A lot of the staff had returned from breakfast or were just starting their shift,
and were curious about how Carter and Lucy were doing.  Carol was kept busy
updating them.  Lucy was to be released whenever she was ready, so Conni and
Chuny went to ask her why she was leaving with Carter.  They were hoping for some
interesting gossip, but were disappointed to find out she was only catching a
ride.

 After Lucy had been released, Mark exited curtain area 3 to find those two
police officers waiting at the admit desk.  This time they had extremely serious
looks on their faces.  Mark got a nasty feeling in his stomach as he looked at
them.  He knew something was terribly wrong.

 “What can I do for you officers?  Did you find the guy yet?” he asked, trying to
hide his fear.

 “Dr. Greene.  We need to speak with you.  I’m afraid we have something serious
to discuss.”  At the curious glances from some of the nurses he added, “In
private.”

 “Of course.  We can speak in the lounge.  This way.”  Mark led them into the
lounge and found Haleh and Kerry in there.  “Haleh, could you give us a minute?
Kerry, you’d better listen to this.”

 After it was only the four of them in the lounge, Jack continued with what he
was saying. “I’m afraid there’s good news and bad news.  The good news is we
found the car.  The bad news is we didn’t find the driver.  His fingerprints are
all over the car, so we’re running them now.”

 Pete started where he had left off.  “We, ah, found something rather disturbing
in the car.  There was a note in the front seat addressed to Dr. Carter.  You’d
better take a look.”  Pete handed Mark the note and waited while he read it.

 Kerry watched with growing fear as Marks face paled as he read the letter.
Silently he handed it to her, and she too felt her face go pale as she read it.
“What are you planning on doing about this?” she asked Jack.

 “We’d suggest posting a guard outside Dr. Carter’s room.  You should alert the
staff to what’s going on, but don’t give them too many details.  Also, if you see
anyone you don’t recognize, alert one of the guards.  Everyone must be wearing an
ID badge as well.  We should have an ID on this guy within the hour if his
fingerprints are on file.  In the letter this guy mentions something about Dr.
Carter intentionally killing someone.  You might want to check over the files of
any patients he’s worked on that have died recently.”

 “So you think this guy might actually try something,” Weaver asked.  She didn’t
want to believe that something like this could happen.  Especially to someone
like Carter.

 “This guy might just be blowing steam, or he may be serious.  We don’t want to
take any chances.”

 “Thank you officers.  Please let us know as soon as you find anything.”  Mark
quickly left the room with a disturbed look on his face.

 As soon as the officers left Kerry went in pursuit of Mark, and found him
looking through the window into Carter’s room.

 “What is it?  That wasn’t like you to just leave the room like that.”

 “Yeah I know.  It’s just...remember when I was attacked in the mens room?  I
felt so helpless after that.  Who would of thought that could happen in your own
backyard?  I was so mad.  Not only at the guy who did it, but at the cops for not
catching the guy, and being so dismissive.  What if the same thing happens to
Carter?  I don’t want him to go through what I went through.”

 “We won’t let anything happen to him Mark.  We have a warning this time.  We’ll
know what to look out for,”  Kerry tried to reason with him.

 “I hope you’re right.”  Mark continued to look into Carter’s room.  It appeared
he was sleeping soundly with Peter Benton in a chair by his side looking down at
Carter’s face.

 “We should tell Peter about the note.  He should know, and of all the staff
members, he’ll be able to handle it,” Mark suggested.

 “I think you’re right.”  Kerry gently tapped the window, prompting Peter to look
at them.  She waved him over and he quickly came.  “Peter, there’s something Mark
and I feel you should know about.  What I’m about to tell you can’t go any
further than the three of us.  Understand?”

 “Yeah.  What’s this about?  Is there something wrong with Carter I don’t know
about?  Does it have to do with his family?”

 “No it doesn’t have to do with his family.  They’re still out of the country.
This is more serious,” Kerry answered.

 Mark decided he should be the one to tell him.  “The police found the car that
hit Carter and Lucy.  Unfortunately they didn’t find the driver.  They did find a
letter in the front seat addressed to Carter.”

 “What kind of letter?”

