by Jane Toombs
“Okay, Tiger, time to have this out man to man,” Zed said. He picked up the boy, positioned him against his chest, held him there and began pacing through the two rooms, in and out and in and out, whistling as he walked. Danny’s crying gradually subsided. When Zed felt him relax under his hands, he stopped whistling but kept walking, slowing his pace.
Karen came alongside him to peer at Danny. “He’s asleep,” she whispered.
But when Zed tried to put him back into the crib, Danny clung to him. Sighing, Zed eased down onto Karen’s bed, stretching out and shifting the boy so Danny lay on his chest. Karen spread a baby blanket over him, then curled next to Zed, pulling up the covers.
For a time Zed was afraid to speak for fear of waking Danny, but when he realized that Karen was laughing, he whispered, “What’s so funny?”
“Did you realize what you were whistling?” she asked softly.
“Not really.”
“It took me a while to place the song. I’m into old movies and I think it’s from a Fred Astaire film, though I believe I’ve heard a Sinatra version. I’m not sure of the song’s actual name, but it says something about one for my baby and one for the road.”
Zed smiled, amused at what his subconscious had come up with.
“He’s attuned to your heartbeat now,” she said.
“My heartbeat?”
“That’s what he hears when he lies against your chest The beat is reassuring and makes him relax. Don’t forget that before he’s born a baby listens to his mother’s heartbeat for nine months.”
Zed lay there marveling that the beating of his heart could reassure Danny enough to put the boy to sleep. Though he was acutely aware of Kaven next to him, his desire for her was mixed with contentment. The three of them were together and, for the moment, that was enough.
The last thing he intended to do was to fall asleep….
After wandering alone and confused in a concealing mist for what seemed like forever, he grew aware that he was rising off the ground, floating in a pleasant warmth, no longer alone. Karen floated with him in a soft nimbus, her fingers lightly stroking his lips, gently caressing his face, touching his closed eyelids….
Zed woke abruptly to a room light with morning and Danny peering into his face. “Da,” Danny said as Zed removed the boy’s finger from his nose. “Da, da.”
Next to them, Karen groaned and turned over so she faced in their direction. “It’s morning!” she cried. “I must have fallen asleep.”
“We shared a bed after all,” Zed told her.
After breakfast they drove to the marina and talked to the woman who registered the boats. “Yeah, I remember the Maddamti,” she said. “Hard to forget a name like that. The boat’s not here, though. Her owner sailed north yesterday, heading for Monterey. We warned him a storm was edging down the coast, but he figured he could make it around the peninsula and into Monterey Bay before the front reached San Francisco.”
Remembering the weather map he’d watched on TV this morning, Zed shook his head. “I wouldn’t care to try it.”
“If he has any sense he’ll put in at Carmel,” the woman said. “This northern coast is trickier than sailors who aren’t from around here realize.” She narrowed her eyes at Zed. “You know, if you had a beard you’d look a lot like that guy.”
Zed half smiled. “So I’ve been told. Thanks for your info.”
As they left, Zed said to Karen, “Missed him by a day. Maybe the Paiutes have something with their idea of a trickster somewhere out there interfering with us.”
Karen shrugged. “We know where he’s headed and that he’s grown a beard. The only question is Carmel or Monterey?”
“We can stop in Carmel and check but I’d bet this guy’s going to chance the peninsula and go all the way. He’s a risk taker. I feel it in my bones.”
They made good time as they traveled north on Highway 1. If Zed hadn’t been so intent on catching up with Maddamti’s owner, he could have relaxed and enjoyed the spectacular beauty of the rugged coastline but, as it was, he felt driven. Outside Carmel the clouds that had been gathering and thickening rose to cover the sky.
“He’s a damn fool if he didn’t pull in to Carmel Bay,” Zed told Karen.
But, as they discovered at the marina, the Maddamti was not moored in the bay. A thin, wind-driven rain began before they got back to the car. “From here we cut across the peninsula,” he said. “By car it’s only a few miles. By boat it’s a long way around and no place to be in a storm. Let’s hope he’s made it already.”
