“She has a heartbeat. Feels strong and normal. Maybe a little slow.”
Sam breathed in her lungs and stared at eyes that were strange with something he’d never seen. She was utterly still; no part of her moved.
“A drug.”
Jack ran out the door, and came back with four guys and one woman, all in blue suits. Immediately they were on her with a stethoscope. Sam kept pushing air into her lungs.
“She said there was soup on the table,” Jack said. “Jill, did you leave soup?”
“No soup. None.”
“A drug,” Sam said. “Must be.”
“BVM,” the lead man said. “We’ll take it,” he said, putting an airway down her throat with a squeeze bag fitted atop. “She looks like somebody gave her sux,” the woman said. “Let’s go with Versed as soon as we get the IV in her.”
“Pump every last ounce out of her stomach and ask questions later,” Jill said.
They had her on a gurney and out the door in seconds. The bedroom window had been broken out and the torn curtains moved in the gentle breeze; the sheer white shreds and the blackness behind were a grim prop for someone’s death feast.
Sam pulled Jack aside. “What happened?”
“I went to the door and knocked. There was this huge crash. I went in and somebody had gone through the window. She looked dead but her heart was beating. So I did the CPR with the mouth-to-mouth thing. It seemed to help, but she didn’t breathe on her own. I called an ambulance in between breaths, which was tough, and I knew you’d be along any minute.”
“Any idea who went out the window?”
“Not a clue.”
“Didn’t the other guys see?”
“No way. They heard something and came around, but they didn’t know what they were looking for and it was dark.”
“You would think they’d have seen something.”
“Yeah. You would.”
Samir summoned Michelle into his workroom, pondering the complications in his life.
“Leona will come back next month. I have never had an office as such but I will get an office in Beirut and a spacious apartment nearby. It will be yours if that pleases you.”
“It does. I know I cannot be here when your wife is here.”
“If I were Muslim I might have more than one wife, but I am supposedly Christian Maronite. On the subject of having one wife, Leona is very religious.” Samir chuckled.
“You are looking so well, but you know we’re running out of oil.”
“I know. And life is hell without it. There is a difference between what we took from the lab and what you get in the mail. If only we knew what it was.”
“There is something I must tell you.”
“Yes?”
“Please believe me that I am growing attached to you.”
“Yes?” Samir suddenly had a bad feeling.
“I was not in Quatram when I came to the Middle East. I couldn’t get in. I was seeing lawyers in France about my boy and working as a masseuse when I was summoned to the offices of Grace Technologies. I gave a massage to DuShane Chellis. It was a good job and I came regularly.”
“So did he, I should think. Go on.”
“You do not have to be crass.”
Samir chuckled before she continued.
“I think it was a very odd relationship he had with his assistant Benoit. She is the sister of his wife. Very odd. Anyway, I told them about my son and that I was seeing lawyers. To tell you the short version, they got me into Quatram through the general and they promised I could get my son out of the country if I could entice you to hire me.”
“You are working for Chellis?”
“I am telling you what I am not supposed to tell you, so I guess I am working for you. But my son’s life is at stake.”
Samir nodded, keeping his face neutral. “Go on.”
“They said it would be easy to win your favor if I did exactly as they said. For massage I was to use the blue-tinged oil that I now use on you.”
“So they are poisoning me or playing with my mind.”
“Yes. But it isn’t what you think. I have the oil on me, and on my fingers, and it does nothing to me.”
“So what are you saying?”
“Just that the oil by itself doesn’t seem to do anything.”
“What did they tell you?”
“Nothing, except that I was to use a different oil today.”
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I couldn’t deceive you.”
“You like me?”
“I know in some respects that you are cruel, but you were kind to me. You are powerful, very powerful, and maybe I need someone like that.”
“I could split you like a chicken for conspiring with Chellis.”
“I know that.”
“Why did you think I wouldn’t kill you?”
“Am I wrong?”
“No.” Samir chuckled. “You are not wrong, but what does a man like me know of love or loyalty? I buy women.”
“Even your wife?”
“Especially my wife. Her price is diamonds. I knew you came by way of Chellis somehow because I knew the oil in the laboratory was a stronger version of what you used. No massage could make me feel that good.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
“To be honest, you intrigued both my head and my loins. Few women do that. You were desperate. Equally important, I simply cannot live without the effects of the oil you brought. And I like how you use it. Now where is this oil you were supposed to use today?”
“I have it in my bag.”
“Get it.”
In moments she returned to the workroom with a white canvas bag. “Here it is.” She held a small bottle.
“Put a dab on my back. Let us see what it does.”
“What if it is deadly?”
“They do not want to kill me now. They need me for the business. They want only to control me. It is not poison. I suspect that where the other oil lessens the jitters and diminishes the torture, this one does the opposite and would make me mad with fear. So just a dab. Then get the other oil.”
“It comes in portions, remember. If I use a portion of the regular oil now, that will be a few drops I don’t have for another day.”
“I stole some from the Chellis lab but I use so much for those damn doctors who still can’t figure it out. The reason I am normal some days is that I get not only what you have but also I get extra from the other supply.”
“I am so sorry,” she said.
“Unless they can figure out what is in it, we are going to run out. Well, we will risk it. Just use a dab of the other and get ready with the usual stuff.”
Dipping her finger in the untried oil, she reached under his shirt, smeared it over his back, and held him close. They waited for a few minutes, talking quietly.
“That works fast,” he said. “It is as if someone loosed the hounds of hell in my head. Quick, give me the other.”
She smeared a little more of the regular oil and after a time it calmed him.
“So we have solved another small part of the riddle.” He patted her head and growled, “I will kill the bastard.”
Benoit rang Gaudet as he drove through Los Angeles.
“I would have said that the stuff from your snitch,” he said, “this Guy fellow, was nothing. But I’ve traced a private flight from BC to Fiji. I’d been examining many international flights on that day, but this one is suddenly more interesting. Tell Chellis to try a bluff with Samir. Act like we know where he has Jason. I have my people going to Taveuni tonight. If he’s there they will find him by tomorrow night, unless they’ve made very careful arrangements. By the way, our little angel has gone off to heaven.”
“Are you serious?”
“When do I joke about stuff like that?”
It was a relief to have Grady Wade out of the picture. Benoit found Chellis down the hall from his office, leaning in the treasurer’s doorway. He waved good-bye to the treasurer. “Did you tell Michelle to use the other oil today?”