Hostage - Chapter Four

Title: Hostage

Author: GalaxyDuster (aka Sara)

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own the regular ER characters... obviously.
Spoilers: References to 13x18 - Photographs and Memories. (This happens the next day.)
Content Warning: Nothing more than your standard ER gore; drugs, violence.

Neela looked at Gates with such surprise, he figured he must have grown two heads. He looked around at the police with evident confusion. "What the heck happened here?"

Abby sighed and tried to word a coherent answer. "A murdering lunatic came in here a little while ago, trying to get drugs. Now he's taken Ray hostage in an exam room."

"Ray Barnett?!" Gates looked sincerely taken aback.

"Yeah," Abby replied. She looked back toward Exam Three. Nothing had changed yet. The police were standing back a safe distance from the door, as was Kovac.

Gates looked horrified. He glanced between Neela and Exam Three, then back again. He reached out and grabbed her arm. "Neela, you can't be in here. It's not safe." He began to tug at her arm to lead her out of the room.

"No, I'm not going," Neela said, trying to pull her arm away.

Gates continued to tug. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't be here while that psychopath is back there. It's too dangerous."

"I said I'm not going," Neela replied, a little too calmly. She looked down at her feet, trying to resist his pull. She noted with some dismay that he had the physical strength to move her against her will.

"Neela, come on," Gates furrowed his brow in concentration and continued to pull her harder, despite her obvious decision to stay. "Barnett can take care of himself; I need to get you out of here."

"I said no!" Neela suddenly exploded. Her tone had the power to make him finally release his grip on her. She glared up at him, shaking the soreness out of her arm. He'd been pulling on her a bit too hard.

He tried for a pleading look. "Neela."

"Tony, no," she said, crossing her arms. She looked him directly in the eye, feeling a bit of guilt work it's way around inside at the same time.

Suddenly, the door to Exam Three burst open. Chris appeared in the doorway, holding up his knife in a threatening manner. Neela quickly searched behind him for any sight of Ray, fearing the worst. The entire room had gone completely silent.

"I thought I said I wanted those cops out of here!" He shouted, waving the knife back and forth angrily. The police backed up several feet, hands held in the air to show that they weren't armed.

Chris reached behind himself in the dark and pulled Ray forward, holding him close to his body, knife pointed directly at him. Ray stared straight ahead, looking sad and resigned. His mouth was set into a grim looking frown.

Neela felt as if her heart were going to break.

Chris took a cautious step forward, looking as though he expected the police to jump on him at any moment. He nudged Ray a few inches ahead of himself for assurance.

"Ray," Neela exclaimed softly. She subconsciously took a step toward him.

Ray focused his gaze on her then, and she could see the pain etched on his face. His eyes glittered with restrained tears as Chris continued to nudge him forward from the exam room, knife held dangerously close to his neck.

"No," she cried, taking another step forward. Abby reached out quickly and snagged her by the sleeve.

"Nobody follow us!" Chris said, looking at everyone in the room. He was no longer shaking, Neela noticed. He'd had his fix. "Nobody… nobody had better be following us anywhere. I want free access to this building. I'm getting out of here, and you're gonna let me go, or he's gonna die," he said, loudly and calmly.

Several of the police officers nodded. Chris steadily pulled Ray back toward he elevators, continually looking over his shoulders.

Ray never let his gaze leave Neela's.

The elevator doors opened.

"God, no!" Neela tried to step forward again. Abby quickly grasped her by the shoulders, rubbing her palms up and down Neela's arms for comfort. She was certainly in a position to know how Neela was feeling at the moment, she thought.

Chris looked briefly into the elevator to be sure it was empty, then pulled Ray inside. A moment later, they were gone.

Ray closed his eyes as the elevator began to move. He felt as if he were in a dream; everything that was happening seemed completely surreal.

Chris paced back and forth with smooth, even steps. The six milligrams of morphine had calmed his nerves considerably. He probably knew he was facing a lifetime in jail at this point, however; and Ray knew that made him an incredibly dangerous person.

