Page 4 of The Criminal’s Cure

I’m going to jail.

Either that, or I’m going to die. There’s just no other way that this can work out.

A few hours ago, the worst thing I’d ever done was get a speeding ticket and now I’m about to rob a hospital.

Somehow, it’s not the felony charge or potential jail sentence that scares me the most. It’s the cold, vicious criminal who’s only redeeming quality is that he cares about his son.

At least I think he does. I don’t have more than a few small glimpses of his vulnerability to go off of, but why else would he be making me do all of this?

For some reason, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his love and concern for Ty.

Whether he deserves it is something else entirely.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what Roman and his friends are into.

The guns, the matching tattoos, the avoidance of police…

Not to mention how they knew the attack was on them or how no one even batted an eye when they heard Roman kidnapped me at gunpoint.

It all screams gang, and there is no shortage of that in Las Vegas.

They give me exactly five minutes to clean myself up before we leave.

Joe hands me an oversized sweatshirt and a pair of leggings to change into, and I can’t bring myself to think about who they belong to.

One of their wives? Girlfriends? Or the most likely option—they belong to another woman they’ve abducted.

I frantically wash all the blood from my body, paranoid that I’m going to miss a spot and blow the entire thing.

Letting my blonde hair out of its ponytail, I drag my fingers through it in an attempt to make myself look presentable.

The drive with Joe to the hospital is quiet, my hands trembling and sweaty. With each turn he takes, my heart pounds in my chest and the closer we get, the harder it is for me to breathe. By the time he pulls into the parking lot, I’ve almost worked myself into a full-blown panic attack.

“In and out.” Joe’s voice jerks me back to reality.

“Wh-what?”

“Breathe. In and out. You’re so nervous that you’ve been holding your breath. You’re going to make yourself pass out.” That’s actually not a bad idea. If I pass out in the emergency room, someone would have to check me out and at the very least, I could buy myself some time.

“Here.” With a smirk, he hands me a water bottle. He’s getting more amusement out of this than he should be, which doesn’t make me feel any better. “You’ve got to calm yourself down. If you walk in there like this, you’ll have everyone in that hospital suspicious of you.”

I swallow, staring at the big red Emergency Room sign. “Maybe I want to tip them off.”

“No, I think that’s about the last thing you want to do. At least if you value your life,” he says, cutting the engine. “Roman doesn’t make empty threats. And no offense, Doc, but a sweet little thing like you wouldn’t last twenty-four hours under his torture.”

Torture .

Wild ideas of what exactly he means by that flash through my mind making my stomach knot. “What kind of people are you?”

“The less you know, the better.” Joe checks his rearview mirror as a couple passes by. “Even if you do save Ty, Roman can’t let you go if you know too much.”

The idea of him letting me go seems like a pipe dream, but I have no choice but to play along. Roman hasn’t shown the slightest bit of remorse or retreat, but Joe is different. I wouldn’t jump straight to nice, but he’s not quite as hostile as his boss and he hasn’t held a gun to my head.

“How do you want to play this?” he asks, unbuckling his seat belt. “You want to say I’m your boyfriend? Cousin? How well do you know these people?”

I can hardly hear him speak over the hammering in my chest. “Can’t I just go in and get you the supplies, and then you let me go? I promise I’ll get you everything you need for Ty. Please, just let me go.”

My pleas fall on deaf ears. Joe is completely unmoved by my suggestion, and my stomach sinks.

“You know that’s not going to happen.” He sighs, the smallest hint of sympathy in his voice.

“And just in case you get any wild ideas about running, you should know that he has eyes on us right now. And he’s got men combing through every single detail of your past. Where you live, where you work.

Where your family lives and works. Friends, boyfriends… there’d be nowhere for you to hide.”

There’s no winning this game. Even if I follow his rules. Even if I save Ty. Even if this plan goes absolutely perfect.

“He’s going to kill me even if I save Ty, isn’t he?” I nearly choke on the words, panic pulsing through me again.

“Let’s just get through this.” His avoidance is all the answer I need.

I take a deep breath. Come on, Maddie. You can do this. Just walk in there, lie to your coworkers, and steal thousands of dollars’ worth of medical supplies. Easy.

Maybe if I reframe this a little, I won’t feel so terrible. I took an oath, right? To help those in need? Ty is certainly in need, and if I focus on that, I can get through this.

Or maybe, I’m just as delusional as Roman is.

