THIRTEEN
Amber’s head was floating from whatever drugs they’d given her. She’d drifted in and out of sleep for the past few hours (hours? days? how long had it been?), able to recall only bits and pieces from everything that had happened since she was shot. She remembered being taken into the ER, remembered a few meetings with nurses and doctors after surgery, remembered being told that they expected her to survive the injury.
There’d also been a visit from a police detective. That had been the shocker of the day. Thinnish, middle-aged guy. He told her that he searched the car she arrived in and found the backpack full of money. Found the Star Wars masks, too. Those stupid masks. Shane had thought it’d be so funny to wear them for the robbery, but now those masks had made it easy to link them to the robbery in Nebraska.
The detective asked her questions. Questions about the bank robbery, questions about the people who’d helped her, nonstop questions, one after another. She hadn’t answered them, partially because she was so groggy from the medication, partially because she was still in shock from everything that had happened.
Right before he left, the detective said something to her that she’d been thinking about constantly: fifteen to twenty years. That’s what she was looking at for armed robbery.
She slowly moved her head and looked down at her wrist. She was handcuffed to one of the rails on the bed. First time she’d ever been handcuffed in her life. Staring down at the handcuffs, she almost started crying but caught herself before the tears came.
She wanted Ross. She felt so alone without him, here in this cold, empty room. Why had they ever left Nebraska? In retrospect, it was such a foolish idea. Their life in Nebraska might not have been perfect, but at least they’d had each other. Screw over Shane, take the money, and just start a new life—how had she not realized how ludicrous and poorly thought out that plan was? Predictably, it had ended in disaster.
She was shot.
She had no idea where Ross was.
The money was gone.
She was looking at twenty years in jail.
Suddenly, the tears broke through. Hot, streaming tears rolled down her cheeks. She cried because of the hopelessness. She cried because of the sad, lonely room around her. But more than anything, she cried because she missed Ross.
She just wanted him by her side.
An hour passed. Karen and Joshua mostly sat in silence. She was alternately wired and exhausted. She’d closed her eyes a few times but she knew there was no way she would sleep. It was incredible how quickly all of this had happened. Just last night, she’d been finishing up dinner with Joshua, still on a high from his college acceptance. She’d been looking forward to a weekend doing nothing. And now, here she was. Tied up. A prisoner in her own home. About to break a patient out of the hospital.
She wondered if someone might try to reach her this morning, get suspicious when she didn’t respond, maybe even come to the house to investigate. But she doubted it. It was the weekend—she wasn’t scheduled to work and Joshua didn’t have school. Neither of them had any plans. Their neighbors wouldn’t be stopping by; they mostly kept to themselves. Truthfully, she didn’t think she wanted anyone to stop by. There was no telling how Ross would react.
As they waited, Ross would walk by the room every couple of minutes and look in on them. After a while, he entered the room carrying her laptop computer. Must’ve grabbed it from her room. He set it on the table and sat down.
“What’s the password?”
She told him. He entered it and clicked the trackpad, pecked away at a few keys. She could just barely see the screen. The Internet was up and an article about a bank robbery was displayed. She figured it was the robbery they were a part of.
“Well, shit,” Ross said, staring at the screen.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
He closed the computer.
“Can we check our phones?” she asked. “See if anyone is trying to contact us.”
“No.”
“Someone might be trying to call and—”
“You’re not checking your phones. So shut the hell up.”
Ross left the room. There was more sitting, more waiting, more silence.
Half an hour later, Ross returned to the room carrying one of her kitchen knives.
“Almost time, right?” he said.
She nodded. Ross cut through the zip ties securing her wrists to the chair arms. Blood rushed to her hands the moment she was free, her fingers tingling with a low pain. He cut the zip ties around her ankles. Same tingling feeling in her feet.
“You ready?” Ross said.
She almost laughed. Of course she wasn’t ready. How could she be ready for this, for any of it? She wasn’t even at the hospital yet, and already she was nervous. Deep in her stomach, she felt raw, fluttering panic, like a bird trapped in a cage.
