by Abbey, S. C.
“He survived.” Harvey whispered. A smile crept up his lips.
Katie did not respond, she continued to stare at the television screen.
“Katie?” said Harvey.
“Hmm?”
“What kind of round was Golan shot with?” asked Harvey.
“What?” Katie said as she turned her head to face Harvey.
Harvey was holding on to a half empty box of rounds with a pale expression on his face. “This was sitting on the kitchen counter.”
Katie swiftly approached Harvey, she took the box of rounds off his hands and studied it. “9mm–”
“Look.” Harvey said as he pointed at a newspaper on the counter. On the front page of the papers ran an article about Professor Golan which read ‘Harvard Medical Researcher Miraculously Survives Gun Attack.’ It even stated the hospital he was warded to.
Harvey punctured the short silence. “I think I know where Ignacio Garcia is, or at least where he’s heading.”
Katie’s serious expression turned into a widened eye one when she realized what Harvey was implying. “God damn media! Harvey, we have to go now–”
Chapter 16
“SHIT, WOMACK, ANSWER your damn phone!” said Katie as she ended the call that went into voicemail. It must have been the sixth time she tried. Katie stared out of the windscreen, trying to judge the exact location they were in.
“How far away are we from the hospital?” she asked.
Harvey swerved to the right into the overtaking lane and then back into his original lane, almost colliding into the vehicle that was hogging the road in front of him. An approaching vehicle horned at him from the back.
“15 minutes tops.” He said as he avoided ramming into a small blue car that suddenly braked. “I guess–”
Katie held on to her seat belt with both her hands. Her knuckles turned white from the tight grip. “Remind me never to let you drive again–”
“What?” Harvey turned to look at her.
“Harvey! Keep your eyes on the road!” Katie cried as she reached out to maneuver the steering wheel. She turned right just in time to dodge a jogger with her dog standing by the side of the road. Harvey retook the wheel and steadied the car.
“Harvey Nolan you worry about getting us to the hospital in one piece – don’t you look at me – and nothing else. Do you understand me?” Katie barked.
Harvey nodded with a stupid grin on his face. He was clearly enjoying it.
“Boys.” Katie snorted. Her cell phone rang and vibrated in her hand. She answered the call.
“Womack speaking. You seem to really want to speak to me.”
“Damn it, where have you been?”
“What is it?”
“It’s Golan. I think I know who did it.”
“What? Where are you currently? What’s all that noise? You have to speak up, all I hear is traffic.”
“We’re on the way to the hospital. Where are you?” asked Katie.
“We left there, 45 minutes ago. Just got back to the station. We were about to start questioning Tracy Golan–”
“Drop it. It wasn’t her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s Ignacio Garcia. We found the same rounds that was used on Golan, at his residence.”
“Maria’s husband?”
“Yeah. I think he somewhat blames Golan for her death. For what reason, I can’t say. And I have a feeling he just found out that Golan isn’t dead, through a newspaper.”
A pause endured for 5 seconds. “God damn media!” replied Womack.
“My sentiments exactly. Here comes more bad news – he wasn’t there when we were at his house – which means he’s probably on the way to the hospital to finish the job.”
“F–! I’m on my way.”
“Do we have anyone guarding Golan now? At the hospital?”
“No. The local officers pulled out when we got Tracy Golan this morning–”
“This keeps getting worse–”
A ruckus could be heard from the other side of the phone as Womack did not reply. He returned after a brief absence.
“Moulin, you get your ass there as soon as possible! The boys and I are already out of the door. I’ll call for more support. Hold the fort. We are on our way!”
“Affirmative. I just arrived at the hospital. Later.” Katie ended the call.
“Stop by that emergency sign, Harvey. The red one.”
“This is a tow-away zone, I can’t–”
“Just stop the damn car now!” Katie said.
