“Then you’ve done it right. Now you’re going to have to put him on his stomach and raise his right arm up over his head. You can put a pillow or two under his head and shoulders. Then, clean and bind the entrance wound the same way.”
That also was accomplished quickly.
This time, when the bandage was in place, something changed. Yani’s head was on one of the pillows, his face turned toward the wall, and he was sucking in air, trying to take in oxygen. It wasn’t working.
“Take the alcohol.” Anna’s voice was firm and calm. “On the side of his back opposite the bullet wound, is his arm raised above his head?… Good.
“Now. There’s a line that runs straight down from his armpit. Put your hand, fingers on top, at his armpit. Then move down about two inches. The palm of your hand should be in a line directly below the armpit. Are you there?”
“Yes,” Jaime said, “yes!”
“Feel for the ribs. If you open your thumb away from your hand to make a V, your thumb should be resting on his third rib. Can you feel it, Jaime? Can you feel the rib under your thumb?”
“Yes,” Jaime said. She used her other hand to count down his rib cage. It was almost certainly the third rib.
“With the other hand, quickly swab that area with alcohol. Fast! You’re going to go in right above that rib. Above the rib. Is your thumb on the top of the rib?”
“Yes!”
“You have no questions about where your thumb is supposed to be? It’s there?”
“Yes. Yes!” Yani was gurgling, suffocating before her eyes.
“Great. Then take the scalpel and plunge it in, angled up, right where your thumb is. Push it in to the second ring on the handle and stop.”
“Plunge in the scalpel?”
“Yes. Now. You haven’t time to think. To the second ring. No farther.”
Jaime held the razor-sharp tip of the scalpel right over where her thumb was.
Dear God. And oh, shit.
She plunged. His body bucked, but only slightly.
“Now what?” she demanded into the mouthpiece.
“Take out the scalpel and replace it with the straw.”
“The straw?”
“Yes. And put the end of the straw that isn’t in the patient into the bowl of water.”
Jaime withdrew the scalpel and inserted the straw into the hole, threading it down until it was as deep as the scalpel had been.
Then she got the bowl of water from the floor, put it on the bed next to Yani, and let the other end of the straw hang over into it.
Immediately, bubbles appeared and floated to the top of the water.
“Are there bubbles?” Anna asked.
“Yes.”
“OK. You’re going to tape that straw in place. Then, congratulations. You’ve just done your first chest tube.”
Jaime felt her arm muscles go limp. She stumbled back into the chair she’d positioned by the bed earlier. Yani’s chest began to rise and fall rhythmically. His color began to return before her eyes.
“Now what?”
“This is a patch. You’ve got to get him to a doctor.”
“Do I have to find someone local, or can I bring him in?”
“Technically, he could spend the rest of his life like this, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Yes, you can bring him in, providing you can keep him intubated.”
Just as Jaime was trying to figure out how to act on this information, she heard a new sound.
The key in the lock of the hotel room door.
February 26, 2006, 3:46 p.m.
Vaduz, Switzerland
* * *
Patsy Covington sat in her rented Volvo on the A13 near Vaduz in the midst of a monumental traffic snarl, listening to her daughter’s Hilary Duff CD. While many tourists couldn’t fathom the aplomb with which both the Swiss and the Germans embraced a traffic jam, which they called a Stau, it was very much in sync with Patsy’s own feelings even when she was en route to a job.
Well, she wouldn’t even say en route to a job; for her the job started the moment she left her family and ended the moment she returned and released the nanny for the day. Everything in between was work. And once she started work, she went into what others might call a Zen state. Nothing bothered her. Even difficulties such as an accident on the Autobahn. She was a pro. She knew to build in extra time for unexpected occurrences. In her line of work, the unexpected was expected. Only a novice wouldn’t plan for it.
Patsy would never fly out of an airport that was near where she was staying. Instead she was driving to neighboring Germany, where she would cross the border with one of her many forged passports. She was well on the way when traffic came to a standstill. In her experience, Germans usually took a Stau as an excuse for a party, but it was cold enough today that they’d stayed in their cars.
She hummed to herself and again played the scene in her head of what tonight’s executions would look like… one by one she’d have the guards bring the kidnap victims to the boathouse on the dock by the compound. Once inside, they’d be shot once, execution-style, in the head, their bodies dumped through the trapdoor designed for just this purpose. The bodies would rest in a netted area, underwater, under the dock, the bones finally being carried away once the fish and the tides had reduced them to small enough pieces to slide through the netting.
When the fifth victim had been disposed of, Patsy would dispose of the guards. The first would also be shot execution-style, the second and third in either the heart or the back of the head, depending on the speed of their reflexes.
She would sleep so much better once this was accomplished and she was back home.
She was even planning to take a couple of months off.
It had been a complicated job, and she had been well paid for it. Enough so that she could take some time to take the kids to the Smithsonian and other places of cultural interest. They were going to grow up to be enlightened citizens of the world.
She turned up the volume on the CD player and smiled.
February 26, 2006, 3:47 p.m.
