Chapter 25
Rob knocks loudly on the door to another clinic the couple manage three miles away from where they left earlier.
"Simon it's me, Dr Thornton. Please open up!" The group wait outside in the night air understanding that the place is closed due to the time being out of hours.
After 3 or 4 minutes, a man wearing round glasses and a blue robe unlocks the front door with a surprise on his face.
"Rob? What brings you here at this time of night?" He glances around the empty street outside before the group enters the building.
"We're so sorry to disturb you so late but it's urgent!" Maria replies to him.
"Come in!" He encourages them through the door as Shiva and Rob carry Blaze while she is still unconscious.
"What happened to her?" Simon asks as he wheels forward a hospital bed.
"This woman lost a lot of blood last night, she needs a drip and possibly a transfusion, O positive. She was the one who killed the Yamato warrior".
"Are you serious!? The whole place is going crazy over the streets". Simon responds surprised.
"We've lost them for now" Rob says "this guy here is Leon, he also needs a further supply of antibiotics, painkillers and a change of dressing on his leg".
"Will get onto that right away" Simon acts promptly.
"I'll wait here at the entrance in case anyone comes looking for us" Shiva insists.
"First let Simon take a look at that wound, it will only take 5 minutes" Maria replies.
"What about Blaze?" He asks.
"Don't worry, she's in safe hands" she reassures him whilst attaching a drip into Blaze's arm.
"Shit, we're out of O positive transfusions!" Simon shrugs.
"It's OK, I'll call the next emergency clinic so that one of us can collect it". Maria answers.
"Can't any of us donate blood for her?" Shiva asks feeling worried.
"No, her blood group can only take one type of transfusion." She says whilst waiting patiently on the phone.
"Hello, yes it's Dr Thornton. We have an emergency… young female. She's lost a lot of blood and fluid. Currently in an unconscious state and possibly in the early stages of pregnancy… We need O positive….. Great! Simon is on the way now!"
Without hesitation, he leaves and jumps on one of the mopeds outside then rides off to the next clinic.
"Third night of coffee in a row. Still that bad huh?" Estel takes another sip of her Americano glancing over to Adam as he enters the quiet bar. He pulls up a stool next to her at the main counter.
"Double espresso please" he orders.
"Wanna talk about it?" She probes. Estel is out of office uniform wearing dark jeans and a white blouse with her blond hair still braided. "You know if you want custody rights it's not that difficult…"
"No, it's not that" Adam shakes his head. "Besides Sasha and Chris are safer without me around right now. I failed them, I failed Keri and now I've failed Axel" he frowns.
"I take it things didn't go so well at the prison then earlier?" she asks.
"The whole plan is off. He's decided to plead guilty".
"What?! Why?" She responds shocked. "You had such a great chance of getting Axel freed! I even found the witness name today, I believe he's this man - Officer Mitch Cray. He is a former Sergeant and was one of the interrogation squad members who interviewed Axel all those years ago" she hands over to Adam a file.
"What makes you think this is our guy?" He raises his eyebrows.
"Well two weeks ago, his son who was on death row for homicide was set free and pardoned with one of the judges backed by the senate suddenly overruling the verdict. It's very rare for this ever to happen but they must have been paid quite a fair sum. I followed Jake and found he was meeting this guy - see?" She holds up a photo of the two of them talking to each other outside of a restaurant.
"Nice work! Where do you think this son of a bitch is now?"
"This is the only problem, nobody has seen him over the past 3 weeks. I take it he is under Jake's protection until the trial takes place, but what with Axel pleading guilty now this is a fucking waste of time!" She throws down the photos with annoyance onto the counter.
Adam's phone starts to ping several times full of messages.
"Hold on a sec…. Shit!"
"What's wrong?" She asks.
"Blaze and Shiva found the original syndicate documents! They've got it and they've just faxed over all the files to myself and Zan!... Wait, it says this has come from somewhere called Thornton's clinic. They must be in some sort of trouble, let me see if I can call the place".
He frantically worries and rushes to call them but nobody answers the phone.
