“And the reason you’re not asking for any money?”
“I want something more important.”
“Which is?”
“A little medical favor, an easy one for you,” Warren said.
“What is this favor?”
“You’ll find out when you’re here,” Warren said. “How soon can you get here?”
“Where’s here?”
“I’m in Rancho Mirage. It’s not far from Palm Springs.”
“I know where it is.”
“You do? Great. Where are you now?”
“I’m almost to the 10 Freeway.”
“Okay, here’s the way you come,” Warren said and described the directions. “You should be here in no more than thirty minutes, Doc. Just ring the doorbell and come collect your prize.”
“I don’t understand. Where is this? Why aren’t we simply meeting at Doctor Weber’s office or the hospital?”
“Everything will be clear to you when you arrive. Don’t waste any time. I can’t promise all this forever. You know how Demi feels. She’s nervous and might change her mind again, so move your rear end.”
“I don’t under—”
Warren’s phone clicked dead.
Allan’s first thought was to call Demi to confirm this. He got the number for the salon and called, but no one answered. A machine came on with Kiki asking the caller to leave a message. He next called the Petersen residence and again was greeted with an answering machine. He thought about calling Joe but wasn’t quite sure what he would say to him. He knew so little himself, and Joe would surely find some reason to talk him out of it. Finally, he decided the only thing to do was to follow Warren’s directions and see exactly what the man was promising and what he wanted in return. Perhaps his luck had changed and something wonderful could come of this yet.
A little over thirty minutes later, Allan pulled up to Frankie Vico’s home. He didn’t know whose house it was, and for a significant moment, his instincts told him to turn around, but his curiosity and, of course, his hope that this would all somehow lead to his succeeding was much stronger. He got out and slowly walked through the gate. Before he reached it, the front door opened and Warren stood there smiling out at him.
“Glad you were prompt, Doc. Glad I caught you before you got too far away.”
“What’s this about, Mr. Moore?”
“What it’s always been about for you, the blood. Right?”
“I don’t understand. Whose home is this? What does it have to do with the Petersens? Where’s Mrs. Petersen?”
Warren stepped back. “Enter and learn, Doc. Make your diagnosis, as you guys always say.”
Allan stepped into the house, and Warren closed the door. Almost immediately, Tony appeared. Allan recognized him from Joe’s office. It sent an icicle down his spine.
“Right this way, Doc,” Warren said. “Someone’s waiting for you. Actually, a couple of people are waiting for you.”
“What’s going on here?”
“Relax. Just take it all in slowly, Doc. C’mon,” Warren urged.
Tony stepped toward him. Allan glanced at Tony and then followed Warren down the hallway to the guest’s bedroom. He paused just inside the doorway when he saw Taylor bound on the bed and Frankie Vico sitting calmly beside the bed.
“Hello there again, Doctor Parker,” Frankie said. He was in his robe and slippers.
“What is this? Why is Taylor tied up like that, Mr. Moore? Where’s his mother?” Allan asked.
“He’s tied up because he’s what you guys might call an uncooperative patient,” Frankie offered. “C’mon in, Doc. We have some things to discuss, like for instance why you guys decided Wellman would live and I would die.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Oh, believe me,” Frankie said, smiling. “I understand. That’s your problem. Turns out, this kid’s blood was the cure. I understand that.”
“It’s not that simple, Mr. Vico.”
“Make it simple. Here’s the deal. You do for me what you did for Wellman and you get what you want blood-wise to take to your research laboratory and become the winner of some terrific prize. Whatever. The kid gets quite a few bucks or whatever Mr. Moore here thinks is fair, I should say,” Frankie added, smiling at Warren, “and we all go off happy. He’s no worse for it. I’m quite a bit better for it. And you’re on your way to fame and fortune. Sound good?”
“This is ridiculous. It’s not possible.”
“Why not?” Frankie demanded, as strongly as he could in his condition.