Regardless, it’s showtime. I force myself out of the car before I can change my mind and Joe follows close behind me.

I’m not even two stops in the door before I run into Dr. Bauer, the head of trauma surgery at the hospital and my boss.

“Madison! Thank goodness. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning. There was a shooting at the park and we’ve got eight victims. I need you in a trauma bay immediately.”

Anxiety prickles through my core at the mention of the shooting. With every spare thought consumed by Ty, I never considered the other victims. “I’m so sorry, Dr. Bauer. I can’t. I’m not working today. I’m just here to get a few things out of my locker.”

Dr. Bauer stares at me in disbelief. “What do you mean, you can’t? I know you’re not in, but it’s all hands on deck.”

Before I can come up with a good enough excuse, Joe interrupts from behind me.

“Dr. Bauer?” Joe sticks his hand out. “I’m Maddie’s cousin, Joe. We had a death in the family and have to go out of town immediately. That’s why she can’t come in today.”

I bite back a laugh at the way he calls me Maddie, like he’s known me my entire life, but I have to give him credit for committing to the act. The sympathy on Dr. Bauer’s face tells me he bought it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. Take all the time you need, Madison. And please give my regards to your parents.”

He rushes away without waiting for a response.

Joe grabs my arm and pulls me to the side. “Your parents? I thought you said you didn’t know these people very well.” To be fair, I didn’t say anything when he asked me about it in the car because I was still spiraling on his casual mention of torture.

“Do I need to be worried about him talking to your family?”

“Relax.” I shake my head. “My dad’s in medicine. He and Dr. Bauer are acquaintances, but they don’t talk regularly.”

“You better hope they don’t, because that’s a loose end I can take care of real quick.”

The threat is a harsh reminder of what’s at stake here, and just how callous these people are. Now, I’ve put Dr. Bauer’s life in danger, too.

“Wait here,” I tell him, ready to get this over with. The longer we’re here, the greater the risk becomes of putting even more people in harm’s way, and I can’t stand the thought of it.

I duck inside a supply closet at the end of the hallway. Luckily, it’s fully stocked, and I start stuffing bandages and tubing and a few things into the bag that Joe gave me. It’s not perfect, but it will have to do.

Oh shit.

My knees nearly buckle when I realize that I’m going to have to get the rest of what I need from the pharmacy. Playing grab-and-go in the supply closet is one thing, but smuggling drugs out of here is going to be a lot more difficult.

Come on, Maddie. Think.

Joe is waiting for me when I come out of the closet, nowhere near where I told him to stay. “Are we good?”

Biting into my lip, I shake my head. “We’ve got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Joe narrows his eyes at me in a way that makes my heart stop.

“Ty needs medication. He needs antibiotics and sedatives and lidocaine…those are all things that have to be checked out and thoroughly documented.”

Joe clenches his jaw, whipping out his phone. “You take the long way to the pharmacy, and leave the rest to me.”

“Okay.” I don’t trust Joe as far as I can throw him, but right now, we’re teammates and I need him if I want to make it out of this.

The pharmacy is just down the hall, and I recognize the technician right away.

“Hi Dr. Taylor. Need something for one of the shooting victims?” She smiles brightly, completely unaware that she’s about to participate in a crime.

“Yes,” I say. “I need two bags of amoxicillin and two of oxycodone. And can you throw in a vial of lidocaine? And an order of Midazolam.”

“Got it. What’s the patient’s ID number?” She pulls something up on her computer, my pulse skyrocketing with every click of her keyboard.

“Um…”

“Perfect.” She rolls her eyes. “The entire system is down on the busiest day we’ve had all month.”

She hands me a pen and a piece of paper. “Here. Write the ID number down while I go get your stuff. I’ll have to enter it later this week.”

I glance back at Joe, who sits patiently in the waiting area. He shoots me a cocky wink when our eyes meet. Did he honestly just hack into the entire hospital database? Before I can really think about all the ramifications of that, the tech comes back with my things and I walk towards Joe.

If it’s possible, I’m even more nervous than before.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

I nod. “Let’s just get out of here.”

Joe swings his arm around my shoulder as we walk out of the emergency room. “We make a pretty good team, Mads.”

“Don’t call me that,” I say, squirming out from under him.

Joe chuckles. “I have to say, you have more guts than I gave you credit for. You might survive Roman Molanari yet.”