Lethal Force

by Mike Ryan

  The next morning, Recker returned to the office, wanting to put his beef with Jones behind him. He still was planning on going after the person that shot Mia, and he was going to do it whether Jones approved of it or not, but today was about getting back into the hospital to see Mia. They went through the entire morning, continually checking the police updates, but they still were not allowing anyone in at that point. Recker started pacing around the office.

  “How long are they gonna stay there?” Recker asked. “How long does it take to clean up a crime scene?”

  “I’m sure they just want to make sure it’s safe for everyone to return,” Jones said.

  “Well hurry up and make it happen. There are people in there that would like visitors. They can’t close the place up forever. People would like to see their loved ones who are in there. Get their head out of their ass and pick up the pace.”

  “I’m sure they’re proceeding as quickly as possible.”

  “And before you say something, I’m not only talking about Mia. I’m talking about all the patients that are in there. Some of them I’m sure are dealing with difficult problems and could face them better if they had family support.”

  “As I said, I’m sure the police realize that as well and are moving quickly. It’s not like they shut the whole place down. Patients are still being cared for.”

  “Yeah, well, if they don’t hurry it up, I’m going in there regardless if the cops are there or not.”

  “I would strongly advise against that,” Jones said. “There is no reason to lose our heads and do something we would regret.”

  “I wouldn’t regret it.”

  Jones knew that was as correct a statement as was ever made. “That I would regret.”

  “Where’s Chris at, by the way?”

  “You’ve been here for several hours. Are you telling me you just realized he wasn’t here?”

  “Well he was here when I got here.”

  “And he left over an hour ago,” Jones said.

  “Yeah, I saw him go.”

  “And you didn’t question it?”

  Recker shrugged. “I dunno. I just assumed he went out for lunch or something. I figured you would have said if there was an assignment.”

  “Even if there was an assignment, would you take it right now in your present state?”

  “Depends on what it was. If it was something that could be cleaned up fairly quickly, probably. If it was something that might take days, probably not.”

  “Well, Chris went down to the hospital to see if he could get some information on when it might reopen.”

  “Oh. He checked in yet?”

  “He has not.”

  Recker continued pacing around the office for another thirty minutes as Jones went back to work. Recker’s thoughts were so focused on Mia that a tank could’ve come crashing through the building, and there was a decent chance that Recker wouldn’t have noticed. That changed when Jones’ phone started ringing. Recker instantly whipped his head around, wondering if it was Haley finally checking in. After all, Jones didn’t have a lot of numbers plugged into his phone. Luckily, Recker wasn’t left waiting. Jones’ initial greeting told him exactly who it was.

  “Chris, how are things going?”

  “Good. I just got word that the hospital’s going to open back up again around five o’clock today.”

  “Is that confirmed?”

  “It’s not official, no. I was down here hitting up some of the hospital staff and a couple police officers.”

  “Who did you tell them you were?” Jones asked.

  “I just told them that my mother was a patient and that I wanted to see her soon. So, I asked a police officer and he said it’d probably be around five o’clock. Then I asked two separate hospital staff people who came out in front of the building for different things, and they both said the same thing. So, right now, it looks like five o’clock is the time.”

  “OK. Thanks, Chris. Good work.”

  “I’m gonna still hang around here a while to see if anything changes.”

  “All right, sounds good.”

  Jones put his phone back down on the table and looked at Recker, who was staring at him with bated breath.

  “Well?” Recker said.

  “The latest information Chris has got says the hospital is going to reopen for business at five o’clock today.”

  “He’s sure?”

  “That’s the information he’s gotten from the people he’s talked to. He talked to a police officer and several hospital workers who confirmed it. Now, I suppose that could change, but at this point, that’s apparently what they’re leaning towards.”

  “What about police presence? Are they gonna stay there?”

  “He didn’t say. He’s going to stay there for a while and see if he can pick up anything else. I guess we shall see.”

  Recker looked at the time. Still had more than a few hours to wait. There was going to be a lot of pacing for him to do.

  “Am I going to have to call in carpet installers after you’re done?” Jones asked. “You’re going to wear out a hole in the floor.”

  “That’s why you should have put in hardwood.”

  “I never thought you were going to turn out to be a master pacer. You’ve probably walked a marathon in here just today.”

  “You should try it sometime.”

  “I don’t think I could afford it.”

  “How’s that?”

  “I think I would need to buy new legs after I was done.”

  Recker finally let out a smirk, though it was only fleeting. He continued pacing, occasionally stopping to look out the window, or go to the bathroom, or grab a drink from the refrigerator. He looked at the time what seemed like every two minutes.

  “Why don’t you sit down for a few minutes?” Jones asked.

  “Can’t.”

  “By the time you see Mia you’ll be exhausted and will fall asleep before you get there.”

  “Not likely.”

  Recker continued wearing out the carpet for the next few hours, not able to sit down as he anticipated seeing Mia again. Once four o’clock came, he was as antsy as ever.

