by Sibel Hodge
Then I heard the door burst open and I opened my eyes.
Romeo and a bunch of police officers came storming down the stairs, guns drawn. Dad brought up the rear.
I let out a gasping breath of relief.
"Put the knife down." Romeo aimed his gun at Marie.
She glanced at Andrew, then back to Romeo again, weighing up what to do.
Andrew shook his head.
"Put it down," Romeo repeated.
She scowled and threw the knife on the floor. "I never get to have any fun."
One police officer cuffed her hands behind her back and another one did the same to Andrew.
"Well, that was fun. We must do that again some time," I shouted to Marie and Andrew as the officers led them up the stairs.
Romeo and Dad rushed toward me, untying my hands and legs.
"Are you okay?" Dad's face wrinkled with concern.
"I am now."
"Did they hurt you?" Romeo asked, looking equally concerned.
"No. You got here just in time," I gasped. "How did you know where I was, anyway?"
"When we left, your mum was worried about you not eating anything so she went home to make a sandwich for you," Dad said. "I was just bringing it to the hospital when I saw something weird going on in the car park. I was driving around, trying to get a car-parking space, and I saw what I thought was a domestic going on at the other side. But by the time I finally got round there, I saw it was Andrew bundling you into his car. Then another car pulled out in front of me and slowed me down, so I lost Andrew's car when I tried to follow you. I drove around, seeing if I could spot it, and phoned Romeo to try and find out possible addresses where you could be."
"Sorry it took so long," Romeo said. "We checked out Andrew's house and the clinics, looking for the car, before we came here."
"Well, you just got here in time." I sat up and rubbed at my wrists and ankles. "There's a big snake in here somewhere." I glanced around, waiting for Monty to rear his slithery head.
Romeo nodded to one of the officers. "See if you can find the snake."
"Can you stand up?" Dad asked.
I nodded. "I think so."
I tried to stand but my legs were wobbly, so Dad and Romeo helped me to my feet.
The room swirled a little as I leaned against them for support. "If you hadn't turned up when you did, I'd be—"
"Shush." Romeo pulled my head toward him, resting it on his shoulder.
He felt warm and strong and I rested my weight on him, waiting for the room to stay still.
"I got the local police to check Liza's parents' address. There was no sign of Steven's car or Chantal."
I closed my eyes briefly, rubbing at my wrists, which were red and grazed from the tight ropes. "I think she must be at Holbrook Clinic, then. Andrew said she was in limbo, whatever that means. He must've managed to get hold of her before she made it to Dorset. We need to get a move on before they kill her."
Dad helped me up the stairs and out into the dark night toward Romeo's car.
I slid in the back seat and started shaking in an adrenaline anticlimax. "Have you got a mobile phone I can use?" I asked Dad and Romeo, pressing my hands on my legs to stop the shakes. "Andrew must've taken mine when he grabbed me."
Dad rummaged in his pocket and handed it to me in the backseat.
I dialed Hacker to find out how Brad was. What if he'd woken up and Hacker hadn't been able to get hold of me?
After a few rings, Hacker answered. There was no change. Brad still hadn't woken up.
I leaned back on the seat and rubbed my hands across my face. This would probably rank right up there as the shittiest day of my life, and it wasn't even over yet.
"Sorry to hear about Brad." Romeo's eyes caught mine in the reflection of the rearview mirror. "I hope he makes a full recovery soon."
"Thanks." I gave him a half-smile. "Did you get the warrant?"
He nodded.
I turned to the window, watching the world speed by as we raced to the Holbrook Clinic.
Would Chantal be there, and would she still be alive?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
We screeched to a stop on the paved driveway of the Holbrook Clinic. Six police cars brought up the rear, their blue flashing lights illuminating the dark sky.
We all rushed to the entrance.
The building was set on the edge of a wood. It was an impressive, ultra-modern glass building with tinted windows and doors, and looked more like a weird research facility in a sci-fi movie rather than a hospital.
It was impossible to see if anyone was inside.
Romeo tried the doors.
Locked.
He banged on them. "Police. Open up! We've got a warrant."
The other police officers stood behind us. Two of them had battering rams in their hands, ready and waiting to force the doors. Although, looking at all the toughened glass, I suspected it was going to be pretty hard to get inside. I glanced up at the security cameras over the door and gave whoever was watching a finger wave.
No one answered the door.
He banged again.
This time a security guard came rushing toward the door. "Okay, okay," I heard him shout as he fumbled with his keys. He unlocked the doors and they slid open.
"You four stay outside and make sure no one leaves the building." Romeo pointed to some of the officers, then rushed inside. "Who's in charge?" he asked the guard.
"Dr.…Van Pelt," the security guard spluttered.
"Get him down here," Romeo said.
The guard hesitated.
"Now!" Romeo said, then nodded to the other officers. "Do your thing and search the premises."
The security guard got on the phone, muttered into it, then hung up, looking like he was about to have a coronary on the spot. "He's coming down."
"I'm going to see if I can find Chantal," I said to Romeo, and left him standing there, waiting for Van Pelt.
