Committed Chapter 23

Still concerned that she’d do more harm than good if she tried to set Paris’ broken arm, the two of them managed to construct a make-shift sling out of her sweater so that Paris’ arm remained relatively immobile and elevated.

            Paris hated the plan.  He thought it was stupid, reckless, completely insane, and quite possibly the dumbest idea he’d heard in his entire life.  But he also agreed that in some stupid, crazy, reckless way it was probably the best chance that they had.  They couldn’t keep running forever, dodging the cops and ditching cars for the rest of their lives.  Paris only had so many extremities left and he really couldn’t afford to start injuring them too.

            Ariadne guided them deeper into the sewers, using her mental map of the streets above to get them through most of the downtown area until they came to the spot she wanted.  They found a man-hole cover and, with a little effort, managed to get Paris up and through it.

            They came out in an alley-way just across the street from the Queen Victoria Hospital.  They were now several blocks from where they’d crashed the car and, Ariadne suspected, with enough exposure to the stale air beneath the city to cause people to give them more looks than she would have liked at that point.

            She was right about the looks.

            They crossed the street and went through the automatic glass doors into the main lobby of the hospital.  Ariadne was helping Paris along, his arm cradled by the make-shift swing as well as his other, slightly better, arm.

            The woman behind the reception desk took one look at the two of them and paged a doctor.  Instantly, as if they’d been waiting for them to arrive, a couple of nurses descended and started examining them.

            Ariadne was surprised when the nurses began to make as big a deal about her own injuries as they did about Paris.  Apprently, she had a nasty cut just below her hairline, though she couldn’t really say that she felt it.  The nurse who was attending to her, a woman with a pleasant voice and hair the colour of sawdust, told her it was probably a result of the adrenaline.

            It took about five minutes of examining, including the arrival of the physician who would be attending Paris, before anyone asked them their names.

            Ariadne gave them both her name and Paris’, including last name, without any hesitation.  She was impressed when the staff only showed minor recognition.  However, she also noticed that the woman behind the reception counter was already on the phone.

            Everything was going according to plan.

            The doctor guided the two of them down the hall to one of the examination rooms.  They then placed Ariadne in one room and started taking Paris off towards another one.

            “You’re going to help him right?” Ariadne asked the doctor.

            He was a kind looking man with salt-and-pepper hair as well as a jaw-line that was as sharp as a razor blade.  He had beady blue eyes that were not unkind as they fell upon Ariadne.

            “We need to take a serious look at this arm.  There could be some internal bleeding and we don’t know how broken up the bone is in there.  So, yes, we will help him.  I promise.”

            “The police will be coming for him,” Ariadne said, holding the doctor’s gaze.

            He didn’t blink as he said, “And they can have him just as soon as I make sure he’s okay.”

            “Thank you,” Ariadne nodded.

            The doctor nodded, a brief look of curiosity passing across his face, before he turned and started walking with Paris down the hall.  Paris glanced over his shoulder and held Ariadne’s gaze until the nurse closed the door.

            Suddenly, Ariadne felt a heavy weight fall on her shoulders and realized she had missed what might have been her last chance to talk to him when she could still tell him…

            The nurse ushered Ariadne over to the hospital room’s bed and sat her down before she began examining the cut on her forehead.

            “It’s going to be all right, hun,” the nurse assured her.  “We’re going to get you patched up and then you’ll be able to go home to the people who love and miss you.”

            “The police are coming to arrest the one person who really loves me,” Ariadne told her.  She felt her heart ache again.  She wished it would shut up, but at the same time she loved the hurt.  She hoped it wouldn’t go away.

            The nurse said that the cut didn’t look as bad as it could have been and probably wouldn’t need stitches.  However, the skin had been scraped off over a considerable area.  She applied a gauze bandage to the wound and then proceeded to check the rest of Ariadne’s body.  She applied pressure to several points on Ariadne’s body, using two fingers with each press and asking her over and over if she felt anything.

            In each case, Ariadne answered in the negative.  The only thing she felt was the nurses’ fingers.  She seemed to find this astonishing and Ariadne had no doubt that the staff was fully aware of their recent high speed wipe-out.  No doubt they were notified of the potential for incoming injured the moment the chase began.

            “How long until the police arrive?” Ariadne finally asked as the nurse seemed to be running out of things to do.

            “I’m not sure, hun,” the nurse answered.

            “Soon, I hope.”

            The nurse smiled at that.  “Yes, I suspect they’ll be here soon.”

            Ariadne nodded.  She was feeling the window of opportunity to back out of her hair-brained plan getting smaller and smaller any second.

            Then, she felt it close entirely.

            There was a knock at the door.  As if in a trance, Ariadne watched the nurse walk over to the door and open it.  Standing on the other side were Officer Seth and Antenor.  Janus’ rent-a-police.  Antenor took one look at Ariadne and his face split with one of the most sinister smiles Ariadne had ever seen.  Next to him, she thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in Officer Seth’s face.  Had he thought she couldn’t possibly be giving herself up so easily?  She felt a small pang of satisfaction knowing that she had given the police much higher expectations for her ability to escape.

