TRAPPED (16 page)

The man had looked at him oddly, but he’d nodded. Brody had not wanted to tell him anything else. While he knew that Elle trusted Leo and the man had been very helpful so far, he hadn’t felt inclined to give him more information.

Ethan and Mack would know the Witching Hour.

Of course, even if they came, there was no guarantee that they would be close enough to see a flare and more importantly, that he and Elle would be in position to take advantage of a rescue effort.

Brody forced himself to breathe. One obstacle at a time. That’s what he needed to deal with. So far they’d managed to all stay alive.

If it was a chess game, the next move was Jamas’s.

Chapter Sixteen

He realized he wasn’t going to have to wait long, because he heard footsteps coming down the hall. The lock flipped. Jamas and Felipe entered. Jamas had a cup in one hand. He was close enough that Brody could smell the scent of the strong black tea. They did not close the door. “Come with us,” they said.

Brody stood up. Jamas led the way, with Brody following and Felipe trailing behind. They walked down yet another hallway. Brody was starting to get a feel for the house. It was oddly shaped, but then again, it was more cave than structure, given that it was mostly underground. The living room where they’d first met was in the center of the house and then there were multiple hallways, like spokes of a bicycle wheel, leading off from it. So far he’d been down the hallway that led to the clinic in the basement and now this one. He suspected that meant that wherever they were keeping Elle, it was down one of the other two remaining halls.

Jamas went to the very end, the last door. He knocked.

“Come in.”

It was a woman’s voice. Not Elle’s.

Jamas opened the door. An attractive woman, probably in her late sixties, sat in a chair, reading a book. She wore a blue robe and had a blanket over her legs. She looked up and smiled but did not speak.

Jamas kissed her on both cheeks. “My mother,” Jamas said, his voice proud.

Brody nodded. Did she have any idea that her son was a horrible man?

“Evening, Rita,” Felipe said. “You’re looking well.”

The woman smiled. “Thank you, Felipe. You’ve always been an accomplished fibber.”

Brody wasn’t sure, but he thought Felipe was blushing. Was this part of the odd relationship that existed between Jamas and Felipe? Did Felipe have some kind of thing going with Jamas’s mother?

“This is Dr. Donovan,” Jamas said. “He is here to help you.”

Well, that solved that part of the mystery. She was the patient. Brody saw the wheelchair in the corner of the room.

“My mother has had arthritis for many years. She is in constant pain and it has robbed her of her strength and her enjoyment of life. Doctors have said that her condition has resulted in the loss of much of the cartilage in her knees and they should be replaced. She is no longer able to walk on her own, and even taking care of her own basic needs is becoming more difficult. Maria is very helpful with that, but Mother does not like having to depend on her.”

“There are many good hospitals in Brazil,” Brody said. “Knee replacements are a common surgery.”

Jamas shook his head. “She will not go. Her husband of forty-five years, my father, died three years ago at a hospital. He went in for a routine operation to remove his gallbladder and he was dead within twenty-four hours.”

Now Felipe’s comment about doctors and their mistakes made sense. “But surely...”

“She will not go,” Jamas repeated. “And I will not make her. But if she could have the surgery here, in her own home, that would be different.”

He could do it. But even with Jamas’s connections, it would likely take days before he could secure the right implants. The idea of being in Jamas’s home, of Elle being in Jamas’s sights for that long, was repulsive.

Almost as if he’d been reading Brody’s mind, Jamas spoke again. “We have already purchased the necessary medical supplies. I have three types of knees from three different manufacturers. I had thought at one time that Maria might be able to do the surgery, but she lacks the confidence, which makes me not confident.”

“There are risks to any surgery,” Brody said. “With knees, there can be infection or blood clots that result in cardiac arrest or stroke.”

“You need to keep my mother safe,” Jamas said. “I checked you out, Donovan. You’re exactly who and what you say you are.”

It was time to play the final card. “I’d do the best I could. And Maria is very helpful. But I am used to having two nurses with me in the operating room. I need another pair of hands.”

Jamas looked at Felipe. The older man shrugged, then said, “Peitro can help. He does not mind blood.”

“Are his hands delicate and small? I need someone with small hands because I’ll be working in a very tight space.” It was pretty much bull that he was feeding them, but they were so focused on moving forward with the surgery that they didn’t seem to realize it.

