Some of the lights dimmed out in the hallway and Shalimar took that as her cue that things were going to settle down for the night. Any minute now, one of the nurses would be in to do a final check on her for the night before leaving her alone to sleep.
Like clockwork, the nurse entered her room and approached her. Shalimar shut her eyes and pretended she was asleep. The nurse checked her I.V. and the monitors and then exited the room.
Shalimar opened her eyes and then reached down for the paperclip. She bent it as best as she could and then managed to stick it in the lock.
She twisted it and turned it, trying to get the lock to pop open. "I'm not used to doing this the old fashioned way," she whispered. After a few moments the lock popped and her right hand was soon free. Then she went to work on her left hand, freeing that in seconds.
Moving the sheets away she painfully got herself upright. She took a moment to let the pain subside before trying to lower the side bars on the bed.
Taking a deep breath she was able to get the bars on the right side down. Then she swung her legs over and eased herself to the ground. Pain erupted in her stomach as all of the pressure built up around the area now that she was standing. She pulled out her I.V., grunting a bit as it stung.
Holding her left arm tight against her stomach she slowly walked across the room towards the door.
When she finally made it, she looked out into the hall through the small square window. There was one nurse sitting out in the hall at a big, black desk. Her head was down and it looked as if she was filling out paperwork of some sort.
Shalimar seized the opportunity and opened the door to her room as quietly as possible. She slithered out, keeping her eye on the nurse as she got out into the hallway and out of the nurse's view.
She walked down the long hallway and saw a door that was marked "file room." She tried the door and found it unlocked. She scanned the area and didn't see anyone so she went inside, shutting the door behind her.
There were rows and rows of steel shelving that held boxes of what looked like medical records.
As she walked further into the room she saw an area where they kept patient's belongings. There were lots of boxes. Scanning the names as fast as she could, she finally found hers.
Adam and the team arrived at the hotel where Shalimar was staying. The manager brought them to her room and let them in.
They all walked around the room, looking for anything suspicious.
"There's no sign of a struggle or anything," Adam noted. He turned to the manager that was standing in the doorway. "Did anyone see her leave the hotel?"
"Not that I'm aware of," the manager said.
Adam ran his hands through his hair and then he heard a quiet voice, "Adam?"
He looked at Jesse, Brennan and Emma and they looked back at him.
"Adam," the voice said again.
"Shalimar?" Adam said, realizing her voice was coming through his Comlink ring. "Oh my God, where are you?"
"I'm in some hospital, not sure where," she whispered.
"Hospital?" Adam gasped.
"It's a long story. Listen, I don't know how long I have to talk. I'm going to try and get out of here. Once I roam around some more maybe I'll be able to tell you where I am."
"The team and I are here in the city." Adam turned back to the manager, "Where's the nearest hospital?"
"St. Luke's is about three miles from here, straight up the shoreline."
"Shalimar, hang tight. We'll find you," Adam assured her.
"I hope so," she said as she put a hand to her forehead, wiping away the sweat.
Adam and the team members raced out of the room and headed for the hospital.
Meanwhile, Shalimar found some scrubs and got dressed. The clothes she had on when they brought her in weren't in the box and she assumed that they'd been cut off of her and thrown away. All she had was her sneakers. She slipped into them and walked back towards the door.
Before heading out into the hall, she put on a surgical mask and cap, hoping that would allow her to stride past the nurse without question.
She went out into the hall and tried to walk as normally as possible, doing her best to ignore the pain that radiated in her stomach. She could feel the beads of sweat pouring down her forehead and she felt like she was burning up. But she kept on walking and went past the nurse.
"You're here late," the nurse said as Shalimar walked past her.
Shalimar panicked. Taking a deep breath she turned around and looked at the nurse, "Yeah, I had a few things to take care of. I'm gonna catch a quick nap before the next shift."
The nurse smiled and put her head back down, "Enjoy!"
Shalimar felt a sense of relief wash over her.
She went down the hallway to the elevator. She pushed the button and in looking down she noticed she was bleeding. She looked to her right and saw a cart with some of those steel clipboards so she grabbed one, holding it over the blood spot so that no one would see it.
Finally, the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside. She pressed the first floor button and then leaned against the back of the elevator, closing her eyes as the doors shut.
Just as the doors shut, one of the doctors walked down the hallway to Shalimar's room. He walked in and immediately saw the bed empty.
"Shit!" he yelled as he dashed out into the hallway to where the nurse was sitting. "Where's the girl in that room?"
The nurse looked up at him, "What? She's asleep. I just checked on her not too long ago." The nurse took another look at him, "Wait, who are you?"
"You stupid fool, she got away!" he said as he slammed his hands down on her desk. Reaching over he grabbed her by the front of her uniform, "Where the fuck is she?"
The nurse trembled in fear, her eyes growing wide. "I--I don't--wait, she must have been the one that walked past me a few minutes ago. She just took the elevator."
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" he said as he pushed her backwards, tossing her to the floor. He headed for the stairwell and began running down the stairs to make it to the first floor before Shalimar did.
The doors to the elevator opened and Shalimar slowly walked out. The area was quiet. A few people were sitting in a waiting room and two nurses were at the nurse's station, each of them talking on the phone.
She started to feel dizzy but shook it off and kept walking. Then she heard a loud noise. Looking behind her she sae the doctor flying through the door of the stairwell. "Stop!" he yelled at her.
She turned back around and tried her best to run but her wound prevented her from gaining any speed. She got out to the parking lot and hid behind a parked car.
The doctor came out of the hospital and ran into the lot looking for her, drawing a gun as he ran.
She looked down at her stomach and saw that she was bleeding pretty badly. She took her mask and cap off and tossed them under the car. Then she wiped the back of her arm over her sweaty forehead.
"Come on out, it's okay. I'm here to help you," the doctor yelled out as he walked around, looking around the parked cars.
Shalimar moved in the opposite direction of his voice and hid behind another car.
"You're hurt and you need help," he said.
Shalimar looked around and spotted Adam and the team across the lot. Taking a deep breath, she got to her feet and began to run towards them.
The doctor saw her running and began firing at her. "Stop!" he screamed. He fired again and again.
Adam and the team saw what was going on and saw Shalimar limping along.
Jesse ran over to her and shielded her with his body as he maximized his density. "I've got you Shal, it's okay."
Emma began to take control of the man's mind, making him freak out that he was holding a gun. He tossed it away, "Get it away from me!" He dropped to his knees and began to sob.
Adam and Brennan went over to Jesse who sat Shalimar down on the ground, propping her against the wall. "You okay?" Adam asked as he looked into her eyes.
She struggled to breathe, sweat poured down her face. "No," she said softly.
"I'll get the SUV," Brennan said as he raced across the lot.
"It's okay, you're going to be fine. Just try to relax."
Brennan pulled up and they all helped get Shalimar into the SUV. Within seconds, she passed out.