MAYA HOPE, a medical thriller - The Dr. Nicklaus Hart series 1

by Timothy Browne, MD

  “What do you think?” Nick asked Maggie.

  Maggie wiped a smudge of dirt from Anna’s forehead and sighed loudly. “Oh Lord, what have we done?” She used her shoulder to wipe a tear from her own eye. “I need to call her parents to let them know what happened. They need to know.”

  “Your friends are outside,” Becker’s wife said. “Let me cover her up and bring them in. We need to pray together,” She placed a dressing over the wound and pulled a blanket over Anna’s pale body. Then she called Buck and Katelyn into the OR.

  Buck had found a wheelchair and rolled in anxiously. Katelyn followed.

  When he saw Anna’s ghostly face and the breathing tube down her throat, Buck burst into tears. He wheeled to the OR table and put his hand on her shoulder. “Oh, Anna, I am so sorry,” he sobbed. “Please forgive me.”

  The team gathered around the bed and laid their hands on Anna.

  “Jesus, help us,” Maggie cried. “We need you, Father. Breathe life into Anna. Spare this child, Father.”

  “Yes, Father, we ask for your love and mercy to fall on her,” Becker added.

  Becker’s wife stomped her foot, “We command the grip of death to let go of Anna, in the powerful name of Jesus.”

  Nick’s mind swirled. He stumbled for the door. Thinking he was going to vomit again, he raced out the back door of the small hospital. Darkness filled his vision, and he fell to his knees in the courtyard. Severe pain in his knees kept him from passing out, and he rolled on his side, acutely aware of the crushing pain in his chest. It felt like every sorrow, every mistake, every regret crushed his chest. He couldn’t breathe.

  Was this how it was all going to end? Here in this stupid little hospital?

  He knew loneness, but never like this. Emptiness and fear were swallowing him.

  “Help me,” he cried between gasps. He struggled to speak and clutched his chest.

  Grief and shame tore at his mind.

  What have I done? What have I not done? Things done, things left undone.

  Deep sorrow inundated him as he gasped and sobbed. His body shook violently. He coughed, and the coughing nauseated him. His stomach heaved. He rolled on his other side and curled into a fetal position.

  “Father, forgive me,” he whispered, his lips quivering. “Of all the people I know, she does not deserve this. Oh God, let me take her place.” He sobbed. “Lord, I offer my life for hers. Take me, Father, that she might live. Forgive me, Father, for my sins. Forgive me for living my own life and not realizing who you are. Please, Father, save her.”

  Nick broke into loud sobs.

  Unbearable fear gripped his heart and visions of his recent dreams swamped his mind. The raging storm of his imagination and the inability to find John fueled Nick’s desperation. “God, help me!”

  As the words filled his mouth, he saw a vision of John calling to him to take shelter amongst the rocks. The scripture in John’s office scrolled like a banner across his cerebellum: ‘The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; The God of my strength, in whom I will trust.’

  It was taking all his strength to fight it, to consciously ignore what he understood in his heart, what his analytical brain resisted. His mind reeled back to Tikal where he saw Anna standing by the large sacrificial rock where John had taken his last breath. He heard her say: The only divine King I know is Jesus.

  He listened to his heart. “Jesus…save me,” he said.

  Nick surrendered.

  The words lifted the pressure off his chest. His clenched fists and his legs relaxed.

  Nick was no longer afraid. He realized that Maggie was sitting beside him with her hands on his head. Emotion welled inside him, and he struggled to think and to speak. She stroked his hair, and he wept.

  Finally, when he was able to speak, he said, “Maggie, I am so lost. I feel like I have so blown it. I haven’t lived up to anyone’s expectations of me. I’m not John, I’m not a good enough surgeon, I’m not the perfect son, and I’m not a good friend. I don’t know what to do.” He looked into her eyes, pleading for answers. He saw compassion.

  She pulled his head onto her lap and let him grieve.

