The Preying Doctor by Nadia Siddiqui (ebook reader that looks like a book TXT) 📕

shops down, scaled a car, and one of them is hoisting the other up onto the roof as Nathan and Logan disappear around the corner of the building.

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N athan is of the opinion that this is the most live action that a lot of these uniforms have gotten to see. This must be some sort of launching-off point for a lot of these officers, a sort of slow station that will allow them to get their feet wet but in a mostly safe, controlled way. Most of the people who live here seem to be medical professionals. There is a college about one town over so a lot of grad students are doing their medical rotations and then there is a fairly popular film school not too far outside of that, which oddly seems to spark a good deal of tourism here within the city itself. This is just one of many shopping strips but nowhere near the foot traffic that the larger outlet malls would have gotten. Those Nathan had passed on his way into town, he had seen the large signs and the uniform signs as they passed. No doubt this person, whoever he is, thought that because this is the bank most of the doctors and nursing staff use somehow that must mean there is a good deal of money here, which is just about as stupid an idea as attempting to rob an ATM machine. Impossible to get money out of and even if you do succeed in breaking it open, there are limited funds contained inside at any given moment.

Money is virtual these days, which makes Nathan think that the person in there waving his gun around is likely some terrified kid, probably a nursing student who feels that they are underpaid and underappreciated, which wasn’t going to mean anything if Nathan is forced to rush him to subdue him. It’s been a long time since he was allowed to put his hands on another person. He’s oddly looking forward to it.

Up from the roof, William taps the side of the building with the end of his gun to make just enough noise to get their attention before waving them inside of the building. Nathan assumes that means negotiations must have failed or the rubber never ended up calling in the first place. Still no concrete word on if he is working alone or not.

The door lock pops open fairly easily with Logan’s coaxing. He’s clearly done this a fair few times before, enough that he gives the impression that no door is ever locked to him. Logan takes point, and Nathan takes the safety off of his gun and pulls his combat mask up over the lower half of his face, adapting to the situation that’s presented to him. He cannot remember ever having learned the military signals that Logan is using as they clear the office and the break room, but following them, and knowing exactly what they mean, their purpose unsettles him. He must have been a marine at some point …or at least military.

Focus Nathan.

They stop in the hallway just before the door that will lead them to the lobby, wishing that they had thought to grab a mirror or some sort of looking device that would confirm just how far away each person in the room is as well as their current positions. Down the other end of the hallway is a dark corridor. No lights there so he assumes that the safe is just beyond it and sealed up tight. From their new position, Logan takes a swift glance into the room. The robber's gaze must be turned away because Logan swiftly moves to the other side of the doorframe and holds, giving them both a better vantage point of the area as well as equal footing to handle the situation going forward.

They can hear the man muttering to himself, the strap of his gun making a clicking sound as it hits against the shaft of the weapon as he paces, brandishing it carelessly. The mother has shifted just enough to have her legs wrapped around her child, her arms covering him in as much of a shield as she can make. The pair seem to be sitting in a pile of the child's urine, no doubt his fear response, and Nathan can hear her whispering or singing softly to him. Softly enough that it doesn’t seem to disturb the man pacing whatsoever.

Logan signals to Nathan to look and he does, quickly. Just a glance to see that there does appear to only be one person pacing, and the nurse seated beside Doctor Cox seems to have noticed that they aren’t alone. The male in scrubs leans over to the doctor subtly, whispering or mouthing something, and then Nathan looks back at Logan.

“Didn’t mean to …wasn’t supposed to …they were gonna … left me … fucking left me.” The pacing man is muttering loudly enough for the group to hear. It’s unclear as to whether he’s attempting to convince himself of something or if he’s attempting to calm himself into the mental capacity to formulate a new plan. He has to know exactly how fucked he is in this situation. How William and Denzel are going to come in through the roof neither Nathan nor Logan has seen yet. For now, they are in this alone until they are discovered. Is the man distracted enough that he will be able to exchange himself for one of the hostages? Will he be able to pull that off? Not without a good distraction.

“I hear you! I fucking heard you!” the robber screams toward the glass front entrance, spittle flying from his mouth in his rage. He’s just a few moments away from losing his entire mind and it’s obvious that people are going to die. The man lifts the gun and starts to point it toward the