He crumpled onto the edge of the bed, his prayer rising to heaven. I can’t do this alone, Lord. Help me find a way. I can’t do it alone.
He’d waited for the tourists to leave the area and for the coming darkness before he forced Kate up the white rock toward the cave entrance. The barrier stopped him from going inside, but boulders along the outcropping made good cover, and the dark night would help to hide them.
Kate had struggled when he surprised her in the hospital garage. No one had noticed him waiting, and when Kate realized he hadn’t just stopped to chat, a few drops of chloroform on a handkerchief held to her nose did the trick. He put her in his car, and when he’d found a lonely road, he’d tied her arms and legs, then put a gag in her mouth before locking her in his trunk.
Now in the dusky light, he waited for Montgomery. He was sure he would come to save the sweet nurse. He chortled aloud at his cunning plan. Once he had become certain that Montgomery had fallen for Kate, it was all he’d needed.
He’d never really liked the doctor. His self-importance grated on everyone’s nerves at times, but Montgomery’s real downfall was that he’d been at the wrong place at the wrong time. If his memory fully returned, then he’d know too much.
Kate squirmed and grumbled beneath the tight gag, but he ignored her. The cloth kept the sounds quiet, and he rather enjoyed hearing her struggle. He’d watched how protective she’d become with Montgomery—hovering over him like a mother hen. She deserved to die, too, and she would, but only after she watched the proud doctor meet his death.
Adam slid on his shoes, then hiked up his too-large pants, amazed at the weight he’d lost. He prayed the Lord would be with him now as he made his move. But first, he had to get Brendan away from his room.
Ready, he tiptoed to the doorway and opened it an inch. “Brendan.”
His cousin looked at him with surprise and rose from the chair beside the door. “Something wrong, Adam?”
“Yes and no. I’m okay, but my mouth is dry and I need some ice water. I’ve been buzzing the nurses for a half hour and no one’s answered. Could you run down to the desk and tell them I need ice water?”
Brendan looked toward the nurses’ desk, then back to Adam. “But I’m not supposed to leave my station. You know that.”
“Come on. It’s only fifty feet down the hall. I’d go, but I’m feeling weak. I’ll be fine for one minute.”
Brendan hesitated until he finally shrugged. “I suppose it’ll be all right.” He headed left toward the desk, and Adam waited a moment until he’d passed three doorways before he made his move.
With the corridor clear except for Brendan, he slipped into the hallway and headed in the opposite direction. The emergency stairs were only a short distance away. He opened the door, hurried inside and took the stairs two at a time, glancing over his shoulder until he felt safe. When he reached the parking garage, as Sam had said, his car was still parked there.
He felt beneath the front panel until he located the small metallic box that hid his emergency key. He’d misplaced his remote, and the stored key had served as a lifesaver more than once. He slipped into the car seat, rotated the key and heard the engine turn over.
Without a moment’s loss, he backed out of the slot and headed toward the exit. He slid his card into the meter slot and watched the arm raise. His heart thundered beneath his sweatshirt, and his damp palms gripped the steering wheel as he squealed out of the parking structure. Nothing could stop him. He needed to do this alone…just as the voice instructed him. Kate’s life was at stake, and that was all he could worry about now.
Sam gaped at the receiver, not believing what he’d just heard. “What do you mean Adam left the hospital? How in the world did he manage that?”
Brendan hemmed and hawed until he admitted he’d left the door to ask the nurse for ice water.
“Ice water. I can’t believe you fell for that, Brendan. Okay. Do this for me. Get down to the parking garage and see if Adam’s car is there. His slot is marked, then let me know right away.”
His mind raced as he hung up the phone. His thoughts flew back to his earlier visit to Adam’s room and the telephone call. When Adam hung up he’d looked distracted. Sam had wondered at the time. Who had called Adam?
He pulled the case notes from his pocket and flipped through the information. He had proof that drugs had been stolen from Vance Memorial and from the clinic in Venezuela. His brother, Travis, was checking out hospitals where some Vance Memorial doctors had previously worked before going to Doctors Without Borders. If he learned drugs were missing from any of those hospitals, it could help point to someone here who was apparently involved.
