She heard the mobile device click shut. She scampered away just in time and hid in the employee lunchroom, pretending she was cleaning up. After several minutes, she returned to her clandestine mission. The janitor was nowhere in sight. I definitely can’t trust Cesar. She bit her lower lip. Is he Nixon? He’s about the right stature. She felt an emptiness in the pit of her stomach. I’ll know if I look deep into his eyes!
When finished, Kate walked to her car and drove to the supermarket. This store was not the one she typically frequented, but it had the advantage of being near a RadioShack. She would enter the Kroger’s and then make a quick stop at the RadioShack, hoping to remain undiscovered by Nixon’s spyware senses.
Next step was to wait until the monster called her, a call she was anticipating in the near future.
“I want to see my sister,” she commanded Nixon when his call finally arrived. “This evening!”
Tonight, when she would be taken to see Amelia, would be the first of many steps to fight the monster at his own game.
Kate arrived at the soccer fields at 10:42 p.m. and parked by a tall pole with a light fixture. She sat in the Honda waiting and hoped to look into Nixon’s eyes as he approached her.
Her cell phone chimed. “Park away from the light,” said the man. “Drive your car to where you parked before.” And the call went dead. She complied.
In the dark of night and just like before, Nixon instructed her to get out of her car, put her hands on the hood, and face away from him. He exited his car and threw a hood in Kate’s direction. She placed it on her own head. She was frisked thoroughly and then was guided to the backseat of his car. Just like before, this process unfolded without a word. Like before, her mouth was not inspected. He cuffed her to the back passenger seat and drove to the farm. He helped her out of his vehicle and guided her to the barn where Amelia was hidden from the world.
The two girls were locked inside and visited for an hour, at which point Nixon returned to take Kate back to her car. He entered the barn, the Nixon mask covering his face save for his eyes. He threw the hood at her feet and stood wordlessly. Kate endeavored to look into his eyes as she bent down to pick up the head cloak, but the illumination was inadequate, and she remained unable to get a good glimpse into his eyes.
Unlike the first trip to the farm, this time Kate had a bug of her own to plant. She spit out the small transponder device, which would allow her to return to it by GPS, much like the gadget Nixon stuck on her car to be able to track her movements. Yes, this would be the first step in the fight-back process.
The game’s afoot. Kate grinned under the hood. Let’s get dangerous!
CHAPTER 20
Jack was reading a medical journal, waiting for one of his trainee doctors to be done with a patient.
Shelley knocked on the open door to his office. “Dr. Norris, there’s a reporter named Jeff Leones here to see you. Do you have some time to talk to him?”
“Sure,” said Jack, putting his magazine down.
A moment later, Shelley arrived with the journalist. He was a thick man with dark hair dressed in a dark blue suit and a red tie. He carried a small notebook.
“Good morning, Dr. Norris. Thanks for meeting with me,” said Leones. The two shook hands and sat down.
“No problem. What can I do for you?”
“I work for the Courier and Press,” he started, presenting Jack with a business card. “A man called me yesterday evening with some disturbing news. He wouldn’t give his name but stated that he had inside information that a lot of your patients are dying.” The reporter paused momentarily while retrieving a pen from the inside pocket of his jacket. He also produced his glasses from inside his breast pocket and put them on. “He urged me to investigate it.” He adjusted his glasses. “I thought I’d start with you. Are you, in fact, noticing a lot of your patients dying inexplicably?”
“I care for patients whose hearts are extremely sick.” Jack knew one of his patients who arrived in the emergency department two days earlier in cardiac arrest could not be saved. “I’ll need to research it.”
Leones’s eyes returned to his notebook. “Would it surprise you to know that my research has shown that four of your patients died unexpectedly over the past three days?” Leones looked up from his notebook, and his eyes met Jack’s. “Before that, for the last three years, you had lost five patients a year, on average.”
