sorry for the technical difficulties that made this chapter into chapter 9. I think i fixed it...
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Morning sunlight spilled in the room through the windows across the room. The room was flooded with light and came upon Sam's face. Yawning, she sat up and remembered where she was. Beside her Flint was still lying still. Her eyes moved over to the device next to his bed and she gasped with delight, when she saw that the lines were slightly jagged. She leaned in and pressed her ear to Flint's chest; where his heart was. A soft thump thump met her ear and she grinned as she sat up in bed. But she couldn't be too excited. His heart beat might fall again.
Across the room, Brent was snoring loudly on the other bed. She put on her shoes and padded over to Brent's bedside. Nudging him, she watched as he stirred and fluttered his eyes open at her. Blinking, he sat up and instantly his eyes traveled to Flint across the room.
"How is he?" Brent asked worriedly.
"Much better. He's actually recovering." Sam gave a big sigh of relief and grinned over at Flint. Brent sighed with relief too and got up from the bed. He stretched and yawned loudly. They opened the door to the room and peeked out. The police officer, who had promised to patrol the hallways, was fast asleep in one of the waiting chair. Sam cleared her throat loudly, and he jumped up.
"Who's there?" the officer bolted up and stared up at them, "Oh. It's only you."
"What are you doing asleep?" Sam demanded and she folded her arms over her chest.
"Oh! I installed a security camera up on the ceiling to watch for me." The officer yawned sleepily. He got up and pointed to a security camera screwed to the ceiling. Sam asked if they could see the tape. The officer nodded and stood on his chair to reach the camera. He stood on his tip-toes and pulled a screwdriver out of his pocket. Carefully, holding the camera with one hand and unscrewing the camera with the other, he soon got the camera down.
"Now we need a TV." The officer told Sam. She shrugged and looked over at Brent, who was pondering on the thought.
"There is one in the waiting room!" he cried out and led them to the elevator. The elevator was broken, so they took the stairs. It was a couple of flights down, but they made it ok to the waiting room. Catching their breath, they passed a repairman fixing the elevator. In minutes, he had the elevator fixed and left. Brent groaned and complained that they could have waited a few minutes and taken the elevator.
The waiting room was empty, and Sam was happy. No one would complain if they switched off the early morning news and plugged in the camera to see the tape. She and Brent took seats around the TV, as the officer took out the tape and rolled it into the VCR.
"When are they going to make security cameras with discs instead of tapes!" the officer grumbled and turned the TV on. The tape was static for a few seconds, until it came to a picture of the hallway it was in. It showed the police officer sitting in the chair reading a magazine. Then he got up and came back with a coffee.
"Were you seriously that bored?" Sam asked as she watched the officer constantly get up and come back with something. Turning red with embarrassment, the officer grabbed the remote and fast forwarded. There was nothing for a long time. Just the officer sitting in his chair and slowly dozing off. It was all good for the next few seconds something flashed and Sam cried out to pause the tape. Instantly the officer pressed pause and they all leaned in. At the end of the hallway there was someone running. It wasn't the man in the dark blue trench coat. It was a man in black turtleneck sweater and dark blue pants. A dark blue hat was on his head. Squinting at the paused picture, Sam saw that the man held a dark blue coat in his hands. Never mind. It was the man in the dark blue trench coat. Why was his trench coat off? Too bad he wasn't facing the camera. They had just missed a chance of finding out that he really was. If they knew him, that is.
"Yep. He had been there." The officer nodded. He ejected the tape and turned the news back on.
"Yeah… Hey where is the other officer that was supposed to sit in this waiting room?" Brent pricked up and exchanged a puzzled glance with the other officer. Scratching his head, the officer shrugged and took a good look around the room. Then the three of them saw him appear out of the staff room with a steaming cup of coffee. He saw them all glaring at him.
"What?" he cried and came up to them. Sipping his coffee, he looked at each of them.
"You were supposed to be on watching duty!" the officer snapped at the one with the coffee.
"Well you weren't supposed to be asleep!" the one with the coffee snapped at the other one. Turning red, the officer said nothing and looked away.
"Anyway! We have to watch traffic on 42nd street today." The one with the coffee smiled and drained the last of his coffee. He threw away his paper cup and turned the other officer. Nodding, the other officer turned to Sam and Brent and shook their hands.
"It was nice meeting you." The officer grinned and shook their hands a second time around. He let go of their hands and tipped his hat. The other officer tipped his hat too and both officers exited the hospital.
They left and the room became quiet. Now, they had to think of what to do next. Curiously, Sam walked over to one of the windows in the waiting room and Brent followed her. She moved the heavy curtain away and gasped. The streets of New York had giant strawberries raining down. Last time it had rained big food, a meatball was forming in the sky. Thinking, Sam gasped and turned to Brent.
"He has it! We've been so stupid! The man in the dark blue trench coat has the FLDSMDFR!" Sam exclaimed and Brent furrowed his eyebrows. He still didn't quite get it. But he grinned when he realized that Sam had said the invention's name right. But he was confused.
Sam seemed to see the confusion rising in him and waved her hand at him, as if to wave him off.
"I'll explain later. Right now, I need to find the FLDSMDFR and the man in the trench coat." Sam lit up like a light bulb.
"Did you say 'I'? What about me?" Brent threw his hands into the air in confusion. Right now all he wished for was for Sam to explain things a little more. It was driving him completely crazy. Besides, she couldn't go out there all on her own! She'll just get shot or kidnapped. The man in the dark blue trench coat was sly and sneaky like a fox and could slide into a scene in a jiffy. Brent remembered how he had disappeared out of the café and Flint and he couldn't find him. He could appear out of nowhere and corner Sam, now that he knew who she was, and had seen how Flint had protected her from the bullet.
"YOU will stay here and see if Flint will get better. Then you'll call me." Sam instructed and planted her hands on her hips.
"So why can't YOU do that?" Brent demanded and glared at her.
"Because, I know the streets of New York City much better than you do and I know what I'm doing." She shot back and he frowned. Never had Brent really lost an agreement. He wasn't going to easily loose this one.
"You could get hurt and then Flint will get better, and you'll be lying in some alley injured! Or worse—DEAD!" Brent wailed and glared harder at Sam. She equally leveled his glare and narrowed her eyes at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and fell back into a chair. Worried, Brent wondered if he had overdone it. He knelt done in front of her and looked into her face.
"Please. Just trust me on this one." Sam looked pleadingly into Brent's blue eyes.
"Fine." Brent got up and Sam got up too. She gently took his hand and squeezed it. A small smile glowed on her face and she let go of his hand. Then she turned and headed for the front doors. The moment she stepped outside, Brent closed his eyes and prayed that she'll be ok. If anything happened to her, he will never forgive himself. Never. And Flint will kill him when he finds out that Sam was out chasing a murder and looking for an invention that almost blew the world last time.
As Brent headed for the fixed elevator he hadn't noticed that he was being watched. When the elevator doors closed behind him, a figure came out of the shadows and sneered as the person exited the hospital through the double doors. He had heard the conversation between Sam and Brent. Sam had better watch out.