Quinn picked the lock and then shut the door after they were both inside. The room was cramped but neat-books on shelves on both sides, and a desk in the middle with the hoped-for workstation.
While Orlando delved into the hospital’s network, Quinn perused the books. They were mostly medical text, a mix of Spanish and English. There were also several binders specific to the hospital-guidelines, standard procedures, employee handbook, and a facility directory.
After several minutes, Orlando sat back, her eyes still focused on the screen. “I need to get to another computer. This one’s blocked.”
“If this one’s blocked, won’t they all be?”
She paused. “I should be able to get around it in IT.”
Getting them into an empty office in the middle of the night was one thing. Sneaking into the hospital’s main computer room was something else entirely. While there wouldn’t be a full staff on duty at this time, someone would be around in case any problems came up.
Quinn snatched the facility directory off the bookshelf. Inside was a map, followed by pages listing names and extension numbers by department. He first located the computer room. It was on the same floor, but clear on the other side of the building. He pulled the map out of the binder, and found the page with the extensions for the IT department and one listing all hospital department heads. He removed them also.
“Here,” he said, showing her the map. “This is where you want to be.” He gave her a moment to memorize it. “What’s the extension here?”
She looked at the phone. “425.”
“I’ll scope it out and clear the way, then call you.”
He turned for the door.
“Hey,” she said, stopping him.
He looked back as she stood up and came around the desk.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” she said. She pulled his head down and kissed him.
When she finally backed away, he said, “We haven’t been doing enough of that lately.”
“You’re telling me.” She gave him a playful smirk. “Now go do your job. I’ll give you another one when we get out of here.”
“Always nice to have a little motivation.”
CHAPTER 44
It was even worse than Nate thought.
As he set out from the fort, he hoped to find a small village or, at the very least, some facility that might have a means for him to get a message out. But the journey to the far side of the island took only forty minutes, and in that time, the only man-made thing he came across was an empty blacktopped landing strip.
He circled around the beach, thinking there might be a fishing hut or a dock, but it was clear that with the exception of the fort, the island was deserted.
What made it even more frustrating was the glow on the horizon. It was too big to be a ship, so it must have been from a city, meaning there was another island-a bigger one-out there.
Nate stared across the water. It couldn’t have been more than twenty or thirty miles away. But since he had no way to get there, it might as well have been a thousand.
He allowed himself a moment to sit and rest. Calling for help was apparently not an option. Neither was escaping the island. As soon as the other prisoners were roused from their cells and it was discovered he was gone, Harris’s men would come looking for him. There wasn’t far he could go, after all.
He knew he had only one course of action open to him. Do whatever he could to save the others. There was a good chance he’d be killed in the process, but he couldn’t just hide away while they were being tortured to death.
He pushed himself to his feet and turned back to the jungle.
First order of business: Get a better idea of the fort’s layout, and try to gauge how many soldiers Harris and the old man commanded.
After that…
Well, one step at a time.
CHAPTER 45
Isla De Cervantes
From the hospital map, Quinn noted that the patient rooms were located along the back half of the first floor, and throughout most of the second. Those would be the areas with the highest concentration of personnel at this time of night, therefore places best avoided.
The second floor wasn’t an issue. They had no need to go up there. It was the first floor patient wing that was the problem. The IT room was just down the hallway from it, near the far, rear corner building where, according to the map, a nurses’ station was located.
He made his way across the building via a central corridor that led past several offices, radiology, and a medical lab. Two thirds of the way down, he needed to take a hall to the left, then another to the right that went all the way to the hall the IT room was located in. As he neared the first turn, he could hear the hum of a machine.
He peeked around the corner. About twenty feet away, right where he needed to turn again, an older man was heading away from Quinn while pushing a large motorized buffer across the tiled floor. He’d move the machine from side to side, then push it forward a few feet and repeat the dance. Quinn watched him, silently urging him to hurry up. Five more feet and he could sneak behind the guy and down the other hall without the janitor even knowing.
Just as he was about to make his move, someone stepped out from the hallway that he’d been targeting, the person’s approaching footsteps having been drowned out by the buffer.
Quinn pulled back quickly out of sight and began retracing his steps down the hallway. As he passed the lab, he checked the door. Locked. He did the same at Radiology.
Also locked. The next door was too far away. He would never make it, so he pulled out his picks again and quickly let himself into the room.
“Disculpe,” a male voice called out.
Quinn closed the door behind him and did a quick scan. He was in a small outer room that opened into a larger one where a table for patients and the X-ray machine were located. He moved all the way into the big room and off to the side, out of view. On the wall next to him were several wide files sticking out of wall-mounted trays, presumably X-rays that needed to be viewed or filed away.
The outer door opened a few seconds later. “Oiga, oiga. Usted no puede entrar ahi,” the voice said. The door closed. “Disculpe.”
“I’m sorry?” Quinn called out in Spanish. He pulled a file from one of the trays and removed the X-ray from inside.
The man stepped into the main room. A security guard-just Quinn’s luck. The guy was about Quinn’s height, but at least fifty pounds heavier.
“You can’t be here,” the man said.
“I’m Dr. Chavez. Just picking up some records.” Quinn raised the file a few inches so the man would see it.
The security guard’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve never seen you before.”
“That’s not my problem,” Quinn said, donning stereotypical doctor charm. “I’ve been here for a week. I’m the consulting surgeon from Puerto Rico. Dr. Fernandez assured me I would have full access to whatever I needed.” The directory page he had ripped out had listed Dr. Fernandez as the hospital administrator at the top.
The guard looked unsure. “I wasn’t told anything about that. You should have been given a badge. Where is it?”
“I don’t know,” Quinn said defiantly. “I probably left it in the office. Don’t tell me I have to go get it.”
“I’m afraid we have very strict rules about that here. I’ll go with you. Once I see it, you’ll be free to do whatever you need.”
“This is ridiculous.” Quinn frowned as he stepped by the man into the smaller room, but then he stopped abruptly and turned back. Gesturing at the other room, he said, “There was one other record I needed. Can’t I at least get that?”
Predictably, the guard turned to look where Quinn was pointing.
Though he was big, the takedown when quickly. With an arm around the man’s neck, Quinn cut off the flow of blood to the guard’s head until he passed out. He dragged the man to the back corner beyond the table and lowered him to the floor.