Before Sean had a chance to shoot again, Mark Davidson came running out of Deanna’s room. He saw Leticia, saw her intended victim, and took a flying leap over the desk. He caught Leticia by the shoulders and shoved her forward, crashing into a rolling cart filled with medications. Bottles and vials went flying everywhere.
Sean waited, expecting Davidson to go flying just as he and Bobby had, but there was only silence.
Nothing.
He strode to the desk and looked over. Mark was straddling the girl, staring down at her and talking soothingly. “Someone get her something quickly—a major league tranquilizer,” Sean said.
The head nurse, who had appeared almost catatonic with fear, suddenly sprang to life. She fumbled on the floor, searching through the wrapped needles and the different vials. In a second she was at Mark’s side. Leticia began to thrash again, forcing her back, but Mark seized the hypodermic from her, and quickly inserted the needle. In a second, Leticia’s wild and frantic eyes closed, and she went limp.
Mark stayed as he was for several long seconds. Then he eased back.
Sean strode over to him. “You all right?”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly hospital personnel were everywhere.
“I can’t believe it,” the head nurse said, stricken. “It’s Leticia. She’s one of our finest nurses.”
“She went insane,” one of the interns said.
“Like a rabid dog!” another claimed.
“Let’s get her into a bed,” an intern said.
“You’re going to find that she needs a transfusions, and she needs it fast,” Mark said.
“Are you a doctor, young man?” the head nurse demanded.
Mark looked up at her. “I know what she needs,” he said quietly. The nurse frowned as Mark rose and lifted Leticia into his arms. “A room?” he said.
The head nurse just nodded. The young intern who had first suggested that she needed a bed followed Mark into an empty room and spoke quickly to the nurse. “Pull up her chart. Her blood type must be on record.”
The nurse stared at him.
“Do it. Now.”
She jumped, shooting a disapproving glance at Mark, and hurried back out to the hall.
Sean stood in the door, watching, then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Bobby standing behind him.
“Lauren is here, in Deanna’s room. I’ll be with her.”
“Thanks, Bobby.”
Sean looked at Mark, who was standing next to the bed where Leticia now lay, completely out. “Will the transfusion do it?” he asked quietly.
Mark shook his head, his uncertainty clear.
The intern, who was checking Leticia’s pulse, said, “I think she’ll be all right. She must have been under the influence of some heavy duty drug. We’ll do a tox screen and find out what the hell is going on. She’s one of our best nurses. I can’t imagine Leticia…she never even smoked pot, sings in her church choir…”
A commotion in the hallway began to grow into a din. Sean stepped out to see what was going on and found patients milling around curiously and the staff trying to get them calmed down and back into their rooms.
“Folks, it’s all over. Everything’s all right,” Sean said.
A middle-aged woman in a hospital gown that left her more than a little exposed, suddenly pointed and started screaming.
Sean turned toward the gurney with the post op patient. The man was still unconscious, but
Leticia had apparently gotten her teeth into the blood bag, because blood was sprayed all over the man and the wall.
“It’s all right. It’s all right, Mrs. Ruben,” a nurse assured her.
An orderly quickly went over to the gurney. “I need help here,” he called.
“People, please,” Sean said. “Get back into your rooms. Let the hospital staff get things cleaned up.”
“Someone stabbed him!” Mrs. Ruben screamed.
“He wasn’t stabbed,” Sean said patiently. “It’s just a spill.”
“A spill like murder! Blood red murder!” the woman shouted.
“Murder!” someone else repeated.
Sean groaned. “Stop it!” he snapped, using all his authority. “There’s been no murder,” he said, all the while knowing the words might well be a lie. “Get back to your rooms.”
To his relief, the patients began to obey.
With Mark in with Leticia Lockwood and the staff suddenly finding both courage and their senses, Sean strode across to Deanna’s room.
