Lincoln Hospital (Trauma #1)

by Cassia Brightmore

  “Let’s go for a ride, shall we?” He got no reply, not that he expected one, and hopped in the driver’s seat. About a block from the hospital he pulled into an alleyway and stopped. Dragging Darwin from the trunk, he smacked him in the face until he came around, groaning from being groggy and out of it.

  “Are you with me there, Darwin? Can you hear me?” Cian peered at him, his pupils were dilated but he seemed to be understanding him.

  “Ghaft ahappped?” his words were a gargled mess. Good. The drugs were working.

  “Oh, not to worry. I’m gonna take good care of you, Darwin.” Relief flashed in his eyes but it quickly turned to horror as he watched Cian pick up an iron bar from the trunk. “Don’t worry, you won’t feel a thing,” his grin was full of malice as he brought the bar down.

  Several minutes later, Cian rushed into the ER, with Darwin’s arms over his shoulders, dragging him along as best he could.

  “Get me a gurney! This man’s taken a severe beating,” he helped two orderlies lift Darwin onto the gurney when they raced over. He tossed his keys to Jenson who was standing a few feet away, wide-eyed. “My car is in an alley a block away. Get it and move it here. Do not fuck that up, Jenson,” he ordered. Jenson nodded and hurried away to follow instructions.

  Reynolds appeared in the hallway and after a slight nod, Cian called out to the nurse behind the desk.

  “Book me OR-B, I’m heading up there now with him. His injuries are extreme and we need to get in there now.” The nurse nodded and grabbed for the phone, barking orders that the OR was needed stat.

  Following behind the gurney, Cian’s steps were filled with glee. Another successful hunt and soon it would be another successful kill and scumbag eliminated. He should get a goddamn fucking medal for the clean-up work he did for the city. Vigilante his ass, he was a motherfucking saint.

  “Oh!” He whipped his head around at the sound of a startled squeal and locked eyes with Athena who was standing directly in front of him with an armload of charts and a fresh green salad. She took in his appearance slowly, the blood staining his clothes and the manic look in his eyes. Confusion and then fear flashed across her features as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

  She took a small step forward, but Cian cut her off before she could speak. “Out of the way, Dr. Payne. Can’t you see we have a critical patient here?” he barked, watching her flinch at his tone. Flustered, she stepped back quickly.

  “I—I’m sorry. I thought...” she stammered.

  “You thought what? You thought whatever you needed to say was more important than this man getting to surgery? I’d pegged you for smarter than that,” he stepped around her without another word and ignored the twinge of guilt he felt at seeing the hurt in her eyes his words caused. It was for the best that she stop idolizing him in more than a mentor capacity. Nothing would ever come of the connection between them. It was ridiculous to think otherwise.

  He headed into the scrub room to prepare while the team got Darwin prepped for surgery. A black rage had settled over him, more intense than he’d ever felt before. The fear he’d seen in Athena’s eyes haunted him. Was she afraid of him? She was right to be, but he’d never hurt her. The fact that she might think he would, bothered him more than he liked, turning his anger into a murderous rage.

  Entering the OR, he stalked straight to Darwin’s side, satisfied when he saw that he was coherent. “Mr. Fergus, good evening. Pleasure to have you here in my OR.” Darwin struggled against the binds holding down his arms and legs, eyes frozen in fear as Reynolds’ approached from the other side and fitted him with the gag.

  “Sorry, guess we won’t be hearing much more from you, now will we? What a shame. I was looking forward to hearing all about how you weaseled money away from the elderly; how you murdered the ones that were close to figuring out your con. You’re despicable, you know that? To rob the elderly is like harming defenseless babies. Did it make you feel powerful? Did you enjoy the thrill of taking from another? Did you get off on it, Darwin?” The more he spoke, the closer he got until they were almost nose to nose. Darwin’s entire body was quaking in fear; fear that Cian fed off, his terror transported into his blood and gave him the initiative he craved to get the job done.