“I don’t know what to think.” Jack felt the blood drain from his face. “I’ll let you know after I check into it.”
“I wish you would,” said the journalist. “This may turn out to be staggering. Something certainly worth your attention.”
“Let me ask you a question,” said Jack. “How do you know all this about my patients?”
“It’s a matter of public record. All deaths are recorded and considered public knowledge. All I had to do was investigate who the patients’ doctors were.” Jeff Leones was a proud reporter, and at this time, his demeanor was that of a cat who just swallowed a mouse. “If this pattern continues, I would think this is a matter of public interest and worthy of print.”
“Can I get you to please hold off on disseminating this information until I can investigate it a little bit on my end?” said Jack.
“I’ll give you seventy-two hours.”
Both men stood, shook hands, and walked out of the small office. Jack guided the reporter to the main exit and walked back to his office.
“Shelley, please page Shalyn for me. She’s over in the hospital making rounds. Ask her to meet me in my office as soon as she can,” he said, passing by the medical assistant.
“Sure,” said Shelley.
Jack wrung his hands. He sat in his office typing fast on his desktop computer. His brain raced a thousand miles a minute.
A few minutes later, Shalyn arrived. “What’s up?”
Jack filled her in on his conversation with Leones. “Have you heard anything about my patients dying?”
“I know of two patients of yours who died recently. I was going to tell you when I saw you. I know one of them was stable and doing well. The other patient I didn’t remember.” Shalyn sat down and faced him. “Want me to look into it?”
“Yes, please. I think we need to get our hands around the facts and, if it’s true, figure out what’s happening and do something about it quickly.”
“I think we’ll find out it’s a statistical aberrancy—more deaths now, fewer later on. It’ll all even out in the long run,” offered Shalyn. “From a medical point of view, no other possibility makes sense. We give people the right meds for their heart problems and advise them on healthier lifestyles. Some get better and thrive; others don’t.” She paused, her forehead wrinkling. “But I’ll get the facts.”
“The implication is that I’m not a good doctor,” said Jack.
“Now, wait just a minute. Who’s saying that? That’s ridiculous,” Shalyn said. “This anonymous character?” She sat up on the edge of her seat and whispered. “Someone after you?”
“Maybe.” His voice became even more subdued. Concerned. “What if he’s back, Shalyn?”
“The Rat Poison guy?” she said, lowering her voice. “Lagrange?”
“Who else would want to discredit me in the community?” said Jack.
“Do you think he wants revenge?”
Jack nodded his head. “I thought he’d come back to poison and kill me. If this is him, he’s just out to ruin me. Lucky me, huh?”
“Oh my,” said Shalyn. “A string of deaths among our stable cardiac patients…the whole thing does have a flavor of sabotage.”
“Find out who has died in the last six months for all our doctors,” said Jack. “Go back and get the facts for the last three years for comparison.”
“I’ll start right now. I’ll have the info by tomorrow.” She headed to the door.
“S
halyn, thank you. Let’s keep this hush-hush until we know more.”
She looked back and nodded as their gazes locked for a split moment.
Alone again, Jack rubbed his temples. He grabbed the phone and prepared to call Claire. As he picked up the receiver, a voice interrupted him.
“This gentleman is here to see you, Dr. Norris,” said Shelley. An older, overweight man accompanied her into the office.
“You’ve been served,” he said emotionlessly, handing Jack an official-looking letter. “Have a nice day.” The man exited the office and disappeared. Uncomfortably, Shelley followed suit. Jack looked at the envelope for a few seconds and then opened it up.
“Shit. I’m being sued.”
CHAPTER 21
Kate was having lunch alone, sitting on an outside bench under a large oak tree in the hospital campus. A few yards away, five ducklings followed mama duck into the pond. The serenity expressed by the picture-perfect scene was medicinal to her. She needed time alone. Time to reflect. Time to make tough decisions about her next move.
“Hi, Kate. May I join you?”
