"Hey, you! Stop!"
Susan ran faster!
They were not going to shoot!
Cops don't just shoot at people randomly.
If she could just get to the end of that alley with Rad, she would be safe!
He would have activated their plan B already.
If she could get to the alley at the same time as he did, she would be safe.
Unless he chose to fuck her up and bail, those cops behind her have no chance.
Though she was getting breathless and wished she could quickly get a puff to keep up her energy, she ran with everything in her.
She had a third of thirty million waiting for her anyway.
She wouldn't need to work anymore for the rest of her life.
Fuck her kids and Tommy.
The little bitch had chosen the life wrecker over her anyway.
Whatever happened was not her fault!
She just needed to catch up with Rad and her life was set forever.
He was right…
She frowned as she saw him trip and fall as he rounded the corner.
What the…
She knew something was wrong when he was not getting up immediately.
She got to the corner and glimpsed the blood just as she saw the black van open at the end of the alley.
The man with the gun gestured for her to keep coming.
She knew them!
They finally found them.
Rad had been the one covering their tracks and now he was dead.
Susan looked back and saw the police almost where she was.
The police officer taking the lead, stopped and said, "Don't do anything rash, ma'am. Just surrender."
From where he was, he couldn't see what was at the other end of the corner.
The man with the gun raised three fingers and started folding them one by one.
When he folded the second one, Susan turned to run back towards the police officer.
The silent bullet pierced her arm and she fell forward.
The van barrelled down the alley to the connecting road before the shocked cops could round the corner.
She lay bleeding beside her dead friend.
********
Light and Life Hospital was abuzz with activities as three ambulances zoomed into the hospital's driveway one after the other.
Nurses and paramedics were ready, and they quickly rushed the patients off according to the perceived seriousness of their case.
"Please, be careful with her", Maxwell said, as he rushed after the gurneys.
"Please, step aside, sir. Please, let's do our job" one of the nurses said as they quickly wheeled the patients in.
No one batted an eye as two police officers followed the gurneys down the hall.
The child took the main priority, followed by the pregnant woman, then the cussing and swiping woman who was bleeding from a nasty hole in her arm that had struck a vein in her elbow.
Maxwell was beside himself with worry as he paced in front of the adjoining emergency room.
Andrew was right there with him, their clothes stained with splotches of blood and dirt.
They both paced in turn.
"Drew," Maxwell said at one point, then he stopped because he couldn't go on with voicing the fears of his heart.
His friend understood though, and he said "She would be fine. They would both be fine. Just hang in there, man."
Maxwell swore under his breath and started pacing again in a renewed frenzy.
Celia soon arrived with worry in her voice. "Oh my god!" She exclaimed when she saw the blood on Andrew's shirt.
"It is not mine. It is not mine." Andrew quickly assured her before he took her hand and laid it on his body.
That prompted her into action, and she quickly patted his body over and over again as if looking for a hidden wound that he was hiding from her.
She turned him around in her anxiousness and took a while to hear Andrew's assurances "Babe? Babe, I am fine. I am fine."
He finally grabbed her in a hug, and she hugged him tightly as she breathed in relief. "Thank God you are fine. Thank God…" her eyes widened as she pulled back and asked "Reyona? Where are Reyona and Allysyn?"
Andrew pointed at the two emergency rooms where Maxwell was standing in the middle as if he had no idea which one he should stand in front of.
"Is it…are they very…"
"Reyona is banged up, but we have no idea what happened to the kid. She was unconscious and Reyona fainted almost immediately so we couldn't… the doctors are checking."
Oh, god" Celia said as she went towards Maxwell.
"Max"
Maxwell turned to her with a lost look on his face.
"Oh, Max. I am so sorry. She would be fine. They would both be fine" she said as she hugged his rigid body.
She felt him swear under his breath, and she moved backwards to see him looking at something above her head.
It was the light above one of the emergency rooms that had changed to IN OPERATION.
As Andrew came to stand with them while also looking at the light, Celia asked.
"Who?"
"Allysyn. I think they found what was wrong."
"Oh my" Celia whispered with her hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes.
The doctor in Reyona's room soon came out.
Maxwell immediately rushed forward as he asked anxiously. "Is she okay? Is my wife okay?"
"Yes, sir. She is stable at the moment. We still need to keep an eye on her because some of her cuts are beyond the surface."
"I am so sorry, Reyona. I am so… Is Pat okay?" He asked suddenly.
"Who is Pat?" The doctor asked in confusion as he looked from Maxwell to the nurse beside him.
The latter looked at the clipboard in her hand and back at the doctor as she shook her head.
"I am so sorry. I meant the baby. Is the baby fine?"
"Oh, yes. The babies are in a stable condition. Like I said, we have to…"
Maxwell had grown still as he looked at the man with a glazed expression. "What did you say?"
"I said we have to keep an eye on her and make sure that she and the…"
"Did you say, babies?" Maxwell asked impatiently.
"Yes, they…" When the man saw the shock in Maxwell's face, he said, "You didn't know?"
"Know what?" Celia asked as they came closer.
"You are having twins, sir. Thankfully, they were not affected by the fall she seemed to have, but we still need to keep her under constant monitor."
The man turned away just as the door behind him opened, and they wheeled the bandaged and unconscious Reyona out with the IV transfusion attached to her bed.