  “I might just go down there now,” Recker said. “That way I can go in right at five o’clock.”

  “They might not even open right at five,” Jones replied. “Might be five-fifteen or five-thirty, something like that. Just relax. Once Chris gets a definite word, he’ll let us know.”

  “I don’t like just sitting here.”

  “You haven’t sat since you’ve been here.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Maybe you should take an anxiety pill or something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this worked up before.”

  “Mia’s in the hospital, how am I supposed to be calm?”

  “It’s not like she’s hanging on or something, she’s going to be fine.”

  “How do you know? What if something happened? A complication, something went wrong, could be anything?”

  “I think we would have heard.”

  “How?” Recker asked. “It’s not like they have our phone numbers to call.”

  “Michael, you’ve got to calm yourself down. You’re going to explode.”

  A few seconds later, Jones’ phone rang again. Recker quickly went over to the desk, assuming it was Haley calling. He was right. It was.

  “Chris, anything new?” Jones asked.

  “No, nothing new. But I just wanted to let you know that the hospital is opening up again to visitors at five o’clock.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. Some of the police have already started moving out. They’re keeping a few on the first-floor level, just to keep a presence and to look out for any trouble. I’ve also heard they’re going to have a couple roaming around the other floors just in case.”

  “Are they going to be screening people on the way in or anything?”

  “Not from what I hear,” Haley replied. “
They’re just gonna keep an eye out in case they see something funny. With Billings dead, they’re not expecting any more trouble here, but, they just wanna be on the safe side.”

  “All right, thank you.”

  “I’m still gonna stay here for a little bit, see if anything changes.”

  “OK.”

  Recker looked like he could barely contain himself as he waited for Jones to tell him what that was all about.

  “Well?”

  “Looks as though five o’clock is now a definite,” Jones answered.

  Recker pounded his fist on the desk in excitement. “I’m gonna head down there now.”

  “What are you going to do for half an hour before it opens?”

  Recker shrugged. “Wear out the sidewalk.”

  “I shouldn’t have asked.”

  Before leaving, Recker printed out the pictures of every known Scorpion they had on file. Jones didn’t say anything, but he knew why his partner was doing it. He was going to have Mia identify the person that shot her, so Recker would know what back to put the target on. Once all the pictures were printed out, Recker grabbed them and put them in his pocket, then raced for the door.

  “Give Mia my love,” Jones said.

  “I will.”

  Once Recker got to the hospital, he met up with Haley just outside the front. With most of the police leaving, Recker didn’t think he had to hide himself now. He still had a baseball hat pulled down low and sunglasses on. He figured that was enough. He didn’t need to bother with other disguises and such. Besides, he didn’t want Mia to see him all tricked out like that. He still carried the disguise box in his car, just in case the situation on the way in looked like it might call for it, he could go back to the car quickly and do his thing. But judging from the growing crowd in front of the building, it looked like a few hundred more people were chomping at the bit to get inside.

  “How’s everything going?” Recker asked.

  “Good. Looks like there’s gonna be an avalanche of people going in once they open up.”

  “Yeah. Can’t blame them. They wanna see their loved ones.”

  “You look nervous,” Haley said, observing his friend shift around in his stance. “You been pacing around this whole time at the office?”

  “Shows, huh?”

  Haley smiled. “Just a little.”

  “Wish they’d just do it now.”

  “Well, guess they gotta get everything in order first.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  “Hey, maybe when you’re done, I can go up and see her too?”

  “Why don’t you just go in with me?” Recker asked.

  “Nah, that’s your time. You guys should get to be alone for a few minutes, have some privacy. I was just thinking maybe when you’re finished. If you think she’d want me there.”

  “You know she would. She’d love to have you there.”

  “Good.”

  “Why don’t you give me a half hour or so, then you come up.”

  “Is that enough time for you?”

  “Yeah, it’ll be fine.”

  “OK. I’ll come up at five-thirty.”

  They waited patiently, or not so patiently in Recker’s case, for another twenty-five minutes. The doors on the ground level of the hospital started opening up five minutes early.

  “Looks like we’re moving early,” Recker excitedly said. “Almost feels like I’m meeting her for the first time again.”

  Haley smiled, thinking it was cute how he was acting. He could only hope he found someone to love like that at some point.

  “Five-thirty?” Haley asked, double checking.

  Recker tapped him on the shoulder. “I’ll see you up there.”

  25

  Recker stood just outside Mia’s room, taking a deep breath before going in. He walked right up to the room without a problem. Though he was a little nervous about slipping past the police on the main floor, it turned out to be no issue at all. There were a few officers by the main doors, but they were just there observing everyone, making sure there were no problems. They didn’t actually interact or stop anyone.

  Recker pushed the door open, peeking inside. He saw Mia lying there on the bed, awake. Her eyes instantly went to the door once she saw it open. A huge smile came over her face when she saw who was standing there. Recker pushed the door open all the way and stepped inside, seeing Mia put her arms out to welcome him. Recker walked over to the bed and hugged her.

