Dr. Bloom called Iggy and informed him of the progressed situation.
"Max told me to tell you to follow the plan, no matter what. I do not know what that means, but I would definitely follow it because he seems to have an idea of how to fix this." Bloom said.
"I understand what the plan is and I will follow it to a 'T'," Iggy said.
"Well I am going to get these patients out of here. Stay safe," Bloom hung up the phone.
Iggy turned to Sharpe with a smile. "Iggy, I know that smile. That is your I have bad news but im going to try and spin it smile," Sharpe said.
"Well, you're not wrong. My news isn't good. We have been told to sit here and not move."
"That's it?" Sharpe asked bewildered that with a shooter on the loose and hostages being held in the ER that all they could do was to sit tight.
"Well, not exactly. I'm probably not supposed to tell you this but I feel like you'll probably get it out of me eventually, so I'll just tell you now. Max got the hostages freed…" he trailed off.
"That's fantastic."
"Well, see now Max is the hostage."
"Of course, he is. What has he gotten himself into now?"
"Well, Bloom said he convinced the gunman that he would hand you over in exchange for the hostages to be freed." Iggy gave her an 'I'm sorry' face with his hands open hopelessly trying to hep but knowing he was not doing so.
"Wow, thanks Max." Sharpe was so confused. "So, he wants me to stay here so he knows exactly where to bring the gunman."
"I'm sure that's not what he is doing. I'm not sure exactly what he is doing, but Bloom assured me he has a plan. You Max though, no one truly ever knows what is going on in that head of his."
"Iggy that is literally your job." Sharpe said flatly.
"Yes, but I do not try to analyze me coworkers. Especially not my boss."
"Iggy." Sharpe had crossed her arms again and had raised her eyebrow at him.
"Okay okay. Knowing Max, he is thinking a few steps ahead of the gunman. He knows where you are and he would never let him hurt you because uh, not the point, but he will probably lead him as far away from you as he can. I believe he is going to try and create a diversion. Stall some how to let more of the patients and doctors get out to safety. Max's goal is safety and saving his hospital including all the people in it. That's all I got." Iggy clapped his hands together.
"See you do analyze us. I don't even want to know what you know about me. Wait what was that part about Max not letting anyone hurt me?" Sharpe looked inquisitively at Iggy.
"Um what? I don't remember saying anything about that." Iggy was looking anywhere but at Sharpe very uncomfortable.
"I don't have to be a trained psychologist to know you're dodging the subject but I'll let it go for now," she gave him one more eyebrows scrunched glare before changing the subject, "If Max wants us to stay locked in here. We should probably barricade the door for some added security."
"Good idea." Iggy jumped up from the couch and began pushing it towards the door.
Meanwhile, Max and the gunman had walked far enough away from the ER that Max thought it was safe to talk to the gunman without innocent bystanders getting shot.
"Why are you stopping?" Max spun around with his hands clearly raised in defense.
"Don't you want me to call Dr. Sharpe?" Max asked.
"Yes, of course."
"Well, I need to get on the speaker system to that. The closest nurse's station is just up this hallway."
"What are you waiting for then?"
"I need to know where you would like to meet Dr. Sharpe so I can tell her where to go."
"That was supposed to be your idea. You said somewhere far away so we won't be disturbed, and less people will be around." The gunman was waving one of the guns in a hurry it up fashion.
"I believe the best place for this meeting would be on the roof. Far from everyone else, secluded. You can say whatever you need to Dr. Sharpe and even escape on our helicopter you'd like to end things differently." Max offered.
"Fine, make the call."
They walked to the nurses station. Max moved around the desk to the intercom phone.
When he spoke, his words could be heard across the entire hospital, "Paging Dr. Sharpe. Dr. Sharpe please report to the roof. Dr. Sharpe to the roof immediately."
Before Max could send out any more information, the shooter had pushed the dial tone with the butt of his gun. "You're done. Let's go."
"Did you hear that?" Sharpe asked as she gave a final push to a file cabinet.
"They are headed to the roof. We should tell Bloom. She can pass that on to the police." Iggy dialed Bloom.
"Bloom, it's Iggy. Max is headed to the roof. Have the police arrived?"
"They just got here. I will let them know." Bloom headed off to talk to the SWAT team.
"Can I ask you something?" Max asked still walking in front of the shooter with two guns to his back.
"What?"
