Page 53 of Hollow State

"You’d better be."

Darwin cut through the courtyard which sat between two of the clinical wings. The staff door Liam had told him he'd meet him at was in the corner of the east building. "I'm twenty feet from location," he whispered. "Going dark."

"Be careful, and if you have to, don't hesitate to put that thing back in."

"Copy." Glancing over his shoulder, he pulled out the earpiece and put it in the front pocket of his jeans. Everyone was too busy rushing off to a destination, conversing, or just finding five minutes to decompress before heading back inside. He remembered those days well.

At a slightly hurried pace, he made his way to the door. Rubbing the back of his neck, he stared at the diode located inside the doorframe. It was red.

His pulse increased.

Twenty seconds. Thirty. He kept counting. Forty. Fifty. One full minute. He tapped his toe fourteen times, and then the diode finally went green.

The bolt let go with a heavy metal clack. Darwin let out an audible sigh as he pulled the door open and stepped inside.

"It's been a while," Liam said.

It had been four years since Darwin had last seen Liam. In that time, he’d developed a few gray hairs. He was a tall man at six two and muscular. Not buff, but he filled out his button-down shirt and his white coat.

"You're looking good." Darwin cleaned the mist off his glasses. He hadn't made many friends in medical school. Carried even fewer over to his residency. But Liam and Prewit had been the two that stuck. No matter where they'd been in the world, or in life, they'd always been there for each other.

Darwin had never taken that for granted.

Liam handed him a file. "Take this."

Darwin held the folder in his hands and stared at it.

"Just thought people might focus on the folder rather than your face when they walk by."

"I suppose that makes sense," Darwin said.

"Follow me," Liam said. "There's a secure room around the corner. Needs an access card to enter. We'll be safe in there."

"Lead the way."

The corridor was polished vinyl, and it ran the length of the wing. Like any hospital, activity filled it. Doctors and nurses rushed between patients, meetings, and other departments. Most people didn't even look at Liam and Darwin as they shuffled past. They were too busy dealing with whatever emergency had happened in their immediate world.

But that thought didn't bring Darwin any comfort. Nor did it stop his pulse from raging, something he wasn't used to. He'd always been calm under pressure. Being able to focus on the task in spite of the chaos surrounding him had always been one of his biggest strengths. But today, that ability failed him.

The last time his heart had pounded this hard in his chest had been the day he’d run from Hyperion.

Or when Wynn had been shot.

Both had been equally horrifying for different reasons.

"Liam." A woman's voice rang out from somewhere behind them. "Hey, Liam, mind if I have a word?"

Liam paused, glanced at Darwin for a second and turned.

Darwin fiddled with the file, as if he were reading the contents, but he couldn't process a single word.

"Sorry to bother you," she said.

"No worries." Liam placed his hands into his white coat pockets. "What can I help you with, Amber?"

"It's the patient in bed nine," she said. "He presented with pancreatitis. However, we got the labs back, and I'm not sure that's what's going on. His lipase levels are at the high end of normal."

"If I recall properly, his abdominal pain shot to the back."