The quiet halls of the hospital floor were suddenly broken by the heavy, rhythmic squeak of sneakers echoing down the corridor from the elevator bay. It was past midnight; the floor should have been entirely locked down to visitors.
I turned my head toward the sound, expecting a nurse or an orderly.
Instead, a young man wearing a plain black baseball cap and a nondescript dark hoodie stepped into the dim light of the waiting room. He didn't look like he belonged in a hospital, and his eyes immediately scanned the empty plastic chairs before locking directly onto me standing by the window.
He walked briskly toward me. Before I could even open my mouth to ask who he was, he stopped a foot away, reached into his pocket, and grabbed my hand.
He pressed a heavy, metallic object into my palm
