“Let’s do it before I change my mind.”
“Excellent! I’ve already called for a cab. All you need is your ID.”
We both said “Good morning” to the head nurse as we passed the nurse’s station. Everything appeared normal. I was just taking LeAnne for her treatment. We reached the lobby floor without seeing anyone who would wonder where we were going. Fortunately all of Dr. Sandoval’s patients were long term and they were permitted to wear their own clothes instead of hospital gowns.
As soon as we exited the elevator we headed for the front lobby entrance. We were about thirty feet from the automatic doors when I heard her. I turned to see one of the nurses from the cancer ward. It was Julie. I immediately thought that it could have been much worse. Julie had a kind of bubbly personality and I thought she would never suspect anyone of doing anything bad.
“Hey LeAnne, where are you guys going?” Julie asked.
“We have another twenty minutes before LeAnne’s appointment so I thought we might take a spin through the courtyard,” I said.
“Okay. Enjoy the fresh air and I’ll see you up there,” Julie replied with a big smile.
As soon as she was out of sight I turned back toward the front entrance, trying to stay calm and trying not to go to fast. The cab was parked down toward the entrance to the valet area. I waved to him as we approached. We had reached the point of no return. It was the point where all our plans would be destroyed if someone saw us. I helped LeAnne into the back seat and left the wheelchair right there at the curb. We were on our way to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. I had thought about telling my supervisor Connie that I needed to take a couple of days off but I decided against it. I wasn’t sure why but I had a haunting feeling that I would not be returning to New York.
The bus terminal adventure didn’t turn out to be as difficult as I thought it would be. As soon as we pulled up to the curb and I opened the back door for LeAnne, a curbside helper asked me if we needed a wheelchair. It was easy sailing from there. The next task was to determine where we wanted to go. “We want to go someplace that isn’t too far but also someplace that has a mid-sized airport,” I said as the two of us stood there looking at the arrival and departure screens.
“There’s a bus leaving for Harrisburg in an hour. That might work,” LeAnne said.
An hour later we were on our way to Harrisburg. It was one of those days you might consider to be one of the ten most beautiful days of the year in the northeast. The air was dry and the sky was blue with just a few puffy clouds scattered about. LeAnne sat next to the window and looked out at the passing landscape. It wasn’t long before we were sailing through the farmlands of central Pennsylvania. “I’m feeling a mix of emotions,” LeAnne whispered while still looking out the window.
“I understand LeAnne. It’s different for me. I’m not leaving my family confused and wondering. There was nothing else we could do. Someday it will all make sense to your parents.”
“I know but I just feel bad. But at the same time I feel invigorated. I should be feeling like crap without the meds but I feel pretty good, physically.”
The view of the farmlands helped us to relax and become drowsy. We both managed to doze off for most of the rest of the trip. The stirring of the other passengers gathering up their belongings slowly woke us. I had been dozing in and out and remembering snippets of disjointed dreams that mixed characters from home with characters at the hospital. Stepping off the bus I was relieved to see there was someone waiting with a wheelchair. I assumed it was standard procedure to greet people who needed wheelchairs.
It didn’t take long for a cabbie to find us as we waited for our luggage. Fifteen minutes later we were on our way to Harrisburg International Airport. I thought at that point we were somewhat safe. By that time, the hospital and LeAnne’s family knew she was gone. They would be completely confused wondering how, why and where. I wondered how much effort would go into finding LeAnne. If I didn’t return to work in a day or two they would know it had something to do with me. LeAnne must have been thinking the same thing as we stood on the ticket line. “Do you think they will report me as a missing person?” LeAnne asked.
“I think they have to wait twenty four hours before they can do that. I guess they will eventually figure out where we went, unless you can talk to your parents at some point. Maybe we shouldn’t fly directly to Tucson. Maybe we should fly to Phoenix or Flagstaff and have Cooper come and get us.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” LeAnne agreed.
