Well, ya knew Sheffield had to show back up at some point! Let's see what kind of damage we can do…
Chapter Ten
Max didn't wait for Porter to call in reinforcements. She ripped open the door and shot out of the room. She didn't wait on the elevator either, but blurred up the staircase and down the hall toward Alec's room.
Max was quickly forced to skid to a halt, however. A mass of medical people, visitors and patients had formed a crowd blocking the hall. She pushed her way through and saw McIntyre was lying unconscious on the floor outside Alec's room. A man and woman in scrubs were leaning over him, one putting pressure on a chest wound while the other checked him over.
Agent Fordice stood at the glass wall looking into Alec's room, gun in hand. In his other hand was a phone, and he was probably briefing Porter, still on his way up. The glass was meant so the medical staff could see their ICU patients at all times, but it was now giving them a great view of the disaster unfolding.
"Clear the hall!" Max ordered. "Get downstairs or get back in your rooms!" The morons in the hall who'd been staring like cows, finally started moving, quickly turning to panic now that someone had informed them they were in danger.
She walked to the two working on McIntyre. "He safe to move?" she asked.
The man looked up. "Yes, we-"
Max didn't wait. She grabbed McIntyre by his shoulders and dragged him down the hall in the wake of the retreating crowd. She set him down by the elevator. The doctor or nurse, whoever he was, followed her and gave her the stink eye, but he and the other medical type dropped back down by their patient.
"Get him out of here," she ordered, and turned back down the hall.
Mrs. Anderson had been standing with the crowd, but she had refused to leave with everyone else. The Agent who'd accompanied her along with Fordice was urging her toward the stairs. Her son was beside her, trying to do the same, pulling on her arm. Slight as she was, however, she refused to budge. Her son was being gentle. Max, on the other hand, had no real problem manhandling the old lady. She unceremoniously pushed her into the closest room, which looked like an employee break room, and shoved her son in with her.
"Get in there and don't let them out!" she said as she pushed the agent in after them and slammed the door behind him. Alec had nearly died to save Mrs. Anderson. The last thing they needed was for Sheffield to punch her ticket if he caught her wandering the hall.
Porter finally appeared through the stairwell door. He'd been fighting his way up against the stream of people headed down and appeared frazzled. He looked at McIntyre, who was being dragged into the elevator, and to Porter's credit, looked past him to evaluate the situation.
"Mrs. Anderson's in there with your guy," she pointed at the closed door, "and Sheffield's in with Alec."
Max hurried back to Alec's room before Porter could try to stop her. She felt rather than saw Porter come up behind her as she peeked in. Dr. Shankar was on the floor unconscious and a terrified nurse was backed in a corner as far away as possible from Sheffield who was standing beside Alec's bed.
Max took a moment to assess the room. Alec's ventilator had been removed, but he was still in restraints. They must have wanted to leave them on while they removed the vent for fear he would react badly. He was breathing on his own at least, although it was labored, not as bad as before, but still not good. His eyes were open, and he was watching Sheffield. The added stress certainly wasn't helping him.
Sheffield had a gun that he had set on Alec's chest, aimed toward his head. It was a direct taunt, sitting there in plain sight, aimed at his chin, with absolutely nothing Alec could do about it. For the moment, however, Sheffield was ignoring it. Instead, his arms were crossed, and he had a knife in one hand, tapping the point of the five inch blade against his chin as if in thought.
Max gestured to the nurse cowering in the corner. The woman glanced at Dr. Shankar on the floor, then Sheffield, then bolted through the door past Max. She heard the stairwell door slam open and guessed the nurse was going to keep running until she was out of the building.
Sheffield noticed the movement. He turned toward the door and saw Max. "You," he said flatly.
"Name's Max."
There was no reaction in his flat expression, or his dead eyes. "I saw you outside the bar." He uncrossed his arms and pointed the tip of the knife toward her. "You were talking to Alec and then you hid."
Max cursed inwardly. She'd been seen. She was probably part of why they'd become suspicious of Alec. Once again, she wanted to kick Logan and Alec for leaving her out of the operation. She never would have barged in and demanded answers while Alec was on the job.
"Put the knife down. The feds are here. You're not going anywhere. You don't want to make it worse."
"It's already worse. Anderson's dead."
Max assumed he'd gotten word from Anderson's men. There was no point in denying it. "Yeah."
Fast as lightning, he struck. The knife must've been razor sharp. Two of Alec's fingers came off his right hand with ease, and Alec let out a startled cry, struggling against the restraints.
Max began to move forward, but Sheffield was ready. He used his other hand to pick up the gun and press the muzzle to Alec's chest, not in the middle where a shot would skid off the breastbone, but to one side where it would hit his heart.
Sheffield was terrifyingly fast for a normal human, almost as fast as she was. Max knew she couldn't get to him before he fired and blew a hole in Alec's chest that couldn't be repaired in time to save him. Max really hated guns.
Porter hissed at her from the hallway to back out of the room, but Max didn't take her eyes off Sheffield.
"I'm not leaving," she said, both to Porter and Sheffield.
Sheffield simply raised an eyebrow. "Some people don't learn their lesson," he said.
With the hand still holding the knife, he picked up Alec's severed fingers and tossed them, one at a time, hitting a garbage can across the room. "They touch things they shouldn't."
His knife moved to Alec's face and the tip flashed, slicing his cheek open to his mouth, making Alec cry out in shock. "They talk about things they shouldn't."
