Medical Kidnap Files 1-6, page 28
“But… I don’t get it. She knows you’re our friend. She knows you’ve done what she asked you to.”
“And she thinks that the mother she loves tried to poison her. She can’t choose what thoughts come to her.”
“Don’t talk about me like that! I’m right here!”
“I’m sorry,” Kirstie said.
“Do you want to hear about the doctor?” Gabriel asked, trying to focus Renata on what had happened.
“Not with her here.” Renata continued to stare at Kirstie with suspicion.
“It’s time for me to go anyway,” Kirstie said pleasantly. She tapped her phone to stop the recording and picked it up. “You know how to reach me if you need me,” she told Gabriel. “I’ll try to keep you updated as I hear any details. Okay?”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Kirstie walked out. Renata watched her go, then turned her eyes toward Gabriel. He was afraid that she would turn her suspicions on him now. That their friendship would be ruined by her illness and her choice to stop taking her meds. But she seemed to be okay once Kirstie was gone. Renata took a careful look around the room, her eyes returning again to Gabriel.
“I don’t remember what happened. How did we get here?”
Gabriel related the missing details to Renata the best he could, trying not to focus on her meltdown or the depressing details of Ray’s disappearance and Nick being found dead.
“I need a phone,” Renata said. “I need to call Ray to warn him, make sure he’s still okay. Where did you put my phone?”
“You sort of launched it… it’s broken.”
“We can fix it. Probably just the screen is broken, it will still work.”
“It shattered. I didn’t bother to pick up the pieces. I can call from the public phone if you give me his number.”
She looked at him for a minute, not answering. “What else happened?”
“The doctor that has been following us…”
“Yeah?”
“His name is Glover, and he’s from—”
“The mito clinic.”
Gabriel looked at her in astonishment. “How did you know that?”
“I’ve been going there longer than you. I probably don’t know everyone, but I know a lot of them. Glover… he’s kind of creepy. So he was trying to find us, to bring us back?”
Gabriel shook his head. “He came in here, while you were unconscious. He tried to put something in your feeding tube, but I wouldn’t let him.”
It wasn’t exactly like Gabriel had wrestled with Glover, but he didn’t need to tell Renata all he’d been able to do was scream for help.
“What was it? Poison?”
“Pretty much. A high-protein formula. Eggs and dairy.”
Renata called Glover a very uncomplimentary name. “He was there last year when I had an anaphylactic reaction to a vax because they didn’t check to make sure it was safe! He knew eggs would kill me!”
“He was going to do it with me right there watching.”
“He probably had plans to take care of you too.”
Gabriel thought about that. Would Glover poison Renata and just walk away, assuming that Gabriel wouldn’t continue with the fight against medical kidnap? Would he leave Gabriel there to potentially call a nurse and save Renata? Both scenarios seemed pretty unlikely. Glover must have had plans to deal with Gabriel too.
“De Klerk is trying to kill us,” Gabriel said. “I can’t believe that the money is that important to him.”
“It’s not just the money now. His reputation, his whole life is at stake.”
“Yeah. You do think it’s De Klerk, though? Kirstie said it could just be Glover acting on his own. That’s what he’s saying. He just wanted to help you.”
“Help me into the next world, maybe.” Renata struggled into a sitting position. “Definitely De Klerk. We gotta call Ray. And we gotta get out of here.”
“There’s a policeman guarding the door.”
She looked toward it. “Will he let you go make a phone call?”
“Probably not now. He can’t keep an eye on you and watch me on the phone at the same time.”
“He doesn’t need to guard me if I’m still asleep.” She promptly settled back, closing her eyes. “And they’ve already got the psycho doctor, so I’m safe to be left alone for a few minutes.”
Gabriel leaned over her. “I need the phone number.”
“Oh, yeah.” She whispered it to him and made him repeat it back.
Gabriel went out to where Mills was standing guard. Or, more accurately, sitting guard. “I have to make another phone call.”
Mills peered back into the hospital room and saw Renata lying still, apparently asleep. As Renata had predicted, he left her alone and followed Gabriel out to the phone. Gabriel didn’t know what Renata’s plan was, and didn’t know what he would do himself after that. But Renata had been right so far. He’d have to trust her.
He went to the phone and dialed the number that Renata had told him. It rang and rang, eventually giving him a ‘this party is not answering’ recording.
Gabriel stared at the phone. Did that mean that they had gotten to Ray too? Gabriel closed his eyes, remembering Ray’s last words, as they both hung up that last call. ‘Oh, sorry sir. I didn’t see you…’ Who was he talking to? Had he just bumped into someone on the sidewalk? Or was it another doctor or hired gun who had been sent to take care of him?
How had they managed to track Nick and Ray down? Had the boys called their social workers or foster homes and trustingly gone with the helpful party who had arrived to pick them up?
“Are you done?” Mills asked, getting a little closer.
“No…” Gabriel looked at the phone. He needed to give Renata as much time as he could. He pressed the hang-up switch and dialed another number instead. Kirstie answered after a couple of rings. Gabriel could hear the sounds of her car in the background. She was probably driving back to her office to put the story together.