The tires protested the sudden brake with a long screeching sound. Smoke could be seen rising from the tracks that were left on the ground by them. Katie was out of the car before it came to a complete halt. Harvey did not bother turning off the engine as he hopped out of the car as well, trailing behind the FBI agent.
“Excuse me Sir, you cannot park your vehicle here. This entrance is solely for ambulances–”
“FBI! Out of the way–” Katie said as she flashed her badge. The nurse did not argue with the feisty officer. “Where is the reception?!”
She spotted the front desk further in. Katie did not bother joining the queue that was formed in front of it, she went straight to the front.
“Agent Moulin, FBI. I need to know which level and room Mr. Bruce Golan is currently in, right now!” Katie barked at the receptionist.
The lady in the nurse attire on duty froze in surprise. Katie proceeded to give her a harder stare. “Right away Mdm!” She typed frantically on the keyboard that was in front of her and studied the screen for a minute before she said, “There’s only one Bruce Golan currently warded, he is on level 4, suite 405.”
“What is the shortest route there? Where’s the nearest elevator?!”
“On your left, 5 yards down, then turn to your right, you should see–”
Katie was on her way before the nurse on duty could finish speaking. Harvey muttered a thank you before he chased after the FBI agent. He barely entered the elevator before the door closed behind him. He took a moment to catch his breath before he spoke.
“Do you really think he is here?” he asked, still panting slightly.
Katie drew her gun, releasing the magazine to check on her rounds. She then replaced it and made sure that the safety was off.
“I thought you were the one who came up with that idea?” she said.
“Well I–”
“Yes–” Katie interrupted, “I do think he’s in the building, or at least getting here. I sure hope we get to Golan before he does. I doubt Golan will be so lucky this time.”
A deep frown crept up on Harvey’s otherwise handsome face and the elevator door opened. They stepped out of the door and glanced toward the sign that pointed them to the right direction. Katie did not bother concealing her weapon as they turned left into the hallway that supposedly would lead them to their destination. They almost walked into a nurse who was holding on to a stainless steel tray of medical supplies.
“Can you point us to suite 405, please?” said Harvey. “This hospital is a maze.”
“Straight ahead, last room on the left.” The bewildered nurse said, evidently disturbed by the sight of the firearm.
“Appreciated.”
Katie was ahead of Harvey when they reached the suite. She exhaled a breath of air before leaning in to push open the door of the room.
“Freeze! Put that knife down, now!”
Chapter 17
“I’M NOT GOING to repeat myself, Garcia! Slowly put the knife down or I’ll shoot!”
Harvey heard the commotion before he could see what was going on but he knew that all would be observable within the split second. He reached Katie’s back. The sight was worse than he expected. Katie had her arms outstretched and gun pointed at the only other two men in the room besides himself. One was a Hispanic man with thick eyebrows and droopy eyes that did not seem to need to blink. The othe
r was a very pale looking but still alive and conscious Professor Bruce Golan. The former was holding a wicked looking 7-inch chef’s knife firmly against the neck of the latter, who positively looked like he was going to pee in his pants. Harvey pitied the professor. Talk about going through a bad week. On a lighter note, the hospital suite they were in was lavishly decorated, at least compared to other regular hospital rooms. For starters, there were two expensive-looking oil paintings on two separate walls, a stained glass floor lamp at the corner behind the two men, and a full size 50-inch plasma television facing the twin-sized bed. The windows were a good large size that allowed a lot of natural light to come through and the view was that of a modern-looking building on the opposite site of the road. Harvey could vaguely see office workers getting about their work. None of them seemed to have notice the conflict that was happening over here.
“No– I can’t–” The Hispanic man said in a rather shaky voice. “I can’t let him go. He deserves this. He deserves to die!”
“Golan!” Harvey found his voice.
Bruce Golan perked up at the recognition of the tone of that voice. “Harvey? Harvey! Save me! Please, save me from this madness!”
Ignacio Garcia tightened his hold around Golan’s neck. “Shut up old man! Shut the hell up or I’ll kill you!
