The morning drifted by as John and Sam sat together within eye sight of Callie Horace's isolation room in the oncology wing of the hospital. Callie's mother, Rose Horace, had pulled up a chair in front of the glass wall of the isolation room, right next to the intercom speaker so she could sit and talk with her daughter. It was the closest she could get until they moved her.
No word came from the lab about the blood tests until late that afternoon. Sam was resting on John's arm, their hands clasped together, as they waited for word. John leaned his head back against the wall and he stared at the ceiling as Sam fought her fatigue.
The doctors and nurses came and went until finally: "Sam! Sam, come here!"
Sam jerked up, the creases from John's jacket sleeve imprinted on her cheek. She and John stood and walked across to the isolation room where Mrs. Horace stood with her hands pressed against the glass.
"Mrs. Horace?" Sam said as she approached.
"You're Sam?" Mrs. Horace said.
"Yes, and this is my brother, John. Callie and I have sort of become long distance friends."
"Yes, she told me. Thank you."
"Mom! Tell her, tell her what they said!" Callie's excited voice was full of energy.
Rose Horace smiled at Sam and John. "Callie's going to be moved to a regular room tonight."
"That's the window," Finch said in their ears, as if they needed to be reminded.
"Will you come see me, Sam?" Callie asked.
Mrs. Horace pressed the button on their side of the intercom. "Of course, I will. That's awesome, Callie!" Sam spoke up.
"I know!"
"I need to tell Leland, my husband, the good news. He said he'd come by tonight," Mrs. Horace pulled out her phone and Sam waved at Callie as she and John stepped away.
She looked up at John, who rubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. "Do you really think she's the killer?" she asked.
John sighed and leaned back against the glass wall. "No, I don't."
"We can't be sure of that," Finch bleated at them.
"I think we can, Finch," John said. "This woman is dedicated. She's exhausted and terrified, but she'd rather have Callie around for as long as possible."
"I agree," Sam said.
"Well, seeing as how I'm out voted," Finch said with irritation. "Our focus should be on the husband, then. He's speaking with his wife right now and seems happy about the news."
Sam ground her teeth at the mere mention of Leland Horace. Even if he wasn't the killer, he was still just as guilty in her book. Cheating on the wife of your child who is terminally ill must automatically reserve you a spot in one of the lowest levels of hell. At least it did in Sam's mind.
"What do we do, now?"
"Well," John scratched his head, mussing his hair in the process. "We know where Callie is. We know she's being moved. Whoever is coming after her will come here. So… we wait."
"Oh goodie," Sam said as she stretched her arms and her back. She started down the corridor.
"Where are you going?" John asked.
"Just for a little walk and maybe something to eat. Do you want anything?"
Waiting was definitely the worst part of the job.
Sam remembered the day when the machine pulled John's own number and Finch asked her to help keep an eye on him. The constant questioning, the uneasy feeling of not knowing who you need to protect or go after was not her favorite thing in the world, especially when it was someone she cared about.
At least, Sam thought as she walked, taking a bite out of the dry sandwich she bought from the hospital cafeteria, this time they were pretty sure of the victim and her location. All they needed was the other half of the equation. Unfortunately though, that always was the most dangerous part.
Leland Horace was in his early forties, successful, married his wife Rose fifteen years before. The affair he was having with Holly Chin started just after Callie was checked back into the hospital about a month ago. Chin, besides having the credentials of a home wrecker on her resume, was twenty-eight and a community college drop out. She was young, working as an admin and obviously wanted to be put on the fast track to move up in the company.
Sam ground her teeth again as she began thinking of what she'd like to do to them both when someone called her by name.
"Sam?"
She turned around in mid chew on her sandwich, and nearly choked on the entire mouthful. "Kevin," she said roughly.
Speaking of John's number coming up, Kevin Shores was one of the people who helped Sam rescue John once everything hit the fan. They were supposed to have been on a date, and had only met once before at a speed dating activity. Their date was the last time Sam saw Kevin. And she figured it was just as well. Her life had become quite complicated after that.
Kevin smiled broadly when she turned around, though Sam couldn't figure out why. She hadn't showered in almost two days, she barely had any makeup on, and her hair was greasy and matted.
Kevin wore scrubs and a hospital ID badge, which Sam squinted at as he approached.
"I didn't know you were a doctor," she said.
"I'm a resident, yeah. And you never asked," he said. "That's why I do the speed dating thing. I don't have a lot of time to myself with this job."
He kept smiling, which was really starting to unnerve her. But a doctor? Why didn't he say so before? She could have done with that very well.