"Unfortunately our staff at this clinic are away at the moment. If this is an emergency, please hold and we will transfer you to the switchboard"
Adam continues to wait anxiously.
"Hi, I got an important email that just came through, faxed from Dr Maria Thornton. Please could I speak with her?... If she's not at her usual clinic is there some place else she could be? It's really important!...Thanks".
He waits another moment as his call is transferred to an alternative number. It continues to ring and ring but again, nobody answers.
"Thornton's Clinic, this is Dr Simon Deller's answer machine. We are currently out of hours but if you leave a message we will get back to you as soon as we can".
"Hi my name is Adam Hunter, I received an important fax sent from Dr Maria Thornton about 5 minutes ago. Please can you ask her to give me a call urgently! My number is 55….."
"Adam?" A voice finally answers on the other side of the line. "It's Leon!"
"I have it! I got the documents! Are you and Blaze ok?" Adam queries anxiously.
"We're both alive but we have to get back to Wood Oak City right away. Electra and the syndicate are after us, Blaze made her a deal in return for Jake's witness but now our time is up!"
"We know who the witness is now! But the plan was for you to return and for Blaze to stay there. Can you put her on the line? I need to talk to her about Axel."
"Last night Blaze defeated a Yamato warrior on her own but she's not in a good way right now. We're waiting for a blood transfusion".
"Blood transfusion?" Adam raises his tone with concern in his voice.
"Yeah, the doctors here are treating her right now. Is there any way you can get hold of Axel? I need to talk to him".
"He has a phone but will only switch it on if there is an emergency. I can't visit him until tomorrow….why?"
"Shit! I gotta go. Just find us a chopper or a ship! Anything where we can get out of this place!"
Shiva immediately hangs up the phone and readies his fighting stance.
Suddenly the moped Simon left on crashes through the glass entrance of the clinic. Maria screams when she sees Simon, already dead suffocated as the rider of the moped with a tight wire around his neck.
"Get back now! Hide! Take Blaze with you!" Shiva shouts at the two doctors.
"Looking for this?" Electra appears outside stepping forward with half an army of thugs behind her. She holds up a set of blood transfusion bags in her hand.
"Give those to me right now!" Shiva demands, holding a white ball of energy in his hand.
Electra who is dressed in her tight blue corset, trousers and knee high boots tuts at him whilst shaking her head.
"Put down that flame of yours and give me the documents I came for". She takes a knife, ripping into one of the bags before throwing it on the ground as the blood from the bag leaks out. "You want your new friend to live don't you?"
He has no choice but to obey her orders as she struts forward passing him as she steps her heels into the broken glass on the floor inside the clinic. She stops, holding out her whip in front of the two doctors who are kneeling down shaken in fear with their hands in the air. "Please don't hurt us, we're just here to do our job" Rob's voice quivers.
Electra kneels down, staring at him in the eye with sympathy. "Well you'd better get on with your job then." She throws the remaining sealed blood bags at Maria. "Make sure you save this woman's life, she works for me from now on. Once Blaze is awake and well, bring her and Leon to my private jet. You remember where it's parked right?" she smirks callously at Shiva.
Electra's thugs then force Rob to stand to his feet away from his wife with his hands behind his back. "No! No stop! Please don't take him!" Maria pleads.
"Do as I say and your husband will live". They point a gun towards his head then they cover his face with a bag when he is escorted away.
"Oh, and aren't you forgetting something?" Electra stops in front of Shiva with her hand out. With hate on his face, he gives up the documents and places them in her hand.
"That's a good boy Leon. What is it they say huh Maria? Never get a man to do a woman's job!" She laughs as her and her gang of soldiers drive off with Rob as their hostage.
Once they have left, Maria stands to her feet shaken with tears in her eyes.
"Why did it have to be us?!" She cries, glancing towards Simon's dead body at the entrance of the clinic. "We got punished for helping you! Rob was right, we shouldn't have trusted you or saved you!" She hits and punches Shiva repeatedly across the chest as she cries out. He puts his hands around her shoulders to try and calm her down until she ends up sobbing in his arms.