Katie held her non-dominant hand up in a ‘stop’ gesture, her other hand maintained her aim. “No, Ignacio! I need you to calm down, alright? Professor Golan, relax, don’t struggle.” She said. “We can talk about this. Whatever you want to say, we can talk about this. No blood shall be shed today–”
“There’s nothing more to talk about–” Ignacio cried. “I tried. God knows I’ve tried. My Maria– they all just snickered behind my back. Thought I was nuts. No one believed me, no one believed me!”
Ignacio looked toward the floor with sad teary eyes. “My Maria is gone now– and without her, I cannot live anymore.” He said with a sudden resolve. “But before I go, I’ll make sure this son of a bitch goes to hell with me.”
Golan whimpered incoherently in the grasp of his captor. “Please–”
“Shut up! You don’t deserve anything less from me, no? Do you dare to say what I’m doing is unjust?”
Golan responded by moving his head. It looked like a combination of nodding and shaking. “Please–”
“Ignacio, if I may–” Harvey said. “You certainly look like you are a reasonable man. So why don’t we talk this over. We will listen to you. I promise.”
Ignacio gazed at the Harvey with his fatherly eyes. “Kid. You’re a friend of his?”
“Yes I am.” Replied Harvey definitively.
“And you’ve known him for a long time?”
“Since I was a boy.”
“Good.” Ignacio said before turning his attention back to his hostage. “You, tell him what you did.”
Golan legs started to shudder, as with his voice. “Wha–”
“I said, tell the damn kid what you did to my wife!” Ignacio barked, losing patience by the minute. He closed the tiny gap between the professor’s neck and the blade very slightly, drawing a small trail of crimson blood as the sharp edge split the skin. “I won’t ask again!”
Katie tightened her grip on her pistol with both hands once again. She narrowed her eyes and did not remove its contact from the assailant and his hostage.
“Okay! Cool down!” Harvey pleaded. “It’s alright, Bruce. Just talk. Just talk or else you are gonna lose your life.”
“I–” Golan whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry what happened.”
“You’re sorry?!” Ignacio said. “Is that going to bring my Maria back? Am I supposed to forgive you just because you are sorry?!”
“I didn’t want it to happen. I thought it would be fine. She was in the pink of health. I didn’t expect it to go downhill so quickly–” Golan replied, a little louder this time.
“What went downhill?” asked Katie.
Golan responded with a downcast glance.
“His experiments. His god damn evil experiments.” Ignacio said. “Work of the devil.”
“Hey, she was a willing participant! I didn’t forced her into it–” argued the professor.
“That’s because you offered her money!” Ignacio said. “You knew we were poor, you knew we needed the money. And you played that fact to your advantage! You knew she couldn’t resist. I mean how could she? A hundred dollars each time. That bought us meals for a whole week!”
“You experimented on her?” asked Harvey with an incredulous look on his face. “You engaged in human trials?”
Golan did not look up from the floor. “Just her. She was the first unapproved one. And the last.”
“What were you testing on her?” asked Katie.
“The vaccine for the Marburg virus.” Answered Harvey.
“What?!” said Katie. “How did you know?”
“The pharmaceutical project Terry Gallagher was assisting him with.” Harvey said. “You tested his formula on Maria Garcia, didn’t you?”
Golan nodded his head slowly. “Not just his. A couple of versions before as well, the ones I came up with myself.”
“Gallagher? The boy you were telling me about?” Katie asked Harvey. She then returned her attention to Golan. “Was he involved in this?”
“No–” Golan replied. “He was oblivious throughout. I didn’t tell him about the trials. It was supposed to be kept in the dark–”
“–except, Maria told me.” Interrupted Ignacio in a soft voice. “I tried to talk her out of it. She thought it was nothing, just like a regular flu vaccine, one falls ill and recovers. She thought it was worth the money. She didn’t think it would kill her.”
