Presidential Donor (8 page)

"Finally," the male nurse said, obviously relieved.

"Okay, someone bag him while we get him on a ventilator."

Eva walked out of the ER with mixed feeling about saving the man. She knew he'd have no future with a head injury like that.

Now, the ambulance lurched to the right and brought Eva back to the present.

Jonah looked at her in the rear view mirror. "Sorry about that. I'm not used to driving this thing."

"I just realized I know this guy, Jonah."

"How so?"

I intubated him in the ER last weekend. Some sort of skiing accident."

Jonah slapped the seat. "That's right! Dave Leah said he was lucky to be alive."

"
Alive
being the key word. Why was he in the morgue?" Eva asked.

"Good question. Though I have a feeling those two guys back at the hospital could supply the answer."

"I think I can find out his name if I call the ER," Eva said. "I'll ask the admissions clerk to check the list for last Saturday. It was a fairly quiet day. It should be easy to figure out."

Eva fished her cell phone from her pocket and dialed the number for the ER. After talking with the admissions clerk, she ended the call and sat dumfounded. "That's strange."

Jonah turned slightly. "What?"

"She says they don't have any record of a trauma case, Saturday night."

"Well somebody obviously screwed up."

"I told her to double check, and she did."

"What about the written list?" Jonah asked. "Those computer lists get fouled up half the time."

Eva nodded. "She checked those, too, nothing. Wait a minute, Jonah.

Didn't you say he was Dave Leah's patient?"

"Of course." I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"Well this hasn't exactly been a normal morning."

"Maybe it's best if we don't make any more calls to the hospital till we find out what's going on. This is getting stranger by the minute." Jonah said.

"I agree."

* * *

Jonah turned at the bridge and mashed the accelerator to the floor. Just ahead he saw the road straighten out. He imagined someone would be in pursuit soon.
Someone who wanted to kill this guy!
The more distance he put between them, the better. He could only hope he had gotten enough of a head start that they couldn't follow them.

After a few miles, he had to slow down. The four-lane highway narrowed to a two-lane slope and every time a car passed, his heart leaped into his throat.

A van of teenagers with skis strapped to their roof laid on the horn and flew by. He didn't know who or what he was even looking for, but he expected to gaze in the rear view mirror and see two guys in green scrubs any minute. The ambulance engine strained against the steep incline, and Jonah noticed the gas gauge pointed toward empty. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and ran into his eyes, adding to his anxiety. He scanned ahead for any possible escape, but the highway was bounded on both sides by steep, rocky slopes. He started to voice his concern, when Eva interrupted him.

"It's right over there," she said, pointing to a small chalet off to their left.

Eva's house, a classic Swiss chalet, spread out before Jonah like a picture on a travel brochure.

Jonah jumped the curb and made a wide loop around the back of the house.

The tires slipped in the snow then ground to a halt as Jonah slammed the brakes on and turned off the engine. He was in the clear.

Eva opened the door and climbed out as Jonah came around to meet her.

He rubbed his arms to generate some heat, but it was a futile effort in the thirty-degree air.
Damn it's cold
!

"I'll go unlock the door and prop it open," Eva said. "Brr, it
is
cold."

Jonah looked around, his mind grappling with endless questions.
Who are these people trying to kill this man? Why are they trying to kill this man? What is so special about him?
Relieved to see no one had followed them, Jonah heaved a huge sigh. Behind the house a long line of blue spruce dominated the foreground, then, the snow covered valley expanded out as far the eye could see. People skied in the distance.

Eva came back rubbing her hands together.

"Do you live on a ski resort?" Jonah asked.

"Not on one, just close, though I can ski through the woods and get to it.

It surrounds all the cabins and chalets around here."

"We better get him inside," Jonah said.

They counted to three, then pulled the gurney out. The legs fell into place.

"I just realized, Jonah, there's no way we can push this thing through the snow. We'll have to carry him."

"I don't think we can get him up those steps."

"I have an idea," Eva said.

