Ruby Dawn

by Raquel Byrnes

  “Is he OK?” Paul asked. Worry flitted across his young features.

  “Darnell,” I said softly and rubbed his face.

  Darnell’s lids fluttered open. He mumbled something about his bike, and then closed his eyes again. I needed to hurry. I rounded the table and headed for the elevators. “OK, you guys stay here, and I’ll be right back.”

  Paul caught me by the arm, his gun at my chest in a flash. “You think I’m stupid? I’m not going to let you walk out of here, you won’t come back.”

  I yanked my arm away, angry. “I could have run away from you while you were carrying your brother, Paul. I don’t have any saline, or anything to make a cast or do stitches. I need those things to help your brother.”

  “You won’t come back.”

  I put my arms out, unsure how to convince him.

  “Paul, you’re going to have to trust me. I said I would help and I keep my word, always.”

  Tiny stepped between us and pushed me towards the door. “The Doc will come back, Paul. Downey said you can trust her.”

  They knew Downey, the runaway I’d helped earlier in the week? This was looking less and less gang related. I backed towards the elevator, my eyes on Paul.

  “If I say I’ll come back, I will,” I promised softly.

  Paul lowered his gun, nodding with pleading eyes. “Please don’t be lying, Doc.”

  I stepped into the elevator, and my hand shook as I held it over the buttons. The doors closed. Paul, Darnell, and Tiny all expected me to come back with supplies. What was I doing? I should run straight out of the elevator yelling for help. I closed my eyes and fought back tears. This was absolutely insane. Every fiber in my body screamed to save myself. Forget those boys, and run.

  I want to trust you, Lord. But I’m gonna need some help with that because right now…I don’t know if I can.

  I looked at the numbers on the elevator. One number for freedom; one for the supplies.

  I hesitated, closed my eyes, and pushed a button.

  32

  I skirted the nurse’s station and headed for the supply room at the rear of the pediatric ward because they had the right size splints for Darnell’s arm. I grabbed a portable x-ray machine and plopped it on a plastic cart. I filled the cart with bags of saline and bandages like a frantic shopper. Normally used to deliver books from the library, the gray plastic wheels made a racket as I pushed it.

  I didn’t watch what I was doing and bumped into someone. I apologized quickly without looking up, and sprinted back to the elevator. I peered down into the cart as the elevator doors closed, thinking I just needed a few more things.

  I got off the elevator, hurried down the hall to the family practice waiting room, and used my card to enter the back exam rooms. I grabbed a suture kit, and a mini bottle of oxygen. I got back on the elevator with my cart of “borrowed” supplies and pressed the floor to the construction area. I breathed a sigh of relief when the doors closed. I wished I’d had time to grab my purse at the clinic. Sure, the place was ablaze but, I’d be in a much better position if I had my cell phone.

  The elevator dinged, and I stepped out. Paul and Tiny peeked out, a look of pure relief on their faces.

  “Doc,” Paul breathed. “You…came back.”

  “No one ever accused me of being the sharpest knife in the drawer.” I patted his arm and walked towards Darnell’s prone body. He stirred a bit at my voice, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey, there,” I whispered and rubbed his forehead. “You ready for this?”

  He looked up with dark liquid eyes and nodded.

  I turned to Paul and Tiny. “I’m going to need your help.”

  I checked Darnell’s vitals, and decided he could tolerate a bit more pain meds. I set him up with a saline I.V. and an oxygen mask. Then I got to work on his arm. I sutured veins that were still oozing and cleaned out the debris from his bullet wound. The portable x-ray was digital, and I brought the image up on the screen. It wasn’t broken in half; I only had to immobilize the bone with a fiberglass cast. I helped him get a sling on. A half hour later, I sat down next to Darnell on the metal folding chair and sighed. That was the best I could do. He’d be weak, but OK.

  Paul walked over to me, unfolded another metal chair, and sat down. He looked uncertain. “Will he be…?”

