by R. G. Ryan
“So, it’s over?” Eddie asked.
Cassie answered confidently, “Yeah…I think it is.”
Carter’s SatPhone began buzzing.
“Agent Carter here.”
He listened for a few seconds before replying, “Yes, sir. We will be there.”
He disconnected the call and said, “The replacement chopper will be on its way in about ten minutes to extract us. We need to get to the most level patch of ground we can find.”
“Then,” I replied. “I suppose we’d best be going.”
As we filed out the door—with no limping, I might add—Cassie linked her arm through mine.
“What Eddie said, Uncle…”
“Yes?”
“What if it’s true? What if whatever power was responsible for our external healing also healed us internally? What if the HIV is gone?”
“That’s a lot of what if’s, little girl.”
She sighed and said, “I know. Probably too much to hope for.”
I stopped walking and turned sideways to stare at her.
“I’m not sure that within this context that can possibly be anywhere near accurate.”
“What…too much to hope for?”
“Exactly. I mean, come on, Cassie. Look what has happened to all of us. It’s nothing short of miraculous.”
She smiled shyly.
“Are you saying that God is behind this?”
“No, not at all. I’m just saying that…well…I think I arrived at a new context of understanding tonight—an understanding that life encompasses more than what we can perceive with our senses or comprehend with our intellect.”
“Faith, Uncle? Is that what you’re suggesting? Faith?”
“Jake! We got to go!” Washington hollered from twenty yards ahead of us.
“Yeah. Coming.”
We resumed walking and I put my arm around Cassie and felt her head against my shoulder. It was a good feeling.
I said, “Let me see if I can explain my thinking. It is a well-established and historical fact that there are places on the earth where miraculous things take place seemingly transcendent of intellectual comprehension. Hell, even the quantum physics guys say that it requires ‘faith’ to do what they do. So I am not debunking the existence of faith for it permeates all of human existence, from faith that a chair will hold you up when you sit, to faith that your car will start when you turn the key or that a light will come on when you flip the switch. It’s the ‘higher power’ thing that gives me pause.”
“And yet, you have said many times that you believe in God.” She reached up and ran her hand across the back of my head. “There’s no bump, Uncle. There’s not even a cut.”
“I know, I know. And I can’t explain it. Can we simply leave it at that?”
Returning her arm to its comfortable place linked through mine she asked, “And how about if I am free from HIV? Will that change your belief system?”
The question made uncomfortable. Deeply!
“I don’t know how to answer that, Cass. I mean I really don’t know how to answer it.”
We walked in silence for a few steps, the beat of the chopper’s powerful engine growing louder by the second.
Cassie finally said, “You know what? I’m okay with not knowing—with not being able to provide a logical answer.”
I gave her shoulders a tight squeeze.
“Me too, sweetheart. Me too. It almost feels like if we could explain it, something would be destroyed.”
“Mystery.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s the mystery,” she replied. “The mystery would be destroyed.”
We both smiled and watched the chopper coming in low and fast.
Chapter Forty-eight
The chopper’s lights lit up the area around us as dense clouds of dust kicked up by the rotor’s down draft made it necessary to turn our backs to avoid having our eyeballs sandblasted from our skulls.
Once it sat down, Gerald Redfern came off in a hurry running directly to where Cassie and I stood together.
“Jake, Cassie,” he said breathlessly. “Are you both okay? Anything broken? How’s your head, Jake? You were cut up pretty—“
He stopped speaking as he trained the beam from his flashlight across our faces.
“I thought you said your face was severely lacerated and that you might have a concussion. I don’t see anything wrong with either of you.”
Cassie and I laughed, prompting him to ask, “Care to let me in on the joke?”
I slapped him on the shoulder.
“It’s a long story, Gerry. Long and very weird.”
“Well, then, I’ll look forward to hearing it. And how about you, Cassie? Are you okay?”
She nodded her head vigorously.
“I’m doing remarkably well all things considered.”
He looked around the area and let his eyes come to rest on Eddie.
“And how about her? You want to press charges?”
“On Eddie?” Cassie exclaimed. “Don’t be ridiculous! Without her I wouldn’t be here.”
“But, she aided in your abduction. That’s called accessory to kidnapping.”
Cassie shook her head violently.
“I don’t care. She saved my life.”
“It’s true, Gerry,” I explained. “She was an unwilling participant—a kidnapping victim herself. Morgan threatened to kill her if she didn’t cooperate.”
“Speaking of which,” Redfern said. “Where is Morgan?”
I shook my head slowly.
“I don’t know.”
“Care to explain that?” he inquired.
“I can’t.”
“How is that possible? You said you had him!”
“We did. Ask agent Washington. He was there to witness the whole thing.”
“I’ll do that,” he replied warily. “We can continue this conversation back in Vegas. For now, let’s get you all on the chopper so you can be checked out and debriefed.”
My SatPhone rang.
I checked the caller ID to see that it was Michael calling.