Visibility on Highway 1 soon dropped from poor to miserable, and the wipers were unable to keep up with the sheets of rain drenching the peninsula. Blasts of wind forced Zed to clench his hands on the wheel to keep the car on the road.
“Maybe we should have stayed in Carmel,” Karen said.
He glanced back at her, noting that Danny had fallen asleep in his car seat, undisturbed by the violence of the storm. “It’s not far,’’ he told her. “Less than ten miles—we’ll make it.”
The lack of visibility forced Zed to reduce speed until the car was barely crawling along, headlights next to useless in the heavy rain. A van blasted by him, cutting in ahead of him with inches to spare, leaving him muttering curses under his breath at the driver’s stupidity. He rounded a curve and sucked in his breath in dread. Directly ahead of him the van slanted crosswise in his lane, the needled branches of a fallen fir looming above the wrecked car.
With a rocky bank to his right, the van directly ahead and the downed tree blocking the left lane, there was no escape. “Hang on!” he called to Karen as he fought to bring the car to a halt without slamming into any of the obstacles.
For a split second he thought he might make it, then the tires skidded on the wet pavement. He struggled for control, but with a sickening screech of torn metal the rear left side of the car rammed the back of the van. The driver’s air bag deployed, cutting off Zed’s vision. Karen’s screams echoed in his ears and the insidious odor of gasoline filled his nostrils.
Unable to get out the driver’s side, Zed fought his way free of the air bag, flung himself through the opposite door, wrenched open the back door on that side and dived inside, calling Karen’s name. “Are you hurt?” he asked.
“Please help me,” she begged, her voice quivering. “I can’t seem to get Danny out of his car seat.”
The van’s headlights shed enough illumination for Zed to see why. The boy was pinned by a chunk of metal that curved into the car seat. Rather than risking injury to Danny by trying to lift him from the seat, Zed eased the protesting Karen out of the car and then struggled to unlatch the car seat itself.
“It’s okay, Tiger,” he muttered as he worked, “I’ll get you out of here, don’t worry. Everything’s going to be all right.” He refused to let himself believe otherwise; he wouldn’t let himself wonder why the boy wasn’t crying.
He finally wriggled the seat loose and away from the bulging metal. As he hoisted Danny, seat and all, from the wrecked car into the rain, he heard the wail of an approaching emergency vehicle and prayed it was an ambulance.
Karen couldn’t remember exactly how she and Zed had gotten to the emergency waiting room of the hospital. Had they ridden in the ambulance with Danny? She clung to Zed’s hand, her dazed mind filled with apprehension. Miraculously, both she and Zed had escaped serious injury but, if she could, she’d gladly trade places with Danny, who had been hurt. No one had yet told her how badly. All she knew was that he’d been unconscious when they took him off to be X-rayed. At the moment she and Zed were waiting for the doctors to finish a CAT scan.
Zed put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, as comforted as she could feel under the circumstances. He’s going to be all right, she whispered.
“Believe it,” he assured her.
The door to the emergency treatment area opened and a nurse motioned to them. When they hurried to her, she drew them inside and said, “Danny may
need blood. The problem is he has an unusual type—”
Zed interrupted. “My blood matches his. I can donate blood for him.”
The nurse—Penny Norton, according to her badge—frowned. “Are you certain?”
Zed nodded and Karen said, “Yes, it’s true. Zed’s and Danny’s blood matches all the way. How is Danny? Can I see him?”
“In a few minutes,” the nurse said. “We’ll let you know. If you’ll come with me, Zed, we’ll test your blood.”
Reluctant to be parted from Zed for even a moment, Karen accompanied him into a cubicle, where he lay on a stretcherlike table. A technician wearing gloves and a mask drew blood from him and took the sample away.
Whether it was minutes or hours later that she came back Karen couldn’t be sure. Time had no meaning, no reality. Penny and the technician set up equipment and put a needle into Zed’s arm. Soon Karen could see his blood filling a plastic container. At that point one of the doctors poked his head into the cubicle. “Karen Henderson?” he asked.
