CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Tom Hanson

Right after Doug and Fuller left things got quiet. My job was depending on how I reacted to the situation. On one hand I could risk everything for the sake of Ioki, but there was one thing keeping me from doing that – I had no idea where Ioki was. Suppose I did leave the hospital, rent a car and head off to find Ioki. What if I didn't find him? What if my search led me straight into the arms of a very angry Fuller? I would be out of a case, out of a job and that's just the beginning of it. So I sat in that bed and watched television.

Of course nothing was on. Nothing interesting airs when a person's in the hospital. It's all the same – sports, game shows and old romantic movies. I would have done anything for Doug's entertainment. He does a mean Marlon Brando. And it wasn't only the boring television that made the hospital visit dull, but also the smell. You ever smell a hospital? Well, not the hospital itself but its insides… it smells so clean and … medical. The scent drives me crazy and makes me antsy.

Judy had stopped by shortly after Doug and Fuller were out of the building. She offered to listen to me vent about how unfair it was for me to stay, but I didn't want to vent. I said my piece to Fuller and venting would have gotten me nowhere. It was best to push past what happened and make the most of it. They'd find Ioki and he would be fine – or at least that was what I kept telling myself. Judy got us some breakfast, just a few muffins and two cups of coffee. It was a lot better than the stuff the hospital tried feeding me and it was the perfect way to make everything all the better.

"You'd think some celebrity was here with all the security outside." Judy pointed out. She was standing at the window, her fingers peeling back the curtain, while she sipped on her coffee.

"They're all going to search for Ioki," I pointed out. "There's nothing on television." I tossed the remote on the nightstand and folded my arms over my chest. Judy looked over at me and started to laugh. "What?"

"Hanson, look at you. You're a sight for sore eyes. Pouting like a baby." She sat on the edge of the bed. "Cheer up."

"I'm bored."

"What do you wanna do?"

"There's a carnival downtown I heard…"

"We can't leave this hospital," Judy said as she gently pushed my knee. "You know that."

"I at least want some cotton candy."

"The doctors threw a fit for me bringing in the coffee, Hanson. I can only imagine what they'd do if I brought you a huge pile of pink sugar."

"Blue." I corrected with a firm nod. "I'd want the blue cotton candy."

"Of course," Judy giggled. "How could I forget? You're not a fan of pink are you?"

"I know it's the 80s, you know with expressing yourself as wildly as possible, but I'd rather stay away from the pink. But I could go for some cream. For my coffee." Cue innocent puppy dog pout here. Judy rolled her eyes and got up.

"Alright," she said as she gently slapped my leg. "I'll be right back." As she left, she brushed shoulders with a nurse who was coming in. The nurse looked like she was having a bad day. Her head was ducked down and she was staring at the cart she was rolling towards me. There were numerous bottles rattling on the cart's surface and the rhythm of the rattling quickened as she approached me.

"I thought I was up to date on all of my medication," I said to her. "They're even talking about releasing-"

"If you don't talk," she hissed. "This will make things easier." I knew that voice anywhere.

Sandra.

Once the awkward silence set between us, she slowly raised her chin. Her eyes were red, her cheeks were soaked with tears and as much as she wanted to resist, I could tell she felt she had to do it this way. Whatever "it" was, was beyond me. She took one of the bottles and poured its liquid into a cloth.

"JUDY!" I cried. "Ju-" My words were silenced as she stuffed the cloth over my face.

"Let's just go, Sandra!" I heard Calvin say. He walked in shortly after Sandra placed the cloth over my mouth. "We ran outta tranquilizers and I couldn't get to that woman officer."

"Hey!" I heard Judy scream. "Get off him! Freeze! You're under arrest!"

"Get her!" Sandra squeaked. Everything started to fade.

"I can't – she has a gun!" Calvin screamed.

"Calvin, YOU have a gun too."

"I dropped it on the way inside."

"Calvin…" sighed Sandra. "Here, let me do it." She looked down at me, waiting for me to drop off. I took in the blurry sight of Judy before I dropped off. I was really getting sick of those tranquilizers…

I woke up to feel vibrations underneath my body. There was a rumbling, like an old motor sputtering. There was an abrupt motion, a sudden jerk. The jerk sent me forward but something held me back. It was a seatbelt. I was in a truck. My vision started to clear up and as it did I could make out a dusty dashboard and the hood of a pick up truck. I was in the passenger seat, someone's jacket over my body, and another behind my head to make like a headrest.

Calvin was sitting in the driver's seat, watching the traffic light intently. We were sitting at a red light. We were in the middle of nowhere and there weren't any roaring sirens of police cars. God knows where we were by that point. As I moved my head, the homemade pillow fell into my lap and my head fell against the passenger side window. I winced, moaning lightly, and then rested my head against the back of the seat.

"I… I got your coffee for ya," Calvin said. "It's a little cold but we can warm it up once we get to the hotel."

"Where is he?" I asked him.

"You just rest, that stuff will have you dozing in and out for a while."

"I wanna know where he is."

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about," I hissed. "You don't just take someone hostage and then come back for another. Or at least without a good reason. Now where is he?"

"You don't know what I'm doin' so just sit there, okay?"

"You found out he wasn't Tom Hanson, right?" I asked. "You found out he wasn't Mandy's old boyfriend. He was still a hostage, he'd work, but you wanted the real deal. The one person to tug Mandy's heart strings."

"Just shut up." Calvin advised.

"So you came all the way back here, tracked down me, the real Tom Hanson. And now you're on your way to wherever you took Ioki. And you're going to do me the way you did him."

"Leave it alone."

"You wanted to make sure you sought vengeance for your daughter…" I steamed.

"Don't you dare talk about my daughter, you don't know anything about her. You don't know!"

"You think Beverly would have wanted this, Calvin?" I threw the coat off of me. "You think she'd have wanted you to kill people? You think she'd want you to go to jail and-"

Next thing I knew there was the face of a gun pressed against my forehead. The light turned green but the truck never moved.

"This'll shut you up real quick," Calvin said. "I don't wanna do this, kid, so don't you make me. Now just keep quiet. We're almost there. Then you can see that little friend of yours and everything will be fine."

With a gun against my head and an angry set of fugitives… I doubted things were going to be 'fine'.

[ Author's note: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted! I had to get a new computer and it took FOREVER to get things set up. But I'm back now and I will have the next few chapters posted throughout the week. :)