Chapter 2

2: 2

My hand, already reaching for the door, stopped.

I walked straight over to the driver's car, the one that belonged to old Zhou.

"Mine's out of gas. I'll take Zhou's car."

Sure enough, a flicker of panic crossed Stanley's eyes, so faint you'd miss it if you blinked.

"You know the rule at the ambulance station. We don't drive each other's rigs. And I already checked yours, the tank's more than full."

"Just take your own car."

My stomach tightened. So it was the car after all.

"Stanley, you insisted I be the one to go, and I agreed."

"So why won't you let me switch to a different car now?"

"Unless there's something wrong with this one?"

Stanley didn't flinch. He gave a soft little laugh.

"Evan, a man's life is on the line here. You drive a rig you're not used to, waste precious time, and then who takes the blame? You?"

"And another thing, Evan. Are you stalling on purpose?"

The nurse grabbed my arm and shoved me straight up into the ambulance.

"Enough, enough, just go already."

I glanced at the crowd gathering to watch the show. Drag this out any longer and something really would go wrong.

I stopped refusing. I got behind the wheel and drove straight for the destination, exactly like last time.

Even knowing I was about to walk right back into the same trap, I wasn't worried in the least.

Ten minutes later, just like last time, I picked up the old man without a hitch and watched with my own eyes as the nurse helped him into the back of the ambulance.

And every second of it, I recorded on my phone, clear as day.

Eight minutes later I pulled up at the hospital again. Stanley was already waiting outside the ambulance bay with a crowd of coworkers.

But the moment the back doors swung open, everyone sucked in a sharp breath.

"Where is he?"

"There's nobody on the stretcher!"

Stanley pushed his way forward, his face draining in an instant.

"Evan, where's my dad?"

Behind him, the nurse climbed out of a taxi, out of breath, and came running over.

"Everybody, I think there's something wrong with Driver Finch. Halfway through picking up the patient, he threw me out of the ambulance."

I stood there watching the same deadlock close in around me, exactly like last time, and I didn't react at all.

Instead I folded my arms across my chest, calm as anything.

"Where's my dad?"

"Evan? Whatever grudge is between us, you didn't have to drag an old man into it, a man who never did a thing to you."

Stanley had me by the collar, but I saw it plainly.

There wasn't a trace of grief in his eyes. If anything, there was a glint of delight.

"Stanley, your father did get into that ambulance. I swear it."

My expression stayed calm.

"Evan, are you lying straight to my face?"

"There's nobody in this car."

Stanley pulled out his phone. "I just called my dad. Nobody picked up."

"Evan! Something has definitely happened to my father now."

"Call the police! Call the police! This is deliberate assault."

The nurse jabbed a finger at me.

"Evan, I never would've guessed. I didn't know you were this kind of man."

In the middle of the crowd, I kept my voice level, spelling it out word by word. "You're right, I didn't bring Stanley's father here."

"That's because I already called an ambulance from another hospital and had them carry Stanley's father off."

My mind went back to it. Halfway through the drive, I'd put the nurse out of the ambulance.

On the road, I'd dialed the state hospital's emergency line, and when they arrived, I'd watched with my own eyes as Stanley's father was loaded into their ambulance.

If the problem really was with the car, then there was no way Stanley's father could stay in mine.

"If you don't believe me, call the state hospital right now. Your father's resuscitation should have gone through by now."

"After all, with their doctors..."

"What? On whose authority did you send my father to..."

The delight I'd expected wasn't on Stanley's face.

His phone rang. He answered it, and his expression changed. His eyes turned dark as he looked at me. "That was an officer. He says my father vanished from the ambulance you called too."