Kate looked back to see Lance Lantz, the lab guy, approach her. “Not now. I need to be alone.” She felt her eyes begin to well up.
“I don’t want to bother you, but I have something very important to tell you.” He held an envelope he was carrying in his right hand. “Please, may I have a few minutes of your time?”
She nodded. “What’s in the packet?”
“I have some pictures to show you.” Lance produced three five-by-eight photographs and placed them on the bench facing her. “Do you know this man?”
Kate put her sandwich down on a napkin and studied the pictures. She picked one up and brought it closer. She focused on the man’s face. “This is Cesar, the new office janitor.” She put the picture down on the table and picked up another. “When…why did you take this picture?”
“I was just playing around with my new camera, taking pictures of this and that, when I saw you. I was sitting up there.” He pointed to a branch about ten feet up the oak tree right beside them. “First, I saw you talking to Dr. Norris. Then I saw this guy several feet from the two of you. I could have sworn he was spying on the two of you. It seemed to me he was trying to listen in on your conversation while hiding from you.” His gaze shifted from the picture to hers. “So I took his picture to show you. To warn you about him.”
“Wow! Thank you, Lance,” said Kate. “Do you know anything about this man?”
“No. Never saw him before.”
“May I keep these pictures?”
Lance nodded his head. “They’re yours to keep.” His hand met hers. “Are you in trouble, Kate? Because if you are, I’d like to help.”
“You’re a sweet guy, Lance.” She forced a smile. “Now, would you mind if I finish my lunch alone?”
“I don’t mind, Kate. I’ll leave you be.” Lance turned around and walked away.
• • •
As he sauntered to his car, Lance smiled. That went well. He felt elated about his accomplishment. I can’t believe I got the guts to approach her. He briefly looked back at Kate, who was facing away from him. She’s so sad. She must be thinking about her fiancé. They must have had a fight. Maybe they’ll break the engagement. If they do, I’ll be there to pick up the pieces. There’s still hope for us, Nurse Kate. He reached his car. I’ll send you some candid pictures of your beautiful face. And your family. I have some special pictures of your sister Amelia. I bet you’d love to see those. And if you did, I bet you’d give your love to me. Forever.
Lance used the keyless remote to unlock his vehicle. He opened the truck and removed his Canon Rebel camera already mounted with its enormous lens for closeup shots. Let’s take some more close-ups, Kate, shall we? He would sneak around and click off a few, highlighting her beautiful, mesmerizing features. He had never taken her picture while she was sad, so the prospect of so doing today caused him some excitement. He grabbed his equipment and closed the trunk.
In the near distance and from behind, Lance heard the noise of screeching tires. He turned to see what was happening. What occurred next surprised and shocked him. A dark-colored van had come to a sudden halt a few feet from him. One man exited the vehicle and snatched his camera equipment. Two others clutched his arms forcibly and forced him into the back of the van. The doors shut with a loud thud. One of the men had his strong hand over Lance’s mouth, preventing him from screaming. He could hardly breathe.
Lance recognized Cesar, the man in his pictures, who sat behind the wheel. The van accelerated away and continued nonstop out of the parking lot, and soon it was off the hospital’s campus.
CHAPTER 22
Kate had begun to feel a glimmer of hope now that she had a plan of action. Despite the risk it would undoubtedly carry to Amelia and her, she felt that enlisting Dr. Jack Norris was an absolute necessity. This had to be done clandestinely. Nixon couldn’t even remotely suspect it. Kate worried about who else he had in his corner, providing damning testimony of her moves. She wondered if there were spy devices in the office, and if so, where they were hidden. Thinking about these issues made her anger slowly morph into angst.
• • •
When Jack entered the break room at the clinic, the murmur of the ongoing conversation was suddenly replaced by uncomfortable silence, as all eyes focused on him.
“What?” said Jack, looking at the front of his pants. “Is my fly undone?”