“Gabriel. Long time, no see. What’s up?”
“I got Ray’s number from Renata.”
“Oh, that’s good. Hang on, let me write it down.”
He pictured her rummaging in her purse for a pen and paper while barreling down the highway. He winced. “I can call you back with it later.”
“Oh no, not a problem. I’m ready.”
Gabriel gave it to her slowly, half-expecting the sounds of a crash. But everything was fine.
“Did you try calling him?”
“Yeah… but there was no answer. I figured maybe the police could track the phone or something.”
“You could just give it to Mills. He’ll pass it on to the appropriate department.”
“Oh… yeah…”
“Don’t worry, Gabriel. There are lots of reasons that Ray might not answer his phone. He’s probably fine.”
“The last time we talked to him… something happened… he apologized for running into somebody, for not seeing them. What if it was someone…?”
“You can’t spend all your time fussing over what might have happened. You don’t know. You guys did your best to look after each other, but this thing is way too big for you. And… he’s probably just fine. You’re probably worrying over nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Nick is dead, and Glover tried to kill Renata. I’m not just being paranoid. I’m not ‘misinterpreting.’ ”
“I’ve never said that to you.”
“Okay… I guess not… but I’m tired of people treating me like my opinion doesn’t matter.”
“You have a right to be. You’ve been through a lot.”
Gabriel really didn’t have anything else to say to Kirstie, but he kept her on the phone anyway, asking her about the update that they would broadcast and anything else that might keep her talking. Mills was starting to shift back and forth, obviously uncomfortable with having left Renata’s room for so long. He looked over his shoulder toward the hospital room. Gabriel tried to think of something else to ask Kirstie about. She was saying something in his ear now, but he had no idea what it was. Mills walked back toward the hospital room. As he drew up even with the door, Gabriel stepped away from the phone, pulled the fire alarm, and walked into the open elevator.
The doors closed. It was quiet in the elevator, the alarm bells muffled and far away. Gabriel didn’t have to press any buttons; it was programmed to go automatically to the ground floor when the fire alarm was triggered. Mills wouldn’t be able to use an elevator after he realized that Renata had escaped. He’d have to use the stairs. Gabriel couldn’t run, but at least the elevator gave him a bit of a head start. When the doors opened in the lobby, he started moving with the crowd. A sea of patients and visitors flowed out of the lobby into the street, with lots more behind. There were a few hospital workers trying to keep things calm and organized, but they were primarily ignored. Gabriel got to the edge of the mass and kept walking. He kept his eyes peeled for Renata, but she still surprised him, stepping out from behind a building and tapping him on the shoulder.
“Pulling the fire alarm?” she questioned. “I’m having a bad influence on you.”
She had apparently had time to get her street clothes on, which meant that they didn’t look like hospital patients and could walk away without being challenged. As long as Mills didn’t spot them.
They stopped at a bus stop and waited on the bench for the next bus.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Renata and Gabriel waited in line, their backpacks growing heavy, weighing them down. But Gabriel kept an image of a cot fixed in his mind and managed to stay strong. When they got to the woman checking everyone in, she paused in her routine speech and stared at them.
“Aren’t you those two runaways…?”
Renata and Gabriel had decided to try out an alternative approach. Renata sighed and shrugged. “On TV? Yeah, but they said nobody back home wants us after we caused so much trouble, so we can just suck it up and see what it’s like out in the big cruel world.” She sighed again, rolling her eyes. “Tough love, you know?”
The woman looked liked she was trying to suppress a smile. She replaced it with a grumpy scowl. “You’ll be expected to follow the same rules as anyone else,” she said, handing them each a thin blanket. “There’s no celebrities here.”
“Yeah, okay,” Gabriel agreed, sounding as depressed as he could. A cot for the night. A blanket. It was going to be heaven, no matter what the rules were.
“Find a spare locker, put your bags and the contents of your pockets in it and lock it up. No personal objects in the sleeping room.”
They followed the rest of the group to the wall of lockers and picked two that were side-by-side. Gabriel removed his evening dose of meds and put them in his pockets. Renata took out a bag of formula she’d already mixed, not sure whether there would be anywhere sanitary to mix it at the shelter. They exchanged satisfied smiles.
“Easy as pie,” Renata said.
They were herded like recalcitrant animals into the dining room. Which was more of a sit-on-the-floor-and-use-your-elbows room. One of the supervisors noticed Renata’s formula and pounced.
“No outside foods or supplements,” she growled, reaching to take it from Renata.
Renata jerked it back. The woman pursued.
“You think I can put your beef and potatoes in here?” Renata pulled up her shirt.
The woman stared at the tube, her mouth open. She didn’t reach for the formula again.
“So I can keep it?”
The woman walked away without saying anything else. Gabriel waited for his plate while Renata hooked herself up.
He was surprised to find that there was a TV in the sleeping room. It was a large flat-screen, mounted up in the corner by the ceiling. Most of the room had a pretty good view of it. People who came into the sleeping room sat or lay down and immediately looked up at the TV as if mesmerized. It looked like television was an excellent choice of sedative to use in a shelter.
