The Last Surgeon

CHAPTER 47

“Goddamn you, Koller! If you’ve hurt Junie, I swear…”

“Zip it, Doc. I’m nowhere near the woman. But obviously, I had calls to her cell forwarded to me, so I do know where she is. She’s unharmed… for the moment at least.”

“The RV has scheduled stops all over Baltimore and D.C. Police will be looking for her when it doesn’t show.”

“Actually, the whole evening’s been canceled already. Dr. Saunders, that’s who’s listed for tonight in the log book, knows all about the mechanical problems you’re having with the RV. In fact, you yourself told her-at least she thinks it was you. As we speak, that woman is visiting each stop to break the bad news to your patients.”

“This isn’t over, Koller. Not by a long shot.”

Nick could no longer tell if he was shaking from cold or rage. The old man, as easygoing as his faded denim jeans and button-down cowboy shirt, sat patiently in the front seat of his pickup, keeping a watchful eye on his cell phone and Nick through the open passenger door.

“You know something,” Koller replied. “I sort of wish that were true.”

“Believe me. It is.”

“No. It is over, Doc. And you’ve lost. You just don’t realize it yet. But I must confess, you’ve impressed me.”

“I hurt you, too. A big hurt. And I’m going to do it again. Next time it’ll be a hammer to the mouth. I have a score to settle with Ramsland, too.”

“Now, don’t you start naming names there, Nicky. Or whoever’s phone you’ve borrowed will be none too pleased to have helped you out.”

“This is between you and me, Koller.”

“You bet it’s between you and me. Do you know how many contracts I’ve executed in my career?”

“I know what you did to Saul and Noreen. Belle Coates too.”

“The answer is, I’ve lost count. But suffice it to say, it’s an impressive number. And do you know how many of those marks have managed to hurt me?”

“A monster like you has no feelings.”

“Oh, wrong again, Doc. I have plenty of feelings. The point I’m making here is that after all those people I’ve taken out, you’d think at least a couple of them would have left a scratch or two behind. But there you’d be wrong. Turns out you’re the first to, how should I put it, nail Franz in any way. For that I commend you.”

“Where is Junie? Do you have Jillian too? Tell me, you bastard!”

The old man slid across the cab and poked his head out after hearing the commotion.

“Everything all right out there? I’m afraid you have to be moving on before long. My daughter’s got dinner waitin’.”

“Tell whoever that is you’ll only be a minute,” Koller instructed. “You and me have some business we need to discuss.”

“Everything is okay, sir. Thank you. Just another minute and I should be all set.”

“No worries, son,” said the man. “At my age, time is something I might not have in bulk, but I got no trouble giving away.”

“Now, Nick,” Koller said, “I want to offer you a deal.”

“No deals.”

“Really? Even when I have something precious that you want? Two things, as a matter of fact. And you have a couple things that I very much want, too.”

“Which are?”

“The DVD… and your life.”

“You won’t get either.”

“I think I will. Let’s get down to business, shall we, because you don’t have much time.”

“Nobody else dies, Koller. I won’t let it happen.”

“I’m afraid that’s an option that is well out of your control. It’s not if you’re going to die, Doctor, or your two friends… it’s how.”

At Koller’s words, much of Nick’s bravado faded.

“What are you saying?”

“Give yourself over to me, the last DVD, too, and I promise that when I kill you and the ladies, it will be instant and painless. A single shot to the base of the skull. Oblivion in an instant. You won’t even know what hit you. But should you refuse me, should you give me any further trouble, I will torture Ms. Coates and Ms. Wright in ways so horrible you couldn’t possibly imagine. And I’ll enjoy it. I always do. Then I’ll burn them alive, Nicky. But I’ll take my sweet time doing it. Piece by piece until they’re nothing but cinders. That bus of yours will be their incinerator.”

Clearly, Koller was relishing the description.

Nick began to shake. “You wouldn’t dare,” he managed, with no authority whatsoever.

“You’re a doctor. You know the degree of pain I’m talking about. And the ladies’ miserable, agonizing deaths will be on your head, too. I’ll make sure you have souvenir photos of the aftermath and give you ample time to think about what you did to them before I do something similarly creative to you.”

Nick froze at the words. Tears of helplessness and sheer anger blurred his vision.

This isn’t happening. No, not like this.