Eva hurried into the house and returned a few minutes later with a long wooden toboggan. "This is left over from my days with the ski patrol. We can slide him onto this, and drag him up the steps."

Jonah nodded. "Good thinking."

After some maneuvering, they managed to get the man onto the toboggan.

With Jonah pulling on the rope and Eva pushing from the rear, they finally got to the top of the stairs. Once inside the door they both collapsed to the floor, exhausted.

"Jesus," Jonah said.

Eva gulped air and tried to catch her breath. She finally did, then went to a small closet and fetched her on-call bag. When she came back, Jonah checked the man's pulse.

"Forty six, steady, though."

Eva knelt down and unzipped the blue canvas bag. She fished out a 20cc syringe, already filled with a clear liquid. The label read:
NARCAN

She gazed at Jonah. "This is normally for morphine overdose, but it should work. Besides, it's the only chance we've got."

"Let's just hope it works," Jonah said.

Opening a small foil packet, she removed the alcohol pad inside. She rubbed it on a large vein in the man's right arm. Jonah took the arm and held it steady. He applied pressure while Eva uncapped the syringe. With a dart-like motion she sank the needle into the puffed up vein and pushed the plunger till the syringe was empty. "That should do it," she said.

"How long?" Jonah asked.

"Not more than a minute or two."

Eva replaced the syringe cap then looked at Jonah. "What are we in the middle of?"

"I don't know, Eva. Maybe this guy here can shed some light on it."

"He's starting to come around," she said, as a few moans escaped the man's mouth.

"Where am I?" he asked with a thick tongue.

"You're safe," Eva said.

"Didn't I just do this?"

"Do what?" Eva asked.

"Wake up," he said. "Never mind, it was jus..."

"Just what?" Jonah asked.

The man looked puzzled. "I had the strangest dream. Something about a morgue."

Jonah winked at Eva. He studied the man for a long moment. "Let's get you warmed up an--" Jonah froze, then jumped up and peered out the back door. "Looks like we've got company."

Two snowmobiles came screaming out of the woods and stopped just outside the tree line. A third joined them a minute later. Four ominous figures got off and pointed in the direction of the ambulance. They all wore dark trench coats and black Russian-style hats. Two of them carried automatic rifles that looked like no guns Jonah had ever seen.

He recognized one of them from earlier, outside the morgue.

They've followed us.

The somber mood at the White House now replaced the initial shock following the announcement of the President's heart attack.

His personal secretary had received the news first-hand from Gwen Lloyd. Then, she herself had called the house staff together and broke the news to them.

The remaining cabinet members not attending the summit were gathered in the crisis room of the West Wing to discuss strategy, and how to deal with the press. Every major news bureau had descended on the White House like buzzards to carrion, the minute the story broke.

Arnie Howell, the President's personal physician came over from Walter Reed, and now, was being briefed by Dr. Gregg on the President's condition, via secure phone. He knew of Gregg's reputation and was relieved to know he was in charge.

"Right now he's in critical condition. However, he is stable. He's lost a great deal of cardiac function, about eighty-five percent to be exact."

"My God!" Howell exclaimed.

"He is going to need a transplant, and soon, or I'm afraid he's not going to make it."

"I understand." Howell said. "How can I help from this end?"

"I need all his medical records right away. This anomaly of his. Do you have any recent sonograms, I need something for comparison."

"That's not a problem. I'll fax them right away. I'll go back to Walter Reed and get everything together for you. I'll send it to you inside an hour."

"That's fine," Gregg said.

Howell tapped his fingers on the phone and wondered how this made him look. He had given the President a clean bill of health just a week earlier.
Had he missed something?

The line fell silent. "Dr. Howell," Gregg said, after a minute.

"Yes, I'm here, Dr. Gregg.

"I'll be waiting for your fax. And thank you for your help."

"Okay, I'll leave now."

"I'll keep you updated," Gregg said.

Howell sat on the edge of the secretary's desk after the call ended. He couldn't help feel somehow responsible. "I just gave him a clean bill of health," he kept saying to himself.

"Did you say something?" the President's secretary asked.

