SIXTEEN

Stealing drugs from a hospital, as an intern, was not the hard part.  Stealing more than a tiny amount at once, and getting away with it, that was the thing.  The Kingsport University Hospital, though, left two methods open at that time - one for each of the two main rooms where narcotics are kept.  The first of these two rooms was the dispensary proper, and the second was the dispensary for the emergency ward.

In the emergency ward, there were always people watching, which means that any kind of serious time at the cabinet would be noticed.  And since the cabinet in question was an automated machine that's built to dispense and track individual ampules  vials, and the like...  It takes time to work.  However, the emergency ward was attached to the offices where interns, students, and most doctors check in daily - which means that the personal kits for anesthesiology students, and the crash kits for the trio of ambulances that call the University Hospital home, were all kept there.  In exactly the right circumstances, stealing several such would be as easy as walk, pick, and carry on.  Perfect timing and nerves of steel would be required.

The main dispensary has no such kits, and presents more problems in total, but each of them was easier to solve.  At nights, the dispensary was closed - but I had a key for that door.  The hall was watched by a single camera, but not recorded.  A distraction could be arranged at the security desk at the time of entry, and again at the time of exit.  The dispensing cabinet required a log-on; ID card swipe and password, which we'd need to steal.  Or we could crowbar the doors open.

Hydromorphone, Ketamine, and Cocaine were our main targets, and all of them lived in that cabinet; the numbers Ambrose had put next to each, formatted $/mg, were exceptional.  Morphine, a little less so, but there would be a few decent-sized bottles of that which we could (and would) simply grab off the shelf.

Ray and I discussed this in the morning, but couldn't think of any easy way to get an ID card and password that didn't trace back to us.  We agreed to think about it during the day.

I phoned his cell a little over an hour later.

"Hey, Ben.  Idea?"

"There's a default code on the machine, isn't there?  Like, 1-2-3-4-5-6, kind of thing?"

"Yeah, but how many people are going to be using it?  Maybe a few, but we can't bet on it."

"How about the senior staff, who never use it?  They'd be in the system, right, but no need to change their code."

"Good call.  So we swipe a card from one of the senior staff?"

"Or, five of them are on vacation.  We could check their offices, see if their cards are there.  All we need for that is the maintenance master." I finished off, knowing full well that the misadventures Ray had engaged in with drugs had supposedly included just such a thing.

"Why, as it just happens, I have that key my very own self.  Imagine that."

"A-may-zing.  See you at four."

We hung up.  At four, we got some coffee, and a building directory.  Ray had already printed the entire staff rotation, which noted which senior staff were out, and who to call in their absence.  At six, we dropped by the apartment, and told Gina the idea.  She agreed that she should do this run - if anyone happened to see her, they wouldn't recognize her.  She grabbed the maintenance key, and the office numbers.  A quick change of outfit later, she was off.

By nine o'clock, we had our five swipe cards, none of which would be missed for at least eight more days.

Naptime, we all agreed.  Ray's turn.