“I’ve grown tired of your games, Doctor Straus,” he heard Alexander say. “Tell me the rest of the news or, I assure you, you will die a very painful and very slow death.”
Straus struggled to speak, but his thoughts were scrambled. Words that needed to be said were locked behind the veil of semi-unconsciousness and crushing pain.
“Tell me, Straus,” he heard again. His head was being shaken much too forcefully for his already damaged neck and brain.
Then, the darkness returned.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
It was only a few minutes after he had ended his call with Ralph that Derek heard the unmistakable sounds of twigs breaking and footfalls scurrying on the path to his right. He crouched down behind a bush and held his breath as a figure came into view. His obstructed view only revealed that it was a man, tall and slender, who was heading his way. He thought at first about opening his backpack, removing his gun, and to ready himself for an attack, but then remembered that, though his backpack was in reach, it contained no firearm.
He sat, motionless and as quietly as he could, as the man moved closer. Then he saw the man stop. Derek could see that whoever it was, he too was surveying the hospital, looking for any signs of movement. After what Derek considered to be much too short of a delay, Derek watched the man disappear down the steep hill and towards the rear of the hospital. A minute later, he saw the young man dart towards the hospital, his path leading him straight towards a set of iron stairs leading to a door.
The young man climbed the stairs quickly and pulled hard on the metal door. It opened in surprising silence. As the man turned over his shoulder, perhaps making sure that no one had seen him, Derek saw the man’s face clearly.
“Thomas,” Derek thought. “Son of a bitch.”
After again surveying the area, Derek made his way down the hill. When he reached the parking lot, he bolted across the lot, up the stairs, and to the door. He paused and listened for any noise on the other side of the door before pulling it open. He stepped inside to near absolute darkness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
It was the sound of the knocking that brought Straus back to consciousness. Gentle, rhythmic knocking. His mind was too cloudy to accurately assign the direction of the knocking, but he was sure it was coming from the hallway door.
“Let me in!” He heard the knocker’s voice say in an urgent tone.
Straus then felt the grip that he was unaware was still holding his head release. His body crumbled onto itself, sending a newly discovered stream of pain through his left shoulder.
Straus heard the bolt and latches of the door being pulled back, the door being opened then shut and secured again.
“Where’s my father?” the voice sounded. “What did you do with my father?”
“He has, I’m sure, found peace at last,” the familiar voice of Alexander whispered.
The next sound Straus heard was a scream followed by what he imagined a barroom brawl should sound like. The brawl lasted but seconds before a large and pronounced thud filled the room. Then a groan and the sound a body makes when it is being dragged across a floor.
Though unable to move without pain waiting for him, Straus lifted his head off the mattress just in time to see Alexander dropping a body onto the mattress beside Straus. The impact of the body falling onto the bed uncovered an entirely new set of discovered pain in Straus’s rib cage. He tried to scream in agony, but his cry was cut short by Alexander’s hand covering his mouth.
“You were about to tell me the rest of the story, I believe,” Alexander said.
Alexander replaced his grip on Straus’s hair and lifted Straus back into a semi upright position.
“The rest of the story now, if you please, Doctor Straus.”
The battery-powered lantern’s light was growing dimmer and began to flicker.
Alexander again released his hold of Straus’s hair, stood and walked out of the room. Straus heard him fumbling through bags in the other room before returning with a package of fresh “D” sized batteries.
“I honestly didn’t expect to have so many visitors,” Alexander said as he replaced the dying batteries in the lantern. When he spoke again, the lantern jumped back to life and filled the room with a warm, yellowish light. “Recognize him?” he said, pointing to the person laying beside Straus on the mattress.
Straus looked at the bloodied face of the young man laying unconscious beside him.
“No. I don’t recognize him.”
“That,” Alexander said before moving towards a chair positioned at the foot of the bed, “is my long-lost brother. You two actually met a while back. That day you were so generous to allow me time at the lake, we passed a stranger who seemed to appear out of thin air. That stranger was my brother. We had arranged that seemingly coincidental meeting. You see, Doctor, I grew bored and restless of reading the stream of books you provided me. Make no mistake, they were all appreciated, but when I happened to come into the possession of a device that allowed unfettered access to the Internet, books seem too antiquated for my attention.
“Facebook is absolutely amazing, don’t you agree? Couple it with email, and the world and all of its citizens are practically within reach.”
“How did you get a device that was connected to the net? Who gave it to you?” Straus demanded.
“You had left me alone when my father paid a visit. During that visit, he spelled out his plan of action. While I only pretended to share an interest in seeing his plan through to its profitable ending, my father was resolute in blackmailing you and the rest of the doctors involved in my life. So resolute that, I am afraid to say, he lost his perspective along with a healthy amount of suspicion.
“My father, Doctor Straus, gave me a Smartphone. And with that amazing piece of technology, I gained access to a world well beyond the control of anyone. Millions upon millions of names, articles, books, news items, images, instructions, and vehicles to contact long-lost friends and relatives rested in my hands. Your fear of entering my bedroom made concealment a very simple matter. A few times, I actually left the device connected to its charger on my nightstand while having conversations with you through the glass and steel bedroom door.