Chapter 5 - The Ambush in the Corridor
By 3:00 AM, the pediatric floor had settled into a deep, peaceful quiet.
Bethany was sleeping in the recliner beside Maren’s bed, while Grizz and Elijah had gone downstairs to the hospital cafeteria to grab coffee for the team. Marcus remained on the floor, pacing the hallway like a restless sentry.
I stepped out of Room 412 to grab a fresh chart from the central nursing station.
As I walked down the dimly lit corridor, a door near the service elevator swung open.
Dr. Everett Slade stepped out.
He was no longer wearing his white coat. He wore a heavy dark overcoat, carrying a leather briefcase, his face pale and contorted with an ugly, festering rage.
He stopped in the middle of the hallway, blocking my path to the desk.
"Satisfied, Whitcomb?" Slade hissed, his voice low and toxic. "Or should I call you Lieutenant Commander?"
I stopped ten feet away, keeping my hands resting casually in my scrub pockets. "You should be at home, Everett."
"I was just relieved of my duties by the executive board," Slade spat, taking a heavy step toward me. "Twenty years of clean service destroyed because a float nurse decided to play hero with a welfare patient."
"Maren Haskins isn't a welfare patient," I said calmly. "And her condition was a life-threatening medical emergency caused by your incompetence."
"Incompetence?!" Slade sneered, his voice rising into the empty corridor. "I have a medical degree from Case Western! I’ve managed this ER for six years! You're nothing but a washed-up, traumatized military medic who belongs in a VA psychiatric ward!"
He took another aggressive step forward, raising his hand, pointing a trembling finger inches from my face.
"I am going to sue you, Whitcomb," he threatened, his breath smelling heavily of stale coffee and stress. "I’m going to sue you, I’m going to sue Wexler, and I’m going to make sure your medical license is revoked permanently for practicing outside your scope!"
I didn't flinch. I didn't step back.
I looked at his raised hand, then looked into his bloodshot eyes with a cold, flat gaze that had made hardened insurgents back down in interrogation rooms.
"Everett," I said softly. "You have five seconds to lower your hand."
"Or what?" Slade scoffed. "You'll call your navy thugs?"
Before I could answer, a massive, shadow-draped hand reached out from behind the service pillar.
A hand wrapped around Slade's wrist like an iron vise.
Slade let out a sharp, choked yelp of pain as his arm was effortlessly twisted behind his back, forcing him down onto his knees on the carpeted floor.
Marcus Vance stepped out of the shadow, leaning down until his face was two inches from Slade's ear.
"Option A," Marcus whispered smoothly, his voice terrifyingly calm. "You stand up, walk to the elevator, get into your car, and spend the rest of your life being grateful you aren't in a federal penitentiary for medical manslaughter."
Slade whimpered, his face pressed against the wall. "What... what's Option B?"
"Option B," Grizz’s deep voice boomed from the end of the hallway as he walked up carrying two paper cups of coffee, "is I take that leather briefcase, stuff it down your throat, and drop you down the laundry chute."
Slade’s knees shook violently against the floor. "Option A! Option A!"
Marcus released his wrist with a dismissive shove. Slade scrambled to his feet, grabbed his briefcase, and practically sprinted toward the emergency stairs, his heavy shoes pounding against the floor until the heavy fire door slammed shut behind him.
Grizz took a sip of his coffee, looking at the swinging door. "Man’s got no composure."
I let out a soft, breathless laugh—the first real laugh I had experienced in three years.
Marcus turned to me, his intense green eyes softening into genuine warmth. "You handled that well, Commander."
"I was about to use a basic wrist-lock," I admitted, looking down at my hands. "My fingers felt surprisingly steady."
May you like
Marcus looked at my hands, then looked into my eyes.
"That's because you're not hiding anymore, Laurel," he said gently. "The mountain is behind you."
