Enzio

Chapter 43

Luden had arranged with John Kelly of the Boston Police Department for officers to be on standby. When the paramedics arrived, several officers accompanied them and secured S to a gurney as they began the ambulance trip across the Charles River to Boston Medical Center. S was transported to a private room, with two policemen stationed outside the door. The nurses were warned about whom they were dealing with, and when S awoke, they were careful with their movements. One policeman was always in the room, as Luden had prompted Lieutenant Kelly about the dangerousness of the North Korean operative. Having dealt with a variety of special-forces-type criminals, Luden knew that all staff and police had to be on guard at all times.

S spoke to no one but just looked around the room, a bemused look on his face. He seemed quiet for a man who was in a hospital prison and most likely headed to the Charles Street Jail within a very short time. He was still somewhat groggy from the sedative medication, but he was, of course, formulating an escape plan. Luden figured as much and, through a camera installed in the room, kept surveillance on the criminal.

Lieutenant Kelly had listened carefully to Luden and, by then, knew enough to take the professor very seriously. Over his commanding officer’s objections, he insisted on around-the-clock surveillance. He warned that a potential international incident could unfold if the police were not alert and on top of the situation. The commander finally relented, though he was not convinced the situation was as dire as Lieutenant Kelly had presented it. Time would tell.

It was about 2:00 in the morning, and Luden and Chen were back in Cambridge, asleep. The night nurse, Anna Corrigan from South Boston, was checking S’s vitals. He’d received such a strong dose of the sedative that it was taking him a while to regain his normal health. Inside the room, Officer Peter Brogan was dozing in a chair. The two Boston policemen outside the room were also semi-conscious, overcome by fatigue. The hospital was quiet, except for the inevitable hum of the machinery that kept people alive.

To Anna Corrigan, S looked asleep, and she approached his hospital bed without fear to take his temperature. Before she could place the thermometer on his forehead, S grabbed her hand and clamped his other hand over her mouth. He drew her down toward the bed and, with a quick flick of both wrists, broke her neck. She crumpled to the floor without a sound. S had removed his handcuffs by picking the lock with a bobby pin that had fallen onto his bed when a nurse was bringing him supper.