Thanks Becky - You ROCK!

Long Ago and Far Away

Chapter 8 – When It Rains

Magnum drove back to Honolulu, part of him was troubled by Rick's behavior, he couldn't put his finger on it but something just seemed wrong. His mood wasn't lightened any by the storm rolling in from the mountains. As he parked in the visitor's lot at Queen's Hospital the rain began to pour down, stinging his bare arms. Hopefully the storm would pass quickly, he hated driving the Ferrari with the top on, it make the car feel like a coffin.

Edmund Eudyce was a friend of Rick's from Chicago, the lab tech had gotten tired of winter and two years ago moved to Oahu. Rick had helped him to settle in and Eudyce didn't mind doing the occasional favor in return for the help he'd received.

Magnum stopped at the window and rang the bell. "Hey Eudyce, it's Magnum. Rick sent me."

The tech was busy, peering into a microscope and scribbling something on a pad of paper. "What do you want?"

"I need you to check these and tell me what's in them."

"Leave it in that tub and I'll call you." Eudyce answered, not looking up from the microscope.

"I need it right now." Magnum protested, "It's really important."

Something in Magnum's tone of voice made Eudyce look up, "Okay." He walked over to the window and accepted the vial and capsules Magnum held out.

Edmund took a sample from the vial and poured it on a strip of paper that he then put into a machine. He stared at a graph that appeared on the monitor. "That's mislabeled, it's droperidol." He explained what the medication was used for and the possible side effects. Eudyce took the capsules and went over to another station where he opened them, emptying the power onto a tray.

"That's odd."

"What?" Magnum asked.

"There's two compounds in the capsules, definitely not a manufacturing mixture, it's too poorly combined." He put a sample on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. "Hmmm."

"What is it?"

"I'm not positive." He pulled the slide out and added a drop of blue liquid then sniffed the mixture. "Halcion."

"What's it for?"

"It's given to people who are having trouble sleeping."

"Then it's nothing to worry about, right?"

"That depends on who these were given to. This dose would be fine for someone like Moki but it could be really bad for you."

"Moki weighs like 325, he …" Thomas looked worried, "What do you mean by bad?"

"For a guy your size it would have the opposite effect, you'd end up being restless and cranky."

"Cranky." Magnum repeated thoughtfully.

"You know, irritable."

"Violent?"

"It's possible, depending on what other medications you were taking."

"What kind of medications would make it worse?"

"MOAI inhibitors, SSRI - mostly anti-psychotic medications."

Magnum was gone before Eudyce could ask where the pills had come from.

Magnum had a little trouble getting through to Rick, the weather was playing havoc with the phone service, the line crackled and clicked.

"Eudyce checked those meds you gave me, what's in the bottle isn't what's on the label."

"What is it?" Rick asked.

"It's droperidol, a powerful sedative, in the right quantity it could mimic catatonia."

"Thanks Thomas, I gotta go."

"Rick wait!" Nothing but a dial tone answered him and no one picked up when he tried to call back. He dialed Island Hoppers, with the approaching storm TC should be in his office. "TC, I need you to fly me to Laie."

"In this weather?" TC laughed.

"Yes, in this weather, it'll take me two hours to get there if I drive."

"You better get going then."

"It's important TC."

"It's always important when you need me to fly you somewhere." TC grumbled.

"It's about Rick."

"What about Rick? Is he in trouble?"

"I don't know for sure, I have to get there quick."

"Where are you now?"

"I'm at Queen's."

"Be ready to jump, I'll be right there."

"I don't know what's gotten into him," Julie explained, "he was fine this morning then after his friend left he became very belligerent."

"Obviously his friends are only exacerbating the problem." Harrison said. "You did the right thing in securing him in his room. Now might be a good time to talk to him, see if he will be able to tell me why he's so upset."

"He threatened to kill Marcus and you."

"Marcus can handle Mr. Wright," the doctor reassured her, "There won't be any problems."

Thunder boomed, rattling the windows. "This storm is getting worse, perhaps you should get all the patients back to their rooms." Harrison told the nurse. "Ask Marcus to bring Mr. Wright to my office."

"Yes, Doctor."

Marcus found Rick in the hallway, "How'd you get out here, little man?"

Rick backed up to his door, eyes searching for an escape. "If you touch me, I'll kill you." he growled.