 “It was a threat.  The man thinks that Carter intentionally killed his wife.  He
said he was going make Carter pay for it.”

 “How?  What exactly did the letter say?”

 “I believe the exact words were: ‘I wish you could of seen us.  We were a happy
couple.  You killed her, and now you’re going to pay.’”

 “What?!  Who the hell is this guy?  I swear if he puts one hand...”

 “Peter, calm down.  We’re posting a guard outside his room.  If this guy tries
anything, we’ll be ready,” Mark tried to reassure himself more than Peter.

 “Yeah, well, I’m not taking any chances.  I’ll be in Carter’s room if anyone
needs me.”  Peter went and resumed his position by Carter’s bed; watching him
sleep.

 “Mark, you get that security guard posted here, and I’ll assemble the staff and
tell them.”

*************************

 He was in the car again.  The man in the car kept yelling at him.  He wouldn’t
stop.

 “I know you Dr. Carter.  I know what you did!  Thought you could get away with
killing my wife!?”

 He looked at the mans wife in the passenger seat.  Pale gray eyes slowly turned
red.  The mouth moved, but no words came out.  Slowly, a gash formed over her
neck severing the trachea and larynx.  No blood.  Just pale flesh.  Panic.  He
had to get away!  Away from them!

 “Nooooo!  Get away!  I didn’t do anything!”

***************************

 Peter sat and watched Carter as he slept. *Why would anyone want to hurt him?
He’s such a good person.  He’d never hurt anyone.* It could almost be said Carter
was resting peacefully except for the black eyes, and multiple cuts and bruises
covering his face.  His eyes started to move behind his eyelids and his heart
rate started to rise.  He started muttering ‘No’ under his breath, over and
over.  Carter’s legs and arms started moving like he was trying to escape
something.

 “Carter?  Carter, man, it’s okay,” Benton tried to soothe.  He gently put his
hands on the young mans arms and held him down to prevent him from hurting
himself.  When Carter felt the restraining force on his arms he started
struggling more forcefully.  Benton was worried Carter was going to do more
damage to his ribs.

 “Noooo!” he screamed, and sat up in the bed so fast his head almost collided
with Peter’s.  He immediately regretted that action as pain ripped through his
chest causing him to double over.

 “Carter!  Calm down man, you’re gonna hurt yourself!”  Peter watched as Carter
doubled over in pain.  He hated seeing Carter in such terrible pain.  He moved
over and gently pulled Carter to his chest, careful of his ribs.  Gently, he
rubbed his back in a circular motion to try and calm him down.  Slowly he could
feel Carter’s breathing slow down and he began to relax.

 “Carter?”

 “..hurts.”

 “I know.  Here, lie back down then I’ll get you some morphine.”  Peter gently
helped Carter lie down.  “Let me go get you some morphine.  I’ll be right back.”

 As Peter turned to leave he felt Carter grab his arm.  “Carter?  What is it?”

 Carter looked at him with eyes full of fear, and pulled Peter down closer.

 “What is it?  Do you remember something?”  Peter gently asked.

 Slowly Carter shook his head and whispered, “He’s gonna kill me.”

End part 4**********************



Peter was furious.  Whoever had told Carter about the letter was a dead man.

 “Carter, it’s okay.  No one’s gonna kill you,” Peter tried to console to young
man.  It was obvious it wasn’t working.

 “He said he’d kill me,” Carter whispered.  “Make me pay.”

 Benton felt his heart skip a beat at hearing that.  That was exactly what was
written in the letter.  Someone had told him!

 “Carter?  Who told you about the letter?’

 “What letter?”  Slowly it dawned on Carter.  “There was a letter saying someone
was going to kill me?” Carter asked with renewed fear in his eyes.

 Peter suddenly realized he had made a  serious error in judgement.  Carter
hadn’t known about the letter, and he had just told him exactly what he had
wanted kept secret.  Carter had enough to worry about with the memory loss and
the nightmares without having to worry about the terrible letter.    One question
bugged Peter now.  How had Carter known?

 “Carter listen to me, and listen carefully.  No one is going to kill you.
You’re safe here.  Understand?  Now what made you think someone was trying to
kill you?”

 “He told me.”

