Mercy Killer

by T S Paul

The wedge was for the emergency exit door. I was hoping the sixth-floor stairwell guard didn’t know Marcia well. Very few of us took the stairs.

  Smoothing my clothes and clipping on her badge, I let my facial expression slip into the no-nonsense-take-no-prisoners look that Marcia had when she worked. Nice lady, but a real hard ass on the floor. Less experienced nurses and sometimes doctors got out of her way fast. I needed to act like her.

  “Hey! I need in!” I all but yelled at the sleeping guard.

  The sixth-floor door guard woke up with a start and actually fell over as the chair he was leaning against the wall tipped over.

  “Open the door! I’m late,” I explained. “That damn elevator is on the fritz again. Why nobody from maintenance works on the weekend and at night boggles my freaking mind!”

  The guard, a bit flustered, gave me a stern look. “Badge.”

  “What?” I said, exasperated.

  He grunted and cleared his throat. “Badge. I need to see your badge.”

  “Oh, that,” I exclaimed. Pulling it off my uniform I thrust it at him. “Here!”

  The guard gave the badge a cursory look and unlocked the door. “A little warning next time would be nice. I might have been hurt.”

  Typical Marcia, I gave him a no-nonsense look. “Really? You’re going with that?” I shook my head at him and stepped out onto the sixth floor.

  Interesting was the first thing I could think of. All the rooms here had glass windows in the front. It looked more like a laboratory than a hospital ward. The centrally-located nurses’ desk found on the other floors was down at one end, instead. Men in guard uniforms sat outside one of the rooms on the opposite end.

  Grabbing a clipboard and file from a wall bracket next to a room I tried to look busy. Walking as if distracted, I approached the sitting guards. Chris and his rumor mill didn’t say anything about high security risks other than Craven, so I was guessing here. Glancing from side to side, I could see strange apparatus with patients attached to it. Totally experimental. The science geek in me wanted to get a closer look. But my little voice told me to keep on keeping on.

  Acknowledging the guards, I reached for the door handle to the room I suspected Craven occupied.

  “May we see your badge please?” the man closest to me asked. I didn’t look, but I could almost feel the other man’s adrenaline as he prepared for the worst.

  “Of course. I do need to take his vitals, though.” Unclipping Marcia’s badge, I handed it over.

  Like the stairwell guard, he only glanced at it. They were looking for color and basic looks. Marcia was very plain looking with dark hair. The pictures the hospital took weren’t the most flattering. “Thanks.”

  As he handed it back, I glanced at the other man. He was easing his hand off of his sidearm as our eyes met. The look he gave me said he wasn’t sorry for the threat.

  Pulling the door open, I stepped in. The knob had a pop-up lock which I pushed in as the door closed behind me.

  “Forget something, Marcia? I knew you were attracted to me just as much as I was to you. We could put on a show for the goons outside if you want. Add some excitement to their dull, small lives. Wanna bet they need a Lot of encouragement just to get it up?” Craven commented salaciously as I drew the drapes closed. I planned to claim modesty if questioned.

  Turning toward my biggest competition and albatross, I conjured up a big smile. “Hello Floyd, remember me?”

  Thirteen

  Floyd Craven gave me a shocked look as he stared at me. He was strapped down hands and feet to the bed, in a sitting position.

  “Different hair, a pound or two here and there, but I know you. You’re the one that got away.” He smiled at me. “Did you know I looked for you?”

  “I knew. My dorm was on the other end,” I explained to him. “I saw the aftereffect of your visit, though.”

  Craven smiled again. “Wasn’t it delicious?”

  I smiled back but it didn’t reach my eyes. It was all I could do to know growl at him. Anger built up for years was trying to come out of me. I needed calm for my plans to work. Conquering your personal albatross was one of those things that should be savored and enjoyed.

  Floyd noticed my shift in composure even as the Marcia persona dropped away. Cocking his head to one side, he gave me a cloying look. “Why are you here?”