Tony moved closer to Allan. Warren stepped out of the way as if he didn’t want to be splattered with anyone else’s blood.
“For one thing, we don’t have the necessary equipment for any such procedure. We need To match blood type. Most important perhaps, this is a crime. You’ve kidnapped this boy.”
“Oh, c’mon, Doc. Those ain’t really important reasons. You guys have ways to solve all that medical junk. You give Warren here a list of what you need, and he’ll get it. The boy’s not kidnapped. He’s only borrowed for a little while. Soon as you’re done, he’s gone. I mean, on his way home. He won’t even have a nightmare about it, right, sonny boy?”
Taylor, who had been quiet, turned his head slowly toward Frankie.
“You’ll have nightmares, not me,” he said.
Frankie laughed. “He’s been like that the whole time. Shows no respect for his elders. Look, Doc,” Frankie said far more seriously now, “you ain’t walking out of here without you do for me what you did for Wellman. If I’m going to die, I might as well have company. Get my meaning?” He nodded at Taylor. “I imagine in your way of thinking, when the kid goes, thousands go with him, right?”
“Jesus,” Allan said.
“Right, Jesus.” Frankie laughed. “I’m kind of a spoilsport about it. I was always like that. If I couldn’t enjoy what the other kids in school could, I would find a way to ruin it for them.”
“It’s not like you’re not getting what you want, too,” Warren interjected. “You should be grateful. Mr. Vico called a private duty nurse who refused to help. Otherwise, I might not have even called you, Doc.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. He or she wouldn’t have known what to do and surely didn’t have what was necessary,” Allan said.
“Exactly. You do, so do it. Whatever you need, you take. One, two, three, and it’s all over.”
Allan looked at Taylor. The boy seems as angry at me as he is at these criminals, he thought. Tony hovered over him. There was no easy way out, and Frankie Vico looked like he meant what he had threatened.
“All right,” he said. He took a pen out of his jacket. “Give me something to write on.”
Tony moved quickly and returned with a small notepad.
Allan began scribbling. Warren and Frankie exchanged happy glances. Taylor turned away.
“You’ll have to go to a med supply store.”
“There’s one on Indian Avenue,” Frankie said.
“Yeah, I know it. I’ll be back before you can say transfusion,” Warren told him. “You won’t be disappointed, Doc. We promise you that.”
Allan said nothing. He watched Warren leave, and then he turned back to Frankie.
“I’ll need you in your own bed, relaxed, Mr. Vico. I’d like you to drink a full glass of water, too.”
“What for?”
“It’s part of the process,” Allan said. “It might not work if there’s any dehydration and considering what you’ve been through these past few days…”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I feel like shit and barely have the energy to walk from room to room, thanks to you medical geniuses.”
He rose. Tony started To move toward him, but he held up his hand.
“I’m okay. The thought of Doctor Parker here helping me makes me feel stronger. You just keep your eyes wide open, Tony. Understand?”
“Sure, boss.”
“Good. I’ll be right down the hall after I get my
glass of water,” Frankie said.
Allan nodded. “I need to prepare the kid, too,” he told him.
“Do whatever you need to do as long as you do for me what you did for Wellman. I can’t stress that enough,” Frankie told him and walked on out.
Allan nodded at Tony and walked farther into the bedroom.
“How did you get here, Taylor?” he asked. He sat beside him on the bed.
Taylor turned around slowly.
“I took the bus,” he said. Then he narrowed his eyes. “I thought you were a doctor. I thought you helped people.”
“I do.”
“Yeah, right, because you’re people, too, and you’re helping yourself, I guess.” He turned away.
Allan looked at Tony, who stood like a wall of fat and muscle in the doorway. Frankie paused with his glass of water on the way back to his room. He smiled.
“Yeah, that’s it. Get the kid cooperative,” he said and walked on.
Allan turned to Tony.
