The Institution

by Kristen Rose

Dave, Mike and Jennifer cease arguing and fall silent, turning their heads in the direction of the elevators. Dave places his right index finger over his lips and breathes a silent ‘Shh,’ before creeping to the end of the corridor and peering around the corner. The doors of one of the elevators are wide open, a dull orange light shines out of them. Standing in the corridor directly in front of the elevator, silhouetted by the contrast of light and dark, is the figure of a man with outstretched arms, hands firmly clasping onto a gun. Dave’s eyes widen. The elevator doors seal shut quietly, returning the corridor to its former darkness, eliminating the figure from sight. Dave pulls his head away sharply and quickly sneaks back over to the others.

  ‘It’s a man – he has a gun.’ He whispers frantically.

  ‘Is he hot with blonde hair?’ Mike asks in an equal whisper, leaning in with shallow breaths.

  ‘No,’ Dave shakes his head. ‘He has dark hair.’

  Jennifer’s eyes light up. ‘What else does he look like?’ She probes.

  ‘... Uh. Tall and thin and his hair looked kind of scruffy.’ Dave stares at her, a little confused.

  ‘And ...’ She leans closer towards him.

  ‘And ... I think that’s a pretty impressive description seeing as it’s really dark in here.’ Dave defends.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Mike asks the two of them excitedly.

  ‘Why don’t we go down the emergency exit?’ Dave suggests, indicating the steel door behind them.

  ‘What if he hears us?’ Mike whispers.

  ‘We’ll just have to take that chance.’ Dave takes a step towards the steel door.

  ‘Wait!’ Jennifer screams in a whisper. ‘It could be Peter, or another police officer. Dave, are you sure he has dark hair?’

  ‘Yeah, one hundred per cent.’ He nods.

  ‘And he isn’t wearing a guard’s uniform?’ The words spill quickly out of her mouth.

  ‘No ... I think he was wearing a suit, brown or beige or something.’

  ‘Well, come on then.’ Jennifer indicates towards the direction of the stranger.

  ‘What!’ Dave gives her a shocked look.

  ‘What if he shoots us?’ Mike blurts out.

  ‘Something tells me he won’t. Guys, give me the torch and the gun.’ Jennifer orders. Reluctantly, Mike hands Jennifer the torch and Dave passes over the gun. Once she has the items, one safely in each hand, she strides back the way they came. Mike and Dave remain behind.

  When Jennifer reaches the end of the corridor she peers around the corner, just as Dave had done. Everything is pitch black. She waves the other two over to her with the long thin torch, held firmly in her left hand. They glance at one another and shake their heads. Jennifer stares at them. ‘Guys, come on! You’re not bailing on me now.’ It isn’t a question.

  Reluctantly they inch their way over to her.

  Once re-united, the three of them continue around the corner in silence, finding nothing but empty space and the unconscious guard when they reach the elevators. They follow the corridor down to the end, turn around to the left, and continue. They reach the end of the corridor quickly. A thick beam of moonlight shining through a window on their far left illuminates the reception area outside Dr Fuller’s office. When they arrive at the office door, Jennifer glances up and spots a figure moving swiftly in the moonlight.

  She pauses and throws out the arm holding onto the gun to stop the others from creeping any closer. She breathes, ‘wait here,’ before continuing forward towards the figure. It is slinking around, looking behind and underneath the vacant receptionist’s desk. The figure hasn’t heard them. She eases herself closer stopping barely two metres away from the desk. She raises the gun in her right hand and points it directly at the figure. Gripping it firmly she steadies her hand before drawing in a deep breath and turning on the torch. A blinding beam of light springs forth, illuminating the desk and the figure crouching behind it.

  ‘Peter! Thank god.’ She erupts, lowering the gun.

  ‘Jen! You’re still alive.’ He breathes, full of relief.

  ‘What are you doing down here?’ She squints down at him.

  ‘Looking for you! I told you to stay in your room.’ He spits.

