Doctor Ralph waited.
It was impossible for him to get bored, but he
did occasionally get anxious, and he was starting to act like it now. He looked
at his watch, again, and saw that there was still four minutes left before Mimi
was considered late.
For
a moment, he imagined that she might not come at all.
His
mind spun, wondering what he would do next. After all, his entire plan hinged
on Mimi bringing subject 189 to him in some way, shape, or form.
But
what if she didn’t?
What
if she were as cold as he was?
What
if she called the station and the rapid response team was surrounding the
building right now?
He
strained his ears listening, but heard nothing at all.
Because
there was nothing to hear.
He
was smart, he knew, and he was certain that he was smarter than the mediocre
police force in this worthless little town in the middle of nowhere. Anybody
smart enough to even remotely rival Doctor Ralph would never stay in this town,
he told himself, so surely the cops were nothing to concern himself with.
He
began to calm down again almost immediately when he realized that, yes, he was
truly the smartest person for at least fifty miles in any direction from where
he currently sat, and he reviewed all of the plans he had made in his head.
There
were two minutes left to wait.
“Well,
it was nice knowing you,” said Walter.
“Shut
up,” said Mimi.
“You
really think this is going to work?”
“How
are you feeling?”
“Like
I’m gonna get fucking shot or something walking in there like this.”
“Then
I’d say it’s going to work fine.”
“I
love how the plan calls for me to get shot…”
“Well
when you figure out how to give me
the unbreakable skin, we’ll swap roles, okay?”
“Hey,
you could have ordered your own burger while we were at the restaurant.”
“That’s
not the point! He’s got Jane in there!”
“So
you said!”
“You
can’t just let my…I mean the medical
examiner die!”
“But
what if I die?”
“Quit
being such a baby, you’re not going to die.”
The
two were walking, slowly, towards the front door of the county morgue. Walter
was in front, Mimi behind, using him as a human shield. His hands were in front
of himself, palms out, fingers spread, just as Mimi had instructed him so as to
not look like a threat.
Mimi
had a gun in her right hand and was keeping it low to try and hide it behind
Walter. Her left hand was on his shoulder, guiding him.
She
had taken her backup piece and tucked it into Walter’s waistband at the small
of his back.
“You
know,” said Walter, “I’d feel a lot better if I were able to actually hold and
use the gun.”
“Are
you kidding me? Technically I should even have it out of my holster.”
“Then
why did you shove it down the back of my pants?”
“Because
he’ll probably search me, not you.”
Walter
opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t think of anything.
They
reached the front door of the morgue with one minute left.
Half
a block away, Adam waited in the car.
He
wasn’t happy about being left behind, and as his frustration and boredom grew,
so did his body temperature.
The
upholstery beneath him started to smoke.
It
was time.
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