by Dobi Cross
“Okay. Time’s up for Q&A. My dear Zora, you were so intelligent, and I had high hopes for you. What a pity and a waste. Goodbye.” Thunder pulled a gun from his jacket and aimed it at Zora.
“Wait. Hold on. Don’t do it!” Zora fought against her restraints to break free, but the ropes were too tight.
A shot rang out.
Zora flinched and shut her eyes, but she felt no pressure or pain. What had happened? She opened her eyes to see Thunder slumped on the floor with a gaping hole on the side of his head. Dr. Edwards was nowhere to be seen.
She heard the sound of running feet and turned her head. Dave raced to her with some other cops behind him.
“Thank goodness. Are you okay?” He quickly untied her hands and legs.
Zora collapsed against him and burst out crying. She was safe and free. It felt good to feel his arms around her.
“Ssh… ssh…” He rubbed his hand against her back. “It’s alright now. You are safe.”
Then she remembered. “Christina!” she said, pointing to the corner of the room where she lay unmoving.
“Get an EMT in here. Now!” Dave called out.
And that was the last thing Zora heard before she blacked out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Zora opened her eyes to see she was lying in a hospital bed. Her whole body ached. She looked around and realized the narrow white-walled room looked familiar.
“Thank God you are finally awake.” Brian’s worried face came into view.
Zora tried to raise herself, but her limbs felt like they belonged to someone else, and she fell back on the pillows.
“Don’t try too hard,” Brian said as he helped her sit up.
“What happened?” Zora’s voice sounded like an old woman’s.
Brian straightened back up once he’d adjusted the sheets. “They brought you in yesterday. You gave us quite a shock.”
Zora closed her eyes briefly as she tried to remember what had happened. The events of yesterday came rushing back to her. She was lucky to be alive.
“You’ve been unconscious for about twenty-four hours,” Brian said. “How do you feel now?”
Zora opened her eyes. “Like I was bulldozed with a truck.”
Brian chuckled. “That bad?”
Then Zora remembered. “What about Christina?” she asked.
“She is in the ICU. She’s regained consciousness, but they want to observe her for another twenty-four hours.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad she is okay.” She tried to get up. “I need to see her.”
“Whoa, hold your horses.” Brian touched her arm to restrain her. “She’s asleep now. You can visit her later.”
Zora leaned back on the bed. Truth be told, she was exhausted. She would look in on Christina later.
“Your mom also came by and stayed the night,” Brian said.
Zora sat up. “Really?”
“I’m serious. But she worked on her legal briefs all through.”
Zora laughed and held her side. “Good old mom. Now, that I’ll believe.”
“She promised to get another tracker, one more discreet and definitely not a pendant.”
Zora touched her neck. “I miss the one I had.”
“Sure you do. Maybe you’ll find another you’ll love.”
“I’m not sure. I think I’ll stay without one for a while.”
Her hospital phone rang. “I wonder who it is?” Brian said. “The nurses have been very diligent about blocking callers.” He reached forward and picked the phone. “Who is this?” He listened for a moment and then turned to Zora. “It’s Stewart. Do you want to speak to him?”
Zora gestured for Brian to hand over the phone. “Stewart,” she said into the receiver.
“Hi, Dr. Smyth. I heard what happened and just called to find out how you are doing,” Stewart said.
“I’m good. Thanks for asking.”
“I’m sorry to hear about Dr. Edwards. Who would have thought?”
Zora said nothing. As much as she despised what Dr. Edwards had done, he had been a good mentor to her.
“Have you heard anything else?”
“No. But I have a question for you. Why did you lie to me about John Doe?”
“John Doe?”
“You said you never knew the patient, but now we know he existed.”
“I’m sorry about that. I couldn’t afford to tell the truth. After you left, I got a call from my girlfriend that she was in town and waiting for me at the hospital entrance. I hadn’t seen her face-to-face in like three months, and I ended up spending some time with her. By the time I got back, John Doe was missing, and I was afraid that I would be blamed for it. As a lowly junior surgical resident with no connections, I could be expelled from the program. So I chose to deny instead. I’m sorry.”
Zora didn’t know what to say. He had made her look like a fool. He needed a good talking to, but it wasn’t today. She was too tired to even think.
“Dr. Smyth, I hope I didn’t take too much of your time,” Stewart said. “I just called to make sure you are okay.”
“Thanks.” Zora placed the phone back on its cradle and lowered herself back on the pillows.