“We have to do some preparation here, too. I need a pan of warm water. Not very hot, just warm, some clean towels, and a bar of soap. If you have any rubbing alcohol or witch hazel, bring that as well. Oh, two soft sponges.”
“Huh? You need that stuff now?”
“Well, it all takes time. Does Mr. Vico want this to take all day? I have places to go myself, and if you don’t have the alcohol or witch hazel, you’ll have to get a hold of Mr. Moore and tell him to add it to the list.”
Tony thought for a moment. “Yeah, all right. I’ll be right back with all of it.”
“Good,” Allan said.
Tony walked off.
Allan immediately began working on the rope. Taylor just looked at him, but said nothing. He loosened the rope around his wrists enough to allow him to pull his hands through and then got the knot loosened around his ankles.
He indicated they shouldn’t talk, and then he walked to the window and opened it as slowly and as quietly as he could. He nodded at Taylor, who moved quickly to climb through it and drop to the ground. Allan followed him, a bit more clumsily. Still without speaking, he and Taylor walked around to the front of the house and then practically ran down the walk and through the gate.
“Over here,” Allan said, indicating his car.
They got in, and he started the engine. Without waiting to see if Tony had discovered them gone yet, he shifted into drive and spun around to accelerate down the street. Moments later they were on a main highway.
“You all right?” he asked Taylor.
“I am now. I thought you were going to do what they asked.”
“I thought I didn’t have much choice,” Allan said.
“Was any of what you told them to do for real?”
“Of course not. They don’t realize how stupid it all was. Your white cells were first separated in the lab, and you just don’t use anyone’s. You have to consider blood type. There’s really no guaranteed universal blood donor type, even though some would consider your O/Rh negative blood close to it. But scientists now have a much better understanding of the complex issues related to reactions to incompatible blood types. Even donors with type O/Rh negative blood may have antibodies that could cause serious reactions. I don’t know what Vico’s blood type is. The transfusion could actually kill him.”
“We might have just saved his life by running away then,” Taylor said. “Quick. Let’s go back.”
Allan looked at him. He had a serious expression on his face.
And then they both laughed.
“Let’s get you back with your mother. I’m sure she’s been wondering where you are.”
“Then what?”
“I suppose that’s up to her, Taylor,” Allan said.
Trembling, Demi emerged from the school with Lois. For a moment she just stood there in the parking lot looking up and down the street in front of the educational complex. She had tried calling home again, and again no one had picked up. The same happened when she called Warren.
“I don’t like this, Lois. Mr. McDermott was pretty confident Taylor left the building. He runs that school like a Swiss watch these days.”
“Is it too soon to go to the police and report Taylor missing?”
“I guess. They would just ask me to wait anyway, don’t you think?”
“I suppose no matter what you told them, they would think not enough time’s gone by, especially when it involves a teenager. You want to go home?”
“Take me back To my car, and I’ll drive home.”
“ð1 follow you.”
“You don’t have to. It’s getting late. You need to be home for dinner.”
“I’ll call Ralph and explain it all.”
“I hate getting everyone excited over what might turn out to be nothing.”
“Don’t worry about everyone else. Besides, when I needed you, you were there. C’mon,” Lois said, and they got back into her car and headed for Main Street.
Lois let Demi out at her car, and she started for home with Lois right behind her. She kept hoping she would simply find Warren in the living room with a beer and Taylor upstairs at his computer as usual. This would all be the result of simple poor communication. Funny, how she would settle for what was the status quo right now, despite how unsettling that status quo had been.
Her heart sank when her house came into view and she saw it was dark. Lois pulled up next to her in the driveway.
“Where are they?” she cried when she and Lois got out of their respective cars. “If this is nothing, someone’s going to be damn sorry.”
Lois said nothing. She was getting her own bad vibes at this point and didn’t want to reveal it. As soon as they went into the house, Demi threw off her jacket and went right to preparing dinner.