"I tried calling you after that fiasco of a date, but the number was disconnected. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I'm – "
"Wait, wait, let me guess. Are you on some sort of crazy vigilante mission?" He waggled his eyebrows as he joked. But Sam looked back at him, stone serious, and the expression faded quickly. "No. Seriously? Sam, I can't let you fire a gun in the hospital," he pleaded.
"I'm not planning to," Sam said innocently.
"Is your friend here too? That guy who nearly drowned?"
"Nice to know that he remembers me," John said in Sam's ear. "And you have a silencer anyway."
Sam nearly shouted a curse. She forgot that she John and Finch were still linked up through their phones. John and Finch could hear everything Kevin was saying.
"Yes, John's here too," Sam took a hold of Kevin by his arms. "Just listen to me, okay? We're here because there is a threat against one of the patients."
"How can you know that?"
"That doesn't matter. But we're here to prevent anything from happening to her. I'd really appreciate it if you – just, you know – if you pretended that you never saw me."
Kevin sized her up, folding his arms across his chest. "Who's the patient?"
Sam blinked and shook her head. "Okay, see, that's the opposite of what I'm asking you to do. You want to know more about what I'm doing but I want you to act like I'm not even here. Do you see the problem with this?"
The smile was back and Sam had to admit that it was a very handsome one. "You know what's more frustrating than that?" he lowered his voice and bent down a little toward her. "I rarely go a day without thinking about you."
Sam was completely blindsided. She stood like a deer in headlights, staring at Kevin. How could he possibly say something like that? He barely knew her. And on the one date they had together, he could have been shot! She didn't leave the best first impression with him, but that didn't seem to register at all.
The heat traveled up from her neck, over her face and into her hairline. She looked away from him, wishing that she could control the deep blush.
"Get out of there, Sam," John said steadily.
"Um, that's very sweet, Kevin. But, I can't – "
"Can't what?"
"I just can't. It's horrendously complicated, and I'm sorry."
"Leland Horace just hung up with his wife and is making another call," Finch said in her ear. Sam stopped and listened.
"Come on, Sam. I don't think you gave me a fair – "
"Sh!" Sam waved her hand at Kevin to shut him up.
"It's to Holly Chin," Finch continued.
Holly answered and greeted Mr. Horace in a blatantly flirtatious way.
"Are we still on for tonight?" she asked.
"I don't think I can make it, angel. Callie's being moved to another room."
Holly didn't respond right away.
"Are you there, babe?"
"I'm here," she answered. "So, she's getting better? That's good, right?"
"As better as she can get, I guess," Horace gave away some of his sadness in his tone of voice, convincing Sam, at least a little bit, of his love for his daughter.
Sam backed against the wall of the corridor, Kevin stupidly following. "What's going on?" he whispered.
Sam shook her head and tapped her ear.
"Does it really have to be a year, honey? Can't you just get it over with? Then we wouldn't have to sneak around anymore." Holly said.
"That bitch," Sam muttered. "She really thinks he'll leave his wife for her? That hardly ever happens."
"I wish it could be different," Leland said with a heavy sigh. "I can't leave Rose when Callie is sick. I think it will be easier when it's all over. We'll make a clean break of it."
Sam covered her eyes as she attempted containing the explosion of anger she felt towards those two people. Horace was waiting for Callie to die before he broke the news to his wife that he was going to leave her.
"It may be a break, but it definitely won't be clean," Finch muttered.
"If that's what you want," Holly said. Sam could hear the manipulative pout in her voice.
"I know it's hard, but it'll go by fast. Don't you worry," Horace said consolingly.
"I'm just worried about you, Leland. This puts such a strain on you, and I hate it when you're tense."
"What in the hell? " Sam blurted.
"Don't worry, babe," he repeated. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
Sam started back down the corridor, unaware that Kevin was following her.
"Holly Chin only has a few parking tickets, but that's par for the course in this town," Finch said as though he could read their minds.
"She wouldn't have the guts to do it," Sam said. "She doesn't even have the guts to tell Rose that she's sleeping with her husband. And a woman who thinks that the man she's having an affair with will leave his wife for her is smoking something. She's stupid."
"How do you know?" John asked.
"Because I read and watch television!"
"We'll find out soon enough," Finch said.
John and Finch went quiet as Sam kept walking quickly through the corridors until she reached the oncology wing. Only then did she realize she was being followed.
"Oh, you're ready to talk to me now rather than the people in your head?" Kevin asked as she turned around.