  Ignoring his question, I stepped closer so as to not shout. “I studied you. One of my classes in school was Abnormal Psychology. The author of our text devoted half a chapter to your escapades. He couldn’t have known you would visit in person, though. My professor at the time was called in to assist the local police in catching you. That was before the FBI descended on us. They have some really sharp people. I learned a lot just watching how they operate. You know what they say about learning, don’t you?” Pausing, I gave him a questioning look. When he didn’t answer, I continued. “When you stop learning you start dying. That sums up life, doesn’t it?”

  Craven’s eyes came together as he concentrated on me. “Who are you, really?”

  I stepped closer. Willing myself to not check my watch and give away to him that time was a factor here, I continued to be as obtuse as possible. “It took the FBI a long time to put all the pieces together. If they’d known about the attack on me, it might have been quicker. I didn’t come forward, you see. Some things the FBI doesn’t need to know, after all. They made more mistakes than you did. A traffic stop? Kidnap tools out in the open? Did you want to get caught? Overconfidence is what did you in.”

  “What are you doing? Where’s the regular nurse?” Craven asked. I could hear just the tiny bit of panic in his voice starting to creep in.

  I was at the foot of his bed now, starting to edge my way around to the IV stand beside him. “The death penalty. But you don’t plan to let them electrocute you, do you? Feeding the FBI intel has to be fun. Have they caught you in any lies yet?”

  “Uh..” Floyd struggled with the straps holding him down, but didn’t yell out.

  “Did you know that the drugs that most veterinarian hospitals use are the same or lower doses of what hospitals like this use?” I waved at the building around us with one hand. “Let me tell you, getting drugs from them is so much easier than this place. Here, they keep really good track of the really nasty ones. Not so much at the vet’s hospital, at least the ones out in the country. You just never know when there’s a large animal you need to put down.”

  Goggle-eyed, Floyd continued to stare at me. It was only when I started to pull up my skirt that he got excited. “Time for a show? Am I about to get lucky here? Are you one of the fans that writes me all the time? Several women have asked to marry me already.”

  Pulling my skirt up past my knees demonstrated that I wore stockings and garters. Just above the left garter, strapped to my inner thigh, was a small automatic pistol. Against the left, positioned so they didn’t rub, were two pre-loaded syringes.

  “Men are so easy. They do their jobs but are scared to search a woman properly. That’s one of your problems, you know. You aren’t a woman. We are much craftier than men,” I pulled out the syringes and checked them. Back at home when I put them on, I’d marked which was which. The pancuronium bromide was marked with the letter B. The other held a fun cocktail of drugs that would finish him off.

  “I do apologize if this causes you pain. The dosage for horses was all I could acquire since they really only use this combination in prisons. There are normally three, but I couldn’t find the barbiturate that I needed. It’s pretty funny that drugs to make you high are illegal or locked up tighter than your high school prom date might have been, but stuff that will kill you is easy to find.” I laughed. “Now would be a good time to yell. Or would you like to watch? I bet the sensation of actually watching your doom travel down the line and into your arm is delicious.”

  “What are you doing? I’ve already promised to tell you everything. I don’t understand this,” Floyd demanded.

  I held the sy
ringe in one hand and his IV in the other but what he said made me pause. “Who do you think I am?”

  “FBI. You people don’t have to constantly threaten me like this,” Floyd cried. “These fake plays are tedious.”

  A small chuckle slipped out of my mouth. Turning my head to him I smiled, even as my fingers injected the paralytic. “It’s fun that the FBI has been playing games, but I’m not a part of that. I’m something worse.”

  Almost instantly the high dose of the muscle relaxant started to work. Picking up the other syringe I waved it at him. “You should be feeling pretty good right about now. All loose and wiggly. It’s this other one that should worry you, though.”

  “Wha...What...Did…Did…Give…” Floyd stuttered out his words as everything in his face went a bit slack.

  “Oops. I can see that dose was a bit too much. I’d say I was sorry, but I’m not. Everything should be slowing now, including your heart. Just in time for my cocktail of fun.” Inserting the other syringe, I injected the IV. “There will be pain, but think of it as a chorus of angels heralding you on your way to death.”

