While Justice Sleeps(34)

Stafford’s misfortune had earned him a rare moment of utility. His well-appointed hospice shared a wall with Room 9113. According to the rotation, no one would be checking on Stafford for another twenty-three minutes. Working quickly, he locked the door as a precaution. He removed his jacket, button-down shirt, and pants, revealing a fitted tactical suit beneath, and tucked his clothes into a drawer. Then he quietly positioned the dresser to give him access to the subceiling, opened the panel, and levered himself up and into the crawl space.

On the other side, he lowered himself down, landing lightly on the floor. Like his neighbor, Justice Wynn had an IV dripping fluids into his arm, while a monitor beeped his vitals in a steady pattern. Advancing on the bed, the man removed a needle and vial from his pocket. With the ease of repetition, he prepped the needle with the synthesized dose of saxitoxin. A paralytic, the injection would result in respiratory failure, a not uncommon side effect of Boursin’s syndrome. At Justice Wynn’s bedside, he reached for the tube that snaked its way down to the comatose man’s arm. The raised voices came through an instant before the door began to open.

    “Ms. Keene, Dr. Knox does not want him to have visitors.”

“I’m not a visitor. I’m his guardian, as I explained to Lance Corporal Randall. That’s why she let me into the ward. Now I’m going inside to see him. If you have a problem with that, please call Dr. Toca.”

Dropping the tube, the intruder swiftly crossed the room and slipped into the bathroom seconds before the visitors entered.

“If you insist on violating doctor’s orders, I will contact security, Ms. Keene.”

Avery walked over to the bed where Justice Wynn lay pale and still. “Please do. In fact, please ask the head of the security staff to meet me up here.”

The nurse remained in the open doorway and glanced over her shoulder at the desk attendant, who lifted the phone and shrugged. “Lance Corporal Randall has already contacted them.”

“Good.” Avery turned away from the nurse and back to Justice Wynn. “I’ll be here.”

Hidden in the bathroom, he cataloged the space. In a ward designed for long stays, the bathroom came equipped with a shower and tub, as well as a shallow linen closet. With no real options, he entered the shower stall and drew the curtain.

The pneumatic door to the bathroom opened. Avery entered, flipped on the faucet, and began to wash her hands. She leaned her forehead against the mirror and whispered, “What have you pulled me into, Justice Wynn?”

“Ms. Keene?”

Avery shut off the water and shakily dried her hands. She opened the door and let it swing wide. Behind her, the man moved from the shower and caught the door before it fully closed.

Dr. Knox and Dr. Toca stood together at the foot of Justice Wynn’s bed. Avery approached them and said, “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

Dr. Toca nodded. “The nurse was quite anxious about your visit. However, I was going to contact you. We’ve run additional tests on Justice Wynn.”

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re not sure what Justice Wynn took or if he intended to commit suicide,” Dr. Knox answered. “The pills he took may have caused his coma, but they were not the ones in the bottle brought in with him.”

    “I don’t understand. He didn’t overdose?”

“We’re not sure. Several of the pills from his seizure medication are missing, but that’s not what’s in his system.”

Dr. Toca added, “As soon as Justice Wynn was admitted, we conducted a toxicology screening based on Nurse Lewis’s report. From the bottle that was brought in with him, the effect should have been a cardiac episode preceding death. A coma was possible, but not likely. But there’s no evidence of a heart attack or stroke, so he couldn’t have taken the seizure medication.”

“Then what did he take?”

“The initial findings were inconclusive. Apparently, the lab found an anomaly in the blood analysis and ordered another round of tests. We’re still waiting for the results.”

“How soon will you know what he took?”

“Hopefully by the end of the day. Tomorrow at the latest.” Dr. Toca hesitated. “I asked that a second sample be sent out to Quantico for analysis. Our techs are good, but they raised concerns. In addition, we’ve contacted Nurse Lewis, but we haven’t heard from her.”

Avery barely flinched. “Anything else?”

Dr. Toca pointed to the papers he held. “The chemicals he ingested would have mimicked the effect of a slow-motion aneurysm.”

“What would do that?”

The doctors looked at each other before shaking their heads. Dr. Knox answered, “No one here can identify the drug. It has recognizable markers, but there’s no manufactured medication that has this effect.”

Dr. Knox studied her patient, adding, “Avery, based on our initial analysis, he has put himself in a coma, but he’s not at risk of death.”

Avery considered the new information, her eyes fixed on the man in the hospital bed. “He faked a suicide attempt?”

“We simply don’t know.”

Crazy bastard. Avery cleared her throat. “Until you know exactly what happened, I would like a twenty-four-hour guard placed on his room. I also want to restrict access. For now, other than medical personnel, I am his only visitor.”