Michelle told Heather about how she’d tried to escape and thought she saw phantoms Omar produced to make her come out of hiding. But then she felt footsteps vibrating upward through the steel stairs and wondered if her friends actually had traced her all the way to Mexico.
There was a grinding noise in the hallway and Heather ran to the window. Mike was pushing a low slung trolley. On top of it was an enormous garbage can.
“You’re escaping with the trash,” Heather said, giggling and shaking her head. She opened the door and Mike pushed the trolley with the enormous can inside.
“The nurse watching down the hall thinks I’m a janitor,” Mike said. He looked at Michelle. She was not a small person. Hiding inside the big tin can would mean practically bending her body into a pretzel. “Do you think you can fit in here?”
He was pulling sheets and towels out of the can that he’d taken from the supply closet.
Michelle nodded. “Yes. Can you manage to push it if Heather’s inside too?”
“Don’t forget Lucifer,” Heather said laughing.
“I’m still buzzed from the blast you gave me, Michelle. So yes. I feel strong enough to push you both with ease, if you two can manage to squeeze inside.”
It wasn’t easy. Just climbing inside was a problem for Michelle. She had to hoist herself up with her arms to get her waist on the edge of the can, then get a leg over and inside. But she finally made it. There wasn’t enough room for her to sit down but she rested her back against the wall and squatted. Heather handed Michelle her purse and the cat.
No way Heather could get inside the same way Michelle did because she was so tiny, so Mike stood on the bed, picked her up by the waist, and lowered her into the can.
There was hardly any room inside and Heather was forced to sit on Michelle’s bended knees. “Sharp knees,” Heather commented as Mike covered their heads with sheets and towels.
“Can you two breathe?” Mike asked.
“Barely,” came the muffled reply.
“Here we go. Make sure Lucifer stays quiet,” Mike said. “I’m taking a detour into the restroom on this floor so the nurse will think I’m picking up trash.”
Heather felt the cart vibrate over the tile floors, heard the doors to the bathroom swing open. After a minute inside, Mike started pushing them down the hallway. Heather smiled as she heard him humming, like he was just doing a boring everyday job.
There was a swishing noise and Heather felt the upward movement of the elevator, going up to the top floor, where the lab and bridge to the main hospital was located.
It was obvious when Mike pushed them across the bridge because the cement under them made a grinding sound, the vibration teeth-chattering in the metal enclosure.
A while later Mike whisked the sheets and towels off. Both women stood up. They were in the main hospital laboratory.
“Yay,” Heather said, looking around the darkened office space. “We made it!”
After Mike helped them both out of the garbage can, Michelle picked up a sheet and shook it out. “I’m not walking around in this nightgown. Too noticeable, and way too bare.” She managed to fold it a few times and wrap it around her. She used a twisted towel for a belt
Heather took another sheet and draped it over Michelle’s head and down her back. Then she stood back to survey their handiwork. “You could pass for some kind of nun.”
“It’s a good disguise,” Mike said.
It covered Michelle’s long black hair. No one would guess she was a hospital patient fleeing a manipulative madman.
Chapter 27
Rod and Vincent looked at each other blankly after staring into the vacant hospital room. The nurse went inside. They noted her horrified expression when she found rolled blankets under the sheets instead of a patient, and a detached IV dripping medication on the floor.
She immediately pulled a cell phone from her pocket and spoke into it in rapid Spanish. The nurse hurried out of Michelle’s room, past them, and went into the restroom in the hallway to see if Michelle was there.
“There’s going to be an alert put out about a missing patient,” Rod said ominously.
The nurse came out of the restroom and shook her head at Vincent. “Papa of Michelle Satinov. Sorry.” She shrugged. “Husband?”
“Ah, yes. Michelle must be with her husband,” Rod said smiling and nodding reassuringly at the nurse. He didn’t want her alerting the hospital to look for a very tall woman with black hair fleeing from their care, but thought he was already too late. The nurse probably alerted her superiors that a patient had mysteriously disappeared.
“Gracias,” Vincent said, with a little polite bow as they walked away.
“Now what?” Rod said. “Michelle’s run away. We’ve got to find her fast because they’ll probably notify Omar, since they believe he’s her husband.”
Vincent nodded. “It’s not like this is a prison. But they’ll be on the lookout for hospital liability. They don’t want to be sued in case she wanders around after surgery and gets hurt. So you bet they will be searching.”
“Now we’ve lost track of three people,” Rod said. “We don’t know what Heather and Mike are doing, or where they are, because they aren’t answering their cells.” He didn’t want to say this could turn into a major disaster, but with Omar on the loose, who knew what would happen?
They decided to double back on the stairs, see if Michelle was headed down to the lobby.
On the way, Rod’s phone buzzed. “Finally,” he said as they hurried along.
When he checked the cell it said Unknown Caller, but he answered it anyway.
“We’ve got her!” It was Heather’s voice. She sounded excited. “I had to use a hospital phone. Omar stole ours. Long story. We’re in the lab at the main hospital.”
“Great!” Rod said. “We’ll meet