I rushed up the corridor to my right, my boots squeaking on the pristine lino floor. It was filled with rooms of ultrasound machines, X-ray equipment, MRI and CT scanners. Plenty of diagnostic equipment, but no patient beds and no sign of Chantal. What if we were too late?
I retraced my steps to the entrance. Romeo was having a heated discussion with a tall guy with white hair that stuck up on end, making him look like he could be part of the cast of a Hammer Horror movie. I ignored them and hurried down the opposite corridor.
This area had private patient beds on either side and a nurses' station in the middle.
A woman dressed in a navy-blue sister's uniform came around the station and tried to block my entrance.
"You can't come in here."
"Oops, too late, I already am." I left her standing there, agog, as I searched in all the rooms.
Some of the beds were empty. Some had male and female patients of all age ranges. Those who were awake looked pretty surprised to see me.
Still no Chantal.
We searched all the floors but there was still no trace of her, and Van Pelt had clamped his mouth tighter than the Bank of England vault.
"Where is she?" I said to Romeo when we'd finished searching the top floor.
"Maybe she's not here after all. Maybe she really did escape."
I shook my head. "No, Andrew said she was 'in limbo.' She must be here."
We rode the lift back downstairs to the reception area, my stomach sinking to my feet. She had to be here somewhere.
I glanced down at the CCTV camera screens hidden behind the reception desk. One of them was monitoring a large darkened room packed with women lying on trolleys, covered by a simple sheet. All the women had their eyes closed.
I pointed at the screen. "I didn't see that room and we've searched the whole building." I peered closer. "That's Chantal!"
I looked at Romeo. He looked at me.
"There must be a basement here that we haven't found," I said.
Romeo shook his head. "The officers have searched eve
ry inch of this building and there isn't one."
"What about an outbuilding?" I asked.
Romeo got on the radio and rounded up some officers to search the grounds.
Five minutes later, we found what we were looking for.
A locked concrete bunker-style building underground. The entrance was only barely visible because it had been covered by delivery crates.
Inside the bunker it was cool and smelled musty and damp. Chantal lay on one of the trolleys, unresponsive, doped up to the eyeballs.
I called an ambulance to take her to the emergency room. It was the first of many ambulances that night.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When I finally got back to the hospital, Brad still hadn't woken up. What if his soul had already left his body and he was just an empty shell lying in the bed?
An unbearable ache permeated every inch of my body.
Hacker was asleep on the chair next to Brad's bed. Even if his voodoo wasn't powerful enough to heal Brad, maybe Nicole's was.
I kissed Brad's cheek and went downstairs to find out where Chantal and her parents were.
Nicole and James Langton were in Chantal's room. Nicole held on to her daughter's hand, her face crumpled. James paced the floor, much like I'd been doing hours earlier.
They looked up when I entered.
"How is she?" I asked.
"They've given her something as an antidote to all the drugs those animals have been pumping her with," Nicole said. "The doctors said she's going to be okay. It will take a little while to get out of her system, but she's going to be fine." She smiled at me. "Plus, I've done my own healing ritual on her." She pressed one hand against her chest. "I know she's going to be all right." Tears of joy filled her eyes.
James Langton pumped my hand with his. "Thank you so much for finding her. I don't know what we would've done if…" He paused. "If anything had happened to her. These people are monsters. And to think that our own nephew was involved in this." He shook his head. "It's just sick."
I nodded. "That's an understatement."
Nicole stood and embraced me. "I don't know how to thank you for bringing my baby home safe. Is there anything I can do for you in return?"
I patted her back. "Actually, there is. My fiancé is in the ICU upstairs. He's got meningitis, although I think he was actually cursed by your sister." I told her about the voodoo doll. "My friend did a voodoo healing spell for him but it doesn't seem to be working. Do you think…?"
She pulled back. "Marie is evil like the rest of them. Of course I'll help." She picked up her handbag and tilted her hand toward the door. "Show me the way."
We got into the elevator.
"Does this voodoo stuff really work?" I asked her. "Do you have to actually believe in it for it to work?"
"Voodoo is powerful magic. Sometimes there's no explanation as to why it works; it just does. It can bring you health and happiness, wealth and fortune, but"—she tapped her heart—"unless you are a good person in here, it won't help you be happy. You don't have to believe in it for it to work, although I think that you do, anyway." She smiled at me.
If ever there was a time I had to believe in it, it was now.
We walked down the ICU corridor in silence. Hacker was awake and yawning when we entered Brad's room. He sprang out of the chair, smiled at Nicole, and said something in French.
They shook hands.
"I'm honored to meet you," she said to him.
Hacker looked like a schoolboy with a crush. "You're one of the most famous voodoo priestesses of all time. It's me who's honored."
"Now, let's get started. There's no time to waste." Nicole unzipped her bag, taking out various items and placing them on the bed.
She placed two amethyst crystals either side of his head and some small stones over his heart, and emptied several drops of sweet-smelling oil into his hair. She put a bag of herbs in his hand. I could smell garlic, rosemary, and sage permeating the air.
"Tia will be so pissed off she missed Nicole doing this spell," Hacker whispered to me. "She's her new hero."
