Chapter 20
Frankie ducked behind the exam bed before nurse Evil could fire her gun. Crouching on the floor, she winced as her sudden motion pulled the cut on her shoulder and it started bleeding again.
"Come on, hon, you and I both know how this is going to end."
Frankie looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, but this was a prison; it was designed to limit her options. At the end of the bed, to her right, the rolling cart held the suture kit, a pair of blunt-nosed scissors, and the syringe loaded with whatever nurse Evil had planned to kill her with. The scalpel used to slit Nguyen's throat lay discarded on the desk, but Evil was between it and Frankie.
The overnight room, used to house prisoners too injured or sick to send back to their cells, was also to her right, but the door was shut, and she couldn't guarantee it wasn't locked. Plus, it was a good ten feet from the end of the bed. That was a lot of real estate to cover with a loaded gun trained on you.
With the klaxon of the alarm, Frankie almost missed the squeak of nurse Evil's shoes on the tile floor.
Shit! Which way was she going? Frankie strained to hear more of her steps, her body tense and ready to bolt if necessary.
Her ears picked out another squeak. The nurse was moving towards the overnight room, trying to circle her from that direction. That would leave the path to the exit open. If she could distract the nurse, she could make a break for it. Whatever she did, she needed to do it soon, or she would miss the opportunity to escape the prison. Quickly pulling her own shoes off to keep from making the same mistake nurse Evil was making, she crept to the end of the bed near the rolling cart.
Listening intently for movement, Frankie prepared to shove the cart at the nurse. Another quiet squeak and…,
The door to the infirmary flew open with a thud.
"Where is she?"
Crap! Frankie winced. It was Leena. Well, apparently, things could get worse.
"It's about damn time you showed up. I was about to have to shoot the bitch," nurse Evil snapped. "She's hiding behind the bed there."
Leena's shoes didn't squeak, so Frankie didn't have much time to react as the woman rounded the end of her hiding place and grabbed her by the hair, dragging her to her feet.
"You are turning in to a pain in the ass," Leena snarled, inches from Frankie's face, some spittle splattering her cheek.
Reacting on instinct, she snapped her head forward, her forehead connecting with the bridge of Leena's nose with a loud crack. Reeling back in pain, blood spraying from her nose, Leena stepped into the edge of the pool of blood from Nguyen and lost her balance as her foot slipped out from under her. She didn't let go of Frankie's hair, though, until her knee slammed into the hard floor. Even then, she tore out a hunk of hair, bringing tears to Frankie's eyes.
Not slowing, despite the pain from her scalp, Frankie took a step forward, grabbed the back of Leena's head while bringing her knee up to meet her face. Another crack of bone on bone, and Leena collapsed on top of Nguyen's still body.
A shot rang out and pain tore through Frankie's already injured shoulder as the bullet from nurse Evil's gun spun her around. She would have gone down but grabbed the edge of the bed for support. The nurse fired another bullet, but this one flew wildly by, taking a chuck out of the concrete wall. Frankie had no other choice now but to run for the open door and hope the nurse would miss again; she clearly wasn't a sharpshooter.
Driven by the adrenalin pumping through her system, she dashed towards the door. Another bullet whizzed by near her head, hitting the bullet-proof glass of the door window, but Frankie was just a step away now. Only to come sliding to a halt at the sight of the warden and another guard in the doorway. The guard was raising his gun as Frankie tried to back pedal away from the new threat.
Another shot rang out as she fell backwards onto Leena's unconscious body.
"God damnit!" she heard the warden snap. "This is a complete fuck up on an epic scale. You better tell Hogarth she owes me big for this one."
"I'll make sure she knows," Melissa answered as she bent down near Frankie's head. "You okay?"
Frankie just stared at her for a moment, not comprehending. She hadn't seen the woman enter the room.
"Hey!" Melissa reached out to grab her uninjured arm. "Are you okay?"
"I guess," Frankie breathed as the other woman helped her to her feet, groaning at the pain in her shoulder.
"Shit, you're shot." Melissa turned to the warden, "she needs patched up."
"No time for that. The guards are going to get things under control soon." The warden stepped into the room and kicked the gun away from the prone body of nurse Evil. Opening a cabinet, she pulled out a medical bag the size of a large purse. "Here, take this and take care of her once you get her out of here."
"She's bleeding all over the damn place. That's going to be hard to hide."
"No, that's perfect," the warden said. Turning to the guard, she ordered, "Hobbs, escort these two out to the ambulance to get treatment for Cabrini. Cho, once you get to the ambulance, you know what to do."
"Yes, Ma'am," both replied.
"And leave your handgun, Hobbs. I need it to make this look believable."
Without another word, the guard, Hobbs, placed his gun on the bed and motioned Melissa and Frankie to leave the room. The blood loss and pain combined with the adrenalin wearing off left Frankie feeling weak and lightheaded. When she stumbled, Melissa wrapped an arm around her waist for support.
The alarm was still blaring, and the lights were still flashing, lending a surreal aspect to the empty hallway. Rounding a corner, the three ran into a pair of guards running towards them.