He also suspected a connection between the Diablo Syndicate and the Venezuelan drug cartel, La Mano Oscura—the Dark Hand. He had nothing solid, but Sam sensed they were heading in the right direction. One day they would know for sure.
He’d mentally shifted the puzzle pieces together in every direction. Some pieces didn’t make sense, but one did. The discrepancy had jumped out at him like a neon sign. Could he be right?
His phone rang, and Sam answered. Brendan’s voice shot over the wire: Adam’s car was gone. Sam jumped from the chair and slammed the phone onto the cradle. Now he had to find Adam.
Sam dashed to the dispatcher’s desk and yelled for her to send out an APB to look for Adam’s car. Where would he go? For Kate. Whoever called had lured Adam to his death by using Kate.
Adam evaded the stoplights and made a right turn onto Cimarron. Leaving the downtown area, the route became Highway 24. His destination: Garden of the Gods.
He hadn’t been there in years, but he could never forget the towering red sandstone formations and their changing colors in the evening light. Ahead, between the trees, mountains rose in the distance, only a silhouette against the dusky light.
Adam turned off the highway and raced along Gardner Road into the park a few minutes before closing. Tension gripped his back as he drove the longer route so he could come in from behind the North and South Gateway rocks. His plan: creep up on the kidnapper without his knowing.
The sun had set by the time Adam came to a stop beside the huge red rocks. He had turned off his headlights before reaching his destination and now stared into the night. A crescent moon spread light over the formations, and as his eyes adjusted, he could see the white rock like a pale ghost rising ahead of him.
He needed to plan his moves. He had no weapon. Someone had shot him once. Why not again? Adam pressed his palms over his eyes and thought. Since he’d talked with Sam he’d been dazed by the telephone call. Adam hadn’t taken time to think back to Sam’s question. Now, it settled over him.
The quickest way into the clinic in Venezuela was the front door. It was the logical way for staff to enter from the living quarters. The body had been found at the back of the clinic. That’s what he’d learned from Kate. Why had it taken him so long to realize the truth?
Pieces fell into place. If the logical way to enter the clinic was through the front, why had Valenti confronted the suspects at the delivery door?
Valenti. Bile rose to his throat. His colleague. An internist who knew medication…who knew how to give orders over the telephone. Using another doctor’s name was easy when talking to a new nurse. The truth rocked him.
Valenti looked ill and had gotten worse since Adam had known him. His face sagged, bags had formed beneath his eyes, which looked glazed as if he were…on drugs.
Drugs. The motivation. The goal. The evil that had taken a good doctor and destroyed him.
The night of the closet fire Valenti had appeared in his room. Adam’s panic rose. Valenti had tried to kill him twice…maybe three times. He wouldn’t hesitate again.
His hands trembled as he reached for the door handle. He could wait no longer or the man would become agitated and harm Kate before Adam had a chance to get to her. But what could he do?
The truth struck him. With no weapon and no vantage point, he could do n
othing. He bowed his head, his eyes moist with tears. Lord God, forgive my foolishness. I can’t do this without You. You’ve promised to be faithful. You’ve promised strength and protection from evil. Father, I need Your help. I beg You in the name of Your most precious Son, Jesus. “Amen” whispered in his mind and soothed his heart.
Blurred by tears, his eyes sought the shrouded white rock.
God was his strength.
Chapter Seventeen
Kate lay behind a boulder on the stony outcropping. Her face stung from the tape pulled tight across her mouth. The adhesive pulled and burned against her skin, and in fear, she struggled for breath.
Earlier, she’d awakened dazed and had struggled to open her eyes. When she’d gained consciousness, her mind spun with the details of what had happened.
Lionel Valenti had caught her in the hospital parking lot. He’d asked to speak to her and said he wanted to show her something. When she’d reached his car, he’d covered her nose and mouth with a cloth. The odor had sickened her. Chloroform, she’d guessed. That’s all she remembered.
