Chapter 19 Darla
Darla
In retrospect, losing my belongings wasn’t what I should have focused on, but it was easier to focus on losing my purchases than thinking about the fact that if Kathryn and I had lingered another two minutes in the house we would have been blown to bits along with my pillows and whimsical dish set.
“Do you want us to head in, boss?”
“We can’t skip our shift,” my mate protested. She was remarkably calm about all this. “Wait times are long enough already. I’m not going to let these assholes scare me away from my patients.”
“I’ll send more agents to the hospital then,” Lois said, her tone resigned. “Just watch your six, okay?”
“Got it.”
I hung up with Lois, then shot Kathryn a look. “The safest option would be to not go to the hospital.”
“Well it can’t be any less safe than your so-called safe house,” she said. “I’m sick of people trying to blow me up.”
“I’m not sure if they know you were there. I think they were after Yuri,” I said. “It looked like the explosion happened on the side of the house where Yuri’s bedroom was, that’s where the fire was.”
“How did they find where he was staying?” she asked.
“They may have followed him or put a tracker on his car. But my guess is that they slipped a detonator into his bag, and he didn’t notice.
It would be easy enough for them to have accessed his car or locker to hide something in his bag.
Remember he said he was leaving it in the bedroom before he left for work? ”
Kathryn paled. “That means if he’d taken that bag to the hospital a lot of people would have been hurt. But are you sure they’re after him?”
“Yeah. When I spoke to Lois for a sitrep earlier she said that the mics picked up a conversation about Yuri. Xi and the man who was with her that night we broke into the lab were speculating about why Yuri was down there and if he was really a janitor. Apparently they talked to the janitorial supervisor, and he told them that not only did he not assign Yuri to clean that area, he wasn’t even on shift when they saw him. ”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. We left a loose end there. I’m guessing Yuri is going to get his ass chewed out by his boss at the hospital today.”
“Better chewed out than blown up.” My mate took a deep breath,
“Agreed. Now eat your breakfast, it’s going to be a long day.”
With an aggrieved sigh she unwrapped her sandwich, peeking between the sides of the English muffin to see what was in it before taking a big bite.
“Damn, this is good.”
“Told you.”
We were both quiet as we continued our ride to the hospital.
I couldn’t really get a read on Kathryn’s mood, even with the burgeoning mate bond.
It was like she’d put a shield around her.
Finally I realized it was probably the way she protected herself from the horrible things she saw in her job – she’d pull inside herself and focus on her work.
I’d done it myself when I was treating people during deployments.
I just wished she didn’t feel like she needed to withdraw when she was with me.
When we got to the hospital, there was no sign of Yuri anywhere.
I had no idea if he knew about the bomb yet.
Usually he was cleaning around the Emergency Department when we started our shift, but he wasn’t there.
As the day went on and there was no sign of him, I started to get concerned.
Unfortunately the Emergency Department was chaos, even busier than usual, and my mate and I scarcely had time to breathe let alone think about the bear.
“Hey, have you guys seen Yuri today?” Stacy stuck her head into the room where Kathryn and I were treating a guy who appeared to have a ruptured spleen from a serious car accident.
It had been raining heavily most of the day, and we’d seen our fair share of car accidents despite the fact that it rained in Seattle pretty much every day this time of the year.
Kathryn’s eyes flew to mine, a flash of concern showing until she looked back down at the patient and neutralized her expression.
“I haven’t seen him since he gave us all the baked goods this morning,” she said carefully.
“It’s weird, he’s usually hanging out here all day flirting with me while he’s cleaning, but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him since I got here this morning,” Stacy said. “No other janitor has been down here either. And Yuri’s not answering any of my texts, which isn’t like him.”
My muscles tensed, ready for action. If Yuri wasn’t responding to his mate, something was definitely wrong.
“Go.” Kathryn’s tone was firm.
“I can’t leave you alone,” I said quietly.
“I’ll be fine in here around all these people,” she insisted. “Martha’s in the Fishbowl, she’ll keep an eye on things. Go find Yuri.”
“I can help in here,” Stacy said. “When you find Yuri, tell him I need to talk to him.”
Texting Martha to ask her to keep eyes on my mate, I stepped out of the ER into the stairwell and called Lois.
“Yuri’s disappeared,” I said when she answered the phone.
“He’s not down there with you?” Lois confirmed.
“No, we haven’t seen him since he left the house and he’s not responding to texts from his mate.”
Lois swore. “His car’s in the hospital garage, Martha saw it when she came in. He must be there somewhere.”