“What did he want?” Brian asked.
“He just called to find out how I’m doing. He helped me search for Christina when I was first looking for her and knew about one of the missing patients.”
“Strange little fella. Too smooth if you ask me. Are you sure he doesn’t have a crush on you?”
Zora laughed and her body ached from the effort. “Brian, cut it out!” She stretched out her hand to swat him, but he moved beyond her reach. Brian chuckled.
“By the way, I like your new beau,” he said.
Zora’s head snapped up. “What?”
“You know, the handsome detective. He stayed with you all night and only left this morning. He said he’d be back later.”
Zora felt her face flush with heat.
“He’s not my beau,” she mumbled.
“Oooh, you are blushing. I’ve never seen you blush.”
“Brian, cut it out,” Zora warned him.
“Cut what out?” Dave said as he strode into the hospital room.
Zora wished the bed could swallow her. She tried to sink in deeper, but couldn’t help peeking at Dave at the same time. He looked so handsome in his light grey button-down shirt and jeans.
“She was just—” Brian started.
“Brian!”
“Okay, okay,” Brian held up his hands in surrender. “I’ll just go and leave you two lovebirds alone. He winked at Zora.
Zora grabbed her pillow and threw it at Brian’s head. It fell short and Brian left the room laughing.
Dave walked to the side of her bed and sat down on the edge. “How are you feeling?”
Zora’s face felt impossibly hot and she squirmed. “Much better. Thanks for saving me. I mean us. How did you find me at the warehouse? I thought all hope was lost when I found out my pendant was gone.”
“I didn’t even know your pendant could track your location until Brian told me after you were admitted. I had put a tracker in the burner phone I gave you. So when I called repeatedly and you didn’t answer, I feared the worst and activated the tracker. I’m glad we got there on time.”
Zora sighed in relief. “I’m glad too. I had tucked the phone into my inner jean pocket which was the only reason they didn’t find it on me. And I’m sure they didn’t expect me to have another phone beyond the one in my bag. Speaking of bags, where’s mine?”
“It’s at the police station as evidence, but I’m picking it up tomorrow once they’ve finished with it.”
“Thanks. Did you find Dr. Edwards?”
“Oh, we caught him alright, trying to run away. He’d scurried out through a side door at the warehouse that was not really visible unless you knew it was there. But he didn’t know our guys had surrounded the warehouse. When he realized it was all over. he sang like a bird t
o cut a deal. So we got the names of the OR team, and found a judge to issue warrants for their arrests. But we don’t know yet if those names are real or fake. Dr. Edwards claimed Thunder was his primary contact with the cartel though another number had called him once. We ran a trace on the number, but it seemed to be unregistered.” Dave tucked an errant lock of her hair behind her ear.
For Zora, it felt intimate, a feeling she welcomed. She gave him a small smile.
“He was arraigned this morning,” Dave continued. “Bail was set at one million dollars, which his wife paid.” “He’s been advised him to stay in town, and we’ve added him to the no-flight list. Unfortunately, Thunder died on the spot so we couldn’t get any information from him. We were able to triangulate his home from the calls on his phone, but we searched it and found nothing. It’s like a dead end.”
Zora could see the tension on Dave’s face. She wished she could ease his frustration.
“But we’ll keep searching. The good thing is that Jasmine’s case has been reopened.” Dave rearranged the sheets around her. “Two detectives will be coming by later to take your statement with regards to the case. I have to be back at the station then, but I’m sure you’ll be fine. They are guys I trust.” Dave took her hand and held it in his. “It’s been an ordeal, right?” he said softly.
Zora nestled back into the pillows as the warmth from his words wrapped around her. She was just glad to be alive and was grateful that it was all over.
But there was only one place she wished to be. “I want to go home.”
EPILOGUE
A week later, Zora was preparing lunch at home. She hummed as she moved about the kitchen in her white tank top and grey capri pants. This was her last day before going back to work, and she’d wanted to cook a thank-you meal for Dave. Well, that’s what she called it.
Christina had improved in the following days after being hospitalized, and Zora had gone to see her. They had hugged and cried, and cried some more. Christina had taken a month off work and had then travelled home to recuperate at her mom’s place. Zora was glad that she hadn’t told Christina’s mom about what happened. It was now up to Christina to determine how much she got to know.