  ‘I know, but ... well the guys kind of talked me into thinking that you weren’t coming and I wasn’t just going to sit there and wait to die … so I left.’ She says, annoyed.

  ‘Yeah, well next time I tell you to do something, do it.’ He says angrily standing up straight and brushing down his jacket.

  ‘Okay, no need to get sore about it.’

  O’Connell takes a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says.

  ‘Psst, Jenny. Is the coast clear? I mean, are we going to get shot?’ Mike’s voice calls out.

  ‘Yeah it’s okay guys, it’s my friend.’ Dave and Mike tiptoe over to Jennifer.

  When they arrive, O’Connell raises his hand softly, barely producing a wave and utters a brief and confused ‘hi.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you!’ Dave says bounding closer towards O’Connell. ‘We spoke earlier on the phone.’ He outstretches his hand and shakes O’Connell’s over the desk.

  ‘Oh, yes. I recognise your voice. Thanks for letting me know about all of this.’

  ‘No worries. I mean, I couldn’t just sit around without telling anyone that I knew someone was going to be murdered.’ He laughs.

  ‘Yes, well ... you did the right thing.’ O’Connell says walking around the desk.

  ‘Hi, I’m Mike.’ An eager voice projects. ‘It’s great to meet you.’ He waves at O’Connell rapidly. ‘You know, Jenny has never mentioned you and I’ve known her the entire time she’s been here.’

  ‘I suppose that was just part of the plan.’ O’Connell shrugs.

  ‘Plan? What plan?’ Mike turns and looks at Jennifer.

  ‘Nothing Mike, Peter’s just being silly ... Say, I think it’s time we got going.’ She turns to O’Connell. ‘We were just on our way out when we heard you arrive.’ She explains quickly.

  ‘Out?’ He raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms.

  ‘Yeah, that way Jenny can’t get killed.’ Mike explains, Dave follows with a nod.

  ‘I see. Don’t you think it best if we just stay put?’ O’Connell suggests.

  ‘Peter, when Marc goes to my room to kill me and sees I’m not there, he’s going to come looking. It’s best if we just get as far away from this hospital as possible.’ Jennifer says.

  ‘But I’ve set up a trap. My men are in your room waiting for Verdad to arrive, when he gets here they’ll catch him.’ O’Connell says excitedly.

  ‘You think that will work?’ She doubts, flopping her weapons either side of her.

  ‘I don’t see why not. He won’t be expecting it.’

  ‘Right … How long do you think we’ll have to wait then?’ She looks at Dave and Mike who are both housing bored expressions.

  ‘I don’t know. I have two men keeping watch over both entrances. They’re supposed to contact me when they see him enter but I haven’t heard from either of them yet. It’s not quite midnight though, maybe he won’t come until a little after.’ He shrugs.

  ‘Maybe ...’ The word is barely out of her mouth when a gunshot resonates above their heads.

  ‘What was that?’ Mike says panicking, his eyes widen and his chest bulges.

  ‘It came from upstairs.’ O’Connell says alarmed, staring at the ceiling.

  ‘Why would someone need to fire a gun if Marc isn’t even in the building yet?’ Jennifer stare.

  ‘I don’t know.’ He slips his radio off of his belt quickly. ‘Finlay, Young, are you there? Over.’ There is no response. O’Connell glances up, concerned, and waits for a minute. ‘Finlay, Young. Can either of you hear me? Over.’

  Silence.

  O’Connell’s looks up at Jennifer, scared, until a crinkle of static comes out of the radio; someone is picking up and fiddling around with one of the radios.

  ‘Who’s this?’ A voice even
tually oozes out. O’Connell’s face creases, confused.

  ‘This is ...’ Jennifer snatches the radio out of O’Connell’s hand before he can reply.

  ‘Jen, what are you doing?’ He looks up at her.

  ‘Don’t tell him who you are. He’s not one of us.’ She warns.