“We need to find him,” I said, heading downstairs. “I’m going to check the janitorial office, then head down to the lab if I don’t find him.”
I had no doubt that his disappearance had something to do with Xi’s lab downstairs, but it was possible he’d gotten stuck with his supervisor.
“There’s something else,” Lois said. “Wanda said the mics turned off about fifteen minutes ago. She was trying to re-start them remotely, but it’s not working so they may be onto us.”
“Understood.”
“Who’s with the client?” she asked.
“Martha.”
“Be careful. Report in and try not to blow our cover if you don’t have to,” Lois said firmly. “I’m heading over with Cassie and Angie, but we’re at least twenty minutes out. Damned traffic.”
The janitorial office was one floor above the lab, one floor down from the ER. I exited the staircase and headed over there at a fast walk, not wanting to draw too much attention to myself. Pushing the door open, the door bounced against the wall, making the older man at the desk jump.
“Where’s the fire, missy?” he grumbled.
“Where’s Yuri?” I asked.
“Yuri? You mean the Russian?”
“Belarusian,” I corrected automatically. “Where is he?”
“I assume he’s in the ER, that’s his assigned area.”
“He’s not. Did you send him somewhere else?”
“I don’t see why that’s any business of yours.”
I leaned across the desk, grabbing him by the collar and letting my some of my vampire power out, just enough for him to feel danger. He gulped loudly and I smelled his fear.
“Where was he going last time you saw him?” I demanded.
“I sent him to apologize to that Chinese bitch down in the research lab,” he said, pointing to the floor in the direction of Xi’s lab. “She’s got her panties in a wad because he spilled water on her fancy shoes. Sent him down to smooth things over.”
Without answering, I released him and headed back to the staircase, texting Lois to let her know Yuri had gone to the lab and not come back.
Lois: We’re stuck on I-5. There’s an accident.
Darla: I’m going down to find him.
Lois: Wait for back-up.
Darla: He’s been missing for hours. I’m going to see if I can get into the lab and look for him.
Lois: Be careful. We’ll be there as soon as we escape this traffic jam.
I flew down the stairs to the subterranean lab, trying to decide how to play it. It wasn’t like I could bust down the door, so I decided to take the simplest approach. Slowing to a walk, I took a deep breath and knocked on the door to the lab.
A light-skinned Black man in a lab coat opened the door looking irritated about the interruption. Subtly I sniffed. He was human.
“Yes?”
I recognized his voice, this was the guy who was with Dr. Xi Sunday night when she ran into Yuri in the hallway. Today his voice was carefully neutral, but I could hear his heartrate pick up. He was nervous. Or scared. Or both.
“I’m looking for Yuri,” I said. “We need him in the ER. We got a big mess.”
“Yuri?” he asked in feigned confusion. I could sense the deception.
“Giant guy with an accent?” I said, playing along. “Works for janitorial.”
“Your friend is in here, Miss Pavlovski.”
I’d never given her my last name, but I wasn’t surprised that Dr. Xi knew it.
I had a feeling she’d been sniffing around the ER ever since I got here.
My proximity to Kathryn had made me a person of interest. The doctor was evil.
What I didn’t know was if anyone in hospital leadership was complicit in her crimes.
“Dr. Xi.” I let the tips of my fangs down as a warning, but Xi just rolled her eyes.
“No need for that, I’ll take you to the bear. He came down to apologize for making a mess, but he wasn’t feeling well so he’s resting in one of our treatment rooms. Come.”
The human male scurried away as Xi gestured for me to follow her.
I looked around, seeing several people working, some of them looking through microscopes, and a few others tapping on computers.
At first glance, this could be any research lab at any hospital.
Nothing gave the outward appearance of evil, although there was something in the air… a sense of nervous desperation.
Xi led me to the north side of the lab, stopping in front of the same treatment room where I’d seen the dead human a few nights ago. Through the window, I could see Yuri strapped to a table, not moving. From here I couldn’t see if he was alive.
“What did you do to him?” I demanded.
“He’s just taking a little nap,” Xi said, her tone amused, like this was all a game.
That should have made me suspicious.
I heard a whoosh, then a sharp pinch as something poked me in the back of the leg.
I swung around to see who’d shot me. The man who’d opened the door was standing ten feet away, a tranquilizer gun in his hand.
I started to transform into my vampire, but my vision turned fuzzy before I could shift.
I swayed on my feet, trying to fight the tranquilizer, but it was no use, it was too strong.
Everything turned black, then I dropped to the floor like a ton of bricks.
As I faded out of consciousness, I heard Xi say, “Stupid vampire.”