  “Saw,” he demanded. Patricia complied and handed him the small bone saw. Fixing on his goggles, he cheerfully got to work, starting with Darwin’s right index finger. He lowered the blade and applied just the right amount of pressure to torturously cut through the skin and bone, removing the finger completely. Darwin’s body bucked and thrashed and he screamed with all his might into the gag, but none of that halted Cian’s task. He removed two more fingers before tiring of the saw and switching tactics.

  “Do you know, losing all your money...it’s like dying a slow death. First, they take your electricity. Then, you have no money for food. Not long after that, they’ll repossess your belongings. Until finally, they take your home from you. Have you ever been homeless, Darwin? Ever lost everything that meant something to you? It’s agonizing. And you—you caused that for these people. They trusted you and you took advantage, ruining what little of their lives they had left. And when they didn’t comply? Well, then you stole their lives. I think it’s only fair you feel some agony as well. Scalpel.”

  Lorna passed him the scalpel and he expertly made a small incision in Darwin’s neck, pleasure filling him as he watched the blood seep from the wound and onto the table. Darwin gurgled and choked, his own blood starting to strangle him.

  Cian leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I could leave you like this for hours. You’d bleed out, or you’d maybe strangle on your blood first, who knows. What matters to me is that you suffer.”

  Darwin’s eyes pleaded with him for mercy, begged for forgiveness, screamed to be released. None of it mattered, his fate was sealed. He had another flash of Athena’s terrified face and the rage increased tenfold. Grabbing the scalpel again, he brutally slashed down Darwin’s midsection, determined to rid himself of the vision of Athena.

  “O’Reilly,” Reynolds warned. “Get a grip, we’ve got five minutes. Finish it.”

  Panting, Cian took a breath and looked around. His team’s faces held expressions of shock, not something he was used to after everything they’d witnessed him do. He was losing it; needed to get a grip as Reynolds said.

  “I’m fine. I got this.” Shaking his head, he used incision he’d made in Darwin’s midsection to properly open him up. After a few minutes of “repairing” damage to the kidneys and large intestine, he made the cut that would end Darwin’s life. He watched as the life drained from his glazed-over eyes, filled with a sick satisfaction that left him feeling more on top of his game than ever.

  “Good work, team. Clean up and I’ll take care of the notes this time.” He left his team staring after him, wondering if the man they followed so blindly was starting to slip off his game or descend too far into the hell he’d created to ever find a way back.

  “THE CITY IS starting to panic as yet another young woman has gone missing, assumed taken at the hands of the same suspect that’s presumed to have Layla Hunt, the eighteen-year-old girl from Louisiana. This morning, Cheryl Fuller reported her daughter, Candice missing. Candice was last seen in Times Square with a large group of friends. Police are actively investigating and urge any witnesses with information on either young women, to please come forward.” Cian looked up as a photo splashed across the screen of a young brunette in a cheerleader’s uniform.

  He was catching a bit of down time in the attendings’ lounge before his next surgery. It had been one hell of a day already with two emergency surgeries on top of his regular cases. Dragging a hand through his dark hair he sighed and turned his attention back to the news station just as Rae Kelley came on screen. Her blonde hair was piled on her head in some bun-type thing and her breasts all but spilled out of the black dress she wore as she bounced her step on her blood-red high heels. Cian rolled his eyes at her image, how she got
that job was beyond him.

  “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” she began before pausing and staring at something off in the distance. “Oh! Good afternoon, I mean...good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.” Her face burned red from her on-air mistake and Cian having no patience for idiocy, was about to switch her off when her next words caught his attention.

  “We have an update on The Watcher, the vigilante who we believe has been eliminating criminals who have escaped justice in the legal system. Sources tell us that one, Darwin Fergus, who died just over two weeks ago, was in fact a victim of our unknown protector. If you’ll recall, Fergus was accused of running a fraudulent con-artist scheme that cheated several dozens of elderly people out of their retirement funds. There were also allegations raised that a few suspicious deaths may have been at his hand in an attempt to cover up what he’d done. With not enough evidence to prosecute, he was let go much to the outrage of the community.

