Sheriff Mike MacAllister was the first on the scene. He had just brought in one of his deputies who had gotten hurt during the search. They had called it off for the night and were planning on resuming again tomorrow morning. As he entered the hospital with his deputy, several orderlies and security were rushing about as someone tried to get answers. He put his deputy in a chair in the waiting room, grabbed the first security officer and got some semblance of information as to what was going on. Something was happening on the third floor but no one knew exactly what. Running up the stairs he quickly got the orderlies and security in order within the stairwell and had them take up defensive manures while the elevators were ordered to be locked down.
Mike pulled out his gun and carefully pushed the door open a little and peeked in to look down the hallway. Seeing nothing, he pushed the door open further and then slipped out into the hallway, flanked by two more security guards. The floor was strangely silent as if anyone had gone utterly silent to avoid notice of whatever had been happening. He slowly made his way down the hall, motioning the guards to check other doors as they passed. His gut told him he knew where things had happened and he moved slowly towards Cranes door.
His instincts were screaming that he was right when he saw what looked like a towel over the window to the room. When he gently pushed at the door to see if it would open, he wasn't surprised to find it locked. He took a deep breath and stood to the side of the door, knocking. "Sheriff, open up!"
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Gunny was still in the fight or flight mode, her adrenaline keeping her from noticing the pain that was racing up her thigh and hip up to her left shoulder. She had torn stitches out and the spreading blood stain on her pant leg made it obvious that she needed medical attention immediately.
She climbed off of Max's body, trembling. The muffled screams of the nurse taped to the chair. Gunny did her best to make it over to her, carrying the penknife. The nurses' eyes were wide with fright but Gunny tried to control her shaking hands as she used it to carefully cut away the tape on her hands.
The nurse quickly pulled her arms free and pulled the duct tape off her mouth with a small cry of pain but as she turned to focus on Gunny, she could do little for the woman as she saw her start to sink to the floor. "Gunny…Ms Atheron…"
Gunny looked up at her, still in a sitting position but her legs were just unable to support her any longer. She reached forward and cut the tape free from around her ankles and the effort finally left her panting. The nurse struggled to get out of the chair as a voice in the hall shouted 'Sheriff, open up!'
The color was draining from Gunny's face as she forced herself to the wall to use it to keep her sitting up. She dropped the penknife from her hand, the sound of the metal ringing loudly in the now quiet room as it bounced on the tile floor. The nurse moved to go to the door and Gunny's hand reached out and grabbed her. "Don't leave me…." she said, pain filling her voice, "Don'...want to die…alone…please…" she said pleadingly.
The nurse was torn but knew that someone would have a master key so she avoided looking at Max's body and knelt down next to Gunny, taking her good hand, even covered in blood as it was, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'll stay with you, but you won't die…" she said, her voice shaking.
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He strained to hear if anything came from the room and he heard voices and the banging of a chair on the floor. He thought he heard something metallic hit the floor but he couldn't be sure. He looked away and motioned for an orderly to come up next to him.
"Do you have a key for this room or a master key?" he asked.
The orderly nodded and pulled the keys off his belt, his hands shaking a little as he flipped through them till he found the master key. He handed it to Mike and then stepped away.
Mike pounded on the door again, "Open up! Last chance!" He called out loudly. When he got no response, he slipped the key in the lock and turned it. Looking at the other guards, he gave a nod and quickly shoved the door open. He quickly looked in, then ducked his head back. His brain slowly registered what he saw and the second time he pushed the door open, it was at a crouch, aiming his revolver to different areas of the room.
What saw him could chill many men to the bone. Lying on the floor, lifeless eyes looking up at the ceiling was the man known as Max, one of Cranes attackers. Blood had sprayed all over the wall and he was now lying in the pool of it as it crept across the floor, spreading farther as he bled out. The lights had been turned out so the room was dark except for the light that came in from the doorway. He then saw the nurse, kneeling down next to Gunny along side the back wall under the window, half hidden by the bed.