“No. It’s not your zipper,” said Shelley. “We’re concerned about you. How you must be feeling about what is going on with your patients.”
“What about my patients?”
“There’s a rumor that a lot of your patients are dying all of a sudden,” said Shelley. “People who had been doing well. Like Mrs. Tenaski.”
“Roberta Tenaski died?” said Jack. “I hadn’t heard about her. She was rock stable and doing so well. I just saw her a couple of days ago.”
Kate entered the break room. “Dr. Norris, I need you to look through these as soon as you can. There are important messages and labs that need your immediate attention.”
“Put them in my office, please. I’ll get to them later.”
“I’d appreciate it if you worked on them immediately. I need to call some of the patients today.” With these emphatic words, Kate exited the room.
Jack followed her out. “Kate, what’s wrong? This is just not you. I know there’s something wrong. What is it? Let me help. Please!”
Disregarding his words, Kate continued to walk away briskly, almost galloping, and disappeared around the corner. She entered Jack’s office and dropped the stack of charts on the desk.
Jack ambled into his office and sat at his desk. What the hell is going on around here? My patients are dying. My staff is looking at me differently.
Intrigue rising, Jack picked up the first chart from the pile. In it, a yellow tab indicated the document of interest. He opened the chart to that page. It was a slip with the results of blood drawn earlier that morning. All values were normal. He scribbled his initials on the page, indicating that he had noted and reviewed the document. The second chart had a similar yellow tab calling attention to a normal EKG done earlier. Irritably, he signed the tracing.
“What is the rush in doing this now, Kate?” he said, signing the x-ray report on the third chart. Like all the others, this had been a routine test showing no pathology, which could have been signed anytime later. Infuriated, Jack dumped the chart loudly on the Done pile with the others. But the next record piqued his attention. A short letter from a referring doctor captured his attention:
Dear Jack, I saw our mutual patient, Robert Armstrong, today. I had a meeting with him and his family, where we discussed his desire to proceed with…
The letter went on and on, but what stood out for Jack was the word meeting. It was highlighted wit
h a yellow marker. After reading the rest of the message and signing it, as was customary, Jack hurriedly opened the next chart. Nothing there other than routine gobbledygook. No special markings. The next chart had two yellow tabs. The first was on a lab slip with the number 2 yellowed out. It referred to a magnesium level of 2.1, which was normal. Having this yellowed out would make no clinical sense. It had to be a message from Kate. The next chart had nothing special, but the next had a report on bacterial susceptibility to different bactericidal agents. The letters Am of the antibiotic Ampicillin were yellowed out.
“OK, what do we have so far, Kate?” he mumbled to himself. It was now clear she was sending him and only him a message: meeting at two Am. Jack bit his lower lip. OK. Tell me where. Two in the morning is awfully early, Kate. This had better be important. Very important!
Jack hurriedly opened the next patient record. The next two charts had nothing yellowed out. The one after that had the Metro portion of the word Metropolitan yellowed out. A few charts later, the word soccer was yellowed out in a letter asking for Jack’s opinion about a patient playing soccer given a history of heart arrhythmias. Having reviewed all charts, Jack concluded he had deciphered Kate’s message: “Meet at Metro Soccer Complex at 2:00 a.m.” Since there was a request from Kate for Jack to rush reviewing the paperwork, he understood the meeting was to take place that very night. The entire pile reviewed and documents signed, Jack calmly took the charts to Kate, who nervously sat at her desk.
“All done,” said Jack, his eyes fixated on hers. “I got them all.” With an almost imperceptible nod, Jack handed the stack to Kate.
• • •
Not far from the place where this exchange took place, the janitor paused. He was pushing a large cart, dumping the contents of small garbage pails into his large container. Blending in with the office décor and overlooked by all, he unhurriedly walked away from the medical personnel. When he reached his janitorial closet, he removed his cell phone from his shirt pocket and dialed.
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