Day 6 Late Afternoon

Amelia woke up, feeling a dryness in her mouth and a headache that she hadn't felt in a long time. She tried to work up some moisture in order to swallow, but it seemed almost impossible. A moment later, a straw was placed between her lips, and she sucked eagerly, raising her eyelids to see Sydney. She croaked out, "That… doesn't feel very good."

"You were attacked again," Sydney explained, sitting down on the chair beside her patient.

Amelia's eyes widened at that announcement. "I was what?" she asked, blinking at her. "Are you sure?"

"Oh, we're sure. We found you were taken a few rooms away,… unless you got up and bolted on your own. Did you leave the clinic?"

"Bolted?" she repeated, and then her gaze cleared. "Actually the door opened," she said, trying to get her thoughts together. "Mountain had been here and got a text. Before he left, he told me not to leave the room, saying that the door was locked, and he would be back. He didn't give me any other explanation, and he ran off," she shared, taking a short breath, "but then, almost immediately, the door opened."

She frowned, confused. "It was supposed to be locked. It opened, and then it stopped, and I heard some voices up and down the hallway. I slipped out of the bed and hid behind the door," she said, holding her side.

"I was surprised that I could walk as well as I could, and yet… I was so scared, and my heart was hammering against my chest—to the point that I was sure anybody coming in could hear that. And then… someone whispered from the other side of the door."

"What did they say?" Sydney asked.

"It was hard to hear, but he basically said, I'm coming for you, maybe not now, maybe not tonight, but I'm coming for you. And then I heard running footsteps. I stepped out into the hallway to try and find him, but several people were in the hallway, and they looked at me oddly, and then they all scattered, as if some warning went out." She took a deep breath.

Sydney took Amelia's hand in hers. "Go on."

"I wanted to follow, to see who was running away," she explained, "and I started down the hallway, but I wasn't feeling very well. By the time I got down to the far side of the hallway, I thought I was going inside the bathroom, but I was in an empty bedroom. Just as I opened the door, stepped in, and shut the door behind me, the floor rushed up to hit me in the face."

"It rushed up and hit you all right," Sydney confirmed, "but I'm relieved to think that nobody carried you down there."

"I don't think so," Amelia muttered. "I was heading to see what was going on, and I was determined to let Mountain know that someone had been right there talking to me. Whoever he was, he knew I was behind the door, Sydney. It was as if he was laughing at me." Amelia's whole body shook. "It was scary. Honest to God, he was pretty damn scary."

"Anybody who's stalking us, threatening us, they have the upper hand because they're not afraid, and they know what they can do to terrorize us. Meanwhile, we are afraid, especially not knowing who our true enemy is. Sometimes our imagination is worse than the reality. Still, once we're afraid, we become a victim," Sydney pointed out, "and they immediately gain the upper hand."

Amelia stared at her and slowly nodded. "It was just like that, as if he wanted me to be afraid, to know that he was coming for me, and to be terrorized by it," she said. "Who the hell does that?"

"All kinds of people do it, and none of them are nice," Sydney pointed out. "The bottom line is, we have you back, safe and sound."

"What was the emergency about that had Mountain running from here?" Amelia asked.

Sydney pointed to the second hospital bed, behind Amelia's. "Either Elijah was attacked, or he chose to take pills on his own," she shared. "We got to him fast enough to save him. We're not exactly sure of the details yet, but, in the process, his guard was murdered."

"Murdered?" Amelia repeated, staring nervously at the doc.

"Yes, probably by the same person talking to you. Is there anything you can tell me about his voice?"

"No," she replied, "nothing concrete anyway. Plus, other people were in the hallway, making it hard to hear the voice. But it was scary, this raw, hoarse whisper that I'll never forget."

"No, and maybe not forgetting is a good thing," Sydney said, "because you're alive right now. I don't know whether they came to this room after you, and your hiding in that bedroom helped you, or if they drugged you and put you there. However, you're alive, and we want to keep it that way."

"And yet it feels very much as if, the longer I stay here, the less chance I have of staying alive," she admitted, staring at her. "Dear God, surely the investigators know now who's behind this?"

Mountain strolled back in again, accompanied by Samson, and Mountain looked at her sternly. "Report."

She rolled her eyes. "I can answer questions, but I don't take orders very well." He glared at her, and she smiled. "Somehow I feel you're upset at yourself because you left me. I don't know if he intended this misdirection, but—" Then she quickly told him what happened.

Mountain frowned. "So, you weren't drugged? You took yourself down to that bedroom on your own, presumably because you thought that he was out there?"

"I don't know.… I thought that maybe I could find out who he was and put this all to an end or figure out what all the commotion was about at least. I went out and headed down the hallway—not my smartest move, I'm sure."

"So, did you see him at all?" Mountain asked, Samson silently listening.

Amelia shook her head. "I heard him run away, so I was looking for a man running. Many other people were out there in the hallway, but none were running. Among the chaos, I didn't see just one person but many. If he did come back to the clinic, I wasn't there for him to torment anymore. Whether he was planning on doing that or not, I don't know." She raised her hands in frustration. "That's all I remember."

Mountain nodded thoughtfully and didn't say anything for a long moment, as he stared at her. "How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

"Rough, about what you would expect, I guess. If I hadn't fallen or collapsed or whatever it was that I did," she added, with a note of humor, "I would probably feel a whole lot better, but I did fall, so yay me.… I've got a bit of a headache now."

"Yeah, that would happen when you collapse," Sydney replied, with a note of relief in her voice.

"The good news is, I'm alive." Amelia gave a nod and a smile in the doc's direction. "Are we any closer to figuring out what the hell is going on?" she asked Mountain.

"Oh, yeah. We're closer, but, so far, nobody is willing to say anything that will bust this thing wide open. I need Elijah awake now," Mountain muttered, as he turned toward the man on the other hospital bed, seemingly asleep.

*

Mountain walked overand stared down at Chef. "Old man, are you finally ready to tell us something, or will you let more young men die because of your actions and inactions?"

Elijah didn't say anything, but his body stiffened visibly, confirming to Mountain that Chef had heard.

"You heard what Amelia told us, right? About somebody tormenting her, wanting to kill her, wanting to hurt her, after she had done nothing but save Teegan," Mountain stated. "When is enough really enough for you? How much bloodshed must be spread before you finally admit this needs to stop? When do you stop protecting this killer?" Mountain roared, his temper getting the best of him.

Elijah looked up at him in resignation and nodded. "Now. I guess now."

"Damn right, so tell me who the hell is doing this."

Mountain and Samson, with permission from Sydney, moved Chef to Sydney's private quarters next door, so they would have some privacy.

"You already know," Chef stated, as they settled in Sydney's bedroom. "That's why you're so angry because you don't know how to stop it. I didn't know how to stop it either, so I did the next best thing and made sure he didn't ever do it while I was around."

"Sure, but that didn't stop the killing though, did it?"

"No, it's not something I could stop," he repeated.

"What started it up again?" he asked.

Elijah looked at him. "A whole lot of things, but, in reality, it was pretty simple."

"Then we're heading to a more private place." Together Mountain and Samson moved Elijah to their office. As soon as he was seated, Elijah started to talk, unwinding the tale of blood and gore.