Chapter VIII
he footsteps slipping into the room were muffled, or whichever you want to call it, accented, and this with shoe covers used to help in hygiene in the operating room.
Each carefully planted step was eased into position and the whole weight of the body transferred to that foot before the other was brought up. The act was not unlike those read of in a Louis L'Amour novel.
But, who would need to sneak up on him? These thoughts and others were running through Williams head. To say his imagination was in overdrive would have been an understatement.
William wondered where the guard was.
Sharon and Melinda had called it up on themselves to guard William 24/7 since learning of the info from Kelly until they could get some more information and/or confirmation on what Kelly had told them. Williams room had even been moved, his name stricken from the registry, and all meals were checked prior to consumption.
And then quite suddenly, he had taken a turn for the worse and this on the afternoon prior to his expected release from the hospital.
Kelly, upon delivering her third such informatory triad of information, suddenly went into cardiac arrest, and lasted only about ten minutes into the failed attempt to save her life. Something was up, and the girls knew it. That was the reason for the sudden change of Williams case, location and update.
Someone was with him every moment of the day, whether or not he was awake. The didn't want William to die with an unbelievable "heart attack."
Had Kelly been prevented from talking, no doubt she would still be alive. The reason for her sudden demise via heart attack was certainly strange, and the pathologist as of yet had not called them with the results of the autopsy. A person of her age, with her physical well being completely maintained, heart attack is very seldom known and is most certainly, always suspicious.
William had been moved several floors up, and with little around him. There were no windows for access, nor could his room be seen from anywhere outside of the hospital. The room in which he now resided, at least temporarily, was pretty much a box with little extra in the way of features. It did sport a phone, but other than that, all the supportive machines must be hauled in. The oxygen generator was the most important currently.
William took a turn for the worse, and the Drs. were scrambling trying to find the reason. They knew something was wrong!
He was lethargic, and could not even get up to use the restroom. He was suffering from fever and chills, sweating profusely, and could barely speak. He was showing all the signs of being poisoned, probably by arsenic. Those signs included leukonycnia, changes in fingernail pigmentation.
Night blindness was the original symptom and within twenty four hours of the night Kelly first talked, William was experiencing it. He initially thought it was merely a reaction to some of the pain meds he was receiving. When someone thought to check the list of meds he was to be receiving, they knew instantly something was completely wrong. All meds were stopped until checked by the physician. And the only one who could have administered the mess, was a course voiced woman that was merely a replacement.
She had disappeared when summoned, and no one had seen her since. So it was plain that someone was trying to kill William once again. Also, had he not suspicioned Kelly knew much more than originally thought, he probably would not have been attacked. Now, the team was working overtime to get a hold on this matter. And to top it all off, there was a mole in the very office within which they worked.
Who could have possibly pulled off such an arrogant act with such blazing success? But someone within their office was a turncoat, and, frauds like that must be exposed and executed. Yes, executed. Because within the FBI treason is felt to be one of the ultimate wrongs a person can do.
But, why had Kelly not just simply revealed his name? Sharon and Melinda had discussed this very issue and think she was holding out that info to make sure she got her deal. The killer knew if this info ever got out he was through. As it was, it was little than conjecture, or at least, unconfirmed info.
Len was doing everything he could to investigate the matter without anyone else knowing what he was up to. At this point, he trusted no one other than his tight circle, and one of them might die.
There, there it was again. The slight, distinct sound heard of someone moving ever so slightly. But he could do little. Where was Sharon or Melinda? And that guard, where was he?
William attempted to get his bed alarm, but could not find it in his weakened state. He looked up, and into the face of Captain Tracy Blaine.
"Hello William." While the Captains face held the old familiar smile, the tone of his voice held a chill to it. But from whom was he hiding? And who was he sneaking up on? And, where was that guard?
Just outside of Williams line of vision, the guard was asleep. Permanently. Not a thing out of place, no sign of any foul play, just graveyard dead. Sharon had made sure of the reputation of the guard, and trusted him with, well let's face it: Williams' life.
This guard had the reputation of being alert, on the job, and vicious when it came to dealing with unwanteds. However, the Captain was not in the "unwanteds" file, so, he would have let the Captain approach to within striking distance.
But the Captain had not played fair neither. Yes, he had approached the guard, but had released an odorless gas called Fentanyl, which came out near his beltline, and being lighter than air, would immediately engulf the victims head rendering them unconscious within seconds. All the captain had to do when he released the gas was hold his breath for a second or so, then just step away from the victim.
Since the guard was already seated, he didn't make a sound when his head fell over to where his chin rested on his chest. Another blast or two of the gas at close range would suffocate him to death in short order. Those little puffs of wind were what William had mistaken for someone sneaking up on him.
The problem was, with the guard out of his sight, William could not tell if something was wrong. He was also fortunate in that he had an oxygen mask over his face preventing him from getting a lethal dose of the gas. He was also in the middle of the bed, so the gas would not approach him but go straight up toward the ceiling. If the captain allowed enough of that gas loose in the room, he would have been killed himself.
As it was, he had to change his plan of action. Somehow, he had to get Williams mask off and the gas up to him for it to work. And, he had to do this without a struggle or he risked being discovered in his deed. This was a deed of utmost importance, and he was running out of people he could trust to do something of this import. If this was to get done, he had to do it himself. Besides, no one would suspect him.
He asked William a question to which he feigned inability to hear Williams answer. He asked to remove the mask, then asked if William felt like signing a document about the latest situation in which he was involved. William nodded in agreeance, and the Captain removed the mask. He pulled the hose out of his pocket as he produced the document.