"Why are you doing all of this? I mean my wife died too. She was pregnant at the time with our daughter. I was destroyed after the accident, but never did I turn to the idea of murdering another person to make that pain go away."
"That's the difference between you and me. My wife wasn't killed in an accident. It was malpractice. And I don't have a baby girl to go home to, it's just me. Dr. Sharpe let her die and now I am all alone. My wife was my whole world and now there is nothing left. There is no more reason I need to continue on but exacting my revenge on my wife's murderer will at least bring me some peace before the end."
"Fair enough." Max said not knowing how to change a dead man's mindset. "May I ask, why the bomb suit? I mean you have the guns."
"I've seen enough TV and movies to see that if someone is wearing a bomb suit, nobody dares to go near him. You see bank robbers and such with just guns always get tackled from behind or something. I figured if I had a bomb vest nobody would bother coming near me."
"Are you saying the vest is just a schtick? It's not even real?"
"Nope. Just a bunch of pipes and random wires. People are so dumb; they will believe anything. I just looked up a picture online and copied what it looked like." He laughed to himself at how smart he was, but Max gave a sly smile as he turned around to lead him up a staircase.
As they continue walking through the hospital and up floors, the shooter makes Max look in random rooms to check if Sharpe is in there. After every room they look in, the shooter seems to get more anxious to get to the roof. So much so, that while searching one of the rooms, Max was able to send a text to Bloom.
BOMB VEST JUST A HOAX. NO EXPLOSIVES.
Bloom got the message and informed the police to have the bomb squad stand down.
"Can I ask you something?" The shooter surprisingly asked.
"Shoot," Max even got a slight pun induced smile from the shooter. Keep it light Max, the more he likes you the least likely he is to shoot you.
"Why are you so keen on letting me meet with Dr. Sharpe. You know what I am going to do to her. I assume she is your friend. I expected a lot more hesitation."
"I'm trying to keep the rest of my hospital safe. That is my job. I understand Dr. Sharpe's fate but like you said she is guilty and must pay for her actions." The shooter gave a nod of agreement liking Max's answer. Max on the other hand, could feel his heart aching. It hurt him just to say those words. Trying to make them believable hurt even more. He couldn't stop thinking about Sharpe. His best friend, his confidant, his deputy director, his doctor, his…
Dr. Sharpe and Dr. Frome had barricaded the door. They were sitting on the couch when Sharpe got an idea. "You think Max has this guy's file?"
"If he filed a malpractice suit which I assume he did, then yes. Max would have every record of lawsuits filed against this hospital." Iggy said.
"Let's find it. Maybe we can find out what really happened and help talk him down." Sharpe jumped up and started reading the labels on the filing cabinets.
"When you say talk him down, you do mean the police talk him down, right?" Iggy asked nervously. Dr. Sharpe did not answer, frantically searching through files. "Helen, you do not plan to actually confront this man?"
"Found it! There is no way Max filed these by the way. They are way too organized and color coded. Anyway, I believe this is his wife's file. This woman was a patient of mine about a year ago. She came to me already diagnosed with a terminal breast cancer. She had already had a mastectomy, but they thought I would be able to do something more. They wanted to try every drug trial, but she did not qualify for any of them. I told her the odds and that we could continue to try different treatments, but it would be extremely rare to change her outcome."
"So, what happened?"
"She chose to stop. Most do. When they realize there is no hope left and instead of draining their family's money in medical bills, they choose to live. They want to spend their last days with family at home not taking drugs anymore and do everything they can before the end." Sharpe explained.
"I remember being told about the lawsuits, but it never even made it to court because he had no case. She chose to stop treatment. Maybe she didn't tell him, or he refused to accept her choice. The timeline would fit, especially if he filed appeals. His name is Martin Hornsby."
"Do you remember him?"
Sharpe continued to read the file and included was a letter he had written to her telling their story before Sharpe took them on as patients. "Oh my god. I do remember him. He came to every one of her appointments. He took a leave of absence from work to care for her. He held her hand through chemo rounds and never left her bedside. It sounds horrible now, but he was a really loving man." Sharpe closed the file and held it against her chest.
"Grief can do some strange things to a person especially if they live in denial about what really happened. They often obsess over finding the answers to their questions and can choose to blame others in order to satisfy their questions. The need for truth becomes a sickness that can overtake them and lead to negative behaviors. Denial and anger are not a good mix of emotions." Iggy explained.