Chapter 22
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Dr. Jamison maneuvered his maroon Explorer out the rear exit of the doctor's parking lot. Benson was hidden on the back floor, but held the scalpel between the console at the Jamison's side.
Dr. Jamison was feverishly trying to think of a way to leave some kind of clue as to which way they headed. He knew it was only a matter of time before the Lieutenant realized the he'd never shown up from the ER and they would start trying to find him.
He saw police cars approaching at all entrances and exits and tried to find a way to delay until they had the exits blocked, but Benson caught on and jabbed at his side, breaking the skin with the scalpel. "Move it," he said. "And you better not draw attention to yourself," he added.
Jamison calmly drove toward the guard shack and frowned when he noticed that it was unmanned. He didn't realize that all security personnel had been called inside to help lock down the exits of the hospital as ordered by Davis. He slowed his vehicle, preparing to stop at the parking gate in order to insert his electronic card when Benson jabbed him in the side again. "I said to keep moving and don't draw attention!"
"Well, I'd say that driving through the gate would draw attention," Jamison said, grimacing at the pain in his side. "I have to insert my card to make the gate go up," he said, trying to hide his frustration so that he didn't aggravate Benson.
"Just do what you have to do and remember I don't have any problem killing you," he warned.
Jamison inserted his parking card and the gate rose. He casually dropped the card to the ground outside the guard shack door and breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't bounce and land under the edge of the curb and out of sight. He drove past the gate and stopped at the edge of the lot.
"Which way?" he asked Benson.
"Take a right," Benson answered. Jamison turned right and headed away from the hospital, the police cars approaching the hospital in his rearview mirror. He suddenly got a nervous feeling when he didn't hear any more from his passenger. A few moments later, when they were far enough away from the hospital and it was safe for him to sit up, Benson climbed from the backseat and settled into the passenger seat. They continued on for a distance.
"Take a right up here," he said, indicating a long and winding road leading to a secluded neighborhood. Jamison had an uneasy feeling creep over him as he made the turn.
"This is it," he thought to himself. "He doesn't need me anymore." He just hoped that this man would just let him out of the car unharmed, but he somehow doubted it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The floor had been checked and Lt. Swersky, Davis and Sully were standing in the middle of the floor at the nurse's station. They were discussing what their next move would be and Swersky was on the radio finding out how many units he had at the hospital and where they were distributed.
All of a sudden, Lieutenant Swersky turned, looking around him. "Where the hell is Jamison," he asked looking at the medical personnel standing around.
The young nurse that had given him the phone call that got everything started apparently appointed herself as the Lieutenant's surrogate secretary. She stood up from her desk and said, "I contacted the ER and the nurse there said that he left for there as soon as he got off the phone with you. She said she saw him get on the elevator, but he never arrived here. I've paged him numerous times with no response. Would you like me to do anything else right now?"
Sully and Davis looked at each other and Davis made a face, raising his eyebrows, as if to say, "Who the hell died and appointed her boss?" Sully just rolled his eyes as the Lieutenant responded.
"Thank you, uh, Ms. Simpson," he said, taking in the name on her nametag. "Nothing right now, but please let me know if anyone comes across Dr. Jamison." The Lieutenant turned around and made a face at his two officers.
Suddenly, Sully had a thought and turned to the hospital's Head of Security. "Do you know if Dr. Jamison drives a car to work?" The Lieutenant perked up at this and turned to the man and waited for the answer.
"Yes, he drives a 2001 Ford Explorer, maroon. He parks it in the same spot every day," responded the man.
"Can you have one of your people check to see if it's still in the lot? Also, have them look up the Good Doctor's license plate number," Sully advised the man. With that, the security officer headed down to his office.
"Good thinking," said the Lieutenant. "Let's head down the hall to the office and see what we need to do next." All the personnel that had been congregating around the nurse's station left to head down the hall. The nurse called after them, "Lieutenant? I'll be right here until 11:00 if you need me. And, it's Susan."
The Lieutenant turned back and said with a smile, "Thank you, Susan. I'll let you know." He turned back toward his officers and said quietly, "If Marion was that good, I'd be all set," referring to his secretary at the precinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, pull over here," ordered Benson making Dr. Jamison's stomach tighten even more. He was running over ideas in his head to try to escape, but was unable to come up with any sure-fire solution.
He pulled the truck to a stop and put it in park. He didn't dare turn toward the man for fear of irritating him further. "So, what to do with you?" Benson said out loud.
"What's to do? Take the truck - it's yours. It'll take me a good hour to walk back to the hospital and you could be long gone," Dr. Jamison suggested.
Benson thought for a moment. "Well, I don't see what harm you could do. They already know about me and you did save my life and leg," he said as Jamison relaxed a little.