“It’s for you,” I said and handed it to Cassie.
She glanced at the screen and then surprised me by refusing to take the phone out of my hands.
“What’s wrong, Cass?”
“I…I don’t know, Uncle. I just…I can’t talk to him right now. I…can you please tell him that…”
I answered the call.
“Michael, it’s Jake.”
“Jake! Thank God!” he replied with obvious emotion. “Is Cassie okay? Are you okay?”
“Yes to both. She can’t talk to you right now. Kind of a debriefing thing and getting ready to be airlifted out of here.”
“Where’s here?” he asked.
I laughed dryly.
“I couldn’t begin to tell you, buddy. Somewhere in the Amargosa desert is all I know. Just know for now that she is completely fine.”
“No injuries?”
“None that I am aware of.”
I could hear the sigh of relief he blew out forcefully.
“Like I said, thank God for that. Hang on, Aaron wants to talk to you.”
As we neared the chopper I could hear Michael passing the phone off to Aaron.
“Brother man, you all right?” he asked in that impossibly deep baritone of his.
“Yes, I am. A little confused, but good.”
“You gonna explain that to me?”
I laughed and replied, “Yeah, I will. But not right now. We’re getting on a chopper that will take us back to Vegas.”
“What about Morgan?”
“I don’t know, Aaron. We had him and he disappeared.”
“I’m sure there’s an explanation for that as well.”
“Yeah…a long one. For now, though, he’s in the wind.”
“Hurt?”
I said, “Maybe even mortally
wounded. We don’t know.”
“We’ll sort it all out, bro.”
“I know we will. So, maybe you guys should meet us at the hotel where the command center was set up. Should be there in an hour or so.”
“Roger that. See you soon.”
The call terminated and I climbed onboard the chopper, my head filled with thoughts I didn’t understand and a reality I couldn’t explain.
I glanced down at the SatPhone and dialed Gabi’s number.
She answered on the first ring.
“Jake?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Oh, Jake. I’ve been so worried. Are you okay? What happened? I’ve tried to call but your phone kept going straight to voicemail.”
“It’s kind of a long story, but the short version is that Cassie is okay, I’m okay and the bastard who kidnapped her is…well, at present anyway, he isn’t a problem.”
She said, “Did this really all start yesterday morning when we were planning to go to the gym?”
“Yeah, it did.”
“You’ve had a long day. When will you be back? In fact, where exactly are you?”
I said, “On a chopper heading back to Vegas from the Amargosa desert.”
“Wow! I’m guessing that you have quite a tale to tell.”
I sighed.
“Yes…yes I do. Let me ask you a question…”
“Okay. Ask.”
The chopper had reached its required altitude and banked gradually off to the southwest and began to pick up speed.
“Do you believe in miracles?”
The question seemed to catch her off-guard and she took her time answering.
“Well, now…there’s a question for you. Miracles, huh? I’m not sure I’ve even thought about it before. I mean I’m Jewish. Mainly we believe in bad luck! Although I know there are many people who claim to have experienced miracles in one form or another. Let’s just say that while it hasn’t been my experience, I’m open-minded enough to accept the witness of others who have.” She laughed. “That sounded like a monumental cop-out, didn’t it?”
“No, not at all. In fact I think it’s pretty good, you know, the not experiencing it yourself but accepting the witness of those who have.”
“Why do you want to know, Jake?”
I paused briefly and then answered, “I think you’re going to have to put me in that latter category now.”
“That’s probably going to require some explanation,” she replied.
“Yes, it will.”
“Then if it’s possible, I will anticipate seeing you even more than I already am.” She paused and then added, “I, uh…love you, Jake.”
My heart felt like it was about to explode.
“I love you too, Gabi. Maybe you can go over to Aaron’s place and you guys can meet us at the hotel together?”
“I’ll be there.”
And with that, she ended the call.
I sat there for a few minutes in silence before I felt someone’s eyes on me. I turned to see Cassie grinning at me from the next seat.
She leaned toward me and said, “Gabi, right?”
“How’d you guess?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The way your face blushed, the softness of your voice, the ‘I love you too Gabi.’”
“Ah, yes. That. Well…yes. It’s true. I do love her, Cass.”
She grabbed my hand, squeezing fiercely.
“The future is suddenly looking really good.”
And it was what we believed.
Both of us.
But that was about to change.
Chapter Forty-nine
As the chopper sat down in the south parking lot of the hotel, I was surprised to see that Michael, Muriel and Aaron weren’t there waiting for us. I saw Gabi and Vanessa standing together with agent Steward, but no one else.
“That’s odd,” I remarked out loud.
“What?” Cassie inquired.
“Michael isn’t here. Neither are Muriel and Aaron.”
As soon as the chopper was settled and the rotors were powering down, an FBI agent threw the cabin door open and we exited quickly, trotting toward where Gabi and Vanessa were waiting with Eddie close behind us.