  “How are you feeling?” Recker asked.

  “Surprisingly not too bad. Your body just feels a little different after going through something like that.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  Mia smiled. “Yeah. I guess you do.

  “You’re OK though?”

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t say I feel good, but it’s not bad either. I’m not really in pain. I guess the pain medication is working pretty well.”

  Recker leaned over and kissed her. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t even go there. This is not on you. It’s not your fault. It’s just something that happened. It could’ve been anyone. In some weird way, I’m almost glad it was me.”

  “What?”

  “Because it happened to me, it got you here. I already heard about what happened. The masked men that came in here and drove those men out.”

  “Oh.”

  “So, if it had happened to someone else, you might not have come. Maybe more people would have gotten hurt, maybe it would have taken longer, maybe a lot more bad things would have happened.”

  “You really have a certain way of looking at things,” Recker said. “I was afraid I was going to lose you.”

  “I guess now you know what it’s been like for me worrying about you.”

  Recker stared at her for a few seconds, thinking of how right she was. “Yeah. I guess I do.”

  “So, what exactly happened anyway?”

  “You want the long or the short version?”

  “Whichever one you want to tell.”

  “I’ll go with the short,” Recker said. “Basically, me, Chris, and Malloy came into the building through the parking garage and started taking out everyone we came across. Eventually we made it up to the fifth floor where you were, found you, got you into surgery.”

  “Malloy?”

  “Police had the building surrounded. Called Vincent for help. Him and Malloy didn’t hesitate.”

  “Wow. I guess sometimes it does pay to have friends in low places.”

  Recker laughed. “Yeah, sometimes it does.”

  “So how did you get in?”

  “A few cops on Vincent’s payroll let us slip by.”

  “Nobody else got hurt?” Mia asked.

  “Malloy took one in the leg, but he’ll be OK. I think one other person, I can’t remember if it was a visitor or someone that worked here, but whoever it was, they’ll be OK too.”

  “Well that’s good.”

  “What was it all about?”

  “A group called the Scorpions came in here because one of their leaders had been shot and was now in police custody. They didn’t want him going to jail I guess.”

  “So, they did all that just to help someone escape?”

  “As far as we can tell.”

  “Sounds like going to extremes.”

  “Some people think they can do whatever they want. That they can’t be stopped.”

  “Is it over?”

  “Should be here anyway,” Recker answered. “The guy they came in here for is now dead, so they won’t be back here. There’s no reason for it. Anyway, enough about that. Did they say when you’re gonna be able to leave yet?”

  “Uhh, no, I don’t think they’ve said yet. I think they just wanna give me another day to make sure everything’s OK. They said I lost a good amount of blood, so…”

  “Hopefully, it’ll only be a few days, maybe a week at most.”

  “Yeah. I just don’t wanna lie here for a week. It’s so boring.”
/>   Recker laughed. “Says the woman who works at a hospital.”

  “It’s a little different when you’re the one lying in a bed all the time. It’s better on the other end of it.”

  “Yeah, I guess it is at that.”

  As they talked, Recker had forgotten all about the pictures in his pocket. At that moment, nothing else seemed to matter. The only thing that mattered was her. And she seemed to be doing as well as could be under the circumstances. As they talked, and smiled, and laughed, the time flew by. Before they even knew it, there was a knock on the door. They looked over and saw Haley poking his head in.

  “Hey!” Mia said, smiling widely.

  “Mind if I come in?” Haley asked.

  Recker looked at the time. “Wow. The time went fast.”

  “If you guys need more time I can come back later.”

  “No, come on in,” Mia said. “The more people here the better. It’s been so boring here by myself.”

  Haley walked into the room, holding something behind his back. Recker leaned over, trying to see what it was. After a few seconds, Haley brought his arm around to the front, revealing a bouquet of different colored flowers.

  “These are for you,” Haley said, walking over to the bed and kissing Mia on the cheek.

  “Awe, they’re beautiful, thank you.”

  “Picked them up at the flower shop downstairs.”

  “That’s so thoughtful.”

  Haley then put them in a cup of water that was on the table next to her bed. He looked down at Recker, who was just staring up at him.

  “You trying to upstage me?” Recker asked.

  “Huh?”

  “I come in here with nothing and you come in with flowers. You trying to steal her away from me or something?”

  The three of them had a good laugh, though Mia quickly stopped as it hurt. “I’m just glad you both could be here. I wasn’t sure when or if you would be coming.”

  “There’s nothing that would’ve kept me away,” Recker said.

  “I can vouch for that,” Haley replied.

  A few minutes later, a doctor came in the room to check on his patient. “Ah, visitors.”

  “This is my boyfriend, Mike” Mia said. “And our friend, Chris.”

  Recker stood up and shook the doctor’s hand. Haley did the same. Recker immediately started peppering the doctor with questions.