"Hobbs!" one of them held up her baton. "What's going on here?"
"Cabrini was shanked in her cell. There's a riot going on in Bravo. Warden sent me to investigate," he answered. "They've got hostages."
"Shit, man," the other guard swore, "I don't get paid enough for this."
The female guard looked skeptical, "the infirmary is back that way." She pointed with her baton, not lowering it.
"Yeah, and that's where she was shot. By another inmate. It's a bloody mess. Warden told me to get her to one of the ambulances outside before she bleeds out."
She lowered her baton slightly, "the warden?"
"She's there now. Alone."
"We'll go," the guy said, eager not to go to the rioting cell block.
"Radio ahead to let her know you're coming," Hobbs advised. "Everyone is jumpy. Wouldn't want to surprise her."
"Good idea," the woman agreed. "Go on, get her out of here. She's bleeding all over the place."
The two rushed by, allowing the trio to continue. Frankie was having a hard time focusing and was getting chilled. As they waited for Hobbs to unlock one of the checkpoint gates, her teeth started chattering uncontrollably.
"Shit, she's going into shock," Melissa told him.
Hobbs came back and peering into her eyes, "damn. You're right. She ain't going to make it like this."
He started digging through the bag, "there's got to be something in here…,"
Frankie's legs started to give out and she slumped against Melissa. The other woman guided her to the floor.
"Here we go," Hobbs announced, holding up a small bottle full of clear liquid. "Adrenalin."
"Hurry up or we aren't going to make it out of here."
"I don't know how much to give her. Shit, I'm just going to guess and hope her heart doesn't explode."
Frankie didn't feel the needle prick, but she felt the immediate rush as her heart started thundering and her head cleared enough to focus.
"Holy shit!" she gasped.
"Get her up and let's move," Hobbs ordered.
Frankie was able to walk unassisted now, but with the increase in her heartrate, she could feel the renewed trickle of blood from both her wounds. If she didn't get them treated soon, no amount of adrenalin was going to keep her going.
Another check point gate, then they were in the thick of things. Guards rushed by in riot gear, barely glancing at them. Since both women were now covered with Frankie's blood, they must have assumed they both needed medical attention.
Crossing through the last gate, they entered the visitation area and there were only one two more doors between them and outside. Frankie's heart was still pounding in her chest and her head felt like it was being split in two by an axe, but she forced herself to keep going.
When the trio finally exited the prison, it was into mass chaos. People in uniform rushed back and forth, while the non-uniformed clustered in small groups. A group of prisoners were lined up, cuffed to the fence that surrounded the yard. Men in suits, probably feds, talked into phones or radios. As they moved away from the entrance, one of the feds broke away from his group and met them.
"Where are you going with these prisoners?"
"This one got shanked during a riot and shot," Hobbs gestured at Frankie. "She's in shock. The warden told me to get her to the ambulance before we lose her."
The fed looked doubtful, "what about the other one?"
"He needed his hands free, so I'm helping," Melissa answered. "You can cuff me to the fence after I get her over there," she nodded towards the ambulance parked just a few yards away.
"Haskell," another fed waved their direction, "they're asking for you."
Haskell hesitated, then told Hobbs, "make sure you get them on the list and accounted for."
"Will do," Hobbs nodded, giving them a nudge. "Let's go. I got more important shit to do besides babysit a couple of criminals."
Approaching the ambulance, an EMT met them. Hobbs summed up Frankie's condition, handed over the medical bag to Melissa, and shoved the two towards him before turning away.
"Shit, you're a mess," he muttered helping Frankie into the back of the ambulance.
"Everybody keeps telling me that," she giggled.
He shot a look at Melissa.
"She was crashing so we gave her a shot of adrenalin."
The EMT shone a light into her eyes, "Christ, how much did you give her?"
She pulled out the bottle and handed it to him, "this was unopened."
"Holy cow, this is almost twice the dose needed. How is she not dead?"
Not waiting for Melissa to answer, he went to the front of the space and started pulling open drawers.
"I've got to get a labetalol drip started before she strokes out or had a pulmonary embolism."
"I'm sorry," Melissa told him. "I can't let you do that. I need her on feet for a little longer."
"What?" the EMT turned to look at her with wide eyes just as she swung a fire extinguisher into his head, knocking him into the back of the driver's seat.
As he slumped to the floor, she grabbed Frankie's hand, "come on, kid, let's go."
Stepping over the EMT, they slid into the front of the ambulance and Melissa opened the passenger door which faced away from the prison and all the activity. Helping Frankie out, she led her away from the scene, crouching behind vehicles in the parking lot for cover. At the edge of the lot, she stopped at a dark sedan and rapped on the back bumper.
The trunk popped open. Frankie crawled in first, then Melissa. Once they were both tucked inside, she pulled the trunk closed behind them. Another rap and the car started. There was a burst of sirens from overhead, then the car lurched forward.
Frankie's body was starting to break down the excess adrenalin in its system, so the pounding of her heart started to let up and she started to shake.
"Just hang on a bit longer," Melissa breathed in her ear.
Frankie didn't hear it. She was already unconscious.
