Ionshaker (Part I) by Felix Timothy (best short novels txt) 📕

a deserted bench to study his surroundings and make sure it wasn’t a set up. He enjoyed the fresh air and used the time to unwind a little bit. He had a zillion questions, all beginning with why?
After randomly throwing his eyes here and there, he finally relaxed. Everything was normal; the park was crammed with singles, couples, and families hanging out, all having a good time.

After several minutes, an African American man approached and quietly sat at the opposite edge of the bench to read the sports page of his newspaper. Trey was just about to ask him to leave, when the man spoke first.
“Manchester United sucks!” He exclaimed then turned to Trey, “No offense.”
“None taken, I don’t follow British soccer.”
“And who does in America?”
“Excuse me?”
The mysterious man continued staring at Trey. Trey was baffled; the man wasn’t a soccer fan? And why was he staring at him, what was he expecting from him?
“Trey, ex UC,” Trey finally said.
“Chad, ex UC too. Nice to meet you, Trey,” Chad said extending his right hand for a handshake and as they shook hands Chad asked, “I’m just curious, how did you find out about exilio.com?”
“When I broke ranks with UC, a friend mentioned to me about the decoy website. He said in case UC came after me, I’d get all the help I needed from rogue UC contractors like yourself. So here I am. I need help,” Trey confessed.
“So you’re ready to be a rogue?” Chad asked seriously.
“I have no choice.”
“What happened?” Chad asked turning away from Trey to look at the people in the park.
“Two days ago my wife was marked, and on the same day, my friend almost got marked as well.”
“And who’s your friend?”
“Robin Ironside.”
Chad instantaneously turned to look at Trey as he asked, “It’s about Ionshaker?”
“I… I don’t know,” Trey admitted.
“It can’t be the government that’s after you,” Chad turned to look at the people in the park.
“Why?” Trey asked eagerly.
“UC only marks contractors that go AWOL, not their families and friends. If it were the government, they’d only come after you. But if Ironside, the creator of Ionshaker is also on the hit list, it’s definitely someone else.
“How can you be so sure?”
Chad turned to Trey and said, “Because Robin Ironside and Ionshaker are one, and the two are very important to the government. In fact, Ionshaker is more important than even the president himself. Destroying one of them is like having America without congress – it just can’t happen.
“If not UC, then who wants Robin Ironside?” Trey asked.
“Al Fakir,” Chad answered slowly, almost in a whisper.
“Al Fa what?” Trey whispered with a sudden frown on his face.
“Al Fakir. Al Qaeda’s latest offshoot.”
“Al Fakir, Al Qaeda, what are you talking about? I’m wanted by terrorists?”
“It’s not about you Trey. It’s about Ionshaker. Al Fakir wants Ionshaker, so obviously they’ll be interested in its inventor – and her relationships.”
“What about my wife, she was no scientist, why did Al Fakir kill her?”
Gazing into Trey’s anxious eyes, Chad said calmly but seriously, “To scare you off. To give you a warning, not to try to protect Ironside.”
“But if they want Ironside to get Ionshaker, why did they try to take her out yesterday?”
“Beats me, but I guess you’re gonna have to figure it out,” Chad stared at Trey for a while before asking, “How much are you willing to risk for Ironside?”
“Everything,” Trey replied instantly, suddenly realizing the extent of his feelings. Chad could see it was pointless to try to talk him out of it. The man was determined to save Ironside. He may be useful after all, thought Chad, before standing up and saying, “Walk with me.”


14


At exactly 6:50pm, a scary looking man with a scald on his cheek stepped into room 18C – Robin’s new room and Robin almost died of an instant heart attack. As soon as she saw him, she recognized him as the Grim Reaper.

She was dead meat.

“No, don’t touch me! You’re not a doctor,” panicky she said. Then straining to press the panic button, she called out, “Nurse, nurse, someone help me, a man is in my room to kill me.”

But the man was quick and beat her to it. Then, forcing her down with his left hand over her mouth to prevent her from calling for help, he totally subdued her.
Then he took out of his pocket a syringe with the lethal injection, grabbed her arm and ruthlessly drove the syringe into her veins.

Poor Robin clenched her teeth in anger and frustration as the poison quickly joined her bloodstream. He had won, she finally let up, there was no point in holding on because there was no one to come to her rescue. As she felt herself drowsing away into a slumber, she was sure - that was it, she’d never wake up.

