Page 16 of Resuscitation
Chapter Fourteen
Brick joined Tyson in the waiting room, now crowded with patients, family, and the few staff left alive. No one appeared to be a threat, all cowed and cowering. Good.
“What’s going on? What’s the plan?” Tyson asked in a low voice.
“Harper’s coming to give you a hand. Meantime, I have a little job for that one.” He jerked his chin at the dispatcher, Wayne. “C’mon, Wayne. I need you to help me with a little communications issue.”
The man climbed to his feet, wavering. “Me?”
“Yeah, you run the dispatch office, right? C’mon, show me how it all works, then I’ll bring you right back.”
“Uh, sure, all right.” Not like the guy had any choice, not with Brick’s weapon aimed right at him.
Brick smiled, took the guy’s arm, and shoved him ahead of him into the hall leading back to the ambulance garage and EMS office.
“So, this is where all the action happens, huh?” Brick said, taking in the monitors, radio, and telephone.
“Yeah, pretty much,” the guy said, eyeing him curiously.
“Walk me through your comms. There been any outgoing calls since we arrived?”
Wayne shook his head. “How could there be? We were all with you guys.”
“Right.” Brick brushed the radio controls. “These go to…?”
“Depends on the frequency. EMS and fire, of course. Plus, Potsdam PD, county sheriff, staties. Used to have our own police force here, but they closed it down. Couldn’t afford the insurance. Same reason why we’re next on the chopping block.”
The guy was warming up to Brick, liked to talk about his work, proud of it. Good. Brick could use that. He motioned for Wayne to take his seat. Once he was settled in, the dispatcher visibly relaxed. Very good.
“How come no one’s talking on the radios now?” Brick asked.
Wayne messed with the dials, releasing only static. “The storm. Radios have been on the fritz all night.”
Brick’s eyes narrowed. “What about landlines? Cell phones?”
“Sure, a landline’s essential.” Wayne chuckled nervously. “Cell reception’s spotty at best, especially in this weather.” He pulled out his mobile phone, glanced at it, and mumbled, “Zero bars right now.”
Brick took the cell and pocketed it. He scanned the tiny room, noting cameras, computers, anything that could jeopardize their operation. “Any other ways to contact the outside? Emergency backup systems?”
“No, sorry.”
Brick crouched down, eye level with the man. He stared at him for long moments, noting the sweat gathering, the way his eyes blinked faster…
“You’re lying.”
Wayne’s gaze flicked to the radio.
Brick stood, tapped the radio with his rifle. “Tell me more about the radio, Wayne. What have you heard about us?”
Wayne squirmed, kept his gaze focused on his desk. “There was a report of a state trooper pursuing a robbery suspect. But I didn’t hear anything after that from them.”
“From them,” Brick pushed. “What about from anyone else?”
“Uh, I think, maybe one of our EMS units saw you guys driving here? Called to warn us we might have a trauma coming in, but that was right when you got here, so there wasn’t anything we could do.” The words poured out of him in a gush. Finally, the truth.
“That’s good work, Wayne. I can tell you’re a man who likes to stay on top of things.
I appreciate that. Most folks just clock in, clock out, don’t give a shit.
But not you.” Brick lowered his head, speaking directly into Wayne’s ear.
“I think I can trust you, Wayne. Trust you with the one chance you have to save all your friends and those innocent patients in the waiting room. What do you say, ready to be a hero?”
Wayne nodded furiously. “What do I need to do?”
“Just your job, Wayne. Get on the radio and tell them it’s all clear here. The ambulance crew thought we were coming here, but they called back to say they got it wrong, we were headed in the other direction to?—”
“Potsdam,” he supplied eagerly. “That’s where cops would go if someone was shot.”
“Good, that’s good.” He nudged him with the butt of his rifle.
“Okay, tell them just like that.” Wayne reached for the radio handset, but Brick pressed the rifle butt down on his hand, pinning him to the desk.