Jamas and Felipe spoke in Portuguese. After several minutes, Jamas nodded. “Earlier you asked if Elle could assist you. We will allow that.”

Brody shook his head. “I only asked for her because I didn’t see anybody else. I’m not crazy about the idea of working with her. Based on what I’ve seen so far, she’s the reason I’m in this mess.”

Jamas smiled. “I understand your hard feelings, but Elle will assist you.”

Brody ran his hand through his hair. “Listen, I’ll do the damn surgery and I’ll do a good job. Your mother will be dancing in a week. But I want a little something in return. I quite frankly don’t care what happens to the woman. Can we agree that you’ll let me go, once you know that your mother is okay, of course? I won’t tell anybody that I was ever here and you’ll never hear from me again.”

The two men exchanged a look. Finally, Jamas spoke. “Yes. That seems fair. You will be free to go.”

It was an empty promise. Brody knew that he and the rest of the group would be killed just as soon as Jamas didn’t need them anymore.

“Thank you,” Brody said, hoping that he sounded genuine. Maybe Jamas didn’t even think it was odd that Brody could so easily walk away from Elle without a backward glance. It was the world he lived in, where sacrifice and caring for others was simply not done.

“You will do the surgery now,” Jamas said.

The sooner Brody could see Elle, the better. But he wasn’t ready to make a move. If help was coming, they hadn’t yet had enough time to get into place. “Has your mother eaten recently?”

“She had lunch several hours ago.”

“It’s dangerous to do surgery when someone has eaten, especially an older person. Only liquids from here on out and we do the surgery at eleven o’clock tonight. Before that, I will want to talk to Maria and I suppose Elle, too, about what I need from them. And we should all eat a meal. I don’t want anyone passing out from hunger or dehydration during surgery.”

Jamas nodded. He had probably been wanting his mother to have this surgery for years. Being delayed for a few hours, for what appeared to be a good reason, was not raising any concerns.

“Felipe will escort you back to your room.”

On the way out, Brody turned toward the man. “I’d like to go back to the clinic. I want to check on the patients.”

“Maria is watching them.”

“I’d still like to take a look. Also, if you’ve got three different types of knees, I’d like to take a look at them now and identify the one I’ll be working with. That will allow me to better explain the process to Elle and Maria.”

Felipe motioned for him to walk down the hallway that led to the basement. When they got downstairs, Brody opened the door. Maria was indeed with the patients.

“How are they?”

“Both doing well,” she said.

Good. Bob was going to have to be well enough to travel soon because they weren’t leaving without him. “Thank you,” Brody said.

He and Felipe went into the room with the exam table. Felipe pointed him toward the cabinet in the corner. Brody opened it and examined the contents.

Jamas hadn’t been exaggerating. There were three major brands of prostheses to choose from. Brody picked one that he was most familiar with. He opened the package and examined the tibial component, then the femoral.

He left the box out and shut the cabinet doors. “So, how long have you been in love with Rita Jamas?”

He heard Felipe suck in a deep breath. “Shut up.”

“Did you work for her husband?” Brody pressed.

He saw a range of emotions pass over the man’s face. Brody wasn’t worried about him responding physically. He needed Brody whole, with his hands in working order. Brody waited for him to turn away, to ignore the question. But Felipe didn’t.

Maybe because no one had ever asked and he wanted to explain himself, perhaps especially to someone that he intended to kill very shortly so his secrets were guaranteed to be safe. “For twenty-five years,” he said. “I respected him. He was not only my employer, he was my friend.”

“And somewhere along the way, you fell in love with his wife.”

Felipe held up finger. “And never once acted upon it until the man was dead, even when he was unable to leave his bed for the last two years of his life. Never once. I would not do that to him and Rita is too much of a lady.”

“You hate seeing her in pain.”

“It has become much worse this last year. She rarely leaves her room.”

“What were you going to do if I hadn’t fallen in your lap?”

Felipe smiled, showing yellowed teeth. “That’s an interesting way of putting it. I had other options. I had already identified the top orthopedic surgeons in Brazil.”

The plan was pretty obvious. “She wasn’t going to them, but you were going to make sure that one of them came to her.”

“People will generally do what you want, especially when you have a gun pointed at their wife or their child.”