"Listen, we will get your husband back and I'll do exactly what Electra says. He will be safe I promise! But right now I need you to pull yourself together and save this girl's life. Blaze is innocent in all of this. And that baby she could be carrying is innocent too. So we need to help her ok?"
Maria takes a deep breath, composing herself once more, nodding her head as she begins to set up the blood transfusion for Blaze.
"You can either take our help or fend for yourselves, the choice is yours Tim. I'm not going to keep you here against your will anymore" Adam looks him in the eye once he and Estel return to Max's property.
"Ok" Tim agrees.
"You know that, Max, myself and Estel have protected your family more than anyone else since you've been here. And although your career is over, that's the only sacrifice you have had to make". Adam continues.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything this mess has caused for you, your family, for Axel and even for Blaze." Tim swallows his pride. "Being here over this past month has made me realize a lot of things. I turned a blind eye to my brother for a long time. I knew about the violence and I knew he tried to kill Blaze. Even the lengths Jake is going to now is wrong. You and your friends had so many opportunities to kill me and my family but instead you protected us when I was the one who helped cause this mess. I know I can never undo the past but I want you to know that I'm sorry and I was only trying to protect my wife and daughter". Tim looks at Adam in the eye and extends out his hand. Adam takes the olive branch as they shake hands.
"Estel will take you and Fiona someplace safe until this is all over."
"Lauren is still refusing to come with us," Tim shrugs.
"I think teenage girls are worse than teenage boys" Adam grins back at Estel. "Don't worry, she'l be safe here until Lauren is ready to join you both".
"Lauren?!" Max calls her from downstairs. "Your folks are leaving now come and say goodbye to them".
She rushes down the stairs to hug her mom and dad.
"We're here whenever you're ready sweetheart" Tim smiles at her whilst Estel carries their belongings outside to the car.
"I love you and mom, take good care of each other" she replies with tears in her eyes.
"I'll see you soon" he smiles, acknowledging Sammy with a grateful nod as they leave.
Three hours have passed by since Tim and Fiona left and it is now almost midnight. Sammy and Lauren are fast asleep upstairs whilst Adam and Max are still awake sitting by the dining table.
"The house is a hell of a lot quieter. First Keri and the kids and now Tim and Fiona gone" Adam contemplates whilst sitting back in his chair staring into space.
"With Tim out, it looks like Sammy has gone to sleep upstairs in his old room with Lauren. How did you let that one slip by?" Max replies.
Adam laughs for a moment. "I remember being much worse than Sammy at 17. Sure the kid can be a flash piece of shit at times but I was much worse at his age. Before I met Keri, I was the guy in high school that all the chicks wanted to date. But she made me wait 5 years until we properly started going out, we were friends first".
"Wow, I didn't know that!" Max says, feeling intrigued as he takes a beer from the fridge.
"You wouldn't believe it now but Axel was the shy one out of us two in high school. The boy only had fighting on his mind. Of course his mindset changed by the time he joined the army".
"Hard to imagine Ax being shy" Max laughs.
"Blaze was the same you know when she first came here. She used to be so embarrassed when a guy complimented her and she would even avoid talking because of her accent. That asshole Jake didn't help" he sighs. "Hey Max, could you pass me one of those?" Adam glances at his bottle of beer.
"I don't think that's a good idea" Max warns.
"I can control myself, one wont hurt" Adam insists but Max shakes his head.
"Look I'm about to do something that will end my career for good. All I want is one drink man, please" he looks nervously towards Max.
"Ok, just the one". He flips the top of the bottle open then slides it across the table towards Adam who is holding his cell phone in one hand nervously with the printed documents in the other.
"Senator Peters, it's Adam Hunter, former Captain of Green District Police Department. I believe you spoke earlier with my colleagues ex Chief Andrew Clark and former Commissioner Tim Murphy?"
"Yes, thank you for calling. I've been waiting to hear from you all evening".
"I'm sorry Sir for my delay in contacting you. I have some information, but first I need to formally offer you my resignation because what I'm about to ask from you contradicts all of the rules my department and career upholds. This information is highly classified and could shape the future of this city and the people who run it. But that all depends on you".
"I'm listening…". The senator replies feeling unnerved.