We made our decision just as the ticketing clerk called us up to the desk. “Two tickets to Phoenix please.” There were some redeye seats available but we decided to get some rest at an airport hotel and take a flight that departed the following day. The terminal mall had a hotel at each end so we looked at our location on the “You are here” guide and headed for the closest hotel. There was no awkwardness or discussion about the room. We both knew it would be better to stay in one room. It wouldn’t be much different than visiting LeAnne at the hospital. I would be there to help her if she needed help. I called the front desk, ordered room service and asked for a shower chair.
“So Luke, we are finally alone. We don’t need to whisper. I was going to wait until we got to Cooper’s but this is as good a time as any. I want to know everything. I want to know about your life, about your family and about your home. But first, please tell me your real name.”
“I promise I’ll explain everything LeAnne. But there is one thing I need to do first. I need to let Cooper know of our plans. I think he’ll agree with our idea to fly to Phoenix.”
I set up the laptop and logged onto HealthChat. Cooper was logged on but away from his computer so I kept sending “hello” messages every few minutes. Finally around 9:45 I heard the beep. “Coop here.” It took five minutes to relay our plans to Cooper. LeAnne was sprawled out on the couch facing the TV but I was sure she wasn’t paying much mind to the cooking show that was on.
“Cooper’s on board with the plan. He agrees. If they somehow track us to Phoenix, it will be a dead end.”
There was no response from LeAnne and I suddenly got a sharp pain in my abdomen. She was after all a very sick woman. It was the first time she missed her treatment. My heart immediately began racing. “LeAnne, are you alright?”
To my relief, she opened her eyes slowly. “I’m fine. I’m just very tired.” Even though LeAnne only weighed 103 pounds, it was still difficult to pick her up. My weak legs felt like they would give out but I managed to carry her to the bed. It was a room with two full sized beds. I pulled the covers back on the other side and she used her own strength to slip under the covers.
I pulled the covers up to LeAnne’s chin and she grabbed both of my hands and began pulling me toward her. “We’ll have to have that conversation tomorrow. Just do two things for me.”
“Sure LeAnne, whatever you need.”
LeAnne’s eyes looked heavy and she had a look of exhausted desperation but she managed to say a few words. “First tell me your real name.”
“My real name is Naos, Naos Oriel-Achernar.”
“Naos. That is a beautiful name.”
“And your second request?”
“Kiss me Naos.”
***
Mia Maldonado usually came around with the lunch menus at St. Elizabeth’s around 9:30 AM. When she saw LeAnne’s empty bed she assumed she was in the bathroom or down in the cancer treatment room. “Are you in the bathroom LeAnne?” Mia asked just loud enough for someone in the bathroom to hear. It was quiet and she didn’t hear the fan running in the bathroom so she went to the bathroom door which was closed and repeated, “Are you in there LeAnne? Are you okay?”
Mia didn’t become curious about LeAnne’s whereabouts until lunchtime. LeAnne’s treatments usually lasted a couple of hours and she was always back in her room before lunch. Mia assumed that they started the infusion late and LeAnne would be back a little later than usual. Mia’s lunch break was at 1:
00 so she checked LeAnne’s room just before she left. LeAnne had never been that late coming back from her treatments so Mia decided she would stop by the treatment room on her way to the cafeteria. She was sure she would see LeAnne asleep in one of the big recliners. There were a half dozen patients being treated but LeAnne was not among them.
Julie, the treatment room nurse hung up the phone as Mia approached the desk. “It’s been crazy here this morning. I just talked to Cora to see why LeAnne didn’t come down for her treatment. She said LeAnne did come down here at her usual time. The only problem is that she never arrived here.”
“She hasn’t been in her room all morning. I thought she was down here,” Mia said.
Julie grabbed the phone and called upstairs again as Mia stood by listening. “Cora, this is Julie again. Mia is here and she said that LeAnne hasn’t been in her room all morning.”
Cora felt the knot in her stomach intensify and tried not to panic, thinking there must be a logical explanation. She dialed the transportation room. Connie answered on the first ring. “Who brought LeAnne down for her treatments this morning?” Cora asked.
