Now Pia was openmouthed. Not the least of the surprises was the suggestion that Nano had a fully staffed infirmary. Dr. Caldwell was still protesting out in the hall, saying that the man should be kept in the hospital, that his patient was being essentially kidnapped, that he and the staff were being held hostage in their own hospital.

Pia watched as the strange group prepared to leave. The two Chinese men were supporting the patient, followed by the two security guards and then Mariel. Before the patient left the room he treated Pia to a weak smile and a wave as if to say thank you.

“Come on!” Mariel ordered Pia before exiting. “You can ride in the vehicle with me.”

Dutifully, Pia followed. Out in the hallway the group joined the other two security guards, who then let Paul run down the hall toward the ER desk. With two security guards in front and two bringing up the rear, the group headed for the main ER exit.

When Paul reached the ER desk his timing was opportune. Arriving at that very second was a gaggle of suited hospital administration functionaries that included the hospital president, Carl Noakes. Along with this group were several uniformed hospital security people. Adding to the confusion were several uniformed Boulder policemen who also arrived at the same time, including the officer who’d gone out with the EMTs to get the stricken runner.

“Ah, Dr. Caldwell,” said Mr. Noakes, slightly out of breath. “Perhaps you can explain what is going on here.”

Paul groaned inwardly—Mr. Noakes, the hospital president, was a figurehead as far as Caldwell was concerned, and not the man you wanted to see in a situation like this. He was a bottom-line bureaucrat.

“We have a problem here where a non-English-speaking patient who presumably had had a cardiac arrest is being signed out against my orders.”

At that critical point the two disparate groups met head-on. Noakes held up his hand for everyone to stop. Then he cleared his throat. “I think we have a misunderstanding here. What is the patient’s name, Dr. Caldwell?”

“We don’t have his name,” said Paul.

“Yao Hong-Xiau,” the runner shouted out, and a Chinese suit yelled at him.

“We should clear this area and move into one of the unoccupied exam rooms,” Noakes suggested. He gestured with his hand after being shown where to go by the ER charge nurse. Everyone complied. Many of the ER patients waiting to be seen watched with utter fascination. It looked to them like some sort of a movie involving international intrigue was being filmed with police and armed security people eyeing each other.