"It… it's the list beginning on the second page."
Darden pulled open his desk drawer and reached inside.
It's a gun! Eric's mind shrieked. Mow, dammit, mole!
Before he could react, the medical chief pulled out a pair of reading glasses and slipped them on.
"Perhaps I'd do better if I could see the words," he said, turning back to the desk.
Once again Eric eased the loaded syringe free.
He focused on Darden's left trapezius, the heavy muscle just at the base of his neck. A final, deep breath and…
Now!
In synchronized motions, he shoved Darden's chair in, pinning him against the desk, locked his left arm tightly beneath the man's chin, pulled the plastic needle guard off with his teeth, and drove the needle down to the hilt in the spot he had chosen. Darde" cried out at the pain and tried to squirm free, but Eric held him fast. He spat the needle guard onto the floor.
"Move again and you're dead!" he said. "I mean it!"
"What are you doing?" Darden rasped.
"This syringe is loaded with succinylchohne," Eric said. "Two hundred miligrams-enough to paralyze you totally in a matter of fifteen or twenty seconds. At the slightest provocation, I'm ready to give you every bit of it, and you had better believe that."
"Y-you're crazy!"
"You bet I am, Doctor. It'll help us both if you remember that.
It would also help if you think about what it's like to be paralyzed and unable to breathe while you're still wide awake. Surely you're an expert on that. Now, first you're going to tell me where Laura Enders is, and then you're going to tell me about Caduceus."
"I… I don't know what you're talking about."
"Dammit," Eric rasped, forcing the needle down harder. "I don't have for this. The only person in the world I care about right now is missing, and you know what's happened to her. Now, I know who you are.
I know about Donald Devine and Norma Cullinet, and that goddam place in Utah. I even know about Anna Delacroix. My fuse is really short right now, so I'm suggesting you: Stop playing games with me!"
Eric felt the tension in the man's muscles let up.
Still, he continued to hold him fast, his thumb poised on the syringe.
"Eric, listen to me," Darden said with sudden calm. "I know you've been through a lot. You may think that what you believe is right. But I promise you that I know nothing of what you're saying.
Nothing!"
"And I suppose it wasn't you who called me the morning of the committee vote and promised me the position if I joined Caduceus."
Eric, I have been your supporter in that matter all along. I told you that several weeks ago. It was Dr. Silver who changed his mind and asked for an extension of the vote. I swemto you it was."
"I… I don't believe you," Eric said, feeling the first sickening doubt begin to take hold. "And I suppose I was just an in s when I saw you in a tender little just im m g g acroix. clinch with AnZDel "I assure you, Eric, I know no one by that name.
No one. I. am a happily married man. Now, please, pull that needle out of me before you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life."
"No. You're a liar and a goddam monster. There's no telling how many people have died because of you.
Anna Delacroix or whoever the hell she is set me up, and I saw you with her on Charles Street'just a few hours ago. Now I want the truth, dammit. Where is Laura?"
"She's dead, Doctor. and don't move. Don't move a muscle."
Eric barely managed to maintain his grip as his head spun toward the voice. The tall man standing just inside the doorway was wearing a police captain's unfforin and holding a gun leveled at Eric's chest.
Suddenly, his words registered.
"What do you mean she's dead?" he asked, a horrible emptiness swelling in his chest.
"Please, Officer," Haven Darden cried. "This man's crazy. Please get him to pull this needle out.
He's trying to kill me."
"Oh, I know what he's doing," Lester Wheeler said. "Why, thanks to the miracle of modern telecommunications, I knew what he had in mind almost as soon as he did. You really should have paid more attention to the two men repairing the phone line outside that apartment you were staying in, Doc." Eric's eyes narrowed.
"Wheeler?" he asked.
"At your service. Now, if you would be so kind as to administer that drug-"
"No, wait! You don't understand," Darden pleaded.
"I understand exactly," Wheeler said. "Unfortunately, the good doctor has already shared far too much with you."
"Darden's not Caduceus?" Eric said, loosening his grip around the man's neck.
Before Darden could respond, Wheeler leaped forward and, with animal quickness, slammed his fist down on the top of the syringe, emptying its contents into him. Darden screamed in pain as the policeman whirled and jammed the muzzle of his pistol up under Eric's chin.
"Not a move!" he ordered.
"Jesus," Eric said. "You just killed this man."
"No, Doctor," Wheeler said smugly. "You did." He glanced at his watch and then looked down at Darden, who sat staring numbly up at the two of them. "Fifteen or twenty seconds. Isn't that what you said?"
"I… I don't know," Eric said, now forced to his tiptoes by the gun barrel. "Succinylchohne is the most powerful anesthetic we have, but its onset of action is unpredictable. I… I never really intended to use it.
Now please, if you'll just let me get to some equipment, I can save him."
Haven Darden tried to rise, but Wheeler reached out and shoved him back into his seat.
"Please," Darden whimpered. "Please help me."
Already his speech was beginning to thicken and slur. In just another ten seconds, his arms and hands began to tremble.
"No!" he cried. "Oh, God, no!"
Wheeler forced Eric several steps back as the medical chief's body jerked spasmodically, his head twitching uncontrollably. Then, suddenly, he pitched from his chair onto the floor, his legs snapping and kicking. In less than half a minute it was over. The hideous contractions in his limbs vanished as quickly as they had appeared.
His head lolled to one side and stopped moving, his cheek pressed helplessly against the linoleum, spittle oozing from the corner of his mouth.
Wheeler quickly manacled Eric's hands behind him. Then he knelt down and peered at Darden for fully half a minute, assuring himself that the drug had done its job.
"Okay. Now, Doc," he said, standing. "You and I are going right out the front door of this hospital to my cruiser. If you want to scream and kick, that's okay with me. I want everyone who will listen to know what you've done, and why I'm taking you in. They all think you're insane anyway."
"What happened to Laura?"
"Oh, yes, sweet Laura. Well, I'm afraid she and her brother discovered that the water in Boston Harbor wasn't to their liking."
"She found Scott?"
"She did. They were even together at the end.
Now, let's get out of here."
"You can't possibly get away with this," Eric said.
Wheeler grabbed Eric by the back of the neck and shoved him over Haven Darden's inert body and out the door.
"Wanna bet?" he asked.
Yu have the right to remain silent," Lester Wheeler said as he half-shoved, half-dragged Eric into the elevator of the research building. If you choose to speak, anything you say may be used against you in a court of law or other proceeding… He pushed Eric out of the elevator and into the bustling main thoroughfare of the hospital.
"What happened to Laura? What did you do to her?" … You have the right to consult with an attorney before answering any questions and you may have him present with you during questioning…
"Dammit, Wheeler, give it up. You're not taking me out of this hospital," Eric said, increasing his resistance as they approached the main lobby.
"Do us both a favor and make a break for it," Wheeler whispered.