  Craven’s body clenched up suddenly as the mix of sodium thiopental and potassium chloride hit his body. As with the pancuronium bromide, I didn’t know the exact dosages, so I’d mixed up a heavy cocktail of the two. All three drugs were what was used for euthanasia for humans and animals. Fitting for a man who was both.

  I was out of time. Marcia would only take so long for lunch, and replacing a badge, even at night, didn’t take that long. Since I didn’t check in with the other nurses, I would have a few moments extra, but I needed to get out of there now. Shoving the used syringes into a bedside drawer, I quickly walked over to the viewing window. As if talking to Craven, I faced him and opened the curtains. The guards hadn’t noticed that I locked the door, so I quickly opened it.

  “Is he ok? You were in there a long time,” the seated guard asked me.

  I scowled. “He’s a letch is what he is. He wanted me to show him my specials. He’s sleeping now, though. Only my husband gets to see that sort of thing.”

  The man opposite the door snorted, “Sounds about right. He’s not allowed any sort of stimuli. So no dirty mags for him.”

  “What does your husband do?” the first guard asked me.

  “He’s an advertising executive…” I looked down the hallway toward the elevator. Marcia stood in the middle of the hallway staring back at me, a very angry look on her usually sweet face. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I pointed to her and said, “Hey, do you recognize that woman?”

  As both men turned to look I reached for my pistol. It cleared leather even as Marcia yelled for them to stop me. “Hold it! Hands up!”

  Both men were on their feet now and staring at the small gun in my hands. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

  “You’ll never get away with this,” the first guard stated as he raised his hands up away from his sidearm.

  I motioned for the other man to move away from the wall. “Both of you into the middle. In the movies they always say that, don’t they? But I have gotten away with it, haven’t I? Did either of you even bother to check on your prisoner?”

  They both looked away from me and toward the window. This allowed me to take several steps back. My only chance of escape was the roof access door. Falling to my death didn’t sound fun but it was better than shooting it out here in the hall. Behind both men I could see a stream of reinforcements on the way.

  “You’re better off surrendering now. Don’t throw your life away like this,” the older of the two men said.

  “Luck favors the bold,” I said with a smile as I turned and ran for the rooftop door.

  Shots rang out even as the door slammed open. Both guards now had their guns out. “Stop!”

  Sharp bits of metal from either the door or the rounds they’d fired lanced into my exposed arm and legs. The pain of them was blocked by the adrenaline I was feeling as I hit the stairs running. Pausing at the first platform I ducked down low, aiming my gun at the door.

  The door slammed shut after me but now it was opening slowly. Pulling the trigger, I fired two shots at it.

  Blam! Blam!

  My little gun’s rounds slammed into the door, breaking the glass window. While the recoil was negligent, the echoes of the shots were deafening in the stairwell. Holding one hand over an ear, I continued on to the roof.

  A written warning brought me up short. “Door only opens one way.”

  One way. Through this door was a straight shot to my doom. A one-way ticket to heaven. Filled with the resolve of my actions, I pushed on the door and stepped out onto the tar-covered roof.

  Fourteen

  I was completely and royally screwed!

  In all my plans, the roof hadn’t been considered. I’d looked at it, noting the location of the gutters and spotlights, but actual information about it wasn’t in the plans I got from city hall. Neither was information about the sixth floor.

  Now I’m up here, dead of night, with half the hospital’s security forces and the freaking FBI pounding on the door! No way down and no reinforcements. Fucked is what my grandfather would say. Ernest only held his tongue around Grandmother. Once she was gone, the curse words came out. Both in German and English.

  Ejecting the magazine on my pistol, I checked the rounds. Seven. If I had to shoot it out, it was going to be over really quick. Suicide wasn’t for me. The idea of jumping or even falling to my death wasn’t something I’d ever thought of. Capture and incarceration by the authorities didn’t sound good, either. I might’ve gotten away with killing the lawyer, but there was no dodging this one. I didn’t even want to think of what the FBI would find if they dug into my past. My personal skeletons were buried pretty deep, but the bodies weren’t.

