The Naked Eye
Page 28
“Dear God,” Eve whispered.
She was looking at the water pouring over the sidewalk from the two-story building. She jammed her foot on the brake.
Sam threw open his door. “It doesn’t mean anything. We can’t give up. I know it looks bad but … Come on!”
Sam and Eve ran down the narrow side alley to a door that had obviously just been rammed open by the police officers. Water was rushing from the open doorway.
Eve pushed past the half dozen cops. Two of whom tried to stop her.
One officer said, “You can’t go in there, ma’am.”
“The hell I can’t. My sister’s in there.”
Another one of the officers grabbed her arm and shined his flashlight toward a descending cellar stairway that was already entirely underwater.
“It’s too late,” he said gently. “That water was rushing too fast and filled up that stairwell in just seconds.”
Eve tried to break free. “No. We have to bring her up.”
“I’m sorry. We need to wait for—”
“Let me go!”
“Ma’am, we’ve just radioed for the dive team. They’re on their way.”
“And we’re supposed to wait? How long? Ten minutes? Twenty? It’ll be too late, dammit.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late now.”
Eve tried to wrench herself free as more police officers restrained her. She desperately exchanged a quick glance with Sam, and her eyes narrowed.
He understood.
He glanced toward the open cellar door, then gave her a tiny, almost imperceptible nod.
Eve yelled hysterically, and swung her arm. The rest of the police officers joined the fray, trying to restrain her. She threw herself back, giving Sam just the opening he needed.
He took a deep breath and dove into the water!
Sam heard the cops yelling behind him as he kicked his way down into the darkness of the submerged cellar. A couple of them splashed on the top couple of steps, but none followed.
They weren’t crazy. Not like he clearly was.
The water was cold. It was now completely dark, and he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face. It was then he realized he had no orientation of the strange place, not even a clue of which direction Beth and that embalming table might lie.
Wait!
He fished in his pocket and pulled out his keys. A tiny, flat xenon flashlight was on the ring, useful for seeing door locks at night and computer motherboards in dim corners of his workshop.
And it just might save his life.
He squeezed the flashlight between his thumb and forefinger, and a wide-angle beam illuminated the ceiling and side wall.
Bizarre. In just a few seconds, he’d already become disoriented to the point that he couldn’t tell up from down. He spun around, trying to keep a fix on where the stairs were. He couldn’t let himself lose track of how to get the hell out of there.
If he ever got out. His lungs were already aching.
He went deeper and kicked, looking for some sign of the embalming table he’d seen in Colby’s videos. Again he’d become disoriented, finding himself almost face-to-face with one of the black-as-coal walls.
Where in the hell was—?
He turned around and saw her. Only inches from him, facing him.
Beth.
No!
Beth’s eyes were closed, and she was floating upright, her feet still strapped to the table. Her wrists were now free of restraints, but Beth’s struggle had left bruises and scrapes all over her lower arms.
She’d never had a chance. She was motionless, and her long hair floated around her beautiful face.
Oh, God.
Beth.
I’m sorry, Beth. I should have worked faster, found you sooner …
His oxygen-starved lungs burned … Could he even make it out of here?
I won’t leave you. I’ll get you out of this awful place, Beth. I won’t leave without you …
He dove down and saw that her ankle restraints were buckled underneath the table. No way she could’ve reached them, he realized. He released the buckles, then gripped her arms and yanked her free of the table.
He held her tight as he kicked toward the stairway. He could feel her long hair brush, cling, to his face.
I’ve got you. You’re getting out of here, Beth. I won’t leave you in this pit where he put you to die.
His chest was throbbing, about to explode. He was getting light-headed.
Where were those damned stairs? Was he even on the right side of the room?
He touched the wall with his fingertips and kicked harder.
There. There were the stairs.
He gripped Beth tighter and kicked upward. Then, finally, he could see light from the doorway. Several flashlight beams speared downward.
Kick harder. Just a few more yards.
God, I’m sorry, Beth. Forgive me. Someone else should have been here for you. I failed you. I should have been faster …
He finally broke the surface, gasping and gulping air. Several strong hands gripped him and Beth and dragged them through the doorway and out into the alley. There were now over a dozen cops and a paramedic unit there. Kendra and Lynch were getting out of their car parked down the alley and hurrying toward them. Kendra’s expression was stricken as her gaze fell on Beth.
I tried, Kendra.
The paramedics converged on Beth, while Sam stood up and staggered away. Kendra was there beside the ambulance, kneeling beside the paramedics.
Sam leaned against the building and watched the paramedics work on Beth. Too late, he wanted to tell them. Can’t you see? It’s too late.
He was vaguely aware that Eve had walked over and was standing next to him. She tucked a blanket around his shoulders. Then she silently put her hand on his.
Only then did Sam realize he was crying. “It was so damn dark down there. I wasn’t fast enough. I wanted to save her.”
Eve nodded, wiping tears from her own face. “Sam … in her entire life, no one ever did more for her than you did. No one.”
