“Don’t be difficult, Mr. Draith.”
“I’m known for being difficult,” I said, feeling in my bones it was true.
She licked her lips and eyed me for a moment. She took the old bag down from the hook over my bed. She examined it critically. “How long ago did you…? Your medication is dangerously low. You may be suffering from withdrawal symptoms.”
“Withdrawal? It’s far too early for that. What is that stuff you’ve been pumping into me, anyway?”
“The doctor does not appreciate this kind of—”
“Send him around then. I want to talk to him anyway.”
“She won’t be back until the morning shift.”
I nodded. “Good enough, but tell her to hurry. I’ll be checking out today.”
“What?” she asked, shaking her head. “That’s impossible. You’ve got seven broken bones and there was internal bleeding. I can’t understand how you’re able to sit up.”
“I always heal fast,” I said. For some reason, I could remember that detail of my previous life.
“Mr. Draith, your lack of cooperation is not appreciated. I have a hard enough job here without this nonsense. I have a fresh needle, and we’re going to start this line again now.”
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head.
“Are you afraid of needles or something?”
“I’m only afraid of what people can put into them.”
I stared into her face, and she looked troubled for a moment. I took the time to read her name tag.
“Miranda,” I said. “Don’t get yourself into more trouble than you’re already in.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed again. She moved her hands quickly, and I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. She reached up and pressed a call button over my head. I moved to grab her wrist, but halted. What was done was done. I knitted my fingers behind my head and leaned back against the headboard.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said.
I watched her lip-glossed mouth tighten. “You’re going to have your medication, Mr. Draith,” she said.
I gave her a confident smile in return. “We’ll see.”
The nurse left without another word. I stared at her as she exited the room, but I was too worried to enjoy the view. After she was gone, I wondered if I’d been a fool. Maybe I should have taken her hostage. The trouble was, I didn’t think it would work. I had no weapons—I didn’t even have clothes.
The next face to appear at the rectangular window was much less to my liking. Made all of harsh angles and beetling brows, the orderly had muscles that jumped in his cheek as he peered in at me. He rattled the door and opened it, watching me warily. I lay on the bed as before, seemingly relaxed and unconcerned.
He was dressed in ugly surgical green. He looked like a TV wrestler, and his face was acne-scarred. He stepped inside with the attitude of a man stepping into a tiger cage. I could have looked at his name tag, but I didn’t care to know his name. I simply stared at him, smiling with my mouth but not my eyes.
He let the door click behind him. Instead of needles, he had a tangle of black straps in his hands. The straps had a number of clips like those used on backpacks. There were two blue circles of thick cloth as well. Those, I imagined, were to go around my wrists. My heart accelerated in my chest.
“All right, Mr. Draith, give me your wrists,” he said.
“How much do they pay you for this?” I asked.
That threw him for a moment. He blinked at me. “What?”
“Keeping people drugged against their will. Illegally restraining patients—that sort of thing? I bet you have a long list of felonies on your sheet working here. They must pay you better than they pay the doctors.”
The orderly took two uncertain steps toward me and grimaced. “We’ve got ways of dealing with uncooperative patients such as you. There’s no crime in it.”
“All right then,” I said, sitting up. I lifted my bare wrists toward him. “Let’s do this.”
His eyes flicked from my face to my arms, which didn’t bulge with a power-lifter’s biceps but were reasonably athletic. He took another step forward, his frown relaxing a fraction. “I’m glad you have come to your senses, Mr. Draith. I certainly didn’t look forward to having to wrestle with you. The nurse thought you were going to be a problem.”
I let him put one hand on my wrist before I made my move. My other hand stabbed up, thrusting two stiff fingers into the larynx. I pulled the blow slightly, using enough force to stun but not to break the delicate bones of the throat and possibly kill him.
He choked in shock and dropped the tangle of restraints. His free hand groped for his throat.