"Tabitha, that's my desk." Henrik pointed as he entered his office.
Tabby was sat in his chair reaching for his phone, "Ye." She replied simply.
"What are you doing?"
"Phoning Tech Support." She finished dialling the code.
"Why?" he held gesticulated questioningly.
"Hi, it's Tabitha Rees here, Henrik Hanssen's Personal Assistant, I really need your help with something?...Can I have 5 laptops, network connection cables and a security radio brought up to Mr Hanssen's office please?...As soon as please…Yeah like right now…Don't give me that tosh, you either get up off your lazy arses and bring it here or I come down and get it before speaking to HR about cutting your pay…thank you." She placed down the phone, "Give it half an hour whilst they finish their battle on CoD. Right, here you are, Master, you can have your seat back." She got up motioning to the chair.
"What's CoD?" He asked as he made his way around the desk and sat down.
"Call of Duty, it's an Xbox game and I know the technicians are addicted to it." She sighed taking a seat on the sofa.
After 10 minutes there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." Hanssen stated, typing away.
"Hey, um, laptops and radio for Tabitha Rees?" The nerdy looking man asked.
"Over here." Tabby called from the sofa.
The man placed them down on the table, "Do you need a hand?"
"Masters of Science in IT, do you think I need a hand?" She pointed to herself.
The man nodded impressed, "Well, any questions, give us ring yeah?"
"Of course." She subtly gestured towards the door.
As the technician left Tabby started up the computers and began connecting the cables.
Soon she was frantically typing away.
Henrik got up and headed over to her, looking curious.
Seeing him heading over she smudged up so he could sit next to her.
He perched on the edge of the sofa and watched. Window upon window appeared all over her screens as she typed in more and more code. Finally different windows popped up on her screens showing live CCTV footage, she seemed to have about 15 screens on each of her five laptops.
"That's what I want." She mumbled.
"What is this?" Henrik asked her.
"I have just hacked in to the security cameras. Now I can I take over a few of the cameras and keep a look out for the men, this will relieve pressure on the main security desk. Give me two seconds." She picked up the radio, "This is Tabitha Rees, I have control of cameras 20 to 100 so if you keep a close eye on the rest we can work together."
"Aye, aye, just give us the area you see them in and we'll send a guard."
Tabby suddenly panicked as she felt Henrik tense beside her, "N-no send two!"
"Ok, we'll send two."
Tabby watched the screens closely with Henrik when they noticed someone in a tracksuit and baseball cap.
She picked up the radio, "One is heading towards Radiology right now!" She informed.
She and Henrik watched as the man suddenly bumped into a nurse, "Shit Henrik, she's a gonna!" She gripped his arm tightly.
The man began to stroke down the lady's hair softly whilst he reached in his back pocket.
Tabby couldn't watch any longer and buried her head into Henrik's chest. He stared at the screen as he smoothed Tabby's head caringly.
The man wrapped his hand around the back of the nurse's neck and held her in place.
Henrik reached for the radio, "Get there quickly!" He ordered.
He watched intently as the scene carried on. Tabby heard his heartbeat quicken. The man brought his arm back ready to plunge his knife in. Henrik held Tabby tighter and she scrunched the back of his jacket until her knuckles were white. Then just in time two security guards pounced on the man and arrested him.
Henrik breathed a sigh of relief, "She's safe."
Tabitha looked towards the screen slowly and when she saw the guards holding down the man she let out her built up tension, "But there's still the one with the machete left."
"Henrik, keep a watch for me, I'm going to my office for a moment." She shakily got to her feet and wandered to the door.
"Are you sure you want to be alone?" He spoke softly.
She nodded, "I just want two minutes by myself." She smiled solemnly before leaving.
As she put her key in the lock, there was something not quite right about it; it felt clunky and rough and it was difficult to turn the key. On entering though, everything seemed to be fine, nothing was out of place nor had anything been damaged but that lock felt as though it had been tampered with. She sat down a turned on her monitor but as she logged in an error message came up: Try calling for help! Slowly she picked up the phone and began to dial but she noticed there was no dial tone. Suddenly another error message appeared on her desktop: Can't? I wonder why that is. Have a look around. She then realised why she couldn't get the tone and looking around the desk she found the phone cable had been cut. She suddenly became panicked, her breathing quickened and her heart rate increased. Soon she found herself unable to breathe normally and her head began to spin. She stumbled out of her office and ran down the corridor.
"H-Henrik!" She puffed out.
Seeing her stumble in, hand held to her chest, her breathing shallow and unnaturally quick, he got up and jogged over to her catching her before she collapsed to her knees. He let her gently to the ground, "What? What is it? What's happened?" He asked calmly.
"C-calling card…Error m-m-messages…phone…no dial tone…wire, cut." She managed.