 “Who was it?  Did someone come in here and threaten you?”  Peter was having a
hard time understanding what Carter was talking about.

 Carter just shook his head and looked away.  Peter took Carter’s hand and sat
back down in the chair.

 “Carter, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.  You can trust
me.”

 Slowly Carter turned his head back around and looked at Peter.  It was true, he
was dying to tell someone about the nightmare.  Maybe then he wouldn’t feel so
alone and scared.  But, was this man the right person to tell?  How close were
they?  This man seemed like he wanted to help so he decided talking with anyone
at the moment might make him feel a little better.

 “I keep having this nightmare.  I’m driving somewhere.  It’s dark outside.
There’s this car next to me with some guy driving it, and a...a..dead woman in
the passenger seat.”  Carter had to pause for a moment.  Just thinking about this
dream was scaring him again.

 Benton watched as Carter’s eyes focused on something he knew only Carter was
seeing.  By the look on Carter’s face, he knew it wasn’t very pleasant.  He
listened intently as Carter continued with the dream.

 “He kept yelling at me.  Telling me it was my fault and I was going to pay.
That was when the young woman opened her eyes and looked at me.  She had a gash
on her head, and as the dream went on, a gash on her neck developed.”  Carter
felt his eyes start to well up with tears.  “He said that I had killed her.  I’d
never hurt anyone.  It was awful.  I...”  He couldn’t continue.  He could barely
hold back the tears as they slowly started to fall.

 Benton had developed a sick feeling in his gut.  That was terrible.  He stood up
and gently hugged Carter as the tears flowed.  He made a promise to himself to
get Carter through this no matter what.

 “Every time I have the dream it gets worse.  I’m afraid to fall asleep again.
Please, don’t let me fall asleep,” Carter confessed into Peter’s shoulder.

 He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Peter had never seen anyone so afraid
in their life.  His heart broke as he heard Carter’s pleas to not let him fall
asleep again.  Peter knew that was impossible.  Everyone, no matter how hard the
tried to stay awake, would eventually fall asleep.  All Peter could promise was
that he’d be here to wake up Carter at the first signs of a nightmare.

*************************

 “Hey, Kerry, come take a look at this,” Mark called.

 “What is it?”

 “I was going through this pile of old charts here, and I think this guy might be
the one,” he told her.

 Kerry couldn’t believe her ears.  This was really good news finally.  “So what
does the chart say?”

 “Last month a newly married couple were involved in a car accident.  A Mr. and
Mrs. Vollmer.  They were broadsided while crossing an intersection.  The
paramedics brought them in.  Mrs. Vollmer had stopped breathing, and the swelling
in the cords was so bad they had to perform a tracheotomy.  She also had an open
skull fracture with multiple internal injuries.  Mr. Vollmer on the other hand
suffered only whiplash and a concussion.  Carter had been working on his wife for
about 2 minutes when she crashed and bled out. There was nothing more he could
do.”
 Kerry got an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.  This had to be the guy.
“Mark, call the cops and give them this guys name.  I have a feeling this is the
guy.”

 She watched as Mark phoned them, praying that they would catch him before he
tried something with Carter.  She cast a glance in the direction of his room, and
saw the security guard still there.

 “Hello, I need to speak with Officer Deadrick...Yes it’s important....Thanks.”
He waited somewhat patiently as Jack was found and put on the line.  “Yeah, this
is Mark Greene over at County.  Listen, I think I’ve got an ID on this guy...Says
on the chart here his name is Jason Vollmer...Yes that’s right.  Carter treated
him and his wife last month when they were in a car accident.  The wife
died...Her name was Anna....I think that’s a pretty clear motive...You do that.”
Mark hung up and turned to Kerry.

 “Well, what did he say Mark?”

 “He said he’d run the name through the computer.  Of course they haven’t gotten
the fingerprints yet.  For some reason the computer that runs the prints
developed a virus.  They have to go to a neighboring precinct to run them, and
might take awhile depending on the number of prints needing to be run from other
officers.”

 “Well I hope they hurry.”