Benson reached over and took the keys from the ignition. He got out of the vehicle and walked around the front of the vehicle. "Get out," Benson ordered as he came around to the driver's side. Jamison did as he was ordered hoping that Benson was simply going to leave him by the side of the road and take off in his truck.
Benson pushed the door of the truck closed and stood face to face with the man who had saved his life. After a moment of silence, Dr. Jamison decided to ask his question. "So, can I ask you why you're doing all this?"
"Why?" Benson repeated incredulously. "I'll tell you why. Because my family is dead. Because of the cowards that are the NYPD and the FDNY. They let my wife and daughter die because they were afraid to try to save them," he said angrily. He went on to explain about the accident on the rain-slicked road that night.
When he had finished, Jamison shook his head. "Don't you understand? They weren't afraid to save your family. They tried. What good would it have done if, one by one, each one tried and got swept downriver just like you? They had to take the time to try to get to them safely - so they were still around to pull them from the car. It wasn't the FDNY and NYPD that killed your family, it was an accident."
"NO!" shouted Benson, shaking his head vigorously. "NO! You're wrong. I saw them. They just stood around not doing anything until they saw me hanging on. Then they went for the easy rescue. I begged them to forget about me - to just save Anne and Jessica," he screamed, suddenly seeing his daughter in his mind.
"Jessica," he whispered. He looked again at Dr. Jamison. "Anne was lucky enough to be unconscious. She didn't know she was dying. I had to listen to Jessica's screams. I had to listen to her terror as the water took her from me while they just stood by and let it happen!" he yelled, referring to the emergency workers.
"I've been with these guys! I see what they do everyday! They didn't - WOULDN'T - just let your family die. They just ran out of time," Jamison said, desperately trying to reason with the man.
"No! You weren't there. You don't know. I watched them... I watched my family die and they did NOTHING!" he finished. Jamison tried to continue to reason with Benson but he didn't want to hear anymore. "No more! No more talking!" he screamed.
Benson looked up and down the road, searching his mind for what to do. Suddenly, he lashed out at Jamison with the scalpel, cutting him across the abdomen deeply. Jamison jumped back, but not fast enough to avoid the insult to his midsection. He felt the scalpel enter his abdomen - felt the burn of the cut - felt the immediate flow of blood as he lost his balance and fell backward into the ditch along side of the road striking his head on a rock and coming to rest unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nurse Simpson hung up the phone and walked down the hallway to where the Lieutenant was coordinating the efforts. She walked in the door, past the uniformed and plainclothes officers as if she were one of them. They all stared at her in surprise.
"Lieutenant, I just received a call from Harold down in Security. He said that Dr. Jamison's truck is gone. They found his parking key card alongside the security shack. They must have gotten away before all the exits were blocked," she surmised. She handed him a slip of paper that she'd written down the license plate on.
Swersky took the paper and turned toward Sully and Ty. "This guy's in the wind. Get out on the streets and start looking. I want five officers to stay here and start checking the building again. I'm calling in ESU to help search the building. I'll call dispatch and put out an APB on the truck." He looked over at the head of Security that had come back. "I want the lock-down of the hospital to continue until ESU clears the building and then I want ID's on everyone coming in or out of the building checked." Having finished everything he needed to say, he finished with "Go."
Sully, Davis and the other officers took off to hit the streets. The Lieutenant turned to get to the phone and just about tripped over Susan. "Excuse me," he said, trying to be polite. She stepped aside. "What do you want me to do now?" she asked.
"Susan, I need you to go to Room 6 and check on my officers. Make sure no one has gotten into their room. Then I want you to go down to the 4th floor and check on the medic to see that she's okay. You've done a good job here today and I thank you. We'll be leaving the floor since Benson's no longer here. I want to thank you for your help," he finished, trying not to smile as he saw the young woman light up with his praise. She had been a big help, but he needed to get her out of his way. There was nothing more for her to do.
He turned away and picked up the phone and asked for the Dispatch Supervisor. Susan left to perform her tasks as she heard him say, "Dispatch, this is Lieutenant Swersky from the 55. I want an APB out on a 2001 Ford Explorer, color maroon. License plate is New York, Adam-Victor-Boy 2-8-2-1. Plate returns to a Jamie Jamison, M.D. Vehicle stolen from the lot of Mercy Hospital by suspected hit and run suspect, Samuel Benson. Advise all units that Dr. Jamison is unaccounted for and most likely being held hostage by the suspect. Suspect should be considered armed and extremely dangerous."
He hung up the phone after the Supervisor repeated the information back to him. He turned and headed off to Bosco and Faith's room before heading back to the precinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC... Well? How's it going?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Jamison maneuvered his maroon Explorer out the rear exit of the doctor's parking lot. Benson was hidden on the back floor, but held the scalpel between the console at the Jamison's side.
