The front doors to the hospital behind Ian slammed open and he heard a noise. It was not a loud noise, but it was not a noise one heard in a hospital. He heard running. He stole a quick glance behind him and saw Lauren running towards him. Lauren looked a bit panicked. Ian tried to smile to get her smiling, but she did not respond in kind.
"What's the matter?"
"Bill got info that more cops are on their way, and also that one thing we did not compensate for is that this is when shift change with nurses and staff is occurring. The place is going to be flooded with hospital employees, and we will stand out." Her expression looked strained.
The door opened and two staff members exited and started their journey to the staff parking lot. On the pathway there, several other employees were heading in their direction. The two leaving were involved in a discussion that did not interest Ian in any way, shape or form. They walked around Lauren and Ian and made a straight path towards the sidewalk. Never even did a double take. Ian smiled, looked around and saw that Moussa was already sitting on the bench at the bus stop.
Ian turned to Lauren. "This will work greatly in our favour." Activating the Bluetooth, he continued "Bill, can you confirm that you can still dam the River?" Ian rolled the eyes at using Bill's spy-speak.
"Of course, just give me a five-minute warning."
"Rab, can you still get the van to the back door?"
"I haven't moved. Ready for anything."
Ian waved Moussa over. Moussa had seen them leave the hospital, and had been observing from the bench. Now, when Ian waved, he jumped off his seat and came over at a jog.
"Moussa, you need to pose as a maintenance worker and try to get to the room while in disguise. Then you would be in a position to distract, at a minimum Smooshface. I will grab Dean." Ian smiled. "We will use the confusion of the shift change to make this getaway. With extra cops coming over, Smooshface and the Bulldog will likely not try to press the chase. Ockham's Razor tells me so." And Ian smiled.
"Rab, this is Ian. We are going with your smash and grab idea. Be ready."
"Roger that!"
The three of them moved into the hospital and headed straight to the elevator. When on the seventh floor, Moussa had seen a closet with the maintenance supplies and a contractor's smock. He would get those and wear it to cover the hospital scrubs he was wearing. If he did not look at Smooshface closely, he would be able to get quite close. The hospital did have a few more visible minorities working here, Moussa had a fair chance of not being noticed immediately.
With Moussa off setting up, Ian wanted to talk to the hospital staff. He wanted to know if there was anything concerning about Dean's condition. Dean's health was an obvious factor, but he was hoping to get info on patterns of police activity. Lauren was going to go with Ian to make it look like he was more respectable, and less likely to cause a disturbance.
They broke up their conference and headed back into the hospital. Moussa went right immediately towards the stairs. Ian and Lauren went right to the desk of the duty nurse. Ian was struck immediately by the beauty of the nurse at the station. She was just a bit older than him, and the power she wielded by mere appointment, was intoxicating to him. At thirty, he estimated, she was young to be head nurse. OK Ian, focus.
"Hi there, this police officer," pointing to Lauren, "is here to oversee the movement of a patient from room 4F-8 to their secure facility. She needs to know if there are any health or other concerns?"
The nurse did not look impressed, nor did she look annoyed. With a "matter of fact" expression she started tapping away on the computer. "Hmmm. He was just moved into that room three hours ago. His data, other than his name, are not yet showing on my system. Where did he move from?"
Ian's throat tightened. He did not know exactly where Dean was other than the psych ward. And, he was almost certain that if he used that term, they'd figure him out to be a fraud. He started to think quickly.
"Fifth South East." Lauren had piped up.
The nurse, without batting an eye, nodded. "That makes sense. They haven't released his care details yet. Mental health department records are always kept under a separate system. Makes it harder for us if they report here."
"Do they now? All I know is that two of my colleagues are here routinely to watch him."
"Oh, those two. I hate to talk badly about the police, given all the wonderful work you guys do and the awesome uniformed cops I see here, but those two are extremely unfriendly, bullyish and rude."
Ian's ears were thirsty for more.
The nurse continued, "They demanded a large room in particular for their prisoner. I did not realise that it was for only a few hours. They made it sound like it would be for about a week. I'm telling you, the faster you can get this patient to your facility, the better. I don't like those two cops. As for the patients care requirements, I'll see what I can do."