“It wasn’t enough.” He shook his head. “Hell, I’m not even a very good swimmer. I spend all my time with computers. I should have been stronger, better for her.”
“Sam, you were there for her. You gave everything you had.”
“But it didn’t keep her from—”
Eve stiffened. “Hush.” Eve suddenly whirled to face the paramedics. “I think I heard…”
Sam’s gaze followed Eve’s. He couldn’t see anything past the paramedics surrounding Beth.
But he heard it, too.
A cough, or gurgle or … something.
It couldn’t be. She was dead.
Wasn’t she?
He was running toward the ambulance.
Beth was lying where they had placed her. Her eyes were still closed. She didn’t look any different than a few minutes ago.
But the medics were working furiously over her now.
Kendra had jumped to her feet and was standing right beside them. “A cough. Didn’t I hear her cough?”
“Step back, ma’am.”
“Please, just say yes or no. Then I’ll get out of your way.”
“Yes,” he said. “We have a heartbeat. But that doesn’t mean much right now. We have to stabilize her and get her to the hospital. Then we’ll see what we have.”
“She’s alive?” Sam said wonderingly.
Eve turned, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back away from the ambulance. The tears were pouring down her cheeks. “Come on. Let’s get out of their way and let them work.”
“She’s alive?”
Kendra was suddenly there beside them. She nodded, her expression luminous, and gave him a hug. “Yes, she’s alive, Sam.”
CHAPTER 17
Alvarado Hospital Medical Center
“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” LYNCH strode down the ER corridor toward Kendra. “She’s still unconscious? I thought she was recovering.”
“I thought it was too good to be true.” Sam turned away from the window. “She was dead when I found her. It would take a miracle to bring her back.”
Kendra shook her head. “Not a miracle. And according to the specialist to whom I just spoke, she wasn’t dead. Very close. Her heart had probably even stopped. But you said she’d managed to free her arm restraints but not those on her ankles and that would have made her able to breathe until the water was almost up to the ceiling. She would have been able to breathe until the chamber was filled, only minutes before the water overflowed through the cellar doorway.”
“Minutes,” Sam repeated. “Why didn’t she drown?”
“You,” she said simply. “When drowning, the heart stops beating after about three minutes. But it’s possible to revive someone without brain damage for about seven minutes. Judging by the way the water was rushing out of the cellar and into the streets, you and Eve must have arrived on the scene almost at the time her heart stopped beating.”
“But we don’t know if I got her out in time to make that seven-minute deadline,” Sam said.
She wanted to comfort him, reassure him, but she couldn’t lie. “No, we don’t know. You did everything you could, but we can’t even be sure what went on in that cellar before you got there.”
“She fought,” he said hoarsely. “Her arms were bruised … she fought those ties until she managed to slip out of them. Maybe the water helped. But it was probably too late for her to free her ankles. That son of a bitch had her pinned and helpless.”
The vision of Beth struggling desperately in that water was unbearable for Kendra. It must have been even more wrenching for Sam, who had seen it. Her hand grasped his arm. “She’s still fighting, Sam. And she may win.”
“When will we know?”
She shook her head. “They’re still evaluating. Using all their fancy machines.”
“Even if she lives … You said seven minutes without brain damage.”
She nodded. “But we don’t know that either. They can see there’s swelling to the brain, but they don’t know how much or if there was damage. The doctors will let us know as soon as they do. Dr. Jordkol appears to know what he’s doing.”
“Yeah, maybe.” He turned back to look out the window.
She gazed at him helplessly.
“Come on. I’ll buy you a soda.” Lynch took her arm and guided her toward the soda machine. “There’s nothing you can say to him right now. He’s feeling guilty as hell.”
“I know. But there’s no reason. He did everything. He was a hero.” She took the Diet Coke he handed her. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“No more than your feeling guilty.”
“That’s different. I was responsible for setting her up for Colby. I even brought Sam into it.”
“Hush.” His fingers touched her lips. “In the end, everyone is responsible for themselves and their choices.”
“And I chose to involve people who got terribly hurt in the process.” She changed the subject. “Has Griffin found any sign of Colby?”
He shook his head. “They’ve scoured the house and the neighborhood, and the only thing they found was the corpse of an old lady on the top floor of the house and Northrup in a closet in the cellar.”
“No sighting of the van?”
Lynch shook his head. “Not yet. Griffin said he’d come and bring us up to date as soon as he knew something.”
“Someone has to have seen him.” She shook her head numbly. “He couldn’t have just done that to Beth and vanished.”
“You know he had it all planned,” Lynch said. “There’s a good chance that’s exactly what he did. Turned on the water, then left the house and probably the area.”
“And we just missed him?”
He nodded. “He wouldn’t have known that we were that close.” He looked at the ER room. “Though he probably does now. The media was all over Griffin when they got wind of what happened at City Heights.”