Dr. Jamison was feverishly trying to think of a way to leave some kind of clue as to which way they headed. He knew it was only a matter of time before the Lieutenant realized the he'd never shown up from the ER and they would start trying to find him.
He saw police cars approaching at all entrances and exits and tried to find a way to delay until they had the exits blocked, but Benson caught on and jabbed at his side, breaking the skin with the scalpel. "Move it," he said. "And you better not draw attention to yourself," he added.
Jamison calmly drove toward the guard shack and frowned when he noticed that it was unmanned. He didn't realize that all security personnel had been called inside to help lock down the exits of the hospital as ordered by Davis. He slowed his vehicle, preparing to stop at the parking gate in order to insert his electronic card when Benson jabbed him in the side again. "I said to keep moving and don't draw attention!"
"Well, I'd say that driving through the gate would draw attention," Jamison said, grimacing at the pain in his side. "I have to insert my card to make the gate go up," he said, trying to hide his frustration so that he didn't aggravate Benson.
"Just do what you have to do and remember I don't have any problem killing you," he warned.
Jamison inserted his parking card and the gate rose. He casually dropped the card to the ground outside the guard shack door and breathed a sigh of relief that it didn't bounce and land under the edge of the curb and out of sight. He drove past the gate and stopped at the edge of the lot.
"Which way?" he asked Benson.
"Take a right," Benson answered. Jamison turned right and headed away from the hospital, the police cars approaching the hospital in his rearview mirror. He suddenly got a nervous feeling when he didn't hear any more from his passenger. A few moments later, when they were far enough away from the hospital and it was safe for him to sit up, Benson climbed from the backseat and settled into the passenger seat. They continued on for a distance.
"Take a right up here," he said, indicating a long and winding road leading to a secluded neighborhood. Jamison had an uneasy feeling creep over him as he made the turn.
"This is it," he thought to himself. "He doesn't need me anymore." He just hoped that this man would just let him out of the car unharmed, but he somehow doubted it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The floor had been checked and Lt. Swersky, Davis and Sully were standing in the middle of the floor at the nurse's station. They were discussing what their next move would be and Swersky was on the radio finding out how many units he had at the hospital and where they were distributed.
All of a sudden, Lieutenant Swersky turned, looking around him. "Where the hell is Jamison," he asked looking at the medical personnel standing around.
The young nurse that had given him the phone call that got everything started apparently appointed herself as the Lieutenant's surrogate secretary. She stood up from her desk and said, "I contacted the ER and the nurse there said that he left for there as soon as he got off the phone with you. She said she saw him get on the elevator, but he never arrived here. I've paged him numerous times with no response. Would you like me to do anything else right now?"
Sully and Davis looked at each other and Davis made a face, raising his eyebrows, as if to say, "Who the hell died and appointed her boss?" Sully just rolled his eyes as the Lieutenant responded.
"Thank you, uh, Ms. Simpson," he said, taking in the name on her nametag. "Nothing right now, but please let me know if anyone comes across Dr. Jamison." The Lieutenant turned around and made a face at his two officers.
Suddenly, Sully had a thought and turned to the hospital's Head of Security. "Do you know if Dr. Jamison drives a car to work?" The Lieutenant perked up at this and turned to the man and waited for the answer.
"Yes, he drives a 2001 Ford Explorer, maroon. He parks it in the same spot every day," responded the man.
"Can you have one of your people check to see if it's still in the lot? Also, have them look up the Good Doctor's license plate number," Sully advised the man. With that, the security officer headed down to his office.
"Good thinking," said the Lieutenant. "Let's head down the hall to the office and see what we need to do next." All the personnel that had been congregating around the nurse's station left to head down the hall. The nurse called after them, "Lieutenant? I'll be right here until 11:00 if you need me. And, it's Susan."
The Lieutenant turned back and said with a smile, "Thank you, Susan. I'll let you know." He turned back toward his officers and said quietly, "If Marion was that good, I'd be all set," referring to his secretary at the precinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, pull over here," ordered Benson making Dr. Jamison's stomach tighten even more. He was running over ideas in his head to try to escape, but was unable to come up with any sure-fire solution.
He pulled the truck to a stop and put it in park. He didn't dare turn toward the man for fear of irritating him further. "So, what to do with you?" Benson said out loud.
"What's to do? Take the truck - it's yours. It'll take me a good hour to walk back to the hospital and you could be long gone," Dr. Jamison suggested.
Benson thought for a moment. "Well, I don't see what harm you could do. They already know about me and you did save my life and leg," he said as Jamison relaxed a little.
