Flashback

he brightened. 'I remember, now. I remember where I saw her.' Then, just as suddenly, his expression darkened. 'Henry, where? ' Zack asked. 'It was in the west wing, ' he said distantly. 'She… she was going into Mr. Iverson's office.'

Zack felt an instant chill. 'Henry, get me there, ' he said. He turned to the nurse. 'Bemie, could you please find out who's on for anesthesia beside Dr. Pearl? Call whoever it is and ask them to stand by. Don't tell them it's for me.'

With Henry resuming his role as scout, they left the unit and made their way down to the sub-basement, then across the hospital to the west-wing staircase and up. Zack flattened himself against the stairwell wall.

'Henry, ' he whispered, 'I think my brother is in a meeting, but he has two receptionists.'

'Yeah, I know. The knockout twins.'

'Exactly. Talk to them. See if they remember when Suzanne left, or better still, where she might have gone. Also, find out if Frank was with her when she went.'

Subconsciously, the huge guard straightened his tie, adjusted the lapels on his uniform, and pushed his massive shoulders back a notch. Then he slipped out the stairway door to confront the knockout twins. Half a minute later, he was back. 'No one there, ' he said. 'No one?'

'Nope.' He appeared disappointed. 'Not the blonde. Not the dark-haired one. No one. I even took a chance because there was music playing inside, and unlocked the outer office door and listened at Mr. Iverson's door for voices.'

'Music?'

'Violins. Pretty music, but it must be on awful loud to be able to hear it through two closed doors.'

'Henry, I want to go back there.'

'Okay, but-' Zack was already through the stairway door. The guard shrugged and followed closely. Just outside Frank's outer office, Zack stopped and listened. As Henry had said, the music coming from the inner office was quite audible. It took just a few seconds for Zack to recognize the piece. 'Jesus, Henry, open this up, please! ' The guard did as asked. The music, much louder now, brought a sickening tightness to Zack's gut. He knocked on the door and called out once, but knew there would be no answer. 'This door, Henry. Open it, please!'

'Can't.'

'Henry, it's important. I think Dr. Cole's in there, and I think she's in trouble.'

'No key. Only Mr. Iverson has a key to that door.'

'Henry, we've got to get in there. The guard hesitated. 'Please…'

'Well, ' he said finally, 'I guess I can't get fired more than once, can He took a single step forward and then hit the heavy door with such force that the entire frame shattered. The door itself, crushed where his shoulder had made contact, fell to the floor like a playing card.

Fantasia on Greensleeves was playing at a near-deafening level. Zack snapped off the tape, glanced about the office for a moment, then raced into the bathroom. 'Henry, ' he yelled. 'Get in here!

' No longer mindful of being seen, Zack raced ahead as Henry carried Suzanne tbroug-b the corridors of the hospital and up the stairs to the ICU. She was motionless, unresponsive, and soaked with perspiration. Her level of coma was deep, and her elevated temperature quite apparent.

Bernice Rimmer's surprise at their arrival lasted only seconds before she was in action, stripping Suzanne's clothes off, getting a blood pressure cuff around her arm, and ordering a Ringer's Lactate IV from one of the other nurses. 'She remind you of anyone, Bernie? ' Zack asked. 'She got the same anesthesia as Toby. You believe me now?'

'I believed you before, ' the nurse said, listening to Suzanne's chest.

'You probably don't remember this, but I once asked you to cheat on a Latin translation for me, and you refused.

I figured that if you were such an honest nerd then, you couldn't have changed all that much.'

'Who's Pearl's backup?'

'The nurse anesthe ist. She's in obstetrics.'

'Call her, please. Tell her to meet me by the operating room doors in two minutes. Tell her it's a life-and- death emergency. Also, order. some labs and blood gases on Suzanne-everything stat. And give her Decadron.

Ten milligrams IV.'

'Done.'

'I'll be back shortly… Get ready, Pearl, you bastard, ' he murmured as he slammed through the unit doors. 'This crap has gone on long enough. I'm coming for you!'

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Frank knew, as he watched Whitey Bourque separate the ballots into two piles, that the vote was going to be closer than he had wanted. He counted exactly ten ballots in one pile and nine in the other. By insisting on a closed vote, it had been his hope to minimize any influence the Judge might still have had on certain members. Now, it appeared, he had succeeded more in minimizing his own. Fuck you, Garrison, he thought, watching the last of the ballots smoothed open.

Starting next year, it will be Fords for this hospital. Bank on it.

'Well, ' Bourque said as he and the member seated next to him finished a cooperative tabulation of the votes. 'I make it ten to nine. You get that, too, Charlie?… Good.' He banged his gavel. 'In that case, I am pleased to announce that the Davis-er, excuse me, the Ultramed-Davis board of trustees has, by a vote of ten to nine, approved the finalization of the sale of this hospital to the Ultramed Division of RIATA International.'

Several members applauded, many others simply shrugged. Leigh Baron accepted the congratulations of the attorneys and then turned to Frank.

'That was close, ' she said. Frank smiled. 'Hand grenades and horseshoes, ' he said giddily. 'Pardon?'

'Oh, just a little phrase my father drummed into my head.'

'Well, Frank, it would appear that you are to be-'

'Excuse me, but I wondered if the acting chairman could delay the celebration long enough to listen to one more point of view.'

Like the gallery at a tennis match, every head in the room swung, in unison, toward the door. The Judge, a blanket over his lap, sat in a wheelchair just inside the room, pale but smiling grimly. Whitey Bourque raced around and shook his hand. 'God, Judge, it's good to see you up like this. You all right? I mean, can you-'

'I can move em, Whitey. Not very much yet, but more every minute.'

Somewhat painfully, he demonstrated by lifting his right foot several inches off its support. Frank, too stunned by the sudden intrusion even to react, glanced down at his watch. It was eight minutes till noon. At that moment, he realized his father was watching him. 'Good to see you, Judge, ' he managed hoarsely. The Judge nodded at him and then exchanged a prolonged look with Leigh Baron. 'I'd like to address the board, if I might, ' he said. 'Of course, Judge, ' Whitey Bourque replied. 'Why don't you just let me wheel you up front.'

'Judge, ' Frank said, 'the voting's over.'

'Is it?'

'I'm afraid so, Judge, ' Bourque said. 'Ten to nine it was, in favor of Ultramed.'

'Well, perhaps I can change a mind or two.'

'That's not legal, sir, ' one of the Ultramed lawyers said. 'The vote's done.'

Clayton Iverson fixed him with a glare that would have melted block iee.

'Don't you dare tell me what's legal and what's not, young man, ' he rasped. 'I was a lawyer and a judge while your mommy was still wiping your behind. Our contract with you people says that we have until noon today to repurchase this hospital by a majority vote of the board.

That's what it says. No more, no less. And unless something's wrong with my timepiece, here, I make it seven of.'

Ashen, Frank watched as his father was wheeled up to the chairman's table. He was desperately sorting through disruptions he could instigate that might carry the meeting past the deadline. But before he could light on a specific action, the Judge was speaking. 'I'll make this short, ' he began. 'I had promised many of you that I would