Heretics book 3 - The Apocryphile Press

THE KINGDOM :: 51
The Presiding Bishop looked at his watch and sighed. “All
right, stand down, Bishop Hammet. We will break here for
the night. Tomorrow we will consider Bishop Hammet’s evidence
against the friars after we have concluded the business
already on the agenda. Let us pray....”
The bishops stood and bowed their heads, but Bishop Tom
remained seated, too stunned to move. Should he call
Richard and the others? Of course he should. There wasn’t
anything any of them could do, but they deserved to know
what was being said about them. Realizing he was the only
seated person in the room, he stood up quickly, sending his
chair flying. Every eye in the room shot open and in his
direction as the clatter of metal on linoleum echoed through
the cavernous hall.
:: 9 ::
Nurse Stahl had, apparently, been listening at her door,
since as the heart-monitor alarm sounded, she raced into the
room and began shouting, “Back off! You’re killing him!”
The friars stood frozen, uncertain how to respond to this
intrusion at the very point of expelling the beast.
“It’s just a ruse!” Terry tried to intercept her, but she evaded
him like an veteran running back and grabbing the hospital
bed now inexplicably hovering a foot or more off the
ground. She yanked it down to the floor with a crash of steel.
She snatched a syringe from a nearby tray and, quickly filling
it, injected the man in the neck. Summoning every ounce
of strength, she pounded on the old man’s sternum once,
twice, and then pushed upon it rhythmically, without ever
taking her eyes off of the green-glowing monitor.
As she worked, the old man stabilized and his breathing