She’d awakened in his trunk, bound and gagged. The road bounced beneath her, the foul scent of exhaust fumes curled around her and nausea curdled in her throat. She’d lain there forever, it seemed. She’d known dusk was coming. Gray light had filled the cracks in the trunk lid. Her body had quaked with fear, as much for Adam as for herself.
Her mind had raged with anger at her stupidity. Why hadn’t she realized who had done the horrible deed in Venezuela? Now images fell into place. She thought of the Bible verse that reminds Christians, now we see through a glass darkly until we meet face-to-face. The Bible promised God’s face…not Lionel Valenti’s, but the verse gave her hope. God works for the good of those who love him.
Finally the trunk lid opened and the unpredictable doctor had dragged her out, unbound her feet and forced her up the rock formation. At the top, he’d bound her again, his voice breaking into wild laughter. The glazed look in his eyes confirmed her suspicion of drug use. Now, she understood the dispensary theft. Lionel Valenti had stolen drugs before—from Vance Memorial and others, he’d told her, hissing the story into her face.
As the last color faded from the sky, she’d listened to his crazed telephone call to Adam, muffled by a cloth stretched over his cell phone. Lionel Valenti carried a gun and from this vantage point, he had a direct shot. Shock and disbelief tore through her mind. He would kill them both.
The moon rose, and she peered through the darkness, watching him pace across the rocky platform like a madman, brandishing the pistol that glinted in the moonlight and muttering obscenities into the darkness. Kate’s mind was numb with fear.
Time seemed eternal, and her heart rose to her aching throat, thinking Adam must have come by now. Yet how would he escape the hospital without being detained? Minutes seemed like hours, and she’d heard no sound but the gravel crunching beneath Lionel Valenti’s feet.
Rugged stone jutted beneath her, and with her hands tied behind her back, Kate labored to fray the rope, rubbing her sore wrists against the jagged rocks. If she could free her hands, she would release her feet and escape.
Desperate, she prayed to the Lord in rhythm to the cord scraping against the stone. Her wrists stung with the burn of the rope.
A fiendish laugh broke the silence. “I see him,” Lionel Valenti hissed. “He’s out of the car. The fool turned off his headlights and forgot the dome light.”
“Come this way, Montgomery,” he taunted, “unless you don’t want to see Kate again.”
Kate screamed inside her head, Go back, Adam. He won’t let me go. We’ll both die.
While the madman paced, she quickened her work on the rope. A few strands gave. She wouldn’t stop. She had to warn Adam that Lionel Valenti had a gun.
Sam headed along Highway 24, his ear tuned to the police dispatch. Adam’s car had been spotted heading west. Sam tried to imagine the destination. Pikes Peak? No. Someplace closer with good cover. Maybe an elevated vantage point.
Earlier, when he’d asked Adam the question about which entry the doctors used at the clinic, he knew he’d found a glitch in Valenti’s story. After rehashing his notes, the puzzle fell into place. The more he reviewed the facts, the more he was certain that Valenti was the culprit. Sam had called Travis and learned that barbiturates had been stolen from another hospital where Valenti had worked. That clinched it.
Drugs. The word sent an icy shiver down Sam’s back. It destroyed lives. It tore apart families. It disrupted communities. One day, he prayed, Colorado Springs would be free from the growing problem.
His thoughts darted back to Adam. Ahead, a billboard stood above the landscape. Garden of the Gods. Success prickled through his chest. Yes. That had to be it. Were other squad cars on Adam’s trail? He hadn’t heard a recent report. He hit the radio dispatch button.
Adam crouched beside his car. He wanted to kick himself for forgetting the dome light. It spotlighted him when he climbed out, leaving no hope of surprising Valenti. Cutting the silence, he heard Valenti’s laugh, assuring Adam that the man had spotted him.
He crouched low and squinted into the darkness. Boulders jutted from the outcropping of White Rock where he knew Kate must be hidden. But which boulder? Which way should he head? If she would only call out, even once…but Valenti might retaliate and harm her.
