The man took the elevator up to the third floor where he confidently strode into a storage room. Unnoticed. Once there he rummaged around until he found a pair of green scrubs. Quickly he changed into them, and went in search of an ID badge. He walked into a room where he found a male nurse taking a nap. Carefully he removed his badge and walked into the washroom with it. The man expertly removed the snapshot of the nurse, and replaced it with his picture. Smiling at his handiwork, he made his way down to the ER.
"Hey, Mark," Kerry called.
"What?"
"Who's that guy over there? I've never seen him around before."
Mark looked were Kerry was gesturing, and sure enough there was a nurse strolling towards Carter's room. Immediately Mark became concerned. He too didn't recognize the man.
"Let's go check, Kerry," Mark said as the two of them headed towards Carter's room.
"Hey!" Mark yelled. "Who are you, and what are you doing?"
The nurse turned to Mark. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble. I'm Michael Goncalves. I'm a registered nurse from the third floor."
"What are you doing down here?" Kerry demanded.
"One of my patients was brought up from down here. She said she left a valuable piece of jewelry beside the bed, and asked me to get it for her." At their skeptical looks he continued. "Here, take my badge and check in the computer," he said as he handed it to Mark.
A moment later Mark returned from the computer and confirmed Michael's identity. They were about to say something else when they were interrupted by the paramedics delivering two GSW's. They allowed him to go and get it while they went to look after the two trauma victims. The guard had bought the story and sat down in his chair to read a magazine, forgetting about the nurse.
Carter looked up as someone entered his room, and started to feel uncomfortable. His eyes went to the bathroom door where Peter was. Why does he have to take so long? he thought.
"Are you a doc.." he started, but as the man stepped into the light he got a better look at his face. Panic flooded him. Again he was too afraid to breath too loud.
"I see you recognize me Dr. Carter. I'd hope so after what you did," the man said in a calm voice.
"You....you're from my..." Carter started, but was interrupted.
"Let me do the talking Dr. Carter. Do you remember my wife?" he asked while stepping closer to the bed. "Do you?!"
As Peter washed his hands he thought he heard voices coming from Carter's room, but dismissed it as Carter talking to Mark. But when he heard someone starting to yell, he quickly left the washroom only to see a strange man dressed in scrubs standing over Carter's bed. At the look of fear on Carter's face, Benton immediately became furious.
"Who the hell are you!?" he yelled.
He'd obviously caught the man by surprise. He darted out the door and headed for the nearest exit. Benton took off in pursuit, yelling for someone to stop the guy. As Benton followed the guy outside, he disappeared around a corner. After looking around for any clue as to where he might of gone, Peter ran back to Carter's room. As he headed there he saw staff members were gathered in groups whispering about what had just happened, Mark and Kerry, who had gotten two other doctors to cover the traumas, were yelling at each other and the security guard for letting this happen, and another one of the guards was on the phone. Probably to the police.
He entered Carter's room and found Carol in there trying to comfort him, but not having much success. He was staring at the ceiling with a far away look in his brown eyes.
"Carter? Carter, can you hear me?" Peter asked as he headed to Carter's bedside.
"He hasn't said a word," Carol supplied. "Whoever that was, he really scared him."
Moments later Mark and Kerry came in.
"How's he doing?" Mark asked.
"Not very good. Where were you guys? How did you let this happen!?" Peter yelled
"Lets take this outside," said Kerry. "Carol, could you stay with Carter?"
Carol nodded and took a seat by Carter's bed while the three doctors headed outside to continue their discussion.
"There was a trauma Peter. This guy was dressed as a nurse. He even had an ID badge which was reported stolen by a nurse on the third floor moments ago. He said a patient had left something in the room and he had to retrieve it for them," Mark answered
"You couldn't of let the guard go and look for it?"
"There was a trauma Peter. We didn't have much time to decide what to do. I ran the badge, and it checked out. Now I'm sorry if I made a mistake, but where the hell where you, huh? I thought you were in the room with Carter!" Mark yelled back.
Peter lowered his head before answering. "I was in the washroom. I thought you guys and the guard were keeping an eye on whoever entered the room."
"Okay. Obviously this was a misunderstanding," Kerry said, trying to calm the two down. "From now on absolutely no one enters Carter's room except people we know. Understood?"
"Dr. Weaver! Dr. Greene!" someone yelled.
They turned and saw Officer Dalton running towards them, looking excited about something.
"You're not going to believe this," he said as he ran up to them, out of breath.
"What?" Kerry asked.
"We ran that name you guys gave us. This guy has a rap sheet a mile long. Not minor stuff either. Bank robbery, attempted murder, the list goes on."
"Why isn't this guy in jail?" Peter demanded.
"It's kind of interesting actually. He started committing the crimes after his wife died. Like that suddenly sparked an interest in bank robbery or something. Anyways, he's extremely smart and elusive. Since he had no previous record before his wife died, it makes you wonder how he became such an expert in committing these crimes. To answer your question, we've just been unable to catch him. Here, take a look at his picture." He handed it to Kerry who paled as she saw it.
"That was the guy."
"That's what I thought. After we got the phone call at the station about the man who harassed Dr. Carter I drove over here as fast as I could. You guys really need to step up the security. Especially until he's out of the hospital. As long as he's here Vollmer will know where he is and might try something else."
"Would he really come back after we've seen him?" Kerry asked.
"He might send someone else. Like I said, he's very smart. He might use some sort of disguise. I'd suggest a guard inside and outside of the room, a security camera in the room and only a select few people can enter the room. People you trust."
"Thank you officer. We understand."