attention remained on the fallen woman. This was Bonnie’s only chance. She scooted forward and snagged Rocky’s gun.

  It was a semi-automatic, similar to a pistol of Luke’s she had shot before. Before she could aim the gun, the gunman turned and aimed his gun at her. Without thought she tensed and squinted as he pulled the trigger.

  Nothing happened. He jerked on the trigger again and still nothing happened. He turned the gun sideways and checked the chamber. Something was wrong. He tried to pull back the slide mechanism on top of the pistol, but it wouldn’t budge.

  Bonnie knew what happened: it was jammed. The empty shell casing had not ejected fully and was wedged half in and half out.