The one downside of sleeping at a shelter was, of course, not being able to stay with Renata. Boys and girls had separate sleeping rooms. There was a family room for women with little kids, but he and Renata didn’t qualify as family. They didn’t have any family anymore.
The volume on the TV wasn’t quite loud enough, but when everyone was still, Gabriel could make most of it out. It was weird, lying there in bed, watching TV, just like he was relaxing at the end of a normal day. It had been a long time since he had just watched TV.
The cot wasn’t comfortable, but it was easier on his bones than the ground. Lots of people coughed or had occasional outbursts, but mostly they just watched TV.
Later in the evening, Kirstie Holt was on. There were some cheers and whistles from the men. She was a good-looking newswoman and obviously popular. Gabriel focused on the TV, trying to block out any other noise.
Kirstie had on a sad, serious face. She recapped the previous program about medical kidnap. “Many of you felt that this was just paranoid delusions. Others were aware of similar stories, but didn’t know whether to believe them or not.”
Nick’s picture was displayed in the corner of the screen, his face blurred as it had been on the show. Then they removed the blur so you could see his whole face. There was a lump in Gabriel’s throat. Poor Nick.
“One of the boys on the segment was Nick Meredith. Sadly, his body was discovered today. At this time, Cause of Death has not been determined. Foul play was originally not suspected.” The picture of Nick was replaced with a picture of Renata, her face still blurred. “An attack was made on one of the other children when a doctor from the Lantern Clinic attempted to inject her feeding tube with a substance she was highly allergic to.” Kirstie waited a few seconds to let this sink in. “The Lantern Clinic denies any complicity in the murder attempt and says that Dr. Glover was acting on his own. One of the other boys is missing, and this network is doing what it can to help with the search.”
She looked down at her paper copy, her face composed. She looked back up. “This network has been served with an injunction prohibiting us from reporting anything further on the story.” She sat there for another minute. “It would appear that we have stepped on some important toes. We will be appealing the gag order and will keep you updated on our progress.”
Then they went on to the next story. Gabriel closed his eyes.
They had failed. Renata had thought that once they got the word out, the conspiracy would crumble. The doctors would go to jail. The Lantern Clinic would be shut down. The corrupt judges would be disbarred, or whatever it was they did to judges. No more kids would be taken away from their parents to be experimented on.
But instead, they had bombed. They had put themselves into the line of fire and the courts had just shut the story down.
Nick had been killed and maybe Ray too. Renata had barely escaped with her life.
They hadn’t gotten anywhere.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
There was only one thing that Gabriel wanted to do. He wasn’t sure what he would do after that.
“You’ll get her in trouble,” Renata warned. “They’re going to have her phone tapped, and they’ll know as soon as you call her.”
“I just have to… I can’t keep running and never have the chance to talk to her again.”
Renata made a wide shrug. Gabriel picked up the receiver and dialed the familiar number. He waited while it rang, afraid she wouldn’t answer.
“Hello?”
Keisha’s voice gave Gabriel a thrill. He had missed her so much.
“Mom. It’s me.”
“Oh, Gabriel!” Her voice broke. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, Mom. I am.”
“When they said on TV that one of the boys was missing, I didn’t know if it was you. Nobody would tell me anything. You’re all right? Really?”
“I don’t know what to do. Nothing has changed… we didn’t make any difference.”
Renata scowled at this. But she had to know it was true. She’d seen Kirstie’s report in the women’s sleeping room too.
“Mom… what should I do? Should I just come back? If I go back to the program, I’ll still be able to visit you… If I just go back and do what they tell me to…”
Keisha was silent. Gabriel waited for her to tell him to go back. If she said to go back, he would. He would take the pills that made him sick. He’d toe the line. So that he’d be safe from harm and be able to see his mother.
“Gabriel, you can’t give up. You are making a difference. People know what’s going on now. Other moms are coming to me… I don’t want you to go back.”
Renata was staring at him, waiting for some sign of what Keisha was saying.
“You want me to keep trying,” Gabriel echoed.
“I want you to be safe… but I don’t think you’d be safe if you go back, either. You are helping. I’m proud of you.”
“Okay.” Gabriel sniffled a little. “I guess… we’ll keep trying…”
“Be safe, sweetie.”
“I will.”
“You can’t call me again, though. I have to report this call after we hang up, or they’ll charge me with harboring a fugitive.”
“Yeah, okay. Sorry.”
“No, I’m glad you called. I needed to know that you were still alive.”
“Okay. Bye, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetie. I love you. And Dad does too.”
Gabriel hung up. He stood there looking at the phone for a long time before turning to look at Renata.
“She says we’re making a difference… other moms are calling her.”
Renata’s eyebrows went up. “They are?” Her voice rose. “Then maybe… the underground Railroad is still a possibility. If there are others who want to help…”
Gabriel nodded.
“We’ll need to set up an organization,” Renata went on. “Burner cell phones… people can’t know more than one or two others in the organization, to prevent one person from ratting us all out.” She spoke rapidly, bounding on ahead. “We’ll need passwords and signs to recognize helpers by… the underground Railroad had songs that were escape instructions…”
