2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Benji - 12 Hours Earlier
I loved my job. It was hard work, intense, soul shaking at times but the most rewarding thing I could ever hope to do.
That was until today.
Until this moment.
“I don’t understand,” I said as I stared blankly at the Board.
“We’ve received some allegations that we can’t overlook,” Professor Beech said, her salt and pepper hair piled on top of her head in a mass of artful curls.
“Allegations? What kind of allegations?” My stomach turned sour. I hadn’t done anything, other than… “That asshole. This is Kingsly’s doing, isn’t it?”
That slimy, creepy, egotistical prick.
“We can’t share the name of the person who made the allegation of sexual harassment,” Ms Raymon said, her beady little eyes narrowed. She’d never liked me, and I bet, between her and Kingsly, they’d cooked this whole thing up to get rid of me.
Professor Beech took a deep breath. She was the head of the Board, and I thought she would have had my back. “I’m sorry, Dr Barrett, but we are going to have to terminate your residency with us.”
My blood ran cold. “What? You can’t be serious?”
I looked at all the faces on the board, people I’d seen passing in the corridors of the hospital for the last few years and not one of them held eye contact with me.
“This is ridiculous. There is no way that any kind of allegation, sexual or otherwise, was made against me. This whole thing is bullshit.”
Ms Raymon stood, her plump frame shaking with anger. “May I remind you, that—”
“No,” I cut in. “If you’re going to terminate me without even giving me the chance of an explanation, then shame on you. I am a damn good doctor, and I thought I had earned the respect of my fellow peers and the Board. This has all the markings of Dr Kingsly’s hand, and I know he’s a brilliant surgeon. I know he’s been blessed with a skill that has saved countless lives and brought serious revenue into this hospital, but do you know what that doesn’t excuse? Wandering hands. Sexual propositions. Making anyone beneath him feel beholden to him and belittling them. I’ve seen it, hell, I bet you’ve all seen it, too.”
A blush rose to Professor Beech’s face, and she sat up straighter. I fucking knew it. “Benjamin—”
“He asked me to suck his dick, and do you know what I said? I said no. And here I am, stood in front of you like you’re the jury, judge and fucking executioner.”
“You don’t have any proof of those allegations,” Ms Raymon said, her skin paling slightly. “No one does.”
I snorted. “And I bet you’ve ensured that. I guess money really is the answer to everything here. Well, you can take your residency and shove it up your goddamn assholes.”
I ripped my pass off my scrubs and threw it down on the table. Then I turned on my heel and left.
***
“They fired you?” Maya said.
“Yep,” I said as I packed my shit into a box I had scrounged from the canteen.
Maya paced the locker room, her amber eyes burning bright with indignation. “Those fucking bastards.”
I shrugged. “It’s done, and there’s nothing I can do to change it. I can’t go up against the Almighty Dr Elliot Kingsly. I’ll be fine.”
“But what are you going to do? You’ve got your last year to complete, and who the fuck knows if Elliot can blacklist your name for other hospitals.”
Tears burned the back of my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to dispel them. I wanted to scream, in frustration, with rage, at the fucking impotence of my situation. What was I going to do now? What if Maya was right and I couldn’t get a position at any other hospital? Was I going to have to move cities? This place was my home. I’d grown up here, set down all my roots here. The thought of leaving Misthaven filled me with dread.
“I’ll go back and reason with them. Surely, they will give me a fair hearing.”
Maya grabbed my shoulders, blocking the way out. “Babe, if you go back there, you’ll probably end up punching them in the face.”
I groaned. She was right. Maya was always right.
“But how can I just walk away? I’ve given everything to this place; my blood, sweat, and tears.”
“Well, I’ve just about finished my shift, so let’s go out, get drunk and try and come up with a plan.” She grinned wide, her amber eyes flashing with mischief. A night out with Maya never ended with sensible choices.
But maybe that was just what I needed today.
***
Misthaven was a large city in the centre of the country. It should have been the capital, but when the three main crime families took over, the monarchy moved out and relocated to the coast. The Morozovs, the Lavaeux, and the Rowans controlled Misthaven. Considering we were all under the thumb of criminals, the city was well run and surprisingly, had a low crime rate. Seemed like most of the shady shit was done outside of the city.
We had a great underground network rail, which was improved when the monarchy left, and it was only a five-minute walk from the hospital to the tube station that I needed. It was a walk that took me past several buildings owned by the Morozov family, the biggest of the three ruling families. Most of downtown was owned by them, including all the nightlife spots, one of which Maya and I would be attending tonight called The Crypt . It was a nightclub under the old cathedral, and it was creepy as fuck, but they also had the best music and drinks of any club in Misthaven.
But this building, the Morozov Monolith, was intimidating. It towered over the surrounding buildings and was all dark glass and steel. I always wondered what could go on in a building like that, but I probably wouldn’t want to know. It was most likely murder and mayhem, and I was probably better off not knowing.
A shiver of apprehension ran through me. The things the walls in that building must have seen.
I hauled my box of shit higher on my chest and took one last look at the building. I turned toward the tube station but stopped when a loud crash sounded from the gap down the side of the building. A door was flung open, and a figure raced out of the building. He ran straight towards me, looking over his shoulder as if he expected someone to be behind him. He crashed into my side, knocking my box of crap to the floor.
