by Debra Webb
A buzzer sounded as the door beyond the guard opened. Terri flashed him one last smile before hurrying through. She stood in what appeared to be an anteroom. To her left a glass door revealed what looked like an employee break room. In front of her was a closed door. When the door behind her clicked shut, the doors in front of her swung open and she walked into Franklin’s ward.
“Wow,” she whispered, awestruck. Three patient rooms with views of the harbor were on the far side of the large open space. The ward was laid out much like a typical ICU around what appeared to be a nurses station on steroids. Through the glass panes, she could see all sorts of lab equipment in other areas, and the hum of a nearby MRI machine was unmistakable.
“You must be Terri,” a woman with short, dark hair and a bright smile greeted her from the nurses station. “I’m Regina.”
“Nice to meet you,” Terri replied.
“Thanks for helping us out on your days off. I just can’t go 24/7 like I used to.”
“You’ve been here since yesterday?”
“Pretty much. Dr. Palmer called me back right after the blackout. Forgive the extra muscle out there. Everyone is edgy.”
“Understandably,” Terri said.
“Dr. Palmer will speak with you soon, but I can show you the setup.” Regina smiled. “He said you were a friend of his?”
“Yes, but I don’t know a thing about the project.”
“Well, that’s no surprise. Dr. Palmer doesn’t divulge much.”
A door slammed, making both women jump. Regina leaned in. “Boss’s office,” she explained. “He’s had people stopping in for meetings constantly. As I said, everyone is edgy after yesterday. Follow me.”
Regina’s thorough tour took longer than Terri had anticipated. She’d known Franklin couldn’t possibly be working in an ordinary ward, but the scope of his resources surprised her.
“Last stop,” Regina said, heading back to the anteroom between the ward entrance and the secure door. “Our break room.” Terri followed her in. A table for four was positioned near the glass wall that overlooked the ward. The opposite corner was a kitchenette with a microwave and refrigerator. “Lockers, full bathroom and sleeping area are through that door. After yesterday all personal belongings and cell phones have to stay in the lockers now.”
“No problem,” Terri said. She took the first open locker and stowed her purse, leaving her lunch in the refrigerator.
“Our patient is a nice guy,” Regina said as they returned to the ward. “We have a few minutes before the next vitals check. I’ll introduce you then.”
“Sounds good.” Terri tucked her hands into her pockets, wondering what to do next. “What’s protocol for the patient if we have another power outage?”
“The patient isn’t on any equipment. He was pretty calm yesterday.” Regina sighed. “I think that’s what this morning’s big meeting is about. Dr. Palmer wants his own generator for this ward.”
Terri didn’t know who bankrolled his research or what he was developing this time, but she knew he had plenty of influence.
“He’ll get it,” Regina said. “I know I’m just support staff, but it’s a nice perk to not have to inventory every alcohol swab.”
Raised voices carried through Franklin’s closed office door, but it was impossible to make out the words. Terri was relieved when a quiet alarm went off and Regina stood up. “Let’s introduce you to the patient. I think you’ll get along great.”
Regina knocked on the door as she opened it, and Terri heard the soft murmur of a television as they walked in.
“Matt?” she called. “Are you awake?”
“Always.”
Regina pulled back the thin privacy curtain and made introductions. “Terri will be part of the team for a while.”
“Great to meet you,” Matt said, not quite meeting her gaze. “Welcome to the sci-fi ward.”
“Thanks,” Terri replied with a smile as she adjusted the stethoscope to take his blood pressure and check his pulse. Regina asked Matt several questions and tested his eyesight while Terri watched.
Back at the nurses station, Regina explained the questions. “Matt has an implant in his eye. It’s our job to make sure it isn’t impeding his vision or causing him discomfort. Tomorrow Dr. Palmer will implement the next stage, which will allow him to monitor the implant performance on a long-term basis.”
Terri knew other medical implants had similar capability. She was curious about Franklin’s goal with the research, but she knew better than to ask. If she needed to know, Franklin would tell her.
Regina finished adding the vitals to Matt’s chart and closed the file. “We don’t have anything going on for a bit.” She handed Terri a thin folder. “Would you mind getting familiar with Matt’s schedule while I catch a nap?”
“Not at all.” Terri had the schedule memorized within a few minutes and wasn’t quite sure what to do with the time. If she stayed on the project, she’d be sure to bring in a book for her next shift.
A few minutes later, Franklin emerged from the office and escorted a man in a suit out of the ward. When he returned, alone, he aimed a weary smile at Terri. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “Have you met Matt?”
“Regina introduced us.”
“Good,” he said, his smile faltering. “You’ll need to keep an eye on him when he goes to the gym in about an hour.”
“Right.” She motioned to the folder. The cautions relating to every activity had been spelled out. “Blood pressure and heart rate are still prime concerns?”
He beamed at her. “I should’ve brought you in at the beginning. I just didn’t...” His voice trailed off and his gaze drifted toward the patient’s room. “High blood pressure was a problem early on. This interface is a big improvement.” He started to say more and then changed his mind. “You can read up on our progress if you’d like.” He came around the desk and opened a file for her. “I’ll be in my office if you need anything.”