"Ooh, I'm scared." Marcus replied, making a grab for the smaller man.

Rick dodged him, managing to get a few yards down the hallway before the aide tackled him. Marcus picked him up, holding Rick tight with an arm across his neck and forced him to walk to Harrison's office.

"Mr. Wright," Harrison laughed, "I'm so glad you could join us."

"I'm not… in the mood… to chat." Marcus's hold on him made speaking a little difficult, not to mention breathing.

"That's okay," the doctor was filling a syringe, "You're not here for that. You're going to kill your new friend, Mia. Don't worry, you won't remember a thing." Dr. Harrison said. "Hold him."

Marcus tightened his grip on Rick, pinning his arms behind his back. Harrison stabbed the needle into Rick's shoulder.

Harrison stood over him, laughing. "Brooke was so worried that your friend was going to uncover the truth when he sent you in here but it just made things all the more easy. Brooke needed Mia out of the way in order to inherit her late husband's fortune but we just didn't know how to make it look like an accident. Then you showed up. A Vietnam vet that goes crazy and murders one of the patients, it's almost too perfect."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Your friends think you are. You see, the combination of medications you've been taking have been affecting your short-term memory and making you short tempered, not something you'd have noticed but your friends certainly have. Mr. Magnum even tried to have you removed from here but Dr. Collins and I agreed that it would be better for you to remain in my care." Harrison was obviously pleased as he continued, "I read all your medical records, even your military discharge psych evaluations. I couldn't have ordered a more perfect patsy. I asked Marcus to pick up a few things from your house," he unsheathed the K-Bar, admiring the ebony blade, "This knife that you kept in that box with the pictures will be the weapon you use to kill Mia."

Rick's head snapped up, "No! You can't…"

"Mr. Cooper, if you will be so kind as to go bring Miss Metcalf to join the party."

Marcus grinned evilly at Rick as he shoved him into a chair. "Don't worry, I won't be gone long."

Rick jumped up and a wave of dizziness crashed over him, he dropped to the floor.

"I see the yohimbine is kicking in." Harrison laughed, "On its own, it's rather harmless but when combined with the halcion and the ativan, it has a bad side effect after about thirty minutes. It causes severe hallucinogenic flashbacks."

Rick pulled himself up on the corner of the desk, knocking the lamp off in the floor.

"Give it up." Harrison punctuated his words by striking Rick in the chest with the butt of the knife. "You're going down."

And Rick did go down again, taking a tray of medications to the floor with him this time.

He scrabbled around in the chaotic spill for a few moments, then staggered to his feet.

"You just don't know when to stay down do you?" Harrison hit him with the knife butt again.

"If you had understood any of what you read in my files," Rick grabbed Harrison and pulled him so that they were face to face, "you would never have let me get this close." He twisted Harrison's wrist and the doctor moaned.

Rick didn't even flinch as Harrison coughed and blood sprayed his face. He pulled the blade free and let Harrison's body drop to the floor.

The door opened and Marcus pushed a struggling Mia inside, "I don't think she…" he broke off when he saw Rick, shoved Mia away and fired. The gun jammed, refusing to fire again.

"Mia!" Rick threw the knife, praying it would serve as enough of a distraction that he could get to the fallen girl.

Miraculously the edge of the blade sliced across Marcus's arm and he dropped the pistol and ducked back out into the hallway.

Rick stumbled to the door, slamming it closed and locking it. "Are you okay?" He pulled Mia to her feet.

"I'm alright." she stared wide-eyed at his blood-covered face. "You're hurt."

"Not mine." He nodded toward Harrison's body.

There was a loud thump as something hit the door.

"We gotta get outta here. Can you run?"

"I think so."

Rick snatched up the pistol and opened the French doors that led onto the patio, it was pouring down rain outside.

Mia had a hard time keeping up with Rick, he was almost carrying her and it was slowing them down. Rick stopped beside one of the small sheds that contained the gardeners' tools. Using the butt of the pistol he broke the hasp on the door.

"Stay in here no matter what happens." He cautioned her, "I'll lead him off and come back for you."

"I'm scared."

Rick helped her inside, there was barely room for her. "You'll be alright, I promise." He closed the door and used a twig to prop the hasp up. "Stay quiet Wendy, I'll be back."