Petra Hotel
Grikos, Patmos
* * *
The key jangled again in the lock, this time with greater force. The door opened but was stopped by the inside bar Jaime had thrown.
The doctor asked through the earpiece, “Where are you headed?”
“Samos. By boat. It’ll take an hour,” Jaime said quietly.
“I’ll have someone waiting.”
Jaime disconnected and removed the earpiece, pocketing it quickly.
“Hello?” The voice came from the front door. “Housekeeping? This is my room.”
It was Geri Allende.
Jaime moved into the sitting room. “Geri? It’s Lynn, the woman you met this morning. Are you alone?”
“What? Lynn? Why are you in my room?”
Jaime could see her through the opening in the door. “It’s a long story. Are you alone?”
“What? Yes. Let me in.”
Jaime opened the door, took Geri’s hand, and pulled her inside. “Thank God you’re all right!” Jaime said. “Come in, quickly. You’re in danger!”
“What are you talking about?”
Jaime took Geri quickly past the door to the bedroom and sat her down on the beige sectional sofa that ran along the sitting room wall.
“Geri. We don’t know each other very well, and all this is happening very quickly. You’re being used as a pawn in a very dangerous game.”
“What are you talking about? I still don’t understand why you’re in here. Are you a thief?” Geri stood, ready to go into the bedroom to inventory her things.
“No. Not at all, although I can understand how you could get that impression.” Jaime’s grasp on Geri’s arm pulled her back. “Listen, Geri, I know this sounds crazy, but the son of a dear friend of mine has been kidnapped. I have been helping the authorities track down the kidnappers. It turns out there were others taken by the same people, for the same purpose. And th
ere’s new information that the captives are going to be murdered, and soon.”
Geri stared at her, clutching her purse to her chest. “What does this have to do with me?”
“This morning I followed a man named Constantine, who has ties to the kidnappers. But the surprising thing was, when he left his house, he was dressed as a monk—well, as a seminarian—and he came here, to meet with you.”
“Brother Timothy? No, you’re mistaken.”
Jaime held up her hands in a “hear me out” gesture. “After you disappeared with him through the monastery laundry—”
Geri opened her mouth but didn’t interrupt.
“I was concerned enough about who he was and what he was involved with that I followed you.”
“Wait—you’re not a minister?”
Jaime almost smiled at the non sequitur. “Yes. I am an ordained Presbyterian minister.”
“Did you make it down to the cave?” Geri’s eyes lit up. “You saw the river?”
“Yes. It’s a fantastically beautiful place.”
This time it was Geri who grasped Jaime’s hands. “I’m glad you saw it! When I was there… the things I saw…”
“Geri, it was a fantastic cave, and a fantastic experience. Someone has spared no expense. But… there’s no easy way to say this… you were drugged.”
“What? No, no, I wasn’t. How could I have been?”
“There must have been something in the ‘water of life’ that Constantine gave you—”
“But he drank the same water!”
“From the same cup?”
“No, he poured it into a different cup, but—”
“There must have been something in your cup. I’m telling you, Geri, you were drugged and taken into a virtual reality room, a very advanced one.”
“Why are you saying this? You don’t know the vision I had! You don’t know the Word I got from God!”
Jaime had a rush of anger for what these people had done to Geri. It wasn’t as physically life-threatening as being kidnapped, certainly, but they were using her, manipulating her in the most heinous way.
“Yeah,” Jaime answered softly, “Actually, I do know the ‘Word’ you got. You see, they found me and caught me. Your ‘Brother Timothy’ shot me up with Versed and the man dressed as the Apostle John helped him drag me into the virtual reality Cave. I saw it all—the clouds, the throne—heard the trumpets…” She sighed. “As I said, someone spared no expense.”
“But why? Why would someone go to this trouble? What is it they want?” A look of incredulity crossed Geri’s face. “My husband’s money. That’s it, isn’t it? I got him to give me sixteen million dollars. Today, just now. Wired into my account. I was going to give it to Brother Timothy.”
“The only thing that doesn’t make sense,” Jaime took a deep breath, “is that the virtual reality Cave was manufactured by Allende International.”
“How dare they! How dare they buy something from my husband’s company to use against him!”
“Geri… I could be wrong, and I certainly don’t want to imply anything about your husband. But my guess is that he is investing in the research which is made possible by the kidnapping of these people, including the son of my friend. However, the whole kidnapping thing is quite unsavory and so he doesn’t want any direct links—”
“Money laundering? You’re saying my husband is using me for money laundering?”
“Geri, I don’t know. At this point, I don’t have enough evidence to accuse anyone of anything. What I do know is that a man named Witgard Villella was on the way over to get information from me when I escaped. That Brother Timothy does go by the name Constantine, and he is involved with the scientist we think has the kidnap victims. We also know these people are very dangerous, Geri.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because when my partner came to the cave to try to save me, they shot him and they tried to shoot me.”
“What? They shot someone? With a gun?”
