Critical Response, page 2
part #1 of Finnegan First Responders Series
He walked back toward Alanna’s room. Her eyes were open now, and there was a gauze bandage over the cut in her throat. The doc was explaining about the stitches that would need to be placed to close the wound, reassuring her that they’d have a plastic surgeon do the work to minimize a scar.
Alanna’s gaze shifted from the doctor to him. Her dark-brown eyes shone with gratitude as they clung to his. He wanted to push past everyone to reach her bedside and take her hand. To assure her she’d never be hurt like that again.
But he didn’t. Pounding footsteps indicated his backup had arrived. He turned to see several cops rushing in through the ambulance bay doors, stopping abruptly upon seeing the perp lying dead on the floor.
Yeah, this would be a mess. When Sergeant Noah Sinclair walked in, he headed straight toward him. He offered his weapon, butt first, then unclipped his badge and handed that over as well. Sinclair took both items, dropping them into an evidence bag.
“What happened?” Noah Sinclair was known to be a fair and decent boss. He didn’t sit behind the desk like some of the older guys, preferring being out in the field. Reed also knew Noah was Mike Callahan’s brother-in-law; he was married to Maddy who worked for the DA’s office. Reed and other officers often had to testify in court for the prosecutor related to criminal activities.
Reed was surprised to note that the rookie wasn’t among those who’d come rushing to the hospital. Where was he? He turned his attention to Noah. “I take full responsibility, Sarg. I asked my partner, Wes, to accompany this perp to the emergency department, but he must not have followed through. The perp wasn’t cuffed to the bed.” He and several other cops had been dealing with rival gang members, who had been armed.
Noah grimaced but nodded. “I’ll talk to him. What happened here?”
Reed filled him in on how Ivan “Ice” Garcia had taken Alanna as a hostage by holding a scalpel to her neck. “I don’t know what he intended, but it could be that he wanted her to provide medical care to his gunshot wound outside the hospital.”
“Alanna Finnegan?” Noah sighed. “Great, we’ll be hearing from her brothers Rhy and Tarin any minute.”
“I know.” The Finnegan family had gotten some press over the past several months, especially with Tarin being a detective and Rhy being captain of the tactical unit. Alanna had mentioned her family during one of their brief conversations. And now he could add the Callahans into the mix. As if having siblings in law enforcement wasn’t enough, there were cousins too. “Ice was dragging Alanna toward the door. When two gang members showed up, I had little choice but to shoot him, taking him out of the picture to save Alanna’s life. Unfortunately, that sent the other gang members running. We may get something off the hospital video on their ride, which could lead us to them.”
“Do you think they wanted something more than nursing care from Alanna?” Noah asked.
He shrugged. “Anything is possible, but how would Ice know Alanna would be assigned as his nurse? At the most, he may have known she was working today, but even that wouldn’t be easy to find out. Not unless he knew someone working inside the hospital. Besides, I don’t think he’d shoot himself on purpose to get here.” The more he thought about it, the less he believed this to be a personal attack against Alanna. “I was on scene when the drug deal went south. Ice was shot by a rival gang member from the Latino Hombres. I think his grabbing Alanna had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. Maybe an attempt to avoid jail time.”
“Yeah, okay.” Noah glanced around at the chaotic scene in the emergency department. “This will be a nightmare.”
“Tell me about it.” Reed didn’t think there was anything he could have done differently. Other than making sure his rookie partner had done his job in accompanying Ice to the hospital.
The rookie’s absence concerned him. “Sarg, I haven’t seen Wes Durango since we responded to the scene of the initial shooting. As far as I know, he hasn’t shown up here yet.”
Noah’s scowl deepened as he used his radio to contact the rookie. There was a long pause as Sinclair waited.
No response.
A shiver of unease slid down his spine. Without hesitation, Reed ran through the ambulance bay doors and into the cool autumn air. He took his time searching each of the squads that were parked all along the front of the emergency department.
Where was the rookie?
