“It’s too hot. Let me out.”
“Oh, I think a big boy like you can handle it. In fact, let’s crank the temperature a little higher.” Jack cried out in agony as his body went from freezing cold to burning hot.
“Are we having fun yet, Mr. Winchester?”
Right then, Nurse Cross, Seth and the head of hospital security burst into the room.
“Turn that off right now!” Cross yelled. “Get him out.”
Jack nearly passed out from the pain. His body slumped into Seth’s as he was dragged out and laid down.
Cross directed her anger at Jenkins. “Who the hell ordered this?”
“Who do you think?” Jenkins replied.
“Get them out of here. Now!” she yelled. Morgan ushered them out leaving Seth and Nurse Cross to examine Jack. She lifted his eyelid and shone a light in his eye. “Seth, help me get him up.” Still thinking that it was Jenkins, he thrashed around but then calmed as Cross reassured him that it was over. As they led him out, Jack mumbled something.
“What?” Nurse Cross asked.
“Ask him about the drugs Sutton is distributing. Chapman’s in on it.”
Cross frowned as she looked at Seth. He shrugged.
16
Topside, it was a chaotic scene. Word had spread of Jack’s attempt to escape and some of the patients had refused to go back to their rooms, instead barricading themselves inside the day room. Psych techs and hospital cops were in the process of breaking the door down. It had happened before. It was a nuisance but nothing that staff couldn’t handle. Once Jack was in the hands of paramedics, Nurse Cross made a beeline for Dr. Chapman’s office, taking Seth and Morgan with her for moral support. She knew better than to show up alone. Upon arrival she wasn’t surprised to see Jenkins and Porter talking with him. As soon as Chapman caught sight of her, he excused them and beckoned her in. Hanna glared at Jenkins as he brushed by her.
“I know what you’re going to say, Nurse Cross, but you need to understand a few things.”
Before he could get another word out, she tore into him. “When I took this job, I didn’t expect to have to deal with abuse of patients. Now I don’t care how you try to explain this away — this time I have witnesses.” Morgan and Seth stepped into the room. Chapman could see he was being scrutinized and by the expression on his face he didn’t like it one bit. Head of the unit or not, Cross wasn’t going to let this slide.
“Listen, things got out of hand, I’ll admit that. I understand you’re concerned for Mr. Winchester but let me remind you that Winchester is responsible for overwhelming a security guard, brutally attacking two of our psych techs and showing a level of violence that we simply will not, and cannot tolerate at Holbrook. There are consequences.”
“Consequences? Consequences!?” she repeated herself, louder this time. “You mean throwing him in a steam cabinet, submerging him in ice-cold water and beating him. That’s what you call consequences? What happened to patient’s rights? What happened to…”
“Ms. Cross. Lower your voice!”
She jabbed her finger at him. “I will not. I think the director of this hospital needs to be made aware of what is happening. More specifically the harm that is being brought to patients. And that doesn’t even touch upon the accusation of drug distribution. You want to speak to that?”
Chapman eyeballed her as he came around his desk and ushered Morgan and Seth out. Cross protested. “They are here to stay.”
“Gentlemen, you can go back to your duties. Nurse Cross and I have a few matters to discuss in private.”
“Anything you need to say can be said in front of them.”
He turned on a dime and spoke through gritted teeth. “For your sake, I would disagree.” He pursed his lips as he urged them out. Seth glanced at Hanna and she reluctantly nodded. Once they were gone, Chapman closed the door and brought down a blind. He walked over to her and got up in her face in a hushed voice. “You ever embarrass me in front of my staff again, I will have your job. Do you understand?”
She scoffed. “Your staff? I think you’ve been here far too long,” Cross said.
“And I think you are overstepping the line. Now I’ve warned you twice, I won’t do it a third time, Nurse Cross. Now take a seat and we will discuss this like professionals.” He pulled out a chair and urged her to sit. She stood there defiant. “Sit!” he bellowed. Although she didn’t want to, she complied if only to continue the conversation.
Although his body had been put through the wringer, there was nothing to give the paramedics cause for alarm. He was released into the care of the RNs on shift with guidelines to monitor him. Assisted back into dry clothes, he was placed in seclusion once again. This time, however, they didn’t perform a five-point restraint.
With the head nurse unavailable, Caroline Byrd took charge and saw to it that he was comfortable while she administered a mild sedative. “That should kick in soon.” For someone who had attempted to escape he was being treated unusually well. Minutes after she left the room, Bryan French, the psychologist for the unit, entered with a tablet, and an envelope in hand. He told the hospital cops stationed outside that he didn’t need them in the room as he wouldn’t be long. There was some back and forth, a muffled discussion before they agreed.
French stood nearby observing him as Jack lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling.
“I see you’ve had quite the day.”
Jack didn’t reply. He had mixed emotions. Anger. Disappointment. It all swirled together, a mixture of rage and bitterness at the establishment, Angelo, and life. “I understand your drive to escape, Jack. You’re not the first to make an attempt nor will you be the last.” He took a deep breath and leaned against the wall.