“Yes. It was only by the grace of God we escaped. I pulled him into the river of life, which took us out of the cave. Fortunately, it spat us out right here, practically below this hotel. My partner was dying, so I had to get him out of the water and to relative safety. Yours was the closest room; he couldn’t have made it any farther. That’s why I barged in like this.”
“Your partner?”
“Who’s working with me to try to save the kidnap victims.”
“Did he die?” Geri was understandably aghast.
“No. I had to intubate him, and now I have to get him to help. And then I’ve got to go save those kids, before it’s too late.”
“Where is he? Your partner?”
“In your bedroom. Like I said, I couldn’t get him any farther.”
Geri stared at her, hard, for a couple of seconds, as if to try to read what was behind her eyes.
Then Geri stood up and marched toward the arch that served as the bedroom door.
February 26, 2006, 4:00 p.m.
Lillistra Estate, Tranholmen Island
Stockholm, Sweden
* * *
Eric shuffled quickly down the icy path. He knew he was running late and was worried he would miss his rendezvous with Daniel. When Eric finally reached the fenced enclosure, his boots slipped on the path and he almost crashed into the fir trees along the fence. But as he pulled aside the branches, he was relieved to see the back of his friend against the chain link.
“I was afraid you weren’t coming,” said Daniel, obviously tense from the wait. He had the little child sitting on his knees and was playing peekaboo with her.
“Sorry. I had to slip by my nurse. He thinks I’m taking a nap.”
“Your nurse? You have a nurse?” Daniel started to turn around to look at the boy behind him but caught himself.
“Yeah, I know it sounds weird, but I get sick easily.”
“That sucks. And I bet it makes you real popular with your brothers and sisters!”
Eric shook his head. “Don’t have any. I’m an only child.”
“You don’t know how lucky you are.”
“You can’t mean that.” All his life he had wished for a brother or sister, and here was someone who would gladly give up what he had.
“You can have mine. You don’t know what it’s like, living in the shadow of Zeke the Great, who does everything right, honor roll, sports star, soooo popular.…”
Eric smiled. “I’d deal with it.”
“Although right now, I wouldn’t mind if Zeke walked through that gate. I would give anything to see even him.”
Daniel’s voice was full, and Eric suspected he was close to tears, which was not cool with another guy around. So he quickly changed the subject.
“So, is everything going OK for tonight?”
Daniel grabbed some snow and started packing it into a snowball. The baby was fascinated and tried to poke it with her fingers.
“I think I have everything I need. Did you find something to cut the fence?”
“I found some small wire cutters. They aren’t very heavy, but I think they’ll work.”
“How far will we have to go once we get outside the fence?”
“We’ll have to go most of the length of the island, which is about a kilometer, then across an ice bridge to the mainland. There is a little town right there. But it’ll be dark, and the path is icy. It may take a while.”
“Oh, man. Then I need to ask you another favor. Can you dig up some coats? I have this parka, but the baby only has this thin jacket.” They both looked at her. She was wearing a polar fleece jacket that was clearly made for someone much older. On her it brushed the ground like a kimono. “I don’t know if the others have anything at all.”
“What sizes?”
Daniel grinned. “Why? You going to a mall? Seriously, we’ll take anything you can find. Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing. Besides the baby, there’s a slim guy who is taller than me, and two or three othe
r people.”
“I’ll bring whatever I can find. What time?”
“My plan is to break out of here at 1 a.m.”
“I’ll be here,” said Eric with such conviction that Daniel stood and turned to look him directly in the face. Daniel could see the intensity and commitment in his new friend and felt moved.
“You could be risking your life, doing this. I mean, seriously.”
Eric gave Daniel a small salute. “See you tonight.”
Eric turned and headed back for the path.
Thing is, you’ve gotta have a life before you can risk it, he thought. And I think I’m finally getting a life.
February 26, 2006, 4:00 p.m.
Petra Hotel
Grikos, Patmos
* * *
Geri gasped when she saw Yani lying on her bed, his side bandaged and the straw protruding from his back. “Dear God,” she said, “you weren’t kidding.”
The sheets were wound around the lower half of his body, but even half-dead, the strength was obvious in his arms and shoulders, as was the curl in his black hair.
Jaime put her arm around Geri’s shoulder. “No. I wasn’t kidding.”
“So everything you’re telling me, about the virtual reality room, the drugs, the kidnapping, it’s all true.”
“I’m sorry, but—yeah. And the thing is they’re planning to kill all the kidnapped children very soon. There’s a baby, and two young kids—my friend’s son is fifteen. Can you imagine? We’ve got to find them before they’re murdered.”
She could tell Geri was overwhelmed.
“But who would murder children? Nestor would never, ever, in a million years, be involved with something like this! He would never have anyone shot. Never!”
“I’m assuming he doesn’t know about any of this. In fact, he’s obviously going to great lengths to distance himself. But right now, I’ve got to get my partner to a yacht in Skala Harbor. I’m sorry to have barged into your room like this. But once I can figure out how to transport him, without this Villella person finding us, we’ll be gone.”
Beyond Eden Page 23