Nick’s index finger hovered just above the phone’s red-lettered End button, but he could not bring himself to disconnect the call. His mind was filled with the imagery and hideous screams of Jillian’s and Junie’s horrifying final moments. He pictured their blackened bodies in some landfill. He smelled their deaths.

“This offer has a limited shelf life, Doc. You know how Belle Coates died. I cut her a similar deal. A painless, peaceful end for her, and in exchange, sister Jillian got to live. I’m a man of my word. That you should know by now.”

Nick was hesitating, stalling as best he could, desperate for the sudden brilliant flash of an idea. Each turn in the maze led quickly to another dead end. Beaten, he bowed his head.

“The location of the DVD only after I know for certain that nobody suff ers. I have to see their deaths for myself. I can handle it so long as I know mine is next.”

It was Koller’s turn to think.

“My, my,” he said. “You are a source of constant surprises. I can always torture the information from you if you try and hold out on me. Okay, it’s a deal. You get to watch, I get the disc.”

Nick found it strange, but he believed Koller would keep his word. There were aspects of the monster that he had come to understand, including a twisted code of keeping his word, testified to by Jillian’s continued presence on the planet. What other option did Nick have? At least if he gave himself up, Jillian and Junie would be safe a while longer. Meanwhile, he would spend every moment searching for an opening. And in the end, if there was any chance, however small, of defeating Koller before he killed the women, he would take it.

“What now?” he asked.

“Give the phone back to the man you borrowed it from. Allow me to speak with him.”

Trembling, Nick handed the old man back his phone. Exhaustion, his wounds, and the battering his body had absorbed had him bracing himself on the front seat to remain upright.

“He wants to talk to you,” he said.

“Who is it?” the man asked.

“Better if you don’t know. But I really need you to talk to him.”

The man pressed the cell to his ear.

“Yes?… That would be exit thirteen, sir… Yes, I can do that… Okay, two and a half minutes, then… Yes, I understand.”

Nick could feel panic tightening his throat.

“What did he say?” he asked.

“I have two minutes and thirty seconds to get you down the highway and to drop you off at exit thirteen, or the deal’s off. That’s what he said.”

Nick leaped into the truck’s cab.

“Drive! Please drive! Two people’s lives are at stake.”

“Anything I can-?”

“Nothing! Just drive and drop me off, and then get as far away as possible.”

The old man’s weathered face blanched and he hit the gas pedal before Nick had even closed the door. His tires squealed on the wet pavement and the pickup skidded into oncoming traffic, nearly broadsiding a minivan.

“We got two minutes, but the exit ain’t that far. What sort of trouble are you in, son?”

“I’m dealing with a very bad, sick, dangerous man. It won’t concern you as soon as I’m gone, but take this card.” Nick worked his sodden wallet from his back pocket and fished out Don Reese’s limp business card. “When you’re far enough away, and I mean several miles down the road, call this man. He’s a detective. Tell him that Nick’s been taken somewhere. Leave a message if you get his voice mail.”

“Nick’s been taken. That all?”

“The less you know, the safer you’ll be.”

As it is he’s probably going to get a look at your license plate number.

Nick set Reese’s business card on the truck’s dash.

“We got a minute and a half,” the man said. “I ain’t got no wife anymore. Died some years back. Nowadays, I live for fixing up old trucks, driving new ones, and watching NASCAR with the boys. But I sure wish I could help you out more.”

“That makes two of us,” Nick said.

“Almost thirty seconds to spare.”

“Nice going. I really appreciate it.”

The man pulled the truck off the highway just past the exit thirteen cutoff. They peered out through the rain-dotted windows for another vehicle, but saw none that were parked.

“Doesn’t seem to be anybody here,” the old man said.

Suddenly, the driver’s side door flew open as if blown by the wind. Koller leaped inside, shoving the driver over as if he were a doll, sandwiching him between himself and Nick. Then, without uttering a word, Koller grabbed the man’s head between his hands, and in a single, powerful twist, snapped his neck with a sickening crack of bone. The cab instantly filled with a foul stench as his bowels and bladder let go.

“You fucking bastard!” Nick screamed.

Koller leveled his gun on him.

“Nothing you can do will save him now. But a deal’s a deal, Doc. And you just cut one with me you don’t want to go back on. That’s a promise.”

With the dead man riding between them, Koller eased the truck into the flow of traffic. The rain was falling harder now.