Nick whirled around and his pupils dilated when he spotted me. "Nina! What are you doing here? I mean, you shouldn't be here."
"It's you," I said in awe. "I wouldn't have pegged you as the type. You seem too friendly."
"The type to what?" he asked crossly, with his arms folded over his chest. I almost laughed. He looked like a pouty teenager but he had to be in his early to mid-thirties.
"You're the other vigilante."
For a moment he seemed defensive but that melted into curiosity. "What do you mean the other vigilante?" Then he caught himself. "I wasn't aware there was even one vigilante around here."
"Oh, cut the act, Nick." I was probably already out of time and needed to get to the matter quickly. "I admire your work. I'm here to warn you."
That shocked him enough that he dropped the act momentarily. "Warn me? About what?"
"Someone is onto you," I sighed. "I only know because she's onto me too. I needed to find you so we could come up with a plan to get her off our tail. Otherwise we're both toast."
He eyed me warily. "I don't know what you're talking about. You should leave. You didn't see anything here."
Nick tried to get past me but I grabbed his wrist. He yelped in surprise and I dragged him into a storage closet right next to the gangster's room.
"Listen!" I hissed. "I know what you're doing to those gang bangers. I'm not going to stop you. You're in danger. Both of us—we're—in danger and I had to find you so we could come up with a plan together. Because I don't know what to do. You're my only hope to get out of this alive."
He stared at me like I'd grown a second head. "You're serious. I shouldn't believe a word you say but I do." A thought occurred to him. "You snuck into the hospital to find me, didn't you? You aren't Nina."
I shook my head. "No, I'm just glad I looked like her. Believe me, I almost had a heart attack trying to get in here."
"Who are you? Why are you in danger? Are you this other vigilante you mentioned?" The rapid fire questions showed that he might be on board. Relief seeped through me. I wasn't alone anymore. Maybe, just maybe, we could pull this off.
"My name is Lori. I rid the world of scum too. It's a long story, but my roommate is getting a master's in criminology and somehow she managed to link my crimes and yours." Suddenly I remembered the cat burglar Faye mentioned. How had I forgotten that? "Actually, there might even be a third person we need to warn. A burglar who hits only big businesses."
Nick had a dazed look on his face and shook his head slowly. "Wait wait wait. You're telling me that your roommate suspects we're both serial killers?"
So he finally admitted it. I could be more open now. "She doesn't suspect us she just suspects that we're out there. Believe me, if she suspected me she wouldn't have said a thing. She believes I'm completely innocent so I'm safe to talk to about her research."
"You found me from her research. What's stopping her from doing the same thing?!" He paced around the room, running his hands wildly through his hair, a definite note of panic in his voice.
I tried my best to calm him but honestly, I was pretty panicked too. I hadn't thought things out this far. My goal was to find the other vigilante and come up with a plan but Nick didn't seem to be in any shape to make a plan. "Probably nothing," I admitted. "I called in sick today to be sure I found you first. She's got a lot going on with class and work right now so I thought it might be my only chance. I got lucky."
Nick caved into the same hysterical laughter I'd been fighting all day, gesticulating madly. "Lucky? This isn't lucky! We're doomed! All you've done is tell me in advance that I'm going to die!"
I was slightly annoyed at his lack of gratitude after all the effort I'd gone to trying to find him. "Look, I didn't have to tell you anything. I could've left you to your own devices and figured something out on my own. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have."
That caught his attention. "You can't be more than twenty-two. How long have you been doing this?"
I huffed. "For the record, I am twenty-six. I've been doing this since I was nineteen."
"Nineteen," he echoed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You were just a kid." A long silence stretched before he asked, "What happened to you?"
I couldn't possibly talk about Cindy without breaking down but she'd been on my mind so much lately, maybe I had to. Maybe it would help.
"My sister was raped and murdered." It was the first time I had ever admitted it out loud. It hurt too much to think about why she was gone. What I had become to make her life worth something. Living on for her when I didn't want to, saving other kids from her fate. She was only seventeen.
"I'm sorry," Nick murmured, looking at his shoes. "Were you close?"
Were we close? A thousand memories rushed through my head. Late nights in our room playing cards, climbing trees so we could sit up there and talk, hiding from our dad's drunken rages on the roof. Sneaking out at night to get donuts at the gas station. Training for American Ninja Warrior at the local gym after school. Cindy said she'd use the prize money to get us far, far away from him. She never got the chance to escape.
"Very," was all I could get out.
A long moment passed before Nick met my eyes and spoke up. Drowning in memories, I had almost forgotten he was there. "My son got caught in the middle of a gang shoot-out. He was walking home from a friend's house in a bad part of town. He was twelve. His mother couldn't handle it and…she committed suicide."
"Oh Nick…." I instinctively laid a hand on his arm, like I did with the kids at work. Losing not one, but two people you loved. Unfathomable. I fell apart with just one.
"So," he said crisply, shaking my hand off. "You said there's a third person who might be at stake here."
"Yes but I don't know how to get a hold of them. My only clue to find you was the three hospitals in my roommate's files. Like I said, I got lucky."
"There has to be a way," Nick insisted. He glanced at the clock. "Look, I've got to go. Is there a way I could contact you? So we can figure this out?"
I wavered. If I gave a man my phone number and talked to him in the apartment, even if we talked in code, if Faye was home she'd be suspicious. I didn't see any other options so I gave him my number.
"I work nine to five, Monday to Friday. Call me any time after I get off if you have ideas."
He nodded. "My schedule's all over the place but I'll call when I can."
I had a hand on the doorknob before remembering my predicament. "Um, is there a safe way to get out of here? I snuck in by chance. I'd prefer not getting arrested for something this minor."
"Yeah, there's a staff entrance you can use. Three doors to the left of the OR we were in. Good luck, Lori."
He held out his hand for me to shake and I took it. I had an ally. Things didn't seem so impossible. We could figure this out between two—possibly three—brilliant criminal minds.
I scurried out the staff entrance as quickly as possible and practically sprinted to my car, my mind whirling with possibilities of what to do next. Reality came crashing back when I saw the time on the dashboard. 8:07. I was over two hours late! Faye was probably about to call the cops to report me missing. I checked my phone and sure enough, there were six missed calls from her.
"Lori!" she shrieked. "Where are you? I thought you got into an accident!"
"I'm sorry," I said lamely. "I was at the ER. There was a long wait."
"The ER?!" If possible, her voice went up an octave. "What happened?!"
I wasn't crowned Improv Club Champion my sophomore year of high school for nothing. "I was on my way to the doctor in the afternoon and got dizzy. I pulled over to the side of the road to close my eyes and take a few deep breaths and I passed out. I came to a few minutes later and realized it was more serious than I thought so I left my car there and got a taxi to the ER. It was really busy there, somebody got shot or something, so I waited for hours before I even got in. I'm sorry I didn't call, it completely slipped my mind."
"Geez, Lori. Only you. How do you even get into these situations?"
"Really weird luck," I said. My day had been full of really weird luck, if not in the way she thought. It was incredible that I'd managed to pull off my hospital escapade and find my new ally.
"Whatever, just hurry home. Abby's been meowing for you like crazy. It's like she knew you were sick. It's hard to watch Supernatural with all that racket. But I'm glad you're okay."
Ha! If only I was capable of actually being okay.