“Think, Wayne. Would they expect you to call on the landline or radio? After all, it’s not an emergency, just passing on information. ”
“Landline.” Brick nodded permission. Wayne’s fingers shook as he raised the handset and dialed. Brick tapped the speaker button.
“Dispatch, what’s up, Wayne?” came a man’s voice.
“Hey, Neil. Just wanted to give you a heads-up. Our medics called back, that SUV with your possible injured officer was headed to Potsdam, not here. Wanted to clarify so you didn’t waste units sending them our way.”
There was a brief pause that had Brick worried, but then the dispatcher came back with, “Potsdam, right? Forwarding the info now.” The sound of typing came over the line. “Did they say which road?”
“Route 37,” Wayne said. “I’ll let you go now. Sure you guys are swamped with the storm and all.”
“Yeah, you’re lucky the clinic’s about to close for the night. Be safe headed home, the roads are slick as shit.”
“Thanks.”
Brick hung up the phone for him—sounded like these two were about to exchange cookie recipes or the like.
He’d noted the clinic hours from a sign in the waiting room—so no attempt at a secret message or some such shit there.
“Good job, Wayne. One last thing. The clinic’s supposed to close in a few minutes.
Do you have a routine for that? Like call all the ambulances in or alert anyone, set an alarm that a security company is expecting to see activated? ”
Wayne shook his head vehemently. “They just lock the doors and turn out the lights. I mean, there’s an alarm. There’s still valuable stuff in the building. But it gets set by the security guard when his shift is done, and that isn’t until midnight.”
Brick frowned at the man. Hard enough to make him squirm. “And?”
“Oh, the EMS side of things? My shift also ends at nine when the clinic closes. Used to be when we had an ER here, someone came to relieve me, but now all the calls just go through the county. So, I just lock up and leave, too.”
“But there’s an ambulance out.”
“The medics have their own key codes, come and go when they need. Won’t be for long, we’re closing down in a few weeks. They’re trying to get the ambulance and all the gear donated to the volunteer fire department here in Eastfork, but?—”
Damn, this guy loved to talk about his job. But Brick had heard more than enough. While Wayne was prattling, Brick shifted position to stand behind Wayne, drew his pistol from its holster, and put two in the back of the man’s head.
The gunshots were like sonic booms in the tiny room, rattling the windows. Brick’s ears rang, so he felt more than heard steps thudding across the concrete floor of the ambulance bay, raised his gun as the door to the dispatch office was jerked open, only to see Leon standing there.
“What the fuck, man!” Leon was shouting when Brick’s hearing cleared. “Give a guy a bit of warning, why don’t you?”
Brick had totally forgotten about Leon, assigned to stay outside with the SUV and watch for any cops heading their way.
“Guy was a loser,” Brick said, nudging Wayne’s body to the side as he ripped the landline from the wall and used his rifle to smash the radio. Leon joined in, enthusiastically destroying the other communication equipment.
After, Leon grinned back at him, inhaled a lungful of smoke from the cigarette he held, then crushed the butt in the ground. “Thought we were undercover as cops.”
“Already blew our cover, shot a guard.” Brick jerked a thumb at the building interior.
“Boss wants you to go help Tyson. He’s got a bunch of hostages in the waiting room, needs them guarded.
” He considered the other man, remembered Leon’s propensity for unnecessary violence.
“Needs them safe and sound,” he clarified.
“We might need them for bargaining chips.”
Leon side-eyed the doorway and nodded slowly. “Yeah, but we all know Connor’s a goner.” He grinned at his sick rhyme. “Why don’t we just grab the rubies, get the hell outta Dodge?”
Exactly Brick’s plan—only not including Leon. “Mercer’s got the rubies stashed. Until we know where, he’s the boss.”
“The temporary boss, you mean.” Leon winked. “So, keep the hostages alive until we find the gems and can blow this joint? No witnesses left alive, right?”
“No witnesses,” Brick agreed. He just omitted the tiny fact that in his mind, Leon was also a witness, already good as dead along with everyone else in the building.