  Moving away from the door, I peeked over the edge of the building. Below there were lights and sirens. Local, State, and Federal police units were all pulling into the hospital’s parking lot. SWAT units would follow, and I’d be dead. Not the way I wanted to go. Closing my eyes, I said a prayer. I wasn’t raised to be religious, beyond the Church Lady dragging me to her place of worship. The concept of an otherworldly entity that controlled my life was hard to believe. But there had to be something out there. Something that could give meaning to it all. It was that concept I prayed to. I had nothing but death left.

  “Humans set themselves apart from other creatures by having a choice. You alone in this world can decide the direction your life will go. Good or evil, it is your choice. Humans, unlike the Gods, aren’t predetermined,” a voice sounded in my ear.

  “The hell…” I spun around to point my gun at…nothing? “Where are you?”

  “Right behind you,” the voice said.

  Half hidden in the shadows behind me stood a large cloaked figure. He leaned heavily on a gnarled wood staff.

  “What are you?” I asked him.

  The man shifted forward a bit, exposing just the lower half of his face. “Interesting. You ask what, not who, I am. I’m surprised you can see the difference.”

  “I say a prayer to the infinite and a strange man shows up in a place that has a single exit that I’m blocking, and you wonder why I can tell the difference? I suddenly feel so sad for the universe. Does your village know you’re missing?” I answered, somewhat snarky. It was one thing to pray, but another to get an idiot as a responder.

  “Fire. That is what I like about you, Genevieve Vogel. You have spirit!” he exclaimed.

  I frowned. “You seem to know an awful lot about me for someone who ‘answered a prayer’ just now. Why is that?”

  The big man stepped out of the shadows, so much closer to me that I could smell the scent of wood smoke on him. It was a full moon and the light seemed to shimmer across his face, lighting it up. The years hadn’t been kind to him, but while he looked old, he didn’t move old. “Luck.”

  “That doesn’t fly with me, old man. I’m not a fan of coincidences, either.” I
scowled at him. He drew my eyes to him, but so did the door I’d just come through. Where were the cops? They’d been only seconds behind me on the stairs.

  Following my eyes, he turned to stare at the door. “Your friends below were delayed by a bit. I needed you alone for this.”

  Like my favorite pointy-eared science officer character on television, I arched one eyebrow at him. It had taken me weeks of staring at a mirror to get it just right. “Really? They seemed pretty insistent to catch up to me.”

  “Things change. I have an offer for you that you can’t refuse,” the man said with a chuckle.

  “I don’t do that, especially on the first date. A woman likes a little wine and dine first, you know,” I replied. He was starting to piss me off.

  “Not… I didn’t mean…ugh, women.” he growled. “So much like your mother. Obstinate to the very end.”

  “Uh uh. Don’t bring my mother into this, whoever you are. She had no control over what happened to her. You know more about me than I you and it’s starting to piss me off. Why don’t you just move out of the way and let me deal with the cops on the stairs?” I asked him. “A least I know where I stand with them!”

  “Caw! Caw! Caw!”

  There was the sound of wings and two very large crows swooped down through the night air to land above the stairwell entrance. The hooded man glanced upward at the birds, shook his head, and muttered, “too soon for this. I said after the offer was made not before.”

  I looked at the crows and then up at the sky. The pick-up incident with Craven when I first entered school had caused me to research crows. For a nurse, I knew way more about them then I did regular city animals like cats and dogs. It was because of this peculiar research that I knew crows were anything but nocturnal. Like all birds, they could be forced to fly at night, but it wasn’t at all common. I put two and two together and got seven. Licking my lips, I stared at the man in front of me. “How long have you been around me?”

  “Since the very beginning of your story. I have always had a task for you, a job that you were born for,” he answered. Holding out his arm, the man allowed the birds to swoop down and land on him. “We have always been here for you.”