  ‘You ... you recognise the voice?’

  ‘Yes, it’s a guard. And I’ll bet everything he’s working for Marc. He’s been watching me for weeks, trying to chat me up and find stuff out about me. If you tell him who you are then he’ll contact Marc and your plan will be ruined.’

  ‘Hello?’ The voice splutters out of the radio again.

  ‘Well, what should I tell him?’ O’Connell asks.

  ‘How should I know? You’re the detective. Try giving him a fake name.’ She shoves the radio back into his hand.

  O’Connell brings the radio back up to his mouth, presses the ‘talk’ button and says, ‘Err ... this is ...’ O’Connell lets out a few fake coughs, and then in his best Australian accent verbalises, ‘this is Bert Whiley.’ His attempt at an Australian accent made the name sound like Beart Whilai.

  ‘Who?’ The voice on the other end asks.

  O’Connell coughs a few more times, trying to get the accent right. ‘Bert Whiley.’

  The radio is silent for a moment. ‘How come your voice is different to before?’ The voice questions slowly.

  ‘I had some’in stuck in me throat. It’s better now.’ Mike stifles a giggle. Jennifer nudges him.

  ‘Well, Mr Whiley, who are you and why do you have men positioned outside Grove Hospital?’

  ‘What are you talkin’ ‘bout. I’m a truck driva. Just tryin’t get in touch with me fellow drivers via the radio.’ O’Connell shakes his head and runs his hands through his hair, embarrassed by his performance.

  ‘Oh, well, you must be using the wrong frequency.’

  ‘Yeah, I reckon you’re right. Sorry to disturb you mate.’

  ‘Why’s he talking like that?’ Mike asks Jennifer. ‘He sounds like an idiot.’ He giggles.

  ‘Shh …’ She spits, this time slapping him on the arm.

  ‘That’s okay. Goodnight.’ The voice utters shortly, still suspicious.

  O’Connell looks at Jennifer again. ‘Which guard was that?’ He asks, popping the radio away.

  ‘Foreman, at least, that’s the name he uses. He patrols the grounds but … I thought he did it during the day not at night.’ She looks at him, confused.

  ‘He must’ve swapped shifts for this occasion. Shit. This means he’s got my other two men. I hope they’re okay.’ He puts one of his hands on his forehead and leans his head into it.

  ‘So ... I’m guessing that it’s highly probable that Marc is already inside the building.’ The words creep out of Jennifer’s mouth at a higher frequency, she glances around the still reception area.

  ‘Yeah, which would probably explain the shot we just heard.’ O’Connell wipes his hand over his forehead, taking some trickles of sweat off with it.

  Unexpectedly, his radio comes back to life again, this time a different voice comes out of it. ‘O’Connell, where are you? Did you find her?’ It is Rogers. O’Connell yanks his radio off his belt again.

  ‘Rogers, what was that gun shot? Is Verdad there? Did you get him?’ O’Connell quickly asks.

  It takes a moment for Rogers’ to reply. ‘Yeah, we got him.’ He splutters. ‘That was the shot you heard.’ His voice is shaking slightly.

  ‘You cuff him?’ O’Connell half shouts into the receiver.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Fantastic, great work Rogers.’ A smile spreads over O’Connell’s face.

  ‘Did you find her?’ Rogers’ asks again.

  ‘Yes, I did. Look, stay put, I’m coming back up.’ O’Connell clips his radio back onto his belt and looks up, smiling. ‘It’s over Jen, we’ve got him.’ He says, rubbing her shoulder.

  She nods expressionlessly. Unable to contain himself, O’Connell closes in and hugs her tightly. Her arms remain by her side, she is limp. He pulls away and takes hold of one of her wrists, it gives way to him easily. ‘Come on, let’s go.’ He tries to pull her around.