Brody doubted that Felipe would have lost a minute of sleep over it. Not if it helped Rita Jamas. While the plan was twisted, the devotion was admirable. And Brody was counting on it working in his favor later.

“Come,” Felipe instructed. “It is time for you to return to your room. Maria and Elle will join you. You can eat and discuss and then perhaps all get some rest. I want all of you very fresh. Now you understand why it is important to me that this operation go very well. If it does not, you will all pay. Immediately.”

“Understood,” Brody said. “I’ll keep up my end of the bargain if you’ll keep up yours. I get to walk away and not look back.”

“Of course,” Felipe said quickly.

Brody could hardly wait to see Elle, to know that she was okay. He wanted to run down the hall, but he forced himself to walk alongside Felipe and to wait patiently while the man unlocked the door to his room. He nodded his thanks and sat down on his bed, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Felipe left, shutting and locking the door behind him. It was eighteen minutes before he heard footsteps coming down the hall. The door was unlocked, then opened.

And there was Elle. Looking beautiful.

The side of her face was slightly swollen where Jamas had hit her. But she looked alert and otherwise unharmed.

Her eyes lit up when she saw him, but she didn’t cry out or make any other motion.

Felipe stood behind her. “Dr. Donovan needs your assistance. You will provide it to him.”

“Assistance with what?” she asked.

“With surgery,” Brody interjected. “A double knee replacement.”

“Dr. Donovan will explain to you what needs to be done,” Felipe said.

“Do I have a choice?” she asked.

Before Felipe could answer, Brody stepped forward. “Look, I don’t either, so I’d appreciate it if we could just make the best of this. You got me into this mess. You could at least try to be helpful now.”

She let out a sigh. “I guess I did. Fine. What do I need to do?”

“I’ll walk you through the process now,” he said. “Before the actual surgery, I’ll show you the instruments and explain what I’ll need from you.”

She nodded.

“I’ve arranged for us to have some food. We can talk while we eat.”

She walked into the room.

“Do you have any paper?” Brody asked Felipe. “It’s easier if I can draw pictures to explain the process.”

“I will make sure some is delivered along with your food.” Felipe stepped back, closed the door and locked it.

Brody got in front of Elle and deliberately rolled his eyes, trying to tell her that they were likely being watched. She must have understood because she made no move to touch him. She sat on the chair, near the dresser. He sat on the bed.

They said nothing to each other.

It was another five minutes before Maria joined them, carrying a tray of sandwiches. There was also cut-up fruit, several different kinds mixed together, and cookies. It looked delicious. Jamas lived well.

Felipe was behind her. His hands were free. There was a second man, whom Brody recognized from the river, carrying a card table and one chair. He unfolded the table and motioned for Maria to take the chair. Elle pulled her chair up to the table. Brody sat back down on the bed.

The three of them ate. Brody watched Elle chew, still concerned about her jaw and the blow she’d taken. But she seemed to be doing okay.

Once they were finished, Brody pushed the plates to the side. Then for the purposes of Maria and Elle and whoever else was likely monitoring the room, Brody went through the surgery process with painstaking detail. He made a big deal of identifying when he would need both Maria’s and Elle’s help at the same time just in case Jamas suddenly got the idea that Elle’s presence wasn’t necessary.

He picked up the pencil and drew a picture of a kneecap and pointed out where he’d be cutting damaged bone and the process of inserting the implants. He turned his head toward Elle. “Since you’ve never done this, let me shade that so you can see it better,” he said.

He made a big deal of shading and erasing, then shading some more. Maria leaned back in her chair and picked up her half-eaten cookie.
I will not help or hamper.
It appeared she was living up to her end of the bargain.

He quickly wrote, “I have a plan. Tonight
.
” He pushed it toward Elle. Saw that she read it. Pulled it back. “That’s still not quite right,” he said. “Guess I’m not an artist.” He erased the note, then drew over it just to make sure that his words couldn’t be seen later. “This is better,” he said, giving her another look.

“I think I have it,” she said. “I can do it.”

He knew what she meant.

Plan
was really stretching it. It was more of a shot in the dark.

There was no need to tell her that.

He folded his drawings and left them on the table. It was only minutes later that the door opened and Felipe entered. He motioned for Maria to leave the room. “Come with me,” he said to Elle.