“Luke. Is he up there? He isn’t answering his phone. I’m going to kill him,” Connie said. “We have several patients waiting for transport.”
“No. He’s not here and LeAnne isn’t here. He left with her for the treatment room 9:00 this morning and no one has seen either of them since.”
“I’ll take a sweep of the route they would take. If I don’t see them, I’ll call Security,” Connie said.
By 3:00 PM there was still no sign of LeAnne. Every floor of both wings of the hospital had been searched. Connie approached the Nurse’s Station on the Weinberg wing followed by Dan Kinney, the head of hospital security. “There’s no sign of her anywhere,” Connie said.
“The family will be in about 4:30,” Cora said. “We can’t let them arrive here without knowing where she is. I’m going to call the family. Maybe they spoke to her.”
Dan and Connie stood listening to one end of the conversation while Cora phoned the Pearson home. “Hello, Mrs. Pearson, this is Cora from the hospital.”
“LeAnne is fine,” Cora said and paused for few long moments before gathering up her courage. “I was just wondering if you heard from her?”
“She missed her treatment this morning.”
“But she left for her treatment early this morning and apparently she never arrived. She hasn’t been in her room all day so we were hoping you spoke with her.”
“Yes. Security has scoured the hospital. We think she may have gone somewhere off site.”
“Possibly but I doubt if Luke would have taken her anywhere without telling us.”
“Okay. We’ll see you in a little while.”
Cora hung up the phone and turned to look at Dan and Connie. “What the hell is going on?” Dan asked. “How long has Luke worked here? Does anyone know him? I’m going down to HR and look at his background and work history. Maybe I’ll see if my friends over at NYPD can do a background check on him.”
It didn’t take long for the Pearsons to arrive. Cora could see Carl and Madeline Pearson looking frantic as they rounded the corner hallway that led to the elevators. She had asked Dan and Connie to stay there but they disappeared when she was busy checking on a patient. The Pearsons went directly into LeAnne’s room. Cora knew they would only be in there for a few seconds. Thirty seconds later they were standing at the Nurse’s Station looking down at Cora. “Well, where is she?” Madeline asked sounding more worried than angry.
“Hold on a minute while I check with Dan from Security,” Cora said. Cora was only on the phone with Dan for a few seconds. “Dan is on his way up.”
A few minutes later Dan stepped off the elevator that opened up to the Weinberg wing. Dan was a retired police officer who spent thirty years working in one of the Westchester precincts just north of midtown. “This Luke fellow has no history. I’m not even sure how he passed the background check when he was hired. He’s a ghost. Whatever happened to LeAnne, I’m sure it has something to do with him.”
“What’s next?” Carl Pearson asked, his voice sounding shaky. “What should we do now?”
“What’s next is the three of us need to go down to Police Plaza and file a Missing Person’s statement.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find this Luke person and we’ll find your daughter.”
12 - A historic event
We were both anxious, waiting to board the plane to Phoenix. Although I didn’t think there was much chance that we would be found that quickly, I was still feeling a nagging fear. LeAnne was feeling the same thing. I knew we would feel better once we boarded the plane. We hadn’t broken any laws so it wasn’t like we were criminals. The real problem was me. If they tracked and found LeAnne they would interrogate me and somehow my true identity may be exposed.
“I was thinking that we could ask one of my co-conspirators to get a message to your parents. It wouldn’t matter if it was by postal mail or pay-phone. Either way they would be able to figure out what area of the country it came from. But that would lead to a dead end.”
“We probably should have done it last night,” LeAnne said. “We’ll have to wait until we get to Cooper’s.”
I felt a rush of adrenalin as the plane made a steep ascent. “Safe at last,” I thought.
LeAnne was sitting by the window again, admiring the scenery as we headed toward the dry side of the US. “The Rockies are beautiful from up here,” LeAnne remarked.
“Everything here is beautiful to me,” I whispered. I leaned over closer to LeAnne so no one else could hear me. “Where I am from is much older. The mountains have flattened out over time.”