  “He needs a wound check in a few days. You can take him to another free clinic. The stitches obscured the shape of his bullet wound so a doctor wouldn’t report anything. He’ll be in a lot of pain, too, so he needs to be under a doctor’s care.”

  “He’s got you, Doc.”

  “I don’t have a clinic anymore, Paul. Everything I own burned to the ground a few nights ago.”

  He looked over my shoulder, startled. He shoved me to the side, his gun coming up. “Watch out, Doc!”

  Three loud explosions caused debris from the drywall to blow down on us. Paul fired back while scrambling to the side. The concussion of the blasts ripped through my gut, and I scuttled along the floor on my belly. A round hit a bag of plaster which burst and sent a cloud of powder through the room.

  “Stop!” I yelled frantically. “Stop shooting!”

  Paul clambered to his feet and ran, gun out front, towards the other shooter.

  Terrified, I screamed for him. Heart racing, I clawed at Darnell’s sheets, caught a corner, and pulled. He came down in my arms still unconscious. Tiny popped out from behind a crate, firing. The shooter turned and ran, Paul chasing him to the elevator.

  Through the uncovered windows, red and blue lights cut through the floating powder.

  “Stop, Paul,” I screamed. “The cops are coming.”

  He stopped.

  I tried to lift Darnell back onto the ironing board. Tiny hurried over and helped me. I put the oxygen tank between Darnell’s legs and then the saline bag.

  “Who was that?” Tiny panted.

  “I never seen him before,” Paul said.

  I pulled a length of tape from the roll and tore it with my teeth, using it to re-secure Darnell to the ironing board.

  “You have to leave, now!” I said to Paul.

  Paul shoved his gun in the pocket of his pants and looked at me like a child in trouble. “What are you going to say?”

  “Trust me.”

  He hesitated. Then the two of them grabbed either side of the ironing board.

  “Take the stairwell to the rear of the hospital. It’s risky, but cops usually stop the elevators during a search,” I warned.

  Paul licked his lips, nodded, and then he and Tiny ran off with Darnell.

  I stood at the window, worried until I saw them run out of the door. I held my breath until they drove away. Exhausted, I walked over to the toppled metal chair, righted it, and sat down heavily.

  I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. Antonio had come to the hospital to kill me, and I only lived because my kidnappers fought him off. I buried my face in my hands and cried.

  A few minutes later, police poured into the room with guns drawn.

  I held my hands up in surrender.

  Tom pushed through the crowd, eyes wide. He lifted me off of my feet in a hug and barely breathed my name.

  “How did you know to find me here?” I asked.

  “Mike, the security guy, he called 9-1-1. He said he saw Antonio walking around here again and was worried the cars were a distraction to get to you. When I heard it over the radio, I raced over. Then the shooting started.”

  “They were a distraction, actually,” I muttered. “The cars, I mean.”

  Tom looked at me. “What?”

  I started to cry again.

  “Antonio was up here. He tried to kill me. But they saved me…” I couldn’t finish.

  “Ruby, who saved you?”

  A sob escaped and I looked up at Tom with tears.

  “Boys,” I gasped. “Delinquent boys saved my life.”

  33

  Dresden Heights Detention Center


  Ten Years Ago

  Everyone at Dresden worked at least one shift a month in the lunchroom. I hated the plastic aprons and hairnets, especially if I pulled dish duty and had to sweat through a hundred dirty trays. This time, I lucked out and walked through the cafeteria after dinner collecting left behind trays and picking up food off the floor. Lost in thought, I saw the boy sitting at the far table too late. Body tensing, I froze. Griffin Jones leaned against the wall, his legs stretched out on the bench. Stomach churning, I tried to slip back into the kitchen before he saw me. Almost there, I heard his low voice call out.

  “Hey Ruby, come here.”

  I stopped in my tracks and slowed my breathing. Griffin liked me. Not just as a girlfriend, but as something that should belong to him. He didn’t seem to care I was with Tom. Instead, he took every opportunity to get me alone to try and make a move.

  “Griffin, I really need to finish. I have a lot of work to do.”

