Chapter 8

Save Me, Chad (8)
:Extortion and Theft
A thick mumbling voice came from not too far away. It sounded like he was talking to himself, with regular intervals between his lines. Soon, there was the trickling sound of water.

“When you get to the ground floor, the lights you’ll occasionally see are lights from the restrooms. The first light is the men’s, the second the women’s.

It was as Sarah had described. Jane moved slowly with her elbows trying to muffle the noises she made as she moved.

“I’ve loosened a vent’s cover in the women’s bathroom. If you give it a good shake from side to side, the bolt should come right off. It’s above the sink so make sure there’s no one there before to do it. If you get caught, your escape attempt would have been in vain, and your life will be put in danger.

Jane slipped her hiking boots back on from around her neck and tied them on securely. She peered through the grate into the bright space that appeared to be the women’s restroom.

There are a total of six sinks from end to end. From where she laid she could make out a shadow, the source of the noise. Jane patiently waited for the sound to end.

The sound of toilet flushing faded to the sound of rubber soles rubbing against the tiled floor. Soon, the sound of water washing hands in a sink, followed by the pulling of a paper towel to dry their hands. Then the door opened and closed.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds, and five. Ensuring the silence remains, Jane removed her top and leaned her body against the vent cover. She pushed her feet against the wall behind her, the sound muffled by the clothes. Just as the cover was about to fall, she quickly turned and caught the grate with her fingers.

“Phew…!”

Fortunately she was able to catch it before it fell down. Jane pushed it aside and stuck her head out of the opening and looked at the mirror. From the mirror she could make out the six cubicles where there were no shadows or legs peeking out from under any of them.

Jane wrapped her clothes around the cover and stretched her arms out from under the hole in an attempt to minimise her fall distance and dropped the cover over the sink. Thankfully, this time around it did not make a lot of noise.

She cautiously dropped down from the hole. Quickly retrieving the cover and her clothes before ducking into the cubicle nearest to the door. After putting the cover into the toilet tank and closing the lid, she put her top back on and roughly dusted the black and white dust off before sitting on the toilet cover and waited for a while.

After a while, someone pushed the door open and stepped into the bathroom, the sound of rubber soles once again rubbed against the tiles. A shadowy figure, seemingly in a rush, hurriedly moved past the stall where Jane was hiding.

Jane rose from her seat and slightly opened her cubicle’s door. She could make out the person’s purple pants under the white robe, just in time for white robe to slip into a stall three cubicles away. Jane moved swiftly and also followed the woman into the cubicle.

Even though it is a public space, the bathroom is a place that is considered to be more private than one’s own bathroom as it’s time meant for yourself.

So when a stranger followed her into the privacy of her cubicle, the woman in the white coat angrily whipped her head and widened her eyes as she exclaimed.

“Eh? Huh? …What?”

Jane’s eyes met hers head-on. White robe’s eyes reflected the navy blue uniform that nurses wear.

Quickly, she realised that the stranger made no mistake and there was a purpose for their actions. The woman’s face gradually contorted with anxiety and fear.

Their staredown only lasted 1-2 seconds though it felt as if time passed in slow motion. Then her jaw started to drop, preparing to scream.

Jane clasped her left hand over the woman’s mouth and lifted her right hand over, slipping nimbly into the collar of the gown she was wearing. Releasing her left hand, she tightened her grip on the collar and smacked her forehead hard onto the woman’s lower lip. There was a popping sound and blood trickled from the woman’s upper lip.
“U-Urk…!”
She let out a pained exclamation.

“If you want to blame me, then don’t. Blame McBride.”
Jane spat out the words and grabbed the woman’s right lapel. She turned the woman’s body to the left and twisted her right elbow to under her left arm at the same time. She moved her arms to press down the woman’s throat. Strangled, the woman struggled for a moment but was unable to utter a single scream before eventually falling unconscious.

Baseball choke.

A technique for quickly knocking an opponent out by compressing the carotid artery.

Although her stupid brain was good for nothing, at least the cerebellum, which integrates the senses and controls motor systems, is pretty useful. Patting herself on the back, Jane undressed the woman who was now slumped over the toilet. She switched out her navy blue outfit with the woman’s purple scrubs and white robe on her own body.

Jane closed the cubicle door behind her and went to the sink. She washed her dirt and dust-cover hands, face, and neck. Then she untied the bun Sarah had made, divided her hair into three sections, and tied them into a braid that fell over her left chest.

With that done, she opened the bathroom door and walked out.