"No, just thinking out loud."

"Yes, I guess we're all in shock over this."

"Flabbergasted, is more like it," Howell said. "Have you talked to Gwen yet?"

"Yes, she's the one who told me. I feel so bad for her, she worships him."

"If you talk to her again, please send my love and prayers."

"Sure, Dr."

Howell walked out of the White House and its gray mood, only to find grayer in the skies over Washington. A slow drizzle that started earlier in the morning, was now a steady downpour. Already traffic on Pennsylvania Avenue was slowed to a crawl.

He jumped into his Suburban and raced toward Walter Reed. He still had the nagging question in his mind whether he missed something on the President's exam. He came to the first stoplight, and reached into the glove box and got out a pint of Walker scotch. As he took a long pull off the bottle, he wondered how clouded his judgment had been lately. Before he put the bottle away, he took another long pull.
It might help ease his doubt.

"I don't think he's lucid enough," Eva said.

Jonah gazed out the door. One of the men held a gun. "Well we're gonna have to improvise or it won't matter."

"I have an idea," Eva said.

Jonah stood motionless against the glass. The men were spread out in different directions. One of them shouted orders to the others and motioned to them with his hands. Jonah looked over his shoulder. "Eva, whatever this idea is you have... I think now would be a good time for it."

"A friend of mine has a cabin down the hill," Eva said. "We can sneak out the front. They won't be able to see us for the trees, and we can take the sled right down on the snow. The cabin is very secluded, we'll be safe there."

"Let's do it," Jonah said. Suddenly, the guy they'd brought from the hospital looked up.

"Don't I know you?" he asked.

Jonah nodded. "In a manner of speaking. I can't explain now, but I can tell you this, you're in some kind of danger. And right now, we need to get you out of here. One thing, though, what the heck is your name?"

The man blinked. "Jack McDermott."

Jonah rolled his eyes. "Of course." He smiled. "
Jack
, now I remember.

Okay, Jack, can you stand?"

"I think so."

Eva returned a minute later with her skis.

"Eva," Jonah said, "meet Jack McDermott."

"That's right!" Eva said. "How could I forget? Well, Jack, if we get out of here
alive
, there's a lot we have to talk about."

Jack stood on wobbly legs and leaned against a small table. "Alive, did you say,
alive
?"

"Long story," Jonah said.

Eva waved them toward the door. "I've moved the sled to the front. All you have to do is sit on it, and gravity will do the rest."

Terrific.
Jonah gazed nervously at the snow.

Across the street, Jonah saw two men looking in windows of adjoining houses. A huge spruce tree in front of Eva's chalet blocked the men's view.

Making a split second decision, he signaled to Eva. "Now's our chance."

Jack sat down in the front of the toboggan and Jonah behind him. Eva padded up behind in her skis. A snow flurry was dusting the top of Jonah's head. He planted his feet and gave the sled a shove and it lumbered toward the hill. Small ice crystals stung Jonah's face as the big sled gained speed.

Suddenly, they reached the crest of the hill and the sled lurched forward and took off like an umbrella in a wind tunnel. He clung to the sides as it surged forward, jolting him up with every bump they hit. For a moment, Jonah felt like a kid again and forgot he was in the middle of something sinister.

Then, he immediately forgot all about Jack McDermott, the morgue, and the bizarre incident with the President. They were only halfway down the hill when he heard a muffled gunshot and a bullet sailed by. It barely missed the center of his head. Instinctively, he ducked, yanking Jack down with him. He didn't dare look back, certain that at any moment more bullets would be flying.

"What's going on?" Eva screamed.

A sudden barrage of bullets was pelting all around them, sending up plumes of exploding snow.

Jonah looked out at Eva unprotected on her skies. "Get down!" he yelled, trying to slow the sled.

But the sled wouldn't stop.

"Just a little farther!" Eva yelled, ducking, as another round of projectiles came screaming past them. The sled hit hard on a snow pack and slammed Jonah's head against the rail. Stars began to dance in the periphery of his vision, and he grabbed the side slats to steady himself.