Just as he bent over to allow William the full blast of the gas, he reached up to open the valve. At that exact second, he felt an extra heavy sharp jab in his back, and a woman's voice said quietly and with a chill to it. "Open that valve and I'll blow you apart."
One second later and Captain Tracy Blaine lay bleeding to death on the hospital floor. The bullet which took his life was fired from Williams wife, Sharon. It's true. Those .45's tear you all to pieces inside. And within an enclosed room so small . . . it was deafening.
She had gotten back to the hospital just in time to see the Captain enter the hospital. While she didn't suspect him, as of yet, she had no reason to distrust him either, so while she didn't really dilly dally around, she was in no special hurry to get up to Williams room.
She received a call just as she stepped into the foyer of the hospital office downstairs. She had only walked a couple of feet when the service was knocked out by the hospital building structure. But she had heard all she needed. Melinda had only said one sentence that Sharon needed to hear. She had said "Sharon, the Captain can't be trusted . . ."
That answered the foremost question in Sharons' mind when she saw the Captain going into the hospital. What was he doing here? Surely, the guard would stop him. But the guard never had the chance to stop him.
After the sound died down, Sharon hadn't even looked at herself. She was a huge mess with the Captains blood splattered all over her. William couldn't believe what he just saw. He was trying to raise the question while Sharon was tending him and wouldn't let her put the mask back on. She stepped back, and pulled the curtain around from the guard who was beginning to turn cold and blue. William just laid his head back on his pillow and allowed the tears to flow down his cheeks as he put two and two together.
Sharon reached up and put the mask back on him and stepped over to the phone. "Melinda, I'm sorry about a few minutes ago. I heard the first part of what you were saying, and I'd just seen the Captain enter the hospital. I figured he was up to no good, for he had no reason whatsoever to be here. He knew that no one was allowed in the room, but figured the guard would let him in. Had I arrived only a few seconds later William would have been dead."
"As it turned out, the Captain killed the guard, and is himself, now laying on the floor with his guts spread all over the place. "Can you get the authorities here? Contact Lane Wardlow? I've two dead bodies up here and I need them gone and William moved ASAP! I won't leave again." Sharon finished.
"Sure," Melinda replied. You sit tight and we'll see what Lane has to say when he gets there. I'll contact Len and get the ball rolling on that end."
Len was incredulous with the news. "That puts a lot of things that I've turned up recently into place. You go to Sharon, I'll be right there with some help and a van."
When Melinda arrived at the hospital everything seemed to be completely normal. No emergency vehicles, no one running around trying to organize things, nothing. She stepped into the elevator and a young man of ten years her junior stepped into the elevator with her. He tipped his hat and asked "what floor ma'am? Melinda stated a floor two levels under where William was kept, and the number was pressed. The young man pressed a number a couple of floors before the one she indicated.
"Good!" She thought to herself and felt relief flood over her. The young man got off at the floor he had himself pressed and with the tip of his hat and a "Good day, ma'am," exited the elevator. The door closed again. She immediately pressed the correct floor and stepped back for the ride. The door opened at the floor she had requested, but no one got on or was visible. Again, she felt relief, but felt something was amiss. The door then opened for the correct floor, and she saw no one as she exited the elevator.
Just as she was about to turn into the door which was Williams room she saw the young man step around the corner from the stairwell. "Looks like you got off on the wrong floor as I did" he stated. "But I'm sure we're both on the correct floor now, aren't you?"
"Why yes, it looks like" she said coyily. Why did you come to this floor?" she asked.
"For the same person you came here for Miss Mathers, William Travis." He ended with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. "You see, I've been following you for a while. You're not only attractive, but very smart and very hard to follow. But I did it! And now, I'm going to reap the benefit of the nest egg which Randal and Kelly could not finish and acquire."
"Don't be so sure of that" she countered. "The Captain has already tried today and is laying in there right now on the floor with his guts blown all over the place. You'll be next if you enter that room!"
The young man had extended his hand toward the inside of his coat but had stopped. He hadn't figured on that. Then he felt the hardened steel of a pistol so hard he gasped, and raised his hands. Sharon had come in behind him as Melinda kept him talking. He had a pale sickly look to him now, and he wasn't so smug with that .45 pressing against his kidney.
He was handcuffed to a chair right beside the dead guard and within full view of the corpse of the Captain lying on the floor. It was a gory bloody mess, and it was splattered on the wall as well as the curtain. The bed clothes under William at the time of the shooting were also lying there spread out on the corpse of the Captain, and another had been spread on the guard.
The young man shuddered to think he could or probably would have been lying there with the last drops of life oozing out of him by now. He felt it before it actually burst forth in explosive mode of his mouth, but nothing he could do to stop it.
"Wow, that's all we need now," thought Sharon. A baby to tend with. She motioned for Melinda who was checking William over making sure he was good to go. With that, they started for the door. Just before Melinda reached for it, Len burst through it. He'd ran all the way up and was out of breath.
"There's someone else on the way up here," he gasped. A young man by the name of Philip Raggin." Lets get William out of here.
Melinda gave him an aggravated look, then held the door open while Sharon, saying nothing but jerking her head back toward the kid sitting in the chair puking his guts up behind the curtain.
"No, that's not him. The man coming is black, and claims William killed his dad a year ago. He's just now locating William," he finished.
A look of terror in the eyes of William caused Len to spin around, this time, with XD drawn, finger on the trigger. It was true, a black fellow was standing by the side of the hall through which William was headed. And, he was smiling . . . .
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