Free Vanish: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen Page B

the info on that cell phone. Stephanie Tam is one of the doctors at the medical center. Department of OB-Gyn. She’s not answering her beeper, and the last time anyone saw her, she was headed down to Diagnostic Imaging to see her patient. The hospital’s going through their personnel roster, trying to identify everyone on staff who’s still unaccounted for.”
    “It seems we now have the name of at least one of the hostages,” said Stillman.
    “What about that cell phone? We tried calling it, but she hangs up on us. Do we let it stay operative?”
    “If we cut off service, we could make her angry. For the moment, allow her to keep the link. We’ll just monitor her calls.” Stillman paused and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “At least she’s now communicating—just not with us.”
    It’s already stifling in here, thought Maura, looking at Stillman’s flushed face. And the day’s about to get much hotter. She felt herself swaying and realized she could not bear to stay in this trailer a moment longer. “I need to get some fresh air,” she said. “Can I leave?”
    Stillman gave her a distracted glance. “Yes. Yes, go ahead. Wait—do we have your contact information?”
    “Captain Hayder has my home and cell phone number. You can reach me twenty-four hours a day.”
    She stepped outside and paused, blinking in the midday sunshine. Taking in, through dazed eyes, the chaos on Albany Street. This was the same street she traveled to work every day, the same view she saw every morning as she approached the driveway of the medical examiner’s building. It had been transformed into a snarl of vehicles and a regiment of Special Operations Division cops in black uniforms. Everyone was waiting for the next move of the woman who had lit the fuse on this crisis. A woman whose identity was still a mystery to them all.
    She started toward her building, weaving past parked cruisers, and ducked beneath a strand of police tape. Only as she straightened again did she spot the familiar figure walking toward her. In the two years she’d known Gabriel Dean, she had never seen him agitated, had seldom seen him display any strong emotions. But the man she now saw was wearing an expression of unalloyed panic.
    “Have you heard any names yet?” he asked.
    She shook her head, bewildered. “Names?”
    “The hostages. Who’s in the building?”
    “I’ve only heard them mention one name so far. A doctor.”
    “Who?”
    She paused, startled by his sharp query. “A Dr. Tam. Her cell phone was used to call a radio station.”
    He turned and stared at the hospital. “Oh, Jesus.”
    “What’s the matter?”
    “I can’t find Jane. She wasn’t evacuated with the other patients on her floor.”
    “When did she go into the hospital?”
    “This morning, after her water broke.” He looked at Maura. “Dr. Tam was the one who admitted her.”
    Maura stared at him, suddenly remembering what she’d just heard in the command trailer. That Dr. Tam had been headed down to Diagnostic Imaging to see her patient.
    Jane. The doctor was going down to see Jane.
    “I think you’d better come with me,” said Maura.

EIGHT
    I come to the hospital to have a baby. Instead I’m about to get my head blown off.
    Jane sat on the couch, wedged between Dr. Tam on her right and the black orderly on her left. She could feel him trembling beside her, his skin cold and clammy in the air-conditioned room. Dr. Tam sat perfectly still, her face a stone mask. On the other couch, the receptionist sat hugging herself, and beside her, the woman technician was quietly crying. No one dared say a word; the only sound came from the waiting-room television, which had been playing continuously. Jane looked around at the name tags on the uniforms. Mac. Domenica. Glenna. Dr. Tam. She glanced down at the patient wristband she was wearing. RIZZOLI, JANE . All of us are neatly labeled for the morgue. No ID problems here, folks. She thought