Karen left Zed to join the doctor, who shook her hand. “Dr. Nelson,” he said. “I’m a neurosurgeon. I’ve looked at your son’s pictures and we may have to operate to relieve a hematoma.” He sat her down at a desk and drew her a picture, explaining how a blood clot had formed inside Danny’s skull due to his head being banged against the metal.
“The clot can cause pressure against the brain, which is dangerous. If it gets any larger we’ll have to intervene to prevent brain damage.”
Karen swallowed. “What if it doesn’t get any bigger?”
Dr. Nelson smiled. “We can always hope the clot will resolve and be absorbed instead. In which case, surgery may not be needed.”
“Is there—” Her voice faltered and she had to clear her throat before she could go on. “Does he have any other injuries?”
“A few scrapes and bruises. Nothing to worry you or us. We’ve admitted him to ICU—undoubtedly you’d like to be with him. I’ll have you sign the necessary forms there.”
At the sight of Danny lying in a rolling bed with tubes stuck into him, Karen took a deep breath and let it out while she counted to ten. No matter how tiny and helpless he looked, this was not the time to cry. She sat on the stool next to the bed and put her hand to his cheek. “I’m here, sweetie,” she murmured. “Karen’s here. I won’t leave you, I won’t ever leave you.”
It broke her heart to realize she couldn’t promise to keep him safe, nor could she assure him everything was all right Blinking back tears, she very gently began to stroke his legs and arms, careful to avoid the tubes. Not once did she glance up at what she knew must be the monitors showing his heartbeats. He was alive and she was with him—that’s all she could be sure of right now.
Zed, sitting impatiently on the edge of the table after his blood had been drawn, said to Penny, “I feel fine. Not at all dizzy. There’s no need to keep me here.”
“You’re the judge,” she said. “But take it easy for a few minutes, okay?”
He slid off the table. “Can you tell me where Karen and Danny are?”
“The boy’s in ICU and I imagine she’s with him.” Penny told him how to get there.
Like all hospitals, this one had too many twisty corridors where a guy could get lost, but he finally came to a door with an ICU label. As he pushed it open, a nurse appeared. “Who are you visiting?” she asked. “Are you a relative?” Before he answered, she shook her head. “I don’t know why I bothered to ask. Of course you’re a relative—you look just like him. He’s in 5A.” She gestured to her left. “Around that way.”
Zed hurried in that direction, finding 5A with no difficulty, a cubicle with no door rather than a room. He entered and stopped short, staring. Not at Danny but at the man who lay in the bed, obviously unconscious. He was dark haired, with a curly black beard. Despite the beard, Zed immediately recognized him as the man in the photo. The man he was searching for.
He’d known all along there was a marked resemblance between him and the man in the photo, but that hadn’t prepared him for seeing the man in the flesh. He advanced slowly toward the bed.
“Sir?” The voice came from behind him. Zed turned to see the nurse who’d directed him here. “If you don’t mind, Dr. Nelson would like to speak to you. He’s waiting at the desk.”
Unsure what to do, Zed followed her to the nursing station. A tall blond man rose from his chair and shook his hand, saying, “Dr. Nelson. You’re Zed Adams?”
Zed nodded.
“I know you came in with Danny Henderson. Are you related to the man in 5A?”
Zed hesitated. Was he? Didn’t he have to be, considering everything? “No, I’m not,” he said finally. “There was a misunderstanding and the nurse misdirected me here—I was looking for Danny’s room.”
“I’ve encouraging news for you about Danny,” the doctor said. “The clot hasn’t grown larger, his vital signs are improving, and he’s beginning to respond. Unless his condition changes radically, it doesn’t look as though Danny will need the surgery you donated blood for.”
Zed’s heart leapt. “That’s the best news I’ve ever heard.”
Dr. Nelson nodded. “The man in 5A is another matter. He’s lost a lot of blood from his injuries—a compound fracture of his left tibia and a shattered ankle. He’d be in surgery now except for the fact they didn’t have a blood match for him. At least, not until you appeared.”