  After a back alley beating, he died from complications during surgery. Coincidence? Or is this again the work of The Watcher? We’ll keep you updated as information regarding this comes available, don’t forget to tune in to Channel 15 and check out my blog, Rae’s Ramblings.”

  Furious, Cian shoved himself up from the leather sofa and paced around the room like a caged cat. That fucking nosey idiot reporter was getting way to close to finding out the truth. And who the hell were these “sources” she claimed she got her information from? Everyone on his team had as much at stake as he did and he knew without a doubt he could trust each of them. But did he really? The only people that knew the truth were the six people on his team. Perhaps it was time he started looking for a mole.

  In the hallway, he ran into Reynolds who was just finishing up a conversation with the Chief. “Reynolds, Chief,” he greeted them as he walked up.

  Chief Murphy clasped him on the shoulder and steered him aside. “Damn good work getting those two transplant cases into our hospital, O’Reilly. The media attention is just what this place needs and that kind of initiative is what sets you apart from the rest. Keep it up and you just might be a good candidate for my position one day.”

  “Well, sir, I can’t say that wouldn’t please me, although I know we’re several years off from that happening. Still, thank you for the recognition. I have a few other high profile cases to discuss with you as well that I’d like to bring in.”

  Murphy grinned and nodded. “Call my secretary and have her set up a time for this week. I want to hear more about this.”

  Telling him he’d do that, Cian glanced to the left and watched as Webster came into the main foyer with her six interns trailing behind her. Each had their heads hung as though in shame and from the way Webster’s head was tossing and her hip was cocked, he guessed they were getting in shit. The guilty expressions confirmed it, all except Athena. She didn’t look guilty or remorseful; she looked pissed. Curious, he moved closer to find out what the issue was.

  “—interns. You have no business making a diagnosis and you most certainly have no business telling a patient they have an incurable brain tumor! What in the bloody hell is the matter with you?” Webster was livid, her voice raising with each word she spit out. “I want to know right now who it was that spoke to Mr. Seymour about his wife.” They kept silent, looking at the floor or ceiling, refusing to meet Webster’s furious glare. Except Athena, she stared at her head on, barely even blinking. Cian knew immediately what she was going to do.

  “It was me. I told Mr. Seymour about the tumor, Dr. Webster.” Athena admitted, shocking everyone.

  “Payne? Why would you do such a thing? Do you understand now that I have to go and explain to those poor people that they don’t have to worry about terminal cancer? What were you thinking? Is that the kind of patient care you want to give as a doctor?”

  Athena was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to answer. She wasn’t the one that screwed up, it was Dick, but seeing how he clearly wasn’t going to man up, someone had to or they’d never find their way out of the mess. To make matters worse, Cian was hovering behind Webster, witnessing her humiliation as she took the fall for something she didn’t do.

  “No, Dr. Webster, that’s not how I want to care for my patients. I honestly thought I was doing the right thing.” There, that wasn’t a total lie.

  “I thought you were smarter than this, Payne. I really did. I’m disappointed in you.”

  “Ahem,” Cian stepped forward and cleared his throat. He had no idea what he was doing. He’d avoided all contact with Athena since the night they’d run into each other with Fergus. Now here he was getting in the middle of something that didn’t concern him. Still, he couldn’t stop himself.

  “Dr. Webster, if I may. Isn’t the point of being an intern that you’re going to make mistakes? We rely on those mistakes to teach us what not to do in the future. I think I remember a time or two that you were in some hot water with your resident.” He raised an eyebrow at her and watched as she paled at the memory of her own transgressions. “Athena is one of our strongest interns, perhaps maybe look a little beneath the surface and see what really happened here before believing everything you’re told.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked away, still shocked that he’d risen to the defense of a female, an intern no less in front of half the hospital. He didn’t have to glance back to feel all the eyes boring into his back or hear the tongues start wagging with gossip. Great. Just fucking great.