Reed’s gaze dropped to the squad he’d driven here. He’d purposefully left it parked near the multilevel concrete parking garage. He frowned when he noticed someone was in the passenger seat.
Wesley? That was odd because Reed had come here alone, having assumed—apparently wrongly—that his partner was with Ice at the hospital.
He jogged over to the squad, his stomach knotting painfully. Someone was sitting inside, head resting against the passenger-side window as if taking a nap. The guy had light hair, much like Wesley’s, but he couldn’t see his face clearly to make a positive identification.
It was hard to imagine the rookie would risk sleeping on the job. He may not have done everything the way he should have, but even he wouldn’t be that clueless.
As he opened the door, the person inside toppled out of the squad, hitting the asphalt road with a hard thud. The rookie’s pale-white face pointed to the sky.
And above his dead stare was a small, round bullet hole.
Wesley Durango had been murdered!
Chapter Two
Alanna would have preferred taking care of three rambunctious patients at once rather than lying still while a plastic surgery resident stitched the wound in her neck. She didn’t much care for being on this end of the hospital bed.
It was humiliating to realize she’d passed out after Reed shot her patient. Something she’d never done before. Not even during her nursing training when she’d taken care of some grisly wounds involving blood, brain matter, and amputated extremities. With eight siblings, all but one older than her, she’d considered herself to be tough.
Apparently, she was a marshmallow. Collapsing like a damsel in distress. How embarrassing.
She owed Reed Carmichael for saving her life. The moment she’d glimpsed him moving through the emergency department, she’d known he would do everything possible to rescue her. Yet she wished he hadn’t needed to use lethal force. She could only imagine what he was going through. She knew from her older cop brothers that Reed would be put on administrative leave until his actions had been thoroughly investigated.
“All done,” the resident said with a smile.
“Thanks.” She could feel the tightness where he’d placed the sutures. The incision would hurt like crazy once the local anesthetic wore off. When the resident turned to leave, she sat up on the edge of the bed.
“Alanna!” Rhy bulldozed past the resident to enter the room, his brow creased with worry. “Are you okay?”
She should have known her eldest brother would have heard about this through the police grapevine. She managed a smile. “I’m fine, Rhy. How are you? And Devon? Is she feeling okay? How’s the baby?”
“She wasn’t the one held hostage,” Rhy shot back. Then he amended, “Devon is fine. Anxious for the baby to be born next month.”
“Great.” She groaned when Tarin came in. “Please tell me you didn’t bring the entire family here. Not for something this minor. It’s just a few stitches.”
“We didn’t bring the entire family, although you should have called us to let us know what was going on.” Tarin’s gaze zeroed in on the narrow line of sutures. “How many?”
“Only ten,” she hastened to reassure them. Rhy and Tarin were the oldest of the nine Finnegan siblings. They’d stepped up to hold the family together after their parents had died in a car crash over ten years ago. She and her twin Aiden had been seventeen at the time, and Elly, the youngest, was only fourteen. Alanna admired her oldest siblings, but she knew they were overreacting by rushing to the hospital to see her. She suspected part of the reason they’d come was to learn more about how the event had unfolded. “I would have called, but I’ve been busy. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Thanks to Officer Reed Carmichael.”
Rhy and Tarin exchanged a long glance. “We heard from both Mike Callahan and Sergeant Noah Sinclair about how Carmichael took the perp down,” Rhy said. “But what we don’t understand is why this guy wasn’t in police custody. He should have been cuffed to the bed with an officer standing guard.”
Since she had no idea why Ivan Garcia hadn’t been accompanied by the police, she didn’t comment. “I’m sure that will be part of the investigation.”
“It better be,” Rhy muttered darkly. He ran his fingers over his short blond hair. “This was a close one, sis. It could have ended badly.”
“I’m aware.” She strove to keep her tone light. “You know as well as I do that God was watching out for me.”
“He was,” Tarin murmured in agreement.
