An Open Heart (46 page)

“Of course. I’ll send a car for you. Can you leave first thing in the morning?”

“No problem. Thank you for being discreet. Perhaps you know of someplace on the coast?”

“I’ll make all the arrangements.”

John Okombo picked up the phone. “Simeon,” he said. “I need a favor.”

He listened as Simeon sighed. “You call me for a favor? Your goons tried to kill me!”

“Not kill you, just prevent you from killing.” Okombo began pacing around his desk. “We had a misunderstanding. You were carrying out my orders, but once I realized that the American doctor had saved my life, I didn’t have time to notify you to stop.” He paused. “I’m sorry about my officers. They were too trigger-happy, that’s all. Besides, we can still be valuable allies.”

“And if I don’t do this favor?”

“You realize that the MP from your region is still under pressure to eliminate the witches? You need a friend.”

Another sigh. “But you don’t really need me. You’ve risen from the dead in the eyes of the public. They love you.” Simeon paused. “Does this concern the American surgeon?”

“In a way. He has become an ally to me, so his enemies are now mine.”

“What do you need?”

“An enemy of a friend of mine has come calling. I know how disappointed you were not to be able to complete your last assignment, so I’m willing to give you another chance.”

“Regular price?”

“Sure.”

“Can you deliver the man to my place in Kisii?”

“Of course. There won’t be any trouble this time. He thinks he’s going to a private getaway for a holiday.”

Okombo listened to what sounded like something rattling in a glass bottle.
Probably the bones of his last sacrifice.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Two days later, Jace and Evan walked through the doors of no return at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Jace scanned the crowd and leaned on his cane, a mahogany stick with a handle decorated with Maasai beads.

A moment later, he heard his name and the voice he’d longed to hear. “Jace!”

Heather came to him slowly, with open arms. She folded them around him and buried her face in his neck.

“Careful,” he said.

He smiled in spite of the pain in his chest.

He was home.

When the hood was snatched from his head, Ryan saw that he was in some sort of old warehouse. He was tied against the wall, arms outstretched in a crucifixion pose, so that he could barely reach the floor.

The man in front of him looked like something out of
National Geographic
, a tribal monster dressed in an animal loincloth. His face was vaguely familiar. When he smiled, the red stripes painted on his face seemed to dance.

The man picked up the hoof of an animal and moved closer, peering into Ryan’s eyes. “Do you not recognize me, Mr. Meadows?”

I know the voice.

Ryan squinted.
Dr. Okayo?
He shook his head. The man looked nothing like the professional he’d met back in Richmond. But the voice was identical.

The man laughed and each deep, mocking, hideous note escalated Ryan’s fear.

“No!” he cried. “I’ve got money.”

The man held the hoof over a small fire.

Ryan’s feet began to blister.

The witch doctor danced.

Ryan screamed.

And everything went dark.

That evening after dropping Evan Martin off at his house, Jace and Heather were finally alone. They had covered a lot of Jace’s African journey during the drive down to Richmond, but Jace knew a hard discussion was still ahead.

Jace turned to Heather, took her hands and led her to the couch. He felt his voice began to tighten. “There are tough things I need to say.”

Heather’s eyes glistened. “Jace—”

At first, he tried to fight the tears. He pressed his fist against his quivering chin. He sat on the couch and began to weep. “I can’t believe how stupid I was with Anita Franks.”

She sat beside him. “Jace, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I was unfaithful.”

“Why do you say that? Did you remember something about the night of your accident? You told me you hadn’t slept with her, but that the night of your accident was blank.”

“I remember going to her room.”

“Of course. I know that.”

“But the autopsy showed that she’d been with a man.”

“Jace—it wasn’t you.”

“But how do you know?”

“You did go to her room, but only because she called you for help. She called you because she’d been raped. I suspect she didn’t call the police because Ryan Meadows had threatened to expose their affair.” She paused and looked into his eyes. “You don’t know, do you?”

He shook his head.

“The analysis of the fluid taken from her revealed her partner as someone with type-A blood. You’re type B. It couldn’t have been you.”

“But who—”

“Ryan Meadows. The ME has matched it against his DNA.”

He took a deep breath. “My relationship with her was still wrong. I was a fool for putting myself in such a place where it would be easy to cross a line.”

“Jace, you’ve learned.” She paused. “But I was at fault too. I should have trusted you.”

“Where is Meadows now?”

“He escaped to Kenya. Evidently he has friends there.”

Jace leaned his head against Heather’s shoulder and let the relief that he hadn’t slept with Anita Franks begin to settle upon his soul.

After a few moments, Jace spoke again. “Kenya can be a scary place if you don’t know the Savior.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

… a little more …

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• Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The novel opens with heart surgeon Jace Rawlings in strange territory: a world hinting at reality beyond what he can see, feel, and quantify. He is challenged with the thought that a spiritual battle is present and may be reflected in the physical. While Jace’s circumstances certainly are extraordinary and not typical, in what ways have you seen evidence of spiritual reality beyond this visible world? Can you think of biblical accounts where a spiritual battle was raging while people remained innocent and unaware?

2. As a fiction writer, I love using memory loss as a way to create mystery, and suspicious circumstances that look one way on the surface, yet are revealed to be something else entirely. But what we love in fiction can be disastrous for intimate relationships! Misunderstanding, jealousy, and suspicion were key elements that drove a wedge between Heather and Jace. If you had a chance to sit with them as a marriage counselor, are there ways you would suggest to regain a pathway to trust? In what areas did Jace fail as a husband to protect his marriage? Heather?

3.  When Jace’s self-sufficient world begins to implode, he finds himself searching for the truth at his boyhood home of Kenya. Although he seems to have rejected the religion of his parents, when times get tough, Jace runs to the familiar. In spite of his search for his own way, Jace ends up looking a lot like his earthly father. Can you think of similarities?

Why does Jace return? Do you believe that the “cry” from his dead sister was spiritual? Psychological projection based on some inner need? Misunderstanding orchestrated by God to bring Jace back to faith?

4. To some degree, Jace was on the run from a host of real miseries. Are you like Jace? Do you have a tendency to run from pain, while all the while telling yourself that you are really running toward answers?