            Well, she thought to herself, Paris and I did escape from a skyscraper by shooting out the window on the top floor, riding a window-cleaner’s platform down a few levels, before shooting our way back in.  Not bad for a seventeen year old who has barely had anything to eat or drink all day.

            As though thinking it made it so, Ariadne was suddenly overwhelmed by the need to sleep, eat, and quench her thirst.  But she knew that she would get none of those things now if she asked for them.

            “Where’s Montague?” Antenor asked the nurse.

            “The boy?” she asked.

            “Yes, the boy,” Antenor drawled.  The nurse seemed instantly put off by his tone of voice and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

            “Doctor Sheppard took him to surgery to get his injuries checked.”

            “We’ll want to arrest him,” Officer Seth said.  He seemed determined not to look at Ariadne while Antenor seemed incapable of stopping.

            “You can arrest him after the doctor takes a look at his injuries.”
            Officer Antenor was clearly not happy about that and for the first time took his gaze off of Ariadne to stare at the nurse.  He was about to say something when Officer Seth put out his hand to hold him back.

            What looked like a natural move for Seth, no doubt a product of their months or years together as partners on the beat, didn’t seem to make Antenor any happier.  He reached up and gripped Seth by the wrist, forcing his arm down and holding it at his side.  Seth glanced at him with surprise but Antenor starred him down until he glanced back at the nurse.

            “As soon as the doctor’s done with him…”

            “I’m sure he’ll let you drag him off,” the nurse replied curtly.  “Is there anyone here to take the girl back to her family?”

            “Yeah, he’s right outside here,” Antenor said, gesturing over her shoulder.  “Family friend.”

            The man who had chased Ariadne through the streets in the Mercedes, who had chased her and Paris down into the sewers, stepped into view.  Ariadne met his gaze and found she could read nothing in his eyes.

            He stepped into the room and walked right up to Ariadne as if they’d known each other their whole lives.

            “Hello Ariadne,” he said.  “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.  My name is Achilles.”

            He offered Ariadne his hand.  This threw Ariadne off-guard and she found herself shaking his hand before she knew what she was doing.  Several thoughts were racing through her head now as she gazed at this stocky man who’d no doubt been hired by Janus to hunt her down.

            “Achilles?” she said, not quite believing what she was hearing.

            “Yes,” he nodded, smiling slightly as though he had expected her reaction.

            For a brief moment, Ariadne wondered if Janus had summoned this man out of the depths of history, if he had reincarnated the Achilles of antiquity to hunt her down and return her to him.  Somehow, she thought it unlikely, but the coincidence was almost too much to accept.

            “Shall we go?” he asked.

            The fact that he posed it as a question seemed to annoy Officer Antenor, who fidgeted in the doorway.  Everyone ignored him.

            “Yes,” Ariadne nodded.  “I suspect he’s tired of waiting for me.”

            Achilles frowned but nodded slowly.  “Yes.  I suppose he is.”

            “Thank you,” Ariadne said to the nurse as she stepped off of the bed and followed Achilles into the hall.

            “Not a problem, hun,” the nurse said, but there was obvious confusion on her face.

            Ariadne gave her a little smile, but she was really not sure what else to do.

            She followed Achilles down the hall of the hospital and into the lobby.  She realized he was making no attempt to secure her or guide her or stop her from running away.  Maybe he wanted her to run so that he could have the pleasure of catching her.

            Or maybe he felt the way she had felt after her father had told her the truth.  Maybe he felt like there was nowhere left for her to run.

            A few people glanced at them and whispered as Achilles led her through the lobby.  Ariadne ignored them and didn’t look at them.  She followed Achilles through the glass doors to the Mercedes which was parked in the ambulance lane in front of the hospital.

            He stood, with his back to her, about to open the passenger’s side door for her.

            “You could have easily run while I wasn’t looking,” Achilles said, his voice low and clear in the fading afternoon light.  “You could easily do it now.  I could give chase, but you’re younger and stronger.  You could easily escape me.”

            Ariadne stood behind him, waiting.  She wasn’t sure what was happening.  Was he saying that if she tried to run he’d let her go?

            “Why?” Achilles asked.  “Why aren’t you still fighting?”

            His question seemed genuine, which Ariadne hadn’t expected.  She considered for a moment what she should say.

            Finally, she whispered: “I can’t run forever.”

            Achilles turned around completely to face her now.

            “Why not?” he asked.

            The two of them starred at each other for quite a while.  It was probably only a few seconds but to Ariadne it felt like an age.  Finally, Achilles seemed to find something in her eyes that surprised him.  His eyes widened and he tilted his head to the side.

            “I see.”

            Ariadne wasn’t sure if he did, but when he opened the passenger’s side door for her she climbed into the car and let him close it on her without a fight.