Zed stared at him. “What do I have to do with it?”
“Your blood is a perfect match. Both of you have this rare component—”
“A match to Danny’s blood, you mean.”
“That, too. The lab tech couldn’t believe her eyes when she was sent three samples in a row and they all matched down to the last component. She mentioned this remarkable coincidence to me and I told the orthopedic surgeon I’d talk to you. What I’m saying is that the blood you donated for Danny is needed for the man in 5A. It’s really an emergency.”
Zed frowned. “But what if Danny needs the blood?”
“I doubt he will. If I’m wrong, well, we didn’t exactly drain you, you know. You can spare another pint, should it become necessary.”
“Go ahead, then. Glad to help.”
Dr. Nelson nodded. “Thanks.”
“Can you tell me what kind of an accident caused the man’s injuries?”
“I heard his sailboat rammed rocks outside the harbor in the storm. He was lucky to be rescued before he drowned or bled to death.” He pointed to a room directly across from the station. “Danny’s in there.”
Zed found Karen seated beside Danny’s bed. She turned to him. “He’s better,” she said with a smile. “I’m so relieved. They may move him to the pediatric ward, where he can be in a crib.”
Gazing down at Danny, Zed felt his heart contract. Dark bruises discolored the boy’s face and he lay so still in the bed. Too still. “Are you sure he’s better?” he blurted.
“Dr. Nelson told me so. Besides, Danny’s moved his arms and made sucking sounds like he’s coming out of his coma. I think he’s searching for his blue horse. We’ll have to find it.”
Zed nodded. He meant to tell her about the man in 5A. He had to be Talal Zohir, though Zed had deliberately not asked the man’s name because, somehow, he was reluctant to hear it. He wanted to talk to Karen about all this, but found he couldn’t. Not yet Not until he understood what the blood match meant. Despite his apprehension over Danny, he had to fight an urge to return to 5A even though he couldn’t possibly learn any more from an unconscious man than he already knew.
Why had the memory of the red ball and the sand flashed through his mind when he looked at the bearded man’s face? It was as if he groped through a mist as dense, as the fog in his dreams. None of it made any sense.
Chapter Nine
Close to midnight the doctor decided Danny’s condition had stabilized and he could be moved to pediatrics. Since Karen would be with the boy, Zed realized he could be spared for a while. Karen h
ad insisted she wasn’t hungry, but he planned to bring back some food if he could locate any. Also, he needed to find out from the police where Karen’s car had been towed so they could retrieve their belongings in the morning.
After talking to the police from a pay phone in the hospital lobby, he called a cab. When it arrived, he hurried out, noticing in passing that no more than a drizzle remained of the rain.
“Food?” the cabbie said when Zed asked him. “Getting pretty late. Your best bet’s got to be this supermarket that stays open twenty-four hours. You want I should take you there?”
“Yeah. And wait for me.”
In the market the deli was closed, so Zed foraged along the shelves, emerging from the market with crackers, cheese, peanut butter, plastic knives, soft drinks and, just in case, arrowroot biscuits. His prize, though, was the blue octopus stuffed toy he’d spotted on his way to the check-out, counter. Maybe Danny wouldn’t accept a tentacle in place of his horse’s ear, but it was worth a try. At least it was blue, if that meant anything.
He paid off the cab and reentered the hospital. He’d been told where pediatrics was but, instead, he found himself returning to ICU.
“Has Talal Zohir been to surgery yet?” he asked the nurse on duty.
“He’s still in the operating room,” she replied.
He started to ask her how Talal was doing but stopped himself as he realized she’d have no way to know. “Thanks,” he said and left ICU.
On the next floor he located Danny’s room and brought in his booty to share with Karen. Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she smiled when she saw the toy he’d bought.
“A blue octopus, of all things,” she said, shaking her head.
“How is he?”
“When they moved him, he opened his eyes and looked at me. The nurse said that was a good sign.”
As if summoned by Karen’s words, a nurse entered the room. She checked on Danny, then motioned to them to move away from the crib toward the door.