August by Gabrielle Lord Read Free Book Online

grille–some sort of lightweight filter. Through the mesh, I peered cautiously into the room beneath me. A long table was visible, surrounded by chairs, its surface partially covered by magazines and coffee mugs. It looked like a staff room, but luckily for me it was completely empty.
    It didn’t take much effort to prise the grille up. I couldn’t wait to get out of the confined space. As I pushed the grille to the other side of the opening, a shower of dust fell onto the table below. I must have been covered in dirt.
    I lowered myself through the hole and into the room as far as I could, and then let go of the duct, landing on my feet on top of the table.
    Quickly I jumped to the ground and ran for cover beside a tall cupboard, up against a wall.
    I tried to shake some of the dust off my clothes, and wiped my face on my sleeve. So far, luck had been with me. But I couldn’t expect it to last.
    Not far from my position, thudding feet were running up and down the corridors, voices were panicked and shouting. No doubt the staff were on high alert, wary of the criminal on the loose in the hospital. But they still mustn’t have realised I’d escaped through the ceiling, otherwise they’d be on me in a flash.
    Desperate for an idea on my next step, I pulled open one of the cupboard doors. A row of nurses’ uniforms hung inside. My good luck was continuing! I wrenched out a pale-green shirt and pants, and pulled them on over my clothes. I ran my hands through my hair and took a deep breath.

    Standing tall and straight, and walking with a confident stride, I made my way down the corridor , past dark wards with occasional pools of light over individual beds, past a nurses’ station where two ladies were engaged in deep conversation , discussing a patient’s medication, and past a security guard talking very seriously into his walkie-talkie. He didn’t even look up as I walked by.
    I sidled into a lift and rode to the ground floor, dreading what I was going to find there. I braced myself when the lift doors parted.
    Before me was an elderly guy snoring in a wheelchair, being wheeled by a woman who appeared to be his wife. I stepped out, and while holding the lift doors open for them, I used the opportunity to scan the ground floor, left and right.
    There were cops in both directions. But there was only a matter of ten or so metres between me and the exit. Somehow I needed to just make it past the cops.
    ‘Thanks, dear,’ said the woman. ‘Actually,’ she said, backing out of the lift, ‘would you be an angel and mind him here for a minute or two while I duck into the ladies? Something’s going on in this place, and it’s making me nervous ! There are too many policemen and women around for this hour of the night,’ she said with a chuckle.
    ‘Sure,’ I said, taking over the handles from her.
    She smiled, then toddled down the hallway towards the toilets. I grasped the wheelchair firmly and steered it away in the opposite direction . This would be the perfect cover to get me to the exit.
    I wheeled the snoring old gentleman casually past the reception area and towards the large, automatic double doors that led to freedom outside.
    I passed the cops without any trouble. Therewere five or six of them, huddled in a circle, busy making some sort of plan of attack … and all the while, letting their prey walk right on by.
    When I reached the exit I turned the wheelchair around and parked it, before silently thanking the old guy asleep in it for the help he’d unknowingly given me.
    Through the glass that separated me from outside, the bright lights of the hospital lit up a large circle surrounding the building and the stairs. Just beyond that, half-hidden in the shadows of the night, a line of cops waited. Their distinct silhouettes revealed that they were armed, in position and ready to attack.
    For a second I thought about backtracking and finding another exit, but a quick look behind me showed that the cops I’d