“Is there any way you can get your hands on that parcel? It may contain a clue as to Megan’s whereabouts.”
“Okay, Jake. I’ll see if the cook will let me post it for her. I don’t think she drives, as her son always picks her up here after work.”
“One more thing, Wolf, don’t risk trying to search around the house. It would arouse too much suspicion if you were seen and make it harder to get hold of the parcel. Let us know how you get on. Tuck is going to wait in the clinic for now,” said Jake.
As he turned to walk back towards the house, Wolf noticed someone opening the garage door and went over to talk to him.
“Hola, Pedro. Un coche hermoso,” he said, running his hand along the side of the vehicle parked up inside.
“Si, Senor Wolf, this is a very nice car. It is such a shame for it to spend so much time locked away in here. The only time this car is on the road these days is when Senorita Megan comes to visit.”
“Mind if I sit inside, Pedro. I’ve been in it once before, with Megan. Those seats sure are comfortable.”
“It’s not locked, I have instructions to valet the car before Doctor Brubaker comes back this evening. You won’t be in my way until I have to clean the inside.”
Wolf thanked Pedro and sat into the driver’s seat. He looked in the glove compartment. There was nothing unusual inside but on the floor at the passenger side lay a crumpled up dressing. Wolf checked that he wasn’t being watched before picking it up and placing it in his pocket. Satisfied there were no clues to be found in the car, he got out.
“Gracias, Pedro. My van is ready now but I must say goodbye to Isabella before I go. Hasta luego,” Wolf shook the man’s hand.
In the kitchen, the cook had prepared some lunch for Wolf. As he ate he mentioned that he would be travelling through town if she needed a lift in to post the parcel.
“Or I can post it for you. It’s the least I can do for making me such a lovely meal, Isabella.”
She thought about this for a moment, then said she would be very grateful for a ride into town whenever he was ready to go.
“I had better post it myself, if you don’t mind. Doctor Brubaker likes things to be carried out exactly as he says.”
Wolf decided not to push it and when he had finished eating, they both set off in his van.
At the post office there was a long queue for parcel post. Wolf had gone inside with Isabella, pretending to verify the address of another ranch. He watched her in the queue and noticed how agitated she was. When he had finished speaking to a clerk, Wolf went over to Isabella and offered to take her place if there was somewhere else she needed to go.
“Gracias, Senor Wolf, I will hurry back. Keep the receipt if you are served before I return.”
Five minutes after Isabella left the building, Wolf got into his van, placing the parcel on the passenger seat. He switched on his earpiece and asked Jake what he should do next.
“Well done, son. Come straight to the clinic. There’s something fishy going on in there. All the armed guards are gone and Tuck hasn’t seen any sign of Henry Brubaker. Park up beside us and we’ll take a look at that package,” said Jake.
When Wolf parked behind the clinic, he made sure nobody was watching as he knocked on the side of the hired van. Lloyd opened the door, taking the parcel from him.
“You don’t think Brubaker had any ideas of getting revenge on my family, do you. I mean, it is safe to open this isn’t it, Jake?” Lloyd asked.
“If it was meant to cause any damage it would never have gotten through the explosive and chemical detectors of the postal system and Brubaker would be aware of that. Besides, that’s not his style.”
“I agree with you, Jake, but just to be on the safe side let me have it Lloyd,” said Duke, holding out his hand.
Stepping outside the van, he carefully untied the ribbon and opened the wrapping paper. Inside was a pink and white striped cardboard box. The lid didn’t seem to be taped down and when Duke lifted it he could see printed fabric inside.
“All clear. It’s just a dress,” he said, climbing back into the van.
“That’s like the dress Megan wore when we went to the cinema,” said Wolf. “She told me she had bought one for Amelia, too.”
Duke picked up an envelope that was sitting on top of the dress and held it up.
“I’m sure Amelia won’t mind us opening it, there’s a lot at stake here,” said Jake, taking it from him.
As the envelope was being opened Lloyd noticed something sticking out from under the fabric. He picked it up and realised it was a greeting card with his surname written on it.
“This is a Thank You card from Megan to my family for having her stay. That girl had no intention of disappearing. She has definitely been abducted,” he said.
Jake removed a piece of folded paper from the envelope. It was a note wrapped around something. He read aloud the words scrawled across it.
“It says, GET TO CLINIC QUICKLY, MEGAN BEHIND A DOOR IN PHARMACY, and look what we have here,” Jake held up a keycard for everyone to see.
“We’re coming in, Tuck,” Duke said into the microphone. “Get ready for Plan B.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Wolf walked through the front entrance of the clinic and asked at reception about his friend, Harley. He was told to join Tuck in the waiting room and as soon as the results of some tests were through they would be informed.
“What’s going on, we don’t have a Plan B, do we?” Tuck whispered to Wolf when he entered the room.
“We do now. Jake is flashing his badge at reception as we speak and is on his way to arrest us. Just play along with him.”
Instructing the unarmed security guard to close off the corridor, Jake headed for the pharmacy. Duke called the boys out from the waiting room as they passed by.
“What, no handcuffs?” asked Tuck as he and Wolf followed the men.