  Faye Webster was one of the most respected residents in the Lincoln Hospital surgical program. To receive a dressing down in front of her colleagues and subordinates was not something she ever expected to have happen to her. The need to lash out was fierce, but she kept her cool and turned skeptical eyes to Athena.

  “Payne, are you covering for someone?” The insinuation made by O’Reilly that she was missing information was not lost on her. Her instincts might have been right after all when she was completely blown away by Payne’s confession.

  Backed into a corner, Athena didn’t know what to do or say. If she lied again now, and was found out later it would come back on her worse. But if she told the truth, she’d be throwing Dick under the bus. At a loss, she glared hard at Dick, willing him to come forward on his own. He of course, stared back defiantly, refusing to budge. Left with no choice, she did the only thing she could.

  “Yes. But don’t ask me who. We all have to work together as a team, you’ve told us that from the beginning. If we can’t rely on each other to have each other’s backs outside of the OR, how are we ever going to learn to work together to save lives in the OR?” Her question was met with silence while Faye stared at her, considering her words. Finally, she sighed.

  “Fine. But all of you will be present while I explain this situation to the family. If I have to suffer through it, so do you.”

  Sabine fell back into step with Athena as they headed to speak to the family. “Oh, my fucking God, Thene!” she hissed. “He came to your rescue, he spoke up in front of everyone for you! He so wants in your panties. He wants those panties off you bad. Dude, he wants you to never be wearing panties when he’s around!”

  “Shhh, shut up! Enough about my panties. And he wasn’t defending me, he was helping. Helping avoid a scene,” she finished lamely, clueless on what to say. The truth was, she had no idea why Cian interjected the way he did. For the past several weeks, since that night she’d run into him on his way to the OR, she’d done her best to avoid him. Something about him that night was different; he was different. She could see it in his eyes. The feral way he’d bared his teeth and snapped at her had sent terror skidding down her spine and she barely restrained herself from sprinting at a dead run away from him. But as much as she was scared, she was also intrigued. There was a conflicted war happening inside her where Cian O’Reilly was concerned. A war she was petrified she was going to lose. Especially if he kept up riding in like some white knight in shining armor. Although in his case, it was more like a dark avenging angel.

/>   “Ugh, you can be so blind sometimes! Mark my words, Athena, it won’t be long before instead of him riding in like your white knight—” Athena’s head whipped up when Sabine plucked the thoughts right out of her head. “—he’s got you riding him instead.”

  Athena smacked her on the arm and blushed furiously as the image of sliding herself down onto Cian’s waiting cock filled her head. He’d reach up and tug her long hair back, exposing her throat to his teeth; biting down and marking her flesh as his as he slowly entered her, rocking his hips up and into her in a way that would have her moaning out his name. She’d start to move in a leisurely pace at first and then—

  “You’re totally picturing it! You have sex face!” Sabine exclaimed far too loudly. The entire group turned to gape at the two of them and Athena wished furiously for the floor to open up and swallow her, or better yet, to swallow her asshole best friend.

  She caught a look of hurt flash across Clarence’s face but before she could wonder what that was about, Bianca burst out laughing, breaking the silence.

  “You two are a trip,” she commented, shaking her head in disbelief. Webster glared at all of them and motioned them into the room with her hands.

  “God save me from interns,” she muttered, closing the door behind them.

  Reynolds stopped him in the hall on his way out of the building a few hours after his run in with Webster and her interns. The gossips had already been churning over his latest stunt and rumors were running rampant about a torrid affair between him and the little Dr. Payne.

  “Have you seen the news lately?” Reynolds asked, concern evident in his tone.

  “Yeah. It’s a goddamn nightmare. Where the hell is that nitwit getting her info?”