Taken 9

There wasn't much traffic, but still, it wasn't like Derek could comfortably pull off 220 with the number of cars that were on the road.

Except if he wanted to be admitted at the hospital himself.

It was funny how Utopia claimed to be the greatest power in the world - a superpower above all superpowers, it called itself - and yet they hadn't rolled out flying cars as a normal means of transportation. Call it an absurd train of thought or wishful thinking, but that was what he desperately needed at the moment.

He finally got into the hospital parking lot in six minutes, but for all he cared, he could be six minutes too late. He dashed into the reception, meeting the nurse's perplexed "You again?" gaze.

"Where's the lawyer?" He frantically asked as any iota of niceties gone with the wind.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm not sure you're supposed..."

He resisted the urge to grab her by the shoulders. "Please don't argue. You have to leave right now, you're not safe here." He said. Neither of us are.

"Sir, is everything all..."

He couldn't wait around any longer. He dashed past her cubicle, and ignoring her calls, headed for the stairs. He didn't bother to wait for the elevator, feeling it would be a waste of time.

Running four flights of stairs in quick succession left him out of breath as he reached the hallway, but he managed to drag himself into their ward, drawing out his firearm from its holster as he opened the door.

It was surreal, almost like a dream. They both lay in their beds, blood staining the white sheets on which they lay. Each had gotten two bullets in the head, or at least that was what he could infer from the brief inspection.

Damn it! He cursed under his breath, heading for the door. The fact that he was too late hurt him, because he had made a promise to those two. But judging from the fact that the blood was still wet, he wasn't too late to catch the 'lawyer'.

Suddenly two hefty security guards burst in, the red-faced nurse from the reception at their heels, clearly out of breath.

"That's him there... Oh my God!" She screamed, just seeing the corpses.

Things definitely looked bad, but before the guards could grab him, he brought out his badge. "Detective Derek Hawkins, KPD. The man who killed these people just left here a few minutes ago!"

One of the guards took the badge from him, scrutinizing it, while the nurse looked at him accusingly.

"What do you mean?" The nurse asked " There was no one else here except you and their lawyer..."

How dumb could these people get?

"There is no lawyer! Never was, never will be!" He said, his voice thundering through the hall and drawing the attention of nurses and a few patients out of their rooms. "The case hasn't been made public, so how could their lawyer be here? That was a damn assassin!"

The guard with his badge held Derek's gun and affirmed. "His badge is authentic. And the gun hasn't been fired in a while. His story checks out."

"Of course it checks out!" He said, resisting the urge to add 'you idiot'. "And where is the so-called lawyer now?"

"W-We uh...We met him at the elevator while coming here. He was leaving. Shortly after you came in." The nurse stuttered, her tone laced with regret.

"What?! You just allowed him leave?" He said, dashing towards the window, inaudible curses leaving his lips. There were about five cars leaving the parking lot. The 'lawyer' could be in any of them.

"We're sorry..." The nurse offered, but his mind was elsewhere as he left the room with three outstanding thoughts in his mind, and only one thing seemed to even assist him in solving the case.

Bodies were beginning to turn up.

There was a secret message in the characters the lady had given him.

The lawyer be bumped into looked a bit familiar.

*******************

Tony sent the two-word message to the Boss: "Job Done" as he looked in his side mirror, enjoying the quiet drive home.

The one day he got to be a lawyer, and make his father proud, and he spent it breaking the law. How poetic.

Those two had messed up, and as a result, they were eliminated.

The system left no allowance for loose ends.

Unlike them, he couldn't fail. There was the money and other benefits of working for the Boss, but that wasn't the best motivation. He had a personal vendetta against Derek.

******************

PROMPTS: dream hurt assist thundering absurd power train wind

RANDOM DIALOGUE: "Please don't argue. You have to leave right now, you aren't safe here."

********************

Wow. Nine parts already!!!

And I'm a lot happy to see how the plot is developing. Are you? Leave comments below.