“Not close enough.” She looked at Eve, who had gone over to stand beside Sam. “She’s been wonderful with Sam. She’s hurting so much herself but she’s been there for him through all of this. She called Joe Quinn when she got to the hospital and told him what was happening, but since then she’s been Sam’s anchor.”
“You weren’t doing a bad job yourself when I walked in.”
She shrugged. “He’s my friend, but Eve is better than I am at that kind of conversation. In case you haven’t noticed, I have a habit of saying the wrong thing.”
“Not when you care about someone.” He turned away. “Of course, I don’t have firsthand proof of that statement. Go sit down. I’ll go call Griffin again, and then I’ll be back with you.”
“You don’t have to sit with me.”
“It’s my pleasure. Well, now that was the wrong phrase. There’s no pleasure connected to this. But it’s definitely my privilege.” He strolled down the hall. “Fifteen minutes, Kendra.”
She watched him leave and felt suddenly alone.
Ridiculous.
She was just very vulnerable at the moment. She glanced at Eve and Sam. They were all vulnerable because of that very special woman in the ER.
And they might as well cling together until they knew what Beth’s fate was to be. If she was awkward and said the wrong thing, so be it.
She moved across the room toward the window where Eve and Sam stood.
* * *
LYNCH WASN’T BACK IN FIFTEEN MINUTES, it was closer to an hour when he came back to the waiting room. “Sorry, when I called Griffin, he was in the middle of something and had to call me back. He’s on his way here now.”
“What was happening?” Kendra asked. “Colby?”
“Maybe. He wanted to confirm, then get back to us.”
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “It is Colby. Have they caught him?”
“If they had, I’d be the first to tell you.” He glanced at the ER room. “Beth?”
Kendra shook her head. “No word yet. I don’t like it.” She paused. “Any more than I like you changing the subject. Why aren’t you talking to me?”
“Because I thought Griffin should take the heat. I get enough of it from you. Besides, I hoped he might know more by the time he got here.”
“More about what? Why should—”
“Hello, Kendra.” Griffin was striding down the corridor toward them. “How is Beth Avery? Better, I hope.”
“We don’t know. I’m sure she’d feel better to know that Colby has been caught.” She paused. “Or shot down like the animal he is. I hope that’s what you’re going to tell me.”
“I’m afraid not. I know you’re upset about this, and so am I. But you have to remember that Colby has been evading the law for a long time, and he’s gotten very good at it.”
“I don’t have to remember anything,” she said fiercely. “Except that Beth may be dying or brain-dead before this day is over. I don’t care if you’re upset because the media is roasting you alive. I want Colby found.”
“We’re trying to do that,” Griffin said soothingly. “It’s not a question of Colby’s being on the run, that would make things easier, he’d make mistakes. Every action he’s taken since he turned on that water has been deliberate and well thought-out.”
“What actions?”
“We’ve just got a report that the credit card belonging to Tom Sims, the FBI computer head, who was killed in D.C., was used to purchase groceries and clothes in San Ysidro, just across from the Mexican border.”
“What?”
“Sims’s credit card was missing when his body was found in that alley.”
“You think Colby is on his way back to Mexico?”
“I have to consider the possibility.” He reached into his pocket. “Particu
larly since he left this charming farewell note for you.”
“Note?”
“Don’t you remember? He pinned it to Beth Avery’s sweater before he left her. It was in a waterproof freezer bag.” He handed her a printed sheet of paper. “I had it copied for you.”
She slowly took the note.
The words were typically Colby.
Kendra
Your little friend was a delight, but you are without peer. I can hardly wait for the day when we’ll come together. But I’m a patient man as you might have noticed. I know you’re getting close. You are so very clever. So it’s time to shift, to do a little dance, and come at you at a different time and place. But be assured, the dance will continue.
Or perhaps you might choose to come at me again. I’ll be on familiar ground, and you’ll be the stranger. That might even be more enjoyable …
Colby
“He said nothing about Mexico,” she said. “He just hinted.”
“We’re checking border-patrol videos, and we’ll continue to do so. But you don’t have to have ID or passport to go into Mexico. It’s returning that you have to have ID and documents. It would be the easiest place for him to go to try to purchase new documents and stage his next attack on you.”
“But if he hears that Beth is still alive, he might decide to come back faster and finish the job.”
“Naturally, we’ll furnish her protection until we’re sure that it’s not necessary.”
“You mean when she dies,” she said baldly.
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. “And maybe I’m being unfair. It’s hard for me to tell right now. I want to know when you get that photo of Colby crossing the border.”
“I’ll e-mail it to Lynch. You’re a little occupied at the moment.”
“Do that.” She turned and crossed the room to tell Eve and Sam Griffin’s news.
And continue to wait for news of her own.
Wouldn’t the doctors ever come out of that ER?
* * *
DOCTOR JORDKOL CAME OUT OF the ER forty-five minutes later. He didn’t come to Kendra but directly to Eve. Kendra didn’t expect anything else. Eve was family, next of kin.