“Mariel,” said Pia. “What’s going on? This man works at Nano? Be that as it may, I don’t think he should leave here. He needs to be observed at the very least. We believe he had a cardiac arrest, Mariel, why are Nano security people here? And why are they armed?”

Mariel studiously ignored Pia. The Chinese man who hadn’t been talking to the runner reached out and snatched the two tubes of blood from the nurse’s hand before the nurse knew what was happening. The nurse stepped forward with the intent to grab them back, but Paul restrained him.

“Dr. Caldwell,” Mariel continued, “please have the man’s discharge papers prepared. He has already told his colleague he would like to leave. Mr. Wang, confirm again that the patient wants to leave the hospital, please!”

The Chinese man Mariel had addressed spoke with the runner, and the runner nodded his head in reply and seemed to acquiesce verbally at the same time.

“Wait a second!” Paul said, not about to be so easily duped. “How do I know that’s what this gentleman asked? He could have asked the patient anything. Let me get someone from hospital administration down here.”

Paul exited from the room out into the hall but was immediately confronted by two more sizable, uniformed Nano security men. They blocked his way, arms crossed, determined expressions on their faces.

“Step aside!” Paul ordered, but the men held their ground. “Hey!” Paul shouted down the hall toward the ER desk. “Where the hell is our security? Get someone down here from administration stat!”

Pia again tried to speak to Mariel, but Mariel continued to ignore her. Instead Mariel snapped her fingers for the patient to get to his feet. When he did so, he faltered, requiring the two Chinese men in suits to step forward to help support him.

“Mariel!” Pia yelled. “This is outrageous. What the hell is going on?”

Mariel treated Pia to one of her signature disdainful expressions. “What is going on is we’re signing him out of the hospital and over to our jurisdiction and our responsibility. I told you on the phone we were going to take care of this situation.” The last sentence was hissed quietly, through clenched teeth.

“I know what you told me,” said Pia with disbelief. “But I’m telling you he needs to be monitored and completely examined.”

“The patient can be better monitored at the Nano infirmary, which is better equipped to handle this kind of emergency, and he will be looked after by Nano’s physicians, who are intimately aware of the totality of the man’s health status. I thank you for helping the man, but I told you not to let them treat him, and they took his blood.”