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Chapter Thirty-Nine

"Where's Bobby?" John asked, after entering Sam's hospital room and not finding the older hunter there. Noticing that Sam was finally sleeping somewhat peacefully, he lowered his voice and added, "Thought I told you both to stay here with Sam."

"He left about fifteen minutes ago," Deacon quickly supplied as his gaze ticked from John to Dean and then back again. "Someone called the room, an' apparently there was something wrong with Sam's insurance information. It sounded kinda bad so Bobby went to look for you."

"Something's wrong with the insurance?" John repeated, his heart sinking into his stomach, worried that they would have to move Sam out of the hospital before he was ready. "What did they say exactly?"

"I guess there was some question of fraud." Deacon cast his most apologetic look in John's direction before lowering his head. "Guess they said it was brought to their attention a few hours ago, an' needed to be cleared up as quickly as possible or they're gonna have to call the police."

"I don't understand," Dean finally spoke up as he took a seat beside Sam and gently took hold of his little brother's hand. "We've been to tons of hospitals in the past an' no one's ever questioned our insurance before."

Deacon shrugged. "Don't know what to tell ya, Dean. Guess the law of averages would predict it would have to happen eventually."

"Deacon, can you go an' find Bobby?" John asked, his gaze never straying from Sam. His brows furrowed as he scrubbed his hand across his beard, and then he swore under his breath. "We're gonna have to move Sam before the police get here."

"Dad, he's not ready to leave," Dean argued, his hold on Sam's hand tightening as fear of what the move would do to his little brother overwhelmed him. "You need to fix this . . . tell them you gave them the wrong information or something. Stall 'em for time. Do whatever you got to do, but he needs to stay here."

"Dean, we really don't have a choice in the matter." John nudged his head toward the door, and Deacon reluctantly rose to stand. "I would've hoped we'd have more time, but we don't. So we take Sam out of here, an' do the best we can to help him recover on our own."

"Deacon," Dean implored, "please, there's got to be another way."

"I really wish there was, Dean, but I think your father's right. If we don't move him now, we could all end up in prison." With that said, Deacon headed for the door, flung it open and left the room.

Deacon made his way through the hospital, searching every floor for any sign of Bobby, but couldn't seem to find him anywhere. He stopped at the sanctuary twice, knowing that is where John had said they would be, but both times, Bobby wasn't there. Doubling back, he headed for the cafeteria, thinking that maybe Bobby would stop there if he couldn't find either of the Winchesters, but as he looked around the expansive room, he still didn't see the scruffy older man.

With a sick feeling settling into his stomach, Deacon strode to the information desk at the hospital's main lobby. Clearing his throat to gather the receptionist's attention, he said, "Excuse me, I was just wondering if I could speak to one of the hospital administrators."

"I'm sorry, sir, but Ms. Finnigan has left for the day."

"She left for the day?" Deacon quirked a brow, his stomach churning even more violently than before. "Then can I speak to another administrator?"

"I'm afraid she was the only one here today, sir," the receptionist replied as she scanned the employee roster. "However, Mr. Hanson and Ms. McCoy will be in tomorrow if you'd like to set up an' appointment to speak to one of them."

Deacon reached in his pocket, pulled out his wallet and flashed the young receptionist his badge. "Look, I need some information about one of your patients," he said as she looked over his badge. "His name is Sam Winecrest, an' he was brought in here about seven days ago."

"I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm not permitted to give out any personal information about any of the patients."

"I know." Deacon heaved a weary sigh as he glanced back over his shoulder, then turned and leaned a bit further over the desk. "I just need to know if you've seen any suspicious looking people hanging around down here. Maybe they might've asked about Sam's condition or what room he was staying in."

The receptionist hesitated for a moment, narrowing her eyes as if trying to recall if she had seen or spoken to anyone who might have looked out of place. "I'm sorry, sir, I just can't think of anyone who seemed out of place."

"An' no one asked what room he was in?"

Again the receptionist shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I just got here about a half an hour ago. Maybe Cindy saw or talked to someone on her shift. So you could probably talked to her." Once more the receptionist looked over her employee roster, and frowned. "But she doesn't work again until Monday."

Deacon looked toward the front exit, and noticed two guards standing beside the sliding double doors. He then glanced around for any other means of leaving the lobby undetected, but only spotted one emergency exit and knew an alarm would go off if anyone tried to leave through that exit. "If I was trying to leave this building undetected by anyone, is there any exits that aren't either alarmed or have guards posted at them?"

"Well, my friend Mandy works in the cafeteria, an' she always complaining that she has to go out on the back dock at night to empty the garbage. So I would have to assume that door hasn't got an alarm on it."

Although the back dock might have been a good place to load an unconscious man into a vehicle without anyone noticing, Deacon didn't think it was likely that Bobby had been taken out of the hospital by means of that exit. As he was looking around for another possible means of escape, he noticed a woman rolling a young man out the door in a wheelchair. "How often would you say that family members take patients out that front door in wheelchairs to get some fresh air?" he asked on a hunch.

"On a fairly regular basis as long as the doctor in charge of the patient's care has given the okay to do so."

"An' the guards, they don't normally stop these people from coming or going?"

"No," the receptionist said with a curt shake of her head. "Like I said, as long as the doctor's given the okay, family members can take their loved ones outside."

"How easy would you say it is to get a hold of a wheelchair here?"

"It's a hospital, Officer," she said as if the answer should be obvious, but still went on to elaborate. "They have a bunch of them just sitting in the alcove of the emergency entrance. Not to mention tons more scattered throughout the hospital."

