Last Stand by Paul Heatley

Author:Paul Heatley [Heatley, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

25

Alec reclines in his chair, eyes closed, Mozart on the stereo.

His days and his nights are in this hospital. For six years now, this is how it’s been. In a way, that’s how Alec has always wanted it. It’s how he likes it. When he still had his license, there was nowhere he’d rather be than the hospital, blood up to his elbows while he worked away in someone’s chest cavity. There was nothing for him beyond the hospital walls. There still isn’t.

Down the hall from his office, he’s converted a patient room into his living quarters. There isn’t much in there. He doesn’t need much. Just a cot and a hot plate and a rail to hang his clothes on. Kendis’s men do his washing, and they bring his meals. All his needs are catered for.

Still, as much as Alec enjoys this set-up, as little as he wants for anything, there is still one thing he’d like more of: power. Some could argue he has enough, but at the end of the day these men will always be Kendis’s men, not his own.

If he were running things, they’d be a lot smoother. He’d be cutting into a higher class of person, too. Not these dirty, degenerate, homeless people he’s brought on a daily basis, and most of them junkies to boot. What good are their organs, really, when they’ve been ravaged with alcohol and drugs?

Alec opens his eyes and sighs. This used to be enough for him. But six years is a long time. He stands and starts stretching, keeping himself limber. He should be going into surgery soon, but Kendis has halted it. He’s put a halt to the pick-ups, too. He’s nervous. Is worried their runaway might start talking, and that he’ll talk to the police and send them here to look around. He wants them all ready to run, should the need occur. He’s called all his men in, and posted them in and around the building on lookout. If Alec has to flee this place, he’ll miss it. He’s become accustomed to it. It reminds him a little of his prison cell. He grew to be comfortable there, too. He’s found ways to be comfortable everywhere. It’s easy enough to do when he’s more than confident enough in himself and his abilities to know that no matter where he goes, he has worth. If the medical board couldn’t see that, and look past one little mistake, then that’s their problem.

But if there’s one thing he wants more, it’s everything Kendis has. His position. His power. The extra cut of the money that Alec himself is doing all the work for in the first place.

Kendis has been useful for some things, of course. He set this all up. He bought this old hospital, and listed it as a commercial building, ostensibly under construction. The men that Kendis has filled it with to guard it, to watch and handle Alec’s patients, they pass as security guards. An

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