Page 32

Kovak is working tonight.

Of course he is. It’s the night before the biggest exam of the year. Why would he give up the opportunity to make a few bucks off some desperate medical students like Victor?

But the clinic is quiet when I come in. He’s got somebody in the examining room with him, but the waiting room is empty. It’s perfect.

I check under that potted plant, and sure enough, the key to his desk drawer is still there. I remove it and fit it into the bottom drawer. The drawer slides open, revealing the gun that is still inside. I pick it up, feeling comforted by its weight. I don’t know for sure that it’s loaded, but I’m willing to bet that it is. I drop it into my coat pocket.

And then I wait.

After about five minutes, Kovak emerges from the examining room with his patient. The patient looks like a student, although even younger looking than the ones in my class. Maybe he’s from the college.I push away a surge of disgust.

Kovak looks surprised by my presence. Surprised, but not particularly concerned, especially since I had the wherewithal to change into a pair of scrubs. “I didn’t think you were working tonight, Abe,” he says as the student dashes out the door to the waiting room, leaving us alone.

“I wasn’t.”

“Ah,” Kovak says, although he looks confused. Still not that concerned.

Then I pull the gun out of my pocket and point it at him.

Now he looks concerned.

“Abe,” he gasps. “What are you doing?”

“Hands up in the air.”

Kovak obliges, lifting both hands in the air.

“I want the video footage that you have of me,” I say. “I want it deleted, and then I’m never coming back here again.”

“Abe…” He starts to lower his hands. “Come on. Threatening me with a gun? This isn’t you.”

“Hands up,” I say so sharply that his hands shoot way up in the air. “I swear to God, I will kill you if you don’t give me that video. I’ve already done it once before.”

He must see in my eyes that I am serious. I am not messing around. I am a good person, damn it, but I will kill this asshole if he makes me.

“Fine… fine,” he stammers. “I’ll get it for you.”

I follow him into the examining room, where he digs around in the back of the cabinet. I keep the gun pointed at him the whole time. It’s amazing how easy it would be to pull the trigger and just end it all. I don’t want to kill anyone tonight, but it almost seems like it would be a service to the world to do it. After all, he’s responsible for so many bad things.

Finally, Kovak retrieves a flash drive from the cabinet. I hold out my hand, and he drops the flash drive into my palm.

“This is your only copy?”

He nods. “You think I want a bunch of copies of that lying around?”

I close my fingers around the flash drive. “If I find out there are any other copies, I will come back here and kill you.”

He frowns. “I just don’t see you doing that, Abe. You’re too nice.”

“Fine,” I say. “Then I’ll just beat the shit out of you.” I pause meaningfully. “It wouldn’t even be hard.”

He presses his lips together, but he doesn’t contradict me. He knows I’m right.

I stuff the flash drive into my coat pocket and hurry out of the office. I’ll destroy the drive as soon as I get home. But before I get home, I have one more stop to make.

Patrice sent an email to the entire class, informing us that she would be hanging around her office the day before the exam, just in case one of us is in crisis. If I go back to the school, she will be in her office. And since most of the students will be focusing on studying, she will likely be all alone.

I reach into my pocket and feel the handle of the gun that is still nestled inside. I have a feeling that when there’s a gun pointed at her face, I might finally get the truth out of Patrice.

I’m looking forward to it.