Christina had explained that she had been kidnapped after she’d followed the two men she had caught wheeling Jasmine from the SICU. Once she’d come to, she’d found herself in a strange warehouse and realized she needed to send a message to Zora. So she’d mentioned that she had taped the surgery and had the evidence at home—they’d taken her there first to search for it and had beaten her once they’d realized she’d sent them on a wild goose chase. That was probably when her necklace broke; the same one that Zora had found on the floor of Christina’s room. She’d been confident that Zora would understand what had happened once she saw her thrashed room, though her panic toy idea hadn’t worked.
Lexinbridge Regional Hospital’s ad hoc disciplinary committee had reversed its decision once the case broke, and MEC had accepted the recommendation. Dr. Anderson had resigned and another department chair had temporarily taken his place. Zora heard from Dave that Dr. Graham had fled to Dubai from London to avoid extradition back to the US.
The mystery OR team was still at large. They had disappeared without a trace. Dave had confirmed that there was no Dr. Latam licensed in the state or board certified with the American Board of Anesthesiology—it had been a fake name. The police was trying to track down anyone that fit the description Zora and Christina had given the sketch artist about him, but it didn’t look promising. Dave was also leading the investigation into the cartel that was behind the illegal organ harvesting business.
The SICU nurse had finally surfaced; she had been on a much-needed cruise vacation to Antigua which was why she had switched off her phone. Her statement corroborated with what Christina had already told the detectives.
All in all, Zora had gotten her career back. But it would take some time before everything returned back to normal.
The oven chimed. Zora open its door, pulled the tray filled with grilled salmon cuts, and set it on the kitchen countertop. She grinned. Good thing she hadn’t burned them. It would have been a terrible way to make a first cooking impression. Her nose tingled as the heady smell of spices filled the air. Now all she had left to do was mix the salad ingredients in the glass bowl and cover it up.
Her doorbell rang. Zora set the salad spoon on the counter and hurried to the door. She opened it, expecting to see Dave. Instead she recognized Dave’s partner and another guy.
“What are you doing here?” she asked him.
“Dr. Smyth, you are under arrest for the murder of Dr. Edwards.”
The man in the car watched as Zora was led by the detectives into the police car. The doors slammed shut, and the car drove off. It was a pity that she had to be the fall guy. She should have stopped her friend Dave from digging into the man’s profitable organ business., one that he planned to continue even though his partner, Drake Pierce, was dead.
Since the case had broken open, he’d sent his boys to clean out the penthouse, even Drake’s body. Unfortunately, it had been too late to harvest Drake’s organs. His father had filed a missing person’s report on his behalf, but the man was sure he was only too happy to have his company back. The old man was cold that way.
It was time to leave and get ready for work. The man pressed the ignition button and his car roared to life. He nudged the car into the street and drove away, his ID badge swinging from side to side as it hung from the rear-view mirror.
The ID card bearing the name Thomas Stewart.
Thank you so much for reading!
If you’ve loved reading LETHAL INCISION, Dobi would be grateful if you could spend a few minutes to leave a review (as short as you like) on the book’s Amazon page. Your review would help bring it to the attention of other readers. Thank you very much.
Have you joined our VIP newsletter for exclusive insider info on new releases & news updates? Sign up HERE!
READ MORE BY DOBI CROSS
Dr. Zora Smyth Medical Thriller Series
Lethal Emergency (Prequel)
Read all the books in the Dr. Zora Smyth Medical Thriller Series
SEE ALL OF DOBI CROSS BOOKS
ABOUT DOBI CROSS
As a former physician and business executive in another life—with a childhood filled with reading multi-genre novels—Dobi Cross loves to write thrilling stories with heart. Whether it’d be medical thrillers or whatever book that takes her fancy, Dobi Cross loves to dream up and pen everyday characters that rise above unfavorable circumstances to overcome incredible odds.
Lethal Incision is the second book in the Zora Smyth Medical Thriller Series. Sign up HERE to be notified when the next Dr. Zora Smyth Book comes out!
Dobi also loves to hear from her readers. If you would like to hang out with her and talk about books, join her Facebook VIP Readers Group.
Thanks for reading LETHAL DISSECTION!
www.dobicross.com
[email protected]
Follow Dobi on BookBub
Follow Dobi on Facebook
DEDICATION
To JC, Grandma D, and DC, whom I love more than life itself.
Copyright © 2018 by Dobi Cross
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to events, places, or actual persons living or dead, is unintentional and purely coincidental. The information included does not constitute medical advice and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician
or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Cover Design by Luxhaven Publishing
Interior Design by Luxhaven Publishing