you to step aside."
"But..." I caught Austen's eye over his shoulder and waved at him. Austen hurried forward, holding the bandage on his head.
"This lady is a member of my team," he said.
"And I can vouch for her too," said Alice behind me.
"What are you still doing here?" I asked, spinning around. "I thought you were going home! What happened?"
"I tried to but there was an emergency and I stayed back and then—" she waved her hand towards Sophie's room "—then this happened."
"What happened to your head? And what about Sophie?" I asked as Austen stepped around the officers. Apparently trusting me not to cause any trouble, the officers retreated and maintained their position, blocking the corridor from more intruders. The three of us took a few steps away from them to talk. "You have blood on your shirt!" I said, looking more closely at him.
Austen grimaced. "Someone hit me from behind," he said. "When I came to, I was lying on the floor and I started to get up when I saw someone tampering with Sophie's IV. I grabbed his leg and he pushed me away and hit me again. I yelled as loud as I could for help and wouldn't let go until he kicked me and raced out of the room."
"Where was Manny?"
"I asked him to get us coffee. He was just coming back when he saw what happened and took off after the guy," he added, pointing to the far end of the corridor.
"Where does that lead?" I asked Alice.
"Our supply closets and the stairwell."
"Did you see who it was?" I asked.
Austen shook his head. "He hit me from behind and when I woke, my vision was kind of blurry. All I remember is a shape. Maybe some dark hair or it could have been a hood or a cap."
"Male? Female?"
"Male. I think. I guess. He was strong. His wrists were white."
"The hospital has security cameras in here, right?" I asked Alice.
She nodded. "Sure, but not in every room. I'm not sure Sophie's room had one."
"Is Sophie okay?" I asked.
Alice grimaced. "We don't know what kind of tampering occurred. They're changing all her lines and monitors just as a precaution."
"Okay. I'm going to check the stairwell to try to find Manny. Perhaps he caught the guy," I said optimistically. Manny was fast and strong and he had a police background, so he knew how to tackle a guy as well as defend himself.
"Be careful," warned Austen. "Whoever did it already hurt Sophie once when she was alone. This time, he tried it again in a busy hospital. He's more than a little dangerous."
"Don't worry about me," I said as I took off running, dodging the group of doctors huddled around the doorway of another room and avoiding an orderly pushing a gurney. I barely slowed down when I reached the door marked 'Stairwell' and pushed it open cautiously. No one leapt out at me. I stepped inside and the door closed softly. I peered down over the railings, then up, but saw nothing and heard only silence. I looked down again, noticing something on the landing below mine. Keeping my side to the wall, away from the open stairwell and any chance of an ambush, I jogged down, stooping to look at what caught my eye. A wallet? I picked it up and flipped it open. Manny's face stared up at me from his driver's license. Bank cards and seventy dollars in cash were still inside. He must have dropped it as he ran after the perp or in a scuffle. I stuffed it into my back pocket and continued to descend, quickly but cautiously now that I knew I was going in the right direction. Yet as I cleared the landings, I didn't hear a single sound except my own footsteps.
"Hey," a weak voice called out.
I stopped, straining to hear it again. "Who's there?" I called back, expecting a trap. I edged to the railing, leaning over it, preparing to leap backward if someone dared to aim a shot at me. To my surprise, however, I saw Manny slumped against the wall near the exit door, one arm draped across his chest. "Manny?"
"Who's there?" he asked, looking up as I hurried down to his side. "Lexi?"
"What happened?" I asked, jumping the last few steps that remained between us. I knelt, assessing his rapidly blackening eye and the blood oozing from his split lip.
"He got the jump on me," he said. "I think some of my