Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Audrey watched with an odd sense of detachment as Nate slowly rounded the metal table, tears burning in her eyes.
She saw every movement, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back.
Her eyes remained frozen open, the paralytic rendering her muscles completely useless.
They had barely made it inside before he injected the neuromuscular blocking agent into her system, and she had gone limp within seconds.
She prayed that, like the drug he had used to knock her out at the clinic, it would wear off quickly.
She was still slightly disoriented but fully aware of the pain coursing through her body.
She could still feel the tiny bits of gravel scraping over her back and sides from when he had dragged her from the car, across the overgrown drive, and up the stairs of the small porch.
She had felt each jolt as her back and head collided with the steps, unable to scream through the tape covering her mouth.
He had used the same medical tape to bind her wrists and ankles, hampering her ability to fight back.
Every inch of her ached, and she couldn’t even shift her weight to alleviate the worst of it.
As soon as the paralytic had kicked in, Nate had ripped the tape from her mouth and cut her hands and feet free. He wasn’t a big man, and he had nearly knocked her out trying to get her up onto the table. She almost wished he would have, knowing what was coming next.
Her head lolled to the side like a broken doll’s, her limbs just as limp and useless.
From her vantage point, she had a view of what must have been the kitchen.
The trailer was small and appeared to have been gutted of everything, save the stainless steel table and a variety of instruments scattered across the cracked yellow Formica countertop.
She felt the restraints snap into place around her wrists, then her feet as he moved to the end of the table.
Out of her range of sight, she heard Nate rustling around behind her.
Her heart nearly stopped when he turned back, scalpel in hand.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away as he lowered it to her chest, bracing for the pain.
Was he going to kill her now? She hoped he would make it quick instead of dragging it out, but she knew better.
If he had wanted to kill her right away, he would have done so back at the VA.
Instead, he had drugged her, restrained her so she couldn’t fight back but would still be aware of everything around her.
The sound of ripping fabric filled her ears, and her vision blurred with tears as cool air washed over her. She wanted to be brave, but fear stole into her heart, taking over. She hated him for that.
He leaned forward and swiped up a tear trailing down her cheek. “What’s this?” He rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, a cruel smile twisting his mouth. “You called me a coward. Remember that, Audrey?” He chuckled softly. “Who’s the coward now?”
He paused, then stared down at her. “Have you ever loved someone so much that you’d do anything for them?” He let out a wistful little sigh. “I’d give anything to have my mother back.”
So that was what this was all about. She wished she could speak, but her tongue remained thick and unwieldy. She wanted to keep him talking, ask about his mother and her injuries, what he meant by doing anything to save her.
“She deserved the best, but I never would’ve been able to afford it. And my father didn’t care,” he replied bitterly. “Eli loved her, but in the end, he gave up on her, too. All she had was me. I had to take care of her.”
She took his words apart in her mind, reassembled them, put them back together. Finally, it clicked. Eli—Dr. Kellerman. Had he been involved, too, or was he just collateral damage? Had Nate killed him out of resentment because he had given up on Lucy ever healing?
“Do you have any idea how expensive those machines are?” He gave his head a little shake. “How do they expect people to pay for that? It’s like they don’t actually want patients to get better.”
He had been smuggling organs to… pay his mother’s medical bills? The irony was not lost on her, and it made her ill all over again.
“Everything was perfect—until you came along.” He rested one hand on the table and leaned further over her.
“No one suspected a thing, exactly the way it was supposed to be. Of all people, you had to be the one to find that body.” He gave a rueful shake of his head.
“And what were the odds of you coming to work at the VA?”
“Thank God you suspected Eli first.” He laughed. “Such a smart girl. But I’m always one step ahead, Audrey. You want to know a secret?”
She wanted to shake her head, terrified of the answer. He leaned so close that his nose almost brushed hers, his voice dropping several octaves. “I like it.”
Those icy eyes met hers. “Do you know how hard it is to do all that work by yourself? Harvesting the organs and transporting them in a timely manner? Then having to get rid of the body without anyone finding it or seeing you in the process?”
“Eli was on to me. Did you know that? I had no choice but to take care of him when he confronted me. Can you believe the idiot came to me first, instead of going to the police?” He tapped the end of her nose with the flat edge of the scalpel.
“You almost ruined it for me, Dr. Stanton. I think you should make it up to me.”
Her stomach tightened in fear at the implication. He must have seen something in her eyes because he grinned. “It’ll be so much more special with you. Now that there’s no rush…” He shrugged. “I can take my time.”
She watched, unblinking, as he lifted the blade, flashing in the glow of the industrial lighting overhead, and lowered it toward her torso. Silent screams filled her head as the blade burned a path down her sternum.
“Feel that, doctor?” Another tear leaked from the corner of her eye, and he smiled. “Where should we start, do you think? Liver?”
She felt the blade slice into her lower stomach and fought the nausea rolling in her belly.
“Hmm…” He hummed a little sound, then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Don’t want you passing out on me just yet.”
Reaching off to the side somewhere, she heard the soft clank of metal before he turned back to her. He held up some sort of device that resembled an ice cream scoop.
Oh, God.
Inwardly, she thrashed as it moved closer to her face. Outwardly, her body didn’t even twitch.
“Such pretty eyes, Audrey.” The cool metal pressed against the skin near her temple. “Someone would pay a pretty penny for those.”
He lifted the instrument closer to her face, allowing it to hover over her eye socket. A feral smile curled his lips as he lifted it away. “Maybe not. I want you to have a good view.”
She fought against the drug coursing through her system, trying to spur her muscles into moving, but they remained infuriatingly still. Nate turned away again, and a tiny spasm rolled through the muscle of her forearm. She anxiously held her breath, praying for it to happen again.
There.
Just the slightest twitch, but her heart leaped as the index finger on her right hand moved.
She tested it again, and she felt the cool brush of metal against her fingertip as she stroked the surface of the table.
She focused as hard as she could, channeling all of her energy on trying to move her other fingers, her toes—anything.
To her left, Nate was still rustling around, digging for something. Finally, she was rewarded by a tiny twitch of her foot. She was restrained, so she wouldn’t be able to just hop off the table and run away, even if she did have control of her muscles, so she focused on the next best thing.
She pushed her tongue forward, trying to get it to cooperate. She hadn’t seen much as he carried her into the trailer, but maybe if she could scream for help…
Her hope was short-lived as Nate loomed over her once more. “Open wide, doctor.”
It took barely more than a second for his words to sink in as he pried her jaw open and lifted the channel locks he held. She tried to scream as the cool metal pushed past her lips, but nothing came out.
The scrape of metal against bone filled her ears, and she mentally cringed as the grooves of the instrument grasped for purchase on her saliva-slickened tooth.
His face contorted in concentration as he adjusted his angle and pulled. The pressure was so intense it lifted her head off the table.
Nate chuckled. “Sucker’s really in there, isn’t it?” Tears burned her eyes and slipped down her cheeks as he pressed one hand to her forehead, holding her in place. “Don’t worry, Dr. Stanton. It’ll be over in… just… one… second.”
Blinding pain swept over her like a tidal wave, paralyzing in its intensity. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except taste the metallic tang of blood filling her mouth and tremble from the pain radiating through her body.
The pliers were suspended in midair, the tooth clenched tightly between them, and she watched as a trickle of blood slipped down the side and fell out of sight.
Every muscle in her body tensed, and her lungs contracted as a scream started low, then worked its way up her throat.
It bellowed up and out of her mouth, startling them both when it coincided with the sound of screeching metal and splintering wood.