Between chapters 16 and 17/NCF…
Scene 10: Details
He ran a finger along the line of book spines on the shelf, soon finding what he had been looking for. Walking back to the desk he started leafing through the pages. Come on. Think! He had hoped the name would come to him, that he would recognize it somewhere. But there were way too many pages. It would take him too long to go through all the possible drugs.
He sat down and placed the reference book on the table, leaned back, and closed his eyes. You've done this before. Just focus.
He took a deep breath and suddenly he could see it. The monitors in front of him, showing feeds from the cameras in the room next door, making it seem bigger and even darker. Even creepier. He was sitting in the surveillance booth, only a wall separating him from what was going on right in front of him on the screen. I want you to listen to me carefully, the gloomy figure of the interrogator said in his memory, leaning closer to his suspect. Right after I inject this into your bloodstream, he pointed to the syringe in his hand, you'll feel more pain than you could ever have imagined. Now, I know it's gonna be hard to focus under the circumstances, but as soon as you get it together and tell me what I want to know, I'm gonna give you this. He revealed an innocent looking ampoule in his other hand. You'll be out within seconds. No more pain, no more suffering. Nick swallowed, trying to control his flashback. What he was looking for had been on the table in front of him. A standard folder with the suspect's file. He could see the print-out with the picture in the right top corner. He imagined his hands turning the pages, skipping to the interrogation report he would sign later on. Names and dates, times of the day. The protocol. There it was!
He opened his eyes and reached for the book again, quickly finding the right page. He held his breath as he was reading. It wasn't the most common anesthetic but he found references to drugs with a similar effect. All he had to do was to check for the right dosage. God bless the internet.
His cell phone rang and after a quick glance at the display he answered. "So?"
"Man! Was harder than I thought. I better hope you're not lying about this being a big thing and all."
Nick rolled his eyes. He could only hope Lucas wouldn't chicken out.
"What did you find out?"
"They put her in a room on the fifth floor and moved all patients to other departments. One of my pals is in post-op, he's been up there during his shift."
"What's the security like?"
"He says there are two guards in front of her room, another one by the elevator. And they seemed to talk a lot on the radio."
"With people downstairs?"
"He didn't say. Is that important?"
Only if I can get in there, Nick thought.
"Is there a way you can change shifts with anyone?" he ignored Lucas' question.
"I don't know."
"We'll only get the money if I get to make that photo."
"I'll try, ok?" Lucas replied defensively. "Chill."
Sure. With this whole operation depending on someone who's brain isn't bigger than… He took a deep breath. Lucas was right. He had to stay calm.
"Alright. When are you off tonight?"
"I'm already off but I got plans. Gonna go and grab a couple of beers with…"
"Forget it," he cut him off, a bit too brusquely. "You can drink champagne when this is over," he tried to fix it.
Silence on the other end of the line.
"Come on. We need to go over some stuff. I need your help here."
"Okay," Lucas generously agreed after a few seconds. Nick could imagine the expression on his face. That little jerk is enjoying this. Well, whatever made him happy. As long as he was getting him into the hospital and that room on the fifth floor.
"I'll be over around six."
They hung up and Nick finished the list of anesthetics he had started writing down, then looked at the other sheet before him. Still empty. He needed some more details from Lucas. Getting inside was the first of two worries. The second was to get out again.