Lauren responded, "Don't worry too much. We are not in a rush. I'll come back in two hours to see what is up.'
With that, she withdrew and Ian followed.
"Great cover up. You had the lingo down."
"Yeah, I did." With that, she seemed like she wanted to drop the subject.
Ian moved on, "So Smooshface and the Bulldog have made friends here. I might be able to use that. Haha."
The two of them got off the elevator on the fourth floor and immediately walked to the nurse's station there. Ian replayed his role of escorting a cop. The nurse there was quite old and one could say with fairness that she could lose significant weight, but somehow that combination made her seem more grandmotherly. In conversation, once again with Lauren, the nurse stated that she was quite surprised that there was not more of a security detail. There were going to be only two cops for the twenty-four hours of surveillance. Usually, this required many more. It was highly unusual. However, if Lauren was there for a transfer, that made sense. Only a temporary security detail. The nurse also indicated that it was also unusual that the police would have security on someone, yet there not be any charges against him, or other services, such as addiction services, involved. It was almost as if he was here for someone's personal pleasure.
These words made it clear what the two of them would have to do. They would use Moussa to indicate when Smooshface went to the bathroom, as there was no backup, they would then rush into Dean's room, spring him and get the hell out of the hospital.
They sprang into action. Ian and Lauren made their way to the elevator. They hung out on the fourth floor, hoping to intercept Moussa before he got to close to Smooshface. The elevator opened up, a doctor got out. There was no indication of Moussa.
Ian and Lauren looked at each other. They decided to split up and find Moussa. Ian went left towards Smooshface, and Lauren went right, towards the stairwell at the far end of the hospital.
Ian stepped around a corner of the corridor, before the turn that took him towards Dean's room. He took a quick glance around the corner, Smooshface was at his post, but Moussa was not there. Where was he?
Ian turned around in time to see Lauren coming up the corridor, and there was no Moussa. They had no idea what to do. Should they wait until Moussa showed up? Or should they wait until Smooshface went to the bathroom.
Unfortunately, the answer was decided for them. Moussa showed up out the stairwell that he and Ian had contemplated before. He was dressed as a maintenance worker. He put out the wet floor signs. Once this was out, he started mopping the floor. Ian tried to come up with an idea to get Moussa's attention, but nothing came to mind.
Moussa started mopping the far end of the corridor, not giving them too much opportunity to get a hold of him. Smooshface was reading his phone, only casting the occasional glance to the cleaner. However, once he got close to the door, Smooshface put down his phone. He went to say something to Moussa, but dropped the phone and reached for his weapon. The Bluetooth crackled at that exact same moment when Bill asked for an update to what was going on.
Moussa dropped his mop and took a fighting stance. It was no match for a gun, but it was obviously better to go down with a fight. Smooshface pulled out a taser. He readied to fire it at Moussa. However, that was not to be. Ian went tearing down the hall at his top speed. It was enough to distract Smooshface away from Moussa. With the opportunity, Moussa hammered upon Smooshface with an absolutely devastating punch to the face. Smooshface went down like a sack of potatoes, dropping his taser on the way down.
Moussa grabbed the taser, and looked at Ian. "Good enough?"
Ian smiled, it was excellent. A very cursory examination showed that their little fight had attracted no attention. It was relatively silent, and short.
Smooshface was still moving, however. He was not out cold. Moussa held the taser on him. He ordered him into Dean's room, and Smooshface complied. Once inside the room, Lauren shut the door. Ian started to search Smooshface for other weapons. Smooshface was clean. This puzzled Ian. Weren't cops supposed to be armed when they were on shift? The answer dawned upon him, Smooshface was not on duty. That confirmed why there were only two on the security detail, and why the security detail was not being handled by uniformed cops. Ian smiled. Breaking Dean out of here was not going to have very many lasting repercussions. After all, who wants to admit that tax dollars were expended in the detention of a person to settle a "personal" grudge.
Smooshface started to stand up. Moussa told him to get down and stay down. At the first instance of Smooshface not complying, Moussa tasered him. Smooshface's look of agony was both pleasing and upsetting. However, he stopped moving.
