Chapter 2 - The Nurse Behind My Shoulder
The gang leader released the bat.
It struck the floor with a hollow wooden crack and rolled beneath a blue seat.
The nurse lunged from behind me.
She dropped to one knee, swept up the flash drive, and closed her fist around it before the second gangster could reach her. Her shoulder collided with my back as she scrambled upright.
“Stay behind me,” I said.
She obeyed without arguing.
That told me more than panic would have.
People who had never been hunted usually asked questions. They protested. They tried to explain that there had been a misunderstanding. This woman moved like someone who had already tried all of those things and learned they were useless.
The gang leader stared at her closed fist.
“Give it back, Claire.”
So he knew her name.
Claire’s fingers tightened until her knuckles whitened. Her brown hair had come loose from its tie, and a thin strand stuck to the sweat along her cheek.
“It was never yours,” she said.
The second gangster shifted left, trying to create an angle around me. I stepped with him.
He stopped.
The third man reached toward the scanner clipped to his belt, but he didn’t turn it off. His hand hovered near it as if he expected instructions.
I looked at Claire.
“Who are they?”
Her lips parted, but no answer came.
The leader gave her a thin smile.
“Tell the old man what you stole.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
“You walked out of St. Vincent with hospital property.”
Claire’s eyes flicked toward mine.
It was the first detail she hadn’t expected him to say publicly.
The bus had slowed but not stopped. The driver kept both hands on the wheel, guiding us through a yellow light while glancing between the road and the mirror. His right thumb hovered near the emergency alert button on the console.
The gang leader noticed.
“Keep driving,” he called.
The driver’s jaw tightened.
No one moved toward the exits.
The front doors were twenty feet away, but the three men had positioned themselves well. The leader controlled the aisle. The bearded one watched the rear exit. The hooded man stood close enough to the driver to interfere if necessary.
Not random intimidation.
A plan.
Ranger pressed his shoulder lightly against my calf.
He had felt the shift in me before I did.
Claire leaned close enough for me to hear her whisper.
“They killed someone.”
The gang leader’s head snapped toward her.
“What did you say?”
Her face drained of color, but she didn’t take the words back.
I kept my eyes on him.
“Who died?”
Claire swallowed.
“A patient.”
The bearded gangster muttered a curse.
The leader’s smile vanished.
He pointed at Claire. “You don’t know what you saw.”
“I saw enough.”
“No,” he said. “You found something you didn’t understand.”
The scanner crackled.
Static burst through the bus, loud enough to make several passengers flinch.
The hooded man looked down at the device on his belt.
A distorted male voice came through.
“Unit Seven, confirm visual.”
The third gangster lifted the scanner toward his mouth but hesitated when he saw me watching.
The gang leader extended his hand toward Claire.
“Last chance.”
She moved closer behind my shoulder.
“You’re not getting it.”
The scanner crackled again.
This time, the voice was clearer.
“Secure the nurse. The others are expendable.”
The words filled the bus.
Even the engine seemed quieter afterward.
The driver looked into the mirror, horror spreading slowly across his face.
The passengers finally understood what I had already suspected.
These men weren’t running from the police.
They were waiting for them.
Then the driver’s thumb pressed the emergency alert button.
A tiny light on his console turned from dark to amber.
The hooded gangster saw it.
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And reached inside his jacket.
📖 Read how the driver’s silent alert turns a moving bus into a trap when the hooded gangster reaches beneath his coat in CHAPTER 3. 👇
