The Reckoning Read Online Free

and made sure to abide by all the traffic laws he could remember.

FOUR
     
    “Excuse me.” Constable John Lincoln laid his
hand on the arm of the youngest, and most attractive, of the three nurses he
was about to pass to get her attention. “Can you direct me to the x-ray
department?” he asked with a smile. “I’m looking for suite four.”
    “It’s just down the corridor…” the middle,
and most senior, of the nurses began to answer; she quickly trailed off however
when it became clear that the constable was paying absolutely no attention to
her.
    The young nurse blushed when she realised the
constable was focused solely on her. “Sure, you go down this corridor, turn to
your right, and it’s down on your left.”
    “Thank you.” John gave her another smile,
which she returned shyly, while her two companions looked on with amused
tolerance, and a tinge of envy.
    As he walked away, following the directions
he had been given, he couldn’t help looking back to cast an admiring eye over
the nurse’s form, particularly her rear. It was displayed very nicely in the
uniform that clung to her body in just the right places. He couldn’t help
thinking that if he were to end up in hospital for any reason, she was the sort
of nurse he’d want looking after him, rather than the two more motherly figures
with her.
    He was so intent on enjoying the view he
didn’t realise his feet were following a less than straight path, not until he
walked into a gurney that stood against the wall between two doors. Half
falling over the gurney he quickly grabbed hold of it to keep on his feet and
looked around, hoping that no-one had seen his ignominious tumble.
    To his dismay, the three nurses had turned in
response to the noise made by his collision with the gurney. Seeing the look on
the face of the nurse he had been admiring he suspected he had lost whatever
slim chance he might have had with her.
    “There are you; where the hell have you
been?”
    The comment diverted his attention from the
nurses and he looked round to see his partner, and fellow constable,
approaching from the junction.
    “I had to have a crap,” he said, pushing away
from the gurney and doing his best to act as though there was nothing wrong,
and he hadn’t just made an idiot of himself. “What’s the problem?”
    “You were supposed to stay with the
prisoner.”
    “He’s unconscious, and that other constable’s
with him; what did you want me to do, crap myself?” Having recovered his
composure, and his footing, he made his way round his partner and strode
quickly to the junction, wanting to get away from the scene of his
embarrassment.
    “What if he’s woken up?” Larry Martin, the
second constable, wanted to know, following his partner. “You saw what he did
back in the village. He killed two people, and hospitalised two others; that’s
just this morning. Didn’t you hear what they were saying about how many other
people he’s killed?”
    “I heard, but what’s he going to do now? Even
if he does wake, he’s cuffed. Do you really think he’s going to escape?”
    Larry shook his head at his partner’s casual
attitude but couldn’t fault what he had said; it was unlikely that the prisoner
would escape under the circumstances.
    They reached the door to the suite at the
same time and, seeing no-one in the waiting area outside of it, John knocked on
the door. When there was no response after about thirty seconds, he knocked
again. “Oh sod this!” he declared following another half a minute without a
response and pushed the door open.
    “What’s the matter?” Larry asked when his
partner stopped the door almost immediately. “Worried you’re going to get a
dose of radiation and become useless to all those women you can’t resist
chasing after?”
    “No.” John shook his head, his free hand
dropping to his extendable baton. “There’s blood on the door,” he said as he
popped the catch on the holster and slowly pushed the door