  ‘What!’ She forces herself back. ‘You want me to go with you? No.’ She shakes her head quickly. ‘I think I should just stay here with Mike and Dave. I don’t want to see him.’ Her eyes gloss over slightly.

  ‘Jen, there’s no need to be scared any more, it’s over. Besides, I think your friends deserve to get a look at the man they’ve just saved you from.’ Dave and Mike shake their heads rapidly in unison. Jennifer stares at O’Connell’s begging eyes, reluctant.

  ‘Urgh ... okay. But I don’t want to stay for long. I just want to go home, I miss home.’ Her eyes begin to tear.

  ‘I know. Come on.’ He continues to pull her away with him towards the elevator at the back of the reception area. Dave and Mike linger behind. O’Connell stops and looks back towards them, ‘you coming?’

  They glance at one another before shaking their heads.

  ‘It’s alright,’ O’Connell assures them. ‘Nothing bad is going to happen.’ He smiles at Jennifer.

  ‘Pete, look at them, they don’t want to come. Besides, it’s not really anything to do with them. They don’t need to be exposed to this. They’re just innocent, helpful, harmless people.’

  ‘Yeah, but, we can’t just leave them here.’ He whispers, ‘I mean, wouldn’t that be irresponsible? Aren’t they, you know, mentally ...’ He pauses.

  ‘They’re not retarded Peter! They are perfectly capable of looking after themselves.’ She snaps at him.

  ‘Sorry ... I just think it would be better if we didn’t leave them here alone.’

  ‘I guess ...’ Jennifer looks over towards Mike and Dave. They are still and silent. ‘Well guys?’ She asks.

  ‘I guess if we just stayed near the elevator ...’ Dave muses, looking directly at Mike, who has his face scrunched up.

  ‘Urgh ... Alright.’ He says eventually. Together, they trot over towards O’Connell and Jennifer silently.

  The four of them wait for the elevator in silence; Jennifer hugging herself, Mike and Dave close to one another, half panicking. When the elevator arrives, the four of them board it in silence. The silence lingers until they reach the third floor.

  When the elevator doors open they exit, walking slowly but gradually over to the glass security door. They all stop and stare through it. The door to Jennifer’s room is wide open, bright light shining out of it lights up the hallway. There is a bulky figure standing outside the room with their back to them, it is staring down the corridor, waiting. The figure has handsome blonde hair and is wearing an expensive black suit; its right hand accessorised with a gun, held ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

  ‘No!’ O’Connell stomach sinks. ‘He’s tricked us. Hudson ... Rogers ... He must’ve been too quick for them. Jen, I have to get you out of here.’ O’Connell grabs her arm and guides her back into the elevator.

  ‘Arrrrrrgh!’ Mike produces a high pitched, blood chilling scream. Verdad’s head turns around, his golden eyes catch sight of the four of them. Dave gallops back into the elevator cursing, O’Connell straight behind him. Mike continues to scream. O’Connell stops, turns and grabs the top of Mike’s white T-shirt, dragging him into the elevator with him just as Verdad reaches the glass security door. O’Connell runs his hand down every button fixed into the wall of the elevator and the doors snap shut. ‘It’ll stop on every floor and we can get out when we want. Verdad won’t know which floor to go to.’

  ‘Oh dear lord, oh dear lord, oh dear lord.’ Mike starts hyperventilating, waving his hands in front of his face.

  ‘What is wrong with him?’ O’Connell says angrily, staring at Jennifer.

  ‘I have no idea!’ Jennifer says, turning to face Mike. ‘Mike, what’s wrong, did you see something? Did you hear something? Did you hurt yourself?’

  ‘I ... I ... I’m nawt Mike. I told ya plenty o’ t
imes before I ain’t Mike. Who is Mike any ways? And who are you?’ He turns to O’Connell. ‘You ain’t gonna probe me like them aliens are ya? ‘Cause if ya are I don’t want ya tew.’ Mike says frightened, in a Southern American accent, teeth chattering.