"You're a resident. Aren't residents dead tired all the time because they're so busy that they barely have time for sex in the supply closet?" Sam snapped.
Kevin considered the question seriously for a moment. "Yes, and yes, and I always make time for sex in the supply closet. You definitely watch TV, as you said. Those hospital dramas are always just dead on."
"Let me put it another way: stop following me, Kevin."
"That's 'stop following me, Doctor Kevin' to you," he smiled again. "But you're right, I'm dead on my feet and there is still so much to be done. So, I can't waste any more of my time talking to you." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek. "Page me if you need me. It was good to see you, Sam."
John took his turn for a short walk to stretch his legs. Sam sat alone across the corridor from Callie's room, going over and over what Kevin said in her mind. There was a man, a doctor no less, who was truly, genuinely interested in her. So, why was she constantly backing away like a skittish little animal? Because that's what had to be done when you worked a job like Sam's. That's why John and Finch were alone. That's why she'd have to be alone as well. What a crappy circumstance!
The afternoon was turning into evening and Callie still was in the isolation room. Her mother sat next to the glass wall, her head resting against it as she dozed with a magazine in her lap.
Doctor's and nurses passed by, and it wasn't until a young male doctor accompanied by a nurse walked by for the third time that Sam was taken away from her thoughts. The doctor glanced at Callie's room then continued walking, his white coat swaying gently as he stepped.
Sam stretched and got to her feet. The doctor and nurse continued down the hallway and went around a corner. Stay cool, Sam, it's probably nothing, she said to herself. She grabbed her purse and faced the wall as she attached the silencer to her gun and stuffed it in the back of her jeans, under her fleece jacket.
She turned around and watched the room.
"John, where are you?"
"I'm on my way back up. Anything wrong?"
"Not yet."
"What is it, Sam?" Finch asked.
"Nothing, like I said."
She began pacing the width of the corridor until she saw the same nurse and doctor heading back in her direction. There was something strange about them. They stared ahead, not talking to each other or anyone else. They were weird. And this time, the nurse was pushing a wheel chair in front of her.
Sam moved over to where Mrs. Horace slept in her chair, next to the door of Callie's room. It was a secure room. No one could get in or out without a hospital ID badge. Regardless, however, Sam stayed close.
The doctor and nurse approached the room and the nurse positioned the wheel chair in front of Callie's door.
"What's going on?" Sam asked her.
"We're moving Callie Horace to the next floor," the nurse explained, looking Sam in the eye the entire time.
"That wasn't supposed to happen until tonight," Finch blurted through Sam's earpiece.
"I thought they weren't doing that until tonight," Sam said.
"We were able to get the room ready a little earlier than expected," the strange doctor explained.
As he spoke, Mrs. Horace awoke and stood up when she saw the three other people surrounding her.
"What's going on?"
"I'm sorry to disturb you Mrs. Horace, but we're ready to move your daughter now," the nurse said kindly with an icy smile.
There was something wrong with the situation, Sam could smell it.
"Oh, already?" Mrs. Horace seemed confused but happy all the same. "Well, that's great."
Sam glanced through the glass at Callie, who was sleeping. She put her hand behind her, getting a grip on her gun.
"Hey, Sam!"
She turned and wanted to shoot Kevin right there as he ran up to her. "I've got a little break, I was wondering if you wanted to get some dinner."
"Um, just a second, Kevin."
Sam turned back to the doctor and nurse and released her weapon as they entered the isolation room. They didn't bother putting on the bio suits as Callie was no longer in immediate danger, and wheeled the chair into the room.
"Mrs. Horace, do you recognize them?"
"No, I haven't seen them before."
Kevin shook his head as he looked into the isolation room. "That's Nurse Pummace, but I don't recognize him," he said indicating the doctor.
"And why would a doctor be helping a nurse move a patient? They don't usually do that, do they Kevin?"
"Sam, don't do anything rash. I'm on the floor, heading to Callie's room now," John said.
They watched for another few seconds as the nurse parked the wheelchair next to the bed. She approached the glass wall and closed the blinds over it as the doctor moved to one of the machines Callie was hooked up to.
"What's going on? What are they doing?" Mrs. Horace asked.
"They're killing her. Kevin, I need you to get me into that room right now," Sam saw red as she pulled out her weapon and pushed through to the small changing room.
"What do you mean? What is she talking about?" Mrs. Horace asked frantically.
"No, Sam, no shooting!" Kevin said as he followed her in, Mrs. Horace coming after him.
"They are murdering this little girl! No one will hear the shots. Just open the damned door!" Sam shouted.