“Hey!” I shouted after him, but he didn’t stop. He just kept on running as if the Devil himself was following.
I bent down to pick my stuff up off the ground and a flash of something flew by, followed by a gust of wind. Paper flew in all directions, and I scurried to snatch them before they blew away and disappeared completely.
What the heck was that?
I groaned in frustration as I watched some of my research fly away on the breeze. Thank the Lord I had some of it stored in the cloud. I’d just have to rewrite some of my notes again. It was a ball ache, but at least I hadn’t lost everything. I reached out for one of the pages, but a leather clad hand beat me to it.
My skin turned clammy as I realised this man probably came out of the Morozov building.
Oh, God.
Fuck.
Was there a mobster stood behind me?
“Be careful, little bird,” the man behind me said, his voice a deep rumble. “There are monsters lurking in the shadows here.”
I shivered at his words and slowly took the paper from his hand. I didn’t want to make any sudden movements.
A whisper of a breath brushed the back of my ear. “Better run, now. Or someone is going to think you want to get caught.”
I hissed in a breath, the anticipation of something coiling in my gut. I just wasn’t sure what it was, but one thing I knew, was that I wasn’t being spoken to like that. Like I was there at the whim of someone who thought they were higher in the food chain than me. I didn’t care if he was the mysterious Morozov leader himself, I was not taking another person trying to belittle me. Not today.
I shoved the papers in my box, suddenly over that moment of fear as indignation took its place. I jumped to my feet, turned around and saw nothing but the empty street behind me.
“What the hell?”
Where had the guy gone?
Probably some secret tunnel that ran under the building so he could lurk in the shadows like a fucking creeper. I hauled my box back up again and continued my way to the tube station. This day could go fuck itself.
I crossed the road and continued with my journey, the spike in adrenaline from earlier leaving an edgy feeling curling in my stomach. It lingered, churning uncomfortably. I’d had it with today. I couldn’t wait to go out tonight and forget about it all.
Fuck Dr Kingsly.
Fuck the Board.
And fuck the guy who told me to run.
I turned down Jackson Avenue, which ran between some of the high rises and was more like an oversized alleyway than an avenue. It connected the main road to the tube station and the underground car parks that serviced the flats and offices here. It was usually busy when I walked down here but, in the middle of the afternoon, it was pretty deserted. And dark. Unnaturally so.
Maybe it was that lingering edginess from earlier, but my steps slowed down. Something felt wrong. It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Fuck. I was going to end up like the hapless jock who died in the horror movie.
“Hello?” I whispered shakily.
A loud crack assaulted my ears, reverberating down the alley with the power to stop me in my tracks. There was only one thing that sounded like that.
A gunshot.
Followed by a cry of pain.
Someone was getting attacked.
I dropped my box and ran towards the sound, hoping it wasn’t too late.
Two figures appeared in front of me, grappling against the side of the building.
“Hey! Stop that!” I shouted as I got closer.
Both the men turned towards me, but it wasn’t bright enough to see what they looked like. The one pinned against the wall used my distraction to knee the other guy in the groin and shake off his attacker. He turned and fled down the street, but the other guy strode purposefully towards me, one hand pressed against his side.
“A-are you hurt?” I asked, eyeing the growing blood stain on his crisp white shirt.
“Oh, little bird, you should have run.”
Run. My muscles quivered with the need to flee.
The guy from earlier stalked towards me, his eyes bright in the low light, looking for all the world like a lethal predator.
Come on. Run, dammit. I needed to run.
I took a step back, and the guy grinned. “It’s too late for that now.”
He lunged towards me and my body seemed to snap out of the paralysis, holding it still. I spun around and raced towards the end of the alley. If I could just reach the main street, I could—
Something smacked into my back, pitching me forwards.
Nope. Fuck this.
I wasn’t dying in this alley.
I rolled over and got an up-close look at the guy. Hair as black as pitch and he had cold, dead eyes the colour of ice. His face was all sharp lines, with dark, angry brows low over a straight nose and a harsh mouth. There was no doubt that I was looking at a man who probably killed people for a living.
Rage built in my chest, overtaking the terror that had made me flee. I had to fight. Had to survive. I bucked and lashed, threw my hands out to scratch at his face. He laughed as he blocked my pathetic attempts to break free.
“Enough,” he snarled. His hands pinned my throat, and his knees clamped around my chest like a vice.
“Byron, don’t kill him,” someone drawled from nearby. “You know the boss doesn’t want us killing innocents.”
The guy choking me, Byron, rolled his eyes. “Fine, but you need to do the memory thing.”
A shadow fell across my vision, but I was struggling to see anything with the world turning hazy around me. My brain was being starved of oxygen, and it wouldn’t be long before I died. Less than five minutes, probably.
The weight of the guy above me vanished. Air spluttered from my lungs as I coughed and tried to breathe, but I wasn’t given a chance to recover. A large hand gripped my face and all I could see was sandy blonde hair and eyes that looked like the moon.
“You didn’t see anything.” His voice reverberated around my head, buzzing against my brain and making my skin hum. “We weren’t here, there was no gunshot, and no one was fighting. You will pick up your things, go home and then carry on with the rest of your day.”
Something vibrated under my skin, and my brain turned foggy. Why was it so hard to think?
“Hush now. Close your eyes and count to ten.”
My eyes fluttered shut. “One… two… three…”