  ‘Aliens? What the…?’ Jennifer squints. ‘Hang on, what time is it?’ She demands. O’Connell looks at his wrist watch, confused.

  ‘Right on twelve.’ He says, casually.

  Her eyes light up. ‘Amazing! How the hell does his whacked up brain know what time it is without looking at a watch?’ Jennifer asks, more to herself. The elevator doors open onto the fourth floor, they remain inside.

  ‘I don’t understand.’ O’Connell’s eyes crease.

  ‘Mike has dissociative personality disorder, a.k.a multiple personalities. He’s a different person every day. I would never have thought that his personality changed right on midnight.’

  ‘Wow.’ Dave says. ‘This is extraordinary. I wonder why this guy isn’t being subjected to extreme testing at some world famous university. There can’t be anyone else in the world like him.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I don’t care how special he is.’ O’Connell yells. ‘He just stuffed everything up. Verdad wouldn’t have known we were there if he hadn’t of screamed.’

  ‘You can’t blame him, it’s not his fault.’ Dave says. ‘And we didn’t even want to come up here anyway. You practically forced us to!’

  ‘I didn’t force you! Besides, I didn’t know this would happen.’ O’Connell puts his hands to his head. ‘Why is someone with his condition even in on this anyway?’ O’Connell asks Jennifer as the elevator arrives on the fifth floor. He exits out into the peaceful medical ward.

  ‘He was there when I told Jenny about what I’d overheard and he wanted to help. He probably didn’t even think about what was going to happen to him at midnight, he was only thinking about saving Jenny.’

  ‘Well that’s very noble but who is he now if he’s not ... Mike?’ O’Connell asks.

  ‘He’s Garry.’ Jennifer says, sighing, trying to keep up with O’Connell’s quick pace.

  ‘And what kind of a person is Garry?’

  ‘A really, really stupid kind of person.’ She says slowly.

  ‘Oh, that’s just fantastic! We need someone really, really stupid to ruin this night even more.’ He hollers.

  ‘Hey, I’m right here ya know.’ Garry says, crossing his arms.

  ‘Sorry Garry.’ Dave apologises.

  ‘Look, he’s not that bad. We can just hide him somewhere and tell him to stay put. That way he won’t be in the way.’ Jennifer says simply. The four of them reach the end of the corridor and turn, heading towards the reception area.

  ‘Where can we put him?’ O’Connell asks.

  ‘How about in one of the examination rooms?’ Dave suggests. They arrive at the reception desk, the area is deserted. ‘Hmm … there’s usually a nurse here all night.’

  ‘Look behind the desk, on the floor.’ Jennifer says. Dave gazes behind the desk, there is a nurse lying on the floor, unconscious.

  ‘Looks like it wasn’t just the guards they sedated.’ He bends down, inspecting her.

  ‘Hang on,’ Jennifer stops, ‘those guards you overheard talking last night patrol this floor, what if they’re still here?’ She panics.

  ‘I doubt they’ll be here.’ O’Connell says. ‘Verdad’s probably in contact with them, they’ll have split up around the hospital in order to look for us.

  ‘Now, Dave I think you should stay with ... er ... Garry. I don’t want anything happening to you either. If Verdad finds all of us together, the more casualties there may be.’

  ‘What, you want me to just sit back and do absolutely nothing?’ Dave protests, standing up.

  ‘Yes, I’d be a fool to let you follow us out of here. Stay put and stay quiet, that way you’ll be safe.’ He says seriously, staring into his eyes.

  ‘Do it Dave, I don’t want to be responsible for any more deaths.’ Jennifer says.

  ‘FINE! Can we at least have the torch and the gun back for some protection?’ He orders, dramatically. Jennifer looks at O’Connell for an answer, he nods shortly. She hands the gun and the torch over to Dave.

