Sunshine

XXV

"WHERE is he?"

Carlos raised his left hand wait while right hand on his kness and continued catching his breath. Marie was referrring to Adrian who Carlos tried to follow after it walked out. Marie just nodded though she is anxiously worried and impatient.

"I'm sorry. I lost him." Carlos also told how he ran around the abandoned building up to almost to the main street a few meters away. "Don't worry too much he'll be fine. You know Adrian he's a kind person. Nothing will happen."

But the worry on Marie's face grew more. "You saw earlier. How can you say that? An angry heart is capable of anything."

That shut Carlos. He replayed the scene at the same place earlier and heaved out a heavy sigh. I must have trusted him so much, he thought.

A phone call broke the silence between them. Carlos took his phone out from his jeans' back pocket and put the call on speaker mode. "Yes, Juan. How did it go?"

"We're currently at the General Hospital. You know where it is we only have one hospital here. Salazar's of course alive."

"Okay we're coming."

The phone call ended with Carlos' sigh. He just can't stress enough how he appreciates the straight way of Juan delivering the news.

"We could still straight this out. Let's go to the hospital first."

"THE patient had a concussion on his head that caused the bleeding. It would have been a bigger trouble if he wasn't brought here early. Anyways he is fine now, but we still have to do more tests to be sure. And he could also wake up anytime."

As if on cue they heard a weak growl on the bed in front of them. Together they watch the patient open his eyes, and they also watched as his weak hands slowly reach his bandaged skull. The doctor cleared his throat.

"Then I'll leave you to rest."

"Thank you." Juan bid the doctor goodbye. They waited for him to completely leave the room before resuming to the pending conversation with Alejandro Salazar.

"We would like to talk about what happened. This time we will let you do the talking."

"Nothing happened." Salazar replied in a beat. "I did this to myself."

Carlos, Juan, and Marie exchanged glances. They weren't expecting that answer.

"You don't have to play games with us." Marie butted. Carlos stopped her by gently pulling her wrist and nodded to her.

"Is that what you really want to happen?"

"Carlos..."

He just nodded to Marie, as if saying to trust him. That made Marie sigh and finally took a step backwards.

They waited for Salazar to reply. He closed his eyes and said, "Nothing happened. Nothing."

"CAN we really leave it like that? I'm nervous about this."

After Salazar said he will go to sleep, all three left his hospital room but not without putting handcuffs on him. They expected a complaint from him when Carlos was putting it on but he just quietly gave his hand to them and slept. That made them suspicious of his intentions more.

"Me, either. But our priority here is to find Adrian." Carlos agreed to Juan and faced Marie. "And you were right. An angry heart could be capable of killing someone. It's not a matter of being a good or bad person anymore."

They exchanged meaningful glances. Soon afterwards they nodded to each other.

"For now let's visit Mathilda."

"HOW many rounds would you wish for tonight?"

"What?"

Alex choked on her own dinner. She hurriedly reached for a glass of water while looking at Olivia with eyes wide-opened. Olivia just continued eating like what she said was the most casual thing to say. It took Alex a little while to stop coughing.

She finally stopped panicking after the glass of water. That made her finally wrap her head around what was said.

"What do you want me to do?"

Olivia's hands stopped moving with the utensils and looked at Alex's face. They stayed staring at each other for a while.

"We should finish our pending job tonight."

VISITATION hours just ended and the Intensive Care Unit of the Kahilom General Hospital has gone quiet. Not like there was a time the place was a loud place, but at least they can hear voices of families over the sound of respirators and beeping machines.

Mathilda Gomez was transferred to the ICU early this afternoon per Adrian's request that explains the police presence on the facility. Limited nurses and night duty doctors were also the only ones allowed to enter at the moment.

But the policemen stationed to guard the Special Task Force Team's informant failed to inform themselves how many nurses are on duty tonight. And that made the intruders easy to get to their target with stolen clothes on the hospital closets.

And they even managed to greet the policemen good evening.

"Thanks for your hard work."

It was easy for them to get to the victim. Mathilda Gomez.

"HOW'S everything?"

"Salute!" Marie quickly returned it, eyes fixed on the ICU. Marie added to her question to the two police patrolmen they got to guard the place tonight.

"You didn't noticed anything unusual, right?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Marie nodded. With permission and special exemption, she and Carlos entered the ICU though its past the visitation hours.

"How many nurses are supposed to be here tonight?" Carlos asked the head nurse after a good evening. Marie continued surveying the area with her eyes.

"Just me and two others, sir."

"So that makes you three. Where are the others?"

"They just went out to have dinner for a while."

Carlos nodded. He was about to ask again to continue the conversation when two nurses went pass them from inside of the ICU. His eyes followed them until they passed to door out.

The beeping sound from the corner of the room confirmed his doubt.

"Marie its the two nurses who just passed by!" Carlos shouted and sprinted out of the ICU. An empty hallway welcomed him.

"Two femal nurses in disguise, left wing ICU building. Go!" He radioed. Carlos continued to run outside until he reached the garden. s**t.

"They're gone."