Read Online The Variant Effect: PAINKILLER by G. Wells Taylor - Free Book Online

of Listerine. A spasm of pain clenched his torso and
he gasped. “I’m a cut open man , Judy! Look at me!”
    He spread his bloody hands; the raw wound
gaped. A sack of light pink flesh protruded slightly.
    “Stay calm. Don’t get down on yourself.” Judy
shook her head and smiled reassuringly. “I know what you’re going
through. You don’t want to believe.”
    There was another clamor out in the hall.
Heavy thumping, the big bad SWAT team would be there soon. Borland
closed his eyes against the pain and tried to think of their
protocol.
    If Judy weren’t armed, they’d just charge.
With her gun they’d be left with Tasers or stun grenades. Would
they use them knowing Borland’s condition and that there was
another captive in the room? Not likely. The chance of the grenade
landing on an injured civilian was too great. That could start a
fire too.
    What would they do?
    He coughed again and shivered. His hands were
wet, very wet. He was bleeding again.
    Jesus! You don’t have time for
this .
    A new voice shouted through the door.
    “Judy,” a woman called. “This is Dr.
Lemington. Do you remember me?”
    Judy looked over at Borland, her eyes wide
with terror or fear or anger. His dying eyes were having a hard
time with the subtler points of emotion.
    “Who’s that?” he asked her, finally.
    “She’s the one who took my baby!” Judy
hissed, squeezing the pistol in her hand.
    “Judy,” said Dr. Lemington, “I know you’re
frightened.”
    Judy glared at the door.
    “And I know you’ve been confused,” Lemington
said, “and I know you’ve been disappointed.” The voice quieted and
then: “I know you’re depressed. That’s why you left the police
force.”
    “I left to find my baby!” Judy surged onto
her knees, and fired three shots at the door before she screamed:
“I’m a police officer, I won’t let you do it to anyone else.”
    There was quiet for half a second, Mr.
Cumberland snored, and then...
    “No, Judy. You lost your baby,” the
doctor said nervously, moving back into position. “And they fixed
your hernia here.”
    “Hernia!” Judy looked down at her own injured
stomach, pressed her free hand there and fired another shot at the
door. “You’re a liar!”
    Borland was trying to focus on her pistol,
trying to think of the number of bullets in the clip, but his mind
was foggy from blood loss and he was wracked with spasms of
pain.
    Confused .
    He took a breath and every nerve in his
abdomen fired pain.
    Disappointed .
    Tears welled up in his eyes.
    Depressed .
    “Judy,” Borland said, cleared his throat. The
action made him shudder in pain. “She said you lost your baby.”
    Judy glared at him. The barrel of the gun
centered on his face. “Don’t listen to them.”
    “See, I think you lost your baby,” he said,
“and the operation started something in your head. And now you’re
sick with sadness. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    “I didn’t lose my baby,” Judy said, tears
shining in her eyes. “What kind of a person, what kind of a mother
would do that? Lose something so precious. I’d go to hell for
that!”
    “You’re only human,” Borland wheezed and
dragged a foot up. His guts bulged out of the wound and he grunted.
More blood spilled.
    He wasn’t going to make it. A peaceful
resolution to a hostage situation could take hours he didn’t
have .
    ... a finesse he’d never learned .
    “Look, unless...” His eyebrows formed a
thoughtful line. “Wait a minute, go to hell? ”
    “That’s what happens,” Judy explained, “to
bad mothers.”
    “It doesn’t Judy,” Borland gasped, the pain
was breaking him. Tears rolled out of his eyes.
    “Yes it does!” Judy insisted.
    “You must belong to one of those nutty
churches,” Borland said, and a sob shook him. The muscles in his
torso ground against each other. “That send people to hell for
anything.”
    Don’t do it ...
    “I’m Catholic...” Judy’s eyes softened for a
second.
    “Even