Chapter 10
Eddie returned to the room she started; she unlocked a draw on a trolley she hadn't noticed last time. Sitting in the open drawer, a red plastic box marked 'Emergency.' Opening the lid, she found various prefilled syringes.
"Damn, why are there two marked Adrenaline 1 ml syringe 1;100 and a 10 Ml syringe 1:10,000," Her drug-fulled brain wasn't helping. Opening both boxes, she compared the syringes. Not wanting to kill Maria, she decided to give her a small amount of the 1:10,000 in her arm, not liking to replicate the film by stabbing a giant needle directly into her heart.
"Come on, princess, do you want to help Aunty Eddie wake your Mama?" She cheerfully asked, hoping she wasn't about to orphan her for the second time in her brief little life. She shivered at the thought. She made herself a promise.
'If you kill Maria doing this trying to get her out of this damn Asylum, you will take care of that little girl as your daughter. As long as you survive, dumb ass,'
Pulling herself together, she reentered Maria's room,
"Maria, it's Eddie Reagan. I don't know if you can hear me….. Long story short, I can't drag you out with Elena in this state; I will try something, but I have no idea if it will work. I cannot leave you here when they notice I have escaped with Elena, your dead. I know a certain detective in love with you that would kill me if I didn't try." Eddie emotionally explained, tears rolling down her cheeks.
She unfastened the straps holding Maria down, placed Elena carefully on her chest, and put an arm around her daughter. A little hand stroked her mother's face. It was as if Maria sensed her daughter's presence, her eyes open. Unable to speak, tears rolled down Maria's face. Her glazed brown eyes looked at Eddie, almost pleading.
"You have my word; I will look after her if this goes wrong. I am so sorry, Maria," Sniffed Eddie, pushed the plunger and injected the Adrenaline.
BB
Frank and Danny had just finished briefing Sid and Abigail on the cabal as they knew it, which they both admitted was not much. The encrypted thumb drive was with the tech wizards at interpol,
Franks's cell phone buzzed; he glanced at the message and handed his cell phone to Abigail. She opened the message and sent the images to the Wifi printer.
"Interpol has cracked the encryption on the two SD cards. They contain various surveillance photographs. They are run through facial recognition to identify them." Frank explained as they looked at each picture as the printer churned them out.
"Bitch!" Snarled Danny. "That is Captain Elizabeth Oaks, Internal Affairs. She happens to be the lead detective on Eddie's case. Is Lieutenant Best picture there?" Asked Danny, his detective gut twisting into a tight knot.
The picture of Lieutenant Best was well known as he had been shot and killed by a fellow police officer. Sid looked through the printed pages and shook his head. Abby scrolled through the images of Franks's phone and found what she was looking for.
"He is here. It's in the printer queue," Abigail said.
"Abigail, please check to see if First Deputy Commissioner Gillian Buttler's picture is there," He said, an idea developing in his mind.
Abigail scanned the photographs on the phone while Sid shuffled through those on the table.
"No,"
"Not here, Frank."
"I know that face, Dad; what are you brewing in your devious mind?" Asked his curious son
"Abigail, can you add an appointment to the First Deputy Commissioner's calendar?" He questioned
"Yeah, of course, but she won't see you. You are suspended, remember?" Abigail reminded him.
Frank smiled, "Not for me, Abigail, for the head agent of Interpols Washington office. Interpol liaise with the NYPD always so that it will look unambiguous. He can brief her on what we know. We are going to need a backup. We need to be careful who we trust. I will not allow another Joe. We can use Officer Luis Badillo, and he is clean. I have had him watched." He announced
"Watched How?" Danny asked
"His new Partner, Kasey Cato, was a former Blackhawk pilot with the 160th SOAR. She joined the NYPD after she didn't want to re-enlist. I helped her. Her father was FDNY. He died a few years after 9-11. His lungs gave out on him. I have looked out for her and her mother since he pulled me out of a burning warehouse one night just before the roof collapsed. She made you do what she wanted," Frank smirked at Danny.
"I will tell Eddie's partner we need him pulled from being the house mouse." Announced Danny
"I can have him suspended, get him away from the precinct. What about Cato?" Sid asked
"No, keep her at work. She can watch out for Jamie—his head isn't in the game. That is the only thing keeping him alive at the moment. As soon as he becomes an issue, killing him is back on the table. Eddie threatened me that if anything happened to her husband, she would hurt me," Smiled Frank
"Me too; she is a scary woman." Laughed Danny
"We need eyes on Captain Oaks; she just killed a member of the cabal. When she leaves the hospital, she must meet up at some stage. It should get our eyes on some of her fellow cabal members." Sid pointed out.
BB
It felt like hours to Eddie after she had injected Maria with the Adrenaline; it had been a mere 3 minutes of sheer hell to the worried woman. She was still breathing. Her heart rate was rapid. She hoped that was just the drug stimulating her heart and nothing more serious.
"Oh, thank god. Welcome back, Maria," cried Eddie as a confused detective embraced her daughter.
"W…W…..W." She tried to talk but couldn't
Knowing they didn't have time for a live debrief, Eddie pulled Maria and Elena to the edge of the bed.