  His body continued to relax as she wiped tears from his face.

  “You only have to be who God made you, nothing more,” Maggie said, leaning over him and kissing his forehead.

  * * *

  The sun lay low on the horizon when Suk parked down the road from their rental. He had wondered if he would have visitors and was not surprised to find them. Two local police cars sat in front of the house, their lights flashing.

  Suk hoped they would not be smart enough to decipher any of his scientific writings, even if they found the hidden research book.

  He had to make a decision. Should he risk hiding out somewhere in town for the day and then go back to the house and get his book, or should he set off immediately and work his way out of the country? Mexico was close to the north, but the only legitimate road to Mexico was six hours to the west, and the border could be much more difficult to cross.

  Belize was only an hour and a half drive. After seeing the city of Melcho de Mencos at the border, he imagined it would be simple enough to find someone to pay to take him across undetected.

  He looked at his watch. The DHL office would be closed now. He was relieved. Would he even want to send a note to the professor telling him of Hwang and Cho’s missteps? He was confident that nothing at the house would point to North Korea, especially if the bumbling, local police investigated it.

  Looking through the trees surrounding the house, Suk knew it was time to go. He hoped someone would feed the ferrets.

  * * *

  Maggie wiped her eyes as she hung up the phone. Anna’s parents had been shocked and afraid and livid almost simultaneously. Anna’s father, a high-powered attorney in Alabama, had emptied both barrels of anger and frustration at Maggie.

  “There will be hell to pay. Why in the world would you allow Anna to go to that part of Guatemala?” he had raged. He’d closed by telling Maggie they’d catch the first plane to Guatemala. She was unable to tell them if they would be retrieving Anna’s body or bringing her home.

  It was one of the most uncomfortable calls Maggie had ever had to make, but she understood. The team did, too.

  Her next call was almost as uncomfortable. It was to the local drug cartel. Nick told her that if Anna was going to have any chance at surviving, they needed to get her out of San Benito. There was no way she would survive a five- or six-hour ambulance ride to Guatemala City or Quetzaltenango. Tikal was about equal distance between them. Guatemala City had more to offer as far as an Intensive Care Unit, but the Hope Center had a respirator, and they would have more control of her care.

  Most ICUs crawl with antibiotic-resistant bacteria that kill patients more often than what sent them there. Because of that risk, the team decided it was best to take Anna to the Hope Center.

  The fastest way back was by helicopter, and the drug cartel’s helicopter was the fastest and the closest. Fortunately, a year ago, John had saved the life of the son of the cartel leader. The boy had had a ruptured appendix. It was time to call in that chip.

  “They can be here in forty-five minutes,” Maggie told the team as she hung up. “I told them what you said, Dr. Becker, to land on the street in front of the hospital.”

  “Great. I wish we had blood to give her. I’m afraid we don’t keep it here. Do you happen to know her blood type?”

  Maggie shook her head, “I’m afraid I don’t.”

  Katelyn spoke up. “I am O negative. Doesn’t that make me a universal donor?”

  Becker looked at Nick. “It used to. Folks can still have a violent reaction to it. Nick, what are your thoughts?”

  “We’ve really moved away from it at the trauma center. It’s just so easy to give patients an exact match. It’s risky, but it’s always a balance between risk and reward, isn’t it?”

  “Her pressure is still really low, and her
heart is pumping as fast as it possibly can. I think it is worth the risk,” Becker said.

  “I think so, too,” Nick agreed.

  Katelyn rolled up her sleeve. “Let’s do this.”

  * * *

  Suk was shocked at how simple it had been to get into Belize. The official border crossing was on the main road and was heavily guarded and difficult to cross. But ten blocks south, he was able to simply walk across the street and into Belize.

  A man in the local cantina had been eager to help, and the FOCO SUV was more than enough payment. Suk was instructed to walk two miles down the dirt road to Benque Viejo Del Carmen where he would see a Pizza Hut on the main road. He was to wait there for a man to pick him up and take him into Belize City. From there, he could go anywhere in the world. Cash would make any visa problems disappear.