A nurse was filling in a form in the pharmacy as they entered. Jake held up his badge and asked if she could organize a doctor and a crash cart, as there was the possibility of an emergency situation developing. Without asking any questions, she ran back up the corridor.
“That’s the door,” said Jake, taking the key card from his pocket.
“Tuck, stay here and keep your earpiece switched on,” Duke said. “Wolf, you come with us.”
There was an eerie silence as they walked to the end of the corridor. The key card worked the elevator and when it descended, Jake asked Wolf to stand holding the doors open in case they needed a quick escape. The three men paused for a moment before unlocking the next door.
Jake was the only one armed with a gun, which he was permitted to carry as a private detective. Duke had a knife, and Lloyd carried a baton that Jake had given him earlier. The scene that met their eyes when the door opened shocked them to the core.
“Tuck get that crash cart down here now,” Duke shouted into his mouthpiece.
Lloyd walked around the young teenager, lying on the table. He could see by the monitors and the rhythmic movement of his chest that he was still alive. The woman next to him seemed to be breathing but her monitors gave a different reading. He looked over at Jake, who had been checking the small chambers leading off the large room that they stood in. The men were speechless as they tried to make sense of what their eyes were taking in.
“They need the lift, can I come in now?” Wolf shouted.
He walked in without waiting for an answer.
“Radar. That’s Radar,” the young man struggled to get past Duke.
“Okay, son, but you can’t go near him until a doctor gets here. Look at the monitors, his heart rate and breathing are all good. I think he’s just unconscious,” said Lloyd.
“What’s wrong with his head?” asked Wolf.
Before anyone could answer him, he was pushed aside as an emergency team rushed past him. They stopped suddenly in their tracks. By the look on the faces of the doctor and two nurses holding onto the cart it was obvious n
one of them had ever been in that room before.
“Can someone please tell us what on earth is going on here?” the doctor asked.
“Your guess is as good as ours. This is the first time any of us have been down here,” said Jake.
The doctor was looking at Radar’s open scalp. Both nurses were checking the monitors and reporting on the condition of the patients.
“The woman is brain dead, but the boy seems fine apart from being anesthetized and having a major head wound,” said the doctor. “We can’t move either of them for now. This place is as good as any to close up his scalp and we need to do it now as we don’t know how long he’s been under. Could you all please wait outside while we get on with it?”
Lloyd took Wolf by the arm and turned to leave but Jake called out to Duke to stay just inside the door.
“Sorry, but this place is a forensic gold mine, I can’t leave it totally unguarded,” said the detective. “My friend here won’t get in your way, he will just be observing.”
As they sat outside in the waiting area, leaving the door open, they could hear the doctor instructing his team on what to do. The bleeps of the monitors sounded ominous until the elevator doors opened and Tuck burst into the room, breaking the silence.
“I’m lucky that old security guy upstairs isn’t armed. He tried to arrest me, even managed to get one of my hands cuffed, look,” Tuck held out an arm, a pair of handcuffs dangling from his wrist.
The look on Wolf’s face was enough to let him know that something was seriously wrong. He sat on the chair next to his friend.
“Is it Megan? Is she in there?” asked Tuck.
Wolf shook his head. “No, it’s Radar. He’s alive but out cold. The doctor is in there working on him. There’s no sign of Megan.”
Jake filled Tuck in on what they had seen and what was going on with his young friend, until Duke called out to him.
“The doctor says the boy can be moved now but the woman will have to stay. He says he wants to talk to you in private.”
Jake braced himself before entering the operating theatre again, having hated the smell of hospitals ever since his wife’s death. He hadn’t been allowed to accompany her to the clinic in Mexico where she was treated. Looking around at the extensive medical equipment, Jake felt a brief sense of gratitude to Henry Brubaker for whatever he had done to help his wife gain ten more years of life. That feeling was quickly replaced by one of repulsion as he listened to the doctor’s prognosis on the woman lying before him.
“I don’t have the proper training to do anything for this patient. She needs a brain surgeon. We’ve done a scan on both of them. The boy is fine and there doesn’t seem to be any damage to his vital organs. In fact, he is in very good health.”
The doctor walked over to the pulsating brain, still hooked up to the monitors and placed a hand on the glass case.
“As for this, I have no idea what was going on here. DNA results might shed a bit more light on the subject. There is no paperwork or any hint as to who these patients are or even what drugs they have been given, we looked everywhere before disconnecting the boy from his monitors. My fear is that he may wake up soon and although physically he is in good shape, I can’t vouch for his psychological condition. It would be far better if he was to come round upstairs, in a private room. Do I have your permission to move him?”
Jake swept an arm towards the door. “Please go ahead, doctor. Would it be okay for his friends to sit with him?”
“I don’t see why they can’t, it may be exactly what he needs when he regains consciousness. I’ll be on hand in case of any complications but I am quite confident this young man will make a complete recovery, physically that is.”