  ‘Thanks.’ He yanks the weapons out of her grasp. ‘Come on Garry.’ Sulking, Dave takes hold of Garry’s hand. ‘Good luck,’ he says, carting Garry off past the reception desk and walking around the corner towards the examination rooms. Garry complies like an obedient school child.

  ‘Well Pete, what now?’ Jennifer asks, turning back to him.

  ‘I’m going to get you out of here, hopefully without running into him or one of his men.’ He takes hold of her hand again.

  ‘We should use the fire escape, that way would be safest don’t you think?’ She looks at him, unsure.

  ‘I don’t know, at this point I’m willing to bet that no way is safest.’ He scans the area.

  ‘Well, I’m willing to bet taking the stairs is safest. I mean if we took the elevator the doors could open out into a sea of gun fire. At least with the stairs we’ll be able to hear anyone coming.’ She shudders.

  ‘I think you’ve been watching too many action movies Jen.’ He raises his eyebrows. ‘But, at the moment, I think you may have a point. Come on.’ O’Connell reinforces his grip on her hand and at a fast pace leads her to the emergency exit directly in front of them. When they reach the metal door O’Connell begins fumbling around with his sheet of security codes. Jennifer glances behind them.

  ‘Do you hear that?’ The sound of muffled footsteps resonates some distance behind them.

  ‘Yes … god where is the code!’ O’Connell yells scanning his eyes over the sheet of paper again.

  ‘We should’ve asked Dave for the security card he swiped of off the guard in our ward!’ Jennifer scolds herself.

  ‘What! You guys had a security card?’ He yells, stopping to look up at her.

  ‘Yeah. I didn’t realise that you would be manually typing in codes!’

  ‘Well how the hell do you think I’ve been getting through the doors?’ He shouts.

  ‘I don’t know! Why are you yelling?’

  ‘Sorry.’ He returns his gaze to the sheet of codes. ‘Yes!’ He cheers after half a minute, quickly typing in the code and unlocking the door. The footsteps behind them grow louder.

  O’Connell grabs Jennifer’s arm and yanks her through the door, securing it behind them before starting down the stairs.

  They gallop down the steep incline of solid concrete, flight after flight, their faces flushed, breathing heavily. O’Connell is half a flight ahead of Jennifer, flying downwards, when a loud bang echoes up towards them. Jennifer stops, grasping the railing with one hand and her chest with the other, panting loudly. O’Connell turns and stares back at her, sweat pouring down his face, his chest heaving.

  ‘Shit.’ He pants. ‘Someone’s coming up.’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Jennifer just manages to breath. ‘The guy that was following us upstairs is bound to be on his way down. We’re trapped!’

  ‘No, come on.’ O’Connell back tracks, joining Jennifer halfway up the staircase, then continues to the top. She lets out an exhausted groan and follows hastily. O’Connell stops at the nearest exit door leading onto the second floor. He grabs the handle and pushes.

  ‘Stop!’ A deep voice yells from below. Jennifer turns, catching sight of an unfamiliar guard pounding up the stairs towards them, his gun ready. O’Connell ignores him and continues through the door, Jennifer stands paralysed. The guard raises his gun and aims it at her head; a faint cry erupts from her mouth, her legs refuse to move.

  ‘Jennifer!’ O’Connell pushes his torso back through the door and grabs hold of her cold, limp hand, yanking her towards him. She stumbles backwards clumsily. ‘Jen, this is not the time to let your nerves get the better of you. You need to stay focussed, okay?’ O’Connell slams the door shut and throws his weight against it. He can feel the guard pounding into the door
from the other side.

  ‘I’m sorry Peter, I just froze.’ She brings her hands to her head, trying desperately to stabilise her shaking fingers.

  ‘It’s okay. The sooner we get you out of here the better.’ He puffs, pushing even more weight into the door. ‘Where are we?’ He scans the dark space. Jennifer recognises the location instantly. She is back where she had been with Mike and Dave when they had heard O’Connell exit the elevator barley fifteen minutes ago.