After all Dominic had done to Sam and Dean, Deacon had no doubt in his mind that the madman was more than capable of somehow luring Bobby away. If he had somehow managed to knock Bobby unconscious, Deacon determined that he could have easily taken the older hunter out of the hospital undetected.

"Thanks, you've been a big help," he said, and without waiting for her to respond, he turned and headed back toward Sam's room.

Praying that he was wrong, and that Bobby had gone back to Sam's hospital room, Deacon picked up his pace as he made his way down the long corridor. As he pushed open the door to the youngest Winchester's room, he took a quick look around and swore under his breath when he didn't see Bobby anywhere. "John, can I talk to you outside for a moment?" he asked as he bobbed his head toward the hallway.

John studied Deacon's worried expression for a moment, then looked beyond him, searching for Bobby, and narrowed his eyes on his longtime friend when he didn't see the older hunter. "Where's Bobby?"

"Can we talk about this outside, John." He made a subtle gestured toward Sam and Dean, and then pointed toward the corridor outside the doorway. "It'll only take a moment."

Reluctantly, John followed Deacon out of the room. Once the door closed behind him, John immediately asked, "Thought I told you to find Bobby an' bring him back here, so where the hell is he?"

"I looked everywhere for him, John, an' some places I even checked twice. He's gone."

"By gone are you telling me he left here on his own or that Dominic somehow managed to abduct him in front of I don't know how many freakin' police officers and guards?"

"I didn't actually check outside for his truck, but I would have to say it was the latter of the two."

"That sonuvabitch," John hissed through clenched teeth. Opening the door to Sam's room just a crack, John looked in on his sons as he tried to formulate a plan of what they should do next. Dean was still at Sam's side with his head resting against the pillow beside his brother's, and his hand protectively circling Sam's chest. His heart went out to his two sons; they had already been through so much already, and their physical and emotional wounds had not even yet begun to heal, so how was he suppose to tell them that Dominic had now taken Bobby?

Deep-seeded fear took hold of John, shaking him to his very core at the thought of how Bobby's disappearance would affect Dean. His oldest son had always been extremely close with the older hunter, and John had no doubt in his mind that Dean would somehow manage to think it was his fault. As Dean was already feeling a world of guilt for what had happened to Sam, John was terrified that this revelation would be the very thing that would push his eldest son right over the edge.

"What are we gonna do, John?" Deacon asked, breaking in on John's troubled thoughts. "Dominic knows right where we are, but we have no idea where the hell he is. An' he took Bobby just to prove he could, so we need to make some sort of plans."

"First thing we need to do is get Sammy out of here, an' get him to someplace that's safe," John said as he shut the door, and turned back to his friend. "Then we go after Dominic, an' this time we make sure he can't ever come back to hurt my boys again."

"How the hell are we supposed to find him? It's not like he's using credit cards that we can track . . . an' I've gone back to both compound several times, an' they're deserted."

"My best guess is that he's not far from here," John determined, trying to put himself in Dominic's position. As a hunter, Dominic would want to be close enough to keep an eye on his prey. If his prey did something unexpected, he would want to be near by so he would know about it and could adjust his plans accordingly. But if he snatched Bobby from the hospital, he would also need a place that was somewhat secluded or risk someone seeing him. "We're gonna need a map of the area, one that shows hunting lodges and secluded places."

"Maybe Dominic owns property under another name?"

The moment Deacon said this, the image of Shannon flashed through John's mind. From what John had gathered, she was the reason why Dominic had abducted Dean in the first place, and if so, maybe Dominic had used her name to buy another piece of property. "That's a thought. I'll have Ash check into other cult member's names, an' see if he turns up anything. But for now we gotta get my boys out of here."

Deacon nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll go an' find a wheelchair, just have them ready to go by the time I get back." With that said, Deacon took off down the hallway in search of wheelchair for Sam.

John hesitated for a moment, not knowing how he was going to tell Dean about Bobby. He almost thought to lie, but with everything that had happened to his eldest child, John worried that Dean would just see it as another betrayal. He deserves the truth, an' if I lie to him now, he'll never forgive me.

With shoulders sagging, he entered the hospital room. Dean lifted his head the moment he heard John walk through the door. Slowly making his way to his feet, Dean warily eyed John as if he had already perceived that something was wrong.

"Where's Bobby?" Dean muttered in a hoarse whisper, stark fear reflecting in his eyes as he waited for John to speak. But when John failed to answer right away, he furthered added, "Dominic has him, doesn't he? He has him, an' he's gonna kill him cause of me."

Not knowing how to respond without causing Dean anymore guilt, John gave a curt nod instead. "Deacon went to find a wheelchair so we could get Sammy out of here. An' once we get him to someplace safe, me an' Deacon are gonna go after the sonuvabitch."

Dean looked to Sam who was fidgeting restlessly in his bed, then back to John who was trying his damnedest to remain outwardly calm, and something inside of Dean snapped. All the pain he had endured, all the constant taunts that no one cared if he lived or died, all the unending humiliation of groveling before Dominic's feet, flooded Dean's mind with startling clarity. From what he had seen of Sam's injuries, he could only imagine how much worse it had been for his little brother, and he would be damned if someone else killed the bastard who had stolen everything away from them both.

Straightening to his full height, Dean squared his shoulders back, and looked his father in the eyes. "Not if I get the bastard first." With one last glance in Sam's direction, Dean stormed out the door, and headed toward the one place he was certain he would find Dominic.