"I died? The bastard killed me?"
Rebecca screeched. Doc winced at the volume but nodded. He hadn't thought his partner would take the news well. He was a little surprised the nurse on duty wasn't more shocked, but then again Rebecca had come in with a stab wound — there was really only so much one could assume from that.
"Yeah...I would call him a son of a bitch, but that would be insulting to Ray's mother, too," Doc replied. He looked over at the other man, who had absolutely refused to leave his niece's side since she woke up. He even slept there, a fact Rebecca found smothering, annoying, and unhealthy, but Ray was as stubborn as she was, and he wouldn't budge. Ray acknowledged Doc's attempt at a joke with a nod, not daring to smile because of the seriousness of the situation.
"Oh, when I get my hands on him..." Rebecca muttered to herself, just low enough so the other two couldn't hear her. She could imagine how they would react to that.
"Any other inmates pop up while I was — indisposed?" Rebecca asked Doc, wanting to get away from the topic of Inmate #2002 — Tommy, her mind whispered, his name is Tommy. Anger still burned in her chest, but she knew she couldn't do a thing about it right now so it would just have to smoulder until she was free.
"No, but...we did get the key we were looking for," Doc told her. Rebecca's eyes widened. That's right. The third key that unlocked the Warden's door. The key that had killed Harlan Simmons.
"Did you find out what's behind the door?" she breathed. Doc nodded, then looked around like he was afraid someone would overhear. The nurse, after checking a few things, had left, telling Rebecca he was just a button-push away if she needed anything.
"I didn't see it at first; I stayed with you. But Lucy described it to me. It — there was this, like, laboratory. A map of the US with blinking lights and trackers — Rebecca, they're everywhere."
"You mean...the inmates?"
"Yeah. Across the whole country. And..." Doc leaned in. "We found another 63."
"In the lab? Who was it?" Rebecca asked. This was getting much weirder than she ever could have imagined.
"A scientist. Your classic mad, evil scientist. Hauser has him locked up with the other inmates and he interrogates him regularly, but all he'll say is that 'things are all going according to plan.'" Doc shook his head, like he just couldn't understand this. Neither could Rebecca. Somehow the Warden must be tied in to all this, but how? What was the 'plan'? Before she could think about it further, she heard a knock on her door. Looking up, she saw Nikki. Grinning like mad, Rebecca waved her in.
"Nikki!" she cried, accepting the hug her friend gave her. Nikki smiled and then presented Rebecca with a small, cute, fluffy blue-and-white bunny holding a heart that said 'Get Well Soon.'
"I figured it was better than a card. You would have a harder time throwing this out," Nikki explained. She gave a slight smile to Ray and nodded briefly to Doc, who just kind of smiled and stuttered a little before sitting in the corner.
"Thanks so much," Rebecca said, sincerely grateful for the gift. It really was a cute little thing, and blue was her favorite color, as Niki knew.
"No problem," the ME answered. Then her grin disappeared and she got serious. Leaning in, she asked,
"Any leads on the guy who did this?" Ray's jaw clenched at the reminder, and Doc decided to pop in with,
"Actually, we do." All three looked at him. Rebecca, confused, repeated,
"We do?" Doc nodded.
"Yeah. He's — he's heading over state lines but we're in pursuit," he said, knowing full well it was imperative that Nikki stay ignorant of their 'special' occupation. The woman in question frowned.
"And you can't say anything, 'cause this is top-secret, FBI stuff?" Doc nodded reluctantly. She sighed, then turned back to her friend.
"Well," she started, "you know if you need anything, I'm here for you. The whole squad is." Rebecca smiled.
"Sisters in Blue?" she teased. Nikki grinned, glad that her friend still had some humor in her.
"You got it." Then Nikki needed to go, but both she and Rebecca felt better from the visit, and that's really all that mattered.
When she had left, Rebecca turned back to Doc. "Did you really mean that? Is...is he really going across state lines?" Doc nodded.
"Yeah. He's heading to Colorado for some reason...Ray." The older man looked up. "Do you know why? Is there anything you remember from Colorado that would have a connection to Tommy?" Ray shook his head. He just didn't know his brother anymore, loath as he was to admit it. Doc sighed, disappointed. Just then his phone started ringing. Getting the okay from Rebecca to answer it, he saw it was Hauser calling again.
"Are you alone?" was the first thing Hauser said when Doc answered.
"Yeah. Well, I mean, Rebecca's awake-"
"That's fine," Hauser interrupted.
"-and Ray," Doc continued. The aforementioned people were watching him, Rebecca eagerly, and Ray warily. "What's up?"
"We may know where in and why Madsen is heading to Colorado," Hasuer said. "I'm assuming you told Rebecca about it?"
"Yes. How do you know? Where? Why?" Doc heard some scuffling and arguing on the other line, and then Lucy's voice came on.
"Hello, Dr. Soto," she said. "As I was thinking about Tommy Madsen and Colorado, I remembered something the Warden said to me once, and something I read in Tommy's file. The Warden told me about a silver mine in Leadville, Colorado — it's abandoned now, though people do still go there."
"And in Tommy's file?" Rebecca asked, yelling so Lucy could hear. Doc had his phone on speaker, anyway.
"In Tommy's file it said he liked, and was adept at, exploring old mines. The Warden plus the file plus the connection between the Warden and Tommy Madsen leads me to conclude that is where he is heading," Lucy explained.
The three in the hospital room where quiet. Then, Rebecca said in that stubborn voice of hers which refused any argument,
"Well, as soon as I'm out of here, that's where we're going."
At once there were objections, from Ray, from Doc, from Hauser, but Rebecca just clenched her jaw and wouldn't budge. In the end, Doc fell silent, Ray gave her a look that said 'I don't approve and don't think for a minute this is over', and Hauser said in an exasperated voice,
"We'll see. But only when you're released and no sooner."
Though Hasuer couldn't see, Rebecca had a triumphant smirk on her face. They thought she was going to sit by while they tracked down 2002? Not a snowball's chance in Hell. He was her murderer, and she was going to get her justice (coughcoughrevengecough), no matter how far she had to go to get it.
A.N-So how was this one? Sorry for the bit of a wait. I want to know what you guys think of this, and feel free to point out any mistakes. Also, any suggestions for further chapters is also appreciated.