"I know you must have millions of questions, Maria. I will answer them all in time. We are all in danger and need to get out of here," slurred Eddie. "We are being kept in an Asylum somewhere. I have found a way out, but we must move now. Do you think you can walk?" Asked Eddie
Her mind was still woozy from all the drugs she had been given since they took her from her house. She was confused; her mind was cluttered, but her instincts told her she needed to go with Eddie.
Maria tried again to talk, but she still couldn't utter anything coherent. She just nodded her understanding and waited for Eddie. Eddie smiled, took Elena, and got her to hold her around her neck again.
"We will take it slowly, Maria; follow me and keep next to the wall for support," Smiled Eddie
"O…O….Ok," Maria managed
Slowly, they walked down the corridor to the entrance to the pipe tunnel. Maria very carefully descended the steps. Eddie closed the door after herself and locked it. That should have slowed them down when they eventually discovered they were missing.
"T..T..Tired," stuttered Maria
"Sorry, we need to keep moving. Let's try and find our way out of these tunnels, and we can try and find somewhere to hide; sound good?" Explained Eddie
They slowly descended the tunnel and eventually found the exit door leading out to a derelict bldg on the asylum grounds. They walked into the trees for a few meters before finding some cover.
"T-Thank Y-You," Maria stuttered,
Eddie smiled, thankful she hadn't killed her with her hair-brain idea from pulp fiction.
"I need to tell you something, Maria. Are you up to this?" Eddie asked; she was fading fast and needed to ensure Maria could brief Danny and Frank. She started initially and told her everything as concisely as possible. Maria listened intently as she clung to Elena tightly. Her memories were beginning to clear of her ordeal. She could hear everything while she was out of her head on those damn drugs; she felt the scalpel blade as they sliced open her wrists.
Eddie managed to summarise everything in 40 minutes. Maria had improved markedly during that time. "Thank you, Eddie, you took a considerable risk to find Elena and me. I don't know how I could ever repay you." She emotionally told her red-headed friend. She was astounded when she revealed that she had willingly taken drugs so she could find her and Elena.
"Your family, Maria, I couldn't let anything happen to you or Elena. Your partner was beside himself. He loves you and that little princess there, Maria. I've seen how you look at each other when you think the other is not looking." She smirked. "It must be the Reagan's male magnetism. Make them so irresistible. You look after mini Baez. I will try and find us a way out of this damn Asylum." Eddie told Maria
"Eddie, be careful; you don't look so good yourself," Maria told her as she gripped her shoulder.
Eddie silently nodded and walked off, looking for a way out.
BB
"Shit, find them!" Yelled Doctor Tracy Needham, discovering the two women were missing
She checked on her friend Mags after she had injected the reversal agent into her arm. "Try not to move too much, Mags; you will feel woozy. I will suture your head up once you feel up to it. Do you know where they went?" Tracey asked worriedly. No one had ever escaped from down here.
'Reagan and Baez and her daughter have gotten away, and we need help searching Asylum and grounds. Have a set of keys taken from Mag's, meaning they have access to the whole Asylum.' Tracey texted to her wife
A few moments later, her phone dinged. 'Tell Edward. Have him report them missing. Natalie Scriver is a convicted child murderer who has escaped from detention. Officer Reagan has just killed an NYPD Detective. Make sure Reagan dies during her re-capture. You know what desperate people will do to prevent their incarceration. Baez gets strapped to a bed on the barge—no need to panic, sweetheart. I am being released from the hospital later. I will stay in the city for the next few days while they finish investigating Reagan's escape. Thank you, Liz xx' read her reply.
"Where is that Red-headed bitch?" Growled Mag's, "I want her. She does not get away with ramming my head into the floor." Her broad Belfast accent on show
Tracey Needham shivered, knowing her friend was very vindictive. She was their enforcer. She had watched this woman question the reporter for three days. She spent a whole day just causing him pain, not asking him one single question. Magaret Barry was a true sadist. She had morals, She detested rape and paedophiles. Regularly attending church, she had reconciled years ago with her sadistic side.
"We do not know yet, Mag's, we will find her. Now let's get you fixed up," she told her friend.
The head of security walked down the corridor flanked by four state troopers. "You two take the pipe tunnel," he commanded, pointing to the access door at the end of the corridor.
"Remember, they are both murderers; Scriver bludgeoned her daughter to death. Reagan killed an NYPD detective to escape. Please do not take any chances with them; radio in sightings and wait for backup. Just contain them, and they might have armed themselves. Don't let these two beauties fool you. They are both evil and won't hesitate to take your life in a heartbeat," warned their Captain
Both troopers nodded, opened the door with the passkey, and entered the tunnel.
"The drone will be overhead in five minutes. The barge is just down the river. We have plain-clothed units around the area in case they escape the grounds. We will find them, don't worry. How could you let Reagan get the drop on you?" He asked Mags
Not liking his accusatory tone, she glared at the grey-shirted fool, " She was stoned.." She paused as she had an epiphany "Bitch!… fooled me." She answered annoyed
Smirking, "Just ensure you don't let her fool you again. We can't risk exposure."
'We have spotted movement sixty metres southwest of the tunnel exit.' The drone operator announced over the radio.
"Copy, units three, four and five stay put. The remaining units meet at the fire muster point B. The drone feed can guide us in so we can catch them by surprise," He issued his orders
BB