“Maybe we should just order something delivered,” Lois suggested. “You’re pretty upset.”
“No. If I work, maybe I can keep my mind off it all,” Demi said.
Lois went into the living room to call Ralph. She didn’t want her sister to hear the things she would say.
“Before you ask,” she told Demi when she came into the kitchen, “there’s been no reports of any accidents involving kids. Ralph keeps up with the news, as you know.”
“Good. I’ve got some pork chops prepared. Taylor loves them with apple sauce. After I torture him, I’ll let him eat.”
Lois smiled and nodded, and then Demi simply started to cry.
“Oh, honey, don’t,” Lois said quickly embracing her. “You’ll get sick over nothing and then…”
They both nearly stopped breathing at the sound of the door being opened.
Taylor and Allan entered, and Allan closed the door quickly behind them. The first thought that came to Demi’s mind was that Allan had gone over her head and Taylor had been at the hospital giving blood.
“How dare you!” she said, moving toward them. “He’s a minor. If you talked him into giving blood without my consent, I swear I’ll—”
“He didn’t do that, Mom,” Taylor said. “He stopped them from doing it.”
“Stopped them?.” She looked at Allan. “Stopped who?”
“Mr. Moore apparently got him into his car and took him to Frank Vico’s home.”
“Oh, my God,” Demi said. She glanced at Lois and then put her arm around Taylor. “What did he do to you?”
“I tried to get away once I learned what he wanted, but he caught me and dragged me back into the house. They tied me up.”
“They called a private duty nurse to extract Taylor’s blood and inject it into Mr. Vico. I explained to Taylor that such a procedure could have been fatal. The nurse refused, and then Mr. Moore contacted me and lured me to the address.”
“Doctor Parker pretended he was going to do what they wanted, but he was pretty smart,” Taylor said. “He got them chasing after some equipment and stuff, and then he untied me and we both slipped out the window.”
“You better call the police, Demi,” Lois said.
; “Where is Warren?”
“By now he’s probably back there trying to explain his way out of it, I imagine,” Allan said.
“I can’t believe he would do such a thing.”
“He told me they were going to give close to sixty thousand dollars for my blood,” Taylor said. “He’d do it.”
“Demi, they could be on their way here,” Lois said, reaching to touch her.
“That guy said he would kill me if he didn’t get what he wanted,” Taylor added. “If he has to die, he wants to take a lot of people with him.”
Demi looked at Allan.
“Is that true?”
“Yes. I’m sorry,” he said. “I bungled this whole thing. You wouldn’t be in this situation if I had followed proper medical protocol.”
“It’s too late to be sorry. Now everyone is going to know about Taylor,” Demi said. “There’ll be others like Warren and this Vico.”
“Maybe not for a while. I don’t imagine Vico wants anyone else going to the well, so to speak,” Allan said. “If we can keep all this quiet, of course.”
“You mean if we don’t have him arrested, the story won’t get out?” she asked.
“I would imagine not for a while, at least. Maybe long enough for us To move to a plan B, here.”
“What is plan B?”
“Come with me,” Allan said. “Right now. I’ll get you both set up safely and…”
“No,” Demi said. “They’d expect we would do that. They’d find out where you are and come after us.”
“Demi, just call the police,” Lois pleaded. “It’s all too dangerous.”
Demi thought a moment. All her life she avoided reality. She was like that ostrich, especially with Warren. That’s ending for me now, she thought and then turned to her sister.
“It’s nowhere nearly as dangerous for Taylor as it will be once this is a big story, Lois. The world doesn’t lack men or women as desperate as Vico and as greedy as Warren. I’m right, aren’t I?” she asked Allan. “Well?” she demanded. “Think of us first and not your damn research.”
He nearly glowed with the rush of blood to his cheeks.
“Yes, you’re right,” he said.
“He thought of us first, Mom,” Taylor said. “He could have done what they wanted and gotten what he wanted from me.”
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