“Go out into the hallway, take a right, and you’ll come to the main lobby. There’ll be a big clock on the reception desk. You’ll be able to see the current time. Training will be completed at 5, then we’re supposed to clear out. All the new people will be escorted down to the first floor. You can spot them easily with their blue uniforms. Then we’ll leave by the west lobby, not the main one, out into the parking lot, so you’ll have to blend into the crowd and go outside that way.”

Jane mulled over Sarah’s explanation and went straight to the main lobby. The current time was 16:45. The training was still 15 minutes away from ending but Jane was not planning on waiting. She walked to the front door that was connected to the main lobby, not the front door leading to the west lobby. With the white gown flapping behind her, she confidently walked through the revolving doors at the centre of the foyer.

The wind blew in. The crisp outdoor air tickling her cheeks.

‘I’m finally out!’

Jane looked out over the vast parking lot. The sun was blinding as it touched the horizon. Reflexively, she slowly closed and opened her eyes. The faint natural light filtered through her narrow vision.

“Woah.”
Was the sunset ever this beautiful? She could feel a new wave of emotions wash over her. Her steps hastened at the joy of her having already accomplished half the escape.

As she crossed the parking lot, she took notice of the licence plates on the cars. Most of them read ‘New Mexico’ in red print on a yellow background, with the occasional ‘Colorado’, ‘Arizona’, ‘Texas’, and some had a veteran’s mark.

“This is Santa Fe, New Mexico.”

Santa Fe, New Mexico. Capital city with around 100,000 people, perched 2,000 metres above sea level. A military stronghold of the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs with various defence industries and with the entire state being mostly a barren desert.

Inside the hospital, the humidity had been artificially increased to a comfortable level. But the outside was a different story. When Jane took a breath, the insides of her nostrils instantly dried out. Her mouth was equally dry too. The humidity out here was less than 10 percent.

Jane spotted a pickup truck with a Texas licence plate and a slightly opened backseat window. She slipped the owner of the white robe’s cell phone in through the window.

She hoped that when the woman woke up and tried to trace her missing phone, they would be sent all the way to Texas as a diversion. She continued walking until she eventually made it out the general perimeter of the hospital grounds. Jane kicked off the hiking shoes, pulled out the map Sarah had prepared and unfolded it.

The car Jane arrived in was stored near the mountains. Based on the scale of the map, it was about 60 km around the mountain before she could reach her destination.

“…I really might have to hitchhike.”

Jane recalled what Sarah had said while saying goodbye.

Instead of taking her advice, Jane made the decision to take a shortcut over the mountains. Just like when she had changed from the royal blue uniform to the white robe to account for if Sarah had switched sides.

As Jane hid in a neighbourhood situated at the bottom of the mountain, she frequently glanced at the direction she came from, making sure she was not being followed.

There were Pueblo Revival style homes, an ancient architectural style of mud-built homes, stretched across both sides of the two-lane road. Even though it was late at night, Jane still did not dare to leave the residential neighbourhood. Regardless how close the mountains seemed, there was only so far her legs could take her.

As the world plunged into darkness, the night sky seemed to be filled with brilliant constellations. She slowed to a stop, jaw-dropping at the sight. Then she shook her head vigorously, stopping her admiration. There is no time for sentimentality.

All around her, the ground, the houses, the mountains in the foreground, they were all ochre-coloured. She felt that the clothes she wore made her stand up especially since she was wearing white.

Jane pulled off the white robe and tossed it into a trash can by the side of the road. The purple scrubs were not as easy to get rid of. Looking around, she spotted a house with no lights on. She kept herself as hidden as she could, quickly and smoothly climbing over the fence.

“To steal and keep stealing…”

Even as she spoke to herself, she felt strangely free from guilt. Jane could not help but get more curious about her identity.

Perhaps because the city is not very crowded, the door to the kitchen pantry in this secluded country house was unlocked. To her relief, the door swung open easily and when she stepped inside, she managed to find the laundry room without much difficulty.

She rummaged through the laundry basket and dryer. She managed to find a similar ochre-coloured shirt and pants. Though they were a size too big, after folding the sleeves a couple of times and rolling up the bottom hem, they were not completely unwearable.

Unfortunately, she was not able to find a change in shoes since the house owner’s did not have one her size. If Sarah hid a tracker, the best place would be in the hiking boots and it is also highly unlikely that someone would trek up the mountains at night wearing unsuitable shoes.

Jane tried rationalising that she had no choice. Just as she was about to turn around and leave from where she came in, the lights suddenly turned on.

“Ugh. I’m so tired no matter how much I sleep.”

Atop a spiral staircase that connected the second floor to the first, a man who appeared to be the homeowner slowly descended one step at a time, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.