As soon as Robin’s brain went offline, he transferred her to a stretcher, and speedily rolled the stretcher out of the room heading to the elevator. He pushed the stretcher into the elevator and soon enough, the elevator doors began closing.
The man grinned – it was over.

* * *

At 6:55pm, the deputy Chief of medicine Dr. Sham Brigance and a tall and strong, broad shouldered, clean shaven, blue eyed, deep voiced and well-mannered thirty-something year-old Dr. Jake O’Dell, the real one, popped up at the reception lobby to meet a small bunch of nurses assembled at the lobby next to Jecy’s reception desk.

The hottest gossip of the day, especially among the single ladies - both doctors and nurses, was about Dr. O’Dell’s great looks and features.
“I heard he’s so pretty,” said a nurse with short blonde hair.
“Me too. I can’t wait to see him,” replied her friend.

For the better part of the day, that had been the angle of chit-chat among the hospital’s womenfolk waiting to meet the new hot doctor.

And at 6:55, it was showtime.

The deputy chief - Dr. Sham Brigance, introduced the hot shot to the nurses and let him say a few words to them. They were all excited to have him at the hospital. Afterwards, the new doctor teamed up with Nurse Rita Morison to go and check on Dr. O’Dell’s first patient – Robin Ironside.

But as soon as they reached room 18C, they had a shock of their life – Robin Ironside was missing. Immediately, Rita notified Jecy at the reception who in turn notified the deputy chief. The deputy chief was the first to arrive at Jecy’s desk.
“You said a patient is missing on the third floor?”
“Yes.”
Totally confused, he asked, “What’s the name of the patient?”
“Robin Ironside.”
“And when did this happen…?”
“We don’t know. Rita and the new doctor have just learned about her disappearance a minute ago…”
Jecy was interrupted by a panting Rita Morrison quickly walking towards Dr. Brigance with Dr. O’Dell on her side.
“Dr. Brigance, I can’t find the patient. God forgive me, I didn’t listen to her.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The last time I checked on her, she told me she was scared someone might come to the hospital to kill her, but I thought it was the meds talking,” Rita confessed, then added with tears lingering in her eyes, “We found this,” holding out a used syringe they had picked off the floor of Robin’s room.

Immediately, the doctor turned to Jecy with instructions, “Inform security a patient is missing and they should not let any vehicle leave the hospital. Also, I want the patient’s photos hanging on every single door and hallway – I want to see her everywhere. I’m calling the police.”

* * *

Inside the hospital basement parking lot, a masked man was trying to break into an ambulance marked 67. He used a long slender metal bar and slipped it in between the window and the body of the driver’s door to undo the lock. After he heard a click sound, he pulled the metal and opened the door.

He then climbed into the driver’s seat, just as a raucous alarm went off augmented by flickering orange and red blinkers, that began flipping everywhere.
Hastily, he took out of his jeans pocket a small flashlight, switched it on and clenched it with his teeth, as he bent under the dashboard to pull a couple of electric cables in order to hot-wire the ambulance. After selecting the wires and brushing them twice, the engine cranked and idled steadily.

He reversed the ambulance towards the elevator.

As if everything was auto-controlled, the elevator with the mysterious man and Robin strapped on a stretcher hit the basement floor in time and opened. The scary man speedily rolled Robin’s stretcher out of the elevator. Quickly, the driver got out of the front of the ambulance, swung open the two rear doors and rushed to help the other man haul the stretcher into the rear of the ambulance.

After securing the cargo and shutting the rear doors, it was time to split. He took off his mask and got into the driver’s seat as the fake doctor leaped into the passenger’s seat.

With its own blasting siren and flicking orange and red lights, the ambulance veered out of the basement. There was only one obstacle. The security at the gate had been ordered not to let any vehicle leave the hospital. How would they get out?


15


A hold up was starting to form at the gate. Following the hospital’s order that no one be allowed to leave. People could only come in.

Still, the earsplitting ambulance 67 was trying to maneuver its way out. A hospital security guard approached the driver’s window.
“We’re responding to an emergency, we need to get out,” the driver said with a sense of urgency.
“I understand, but I have my orders,” the guard responded respectfully.
“Seriously? You’re going to talk about orders when someone’s dying? Hospitals are about saving lives, so would you just please open the gate before we waste any more time, so that we can save a life,” the driver insisted.
The guard remained reticent trying to make up his mind. If he refused to let the ambulance go and somebody actually died – he’d be responsible. On the other hand, if he let the ambulance go and the missing patient ended up dead – he’d be responsible too. Either way, he’d have to deal with the unknown outcome.
He