  CHAPTER 55

  * * *

  It Is Done

  The dawn of a new era was upon them. Without firing a shot, Pyongyang would become the rightful center of society. Pak stared at the note from the courier. The aerosolization of the M2H1 virus was successful. Now all that was left was the release.

  The courier stood at attention in front of Pak’s desk, clueless as to how the world was about to change. Pak took a pad of paper from his desk and began a note. Professor Kwon had told him what equipment the offices should purchase. The Guardian 1500 mosquito sprayer was more than adequate. About the size of a small generator, it was portable, easy to use, and easier yet to conceal.

  His note would instruct their man in Seoul to have each office purchase the sprayer. The offices would receive packages containing liquids for the sprayers in several weeks. Office workers would not be told what they were spraying; they would do as they were told. Sending the fine mist off the top of their respective office complexes would infect hundreds of thousands a day—millions by the end of the week. The world changing mist would waft through the air undetected and unnoticed.

  Such a stark contrast to an atomic explosion!

  Pak gave the note to the courier who snapped to attention, turned on his heels, and left the office.

  The Noah Initiative had begun. Pak folded Suk’s note and tucked it in his sports jacket pocket. Kwon would want to see the news first hand.

  Pak leaned back in his chair. Now that the project was all but finished, he was sad as well as relieved. He could only guess at how long it would take for the virus to affect the world economy. It would have been faster to detonate a series of nuclear bombs around the globe. Spraying the virus was like dropping millions of microscopic blasts on the population. The Noah Initiative may not have been as fast, but it was cleaner and just as effective. All he could do was wait.

  CHAPTER 56

  * * *

  Darkness

  Darkness swallowed the night. They heard the thunderous thumping of the large helicopter, but didn’t see it until it was directly overhead, and the pilot switched on a flood of landing lights.

  Dirt and garbage swirled as the craft settled on the street. Once the rotors slowed, the team quickly moved Anna from the OR to the helicopter. There was enough room to squeeze her stretcher between the seats. Nick and Maggie sat near Anna’s head to guard her airway and rhythmically squeeze the Ambu bag that breathed for her.

  Katelyn helped Buck out of the wheelchair and into a seat.

  Nick was shocked at what drug money could buy. The helicopter was accented with Birdseye maple, and all the seats were covered with soft Italian leather. Despite their arsenal of weapons, the drug men were helpful and polite.

  The helicopter flew low over the treetops, something the drug men were probably accustomed to. It turned in a steep bank and soon landed at the front of the Hope Center. The cartel men helped carry Anna’s stretcher into the hospital.

  Anna was stable and showed no sign of a transfusion reaction. The blood helped bring her pressure up, but there was no way to assess her neurologic status until they woke her.

  Carmen met them to manage her pulmonary care. As she hooked Anna to the respirator, she kept looking at Maggie and Nick.

  “You don’t look so good yourselves,” she told them.

  It was the first time Maggie really looked at Nick since the incident. His nose was a little crooked, and his face was swollen and bruised, as was his neck from Hwang’s strangling claws. Somewhere along the way, the white of an eye had hemorrhaged.

  Maggie hugged him. “We have done all we can for now,” she told him. “Why don’t you go take a shower and get some rest? I’ll stay here with Anna, and we’ll call you if anything changes. You really need to rest.”

  Nick was too exhausted to argue.

  * * *

  His respite was restless and short, but at least he had been able to sleep. He looked at his watch as he walked to the hospital: 3:33. A few short days ago, the clock in Miguel’s van had read the same. It was Anna who had said she loved the number because it always reminded her of Jeremiah 3:33: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’

  Miguel was dead, and Anna’s life hung in the balance.

  How life can change in the blink of the eye.