  Before she can answer, O’Connell lets out a scream of exhaustion as the door receives another pounding. His face reddens; the veins in his forehead bulging. Muffled voices escape through the door frame and within seconds the force being exerted from the other side ceases. O’Connell relaxes, panting, leaning the top half of his body against the door.

  ‘It looks like they’re going to go find another way to get to us.’ He puffs. ‘Can we hide in one of these rooms?’ He asks quickly.

  ‘No, they’re all locked. I thought you wanted to get out of here?’ She hugs herself.

  ‘Yeah, yeah you’re right ... What’s the best way out?’

  ‘The only other ways are to take the fire escape on the opposite side of the building or one of the elevators.’ He nods, moving away from the door.

  ‘Well, they know we’re here so we can’t keep chatting any longer. The fire escape is not safe so I guess we just take the elevator and hope for the best. Where does this elevator lead?’ O’Connell indicates the elevator immediately next to the fire escape.

  ‘It opens out at the end of the corridor right opposite the big metal security doors that lead outside.’

  His eyes light up. ‘That’s where I came in. That looks like our best chance.’ He hurries over to the elevator and presses the down button. They wait, barely breathing, for the elevator to descend from the sixth floor.

  ‘What’s on the sixth floor?’ He asks her, curiosity emerging in his vibrant eyes.

  ‘Why?’ Her forehead creases.

  ‘I just had a thought. They’ll be expecting us to leave which means they’ll probably have someone guarding every exit. We actually might be better off finding somewhere to hide until morning.’ He pants.

  ‘Well, you won’t find anywhere good to hide up there. That’s where they keep the high security patients. If you think the security on the first five floors is tough then you haven’t seen anything. There’s no point, we’re better off trying to leave. Even if there is someone guarding the exit, there can’t be any more than one person, Marc doesn’t have that many men. There are two of us, we can fight them off.’ She stutters.

  ‘Jen, don’t do anything stupid. If someone is there I will be the one fighting them off, not you.’

  ‘I don’t need you to fight for me. I’ve been doing pretty well the last seven years.' She crossed her arms.

  ‘I … I just … I don’t want you to get hurt. I already lost you once, I don’t want to go through that again. I want to keep you alive.’

  Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the elevator. It opens revealing an empty compartment, relief floods over them. They step in and O’Connell pushes the button for the first floor.

  ‘Alright then, let’s pray there’s no one down there waiting for us.’

  Jennifer nods, arms still crossed. Their hearts pound and their breath halters when the elevator drops quickly to the first floor and drifts open.

  The corridor is empty.

  O’Connell lets out a huge breath before smiling and taking Jennifer’s hand, leading her out of the elevator. Once they are out he drops her hand and stares into her dilated eyes.

  ‘I want you to stay behind me, just in case.’ He orders. She nods and drops back, positioning herself directly behind him. She grabs hold of his left hand again and squeezes it tightly. Slowly, with his gun held ready to fire, he directs her down the still corridor. They quickly reach the employee entrance. O’Connell lets go of Jennifer’s hand and pulls out his sheet of security codes once more. Jennifer remains closely behind him, still and silent while he fiddles around, punching in numbers.

  The cocking of a revolver wakes her up.

  The thin barrel of the black gun forces its way into the side of her head whilst a cold, spidery hand takes hold of her left arm, twisting it behind her back. A familiar voice whispers in her ear. She lets out a weak scream. O’Connell turns to face her and bounces back when he catches sight of the guard forcing his gun into the side of her head.

  ‘Who are you?’ O’Connell asks. The guard smiles widely revealing a piece of chewing gum and a perfect set of teeth.

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t expect you to recognise my face, but you might recognise my cooking.’ He grins, rolling the piece of gum around his open mouth. O’Connell looks at him.

  ‘Cooking?’

  ‘Yeah, I’ve been working at a little restaurant called La Fiesta for some years now.’