As we got closer, there was something in their eyes that wasn’t right and my heart constricted involuntarily inside my chest.
“What’s wrong?” Cassie said in alarm.
Vanessa’s eyes were filled with tears as she muttered, “Cassie, I…I’m so sorry.”
“What? What’s going on? Somebody please say something because you’re scaring me to death.”
“Gabi?” I said. “Maybe you should tell us what’s happening.”
She grabbed my hand and pulled me closer as if drawing from my strength.
“There’s…been…an accident.”
Cassie exclaimed, “An accident? What kind of an…is Michael…?
“He’s alive. They’re all alive. But…”
I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Gerald Redfern.
He said, “I got the message when we were in route, but I didn’t want to say anything until we landed.” He sighed and gestured for Andy Steward to continue.
Steward said in a subdued tone of voice, “It seems that your friend Aaron was driving your Range Rover onto St. Rose Parkway from Seven Hills Drive. His fiancée, a Ms. Palmer, was in the front passenger seat and Mr. Harvey was right behind her. There was virtually no traffic, but a drunk driver going at a high rate of speed westbound on St. Rose t-boned them in the intersection.”
“Oh, no…oh…”Cassie breathed and then fell against me.
I put both arms around her.
Gabi said, “Vanessa would have been with them, but she went with me to pick up something at my condo.”
“I feel so…I don’t know…guilty,” Vanessa sobbed and then covered her face with her hands.
I freed one arm, pulled her close and kissed her head.
“Hey…it’s okay. You did nothing wrong. I’m just so glad you’re okay—that both of you are okay.” I asked Redfern, “How bad is it?”
He ran his fingers through his hair.
“It’s a good thing they were in your car, Jake, or else no one would have survived. As it is, Aaron is concussed from his head bouncing off the driver’s window and he has a few facial lacerations from flying glass.” Almost as an afterthought he added, “His hands are fine. From the initial examination, Muriel’s diagnosis is that she has a shattered femur, broken ribs and multiple contusions as well as soft tissue damage. Her leg can be repaired, but they said she’s going to have one hell of a scar on her thigh.”
“And Michael?” Cassie whispered.
Steward answered, “Where he was sitting is the point that absorbed the bulk of the energy from the collision. Early reports are that…well…” he stopped speaking and appealed to Redfern to continue.
“Cassie, he’s going to live, but in trauma of this magnitude there is always concern that there will be…uh…paralysis.”
The horrible news washed over us like an unforgiving flood of black, putrescent water threatening to suck our souls into the depths of inky despair.
Cassie, to her immense credit, didn’t scream. She didn’t weep uncontrollably. She didn’t even hang her head. She simply wiped away what tears were there, hugged Gabi, Eddie and Vanessa and then asked if someone could take her to the hospital. Gerry said that a car was waiting to transport all of us.
Grover Washington and agent Carter, whose first name I realized I had never learned, approached.
Washington said, “We would like to drive you to the hospital. In fact, we insist.”
I thanked them as they walked off to get one of the agency SUV’s.
Cassie stared at me. Her eyes hollow, swimming in that vacuous expanse I had seen so often in people slipping into deep shock. It was understandable, given all that she’d been through. My girl had had a long, very diffic
ult day already, and to now have to face this was just too much.
“Cassie, I’m going to resist uttering something stupid and placating like, ‘Are you okay? ‘and simply tell you that you are the strongest person I have ever known and that Michael’s strength is nearly equal to yours. You are going to get through this because, like it or not, the way out…is through.”
She listened, nodding her head slightly, her eyes beginning to refocus.
She finally said, “Thank-you, Uncle. I know it’s true. It’s just that I have nothing to go on right now. I’m…I’m just spent, you know?”
All three women came up on either side of her and threw their arms around her.
Vanessa kissed her dirty cheek and smoothed down a few strands of hair.
“Big sis, I love you. I don’t know what else to do right now besides that. But I do, with all my heart.”
“I know you do, sweetie. And thank-you.”
As the agency SUV pulled up Gabi said, “I haven’t known you very long, nor do I know you particularly well, but I will walk with you through this, Cassie.”
She turned weary eyes on Gabi.
“That means a lot.”
Eddie just shook her head slowly and hugged her again without words.
Agent Carter opened the back door and pulled the Suburban’s seat forward so Gabi, Eddie and Vanessa could climb into the rear seat while Cassie and I took the center row.
Right before we left, Redfern stuck his head in the door.
“I’ll be down as soon as I can get some people notified. Andy and his guys are going ahead of you to help clear traffic. Jake, I’ll need the number of Aaron and Michael’s agent, their publicist, etc. We don’t want this turning into a media circus at the hospital.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I hadn’t even thought about that. I’ll…you know what, let me deal with that.”
“Yeah, might be better. And, Cassie…” Redfern said. “I’ll take care of everything else. You just focus on Michael.”
She nodded a quick thanks and before he left, I grabbed his arm and whispered, “Morgan is on his way here. To this hospital.”