“Look, will you please let the rest of the family know I’m fine?” Alanna glanced at each of her brothers. “Especially Aiden, as I know he’s training this weekend. I don’t want him to come rushing home for no reason.” Her twin, Aiden, was with the National Guard. They’d often fought as kids, but Aiden had also taken on the role of her protector. Especially during high school and college.
“Okay, but let me know when you’re ready to go,” Rhy said. “I’ll take you back to the homestead.”
The family home in Brookland had been dubbed the homestead by their parents, and the name had stuck over the years. Alanna loved the big six-bedroom house where she’d grown up and had lived until a few months ago. But she liked being independent and had no intention of going with Rhy, who took his role as head of the household very seriously. “I have my car here. I’d rather go home. I’m tired and sore. What I really need is peace and quiet.”
Rhy’s scowl deepened. “We’ll take care of you.”
“I’m fine.” She managed a reassuring smile. “I have the next two days off, which will help.”
“I’m sure she’ll be okay.” Surprisingly, Tarin came to her defense. “The homestead is not known for peace and quiet.”
“Like it’s my fault there are people coming and going at all times?” Rhy’s tone betrayed a hint of frustration. “It’s not like we have a full house.”
“You, Devon, Elly, Aiden, Colin, and Faye.” Tarin ticked the family members off on his fingers. “That’s six, although I will concede that Aiden is out of town at training.”
“Colin and Faye are moving into their own place by the end of the month,” Rhy pointed out. He held her gaze for a long moment, then shrugged. “Okay, fine. But I want you to promise to call if you need something.”
“I will.” She sent Tarin a thankful look.
Her brothers left, no doubt planning to talk to the officers still on scene about what had transpired. She barely had time to relax when Dana Callahan rushed into the room.
“How are you feeling?” Dana raked a critical eye over her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She proved her point by sliding off the bed to stand on her own two feet. Thankfully, the room didn’t spin. “I’m surprised you’re still here. Isn’t our shift over?”
“It’s chaos out there,” Dana confided. “They finally moved the dead guy to the morgue, but there are cops everywhere, including your brothers and my brother-in-law. And the hospital administrators are here too. I’ve never seen so many suits in one place in my life.”
She could imagine how upset hospital management must be over the shooting that had taken place in their emergency department. The thought of dealing with them made her headache worse. “I was hoping to head home.”
“You should. Didn’t the VP of operations already take your statement?”
“Yes.” At least that interaction hadn’t been too bad. And it had been cut short by the arrival of the plastic surgery resident. The VP had looked a bit pale at seeing her incision, which had given Alanna a flash of satisfaction. Easy to sit in C-suite offices all day making decisions that impacted the front line, but seeing firsthand what it was like working in the ED was something very different. She was glad the woman had gotten a glimpse of reality.
Dana frowned. “Hey, where is your ID badge? You can’t clock out at the end of your shift or get your car out of the parking structure without it.”
Alanna put her hand up to the V-neck of her scrub top, swallowing hard as she relived those moments when she’d been dragged through the department. “I think it fell off.”
“Stay here, I’ll go look for it. Oh, and you need to take clear bandages with you to place over the sutures while you shower.” Dana gently pushed her toward a chair. “Please sit. I’ll get what you need. You don’t look so good.”
She didn’t feel good either, so she dropped into the chair. If Dana couldn’t find her ID badge, she’d need to go to security to get another one. Hopefully, they wouldn’t make her take another photo. She put a hand to her hair, wincing when she realized there was dried blood stuck to the blond strands.
Her blood? Or Ivan Garcia’s? Her stomach somersaulted at the possibility of the latter.
After a few minutes, Dana poked her head in the room. “Alanna? I have Calvin Richter from security bringing you a new ID. There’s no sign of your badge anywhere; we think the police may have taken it.”
She inwardly groaned. “Okay. I hope he hurries.”
“He will.” She came into the room with a handful of clear plastic dressings. “Take these. I’ll finish your note on Garcia.”
