The hospital itself was a massive structure, occupying twenty-five floors and two city blocks. In the nearly three centuries of its existence, its halls had spread and shifted and wound among themselves like vines on a trellis. The result was a tangled labyrinth of wrong turns and dead-end corridors, peppered with the occasional brightly colored map in what I can only assume was a fit of architectural sarcasm.
Of course, it would help if I knew what I was looking for; all I had to go on was what I read in the paper. Killing spree, coma – the girl could be anywhere. Prison and psych wards make for tricky collections – they've got armed security, locked rooms, the whole nine – but in most hospitals, they're also overflowing. My hope was they were keeping Kate somewhere a little less secure. I played the odds and headed for the ICU.
As the elevator doors opened, I knew I'd struck pay dirt. The ICU was a sleek, modern affair, all glass and light – the better to see you with, my dear. A few rooms in, a uniformed cop sat slouched beside an open door, his nose buried in a Scudder novel. I strode past him down the hall. He didn't spare me a second glance. Through the glass-paned walls, I caught a glimpse of the room's sole occupant. She looked so tiny and so frail as she lay still in her bed, surrounded by the blip and whir of medical equipment. But her wrist was cuffed to the bedrail, and her hair was flecked with blood – no doubt about it, she was my mark.
I continued without pause down the hall, flashing the nurse at the station a smile as I passed. She flushed and returned the favor. In my line of work, I don't get looked at that way often. Almost a shame the assignment was so easy; it'd be a waste to ditch this skin-suit so soon.
As I neared the end of the hall, I glanced back toward the nurses' station. The nurse was clacking away at a computer terminal, her back to me. I ducked into the nearest room. In the bed was an elderly gentleman – his eyes closed, his pallor gray. A tube snaked from his mouth to a machine beside the bed that accordioned up and down, pumping breath into his lungs.
I approached the bed, my bare feet silent on the tiled floor. The only sounds in the room were the blip of his heart monitor and the grim, mechanical hiss of the respirator. I took the man's hand in mine. It was cold and dry. At the end of one finger was a small white clip, a wire running from it to the tangle of machinery beside him.
I grabbed the wire and yanked free the clip, letting it fall to the floor as I strode out of the room. A shrill monotone pierced the air as the heart monitor flatlined. Alarms sounded at the nurses' station, and I was buffeted by medical personnel as they rushed past me down the hall.
As diversions go, they don't get any easier than that. Time was I'd have had to almost kill the guy to get that kind of rise out of everybody. Now all you have to do is unhook a wire. I only hoped Kate's guard would be as easily distracted.
I snatched a chart at random from the nurses' station and set out for Kate's room. I strode with purpose toward the door, thinking doctorly thoughts. You'd be surprised how often that sort of thing works.
This time, no such luck. The cop stood as I approached, sidestepping in front of me as I tried to shoulder past.
'Where the hell you think you're going?'
'I'm here to see the patient,' I replied, brandishing the chart by way of evidence.
He scowled. 'You ain't her usual doctor.'
'I'm from Neurology. They called me in for a consult.'
The cop looked me up and down, eyes lingering on my bare feet. His hand crept toward the gun on his belt. 'I'm gonna need to see some ID.'
I lunged forward, slamming him against the doorjamb. His hand found the gun. Steel scraped leather as it slid free of its holster. I pressed my hand to his chest and reached inside. His eyes went wide as I clenched tight his soul.
'David,' I said. 'She knows. She knows what you did to him.' Somewhere, an eternity from the swirling blackness where we stood, a gun clattered to the floor.
I withdrew my grasp, and David crumpled. He was shaking, whimpering. Tears streaked his pallid face.
'No,' David whispered.
'You know it's true, or
'No,' he repeated. 'No no no no no!' He scurried backward along the wall, his gun and his assignment forgotten. He scrambled to his feet and took off at a dead run, not looking back.
Inside, the room was quiet. Just the steady blip of the heart monitor, the soft tap of the IV drip, and the gentle sigh of Kate's breathing. She was younger than I expected – she couldn't have been more than seventeen. And Kate was beautiful. Her auburn hair spilled across the pillow like a thousand adolescent fantasies, and though her eyes fluttered in dream, her face carried no hint of worry or concern.
I'd gladly give a limb to have dreams like hers, I thought. But then, these limbs weren't mine to give.
I approached the bed, caressing her cheek a moment before resting my hand on her breastbone. 'Sorry,' I said. 'It's nothing personal.'
I reached inside. My head was suddenly filled with light – blinding, beautiful. I clenched shut my eyes against it, but it wasn't any use. Still it streamed in, the purest white. Not devoid of color – full of it. And with it her song. So beautiful. So sweet. I staggered backward, blind and helpless. My hand pulled free, and the light and song were gone. I collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down my borrowed cheeks, whether from the beauty of what I'd seen or the sudden horrible absence of it, I didn't know.
I looked around. I'd so lost myself in that light, that sound, I was unsure of where I was. The lines and angles of the hospital room seemed suddenly harsher, somehow. Colder. My heart thudded in my chest. I climbed trembling to my feet, my body drenched in a cold, acrid sweat. I knew that scent. I'd smelled it a thousand times in the moment before I tore soul from flesh.
It was fear.
It was fear, and it was mine.
I approached the bed again. With shaking hands, I reached toward her. I hesitated, my fingers scant inches from her breastbone. I wasn't sure if I could do it. I knew I couldn't not. I closed my eyes, steeling myself for what