Curious, she read through the material, astounded by Franklin’s research. Matt had suffered a mild injury to his eye, and this implant, when fully functional, would gather, store and transmit anything and everything Matt observed. The first transmitter test was scheduled for tomorrow. It wasn’t a particular cure for blindness; in fact, the practical uses and implications weren’t clear to her, but she understood enough to know that if successful this would change biomechanics and nano medicine around the world. No wonder they were taking so many security precautions.
And it explained yesterday’s strange attack on Franklin’s ward. Someone wanted to impede or even steal his work. She was suddenly grateful for the man with the gun guarding the entrance.
The doors parted with a loud whoosh, and Terri popped to her feet as the man in the suit stormed inside. He glared at her, his nostrils flaring, and went straight for Franklin’s office.
She was surprised he left the door open. “That woman needs to go,” he shouted at Franklin.
Terri ducked her head, trying desperately to disappear.
“Close the door, Wallace,” Franklin said.
“No. I don’t care if she can hear me. Bring her in and ask her what she knows.”
Terri kept her head down, hoping it was just a matter of a new face in an established project, but really, what else was Franklin supposed to do with two of his nurses out of commission?
“I’ll do no such thing.”
“Her brother.” Wallace lowered his voice so Terri couldn’t hear.
Her nerves jangled. What could a total stranger know about Trey? She shouldn’t be listening. It wasn’t her business and her brother had rarely interacted with Franklin. She thought about stuffing gauze in her ears, since she couldn’t leave her station or close the door without being noticed.
Wallace’s voice rose once more. “You are deliberately sabotaging your best work. I want to know why.”
“You’re overreacting. You, of all people, know what this project means to me. Her brother
is irrelevant.”
A chime sounded on the station monitor, signaling that Matt needed her. She practically raced to his room. “Is everything okay in here?”
He was in the recliner watching television. “Figured you could use the distraction. Wallace is a blowhard. Don’t worry about it.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Do people show up and argue with Franklin often?”
“More than they should. Usually it’s about funding.”
The current argument sounded far more specific than the request for the generator Regina had mentioned.
“Relax. Franklin trusts you.”
“How do you know?”
Matt looked at her, his dark gaze assessing. Then he shrugged. “If he didn’t, you wouldn’t be here.”
Watching the game show network with Matt, she waited out the confrontation. When she saw Franklin ushering Wallace out of the ward, she was ready to return to her station. Before she could put thought into action, Franklin walked into the room. “Matt, if your workout could wait a few minutes, I need a word with Terri.”
Matt acquiesced with a nod, and Terri followed Franklin to his office.
“You couldn’t have missed that,” Franklin began.
“No,” she admitted. “Why would anyone around here care about my brother?”
Franklin settled into his chair with a heavy sigh. “You’re aware I’ve worked on many sensitive projects. As a longstanding friend and an occasional employee, you’ve been vetted by certain agencies and organizations as part and parcel of my background.”
It made sense, but it didn’t explain the worry over Trey.
“Your brother was missing,” he said. “Dropped out of college early in the semester and you didn’t tell me.”
She nodded. Ashamed now that she hadn’t confided in him. “I’m sorry if that caused you problems. Trey’s actions were embarrassing and I didn’t want to share that humiliation.”
Franklin waved off her response. “It’s water under the bridge now that he’s home again. Wallace is concerned, from a security point of view, since no one knows why Trey disappeared or where he went. Everyone gets nervous as a project nears live testing and completion. People who don’t know you think that your brother, coming home at this critical juncture, makes you a risk to the program.”
“You can trust me,” she vowed.
“Exactly what I told Wallace.”
“Trey and I never talk about my work. His only concern with my job is when I’ll be home.”
Franklin acknowledged that with a nod. “You’ll tell me if he gets curious now?”
“Of course.”
“Did he tell you anything about where he went after dropping out?”
“It sounds like he got involved with a self-help group near Sedona.”
“Plenty of those out there.” He tapped his pen against the desk blotter. “Wallace said he was in the hospital just before the blackout yesterday.”
The implication startled her. “He came by the nurses station and asked me to lunch,” she said. “He was irritated when I couldn’t make time for him, but he left. That was at least half an hour before the problems began.”
“I see.”
She got the distinct impression Franklin understood more than she did. About all of this. “I promise I won’t let you down.”
“If I thought otherwise I would have called someone else to fill in.”
She relaxed, smiling as his words so closely echoed those of his patient.
“What is it?” he asked.
She met his gaze. “Matt just told me the same thing.”
Franklin smiled, looking like a proud father. For some reason that made her want to hug him, but this didn’t seem like the right place. After he’d gone to bat for her, she didn’t want the security team thinking his support of her was based on sentimental factors. “I’ll just, ah, get Matt to his workout.”
“Thank you, Terri.”
She walked away, perplexed by the number of people who didn’t trust her brother. If this commune or team or company from Sedona was so terrible, why hadn’t the PI she’d hired figured that out?