  He rose from the plastic bench and sauntered over, running a hand through his long blonde hair. He didn’t stop when he got in my space; instead, he kept moving forward, forcing me to back up against the closed cafeteria door. I searched frantically for help, but all the kids left for the dorms already. Norma was out for her cigarette and we were alone.

  Griffin leaned over me and snarled as he spoke. He always seemed to be a few seconds from violence. I shook behind the tray in my hands.

  “How can you be with that loser?”

  “Griffin, please leave me alone. I-I just want to finish my work.”

  “Come here,” he said gruffly.

  He snared my chin with rough hands and forced my face up. I struggled to get away, but he pressed his body against mine, pinning me to the wall. Panic suffocated me. His ice-blue eyes looked dead, like a doll’s.

  “Please, stop,” I whispered. Tears streamed down my face, and when he saw them, he smiled viciously.

  “Trust me; you won’t go back to that boy once you’ve been with me.”

  Panic gave way to anger. I pushed against him, struggling to get away, but he batted my blows away and chuckled. Desperate to get away, I screamed, and my voice echoed through the empty cafeteria like the far away screech of a bird.

  He slapped a hand over my mouth, his nose an inch from mine. “Be quiet!” He hissed.

  I nodded frantically and he removed his hand.

  “I can’t…I can’t breathe,” I begged. “Please let me go.”

  He regarded me suspiciously and then stepped back. When he did, I whipped the tray up so quickly he didn’t have time to react. I shoved it straight up and rammed it up under his nose as hard as I could. Shocked, he staggered back, his eyes watering, and tripped over the bench behind us. He went down with a thud.

  Griffin yelled, and it came out in a gurgle through the blood gushing from his nose.

  Terrified, I backed up, turned and ran.

  He screamed after me. “You’re going to get it, Ruby. You’re nothing but trash and you’re going to get it!”

  Stricken, I skipped my classes the next day and hid in the library frantically trying to form a plan. If Tom found out, he’d go after Griffin. Griffin had friends; a horde of blank-eyed murderous thugs-in-training. Tom had…well, me. He’d be slaughtered.

  I caught sight of Griffin’s blood on my sneakers and staggered to the nearby table, grabbing the box of tissues. I fought back nausea and sat at the small study desk wiping at the sticky mess. Shoving the bloody tissues under the bookshelves, I buried my head in my arms and cried.

  I had no idea what I’d set in motion.

  ****

  Startled from my memory I turned towards the harsh voice firing questions “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  Detective Benrey, sent to sort out the shooting, wrote in his notebook and chewed on the plastic pen cap in his mouth. “You stated that you have no idea who your abductors were?” Eyes narrowed, he raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t ask their names the entire time?”

  “Well, I didn’t get them to sign my dance card if that’s what you mean.”

  “They brought you here to patch up their friend and you did?”

  “The kid’s arm wouldn’t stop bleeding and they had guns. I was motivated to intervene, yes.” I glared at him, exasperated.

  Tom stood off to the side, a blank expression on his face.

  “And you have no idea who these guys were? They just abducted you, and then fought off another guy, who also came after you with a gun?” Benrey’s tone grated on my nerves.

  “I don’t know what to tell you…I don’t have any more answers.”

  “Did you notice any distinctive tattoos? Can you describe the guys?” Benrey pushed.

  “I don’t have anything else to say.”

  Tom pushed off of the wall, his lips set in a firm line.

  Benrey shook the chewed up pen cap in my face. “This isn’t a joke, Dr. McKinney. You broke into a secure area and treated a patient here.”

  Tom stepped forward, his face hard. “Back off, Benrey.”

  The detective glared at Tom for a beat, then snapped his notebook closed. “You can’t do something like this and expect…”

  “That’s enough,” Tom snapped. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Dr. McKinney didn’t break in anywhere. Her abductors drove her here and demanded she perform rescue medicine. She’s the victim here, and I suggest you change your tone.”

  I sat stone still. The other cops, talking amongst themselves in the corner, fell silent. Lopez, who’d appeared a few minutes after the commotion, walked over to us.

