It seemed as if her heels echoed loudly as she walked down the quiet corridor. It was after midnight and she'd been on call for the last twenty four hours. Surprisingly, the ER was quiet and she was grateful. All she had left to do was make her last rounds and soon Dan Atwood would be in to relieve her. Terri even thought she might have a moment or two to sit down and have a cup of tea. Unfortunately her dreams were not to be realized as her pager began buzzing against her side and she heard a commotion down the way. Terri began running and got to the entry to the lobby just as the doors swung open to admit a young, pregnant girl on a stretcher. Two medics and two nurses were hovering around the stretcher as they pushed it through the hallway, and an oxygen mask covered the girl's face.
"Dr. Randall!" the nurse, Betsy, called out when she saw Terri.
"What's going on? What do we have?" Terri asked as her training kicked in and she began to check over the girl as they rushed her into a room. The girl was covered in blood. "Where's all this blood coming from?" She yelled as the nurses and EMT's began hooking the girl up to blood pressure, and IV.
The EMT, a man Terri knew as Micah, spoke. "No visible wounds, six months pregnant, witness to a shooting, going into shock, and experiencing abdominal pains." he said loudly.
"What's your name sweetheart?" Terri asked the frightened girl. She could tell the girl was a young redhead, even with the blood matting her hair back. Freckles stood out on her pale face, and currently her blue eyes were glazed with shock and fear.
"Mandy..." the girl wheezed fearfully. "Is my baby gonna be okay? Is Billy okay?"
Terri met Micah's eyes and he shook his head grimly. "Your baby's gonna be fine Mandy, I'm gonna make sure of that, okay..Let's just focus on that right now okay?" Terri ordered several medications and the nurses hurried to comply. Through her peripheral vision now Terri could see two men in suits waiting outside.
Half an hour later Terri was sure she'd keep her promise to the girl. Mandy couldn't be more than sixteen. While she slept, Terri headed out to the men. "Gentlemen?"
"We're Detectives Marks, and Cunningham. We understand you've been working on Amanda Grimes?"
"Yes."
"As soon as she's stable we're going to have to take her with us." The man Cunningham said bluntly.
Terri's eyes widened. "Excuse me? We just got her stabilized from possibly going into labor. She's not in any shape to go anywhere."
"You're American aren't you?" Det. Marks asked.
"That's right, and if I'm correct Amanda is too?"
"That's right." Cunningham agreed. "Ms. Grimes has gotten herself into a spot of trouble. She and her boyfriend are fugitives. Her boyfriend, William Spencer was shot earlier this evening and pronounced dead at the scene." he explained. "She's a violent girl. Their crime spree could only end bad."
Terri looked at the man. How in the world had a teenager, who appeared to be seven months pregnant, gone on a crime spree in London? "I'll go check on her." She told the men and then headed in to check on the girl. Mandy was resting and doped up on pain medicine. Terri had hated to give it to her, but she'd had to do something to calm the girl.
Mandy reached out and grabbed Terri's hand lightly. "I didn't do nothin." she murmured. "They killed Billy and we wasn't doin nothin."
Terri headed back out to the men who were quietly talking. "I think she's ready to travel, but I'll be coming with you." she told them firmly. The men didn't seem pleased. "That's the only way I'm releasing her from this hospital."
"Fine. Suit yourself." Marks told her tightly.
When Dr. Atwood arrived, he seemed confused, but didn't say anything else. Terri grabbed her medical bag, and wheeled Mandy out to the non descript sedan. The two women took the backseat. Soon they were on the road. It took several minutes for Terri to realize they weren't heading to the police station. "Excuse me where are we going?" she asked with a frown.
Mandy leaned into her and murmured, "They're bad guys." her voice was slurred. "They work for Jensen."
Terri grew cold. The only name of Jensen she knew was a crime boss in London by the name of Maxwell Jensen. He was bad news. She'd heard he had the police in his pocket. Marks met her eyes in the rearview mirror and gave her a cold smile. Terri couldn't think. She had to figure out a way to get herself and Mandy out of the car. What could she do? Suddenly she remembered the lighter she'd confiscated from a patient in a non smoking room earlier. Taking that and a store receipt from her pocket she drew in a deep breath.
"Mandy." she whispered lightly and looked at the girl. "Can you hear me?" Terri tried to be as silent as possible knowing if the men heard her then the two girls would be in even worse straights. Mandy nodded. "I'm going to create a diversion to get them to stop the car. When they do we have to get out and run. Do you understand?" Again Mandy nodded. She clutched Terri's hand for a moment, and Terri squeezed back.
Terri took another deep breath and lit the receipt on fire. She tossed it into the front seat and all hell broke loose. The car swerved as the men fought to put the fire out, but Terri had gotten lucky and the lit receipt had hit other papers and greasy spots on the front seat. Cunningham, who'd been driving, jerked over to the side of the road, and had barely stopped when Terri grabbed Mandy and pulled her from the car. They started running, and the men began yelling after them.
The two women raced into the woods and Terri could hear the men following behind them closely. The farther they went the denser the foliage became and a mist began to form. Still the men chased them. Several times shots were fired and Terri could hear the bullets hit into the trees near them. Tears were running down her face, and she could hear Mandy sobbing, but she knew if they stopped it was over. All she could do was pray she wasn't doing something to get herself, Mandy, or Mandy's unborn child killed.
As if out of nowhere, three men on horseback appeared to the women's right, but Terri didn't stop. Mandy fell to the ground, and Terri picked the girl up and basically carried her weight. The two gunmen were gaining on them, but she didn't stop. Suddenly a shot rang out and one of the men on horseback fell to the ground. Terri looked and saw that he'd been shot in the shoulder. Oh God, she thought, this is our fault. It didn't matter. Their friend getting injured obviously infuriated the other two men on horseback, and Terri watched in disbelief as they drew swords, honest to god swords, and attacked Cunningham and Marks. Blood sprayed, and the two men screamed. Sudden silence enveloped the woods and all Terri could hear was her and Mandy's breathing.
Terri lowered Mandy to the ground and hurried to the wounded man with her medical bag. He grit his teeth against the pain, but she could tell it hurt. "Hold still." she told him gently.
"Tristan!" A huge man, the one who'd cut down Marks, was rushing towards them. "Tristan!"
"I can help him." she bellowed authoritatively. She'd already opened her bag and taken out her equipment. It only took her moments to cut away his clothing from the wound. She could see it was a clean in and out, and breathed a sigh of relief. "The bullet went straight through, and from what I can tell it didn't hit anything real important." she told the two men brightly. "I'm just gonna give you a little shot in the area to numb it and then I'm going to stitch you up, okay?"
Terri didn't wait for anyone to agree, she just began her work. The third man had joined them and though not giving him her full attention she could tell he was a large man with wild, long blonde hair. Terri quickly stitched and dressed the wound. Then she made her way back to Mandy who leaned against a tree watching the proceedings through wide, terrified eyes. "You okay sweetie?" Terri murmured.
"Who are they?" she whimpered.
Finally Terri looked at the three men who'd rescued them from Marks and Cunningham. Then she blinked. They were all dressed in medieval clothing. What the hell?
The blonde man, and the large bald man who'd called the shot man Tristan stared back at them. The man Tristan was looking at the bandage on his shoulder. "It seems we got two more." The blonde man said in a thickly accented voice.