Dictator s Daughter (21 page)

“Doctor!” Sean hollered into the other
room.

He came in followed by Ryan.

“I can’t wake her.”

Dr. Randall assessed her. “Make your decision
now.”

“Can you keep her safe?” Sean asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Fine, let’s do it.”

“Grab her IV bag, Ryan. Sean, pick her up and
bring her to my vehicle.” Dr. Randall instructed them and he
grabbed a couple of blankets.

They loaded her in and before leaving Sean
suddenly said, “Ryan, go get the laptop and two of the copies. Lock
the third in the vault.”

Ryan seemed frustrated he hadn’t thought of
it himself and jumped out of the car.

A few minutes later, he came out carrying a
few things. “I grabbed the tablet she wrote in while you were
gone.” Ryan handed it to Sean.

Sean sat in the seat with Eliwese curled up
on his lap, the same as when they would sit in the bathtub. He held
the tablet with one hand and Ryan found the page she’d written
on.

“What are you reading, Sean?” Dr. Randall
asked looking in the rear view mirror.

“She wrote some notes earlier tonight. It’s
the basic rundown of her plan. Looks like we’re not in the dark
anymore,” Sean said. “Oh… no!”

“What is it, Sean?” Dr. Randall was alarmed
at Sean’s tone.

“The last thing she wrote said this: If I die
before the blackmail meeting, bluff my father into thinking I’m
tucked away safe somewhere and you’ll only reveal my whereabouts
once you have your mother and Lyndee. Once you secure them, release
the video to the press and take him down for me. Thank you, for
everything.”

Sean handed the tablet back to Ryan, who read
it through. Sean cradled Eliwese with both arms and held her close
to him down the bumpy road. He rolled his window down to let in the
cool night air in the hopes of cooling her fever and she began to
tremble uncontrollably.

“Sean and Ryan, I’ve been working on a top
secret project that will be perfect for this situation. You’re
going to have to trust me on this. I am calling an ambulance to
meet us up the road and they will transfer her to the secure
medical facility.”

Sean glanced over at Ryan and held Eliwese
tightly as they rounded a sharp curve. Dr. Randall called someone
on his cell phone and as he’d stated, a few miles up the road, an
ambulance was waiting for them. They all transferred inside except
for Dr. Randall who drove his vehicle behind them.

Sean recognized the driver as a friend of his
father’s, although he didn’t remember his name. The ambulance
didn’t have its lights or siren on, which Sean thought was probably
a good idea and the interior lights were also dimmed.

The ambulance arrived at the ambulance shed
and backed into the parking bay. Sean was confused as to why they
weren’t at the hospital. Dr. Randall opened the back door.

“Hurry now, follow me,” Dr. Randall
gestured.

Sean carried the still unconscious Eliwese
with Ryan following close behind with the IV bag. They followed Dr.
Randall down some stairs and through a few doors. They entered a
small storage room with many shelves. Sean watched with a puzzled
mind as Dr. Randall lifted a few canisters exposing a hidden door
to the left.

The room looked exactly like an operating
room at a real hospital, fully equipped with all the bells and
whistles. Dr. Randall instructed Sean to place Eliwese on the
operating table as four more people entered the room wearing scrubs
and masks.

“You two need to leave now.” Dr. Randall
motioned toward a different door.

Ryan turned to leave but Sean stood
still.

“She’s my crosser, doctor. I want to stay.
Please, can I stay?”

Dr. Randall thought for a second and then
looked at one of the nurses.

“Get him scrubbed in.”

Sean was positioned by Eliwese’s head and
couldn’t view what was being done at the bullet site. He was
grateful for that. The medical team worked well together and was
highly professional.

As Sean sat looking at Eliwese, he thought
about his father. He wondered if this surgical room was where Dr.
Randall patched him up after the shooting. The mortuary wasn’t far
from here and perhaps there was a tunnel system leading to the
mortuary.

Sean was brought back to the present by Dr.
Randall talking to the other surgery personnel. He said something
about sutures and finishing up; Sean looked over to the doctor.