“Yes, we still have to continue that conversation about your life and your home. I guess we’ll have plenty of time when we get to Cooper’s.”
“I have one wish and one thought that is now always at the forefront of my mind. I hope we have all the time we want. I hope we have many, many years,” I said.
LeAnne took my hand and whispered, “I hope we are together.”
I leaned in close to Leanne. “A light kiss is all that I can offer you now in this crowded plane.”
A few hours later the plane made a smooth landing in Phoenix. LeAnne was the only passenger on the flight in a wheelchair so when we exited the gate, Cooper was waiting for us. I could tell right away that he was Ranjisi even though he looked human. He would have looked like a cowboy if he exchanged his baseball cap for a riding hat. He was thin to the point of appearing skinny and wore his brown hair in a long ponytail. He wore a silver chain around his neck that draped down over his denim shirt and when he shook my hand I noticed large turquoise rings on each hand.
“Welcome to Arizona,” Cooper said with a big smile.
LeAnne and I listened to Cooper talk about the weather and the wildlife of the Sonoran Desert as we headed south on Interstate 10. “This is amazing,” LeAnne remarked, “So different from upstate New York and yet beautiful in its own way.”
“I love it here. I don’t think I could live in a cold climate again,” Cooper said. Cooper looked at me with an inquisitive look and I guessed that he wasn’t sure how much LeAnne knew.
“Yes, LeAnne knows,” I said.
“We don’t have deserts back home LeAnne,” Cooper said. “It is beautiful but it is a double edged sword. Deserts seem to grow. They eat into the fertile areas of the world. If a planet becomes a complete desert, it begins to become uninhabitable. But for now, it’s just beautiful and I love it.”
“Well I’m still waiting for Naos to tell me all about your home. I still feel weird saying ‘your planet’ so I keep referring to where you came from as your home.”
“Tonight after you get settled in, Naos and I will tell you everything you want to know about Ranjisan.”
“That sounds good. Meanwhile, can you tell me what your real name is Cooper?” LeAnne asked.
“My Ranjisi name using English characters would t
ranslate to Algol Arial-Seginus.”
“Is there a special meaning to the name?” LeAnne asked.
“Algol is the name I am known by. Seginus is my mother’s family name and Arial is an indicator that means my parents had more than one female child. It’s kind of a statement in support of women’s empowerment. It’s also become a sort of patriotic label. So I have two sisters back home, Sadr and Rana. Sadr is 62 years old and Rana is 54.”
“What? How old are you?” LeAnne sounded surprised.
“I am 56. I guess Luke hasn’t explained it to you yet. Just briefly, we have a life expectancy of around 160 to 170. Since we don’t have to battle gravity back home, our appearance changes very slowly. I have noticed in the few years I’ve been here that I have aged a lot.”
LeAnne turned quickly toward me. She didn’t need to ask. I already knew the question that was written all over her face. “I am looking good at around age 60,” I said and laughed at my own joke.
“Yes, you sure are looking good,” LeAnne said.
LeAnne turned back to face Algol. “Can I start calling you Algol?”
“You may since we will be spending all of our time at my home. However, if we are out in public at some point you must remember to call me Cooper.”
We passed the time joking around about some of the differences between humans and Ranjisi and before we knew it we were pulling off the highway.
“It seems the sun set suddenly,” I said. “A few minutes ago it was on the horizon and now it is almost completely dark.”
“They have a light ordinance here so all the street lights point down, making the sky dark. One of the most beautiful things about the desert is the night sky so we like to keep it as dark as possible. We can see all the constellations and shooting stars here. We don’t have light pollution like back in New York.”
“This is it,” Algol said as he turned the car into a long, dark driveway. The only light came from the small solar lamps that lined both sides of the driveway. Algol showed us around and helped us get settled. We were anxious to see the treatment room he had set up. It looked like it could have been a much smaller version of the infusion room back at St. Elizabeth.
The Good Reaper Page 12