****************************

 He was in the car again.  It was different this time somehow.  He looked to the
left expecting to see the car beside him.  It wasn’t there.  He breathed a sigh
of relief and turned his head back to the road infront of him when something to
his right caught his eye.  He turned his head and gasped.  The man was there.
Sitting and staring at him.  He was paralyzed with fear.  All he could so was
look at the man.  Too afraid to breath.

 Suddenly without warning the man jumped at him and grabbed him around the
throat.

 “Let go of me!!  I...please...” he couldn’t say anything else as his air supply
was cut off.  Struggling was futile as the man was much stronger.  As he felt
himself slipping from consciousness, he caught a glimpse of her in the backseat.
Eyes bright red and smiling.

************************

 Benton kept a close eye on Carter.  He’d been asleep for about twenty minutes,
and so far so good. *Maybe he won’t have one this time,* Benton thought.  That
thought quickly changed when Carter’s heart rate started to rise and he started
to struggle.  What alarmed Benton was the fact that Carter was gasping for
breath.  Like he was choking. *Or being strangled,* he thought with dismay.
Quickly he grabbed Carter’s shoulders and shook him awake

 “Carter?  Carter, man, it’s okay.  It’s over,” he soothed.

 Carter’s eyes sprung open and he grabbed at his throat still struggling to
breath.  Peter reached over the head of Carter’s bed and grabbed the nasal
cannula that he been a hanging there just in case.  He put it on and Carter’s
breathing slowly returned to normal.

 “Is that better?”

 Carter nodded his head, but didn’t say anything.  After he’d settled down, Peter
tried to ask him what had happened, but Carter wouldn’t answer.  He’d withdrawn
inside of himself.  Peter started to feel guilty for letting this happen.  Not
waking him up sooner.

 “Carter?  I have to go to the bathroom.  I’ll be back.”  Again as he turned to
leave he felt Carter grab his arm.

 “Please, don’t leave me,” he pleaded.

 “Carter, I really have to go.  You’re safe here.  The washroom’s right there.
See?”  Peter pointed to where the washroom was, just on the other side of the
room.

 Slowly Carter nodded his head.

*************************

 A man entered through the ambulance bay doors, unnoticed.  He walked by Carter’s
room and peered in the door.  He hid a small smile as he headed for the elevator
up to another floor.

End 5*************************



The man took the elevator up to the third floor where he confidently strode into
a storage room.  Unnoticed.  Once there he rummaged around until he found a pair
of green scrubs.  Quickly he changed into them, and went in search of an ID
badge.  He walked into a room where he found a male nurse taking a nap.
Carefully he removed his badge and walked into the washroom with it.  The man
expertly removed the snapshot of the nurse, and replaced it with his picture.
Smiling at his handiwork, he made his way down to the ER.

****************************

 “Hey, Mark,” Kerry called.

 “What?”

 “Who’s that guy over there?  I’ve never seen him around before.”

 Mark looked were Kerry was gesturing, and sure enough there was a nurse
strolling towards Carter’s room.  Immediately Mark became concerned.  He too
didn’t recognize the man.

 “Let’s go check, Kerry,” Mark said as the two of them headed towards Carter’s
room.

 “Hey!” Mark yelled.  “Who are you, and what are you doing?”

 The nurse turned to Mark.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.  I’m
Michael Goncalves.  I’m a registered nurse from the third floor.”

 “What are you doing down here?” Kerry demanded.

 “One of my patients was brought up from down here.  She said she left a valuable
piece of jewelry beside the bed, and asked me to get it for her.”  At their
skeptical looks he continued.  “Here, take my badge and check in the computer,”
he said as he handed it to Mark.

 A moment later Mark returned from the computer and confirmed Michael’s
identity.  They were about to say something else when they were interrupted by
the paramedics delivering two GSW’s.  They allowed him to go and get it while
they went to look after the two trauma victims.  The guard had bought the story
and sat down in his chair to read a magazine, forgetting about the nurse.

 Carter looked up as someone entered his room, and started to feel
uncomfortable.  His eyes went to the bathroom door where Peter was. *Why does he
have to take so long?* he thought.

 “Are you a doc..” he started, but as the man stepped into the light he got a
better look at his face.  Panic flooded him.  Again he was too afraid to breath
too loud.

 “I see you recognize me Dr. Carter.  I’d hope so after what you did,” the man
said in a calm voice.