“No, I’ll do it.” Alanna set the dressings aside. She hadn’t even thought about the fact that she needed to complete a discharge note on her patient. And what exactly would she write? His dragging her out of the room with a blade to her throat didn’t belong in his medical record.
Since she had to wait for Calvin anyway, she rose and crossed over to the computer. She logged in manually since she couldn’t use her ID badge and opened Ivan Garcia’s chart. She quickly typed in the brief exam and his blood pressure reading she’d gotten. She held her fingers over the keyboard, trying to think of a way to professionally end the note. Finally, she typed a brief statement.
Patient left without receiving any medical or nursing care.
It was true, and everything Ivan Garcia did after leaving the room would have to be entered into the hospital incident reporting system, not his medical record. She sighed, realizing she’d have to be the one to do that report. She quickly did so, deciding to get it over with. When that task was finished, she logged off.
“Ms. Alanna?” Calvin hovered in the doorway, and just seeing him made her smile. Calvin Richter was old enough to be her father, and his long tenure as a hospital security guard made him a favorite among the staff. “I have your replacement ID badge.”
“Thanks, Calvin.” She scooped up the clear bandages Dana had brought for her, then crossed over to take the card from him. It was difficult to get anywhere in the facility without having her badge to access secured doorways. “I appreciate you making a new one so quickly.”
“I hope you’re doing okay.” His brow furrowed. “I saw what happened on the video monitor.”
“I’m fine.” It was disconcerting to think about how many people had watched the video and how many more would continue to do so over the next few days. She was never one to seek the spotlight but had a feeling she’d be well known throughout the entire medical center after this. “I’m just anxious to get home.”
“I’ll escort you to your car,” he offered.
“Thanks.” She told herself she wasn’t being a marshmallow by taking Calvin up on his offer. She wasn’t badly hurt, but being threatened by a patient holding a blade to her throat was hardly an everyday occurrence.
There was no doubt in her mind that Ivan Garcia would have slit her throat without a second thought. Adding another red-inked teardrop tattoo to his face. Thanks to Reed, Ivan would never hurt anyone ever again.
Stepping through the doorway, she moved across the door and into the main emergency department. Chaotic was putting it mildly; there were dozens of cops and suits milling about. She tried to find Reed, hoping to thank him, but she didn’t see him.
“I, uh, need to get my purse out of my locker.” When Calvin nodded in understanding, she turned to head in the opposite direction from the large cluster of people. It didn’t take long to use her new badge to unlock the nurses’ locker room door and then to grab her purse from her locker. She tucked the dressings inside and clipped her ID badge to her collar. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Calvin escorted her outside through the main doors. There were dozens of squads parked in the semicircle driveway, and she wondered how many patients had dared come through the gauntlet of police to seek care. Many, she knew, avoided the police.
Her gaze landed on a cop sitting on the curb, holding his head in his hands. Reed? She quickly hurried over to drop down beside him, resting her hand on his back. “Are you okay?”
“Alanna?” His head lifted, his gaze meeting hers. “You’re leaving?”
“My shift ended an hour ago, and I’ve been cleared to leave.” The darkness made it difficult to read his expression. “I’m sorry you’re in the hot seat. I hope it doesn’t take them too long to finish the investigation.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” He rose to his feet, then offered her his hand. Her palm tingled as he gently pulled her upright. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”
“Oh, I—uh.” She glanced over to see Calvin had taken several steps backward, a knowing grin on his features. He waved his hand, indicating she should go ahead, then turned to head back inside.
Was Calvin playing matchmaker now? Swallowing a sigh, she faced Reed and nodded. “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.”
It didn’t matter who walked her to her car. The sooner she made it home, the better.
She’d had enough drama for one day.
Seeing Alanna had given him a boost of energy. Something he’d badly needed since his partner’s dead body had fallen out of their squad. If not for the video feed showing two men in hoodies shoving the dead cop inside, Reed suspected he’d be in jail for the rookie’s murder.