The knife flashed and Alec cried out again as Sheffield laid open the side of his face, partially severing his ear. "They hear things they shouldn't."
The knife began to travel to Alec's eyes and Max knew where this was headed. "Yeah, yeah. We get it. You touch his eyes and I'll rip yours out through your armpit."
Sheffield paused and turned toward her, actually giving her a proper look this time. "Interesting visual… but I'm the one with the gun here."
He took the gun away from Alec's chest, and aimed it at her, which was exactly what she'd been waiting for.
Porter had obviously been waiting for the same thing. As soon as the gun turned toward Max, Porter fired. Sheffield took two shots to the chest a mere breath before Max tackled him. Sheffield still had time to get off a shot and Max felt it burn across her side, but she ignored it.
Despite being wounded, Sheffield fought like a caged lion. On his way down, he grabbed at the closest thing, the machine that had been attached to Alec's bed and connected to the chest tube. He pulled it all down with him, jerking out the stitching and the tube itself as he pulled it with him.
Alec let out a horrible sound, and then nothing else. Max noticed it all, but she focused on securing Sheffield. It took every bit of her strength to hold him down. Porter and then Fordice appeared at her side, adding their weight to her own. Max took the opportunity that afforded to grab the machine that had maintained the suction on Alec's chest tube. She brought it down viciously on Sheffield's head. He only appeared dazed, so she did it again, and this time, his entire body went lax. She quickly flipped him, and grabbed the attached tubing and used it to tie his hands. It was disgusting and slippery from the fluids, but it was all she had for the moment.
"I'll get something to secure him properly," Porter said and ran from the room.
"Get someone in here for Alec!" she yelled at Fordice, who nodded and ran after his boss. She took a moment to look up and saw that Alec was fighting a losing battle with the restraints. There was blood and fluid bubbling from the torn chest tube removal, and from the sound it was obviously letting air back into the chest cavity as well. Alec was struggling for air again as all their hard work was reversed in an instant.
Dr. Shankar groaned next to them where she'd fallen. She turned onto her side, holding her head.
"Dr. Shankar!" Max shouted. She stood and grabbed a latex glove from a nearby box and slapped it against the open wound in Alec's chest to try to seal the leak. She pressed it tight to the hole and kept steady pressure on it, all the while watching Sheffield for movement.
"Dr. Shankar, I need you!" she shouted again.
Dr. Shankar seemed to realize she was being called. She turned toward Max and her eyes focused sharply. She struggled to her feet and stepped around Sheffield on the floor to get to Alec. She took in the fresh disaster at a glance.
"Is there anyone left on this floor?" she asked.
"No. We cleared everyone out. There might be a few left hiding in other patients' rooms."
Shankar paused for barely a second and looked at Alec. "No time. Take the brake off the bed on that side," she ordered.
Max fumbled a bit, but finally figured it out. "Got it."
"Go punch the button for the elevator up. I'll be right behind you. Not the visitor elevator!" she said as it occurred to her. "The one at the other end of the hall!"
Max did as she was ordered. She blurred down the hall in the opposite direction from where she'd entered and smacked the button. She then raced back to the room. Dr. Shankar was struggling to keep pressure on the wound while she moved the heavy bed.
"You help Alec," Max ordered. "I'll push!"
Dr. Shankar ran to the folding glass wall of the ICU room and hit the release to push it out of the way. She hurried back, and actually hopped onto the bed straddling Alec while she worked, and Max pushed the heavy bed out of the room and down to the elevator.
The doors opened, and Max pushed the bed inside the oversized elevator. "Which floor?" she asked desperately. Alec was back to wheezing and turning blue. He wasn't panicking though. It was worse. He was calmly lying there, barely breathing, and he just looked… resigned. It was like he knew this was it.
"Four," Dr. Shankar said, and Max realized they were headed back to the OR.
Max pushed the button and then used the back of the gurney so she could stand higher and lean over Alec. She was looking at him upside down, his face a ruin of blood and gore, but it didn't matter. He locked his eyes on her, but it wasn't for help. It was like he knew there was nothing she could do.
"Don't you dare give up!" she said. "You stay with me. Dr. Shankar is here and she's working to fix this. You just have to hold on, ok?"
Alec, jerk that he was, just sort of… smirked, then his expression changed, flattening out. "S… orry," he wheezed out, working horribly to breathe as blood bubbled up at his lips.
Max bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead. She didn't know why. She just felt the need. He was hurting, and dying and he was giving up, and she needed him to know she cared. "Hold on," she whispered. "Just hold on."
The elevator door bonged, and Max hopped back down. "Which way?"
"Left. All the way to the end. Just push through the doors into the OR!"
Max did as she was told. As soon as they were through the doors, Dr. Shankar started shouting and all sorts of medical types appeared from various rooms. Dr. Shankar hopped down from the bed and before Max could do anything else, Alec was whisked out of sight and Max was left standing alone yet again, wondering if Alec was going to survive.
Honestly, she wanted to sit down where she was and bawl. That wasn't her style though, and it wasn't useful either.
Max turned around and jogged back toward the elevator. She needed to get back to the ICU. Porter might need help with Sheffield. She didn't know how long he'd stay out, that was if he wasn't dead from the gunshot wounds. She could always hope. She'd need to get the wound in her side cleaned up. She also needed to get Alec's fingers. He was going to need them if he managed to live.
More soon….