Chapter 22
Heather felt Mike’s hand close around hers as Sammy drove Rod and Vincent down the street and out of sight. It was nice.
The air was still and balmy even this late at night, and the sky was visible through the trees along the sidewalk, stars winking through the leaves above.
It reminded her of her date with Mike when they almost had a car crash and needed to walk off the adrenalin shakes. Hard to believe that was only two days ago. She felt comfortable with Mike now and squeezed his hand, seeing him smile at her when she looked up at his face. Most importantly, although she’d only known him for a couple of weeks, she trusted him.
This was such an abnormal experience, traveling to Mexico to rescue a friend, but she felt Mike would do everything in his power to keep her safe. The odds of getting Michelle away from a controlling and formidable man like Omar would be tricky and hazardous. She hoped they could accomplish it without a major confrontation with Omar.
The main hospital wasn’t far from the Emergency building, where they were standing, just a short block away. They both stood still and looked at the giant edifice. It was much taller than the fertility clinic, where Michelle was located. Even at this hour it appeared as though there was lots of traffic; a good thing. They could remain anonymous. The entrance was busy with people rushing in and out of the swishing automatic glass doors.
“Let’s walk around the building so we can take a look at the walkway,” Mike suggested. “We can count floors. The walkway from the hospital is probably on the twelfth floor, like the clinic, but maybe they numbered the floors differently.”
Heather nodded, “We’ll count and see.”
It took some time because the hospital took up more than a whole city block, but when they reached the side of the building they could see the walkway. They counted floors and concluded that it was actually on the tenth floor of the hospital. There weren’t many lights on, so they speculated it might be a floor for the medical management offices. The other floors were lit up; probably composed of patient rooms.
They went back to the main hospital entrance and walked into the lobby, still holding hands, like an innocent couple. There was a bank of elevators and they tried to walk casually and confidently, like they knew exactly where they were going.
Mike punched the button for the tenth floor as people crowded in around them inside the elevator. Heather looked up and saw twenty floors, hoping they counted right.
The trip was slow because there were many stops on the lower floors. At one point people had to make room as an orderly pushed an elderly patient inside with a wheel chair. Heather was squashed in the back, Mike pushed into the front of the elevator by the crowd.
They were the only ones exiting on the tenth floor, but no one commented that they might be in the wrong place, or that visitors were not allowed here, as the elevator doors closed behind them.
They stood still and looked around. There were more hallways going outward from where they stood in four directions. Signs with pointing red arrows in both Spanish and English proclaimed: Radiology, Laboratory, Surgery, Hospital Management, Anesthesia, Gynecology, Internal Diseases.
Mike was turning around and around.
“What’ya doing?” Heather whispered.
“I have no sense of direction,” Mike said. “I can’t figure out which way to go.”
“Me neither. This place is like a labyrinth.”
“Maybe the labs are connected by the bridge. Let‘s go check.”
Heather nodded. “Makes sense.”
They followed the arrowed signs for the laboratory, making several turns in the hallways, and happily didn’t see many people. There was a cleaning crew, with a vacuum droning away, but the operator didn’t say anything as they passed him.
Heather felt out of place, wearing jeans, a light blouse, and sandals that showed her toes. She was conscious that the left sleeve of her blouse looked chewed with tiny holes since it had been burned on the stairwell banister, which added to her discomfort, making her feel messy and disheveled. Mike appeared more businesslike, in a blue button-down shirt, but he was also wearing jeans and sneakers. If someone was working late in one of the offices, they might be stopped, so they hurried along, not holding hands anymore.
“Looks like we were right. This is the floor for the main offices of the different medical departments,” Mike said as he passed several doors with named directors of particular departments.
By the time they reached the end of a hallway and found the door that said Laboratory, Heather thought they should have dropped bread crumbs to help find their way back. They’d taken many different turns and hallways, moving further and further inside the bowels of the building.
Mike must have been having the same thoughts, Heather decided, when he said, “It will be a miracle if we can find our way back to the elevators.”
“Cross your fingers it isn’t locked,” Heather said, as she tried the doorknob.
“Whew. I guess they unlock the doors for the cleaning crew,” Mike said softly as they entered.
The lights were dim, probably to save on electricity. It was a very large space with offices to the right and open cubicles in the center of the room. They could see the actual laboratory with lots of medical equipment and a pharmacy at the back.
There was a man holding a large trash bag, emptying waste baskets. Several workers were polishing and dusting. Another was vacuuming.
Mike nodded toward the back of the office and smiled. Heather saw the fertility clinic building through the back windows in the laboratory area. They could even see the bridge, like a giant umbilical cord, connecting the two buildings.
Mike nodded and said, “Hola,” to several members of the cleaning crew