 “You....you’re from my...” Carter started, but was interrupted.

 “Let me do the talking Dr. Carter.  Do you remember my wife?” he asked while
stepping closer to the bed.  “Do you?!”

 As Peter washed his hands he thought he heard voices coming from Carter’s room,
but dismissed it as Carter talking to Mark.  But when he heard someone starting
to yell, he quickly left the washroom only to see a strange man dressed in scrubs
standing over Carter’s bed.  At the look of fear on Carter’s face, Benton
immediately became furious.

 “Who the hell are you!?” he yelled.

 He’d obviously caught the man by surprise.  He darted out the door and headed
for the nearest exit.  Benton took off in pursuit, yelling for someone to stop
the guy.  As Benton followed the guy outside, he disappeared around a corner.
After looking around for any clue as to where he might of gone, Peter ran back to
Carter’s room.  As he headed there he saw staff members were gathered in groups
whispering about what had just happened, Mark and Kerry, who had gotten two other
doctors to cover the traumas, were yelling at each other and the security guard
for letting this happen, and another one of the guards was on the phone.
Probably to the police.

 He entered Carter’s room and found Carol in there trying to comfort him, but not
having much success.  He was staring at the ceiling with a far away look in his
brown eyes.

 “Carter?  Carter, can you hear me?”  Peter asked as he headed to Carter’s
bedside.

 “He hasn’t said a word,” Carol supplied.  “Whoever that was, he really scared
him.”

 Moments later Mark and Kerry came in.

 “How’s he doing?” Mark asked.

 “Not very good.  Where were you guys?  How did you let this happen!?” Peter
yelled

 “Lets take this outside,” said Kerry. “Carol, could you stay with Carter?”

 Carol nodded and took a seat by Carter’s bed while the three doctors headed
outside to continue their discussion.

 “There was a trauma Peter.  This guy was dressed as a nurse.  He even had an ID
badge which was reported stolen by a nurse on the third floor moments ago.  He
said a patient had left something in the room and he had to retrieve it for
them,” Mark answered

 “You couldn’t of let the guard go and look for it?”

 “There was a trauma Peter.  We didn’t have much time to decide what to do.  I
ran the badge, and it checked out.  Now I’m sorry if I made a mistake, but where
the hell where you, huh?  I thought you were in the room with Carter!” Mark
yelled back.

 Peter lowered his head before answering.  “I was in the washroom.  I thought you
guys and the guard were keeping an eye on whoever entered the room.”

 “Okay.  Obviously this was a misunderstanding,” Kerry said, trying to calm the
two down.  “From now on absolutely no one enters Carter’s room except people we
know.  Understood?”

 “Dr. Weaver!  Dr. Greene!” someone yelled.

 They turned and saw Officer Dalton running towards them, looking excited about
something.

 “You’re not going to believe this,” he said as he ran up to them, out of breath.

 “What?” Kerry asked.

 “We ran that name you guys gave us.  This guy has a rap sheet a mile long.  Not
minor stuff either.  Bank robbery, attempted murder, the list goes on.”

 “Why isn’t this guy in jail?” Peter demanded.

 “It’s kind of interesting actually.  He started committing the crimes after his
wife died.  Like that suddenly sparked an interest in bank robbery or something.
Anyways, he’s extremely smart and elusive.  Since he had no previous record
before his wife died, it makes you wonder how he became such an expert in
committing these crimes.  To answer your question, we’ve just been unable to
catch him.  Here, take a look at his picture.”  He handed it to Kerry who paled
as she saw it.

 “That was the guy.”

 “That’s what I thought.  After we got the phone call at the station about the
man who harassed Dr. Carter I drove over here as fast as I could.  You guys
really need to step up the security.  Especially until he’s out of the hospital.
As long as he’s here Vollmer will know where he is and might try something else.”

 “Would he really come back after we’ve seen him?” Kerry asked.

 “He might send someone else.  Like I said, he’s very smart.  He might use some
sort of disguise.  I’d suggest a guard inside and outside of the room, a security
camera in the room and only a select few people can enter the room.  People you
trust.”

 “Thank you officer.  We understand.”

End 6************************