Finding Sheila

Chapter 3 - Break Time-2

Dana regained consciousness on the floor, in a handicapped stall. Her head throbbed. A goose egg had already formed at the back, above the nape of her neck.

She felt for her pistol. It was still in the holster.

She tried to stand but couldn’t. The floor was wet, and she was still weak from her fall. Shuddering at the thought, she put her hands down on the toilet seat and levered herself off the floor. She reached out for the handrail on the other side of the commode and hung onto it until the dizziness passed.

She took a couple of deep breaths and instantly regretted it. The smells of industrial strength sanitizer mixed with the expected scents of a public bathroom overwhelmed her in her barely functioning state. A wave of nausea washed over her.

After pulling the collar of her shirt up over her nose, she took a few more shallow breaths. Feeling a bit steadier, she lowered the shirt again, drew her pistol and exited the stall, being careful to look around before stepping out into the open.

The restroom appeared vacant. She checked the other stalls to be sure and then went as quickly as she could manage, to the door.

When she stepped out into the hallway, she found Caleb standing there, waiting for her.

“Where’s Ms. Ford?”

“What do you mean? She’s in the back of the ambulance.”

“No.” He shook his head. “She’s not. I thought maybe she had to go after all and you...”

Dana’s head spun. She brushed past him and staggered toward the lot and the vehicle.

“Are you all right? What about Ms. Ford?” He called after her. “She’s really not in the restroom?”

Dana reached the back of the ambulance and pulled the door handle. The door opened. She shuddered as she looked inside. The gurney was empty. One cuff was still attached to the side rail. The other, previously around Sheila’s left wrist, hung empty.

Whirling, almost losing her balance in her still addled state, she called to Caleb who was still several yards away, “Who unlocked this?”

He stopped and spread his hands and called back, “I thought you did.”

“I don’t have a key. You locked it once I was out!” She moved away from the ambulance toward him, leaving the door hanging open.

The driver stopped walking and leaned back away from her as she drew closer to him, fuming. “We have to find her! We have to find her now!”

Other people were stopping and staring.

Caleb’s face was ashen. His lip trembled as he asked, “She escaped?”

Dana stepped away from him and scanned the lot and all that she could see beyond it. “Go back in the building and find the Pilot manager. Get him or her to call 911 and then get him out here now!”

“What...what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to get on your radio up there and get the highway patrol out here, the State Police...whatever Kentucky has. Hell, the FBI. Everybody.” She waved an arm around. “We have to block off this lot. We can’t let any of these people leave. Someone here had to see something!”

The words were no sooner out than Dana realized the near impossibility of that task. A car pulled into the empty slot to the right of the ambulance and two people climbed into the one parked on the other side at the same time. She jumped out toward the passenger side of the car when she heard it start and called to the woman sitting on that side and the man in the driver’s seat, begging them not to leave.

“Please,” she began, when the woman cracked open her window, “did you see a woman dressed in orange scrubs around here? She would have gotten out of this ambulance.”

The woman shook her head no, as the male driver leaned across her and said, “She didn’t see nothin’ and she ain’t getting involved.” Dana peered into their tiny car. Two small overnight bags and a coat were all that were there.

The driver sat upright and gunned the engine. “She’s a prisoner,” Dana yelled, over the noise. “If you saw something and don’t report it, you could be charged for obstructing justice or...” She had to jump back as he put the car in gear and pulled away.

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