"What am I gonna do next, huh doc?" Chris stopped pacing suddenly and looked at Ray, biting his nails nervously as the elevator continued to move.

"I don't know," Ray said flatly.

Chris blinked quickly, then nodded. "No. Of course you don't. I didn't think you would, of course. Of course. I think we'd better stop and get some more of that morphine. Let's stop on one of these floors so you can get some for me. I don't want to run out any time soon." Chris reached out and smacked one of the elevator buttons randomly. The car came to a halt a moment later.

Ray took a moment to appreciate how incredible it was that this was the same man he'd been dealing with only ten minutes earlier. With the morphine on board, Chris was almost a completely different person. He could almost feel sorry for him.

But he was still a murderer, Ray thought.

The hallways of each floor had been cleared by security; nobody was in sight when they exited the elevator. Ray felt as if he were in a daze; he didn't know which floor of the hospital they were on, nor did he try to discern it. He simply continued to walk in front of Chris until he spotted a Pyxis machine in one of the alcoves.

"Great. Get as much as you can," Chris said earnestly. He stood right at Ray's shoulder as Ray punched his user ID into the computer. A few moments later, he had over-ridden the orders on a patient in order to open the proper medicine drawer. Ray took every vial of morphine that was stocked, and dropped them into the pocket of his lab coat. Quickly, he turned to the adjacent supply drawers and found a box of syringes. He stuffed a handful of them into his other pocket.

"Excellent," Chris said, nodding in approval. "You won't regret helping me, doc." He nudged Ray back out ahead of himself.

Ray felt almost numb as they came to the elevator again. He wondered absently what Neela was doing downstairs right now. The thought of her warmed his spirit a little bit. He closed his eyes and tried to just think of her face, as it was the only thing making him feel better.

Ray was jerked from his thoughts a moment later as Chris pushed him back into the elevator.

Neela rested her head on the admit desk, leaning into it with the kind of desperation she would have found pathetic under any other circumstance. She felt as though none of this could really be happening. How could Ray be somewhere in the hospital with a knife-wielding murderer right now? What was going on? Where had they gone? She could hardly stand to think about all the possibilities.

Gates hadn't said a word since Ray had disappeared on the elevator with Chris. Neela couldn't really find the energy to pay attention to him, even though she knew he was expecting it. She didn't want to explain anything to him right now. She had barely started to figure it out, herself.

Abby sighed deeply, staring off into space. Kovac had come back over to them, looking more than a little drained. He put his hands in his pockets, standing close to Abby. Neela watched them for a moment, envious of the unspoken love and comfort they always managed to share.

"Any idea where they went?" Pratt asked one of the police officers.

"No. But we can only assume he'll make contact with us again somehow."

Neela lifted her head, trying not to let herself become completely hopeless. "Luka? How much morphine was … that man … given?"

"I sent enough under the door for six milligrams," Kovac replied easily, turning to look at Neela. "It certainly would have taken the edge off of his withdrawal. I can only assume he'll want more within the next few hours, though."

Neela nodded. She wondered if Ray had stopped to pick up more drugs for his captor. Whether or not it would be a good thing to feed the man's habit, she didn't know.

One of the officers called to Kovac. He made his way back over to them.

Abby found Neela's eyes with her own, and attempted a hopeful smile. "Neela, I know that right now it seems like nothing could possibly turn out right, and I know you feel like everything is out of your control. I know you feel like the worst is going to happen to Ray right now. But trust me. Everything is going to be okay." Abby continued to look her in the eyes, waiting for a response.

Neela felt more tears spill over; it was totally out of her control. She sniffled twice, trying to collect herself. Her voice still shook when she spoke. "That man has killed once already today. I doubt if another life is going to mean anything to him. He's got nothing left to lose, Abby. Nothing. He doesn't care about Ray, or anyone else."

"You just have to believe that he's going to be okay," Abby replied. Her eyes were filled with tears and empathy. Neela tried to draw on her friend's strength, as difficult as it seemed.

One of the officers' radios suddenly beeped. A deep male voice came through on the line.

"The suspect is on the roof with his hostage, who is unharmed. And he's demanding the use of a helicopter."