Becoming The Shadows (Shadow Series #4)

22 - Timer

Once the hospital's hallway is clear, I make a beeline for the patient room that we've hijacked for the night. I keep my eyes open for a nurse or anyone coming down the hallway, in case I need to hide my bow. Weapons aren't exactly allowed here and I do not need to be kicked out. 

Stiles glides across the floor with me and we slip into a room that the hospital rarely ever uses. We just came from the morgue, where we saw Scott's unconscious body. Mrs. McCall put on a wonderful show for everyone in the hospital to see to make this whole plan more believable. The bad thing was that no one told her that if we wait longer than forty five minutes to wake Scott back up then he'll die. 

My dad looks up from where he's standing behind a laptop.

"Time to message the Benefactor." I tell him and walk around the table to stand with him. 

Dad leans down to type out a message on one of the laptops: SCOTT MCCALL DEAD. PAYMENT REQUIRED. 

"That's your assassin speak?" Stiles frowns at the to-the-point message. 

Dad waves his hand at the laptop. "I said he's dead. What more do you want?"

"It was a little dry." Stiles replies, earnestly. His over imaginative brain creating ideas in his mind. "You could've said something like, 'Target has been neutralized. The crow flies at midnight.'  That's always cool." 

"Stiles, this isn't an action movie." I scoff. 

The computer beeps with a new message coming in. Our gazes turn down to see what the Benefactor writes back.

VISUAL CONFIRMATION IS REQUIRED.

Stiles scrambles for the keyboard. He draws back remembering that my dad is the one in charge of what to say. Stiles motions for him to respond and my dad does the same thing. Stiles lunges back for the keyboard. 

"Type this," My dad begins to say, "'Visual confirmation isn't possible. Police coming to claim body in forty minutes.'"

Stiles sends the message. I lean on the desk between the two of them, impatiently waiting for a response. The laptop beeps again as the Benefactor quickly responds.

VISUAL CONFIRMATION IS REQUIRED FOR PAYMENT.

Dad grows slightly angry at the response. "Tell him, 'number one on the list is dead. I killed him and if the wire transfer isn't completed in forty minutes.'"  Dad shoves Stiles out of the way to type out the next message. 

"I'm coming after you." I read the message that dad sends next. I glimpse at the two of them, slightly concerned for what will happen next. 

"I'm here." Dad says in my ear through the phone. "You ready?"

I look at the three laptops lined up on an empty patient bed. Mrs. McCall gave us access to this room to use for the night. I nod at Stiles.

"Try it now." Dad orders from the roof. 

I press down on a button on the middle laptop. The black screens light up with four different squares on each one with a different camera angle throughout the hospital. A grin breaks out on my lips. "It worked." 

"I'll be right there in a second." Dad says before he hangs up. 

"I can't believe we're doing this." Kira breathes.

I glance at her from around Stiles. "You better start believing it then because all of this is very real." 

Liam peers at me from the other side. "How are you so calm about this?