“Same plan you talked about before?” Ross asked. “Nothing’s changed?”
“Same plan.”
“Okay. I’ll stay here. Me and the kid. You break Amber out, bring her back here, and we’ll leave. Let’s go.”
She stood up from the chair. Her knees popped like dull firecrackers. Slight cramps in her legs.
She took a few steps toward the door and stopped.
“Wait,” she said. “Can I kiss my son?”
Ross looked over at Joshua, a few feet away.
“Make it quick,” he said.
Karen walked over and kissed the top of Joshua’s head. She placed her hand on his knee and squeezed. He looked so helpless and vulnerable, slumped in the chair, hands tied behind him, feet bound to the chair legs. A lump formed in her throat and her vision clouded with tears. She dried her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.
“Everything will be fine,” she said. “I’ll break Amber out, just like I talked about. And this will all be over.”
“Okay. Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too.”
She kissed him a final time and crossed the room. She walked down the hallway, Ross a few steps behind her. In the living room, Ross grabbed a sheet of paper off a small end table next to the couch. He folded the sheet into thirds and handed it to her.
“Take this,” he said. “It’s a letter. Give it to Amber before everything happens.”
Karen put the letter in her pocket. Ross opened the door for her. Before she stepped outside, he reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Just you remember one thing,” Ross said. “We both want this to be over. You show up here with my wife, we go on our way. You don’t show up with her, you make a call to the police, you try to pull something fast, and it’ll be ugly.”
His eyes stayed on her.
“I will kill the kid if I have to,” he said. “Don’t really want to, but if I have to, I will. I mean every word of that.”
Karen stared back at Ross. You won’t hurt my baby, she thought. So help me God, if you harm Joshua, I will rip your head off.
Joshua heard his mom’s car pull away, the tires crunching on the driveway. A moment later, Ross walked into the room carrying a handful of Slim Jim beef sticks. He unwrapped one and threw the plastic wrapper on the floor. He took a big bite and chewed loudly. He looked even worse now than he had earlier. Eyes bloodshot, face nearly drained of color, spray paint smudged around his mouth.
“Can I have one of those?” Joshua asked.
“No,” Ross said.
“I’m starving.”
“You’re not getting nothing until my wife is back here.”
Even if that happened, Joshua didn’t know what to expect. He doubted they would all go on their happy ways if his mom broke Amber out.
He’d find out soon enough. There was nothing to do but wait until then.
Karen drove the route she took every day for her morning commute. Same roads and turnoffs. As she neared the hospital, she drove past the turn for the employee parking garage she usually parked in. She drove around the hospital complex and found a side street with metered parking stalls a few blocks away. She pulled into an open stall.
Resting on the seat next to her was a box of two dozen doughnuts. She grabbed the box and stepped out of the car. Fed the meter. Walked to the hospital entrance. Through the front doors, down the hallways.
In her ICU bay, she walked into the small break area. Their floor manager, Peg, was inside, all alone. A few coworkers were out on the floor, scurrying around.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Peg asked her. “You’re not scheduled to work this weekend.”
“I was in the neighborhood. Wanted to check in after this morning’s craziness. See how the woman I brought in was doing.”
Karen set the box of doughnuts on the table.
“Figured I’d bring you doughnuts. Make the weekend shift a little easier to handle.”
Peg opened the box and grabbed a glazed. Two of the doughnuts were already missing; on the drive there, Karen had devoured them.
“So how is she?” Karen asked. “The woman I brought in earlier.”
“Sounds like she was pretty lucky,” Peg said. “Bullet went in and out but left a nasty wound. A lot of swelling but that’s starting to go down some. We’re taking her in for a few scans to learn more, see how soon she can be released.”
“Still planning on taking her in at noon? That’s what I heard this morning.”
“Yep. Noon. She’s Crystal’s patient.”
Word about the doughnuts quickly spread throughout the floor, and a few nurses walked into the room. Carmella was with them.