"Ok, breathe with me Tabby, in."
She shakily inhaled.
"Good, and out."
She followed his lead.
"In again, slowly, slowly…and out, good girl."
She managed to get her breathing back under control and Henrik got her back on her feet.
"We're not safe up here, let's go down to the main foyer and get something to eat ok?" Henrik locked his office and they headed for the lift.
The lift was empty so Henrik could hear every breath Tabitha was taking; they were deep and trying to be controlled. He could tell she was terrified and so he reached beside him and took her hand, holding it tightly it seemed to reassure her. Only a few seconds after Tabby had calmed herself the lift juddered to a halt. They both looked around puzzled.
"Oh, no, no, not today." She stepped forward and banged on the door, "Hello? Anyone, hello!" She shuffled to the buttons and began pressing for the ground floor, "Come on, come on." She growled. She pressed the alarm button a few times then shuffled back to the door to start banging on it again, "Hello? Please, anyone, answer, come on!" She kept bashing and hitting the door with all her strength.
"Tabitha." Henrik spoke calmly.
"HELLO!" She shouted once more before all her energy seemed to drain away and all that she could muster were tears. Suddenly she felt a couple of hands on her waist. She turned around and began to sob into Henrik's suit jacket.
He held her tightly, rocking slightly from side to side in an attempt to comfort her.
"I don't know what to do." She mumbled. She gazed up at him, "I'm so scared, Henrik." She whispered.
"I know." He nodded sympathetically then brought her back into his arms.
Finally the intercom crackled into life, "Hello? Is there a problem in the lift?"
Henrik spoke up, "Yes, we appear to be stuck but we're in between two floors." He checked the floor counter to make sure.
"Ok, we have your location; we'll have an engineer to you in 5 minutes. Just hang in tight ok?"
"Thank you very much." He then kissed Tabby's head caringly, stroking her hair softly.
It wasn't long until they heard a clunking sound from beneath them then came a faint call, "Hello?"
"Hello!" Tabby and Henrik both shouted, relieved.
"Are you guys alright?"
"Well considering we're stuck in a lift, yeah we're doing pretty well thanks." Tabby answered flippantly.
"Don't worry; we'll get you down soon, just hang in tight." The slightly amused voice shouted up before some more clunking was heard.
Finally they began moving and soon they arrived onto the first floor. As the doors opened there stood a man in blue overalls grinning, arms akimbo, he was clearly proud of his work.
Tabby just shook her head, "There is clearly something wrong with this hospital." She stepped towards the man, "What caused this?" She knelt down by his equipment.
"I'm not sure but it could be any number of reasons."
She began typing away at the laptop he had, "There should be a system diagnostics tool somewhere." She carried on typing away as the engineer and Henrik approached behind her, enthralled by her ability.
"Here it is." She got up the system and set it to run, "Ah, so you see there? It's flashing in red? There must be a problem there, we should be able to zoom in." She found the controls to be a cinch, "Oh, ok. In the control panel there, it seems to have short circuited. Can we get it open?" The engineer got out his tools and opened the panel and they all took a look inside.
"That's wired wrong." The engineer pointed out.
"So that's what has caused it?" Henrik asked.
"Must be, but nobody else has access to it." He was confused.
"When would it have been done?" Tabby asked.
The engineer bent down to get a closer look, "That soldering is fresh *sniff* you can smell it." He stood back up, "I'd have said that was one in the last, ooh, I dunno, 20 minutes, maybe."
Tabby turned to Henrik, "Stairs it is then, we need to get down to the foyer."
Tabby took a seat where she could get a good view all around the foyer and soon Henrik came back with the drinks. They chatted quietly for a while, Henrik trying to ignore all the odd looks he got from other members of staff and Tabby keeping an inconspicuous look out.
"So what do you think?"
"Um, sorry, I wasn't listening, what did you say?" Tabby zoned back to him, almost.
"I was asking about Malmö, where would you like to visit?" He re-asked his question.
"Um, I don't mind, you'd probably know more about it than me so… Henrik, take a sneaky look behind you, what's that guy doing in the corner over there?" Tabby made no motion or physical indication as to what she was talking about.
"He's rather suspicious don't you think?" He turned back to her.
"I just don't want to cause a fuss over nothing in case it worries the real guy, you know?" She then spotted something shine against the wall, "Oh, sorry I've just got a text." She played reaching down under the table to her bag where she took out the radio and whispered into it, "Main Entrance, in the corner by the doors." She then came back up with her phone and began to idly look through. In her peripheral vision she spotted the security guard silently approach the man. Suddenly there was a loud kerfuffle of grunts and shouts as the security guard tried to wrestle the man down. The whole foyer stopped what they were doing to witness the scene and finally more security guards arrived to tackle the man down and arrest him.