He slowly made his way further into the room until he could reach them. Mike took a quick look at the two then the chair with the duct tape still hanging from it. The nurse looked up at him, "We need a medical team in here Sheriff, but she won't let go of my hand." She whispered afraid of breaking the silence.
Mike looked to the doorway and called out shattering that silence, causing Gunny to startle and gasp in pain. "I need a medic in here now. We've got injured." Without really knowing what prompted him to do so, he grabbed the blanket off the bed after holstering his gun and went over to her, covering the body and blood to block the view of the dead man from anyone else coming into the room and hopefully preserving the crime scene.
He knelt down and touched Gunny's right shoulder, seeing her eyes had shut. "Gunny, its Sheriff McBride. Talk to me hon." He said gently as he hoped for a response.
Her eyes snapped open, startling him a little. "I killed him...I…I couldn't stop." She panted in pain, her body starting to tremble with shock.
The nurse motioned to him to get another blanket and he pulled one down, the two of them trying to wrap her up to keep her warm. Mike spoke up then, "Gunny…it was in self defense. We'll get all the details later but he attacked you and the nurse and you killed him in self-defense. There is nothing wrong with that. He would have killed both of you and who knows how many others before he was done. Doctors on his way to get you patched up and get you on the mend. It's over, I promise."
She let go of the nurses' hand finally and held to Mike's arm, "Cody…." She tried to say but her voice failed as she tried to say any of the other ranger's names. She needed to know someone would be here for her.
He took hold of her right hand as several medical staff came running down the hall. "As soon as we get you taken care of I'll call the Rangers. You just hang on and they'll get you patched up and right as rain hon." He looked as the team came in with a gurney and a backboard. Within moments, they had her on the board and were lifting her to the gurney. Once Mike saw that she was being taken care of and there was little else for him to do, he looked around the room again.
He rubbed his forehead. He had a big mess to clean up and investigate and this wasn't going to be easy but he had to work quickly. He helped the nurse up and led her out of the room and over to the nurses station. She was shaking by now, but she seemed strong enough to handle what he had to do next. He saw on her tag that her name was Jannet and he approached her, pulling a chair up to her. He took her hand and worked to get it warm. "Orderly, can we get a warmed blanket or two?" Within moments, the blanket appeared and he helped to wrap her up in its warmth.
He pulled out a small tape recorder from a pocket on his gun belt and set it on the counter next to her, turning it on. "Jannet, tell me what happened up to the point that that the man in there was killed. Just start slowly from what you can remember. I need to know before your memory fades too much on some things." He saw Jannet look at him and then take a shuddering breath.
Within a few minutes, he knew that both Crane and Jannet were very lucky. She went back several times and added details, then confirmed again that Max had gloated about setting the convict free to distract everyone but had done away with him to keep everyone looking without showing up too early for him to get in and finish off Crane.
Mike went back over a few things, asking for verification and finer details. When he thought he'd asked all that he could right now, he reached up and squeezed her hand. "It's going to be all right." He stated. "You are very brave and no one should have had to witness or deal with what you did."
Jannet shivered and nodded a little, then looked Mike in the eyes. "She…she saved my life. I'm a nurse and shouldn't think that he needed to be done away with but…he did and she risked her life to save us both. Please don't arrest her, she doesn't deserve that after what she's been through." She pleaded.
Mike smiled warmly and patted her hand. "I'll promise that I'll do all I can for her. She acted in both of your self-defense and did what she had to. No judge or jury could every find her guilty of murder after what that man had done to her."
Jannet smiled shakily with a slight nod. Mike got up and turned the tape recorder off as he went and placed a call to the coroner, his deputies and then the Rangers. He'd called them last because he knew they'd have been up there as soon as he'd called. He wanted the quiet as long as possible to get details sorted out before things got out of hand. The doctor had already gotten Crane prepped for surgery and they were running scans and x-rays to see if her injuries were worse or if they were just superficial and needing to be re-stitched. They wouldn't know anything for at least a few hours. She'd live but Mike honestly wondered about her mental state. She was a strong woman but everyone, even a man, had their breaking point.