Adam drew back, protected by the vehicle, and peered above him. The moonlight glinted off something shiny. Metal? A weapon? His heart faltered. A gun? He still couldn’t accept the image of the doctor falling into this pit of desperation and despair.
Drawing courage from deep inside, Adam raised his voice. “Valenti, I need to know Kate is all right.”
Valenti laughed.
Silence.
“I know it’s you, Lionel.” Fear rushed along Adam’s limbs. “You’re a surgeon, man. A respected doctor. Why in the name of the good earth are you doing this?” The question was empty. Adam knew why.
Silence.
Adam wiped the perspiration from his face as he swept aside his fear. “I’m not moving until I know Kate is okay.”
He listened again.
Night sounds magnified around him, then ahead on the rocks, loose gravel shifted and rolled along the sandstone. Had Valenti decided to come down the rock after him? Had he assaulted Kate? Adam’s chest tightened until he couldn’t breathe.
“I’m okay,” Kate called, the last word muffled by Valenti’s hand or a gag.
Adam’s spirit rose. Kate was alive.
In the moon’s dim reflection, Adam spotted a large boulder and sensed Kate’s voice had come from that direction.
In a crouched position, his weakened legs buckled beneath the stress. He clung to the wheel well, waiting for a chance to dart into the underbrush and head toward the rock.
His prayer flew into the dark sky as he stayed low and made a dash for safety.
A shot rang out, its ping echoing against the high rock walls beside him. His lungs ached with fear, but he had no choice. Kate was in danger. He had to save her.
Kate in danger. An image flashed before his eyes. His unconscious dreams rose in his mind. He’d struggled to save Kate from evil. Had the Lord been warning him? An image flickered through his mind—Valenti’s startled face in the dispensary. Confusion and relief bound him for a moment. The veil of his amnesia had shifted. He’d begun to remember.
Adam paused, panting with trepidation. He hunched in the brush, keeping his head low and his legs stooped as he crept toward the towering rock. The sounds of Valenti’s agitation had increased, but if Adam hurried, his movements would alert Valenti.
As he shifted forward, a shadow fell across the brush. Terror gripped Adam. He looked toward the outcropping. Valenti was nowhere in sight.
Kate’s ears rang with the blast of the weapon. Terror knotted her chest. She struggled for breath.
Her raw and aching wrists scraped against the rocks as she felt more strands fray. In fevered desper
ation, she wriggled her hands until the hemp parted, freeing her.
She tore off the duct tape, her mouth smarting with release. Her aching fingers worked at the knots around her ankles. Lionel Valenti had grown quiet, and she feared what he might be planning. Had he gone down to seek Adam, or was he shifting to a new location?
Kate feared calling out. She pressed her lips together, holding back the cries that raged inside her.
Another shot cut through the air.
Kate cringed against the boulder while her last fervent attempt released her legs. She tried to gauge where the madman had gone. Despite the darkness, she spotted his silhouette on a higher elevation shielded by a small boulder.
He shifted, and Kate knew she had to move now.
Sam’s car skidded as he made the turn onto Ridge Road. He had been right about the location. Officers had called in verifying that Adam had turned into the park from another road. Sam had taken the shortest route.
When Sam reached Gateway Trail Road on the Juniper Way Loop, he pulled to the side where officers had gathered. He’d received word that White Rock appeared to be Valenti’s rendezvous. Now under cover of darkness, Sam had directed them to make their way along Gateway Trail on foot, then circle the rock from all directions.
Hand on his gun, Sam followed the trail until the white-colored rock glinted in the moonlight. He cut through the brush and hid in the shadows, waiting for Valenti to make a move.
He wanted Valenti, but Kate slowed his progress. The officers couldn’t act until they knew where she was…if she was still alive. The possibility kicked him in the gut.
Adam shrunk into the brush, his heart thundering. A twig snapped, undergrowth rustled, and he knew it was the end. Be with Kate, Lord. His words ascended while he waited for death.
But the steps faded, and in the darkness, he realized the intruder was not Valenti, but a police officer kneeling in the thicket, his gun aimed toward the mouth of the white rock cave.
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