"Have you heard about the weird thing that just happened in intensive care, Bob?"
Looking up from tying his shoe laces Bob's eyes met the very unappetising sight of a rather large butt hardly covered by rather small pants wiggling on the other end of the narrow room.
He pulled a face and looked back to his shoes. Changing rooms were never his favourite place on earth.
"No, Jim, I have not heard any weird thing. I've been in the ER all day, we were very busy."
The butt finally hidden by a pair of slightly too tight jeans Jim turned around and smirked down at his colleague. He was clearly waiting for Bob to ask him.
Sighing he complied: "Fine, I'll bite: What happened in the ICU that has got you all a-flutter with excitement?"
Jim stepped around the bench in the middle of the room then sat down on it facing Bob.
"Someone stole a body. Or, well, a patient, but since the patient was as good as dead it's really the same thing. And nobody saw anything. Nothing, nada. Now how would that work, in ICU, where you see every room from the nurses' station and everyone coming in or leaving has to walk past them, too?"
With a sinking feeling of foreboding Bob asked: "Which patient?"
Jim, who was a urologist and hardly ever had reason to come to the ICU, just shrugged. "I don't know the name, but they say he had locked-in syndrome. Has been there about a year? Surely you know him, you've got ICU duty often enough. Anyway, they were expecting him to die some time soon anyway so when the heart alarm sounded they didn't really rush to his room, more like walk there quickly but when they got there he was just gone, vanished. Bedding and all the tubes and electrodes were lying on the bed hardly disturbed but the patient was no longer there. Like he'd just been beamed up by the Enterprise."
"Oh dear God."
With his face gone white as a sheet Bob jumped up and quickly pulled his leather jacked and motorcycle helmet out of his locker before banging it shut. He nearly ran out of the room, just mumbling a hasty "I need to go" to his confused colleague who was left scratching his head and wondering about over-excited ER doctors.
Henry, Jo and Abe had split the river into three section on their hastily acquired map of New York City. They would each cover their section, carefully, from a safe distance away, keeping an eye out for any commotion or any butt-naked murdering sociopath climbing out of the water.
But even as they set out Henry knew it would take them to long to get into position. Even in the space of time it took from the moment a very distraught nurse called Henry to tell him that Doctor Faber had inexplicably gone missing and reassure him that the police had already been informed and that they were doing everything in their power to find him again to Henry hanging up the phone Adam could have gotten out of the river.
Henry had thanked the nurse, sounding much less shaken than he felt, then he had immediately called Abe and Jo despite knowing they would be too late.
It has been too long already, he thought. Much too long. If Adam had not been held up by police or concerned citizens when climbing out of the water he would be long gone by now. Slowly riding his bicycle along the street, one eye on the river the other on where he was going, Henry tried to come up with anything he could do to find Adam. But the other immortal had centuries of experience in hiding and living under the radar and Henry didn't even know where to start.
Before he had finished with his section of river both Jo and Abe had called in to tell him that all was quiet on their ends. And no one had seen a naked man running away from the river either. Henry had to stop his bike and lean against a wall because he was starting to shake uncontrollably. Panic attack, he diagnosed distractedly, before the world started to go grey around the edges and he felt like he couldn't breath. His heart was beating so loudly in his ears it even drown out the ubiquitous traffic noise of the city. His fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his palms Henry rode out the panic attack. He was drenched in sweat and felt like he'd just run a marathon when it was over.
He had just pulled out his phone to call for Jo or Abe to pic him up – he really didn't feel able to ride his bike all the way back to the shop – when a motorcycle roared past him. What first drew his eyes was that only one person of the two riding it wore a helmet. The other thing was that he recognised the passenger.
Adam gave him a tight-lipped smile and a small wave as he roared past. Henry nearly dropped the phone.
He had been driving up and down the river for a while before he decided to give up on it. Stopping his bike at a random stretch of road he took off his helmet and scratched his head. It had been a long shot, really, because the river was rather far away and with the traffic in New York being what it was there was no way he would make it there in time.
He couldn't stop the feeling of guilt and the nagging voice rattling around in his head telling him he could have done something, he could – and should – have helped.
He couldn't shake this feeling that he should have known, somehow, that he missed something, that it was partially his fault.
Pushing a hand through his sweaty hair – I really need a haircut – he was just about to put his helmet back on when a voice from behind startled him.
"Good evening. It is so nice to finally properly meet you."
He twisted around in the saddle as much as he could while still keeping the motorcycle upright. The voice didn't sound familiar but as he saw the naked man stride out from behind a rather large bush he also knew why.
He had actually known this man for over a year but in all that time he had never heard him speak because Dr. Farber had been incapable of speech.
Quickly scrambling off his bike, putting it on the side stand he pulled a pair of scrubs from the helmet compartment. Holding them out to the naked man he averted his eyes while the other dressed.
"I am so, so sorry, if I had known...if I'd had any idea...I'd never have let it go on for this long. I can't even imagine what is must have been like for you...I'm so sorry."
A hand on his arm stopped his babbling.
"Yes, you said that already. I do think you and I should have a long talk, somewhere that's not here."
