Chapter 2 - The White Hallways of Mercy
The emergency room at St. Jude’s Hospital smelled of floor wax and old fear.
By four in the morning, the rain had stopped, leaving the windows covered in a thin, greasy film that turned the city lights into long, distorted streaks of yellow and white. Gabriel sat in the corner of the private waiting area on the fourth floor, his large hands clasped between his knees, his eyes fixed on the double doors of the intensive care unit.
He was no longer alone.
Four of his senior enforcers stood at intervals along the hallway, their dark suits crisp, their expressions flat and unreadable. They looked like statues against the pale green drywall, their presence alone enough to keep the shift nurses from asking too many questions about the man in the damp sweater.
The doors swung open, and Rocco Miller walked in. Rocco was Gabriel’s oldest friend and the underboss of the organization, a man who had gone to prison twice to keep Gabriel’s record clean. He carried a paper bag containing two cardboard cups of black coffee, his face heavy with the lack of sleep.
“She’s stable, Gabe,” Rocco said, setting the coffee down on the small vinyl table between them. “The doc says the Narcan took hold on the third dose. They’ve got her on a ventilator to let her lungs clear, but the brain activity is there. The girl’s got your heart. It didn't want to quit.”
Gabriel didn't touch the coffee. He let out a long, shuddering breath that sounded like dry leaves scraping across concrete. “The woman from the diner. Where is she?”
Rocco rubbed the back of his neck, his knuckles scarred and thick. “She’s downstairs in the clinic side. One of the paramedics told the triage nurse she had a deep cut on her hand from when she picked the lock on the bathroom door. She didn't want to stay, Gabe. She told the desk nurse she had to get home because her kid has the early school bus at six.”
Gabriel stood up, his joints popping in the quiet room. “Get the car.”
“Gabe, you should stay here until Chloe wakes up,” Rocco advised, his tone gentle but firm. “The doctors said it could be another three hours.”
May you like
“I know what the doctors said, Rocco,” Gabriel snapped, his green eyes flashing with a sudden, dangerous intensity that made the enforcer step back by an inch. “The woman gave my daughter her breath while I was sleeping in a house with twelve-foot gates. I’m not letting her walk home in the dark with a bleeding hand. Find out where she lives.”
Five minutes later, the black SUV was moving down the damp asphalt of Broad Street, the city around them just beginning to stir with the first, gray light of the morning.
