Chapter 5 – Blade

Their heads turned to the phone when it rang again; it had interrupted Susan and Doug's whispering conversation about how they are going to plan defeat the man. The man suddenly stood up from the corner and walks to it.

"Do you want me to get that?" Doug asked pointing to the phone.

"No!" The man yelled then pointed his gun at the blonde "Lady, you answer it"

Susan moved towards the phone and answered it. The man made her jump by trusting his gun against her head.

"Hello?"

"It's the police, we have someone at the door ready to hand over the supply."

"Ok" Susan said; She puts the phone back on the hook.

"Have they got my fix?"

Susan nodded "Yes, you will have to unlock the door"

The man started to laugh and pointed to the wall "I'm not that stupid, they can push it through that vent."

Susan dropped her shoulders with disappointment and sighed looking at Doug who is shaking his head in disbelief. Susan walked to the window next to the door, opened the blinds and tapped on the glass for attention. Mark Greene broke through the crowd and came rushing to the window.

"Are you alright?" Mark asked until he is pushed aside by the police negotiator.

Susan shook her head and her lips started to quiver. Mark is shocked to see the state she is in and begged the police to get them out quickly. Susan sees him take off his round glasses and wipes his brow; he is sweating with fear for his two close colleagues.

Susan shouted through the glass. "He won't open the door, he wants you to push them through the vent"

"Ok" the negotiator said, face to face with Susan, whose hot breath formed condensation on the glass.

"Help us…" She whimpered until the man pulled her arm.

"Away from the window" The man ordered. He stepped back to look at the vent that is in working order, he looked around trying work out how to stop the blades from spinning. "Hey lady, you know how to turn the fucker off?"

"By turning off the switch, near the telephone"

"I want you to turn it off so I can quickly grab my stash and then put it back on again, don't want them trying to do anything…" The man tried to act cleverly as he has planned every pro's and con's for every action he takes. Somewhere along the line he is going to fail sooner or later like getting caught for holding hostages and using illegal drugs. He impatiently waits for the police to precede his request. "What's taking so long? Are they doing this to catch me off guard? Cos it ain't working"

Doug's eyes followed Susan move to the switch by the wall, he studied her evil grin and is intrigued by what's going through her mind, it had surprised him that her moods has change from fearfulness to somewhat being defiant again. Susan maybe a gentle person but she certainly knows how to harden up when things gets on top off her.

"Ok, we're ready to push the drugs through," A voice shouted from the other side of the vent.

"Switch it off," The man asked. Susan flicked the switch off and they watched the rotating blades slowing down until it stopped dead. They saw a hand reached for the hole and struggled to push the package through the blades. "Ok leave it I'll do the rest"

The man turned round to grab hold of the chair and moved it against the wall. He stepped up on to it and slipped his hand through the vent. With his free hand he is aiming his gun at them and took quick glances at them to make sure they are not doing anything to jeopardize his plans. He tried to tug the package from the other side of the blades. He moaned when he cuts himself on one of the blades. He puts the wounded finger in his mouth to sooth the stinginess from the cut. Doug swung his head to look at Susan who is still standing by the switch. It had just dawned on him what she was thinking earlier. She looked back at him with a nod. The man placed his hand back in to the vent and Susan gracefully moved her hand up to flick the switch back on.

"Aargh!" The man screamed when the blade trapped his hand, not lethal enough to sever the fingers when his hand is already in it breaking the rotation. "You bitch!" He aimed the gun at Susan and pulled the trigger. She dived on to the floor to dodge from his target. She winced when she landed on her bruised stomach. Doug flinched at the gunfire and quickly rolled himself backward off the bed, to seclude himself.

"Suse!" Doug shouted in a whispered tone "Are you ok?"

"Yes" She nodded crawling under the bed.

"Great idea but you've made the situation worst" He chuckled nervously.

"I don't give a shit Doug, I can't take this anymore, at least he's one hand down"

"We are going to get through this together" Doug snapped "wait till he has had his fix, he will be too high to know what he doing"

Susan nodded at him lying on her front underneath the bed; she can barely raise her head up high because the metal bracket of the frame is in the way. Her eyes widen when she looked to her left and saw the footsteps moving closer. The shoes squeaked on the floor when the he spun on his heels. He flicked the vent switch off and bends over to drag Susan out from beneath.

"Please don't hurt me," She begged, escorted by her elbow to the other side of the room.

"Please don't hurt me!" The man mimics Susan's whiney voice "You nearly had my hand off you bitch!" He pushed her into the chair; she stumbled forward and stood up straight. He is clutching his bloodied hand against his chest. "I want you to get the package out of there"

Susan looked at the man, rubbing her hands together squirming at the thought of him getting even with her. The young doctor climbed up the chair and placed her hand into vent. She gritted her teeth and cringed, she has visions of those horror films when the victim insert their hands in places where they shouldn't. Susan's hand is smaller. She managed to hold of the package with ease. He snatched it out of her hand before she had a chance to turn around to hand it over to him.

Before the man managed to run into the corner with his package, there was an almighty whack across his head. The man was so distracted by watching Susan, he forgot about Doug… he had quickly got hold of the IV stand and swung it round his head. Susan watched him go down with her mouth open wide.

"Oh my god!" She shouted in surprised and jumped down from the chair and ran to the unit, blocking the doorway. She slid it away and just managed to get the door open a little. "Quick!"

The police pushed against the door hard to open it wide and entered the room, armed with their guns. Susan felt a barge, it was Mark giving her hug and he saw Doug and puts his arms round him too.

"I'm glad you guys ok"

They walked out to the ER, watched by a crowd, giving them a round of applause. The news team ran to them probing their microphone in their faces. Mark escorted them quickly to dodge the reporters.

"We'll get you guys checked over" Mark said, he noticed Susan is trying to battle with her emotions. She broke down in tears…