'Dad?' Steve said, as his father stood up and started to move away, slowly at first and then with more purpose. 'Dad? What is it? What's wrong?' Puzzled Steve got to his own feet and followed his father, pushing his way through the busy cafeteria.
As Steve followed, Mark came to a stop at a table inhabited by a lone middle-aged man. 'Ernie?' Mark said, urgently shaking the man's shoulder. The man didn't respond and instead he remained slumped across his table, his eyes shut.
In Steve's opinion the guy was taking a nap, but Mark was being strangely persistent.
'Ernie can you hear me?' Mark said shaking even more urgently this time.
Still no response.
'Dad, c'mon' Steve said, 'leave the guy alone, he's obviously exhausted, must have worked a double shift'.
'He's not a doctor Steve' Mark said, not taking his eyes off the man 'He's one of the hospital's financial directors'.
'Oh' Steve said, doing a quick scan of the room and then lowering his voice 'well may be he's had one too many and if so, he might not want you drawing everyone's attention to it'.
As Steve continued to look around he noticed that people at near by tables were already staring, although some averted their eyes, embarrassed to be caught looking. And then Amanda was suddenly at his side, funny he hadn't noticed her before. Steve smiled, it was good to see her, he'd missed her. And then he noticed; her wrist was covered in blood.
He gasped, grabbing hold of her by the shoulders.
'Hey, you're bleeding!' he said 'What happened are you okay?' his voice was tight with concern, although he tried hard to quell it, as he didn't wanna scare her.
'I'm fine' she said, although she sounded a little shaky 'Mr. Evans broke his glass and I guess a splinter must have caught me on the way past'. She smiled bravely at him 'I'm fine Steve honestly; I just need something to tie it up with, to slow the bleeding'.
'Here' Steve said pulling out a chair from a nearby table and guiding her to sit down 'You sit down and I'll see what I can find'.
He looked around again, wondering why on earth his father wasn't helping out. But Mark was still bending over Ernie Evans, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. He was starting to draw something of a crowd.
'Dad, c'mon I could use a little help here'. Steve said irritably 'Amanda's bleeding'.
But still Mark didn't respond. Steve and Amanda exchanged confused glances. Although she'd never admit it, Amanda was a little hurt at Mark's lack of interest.
'Mark is everything okay?' she asked, her dark brown eyes wide with concern.
Mark sighed 'Actually I'm not sure that it is'.
Steve crouched down next to his father 'Dad what is it? Has he fainted or something?'
Mark stopped fumbling and looked at his son gravely 'He's not passed out Steve, he's dead'.
'What!' Steve said
'And I think he was murdered.'
'Nikki run!' Jesse shouted.
But the girl was seemingly frozen to the spot. In her hands she held a silver metallic suitcase, a suitcase that had been inside the trash can, perched incongruously upon the trash. Nikki didn't know what had made her pick it up, but now she had, she couldn't seem to put it down. She gazed at it, hypnotised by the moonlight glinting off the metallic surface and although her conscious mind screamed at her to run, her body had shut down.
Jesse had been half way back to the restaurant when he'd heard her call out. As he'd turned, he'd seen the glint of silver, had seen Nikki reach into the trash and lift out the case. And then his world had gone into slow motion, a strange sense of unreality. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. And then instinct had kicked in, his deep rooted sense of self-preservation had argued back – it wasn't over yet, they still had a chance.
'Nikki please' he said urgently 'put down the case and run to me'.
But she didn't move.
More than anything, Jesse wanted to turn around and run back to the restaurant, to run away from that suitcase and the deadly bomb that he knew was contained within it. Every fibre of his being screamed at him to go; to get to safety. But Nikki was still standing there and he couldn't just leave her.
'Please Nikki' he begged, his voice little more than a horse whisper, a tear rolling down his cheek, mixing with the rain that lashed at his face.
Time, how much time did they have? For all he knew it could be hours, but then again it could be minutes, even seconds. Perhaps Nikki had triggered the bomb simply by lifting the case, tilting it from the horizontal to the vertical. He didn't know. In his head he could hear the seconds ticking away, matching the frantic beating of his heart. It was now or never, he had to act. Taking one longing look at the restaurant, Jesse let out an anguished sob and then he began to run.
Back towards Nikki.
As his father held up his hands, Steve could see that they were covered in blood. He wasn't the only one who could see it. Behind them a woman screamed. And then there was noise all around, as others became aware that something was a miss. The buzz of conversation rose to a crescendo, punctuated by more screams and the sounds of overturned tables and chairs, as people jostled each other to get out. Just behind Ernie's table, two men were now embroiled in a fist fight and others pushed and elbowed each other as the crowd on mass pushed towards the door.
'Bullet wound to the heart' Mark said diagnosing quickly. 'He would have been dead on impact'.
Steve looked around wildly, a shot of fear bursting through his system. The cafeteria was in uproar. The shooter could have been inside the building, could easily have escaped into the night without anyone noticing, or could still be here.
Mark noticed Steve as if for the first time and seemed to guess his son's thoughts 'I don't think the shooter was in here' he said 'angle of the bullet wound suggests he was shot from a height.
'And the window is broken' Amanda added, pointing to the window nearest to where she was sitting 'and the glass is on the inside'.
Okay, Steve thought, so that at least gave him something to go on – the shooter must have been in a building behind the hospital cafeteria, on a floor that would allow him to look down onto Ernie as he sat eating his meal. May be there was a chance he could cut the shooter off before he made his escape.
'Dad, stay here and take care of Amanda' Steve said urgently 'Call for back up and keep low'.
Mark nodded mutely, the shock beginning to show on his face 'Be careful Steve' he said gravely.
Steve nodded 'Always am' he said briefly and then he was off and running, ignoring the pain in his side as he pushed through the crowds.
Amanda put a hand on Mark's shoulder 'He'll be okay Mark' she said.
Mark smiled and laid his hand on hers 'I know he will honey' he said.
But he didn't, he didn't know it at all.
He must have taken only 3 steps when it blew. First there was roaring in his ears, so deafening that he cried out in pain. And then there was the heat, a heat so intense that Jesse felt as if his skin was being seared from his body. He felt himself flying backwards through the air, propelled by the force of the blast. He was weightless until his body hit the sidewalk with a sickening crunch. And then he felt nothing, nothing at all.
TO BE CONTINUED ……