Wondering if sexual frustration was causing his over-heightened imagination, Maxwell followed the figure in his stockinged feet anyway.
He knew Reyona was going to have a good laugh at his expense in the morning if he ended up realising that he was this spooked because of a cleaner going about their nightly duties.
Least of all, the heart attack he might give to the poor cleaner when he or she found him lurking in the hallway like a stalker.
The cold was beginning to penetrate through his stocking as he got to the corner where the person had turned.
Maxwell could see the silhouette of the person as he turned another corner down the hallway.
He was about to give up and go back to bed before someone called security on him.
But then he stopped as he noticed something strange.
From where he was standing to the direction he came from, light flooded the hallway.
But from that point down to where the figure had just turned, no light was on.
"Electrical fault?"
Even as the thought came to his mind, he had already quickened his pace as he rushed after that figure.
He got to the corner and the same darkness prevailed in the hallway.
The only thing giving a semblance of light was the light from the windows of the room where the patients lay unwary and ignorant of the movement in the hallway.
Warning bells went haywire in Maxwell's mind when he remembered where the next turn led.
He broke into a run without a second thought.
He turned the corner and almost stumbled over a body in front of the door.
"Shit! I am too late!" He swore in his mind until he saw the dark-clad figure standing by the bed.
He had a filled syringe in his hand when Maxwell burst through the door.
He threw the empty vial at Maxwell as he turned to plunge the needle into the body on the bed.
Maxwell lunged with his fist and knocked the man right onto the sleeping body.
She screamed as the needle fell from the man's hand to the other side of the bed.
In fury, the man jabbed Maxwell in his chest with the elbow, and he backed up a bit.
Before Maxwell could right himself, the man gave him a roundhouse kick that had him hitting the closest wall.
"Run!" He shouted at the screaming banshee who was jerking her head from Maxwell to the man while waving her good hand.
"Hijo de puta!" The man swore in fury. Son of a bitch!
He was already going towards the needle but turned to grab at Susan when he heard what Maxwell said.
Susan screeched and rolled out of bed onto the floor.
Her scream could wake the dead as she fell on her bandaged stump.
Yet she kept rolling until she was behind Maxwell and running out of the door.
Like an enraged bull, the masked man abandoned the syringe and approached Maxwell.
Maxwell was fully ready this time, and they went head-to-head.
The man was a skilled fighter, but Maxwell's street survival fighting skills and years of boxing made him a match for him.
Grunts and curses filled the room as none of them got the better of each other.
They finally held each other in a grapple and suddenly Maxwell ducked as a glinting knife wheezed past where his head was seconds ago.
The adrenaline of the near-death drove his bent head straight into the man's gut with all his strength.
The man went flying and struck the wall with a bone-wracking, crunching sound.
Furious beyond reasoning, Maxwell approached him even as he heard some commotion from afar.
All he wanted at that moment was to grind the fucking asshole in front of him to dust.
The man dragged himself up and turned swiftly away from Maxwell.
When Maxwell dodged to avoid the kick he might want to launch at him again, he was surprised when the man simply crashed through the window of the room!
His forward lunge was useless as the man was gone just as security men burst into the room.
Maxwell looked out through the broken window.
As fast as lightning, the man had picked himself up from where he fell.
The fall from the ground-level window must have meant nothing to him because he climbed the barbed fence without hesitation.
By the time the first security man got to Maxwell and flashed his flashlight towards the wall, the man was gone.
Almost immediately, the sound of cars could be heard beyond the wall.
"Sir, are you alright?"
"Fuck off!" Maxwell directed his anger at the first security man who asked him that question.
He strode out of the room while taking note of the dripping blood that had trailed Susan's exit out of the room.
He came out just as the medical director arrived at the scene with some doctors.
The security men were lifting the police officer that Maxwell had almost tripped over earlier.
"President Rohan, oh my goodness. Are you…?"
Maxwell jerked the man's shirt and held him tightly by it, to the surprise of everyone.
"Pre…president Rohan?"
"Who made you the medical director?" Maxwell asked through gritted teeth.
"The…the board?"
In a louder voice, Maxwell said "Someone needs to tell them that you are doing a shitty job. Your doors are wack. Your windows are worse. And your security?" He turned his furious gaze on the security still standing around as if they were wondering if they should rescue their MD from the furious man or stand back.
"Don't even get me started."
He pushed the man back as he let go of his shirt.
He saw Susan in the next room being attended to by doctors.
He saw her bloody stump as the doctor unwrapped it and their eyes met as she followed the doctor's gaze to the door.
She opened her mouth like she wanted to talk, but Maxwell walked on without a word.
He momentarily wondered when and why they had removed the cuff that held her other hand to the bed.
Whatever reason for the removal had worked in her favour that night.
The bitch had always seemed to have a lucky break while everyone around her paid for her shit.
He turned the first corner and there she was talking to one of the nurses who were calming people down and telling them to go back to bed.
As if she sensed him, she turned away from the nurse and looked straight at him as he halted momentarily.
"Maxwell," she said wordlessly, yet it was the loudest sound Maxwell had heard that night.
They rushed towards each other and met midway.
"What happened to you?" She asked anxiously as she looked at his bruised face.
Maxwell wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly as the thought fuelling his anger broke through.