  “Detective Benrey,” Lopez intoned. “Can I talk to you over here?”

  When they left, I turned to Tom.

  “I think I’m in a lot of trouble.”

  “Ruby, stop antagonizing him. We can get this cleared up, but you have to work with us.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered. A headache pounded and I touched my scar.

  “Are you OK? Do you…” He shrugged. “Do you still take meds for the seizures?”

  “No, not for years, Tom,” I said. “I’m just tired. I have a headache, nothing more.”

  He got to his feet. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  “Where are we going?”

  Before he could answer, Lopez walked up. “You’re going back to the club,” he said to Tom.

  Tom ground his jaw, but nodded.

  My heart hammered. “Are you kidding me?” I said a little too loud. “Antonio just tried to kill me in broad daylight. He’s gone off the chain…he’s…he’s lost his mind. If he’s involved you can’t send Tom back under cover.”

  Lopez looked at me like I was stupid child.

  Tom put his hand on my shoulder. “They don’t know about any connection between you and me, Ruby.”

  “It’s only a matter of time, Tom,” I breathed, incredulous. “How many times have you broken cover to see me?”

  “You what?” Lopez asked, ominously calm.

  Ignoring him, I hoped to derail their plans to send Tom back. “What if Antonio saw you here at the hospital? You ran in surrounded by SWAT guys.”

  “Antonio left before Tom got here,” Lopez said, as he glared at Tom. “I’ll deal with you later, but for now, our one chance to stop this drug operation is to push forward.” He turned to me. “We’re talking about millions of dollars of drugs going out onto your streets, Ruby. To the kids you treat.”

  “I know what it means, Lopez,” I snapped. “Does this mean you no longer think I’m the neighborhood candy man?”

  “You looked good for it. Everything, all the paperwork pointed to you.”

  “What changed your mind?” I asked. “Did you find out who did it?”

  “No, we followed the clinic’s paper trail to hospital records, but anyone could have access to that paperwork. It’s not patient information, so it’s not under lock. Any number of people could have impersonated you and altered the paperwork.”

  “Then what was it?” I asked Lopez.
“Why am I suddenly in the clear?”

  “I got a call from a beat cop who responded to the clinic fire. He signed an affidavit stating that Tom was there with you.”

  “Ben?” I asked shocked. Tom’s expression said this was the first he’d heard of it.

  Lopez nodded. “When we talked to the arson guys, they said they found bullet holes around the back door. Someone obviously wanted you dead. Besides, if you are as poor as you seem, you’re obviously not making any money…drug or otherwise.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You think?”

  Ignoring me, Lopez turned to Tom. “We’ll have to move the buy up as much as possible, Tom. Put the pressure on Jason to get it done.”

  “I’ll push him for product as soon as possible,” Tom said. “I’ll threaten to go somewhere else. He won’t want to lose a sale this big.”

  “Do it, we need to move on this…things are starting to break up,” Lopez ordered.

  I thought I saw a flash of worry in his gaze.

  “Yeah,” Tom agreed. He nodded towards me. “You have to give Ruby protection. Whoever is behind this, pulling the strings, they won’t stop. She’s a loose end.”

  “We’ll stash her with Lilah and Brooklyn.”

  I looked at him shocked. “Y-you know where they are?”

  “Yeah, we picked them up last night at the bus station,” Lopez answered.

  A crime scene tech called out from the back hallway. “I got blood here. It looks like a trail.” He held up a culture swab.

  “Antonio probably took a hit during the fire-fight. We’ll keep an eye out at the hospitals, maybe he’ll show. Either way, she’ll be fine.”

  “I want her out of the city,” Tom said.

  I shook my head. “No.”

  Tom looked ready to yell, but Lopez put his hand up. “She’ll be fine at the safe house.”

  “You better make sure she is,” Tom snapped.

  I looked at him, shocked. Tom never raised his voice. His eyes were dark, clouded with anger and frustration.

  Lopez continued. “You just make sure you take care of things on your end.”