Robin Cook - Mindbend

“Would you step to the side, please?” the man said, taking Adam’s cards and disappearing through a door. Adam tried not to appear nervous as the girl continued to sell tickets to the rest of the people in line, eyeing Adam from time to time to make sure he was not about to leave.

It was nearly ten minutes before the clerk returned with an airline agent who told Adam he was Baldwin Jacob, the supervisor. He was holding Adam’s cards.

“We’ll issue you a ticket,” he said, “but the flight is full. You’ll have to go standby.”

Adam nodded. There was nothing else he could do. The clerk made out the ticket and pointedly asked Adam if he had any luggage.

“No,” said Adam. “I travel light when I’m on vacation.”

He walked over to a cafeteria and bought a couple of donuts and a cup of coffee, happy not to have to worry about the possibility of being drugged. Then he put through a call to the Carsons ’. Just as he’d feared, Jennifer didn’t answer the phone. Instead, Mr. Carson’s baritone echoed over the wire.

“Hello,” said Adam more cheerfully than he felt. “This is Adam. Is Jennifer awake yet?”

“Jennifer is not here,” said Mr. Carson in a distinctly unfriendly voice.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t think you can reach her.”

“Look, I know you love your daughter,” said Adam, “but the fact of the matter is that I am her husband, and it is urgent that I speak with her.”

There was a pause as Mr. Carson apparently made up his mind. “She’s not here. She and her mother just left for the Julian Clinic. They are admitting her this morning.”

“Admitting her?” repeated Adam with alarm. “Why is she being admitted? Is she all right?”

“She’s fine,” said Mr. Carson. “And that’s why I think you should leave her alone for a few days. After that, you two can iron out your differences. But frankly, Adam, your being away at this time is very upsetting.”

“Why? What’s going on?” said Adam, trying to control his fear.

“Jennifer had a repeat amniocentesis,” said Mr. Carson, “and it was again positive. She’s decided to have an abortion.”

Adam felt something snap. “She doesn’t need an abortion,” he shouted.

“That’s your opinion,” said Mr. Carson calmly. “It is not ours or Jennifer’s, and under the circumstances, there’s not a lot you can do about it.”

There was a click. The line was dead.

In a panic, Adam tried to call Jennifer at the clinic, only to learn that she had not been assigned a room yet and, no, patients could not be paged.

Adam slammed the phone down. There was still a half hour before flight time. He tried calling Vandermer, but was told he was in surgery.

Leaving the phone booth, Adam ran back to the American Airlines counter, which was now jammed with people trying to check in for the flight. Pushing and shoving, he managed to get to the front of the line and asked to speak to the supervisor.

It was several minutes before Mr. Jacob appeared. Not even trying to conceal his rising hysteria, Adam told the man he had to get to New York because his wife was going to have a baby.

The supervisor took Adam’s ticket and without saying anything checked the computer. “We’ll do the best we can, but, as I said, the flight is fully booked.”

Adam didn’t know what to do. Jacob obviously wasn’t going to put out any extraordinary effort for his sake. Adam stood there, trying to think what he could do. Then he ran back to the telephone and put in a call to an old friend from college, Harvey Hatfield. Harvey had finished law school and was working at a big Wall Street firm. Without going into details, Adam told Harvey that his wife was going to have an abortion and he wanted to stop her.

Harvey seemed to think he was kidding. “So why are you calling a firm that specializes in corporate mergers?” he asked.

“Jesus, Harvey, I’m serious.”

“Well, you’d better get someone who specializes in litigation. Try Emmet Redford. He’s a friend of my father.”

“Thanks,” said Adam as his flight was announced over the loudspeaker, the flight he hoped to be on. He dropped the receiver and ran back to the counter, where he practically flung himself at the clerk he’d originally approached.

“Please, Miss, I’ve got to get on the plane. My wife is having a baby and it’s going to die unless I get to New York.”

For the first time, Adam had the feeling that someone was taking pity on him. The girl stared into his frantic eyes and said, “I’ll put you on top of the standby list.”

Adam allowed himself a little hope, but a few more passengers arrived breathlessly and were given boarding passes. Then a portly man showed up with a walkie-talkie. He went through the boarding gate and pulled it closed behind him.

“Mr. Schonberg,” called Carol, the airline clerk.

Adam dashed back to the desk, but Carol was shaking her head. “Sorry, but the plane is completely full. No standbys at all.”

Crushed, Adam collapsed into a seat. He could hear the whine of the jet engines starting up outside. Then the boarding door reopened and a stewardess appeared, holding up one finger.

The clerk turned to Adam. “Seems like there is one seat, but it is in smoking. Do you want it?”

Unfortunately, the receptionist who greeted Jennifer at the Julian Clinic was the same girl who had helped admit Cheryl Tedesco. Seeing Karen Krinitz in her white blouse and blue jumper, Jennifer remembered the whole awful episode. Karen, however, acted as if they’d never met. She greeted Jennifer and her mother with the same mechanical smile.

“Hi! I’m Karen. I’ve been assigned to your case. I’m here to help if you have any questions or problems. We want your stay to be as pleasant as possible, so please call me if you need anything.”

“Well, isn’t that nice,” said Mrs. Carson, but Jennifer had the strange feeling she had heard the entire speech before-word for word.

Karen went on, explaining the Julian philosophy. When she was done, Mrs. Carson thanked her enthusiastically, saying, “I’m not sure I’ll ever be satisfied with Englewood Memorial after this. There is so much concern for the patient here.”

Jennifer nodded. The clinic certainly cared about people. Yet Karen’s speech bothered Jennifer. She had felt it was a little too pat the first time she’d heard it.

Jennifer sighed. She decided the experience with Cheryl was upsetting her. Who cared if a woman memorized a speech that she was required to give to all the patients?

“Are you all right, dear?” asked Mrs. Carson.

“I’m fine, mother,” said Jennifer as she watched Karen recede down the hall. “Thanks for coming with me today. It means a lot to me.”

Mrs. Carson reached over and gave her daughter a hug. She didn’t want Jennifer to know how worried she really was.

The moment Adam’s plane landed at Kennedy he ran for the nearest phone booth. First, he called the Julian Clinic and asked to be put through to Jennifer’s room. There was no answer. Then he dialed again and asked when Jennifer’s procedure was scheduled. When the operator asked who wanted to know, he said Dr. Smyth. The operator seemed to accept his answer, and a moment later a nurse came on the line and said that Jennifer Schonberg was set for that afternoon.

“So she hasn’t been done yet?” said Adam.

“Not yet, but she’s been called for the OR. Dr. Vandermer is almost ready for her.”

Adam fumbled with his coins and dialed the Julian Clinic a third time, this time asking to have Dr. Vandermer paged. An OR nurse picked up and said the doctor was unavailable, but should be done with his current case in thirty minutes.