“How long was she on the experiment?” asked Harvey.
“One month.” Replied Golan.
“One month?!” Katie’s eyes widened marginally as she slowly lowered her gun. “You were slowly poisoning her and it took her one month to die?”
Ignacio eye’s hardened at Katie’s statement. Golan did not realized. “I wasn’t exactly poisoning her. A vaccine doesn’t work that way. The repeated trials however did take a toll on her immune system. She became feeble as the trials continued.” Golan paused and sniffled. “I swear, that was the last dosage I planned. I didn’t want to continue–”
“You liar!” barked Ignacio.
“I’m not. I could tell she was getting too weak for any more shots. It was getting riskier and riskier–”
“You never see her as human. She was just an animal in your eyes! Disposable.” Accused Ignacio.
Golan did not respond.
“What went wrong?” asked Harvey. “How did she die?”
“The night before she died. Ignacio called me.” Golan said. “He said that Maria was vomiting continually, and there were traces of blood. She was also running a slight fever. He asked if he should be sending her to the hospital.”
“He told me it wasn’t necessary.” Ignacio continued. “Said it was a common side effect, just let it pass and she will be fine.”
“I lied.” Golan said. “I knew she was done for. Her immune system was starting to shut down. There was nothing no one could have done. If he had brought her to the hospital, they might have been able to extend her life a couple of days, maybe a week. But she was going to die eventually. It was inevitable.”
A tear leaked from the side of Ignacio’s eye.
“I said, ‘let her to come in for work tomorrow as usual. I will give her some medication and she will be fine. I’m a doctor remember? And a bloody good one too.’” Golan continued. He then paused for a few seconds. “I betrayed the trust of my patient. I don’t deserve to be a doctor.”
“You don’t deserve to be alive!” Snarled Ignacio.
“Wait–” Katie said as she holstered her gun. “What happened then?”
“I dropped her off at Golan’s place the next morning. That was the last time I saw her beaut
iful eyes look back at me as she uttered the final words I will ever hear from her lips, ‘My love, don’t worry about it. I will see you in the evening.’” Ignacio started to tear uncontrollably. “I did see her in the evening. But she was no longer talking.”
A short pause later, Golan continued. “Based on my estimations, she was never gonna last till the night. But I can’t have her drop dead without a story. So I came up with the idea of injecting her with a strain of Melioidosis that I had in the laboratory. The death could easily be attributed to it, the symptoms are fairly similar. A medication examination wouldn’t be able to pick up the vaccine anyway – it was something entirely new, undocumented.”
“In other words, you murdered her in cold blood, son of a bitch.” Growled Ignacio.
“I held her in my arms at the final moments of her life. I told her it was okay. It would be over soon.” Golan whispered. “I said I would look out for Ignacio. She died with a smile on her face. That woman. Not even death could wipe the smile off her face.”
“She was ten times the man you are.” Ignacio said.
“She was.” Golan replied. “And now, I must pay for what I have done.” Golan closed his eyes and tilted his head. “Ignacio, do me a favor. Don’t tell Tracy.”
“Wait a minute–” said Harvey.
Katie did not wait to be told what was going to happen next. She had already covered half the distance between her former position and Golan’s by the time Harvey finished speaking those three words. Another second passed. Her left hand was now on Ignacio’s knife-wielding arm while her right hand gripped the front of the hospital gown Golan was wearing. She pulled Ignacio’s arm outwards with all her strength and dragged Golan out of his grasp onto the floor. Ignacio’s eyes widened in surprise. He wasn’t expecting the move. He swung the knife in an outward arc movement in an attempt to force the FBI agent to back off. Katie raised her left arm in response to shield herself as she stumbled back. She felt the blade kiss her forearm right above the elbow as she landed on the floor a few seconds after Golan did. She quickly drew her firearm from her holster and took aim at Ignacio. That did not seem to deter him from advancing toward Golan.