Trey wasn’t faultless, and his quick-change attitude bothered her, but she couldn’t see him going from lost college guy to security risk on a medical research project. It just didn’t fit. He didn’t care much about medicine or health care, having had his fill of doctors, exams and operating rooms after the accident.
The choices he’d made in Arizona didn’t change her love for him. He was family, all she had, and he was home. For now. If by some strange twist Trey had brought trouble to her door, she wouldn’t allow him to interfere with Franklin’s research.
Chapter Nine
Getting Terri to work on time meant David was at his desk earlier than his coworkers. He made the most of the extra time, first reading through the reports filed by the security team and then taking an investigative walk through the parking garage.
Director Casey handpicked all Specialists who became a part of Mission Recovery. David, like the others, was the best at unraveling an enemy’s intention. As the Specialist on site, with the benefit of full access to every element within the hospital, including all security levels, David felt the pressure to figure this mess out. Quickly. At the very least it was up to him to provide Casey with a clearer image of the big picture.
Whether it was a distraction or not, with Keller in town, David knew there was a purpose behind the vandalism in the parking garage. The man just didn’t do things for the fun of it.
The cars had been processed, but the crime scene tape was still up. The owners, Terri included, would probably be able to reclaim their cars later today. According to the security footage, Trey had moved through the parking level below and then circled back to the hospital, away from the main lobby elevators. He’d never been close to the vandalized area.
David kept asking himself what Keller’s men had learned during the blackout. The logical reason for any test run was to assess reactions and previously undetected threats. Keller now knew response times for Dr. Palmer’s ward and the maintenance crew. But what was special about this parking level? It had taken several minutes for the security guard downstairs to get up here and chase off the vandal. If not for the alarm on one of the cars, the vandalism might have gone completely unnoticed until one of the car owners got off shift and reported the problem.
He mentally ticked through the names of the owners whose cars had been damaged. He was biased, of course, concerned that threatening Terri had been the real goal.
David forced himself to evaluate what would have happened if the car alarm hadn’t gone off. He studied the damage. Scraped paint, dented fenders and cracked bumpers were the most obvious. Two windows were broken, one passenger side and the driver’s side window on the sedan right next to it. Only Terri’s car had slashed tires.
David knew the guard on duty most days listened to hard rock music while he did homework for his college courses. He relied on the vibration setting on his phone, along with the lights displayed on the control panel and his radio to keep up with the less-than-demanding tasks of babysitting the parking garage. The music would’ve blocked out the noise of the vandalism.
David planted his hands on his hips. Only employees parked on this level. Parking here would draw too much attention and put too many factors out of the strike team’s control. Employee parking cards had to be scanned going and coming from the garage.
The vandal wanted the access cards. Pulling up the report on his phone, he scrolled through, looking for any mention of items stolen from the vehicles. Not one owner, not even Terri reported a missing access card.
Still, he wasn’t ready to ditch his new theory. David ducked under the crime scene tape and peered into each car. Two of the three drivers kept their cards visible. Maybe Keller hadn’t wanted to steal the cards, but merely copy one.
David pulled out his phone and called his boss. Casey listened as he explained what he’d found and his new
suspicions. “Keller gave Trey a card reader, so it stands to reason he had another for the vandal.”
“Keep going,” Casey said.
“I’m away from my desk, but I think it’s a safe bet if we check the activity in the handicapped spaces, we’ll find the wheelman. That’s how they left the hospital unseen.”
“What do you mean?”
“The vandalism was a distraction,” David continued. “They get the cards to copy for the real attack, and when the guard is upstairs chasing off the vandal, the shack is empty and they can drive off as if nothing happened.”
“I’ll have our resources here look for it,” Casey said thoughtfully. “The man who tried to breach Dr. Palmer’s ward used something that drained the battery backup on the security panel.”
“They thought a dead battery would let them bust through the door?”
“Apparently. I hadn’t expected that,” he admitted. “It’s an old-school approach.”
Surprising the director wasn’t common. Unfortunately for Keller, David knew doing the unexpected would only make Casey and the Specialists work harder to stop him.
“One more thing,” David said, staring at Terri’s flat tires. He hesitated. Maybe he was being too protective, too paranoid. “Terri Barnhart’s car is the only one that couldn’t have been driven away. Do you think it’s possible they wanted to send a message to keep Trey motivated?”
Casey’s low whistle was confirmation enough that David wasn’t far off the mark.
“Terri could be used against Trey or Dr. Palmer,” Casey agreed. “Stay close to her. Dr. Palmer plans to stay at the hospital with his patient. I’ll send in backup to cover Trey and Keller.”
“Yes, sir.” He wasn’t going to argue over the need for reinforcements. It was a relief he wouldn’t have to divert his attention from Terri. Still, with Keller in the area, David thought it would be smart to get some sort of tracker on the doctor as a precaution.
Heading back to work, he followed Trey’s path into the hospital and down to the morgue level. He wanted to check out the maintenance area. What he wouldn’t give for a few minutes alone with Trey in a small room and no witnesses. What could the kid be thinking to put his sister at risk and then act as if David was the problem? Hard as he tried to put himself in Trey’s shoes, David couldn’t imagine anything that would make him deliberately put his sisters in harm’s way.