Dean was not moving. Ian and Lauren were at his bedside trying to roust him. However, nothing was working. They realised that he was sedated, and they would need to carry him out of the hospital. Dean was heavy, but they got him out of the bed and into a chair. They, with the taser, managed to convince Smooshface into the bed. Once in the bed, they found a couple of towels that they could rip into strips to use to tie him up. So, tie him up they did.
As they finished, the Bulldog walked into the room. Once she saw Dean in the chair, Smooshface on the bed, and two others in the room, she started to panic. She turned to run, but Moussa hit her with the taser before she could get one foot on the other side of the threshold. Once on the ground, he and Ian dragged her onto the bed and laid her beside Smooshface. They split some sheets and tied the Bulldog to the bed.
Lauren revealed a bit of her mean-spirited sense of humour "You two look so cute together. I want to take a photo of the lovely couple." With that, she snapped off several photos with her phone, laughing the entire time.
Ian, not satisfied that they had the two tied up enough, talked to them. Moussa stood over them menacingly with the taser, which helped the conversation.
"OK. Just to let you know. We aren't going to hurt you. We just want Dean free."
There was no response. Ian was surprised there was no anger in their expression. Interesting. Keep that aside for later.
"I know you are both on the Great Plains Police Force. But to ease the pressure of me having to go there to ask for your names, who are you?"
Smooshface answered first. "I'm Collins. This is Dumont." Nothing more. No first names, but that was enough. Bill could probably verify that.
"Who do you work for?" Nothing. "OK, I'll say this again, but in other words..." A look at Moussa was hopefully enough to convince them to speak, "... who is the Benefactor? How do we contact him?"
Again nothing. There was no fear in their eyes, and that concerned Ian. Were the police on their way going to be supporting these two?
With time being an issue, and their lack of complete understanding of how involved the police were meant that they had to clear the building to ensure their escape.
Ian and Moussa grabbed Dean and put them over Moussa's shoulder. Lauren finished gagging Collins and Dumont, then opened the door. Once in the corridor, they headed straight to the far stairwell away from the eyes of the matronly grandmother nurse. They started carrying Dean down the stairs. Lauren got on the Bluetooth to tell Rab that they were coming out of the building. Rab let them know that he was ready, and near the loading dock. They got to the main floor looking to head to the back of the building. Immediately Ian realised that they could not get to the loading dock from that part of the building. However, they could not find a better way to the loading dock under cover either. They decided to brave the hospital staff and try to take Dean out of the hospital through the front door. They dressed him up in the maintenance smock, and carried him between the two men. Lauren gave direction to Rab to bring the vehicle around front.
Bill on the other hand, was demanding to know what was happening, as no security calls had been made from the hospital. With Lauren trying to talk to Bill, the two men carried Dean. No one seemed to notice except the beautiful nurse behind the counter. She tried to stop them, Lauren ran interference, but she put out a security call. Lauren told the guys to start running, they ran as fast as they could. As soon as they crashed through the front doors Rab pulled up.
Rab jumped out of the vehicle, ran around and opened the side door to get Dean in. Moussa jumped in with Dean and laid him on the seat. Rab, with a smirk towards Ian, closed the side door and ran around to the diver's door. Lauren, done trying to slow the gorgeous nurse down ran to the van, jumping in the front, making room for Ian. Ian jumped in and closed the door.
Moussa repositioned Dean in the back and climbed to a middle seat. Ian felt comfortable riding shotgun. Lauren called Bill to let him know they were clear of the hospital, but Bill was busy with the security call from the hospital staff. She was obviously done with Bluetooth.
They peeled out of the hospital parking lot. They headed out of the area, towards the northern suburban highway.
Ian decided that Dave's apartment would be the best place for them to hold up for the next while. Dave would have the opportunity to stay at Ian's place. Ian would work out the cover story for that one later.
Lauren got a hold of Bill just as they hit the highway. She told Bill to meet them at the Sunshine Diner in two hours.
"What's going on there? asked Ian.
"We need to create our next plan."