Chapter Ten
Simms’s hair was meticulously styled, held in place with mousse. His posture was more erect than usual. New sheets, starched and creased, covered the donor. The operating table sat diagonally so the elevated camera could view every detail of the surgery. The anesthesiologist was prominently seated where the camera couldn’t miss him.
Simms held his right hand out to the side. “CD tube, please.”
He inserted a tube that carried carbon dioxide through a small incision into the body cavity that would lift the abdominal wall away from the kidney. Satisfied with the space, he made a ten-inch incision, cutting through the abdominal wall.
Simms extended his right hand again. “Number 14 shear, please.”
Nurse Clouse slapped a tool into his palm that looked like a gardener’s tool for trimming branches. Making a show for the camera, he snipped off one rib, lifted it out and placed it on a tray. The camera zoomed in on the organ cavity and the five-inch long, reddish-brown occupant.
Simms looked at the camera. “As you can see, the kidney is healthy and fully exposed for easy access.”
Clouse crossed the room giving a wide birth to the area covered by the camera. Knowing the doctor was right-handed, she came up on his left side.
She leaned in. “Doctor, the light… you have a call on the red phone. Would you like me to finish the procedure?”
Simms buried his anger at being interrupted. He turned to the camera in the ceiling and said, “This is Surgical Nurse Clouse. She has over twenty-five years experience as both nurse and surgeon, she will finish the procedure.” He walked out of the room.
Simms snatched up the phone. “Yes?” he hissed.
“Peter, this is Frank Mason. You said you were going to call me.”
“Shut up and listen. This call has just jeopardized a sale. I was in the middle of a kidney procedure. This was not a recording. I had the recipient viewing the entire procedure from Brazil. Now what the hell is so important that it couldn’t wait until the next batch?”
“There’s a problem. I’ve got to leave Medford General. The assistant director is getting suspicious. Why didn’t you call, what happened to last week’s batch that I was supposed to work on?”
Simms pressed the phone against his body and took a deep calming breath.
“STDs, drugs and turndowns, but Rosie assures me that this next batch will be better. Look Frank, give notice and come on up, I’ll put you in one of the productions again and you can see the batch for yourself.”
“God, I just don’t know.”
Simms wondered, was Frank getting cold feet? Did I expose too much of the operation too soon? “You didn’t seem to mind that blonde in the last production,” he said.
“Yeah, and where is she now?”
“Thanks to a background we somehow missed, she’s back at her old job, hooking in Seattle. We can’t risk discovery Frank. I’m sorry I snapped, it’s just that Brazil’s new territory and the televised link-up cost a fortune. Come on out and stay at my place, think about it there. It’s important that you leave the hospital now, before there’s a problem. What do you say?”
The phone was silent, “Frank, you there?”
“I’ll be in touch, Peter.”
Simms slammed down the handset. There was no time for this; he didn’t need another doctor. After all, Mason wasn’t his choice. He’d have to talk to his partner about this.
Simms walked down the hall to the changing room to get out of his scrubs, then headed for his office located on the north side of the tiny clinic. He hesitated when he opened the door and saw that someone was in his office.
In his chair, feet propped up on his desk, sat a busty brunette. His eyes moved slowly up from her long, stockinged legs to her barely covered, narrow hips. When the door opened, she dropped her legs to the floor and pivoted forward, her large breasts nearly vaulting out of her blouse.
Eyebrows arched, blood red lips puckered, Rosie Rehnquist blew Simms a kiss.
“Well this is an unexpected visit. How are things at Lewd and Lascivious?” Simms asked.
“I thought I’d surprise you, see how my vice president in charge of operations is getting along.” Rosie chuckled at the pun.
Simms closed the door as he entered. Rosie stood as he stepped around the desk to greet her. The two embraced in a long kiss. When he pulled away, Rosie dropped down into the plush chair, he returned to the front of the desk.
“How are things, my love?” Rosie asked.
“Well, I have good news and a problem. First, the good. I’ve closed the sale on a kidney with Gomez in Brazil. He just watched a procedure on live TV. A hundred grand will move into our off shore account…” Simms looked at his watch, “…in forty minutes. Once the money shows up in the account, I’ll send off the kidney, which will be in his hands in twenty-four hours. Looks like live TV will be a great sales tool, at least for overseas. I went out on a limb to get the money for the satellite feed, though.” Simms broke eye contact with Rosie and glanced around the room. “I took $100,000 for a liver I don’t have. I just couldn’t wait the seven days for the next batch of girls to come up to the mansion.”
Rosie sat quietly for a minute. “When is the delivery date?”
“Day after tomorrow, do you have somebody in mind?”
“Maybe so. I have an Italian stallion who’s driving the women off. Actually, he’s the reason I’m here. This next batch will be a slim one because of him.”
Simms knew that Rosie had few scruples.
“Is there any way you could get a hypodermic into him?” Simms asked.
“I could figure something out.”
Simms began rummaging around in the top left drawer of his desk, finally pulling out a brown oblong box.
“You’d have to do it tomorrow morning at the latest. I’d have to have him by noon. If you get him up here on time, Clouse will extract, I’ll transport to L & L and you can take it to San Francisco day after tomorrow, midnight.
Simms slid the box across the desk.
“It’s an empty syringe; all you have to do is pump some air into an artery. The neck would be good.”
“Consider it done. Now, you said you’re having a problem?”
“It’s that Doctor Mason from Medford General. The idiot’s getting cold feet. Right now we barely have enough donors to keep me busy. How did you find him, anyway?”
Rosie licked her lips and made a slight thrust with her hips. Simms didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Hubble can handle him and we’ll send Derrick along to help,” Rosie said.
“Tell Hubble that Mason’s a reluctant donor,” she said as she got up to leave; she had to get back to Medford, a four-hour trip from Denton on the coast. The mansion and the clinic were an additional half-hour of winding roads above the coastal town.
“One question,” Simms said, “how are you going to get this Italian stallion to let you stick him with a needle?”
Rosie gave him a scandalously delicious smile. “You might say I’ll just love him to death.” She turned and left the office.
Simms didn’t attempt to imagine what she might mean by that. Or what Rosie had meant when she said that he should tell Hubble that Mason was a reluctant donor. Hubble had been Rosie’s attorney and strong arm ever since he’d known her. The guy had always given him the creeps.
Simms pressed the speed dial button under the letter H.
“Hubble here,” said a deep, gravely voice.
“This is Simms. Where are you now?”
“On the road”
“Good. I’ve got a couple of problems in Medford that need taking care of. I was down there earlier to pick up a blonde scheduled for extraction and that damn director wanted me to wait. I had to hurry back to the clinic so I left empty handed. I want you to grab the blonde. Her name’s Crystal Cassidy. Bring her up here, and keep her in the dark.”