“Sean, it’s a good thing we brought her in
when we did. Her infection was spreading rapidly and she wouldn’t
have lasted long. Her intestine was not punctured, but a piece of
her padding had been pushed inside from the bullet and was causing
the infection in her body cavity. We removed it and I believe she
will recover now. We’ll move her into the recovery room and let you
know when she wakes. You can join your brother through the door
over there.”

Sean walked into the room and Ryan jumped to
his feet.

“How is she? Is she going to live?”

“Dr. Randall believes she will be just fine
now.” Sean pulled his mask and cap off, sat in a chair and stared
at the floor.

“This whole thing, I mean, it all seems so
unreal.” Ryan rubbed his entire face with both hands. “What do we
do now?”

“Wait, I suppose. Maybe we should try to
contact Rawlings and ask for more time.”

“I don’t think he’ll go for it, Sean.”

“It was just a thought.”

Hours later, the nurse came through the door
and told them they could go and be with her now. The nurse led them
down a small hallway to Eliwese’s door. Sean walked into the room
and over to her side and instinctively placed his hand on her head
to check if she was warm. She was cool to the touch.
Finally,
he thought to himself.

They had covered Eliwese with a sheet and it
draped gracefully over her delicate figure. Sean watched her chest
rise and fall with each breath and a huge wave of relief swept over
him, like a warm blanket from head to toe. He wondered how long it
would be before she awakened completely. Would she be angry they
brought her here? Sean wasn’t too worried about that, he embraced
the news she was going to be fine.

“Do you realize we would have been leaving
the cabin right now?” Ryan asked.

Sean looked at the clock and nodded.

“Sean, you and I could still do this. You
know, without her.”

“What do you mean?”

“We could do as much of the stuff on the list
that we can, and improvise the rest. We could bluff Rawlings for
Mom’s release. I read the plan many times over while you were in
surgery.”

“I think you’re hallucinating due to lack of
sleep.”

“What?”

“You’re nuts, Ryan. This guy will eat us for
breakfast. We’re too inexperienced to compete against him.”

“Maybe the last thing he would expect would
be a couple of simple minded guys getting the best of him?”

“I don’t-”

“Well, we can’t just sit here and do nothing.
The bastard already killed our father and is going to kill our
mother and sister in about thirty-two hours. We have the video from
Eliwese and a list of aids to help us out. What more would we
need?”

“Her,” Sean said looking at Eliwese. “What
would you say to her father when he asked where his daughter
was?”

“She already told us what to say. She put it
in the note to you on the bottom of the paper. Look, I’m going to
do this with or without you. If you want to bow out of this fight,
fine, but I
will
get Mom and Lyndee back!” Ryan stood up and
left the room.

Sean’s thoughts immediately went to the
conversation, only a few hours ago with his father. He was right.
Ryan had the motivation to do something and Sean seemed to have
lost it. This realization angered Sean. He jumped up and went out
of the room to find Ryan down the hall, talking to Dr. Randall.

“Yes, we can get you whatever you need. Just
name it and we will make it happen.”

“Ryan, wait. Let’s do this together. I know
more about her father than you do, and I think it will come in
handy when the time comes.”

They sat down with Dr. Randall and laid out
the plan and the supplies they would need. The nurses were given
lists of items to round up without revealing anything specific;
this still needed to be kept under wraps. By eight o’clock AM they
had two additional cars at their disposal, two volunteer couriers
named Suzzette and Frank, four cell phones, plus a state of the art
monitoring system linking everyone together via satellite and
complete disguises which transformed Sean and Ryan into beautiful
young ladies. They also had disguises for their mother and Lyndee,
and one for Eliwese, should she be able to join them.

Eliwese hadn’t completely woken up yet. Sean
figured she must be exhausted. He wondered how she would feel about
having so many people involved with this plan. Ryan said she would
probably blow her smokestack and the more Sean thought about it, he
thought it would be true.