As Radar was wheeled out of the sinister operating theatre Tuck and Wolf could hardly look at him. They waited silently with Jake and Duke for the elevator to return. Memories of their treatment at the clinic when they had been abducted came flooding back. The two young men could sense what the other was thinking and Tuck put an arm around Wolf as they stepped inside the elevator.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Radar’s eyes began to open on the way to one of the private recovery rooms. He was placed near a shaded window and Tuck held onto his hand. The doctor stood back, observing. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light, Radar could see a familiar face leaning over him, then another came into view.
“Tuck, Wolf, where am I? How did you find me?” Radar tried to raise his head.
The doctor stepped forward, speaking softly, telling him to lie back and rest. He assured the young teenager that his friends would be staying with him and if he needed anything, a nurse would be just outside the door. Drawing Wolf aside, the doctor spoke to him quietly.
“He will have to stay on the monitors for now. This lead here, connected to his head, is a pain management sensor. Don’t let him remove any of these until I have the results of his tests,” said the doctor before leaving the room.
“Here, have a sip of water,” Tuck put a straw to Radar’s lips.
“Thanks, my mouth feels like sandpaper. Where’s Megan, is she okay?”
“Was she down there with you? There’s no sign of her now. Can you remember the last time you saw her, Radar?” Wolf felt sick at the thought of what might have happened to her.
Jake stepped into the room when he heard Radar speaking. Tuck introduced him, explaining what they had all been doing in their search for Megan.
“If we hadn’t been looking for her, then we would never have found you. At least not in time,” Jake said. “The doctor has just told me he has the results of a test that was done on the drugs you were given. Apparently, one of the drips you were on was meant to put you to sleep, for good. So, young man, you owe Megan big time. Try and remember everything you can since leaving Antarctica. The doctor said as long as we don’t tire you out too much it will be okay to question you.”
Radar related the events leading up to the time the stun guns had been used on himself and Megan. Then the fear he had felt at being lifted onto the operating table and the jabs all over his scalp.
“I think I passed out just when some red lights began to flash around the room. I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything after that. The last time I saw Megan was when we tried to make a run for it.”
“Do you know who that lady downstairs is, the one we found hooked up to monitors beside you?” asked Jake.
Radar shook his head, telling them she was there when he arrived. Every day Henry Brubaker would stand over her, taking hold of her hand. Even though Radar couldn’t hear what was said, he could tell from the body language that she was someone he cared about.
“Don’t worry, son, DNA tests will sort that out. I think it’s time we let you rest. We can go over this again later,” Lloyd said, beckoning the others to leave with him.
“Please let Tuck and Wolf stay, I don’t want to be left alone. I promise not to overdo it.”
Jake saw the panic on Radar’s face and nodded to his two friends. Before the men left the room, Tuck asked about Harley. Nobody had seen him since he was admitted.
“You had better come with me, he is probably still under observation,” said Jake.
As they walked towards reception Tuck asked the detective what he thought had been going on. Jake knew exactly what had been taking place as far a Radar was concerned but wasn’t sure what part the woman had played in it.
“I’m afraid your friend may have been used in some sort of medical experiment. Who knows how many people have been victims of Henry Brubaker as part of his research. At least Radar is safe, we got to him just in time.”
“Jake, Harley’s younger brother was involved in an accident at the mine before we arrived in Antarctica. They told him he was dead, although Harley never saw his body. Do you think he might have ended up here?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Tuck. Don’t mention any of what I’ve told you to Harley, not just yet. Forensics will do a clean sweep of that chamber downs
tairs and every DNA sample will be checked and rechecked. I’ll make sure we get answers to all our questions, you can be sure of that.”
Harley was snoring his head off when they entered his room. The nurse on duty told them she never saw anyone sleep that deeply before, unless they were in a coma. Tuck laughed and prodded the large frame lying under the cover.
“It’s okay, you can wake up now,” he said.
Harley opened one eye and saw Tuck grinning down at him. Slowly opening both eyes he stretched and sat up. As he looked from Jake to Tuck a smile spread across his face.
“Well, do I get an Oscar for that performance or don’t I?” he asked.
The nurse was shocked.
“Do you mean to tell me you’ve been awake the whole time?”
“Sorry, I was only carrying out orders. You can blame him,” laughed Harley, pointing to Jake.
Duke put his head around the door frame and asked Jake to follow him down the corridor to where Lloyd was waiting, in Henry Brubaker’s office.
When they got there, Jake closed the door behind him and the three men sat around the desk.
“Do either of you know what is going to happen when the authorities take over?” Lloyd asked.
“In a short while, a special task force will be here and we will be told to leave. This place is going to be swarming with special agents, government officials, local law enforcement and that’s not counting the media when they get wind of this,” said Jake.
“I’ve been in touch with Grant Brubaker. He’s on his way as we speak, with his wife, Lydia. Things haven’t been good between them and my family for the past year as you can imagine,” said Lloyd.
“Now the shoe is on the other foot, how does that make you feel?” asked Duke.
“I know exactly what they are going through and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, whether he deserves it or not.”
“That’s very forgiving of you, Lloyd, but I need to know how you are going to react when you come face to face with Grant Brubaker. Maybe you won’t be so charitable then,” the detective said.
Finding 02 Finding Megan Page 7