Benson reached over and took the keys from the ignition. He got out of the vehicle and walked around the front of the vehicle. "Get out," Benson ordered as he came around to the driver's side. Jamison did as he was ordered hoping that Benson was simply going to leave him by the side of the road and take off in his truck.
Benson pushed the door of the truck closed and stood face to face with the man who had saved his life. After a moment of silence, Dr. Jamison decided to ask his question. "So, can I ask you why you're doing all this?"
"Why?" Benson repeated incredulously. "I'll tell you why. Because my family is dead. Because of the cowards that are the NYPD and the FDNY. They let my wife and daughter die because they were afraid to try to save them," he said angrily. He went on to explain about the accident on the rain-slicked road that night.
When he had finished, Jamison shook his head. "Don't you understand? They weren't afraid to save your family. They tried. What good would it have done if, one by one, each one tried and got swept downriver just like you? They had to take the time to try to get to them safely - so they were still around to pull them from the car. It wasn't the FDNY and NYPD that killed your family, it was an accident."
"NO!" shouted Benson, shaking his head vigorously. "NO! You're wrong. I saw them. They just stood around not doing anything until they saw me hanging on. Then they went for the easy rescue. I begged them to forget about me - to just save Anne and Jessica," he screamed, suddenly seeing his daughter in his mind.
"Jessica," he whispered. He looked again at Dr. Jamison. "Anne was lucky enough to be unconscious. She didn't know she was dying. I had to listen to Jessica's screams. I had to listen to her terror as the water took her from me while they just stood by and let it happen!" he yelled, referring to the emergency workers.
"I've been with these guys! I see what they do everyday! They didn't - WOULDN'T - just let your family die. They just ran out of time," Jamison said, desperately trying to reason with the man.
"No! You weren't there. You don't know. I watched them... I watched my family die and they did NOTHING!" he finished. Jamison tried to continue to reason with Benson but he didn't want to hear anymore. "No more! No more talking!" he screamed.
Benson looked up and down the road, searching his mind for what to do. Suddenly, he lashed out at Jamison with the scalpel, cutting him across the abdomen deeply. Jamison jumped back, but not fast enough to avoid the insult to his midsection. He felt the scalpel enter his abdomen - felt the burn of the cut - felt the immediate flow of blood as he lost his balance and fell backward into the ditch along side of the road striking his head on a rock and coming to rest unconscious.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nurse Simpson hung up the phone and walked down the hallway to where the Lieutenant was coordinating the efforts. She walked in the door, past the uniformed and plainclothes officers as if she were one of them. They all stared at her in surprise.
"Lieutenant, I just received a call from Harold down in Security. He said that Dr. Jamison's truck is gone. They found his parking key card alongside the security shack. They must have gotten away before all the exits were blocked," she surmised. She handed him a slip of paper that she'd written down the license plate on.
Swersky took the paper and turned toward Sully and Ty. "This guy's in the wind. Get out on the streets and start looking. I want five officers to stay here and start checking the building again. I'm calling in ESU to help search the building. I'll call dispatch and put out an APB on the truck." He looked over at the head of Security that had come back. "I want the lock-down of the hospital to continue until ESU clears the building and then I want ID's on everyone coming in or out of the building checked." Having finished everything he needed to say, he finished with "Go."
Sully, Davis and the other officers took off to hit the streets. The Lieutenant turned to get to the phone and just about tripped over Susan. "Excuse me," he said, trying to be polite. She stepped aside. "What do you want me to do now?" she asked.
"Susan, I need you to go to Room 6 and check on my officers. Make sure no one has gotten into their room. Then I want you to go down to the 4th floor and check on the medic to see that she's okay. You've done a good job here today and I thank you. We'll be leaving the floor since Benson's no longer here. I want to thank you for your help," he finished, trying not to smile as he saw the young woman light up with his praise. She had been a big help, but he needed to get her out of his way. There was nothing more for her to do.
He turned away and picked up the phone and asked for the Dispatch Supervisor. Susan left to perform her tasks as she heard him say, "Dispatch, this is Lieutenant Swersky from the 55. I want an APB out on a 2001 Ford Explorer, color maroon. License plate is New York, Adam-Victor-Boy 2-8-2-1. Plate returns to a Jamie Jamison, M.D. Vehicle stolen from the lot of Mercy Hospital by suspected hit and run suspect, Samuel Benson. Advise all units that Dr. Jamison is unaccounted for and most likely being held hostage by the suspect. Suspect should be considered armed and extremely dangerous."
He hung up the phone after the Supervisor repeated the information back to him. He turned and headed off to Bosco and Faith's room before heading back to the precinct.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
TBC... Well? How's it going?