The time arrived for Sean and Ryan to leave
and head to Northtown. Dr. Randall had come up with a superb plan
of his own. He knew a truck driver for a car dealership in town who
owned his own double deck trailer for hauling new cars. Dr. Randall
had arranged for his own white SUV and the two extra cars to be
placed on the trailer and driven to Northtown. Also, should anyone
be on the lookout for Sean and Ryan, they wouldn’t suspect them to
be in a vehicle on the back of a semi-truck.

“It’s brilliant doc,” Ryan said, “how can we
ever repay you?”

“Well, you can’t. I’m just happy to help.” He
smiled at the boys. “Get on your way, now.”

“I want to see Eliwese one more time before
we leave.”

Sean walked back into her room to find her
awake with tears running down her temples. He hurried over to her
and sat down on a chair. He wiped her tears with the back of his
fingers.

“Hey,” he said in a soft voice, “it’s ok. Are
you in pain?”

She shook her head. “Where am I?”

“Dr. Randall’s secret hospital. I left the
cabin to go meet with him and get his vehicle. Once I met him, he
and my....I mean, we decided he better have a look at you. It’s a
good thing we did. You had gone unconscious and were close to
dying. They operated on you and you’ll be fine in a few days. You
can trust these people. They’ll take good care of you.” Sean
said.

“Are you leaving me?”

“Yes, Ryan and I are leaving to confront your
father. We’re following the plans you laid out.”

“Take me with you!”

“We can’t do that.”

“Please, Sean, I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t. I’ll be back before you know
it.”

She cried harder and tried to get up. “It
won’t work! It won’t work without me! It won’t work without
me!”

“Calm down, please. Have a little faith in
us.”

She inhaled slowly and swiped at her tears.
“The only way my father will let your mother and sister go is if he
has me in his clutches.”

“What about the blackmail?”

“It was needed to meet him face to face.”

“So... your video isn’t really anything
important? It’s just a trick to get him to meet us?”

“The video is extremely important. I made it
with the intention that it will be aired and expose him to the
whole world.”

“Wait, you said the video will only be aired
if we don’t all get away. Are you saying we all won’t get
away?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I promised I would get your family back.
This plan is dependent upon my capture.”

“No! You made me think we would all get out
safely.”

“You will. The money transfer will keep your
family happy forever.”

“I don’t want his money! I want—”

“Sean, if you and Ryan confront my father
without me, he will kill you all, blackmail or not. He only wants
me.
”

“What about your note to me? You said I could
bluff him if you died. Why not bluff him now?”

“Because it won’t work. I wrote it down
thinking that if I died, he should at least be taken down in the
end. There is no way my father will succumb to the blackmail unless
I’m part of the package.”

“He will kill you.”

“No, I don’t think he will. I have to be with
you when you face him.”

“Well, then we will have to find a way to
make sure all of us get away. All of us.”

Dr. Randall and Ryan came in the room.
“What’s taking so long?” Ryan looked from Sean to Eliwese. They
were still looking at each other. “What’s the matter?”

“Doctor Randall, Eliwese needs to be with us
tomorrow morning when we meet with her father. How possible is
that?”

“It’s not advisable Eliwese.”

“What is going on Sean?” Ryan asked.

“What if she stays in bed for twenty-four
hours and then you drive her to Northtown, just for the
meeting?”

“Well, maybe, but she might be too weak to
walk.”

“Sean,” Eliwese said, “it would work.”

“OK then, that’s the new plan. Ryan and I
have work to do. I’ll call tonight. What number should I use?”

Dr. Randall wrote down a number on a piece of
paper and handed it to Sean. “This number is my office phone. It
will forward the call to my cell, wherever I am.”

“Let’s get going, Sean.”

“One more minute, please, alone.” Sean
motioned for Ryan and Dr. Randall to leave. After they closed the
door, Sean sat down on the bed and grasped Eliwese’s hand in
his.

“A minute ago, you said you didn’t want to
lose me. But if you are taken at the meeting tomorrow, then I will
lose you. What can we do to prevent that from happening? I can’t
lose you, not when I’ve just found you.” He brought her hand up to
his mouth and kissed it gently.

It might have been a little cliché, but it
was the sweetest, kindest thing she had ever heard.