  It gave him little comfort, even though Anna was the one who loved reminding them of that very thing. It was the fragility and uncertainty of life, in part, that motivated her to share Jesus with people. She often used Jesus’ own words from John 14:6: ‘Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ”

  She was a beautiful, young woman who carried a confidence and knowledge of heaven, more than anyone he knew, except Maggie.

  Father, let me know you like that.

  Nick walked to the room where they had created their own ICU. Outside the door sat five of the older girls from the orphanage, wearing pajamas and wrapped in blankets. They looked up and smiled. He tried to return a smile and entered the room where he saw the whole team, including Buck and Katelyn, still gathered around Anna. Had he been the only one who had chosen to sleep? Guilt and shame swept over him.

  The lights of the room had been dimmed, and Anna’s regular heartbeat echoed from the heart monitor—the respirator rhythmically pushing air into her lungs. Maggie and Katelyn stood on each side of her bed, softly singing an old hymn. Carmen sat near the head of the bed watching the monitors, and Buck sat near the foot of the bed, bowing his head in prayer.

  Anna was surrounded with love.

  Buck looked terrible, his eyes were swollen and red. As the self-appointed protector for Anna, he had taken her injury extremely hard. He did not even look at Nick and continued to stare at the floor.

  Both Maggie and Katelyn smiled at Nick as he came to Anna’s bedside. He patted Maggie on the back. “How is she?”

  She looked at Carmen and the monitors and back at Nick. “She has remained relatively stable. Thanks be to God.”

  Nick felt of Anna’s forehead; it was warm and clammy.

  Carmen spoke and Maggie translated. “I think there has been a slight reaction to the blood, but the worst is over, and the blood has allowed them to turn the respirator down. She’s not requiring near as much oxygen as before.”

  “Carmen thinks we should start weaning her off the narcotics in the morning and see if she starts breathing on her own,” Maggie said. “That will tell us volumes about her neurological status. She thinks the faster we can get her breathing tube out, the better.”

  Nick sighed with some relief. It was all good news, but it would be a miracle if she survived. “I see you have your young prayer warriors at work outside.”

  “Are they really?” Maggie asked.

  “You didn’t ask them?” Nick questioned.

  She smiled like a proud mama. “It comes so naturally to them. It’s just part of who they are.”

  “Why don’t you guys get some rest? I’m feeling better. Let me take my shift.”

  Maggie smiled at him. “You look in a mirror yet? You still don’t look so good.�
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  “Yeah, thanks a lot. You should see the other guys.” He smiled and looked at Katelyn.

  “How about I go make some coffee?” Maggie said. “I don’t think I could sleep anyway,”

  “Me either,” Katelyn added.

  “Buck, you should at least go get some sleep,” Nick told him.

  Buck just shook his head.

  CHAPTER 57

  * * *

  Regret

  Suk’s hands trembled as he lit a cigarette. His half-eaten breakfast sat cold in front of him. He glanced nervously around the restaurant. No one seemed to pay him any mind. A young couple in beachwear and flip-flops sat near him, oblivious to the world around them. Two couples sat at a four-top behind them, drinking coffee and casually chatting in the morning sun.

  “¿Si Quieres más café?” The waitress startled Suk as she came up behind him to pour steaming coffee into his cup.

  “No,” Suk snapped at her, loud enough that one of the tourists glared at him.

  The waitress shrugged, murmured something, and moved to the next table to fill cups.

  Suk fumbled for his sunglasses, pulling them down from the top of his head and sliding them over his eyes. He looked over the water. The Caribbean Sea extended endlessly before him, emptying into the great Atlantic.

  Like the vast ocean, his future stretched out before him. But instead of feeling liberated, he felt trapped by foreboding anxiety.

  Why do I feel this way?

  Suk shook his head to clear it.

  I have done my job well. Professor Kwon must be proud of our accomplishments.

  He took a long drag from his cigarette. He exhaled a large cloud of smoke and sniffed at the air.

  What is that smell? He sniffed the air again and closed his eyes.