"At last, the 3 third and final member of the NHS Drugs Gang has been arrested in the main entrance to the Wyvern Wing of Holby City Hospital. He has been confirmed to be the leader of the gang. They're bringing him out to the police van now."
"So, the ordeal should be over." Ric commented as he turned to look through some patient notes.
"Is that Tabby in the background?" Chantelle asked tilting her head.
Malick took a closer look at the screen, "Ho ho, and she's having coffee with the big man, so the rumours are true." He laughed as he took a seat.
"Well not necessarily, they could just be discussing something." Chantelle thought.
"So Henrik, I'll get another key cut for you then you can move in and then-"
"I don't think so." Ric squashed Malick's imitation.
Henrik got up, "I'm going to head back up to my office to make a few phone calls, it's guaranteed Cunningham's going to want some answers." He rolled his eyes.
"I'll come and tidy up the tech." Tabby leaned down to grab her bag.
"MR HANSSEN, MR HANSSEN!"
'Damn, I've been spotted.' "Miss Rees, may you see to them please?" He got in the lift, "Keep your answers detailed but brief, do not release confidential information and keep the time to a minimum, the more questions they get answered the more daring they become, and if you refuse to answer we get it in the neck." He pressed the button and the doors closed.
She took a deep breath before heading over.
"MR HANSSEN, Mr Hanssen!" They trailed off slightly disappointed.
Tabby took a stance, "I'm afraid Mr Hanssen has an urgent meeting to attend but I am his PA, Miss Rees, so any questions I will answer for you."
"How did the hospital manage to catch the criminals?"
"Here at Holby we have a very advanced security system with over 300 cameras covering the hospital and 8 security staff on duty. It was just a matter of pulling together to sift them out."
"How many staff were injured in total?"
"We had 5 staff injured but visitors and patients were not harmed, nor were they threatened in any way."
"What is the extent of the injuries that happened?"
"Well I can't full details due to patient confidentiality but no one had been fatally injured yet we have had a range of injuries from minor slashes to quite major stabbings."
"How is the hospital planning to overcome this trauma?"
"What trauma?" She grinned receiving a small chuckle from the reporters, "Personally, I don't believe the incidents of today have damaged the hospital too much, obviously our reputation may be dented, but today's events will not have a long-lasting intrusion on the hospital's well-being. If anybody feels they need reassurance about the safety of Holby or they have any questions, do not hesitate to phone us, the number can be found on our website."
"What are the hospital's plans to prevent this from happening again?"
"Well no plans have been made yet but I'm sure minutes of our next meeting will be available on the website soon. That's all I'm going to answer thank you." She turned and headed back inside.
"MISS REES, MISS REES!"
She smiled smugly before heading to the stairs.
"It's getting dark." Came the deep unmistakable voice from above her.
She looked up the stairs to see him looking out of the window, "It is."
"Well done with the press by the way, I was very impressed." He turned to her as she reached the top step.
"Thank you."
"You were very professional considering it was your first time." He gazed down at her admiringly.
"Well I learned from the best. Thanks for everything today. I couldn't have done it without you." She smiled.
"You said that about the TB case. And in fact I think you took the lead with everything today and it was you who helped to catch the gang. And you're right, I did attempt to abandon the hospital and I'm glad you stopped me, so I think I owe you. I know of a very nice Japanese restaurant, I'd like to take you tonight."
"Hontoni?"
"Hai."
"Arigatou gozaimasu."
They both chuckled and Tabitha took hold of Henrik's tie and leaned up to kiss him when he pulled away sharply.
"What? What's wrong?" She lowered herself from her tip toes.
"Not here." He stated sternly.
"Why not?" Placed her hand on her hip argumentatively.
"Because I have a reputation to uphold-"
"You mean you have a vulnerable ego."
"No I just-"
"Just what? Don't want to be seen in public with me? Henrik you just offered to go on a date with me, yet you don't want to show affection in public? What was it you ended our argument with yesterday?"
Henrik didn't answer.
"What did you say?" She stared at him for another minute, "Don't tell me you can't remember. What did you say?"
Henrik gazed at Tabby's expecting face and finally he sighed, "I said I loved you."
"And is that true?" Tabby asked, the question drowning in hope.
She waited another few seconds and when no reply came she spun on her heel stormed down the stairs.
"Tabitha, wait!" He called after her, "TABITHA!" But she ignored him and carried on down the stairs.
He turned and rested his hands on the banister, staring out of the window. Soon he caught sight of Tabitha emerging from the doors below in the twilight. She checked the road and began to cross; she seemed to be searching through a bunch of keys. He leaned his head back and sighed, closing his eyes for a moment when he suddenly heard a screech of tires. He looked down into the car park to see a black BMW stopped by the ramp and in its headlights lying in the road was…
Tabitha.