“Save any lives on the way here, Karen?” she asked, smiling.
“Even better—I brought doughnuts.”
“Doughnuts, saving lives—is there anything you can’t do?”
Carmella grabbed a chocolate one from the box and took a bite.
“So, did he ask for your phone number?” she asked. “The cute guy, the cop, from earlier.”
“Is that all you think about? Finding me a man? And no, he didn’t ask for my number. Someone was shot—he was focused on that.”
A few other nurses wandered into the break room. They made small talk, which consisted mostly of asking Karen questions about everything that had happened earlier.
“What room is she in?” Karen asked. “I’d like to go check on her. See if she’s awake. Try to talk with her. I feel a bit of a connection, you know.”
“Sure, of course. She’s over there. Room seven.”
Karen glanced over at room seven and saw a security guard named Brian sitting on a folding chair in front of the door. He was a young guy, even younger than Carmella. Small and scrawny with short hair. Wearing a uniform two sizes too big.
Karen walked over to him. When Brian saw her, his beady eyes lit up.
“It’s Supergirl,” he said. He extended his arms from his body, imitating Superman flying.
“Very funny,” she said. “I’m going to drop into the room. Say hi to the girl I brought in yesterday.”
“Sure, go for it.”
“There are doughnuts in the kitchen. Help yourself.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.” He walked over to the break room, leaving Karen by herself. She pushed open the door and walked inside. Amber was in bed. Asleep, the sheet pulled over the top half of her body. She looked so serene, so calm. Paler than earlier. A little rough around the edges.
Karen glanced over her shoulder, out at the break room. Her coworkers were still inside, standing over the doughnut box, looking over the selection, talking with one another.
She stepped toward the bed and lightly shook Amber’s arm.
“Wake up,” she said. “Wake up. Wake up.”
“Wake up. . . . Wake up. . . . Wake up.”
The voice drifted in, barely there at first, distant, then louder.
“Wake up. . . .”
Amber’s eyes fluttered open. Her vision was cloudy. Pressure behind her eyes, a burning in her stomach.
Bit by bit, the person standing at the side of her bed came into focus. A woman. Middle-aged. Blond hair. She looked familiar somehow.
“Can you talk?” she asked.
Amber stared back.
“Can you talk?” she repeated.
“Yes,” Amber croaked.
“I’m Karen,” she said. “I brought you here. In my car. After you were shot. Remember?”
Amber nodded weakly. She could recall only bits and pieces of the drive to the hospital, but she recognized Karen now.
“Listen to me carefully,” she said. “I am going to break you out of here. At noon, you’re being taken in for some tests. I’ll break you out then. When it happens, don’t make any noise. Don’t scream or draw attention to yourself. Just remain calm. And trust me. Okay?”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“Your husband, Ross. After you were shot, he took my son and me hostage. He’s making me break you out before you’re released and the police arrest you.”
Karen set a sheet of folded-up paper in Amber’s lap.
“He wanted me to give you this,” she said.
Amber reached down and unfolded the sheet of paper. She held it close to her face and started reading. A note was written in Ross’s jagged, chicken-scratch handwriting.
Babe,
We’re caught up in a mess. But everything will be fine. This lady is going to break you out. Do what she says. You have to fight for me. Stay strong. I’m not gonna be next to you but I’ll be with you.
You’re all I have in this world. All I care about. I sometimes feel like my life is one big failure. Seems like all I do is lose. But I have you so I feel like a winner. You’re all I need. I love you more than anything.
It’s you and me against the world. We either get out of this or we go down together. I’d rather lose with you than win with anyone else.
See you in a few, Buckaroo.
Amber felt something rise within her chest. She thought she was going to cry but the moment passed. She wished Ross were standing beside her right now, so she could tell him that she felt the same way, that she loved him, that all she needed was him.
She treasured moments like this, when Ross would reveal his tender, soft side—the good person buried underneath the roughened, toughened exterior. These moments didn’t happen often, but when they did, she was always reminded that she was doing the right thing, that Ross was worth fighting for, that deep down he was a good person.
