Robin Cook - Foreign Body

When they exited the employee lot, the gatekeeper didn’t even look up from his newspaper.

“I’d say that was one of our more efficient jobs,” Sachin boasted.

“Flawless,” Subrata agreed.

Using his mobile phone, Sachin dialed Cal Morgan’s number. “We have your guest,” he said, when Cal answered. “We’re on our way. This is a bit sooner than we expected. I hope you have the money. It was not a cheap assignment.”

“Terrific,” Cal said. “Don’t worry. Your money is waiting for you.”

Twenty-seven minutes later, Cal was waiting in the driveway when Sachin’s Mercedes pulled in. He held up his hand, and Suresh pulled to a stop right next to him.

“Miss Hernandez will be staying in the garage at the back of the grounds. Can I ride with you to show you where it is?”

“For sure,” Sachin said from the front passenger seat. “Hop in the back.”

Cal climbed into the car. “Go straight beyond the house,” he said to Suresh, pointing out through the windshield. As Suresh accelerated, he added, “I have to give you credit. This is a lot faster than I had anticipated. I thought it might take several days at a minimum.”

“We were very lucky. She slept in for us. As a bonus, we brought her very clean.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see in a minute. Do we take the left up here or the right?”

“The left,” Cal said. “The garage is in the middle of that stand of trees.”

A few minutes later, Suresh pulled up to a four-bay stone garage with dormers on the second floor. The place was shut up as tight as a drum.

“It doesn’t look like it has been used in years,” Sachin said. There were foot-high weeds growing in the pebbled area in front of the garage doors.

“I’m sure it hasn’t,” Cal agreed. He brandished an oversized key. “The basement is like a medieval dungeon. Here’s the key.”

“How appropriate. How long do you want your guest to remain here?”

“I’m not sure. It’s really up to her. I will give you a call.”

“It will be easiest at night.”

“I assumed as much,” Cal said.

They all climbed out of the car. Cal went to a stout side door. He used the key. Beyond the door was a stone stairwell. Just inside was an old-fashioned electrical switch with a rotating knob. He turned it, and the lights went on in the stairway. “Let me get the lights on below as well,” Cal said. He hastened down the stairs. At the bottom was a second stout door exactly like the first. It took the same key, and Cal opened it and turned on the inside lights. Behind, Sachin came down the stairs as well.

“What was this used for in Raj times?” Sachin asked.

“No clue.” Cal went to the sink to make sure there was water.

The room had a damp, cool feel and smelled like a root cellar. A few cobwebs hung from the ceiling. There was one large room with a sink, and two smaller bedrooms with cots, covered with thin, bare mattresses. There was also a small bathroom containing an old-fashioned toilet with its water-storage tank six feet in the air. The furniture was made of simple, unfinished wood without embellishments.

“Okay,” Cal said. “Let’s bring her down.”

“There’s a slight problem. She has no clothes except for a couple of bathrobes.”

“How come?” Cal asked.

“She was in the shower when we invited her.”

For a moment Cal worried about how to get some clothes for Jennifer but then decided it wasn’t necessary.

“She’ll have to make do with the bathrobes,” Cal said.

Returning to the car, Sachin asked Subrata to open the trunk. As the lid was raised, Jennifer squinted in the sunlight. Her eyes reflected a combination of anger and terror. Sachin had Suresh and Subrata lift her out and carry her down the stairs. Sachin and Cal followed. Cal carried the bathrobes.

“Where to?” Sachin asked.

“On the couch,” Cal said, pointing. “And remove the tape.”

It took a lot longer to get the duct tape off than it did to get it on, and it was painful in places, but Jennifer did not complain until they removed the gag.

“You fuckers,” she snarled the moment she could talk. “Who the hell are you people?”

“That kind of attitude doesn’t bode well for your visit,” Sachin said to Cal.

“She’ll settle down,” Cal said confidently.

“Like hell I’ll settle down,” Jennifer spat. When Suresh removed the last piece of tape from her legs, she leaped to her feet and bolted toward the stairs. Suresh managed to get a hold of her arm, and she reeled around and scratched him with her fingernails. He backhanded her viciously and knocked her down. It was apparent she was dizzy when she sat up; she was swaying slightly and didn’t get right to her feet. Her expression was momentarily blank but quickly cleared.

“She might not be the most pleasant guest,” Sachin said.

Cal draped one of the bathrobes over her shoulders. “Actually, you don’t have to stay here long,” he said to Jennifer. “We only want to talk to you, and then you can leave. I’ll even tell you what we need. Somehow you have become suspicious of the three medical deaths that occurred Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night. Something has made you skeptical of the diagnosis on all three. We’d like to know what it is. And that’s it.” Cal spread his hands and raised his eyebrows. “That’s all we want. As soon as you tell us, we’ll take you back to the hotel. I wanted to give you a heads-up so you could be thinking about it.”

Jennifer glared at Cal. “I’m not going to tell you shit.”

“What do you think?” Jack asked. He stepped back. He, Laurie, Neil, and Arun were in the Queen Victoria Hospital basement cooler. With some difficulty, all four of them had gotten Maria Hernandez dressed in the clothes that Neil had brought from the Amal Palace Hotel. Jack had just added the pièce de résistance: his Yankees baseball hat. He had placed it so that the visor was slanted downward and covered most of Maria’s face to camouflage her other-worldly color.

“I don’t know,” Laurie said.

“Hey, she’s not going to a beauty pageant,” Jack said. “She’s only got to get by the guard at the end of the hall.”

They had Maria tied in the wheelchair and supported the best they could.

“I’m worried about the smell,” Neil said, making a face.

“That we can’t do anything about,” Jack said. He stepped forward and slanted the hat even more. “Let’s do it. If the guard complains, we just have to move a little faster. After all, they are going to know she’s gone the moment they look in here.”

“Is the van already out back?” Laurie asked.

“It is,” Jack said. “Now, here’s how we’re going to do this. Arun, you leave the hospital via the front door. I don’t want you taking any chance of getting into any trouble, which we might for absconding with this corpse.”

“Fair enough,” Arun said. “I’ll go now and come around the back. I want to ride with you so you don’t get lost en route to Gangamurthy Medical College.”

“Is your friend Dr. Singh going to meet us there?” Laurie asked.

“He is,” Arun said.

“Okay, see you outside,” Jack said to Arun as Arun opened the heavy insulated door and left. Then Jack turned his attention to Neil. “You push the beauty queen.” Glancing at Laurie, he said, “You walk along on the left side between Maria and the guard. Also, be prepared to support her if she starts to sag. I’m going to engage the guard in conversation. He and I are old friends since I’ve already passed him twice. Is everybody on the same page?”

“Let’s do it,” Laurie said. She looked at Neil, who had positioned himself behind the wheelchair.