IN THE DARK OF NIGHT - Season 5, Episode 7
Prologue
At least Oscar had enough compassion - and courtesy - not to throw me in The Hole, Mark Conrad thought to himself. His own version of condemnation and confinement (that he'd fashioned in his own mind) were far worse than anything the OSI might be able to do to him. Jaime had awakened when Oscar had verbally wrenched him from her beside in the ER, and her tears had been a painful sock-in-the-gut...but as her therapist, Mark couldn't allow himself the luxury of acknowledging that pain. Then again, it might be a long time before he was allowed to treat her again (if ever) and being in the OSI's formal custody meant he had little to do except sit and think.
The look on Jaime's face had been of someone who'd felt deeply betrayed. Mark wondered who she saw now as the one who'd broken her trust. Did she blame him...Oscar...Steve...or life in general for the pain inflicted on her? The more he thought about it, the clearer it became; almost everyone in Jaime's circle had wronged her in one way or another. He, himself, had 'abandoned' her through the course of his own actions. He'd drugged her after she'd insisted she didn't need it (although his intentions had been only toward her best interests). He'd sent her after Steve with instructions to stick a needle into his neck so he could be brought safely out of the building to receive the help he'd needed, never pausing to think that it might be Jaime who could be stuck and medicated instead - whether accidentally or on purpose. (He'd also been the one to fire Oscar's tranquilizer dart that had left Steve in a still uncertain state just one ER cubicle down from his wife's.)
Steve, of course, had been the one who'd stuck Jaime with the needle. Mark knew that - for now anyway - Jaime and Steve were the only ones who knew what had happened in that room just before the world around them had fallen apart. What had caused Steve to break out that window (bringing the burned-out skeleton that had once been National Medical crashing to the ground)? Had he seen Michael and Mark coming in after him? And if he'd truly turned that needle on Jaime by accident - putting her at severe risk of an overdose, since she was already medicated - why hadn't Steve handed her over to the doctors when he'd spotted them, so she could be helped?
Mark held no blame in his heart toward Oscar for his current predicament; he hoped Jaime didn't either. The OSI Director was simply doing his job and following the evidence. Even Mark had to admit to himself that the current evidence pointed squarely in his direction. Could he be Anna Kingsley's greatest pawn (without even realizing it himself), chosen because of his unique access and insight into everyone's minds? Or had Anna just succeeded in hurting every one of them, all in one fell swoop, by tossing in her biggest white lie - and red herring - to date?