The men looked at the two formidable men and gauged if they were the ones to pay them.
Their status did shine through despite their current slightly dishevelled appearance, but the men wanted to be sure that they were not about to lose the money. After all, they had already discussed how they would spend it even before they saw Thomas.
"We were asked to bring him to this hospital. By the police. You don't look like a police officer." one of them said to Maxwell.
"Is this your work, Rohan? Why would you have me humiliated like this? I was coming to see Allysyn and these assholes grabbed me! What are you taking pictures for?!" he shouted at the people around him, who were stylishly recording the scene while snickering and mocking him behind their hands.
"Put him down now, or you can forget about your rewards," Maxwell said sternly.
"Oh, we are sorry, sir." the men quickly dropped Lanoth.
He fell on his butt with a yell.
Then "You want to reward them? I am coming already! Why would no one believe me?! They grabbed me from down there."
"Right," Maxwell said with apparent disbelief. Then to the men, he asked "How much were you promised?"
The men looked at each other and one of them quickly said "Five thousand,"
"Two thousand," Maxwell heard Officer Guy say behind him as he came out of the hospital.
The men looked angry as they wanted to confront whoever wanted to cut down on their easy pay.
"Who is…?"
They stopped talking when they saw Officer Guy's uniform.
"Has your memory been revived, gentlemen, or would you rather leave with nothing?" he said curtly.
The men shrugged and the one who had been speaking since said sheepishly, "I forgot for a moment. I am not good with numbers."
"Of course," Officer Guy said with a disparaging smile.
"What money? They don't deserve any money! Why is nobody listening to me? They…"
"Shut the fuck up!" Maxwell snapped at Thomas as he reached into his pocket, only to realise he was not with his wallet.
"I have some cash here," Andrew said automatically and took out a bulky stash of 100-dollar bills from his wallet.
The men quickly collected them and counted them.
From the look on their faces, it was way more than two thousand, but they merely smiled and said "Nice doing business with you."
"I am a business?" Thomas asked in outrage.
Then he turned to Maxwell, "What do you want from me, Rohan?"
"Your blood," Maxwell said tersely.
"Uhh?" Thomas gaped at him as Guy told everyone around that the show was over.
"Get in here," Maxwell said, and entered the hospital.
When Thomas hesitated, a look from Andrew was enough to get him moving.
Muttering and grumbling, Thomas followed them inside.
The doctor quickly got to work, and they drew his blood for a check-up.
Andrew stayed with him in the waiting room.
"You don't have to babysit me, you know. I am not going anywhere. I need to see my girl first."
Andrew merely looked at him and turned back to his phone.
Defeated and drained, Thomas leaned back and wondered what was going on.
He wasn't sure he didn't hate Susan at that point.
He had loved her fiercely at one point and thought her the love of his life, but at that moment, he was feeling anything but love towards her.
This was all her fault.
Maybe she would tell him why she did it.
"Where is Susan?" he asked Andrew suddenly.
The latter gave him a disgusted look as he asked "Do I look like her keeper?"
********
"No," Maxwell said unconsciously, as he turned towards the approaching doctor.
He had followed the man to the lab and waited outside while the latter said he would put a rush on it.
He was pacing in the hallway when the man came out with the result in his hands.
Maxwell didn't have to see the result or hear it.
The look on the doctor's face already set ice in his veins.
"I am sorry, but your wife was right. No chance of a match at all."
"What is going on?" Maxwell asked contemplatively.
The doctor adjusted his coat and said "Not to insinuate anything, but I think there is only one person who can shed more light on this right now."
Maxwell's eyes widened as he realised what the doctor had subtly hinted.
"You mean…"
"It is not in my place to…"
"Right," Maxwell said as he turned swiftly on his heels. Then he turned to the doctor and said, "How long do we have? How long can she hold on?"
"Not long at all," the doctor answered.
"Give me a number," Maxwell said in a curt tone.
"If we do not get it in the next three hours, we will have to detoxify her system. The synthetic blood was only a last resort to start with, and it is not ideal that it should stay for so long in her before we get the right supply. It was meant to keep her circulation going."
"Three hours," Maxwell stated to confirm.
"Yes, sir. After that, we would have to detoxify her every two hours. I don't want us to have to get to that. It could have adverse effects on her health and recovery."
Maxwell ran his hands through his hair with a sigh, "No response from those organisations yet?"
"No positive ones."
"Okay, keep reaching out," Maxwell said. Just as he was about to turn around, he looked at the test result in the doctor's hand and asked "You have everything needed to do it, right?"
"You mean…?" the doctor nodded and said, "Yes, we do."
"Do it," Maxwell said.
"The result will take at least twenty-four hours or forty-eight hours at most," the doctor said.
"Okay," Maxwell answered and left.
He had some results of his own to get.
If what he thought was true, she had better start singing or amputation would be the least of what she would have to worry about.