  ‘Ah, so this is where you’ve been.’ O’Connell speaks with slow recognition. ‘He’s got you doing something a little more exciting has he? I suppose this is a nice change, not having to cook disgusting food for people?’ O’Connell stands up tall.

  ‘Yeah, it is. You know, I think I like this kind of work a little better.’ He shoves the gun harder into Jennifer’s head and tightens his hold on her arm; she winces. He laughs. ‘Those little guards you had out the front there weren’t terribly well trained you know. I had them lying on the ground before they even knew I was there.’

  ‘You better not have hurt them.’ O’Connell glares.

  ‘Oh, and what will you do if I have? Spend the rest of your life trying to come up with some way to put me in prison and failing miserably.’ He laughs. ‘Now, if you don’t mind I have to take Jenny here up to Mr Verdad, he’s been terribly worried about her.’ He mocks.

  ‘No! I’m not letting her out of my sight.’ O’Connell spits, reaching towards her. Foreman jams the gun even further into Jennifer’s head and twists her arm tighter still. This time she screams, trying to hold back tears.

  ‘I’m afraid you’re going to have to. Mr Verdad doesn’t like audiences.’ He grins.

  ‘Yeah? Well, Mr Verdad isn’t going to get anywhere near her. Now,’ O’Connell slips his own gun out and aims it at Foreman, ‘put your gun down and I might not shoot you.’

  Foreman laughs exuberantly. ‘You might not shoot me? How nice of you.’

  ‘Put the gun down now!’ O’Connell shouts, blood filling his cheeks.

  ‘Okay, no need to get angry.’ Foreman lowers his gun laughing, Jennifer sighs in relief. Within less than a second Foreman has his gun raised again, this time pointing it straight at O’Connell. Before O’Connell even has time to react Foreman diverts his aim to O’Connell’s left foot and fires. O’Connell hollers out in pain, falling to the ground. His hands clutch onto his foot.

  ‘Peter!’ Jennifer screams. She tries to move towards him but Foreman’s hold on her is too strong.

  ‘Now,’ Foreman directs to O’Connell, sprawled on the floor, ‘try catching us, I dare you.’ Hysterical laughter erupts from the pits of his chest. He returns his gun to Jennifer’s head, reinforces his grip on her arm and begins dragging her away.

  ‘No!’ She screams at him, tears staining her face. ‘No! Peter!’ She cries. ‘Peter!’ She starts kicking her legs in the air and jerking her torso backwards and forth, trying to break free. ‘Let go of me! Please!’ She struggles, trying to release her arm, bound tightly behind her.

  ‘Calm down, your death will be much less painful if you don’t resist, I can assure you.’ He grunts, struggling to keep her still. ‘Mr Verdad doesn’t want to hurt you; he only wants to kill you.’ He chuckles.

  ‘Are you insane? Can you even hear what you’re saying?’ She ceases struggling as he starts dragging her around the corner. ‘You’ll be an accomplice to murder, is that what you want? What has Marc ever done for you to deserve this kind of service?’

  ‘Mr Verdad pays me very well.’ He spits.

&
nbsp; ‘Pays you? No sane person would do this just for money.’

  ‘Well, I won’t lie, the feeling of satisfaction you get when you’re in control of someone’s life,’ he stops, tips his head towards her neck and sucks in the air around her, ‘is rather addictive.’ He jams the gun into her head harder. ‘I’m sure Mr Verdad will agree with me.’

  ‘You psychos should be the ones in here not me. I never did anything to deserve this. I’ve kept Marc’s disgusting little secret all these years, why would I blab now?’ She yells. ‘All I want is to get out of here, start fresh. Can’t you just let me go, pretend you didn’t find me?’

  Foreman laughs. ‘Try as hard as you like, your little persuasion tactic won’t work on me.’ They arrive at the elevator. ‘I’ve come to realise you’re quite the little actress.

  ‘He’s waiting for you in your bedroom.’

  #26 Last Breath