"Don't tell Tia I'm doing this. Otherwise she'll be trying to get me to do more of her spells again," I whispered back.
"Yeah, and you don't believe in all this stuff, do you?" Hacker grinned.
I elbowed him in the ribs.
Nicole sat on the bed next to Brad and took a deep breath. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she made some croaking sounds in her throat, much like Marie had done. When she opened her eyes she ran her hands above the length of Brad's body and said, "I call upon the loa and ancient spirits to restore health to this man. I empower this spell three times three. As I do will, so mote it be." She pressed her hand against his forehead to end the spell.
"How long will it take to work?" I asked as she gathered everything up and put it back in her bag.
"It shouldn't be long," Nicole said, taking my hands in hers. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must get back to my daughter." She paused at the doorway and turned back to me. "I'll be sending your bonus check in the mail first thing."
"There's no need, Nicole. Honestly. I was just doing my job. I really can't accept your bonus check."
"I'll be deeply offended if you don't take it. Nothing can make up for you giving Chantal her life back. I'm mailing that check, whether you like it or not." She smiled and made her way back down the corridor.
I sat on the edge of the bed, taking Brad's hand in mine. I squeezed it gently.
This will work. You're going to be okay, babe.
His hand squeezed mine back.
I gasped. "He just squeezed my hand," I said to Hacker.
"Told you this stuff worked."
"Omigod!" I stared at Brad's face in disbelief as his eyelids fluttered open. My hand instinctively flew to my heart.
He glanced slowly around the room, swallowed, then focused on me.
I flung my arms around his neck and smothered his face in kisses. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I've got a million hangovers at once."
I grinned.
"What the hell happened?" he asked.
So I told him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
"Transplant tourism? Organ trafficking?" Brad repeated back to me. "I'd heard it goes on, but I had no idea how rife it was."
"Me neither. Marie, Andrew Scott, and all the staff at the Holbrook Clinic have been arrested. They won't be seeing the light of day for a long time. We rescued five girls from that place tonight, including Chantal. The police are finding evidence of hundreds of girls they've killed since the clinic opened. Andrew was handpicking girls who had no relatives to kick up a fuss and report them missing, and since the Second Chance Clinic was the only free clinic in the whole county, Andrew seemed to have an endless supply of girls to murder for their organs." I plumped Brad's pillows again. "Are you sure you're comfortable?"
He laced his fingers through mine. "I'm fine."
"I'll get a coffee and leave you two alone," Hacker said, grinning at us both. He patted Brad on the shoulder. "Glad to have you back, man. You freaked us all out there."
Brad grinned back. "Glad to be back."
Hacker slipped from the room.
"It's a good job you got to all those girls in time," Brad said. "It sounds like they had a lucky escape."
I nodded. "I can't say the same for all the other girls they murdered."
"You got to me in time, too. Who knows what might've happened if you hadn't come home when you did." Brad squeezed my hand.
"What can I say?" I grinned. "I'm an impeccable-timing kind of girl."
"You saved my life." His voice took on a more serious tone.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen. It'd take more than an infection to finish you off. And now it makes us even in the lifesaving stakes."
He traced his finger down my cheek, sending an explosion of shivers shooting in all directions. "I can't wait to get you home."
Down, girl! You're in a hospital!
The young doctor entered the room, blowing a nice fantasy I was having about jumping into bed with Brad.
"How are you feeling, Mr. Beckett?" The doctor picked up Brad's chart, leafing through it and giving a pleased nod.
"I feel great," Brad said. "Better than I did before, actually."
"You've made a very sudden and remarkable recovery," the doctor said. "It's amazing, considering how ill you were when you were admitted. Normally we don't see such a massive improvement this quickly. I've never seen anything quite like it. Quite extraordinary, really."
"When can he get out of here?" I asked. "It's just that we've got a wedding to go to very soon."
A look of confusion passed over Brad's face. "Whose wedding?"
"Ours!" I said, beaming back at him.
Brad broke out into a humongous grin. "Really?" he said to me.
I nodded. "Really."
Which reminded me, I needed to get a dress, and shoes, and get my hair trimmed, and a leg wax, and—
"Congratulations," the doctor chimed in. "But we need to do some more tests to confirm the meningitis has definitely gone. If it has, I'd still like to keep you in for another few days for observation." He nodded at us. "Let me go and arrange those tests." And he disappeared out the door.
"Why wait?" Brad interlaced his fingers through mine.
"Huh?"
"The doctor said I'm going to be in here for observation for at least another few days, but I don't want to risk you changing your mind again."
I waved a dismissive hand. "I won't change my mind."
"I want to do it as soon as possible. I'm not losing you again." He pulled me onto his chest. "So what kind of wedding did you have in mind?"
I kissed his warm neck. What kind of wedding did I want? I didn't have a clue. I'd been so busy worrying about whether to actually get married I hadn't really thought about the wedding enough to have a proper idea of what I actually did want. I wasn't a floating-down-the-aisle-in-a-meringue-dress kind of girl. I didn't fancy a big all-eyes-on-me occasion. I wanted something with just my closest friends and family. And after everything that had happened in the last few days, I didn't want to wait a second longer, either.