Amber sniffled a few times and looked back up at Karen.
“Remember, this will happen at noon,” Karen said. “In about an hour. Can you do this?”
Amber nodded. “Yeah. I can.”
Outside Amber’s room, Karen scanned the ICU floor until she spotted Carmella. She was at the nurses’ station, looking at a form. All around her were people in motion, moving from one room to the next, to and from the hallway, scurrying all over.
For a moment, Karen stared at Carmella. She was biting her lower lip as she looked at the form. A small smudge of chocolate icing was on her scrubs.
Karen took a deep breath. It made her sick, what she was about to do. She walked over to the nurses’ station and stood across from Carmella. “I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Sure. Now? I’m a little busy with—”
“It’s important. I only need a minute. Let’s find somewhere quiet.”
They walked to the storage room on the edge of the bay. The same room she’d seen Carmella crying in the other day. Karen shut the door behind them.
“What’s going on?” Carmella asked.
“I need your help,” Karen said.
“Sure, absolutely. What is it?”
“The patient I brought in. Amber. I need you to take her to her scans this morning. At noon.”
“She’s Crystal’s patient, not mine.”
“I know. I want you to make up a story. Tell Crystal you’re already heading that way and you can drop her off, something like that. Figure it out.”
“I suppose I could. Why does it matter?”
“It just does. And there’s more. Much more. When you move her, I’m going to take her from you. We’re going to make it look like you were ambushed.”
Carmella’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“It sounds unbelievable. I know. Just know that I’m being forced to do this. Some things have happened, things that I can’t tell you about. All that matters is that I have to break this woman out of the hospital. And I need you to help me.”
“Karen, you can’t be serious.”
“I’m serious. You have no idea how serious I am.”
“I don’t understand. What is going on?”
“The less you know, the better.”
“This is—”
“It’s crazy, I know. But I don’t have a choice.”
Carmella’s eyes stayed on Karen. She leaned a few inches closer and lowered her voice.
“I can call the police if you want me—”
“No,” Karen said. “No police.”
“Why not? You’re freaking me out.”
“We just can’t. No police.”
“Well, I’m not doing this. This is ridiculous.”
Karen cleared her throat. She looked out the small window on the door, out at the bay. Still alive with the usual hustle and bustle. Any moment now, someone could come into the storage room and interrupt them.
“Listen, I hate doing this,” Karen said, “but if you don’t help me, I’ll turn you in for taking the drugs. The drugs you stole for your mother.”
“You’re blackmailing me?” Carmella said.
“I guess I am. I’m sorry. If you don’t help me, I’ll tell hospital administration exactly what I’ve seen over the past few months. I don’t have any evidence, but if people dug deep enough, I’m sure they could find something. They know where to look. There has to be security footage, something like that. You’d lose your job. Go to jail.”
Carmella’s face slowly crumbled to a hurt, pained expression. It killed Karen, seeing that look.
“It makes me sick, doing this,” Karen said. “Threatening you. But that’s how serious things are.”
“You’d be in trouble, too,” Carmella said. “You saw me take the drugs and didn’t report it. If you turned me in, you’d be in trouble, too.”
“I know. But that’s nothing compared to the trouble I’m in now.”
She grabbed Carmella’s hand and squeezed.
“All you have to do is go through the new hospital wing when you move Amber,” Karen said. “The one that’s under construction. I’ll be waiting and I’ll lock you in a room. When people find you, tell them a lanky guy, longer hair, rough voice, mid-thirties, ambushed you and took Amber. That’s it. You won’t get in trouble. And you’ll be doing me the biggest favor of my life.”
She closed her hand even tighter around Carmella’s.
“Please, sweetie. Do this as a favor for me.”
“Fine,” Carmella said.
“You’ll help?”
Carmella nodded.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You know that when I move her, I won’t be alone,” Carmella said. “Hospital policy. If she’s in trouble with the law, security will be with me.”
“I know.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Let me worry about that.”