THEY HAD PLANES specially made and outfitted for medical transport. There were companies that included air ambulances, who boasted of their competence with such perilous dealings. I wasn’t a stranger to risks or dangerous encounters. I also wasn’t stupid when it came to announcing our intentions.
A medical transport would require names and medical records. They would need clearance and authorization. We were without any of that.
The last thing I planned on doing was alerting anyone that I was transporting Adelaide Montague Fitzgerald in an unconscious state across state lines. It wasn’t that I’d ever balked at breaking the law, but this was a federal offense. Even that wasn’t new to me. Murder was a federal offense. If we were to be apprehended, officially this was kidnapping.
Unofficially, this was a rescue.
“Amore mio,” I whispered in Adelaide’s ear as Clayton pulled the ambulance onto the tarmac of the private airport. “Soon you’ll be safe.”
Adelaide didn’t move, even as I smoothed her hair away from her beautiful face. To me, she was gorgeous. She always had been; however, as I stared at her, it was clear to me that her ordeal had made its mark. Her once rosy complexion was now gaunt. Her cheekbones had become too prominent and her skin loose. Since the time I’d last held her in my arms she’d lost too much weight. I knew from the doctor’s notations it had mostly occurred recently. It had been evident as I helped to lift her from her bed to this gurney. Her shoulder and arm bones protruded. My fingers easily surrounded her dainty wrists as I sought the thump of her pulse.
The rhythm was present, though rapid and faint. Maybe it wasn’t faint. Maybe it was that mine was thundering in my chest. I held my breath and counted the beats as my fingers pressed against her frail wrist. I wasn’t a doctor, even if I’d pretended to be one. In fifteen seconds I counted twenty-eight beats—or 112 per minute. Her breathing was shallow. Since we’d left Magnolia Woods each breath seemed to come quicker, yet be less effective.
“Mr. Demetri,” Clayton said from the front seat. “Mrs. Witt said the plane is ready and Dr. Rossi is here, ready to accompany you back to New York.”
I nodded. With each passing day I gained new respect for Deloris Witt.
Eva Rossi was the one physician I could implicitly trust with regard to both Adelaide’s care as well as discretion. She was family. As I’d told Deloris, family is family. The physician Deloris had consulted had proven trustworthy. She’d scoured Adelaide’s records and ordered tests. She was the one who told us how to trick the monitors at Magnolia Woods. She was still on the case, but she wasn’t family. I couldn’t ask her to assist me in transporting Adelaide to New York.
Eva was a Costello, the daughter of another of Angelina’s cousins. Being related to Angelina, she was also related to Vincent.
Angelina’s cousin was still in charge.
I should have hesitated to call. I should have known the repercussions. Vincent and I had made our peace. We’d completed our deals and granted each other space. The world was different today than it was twenty years ago. But it still existed.
As a young man I’d worked hard to belong in the Costello world. Then as an older man, I’d worked equally as hard to earn my freedom as well as Lennox’s immunity. There were few people who were worth the reintroduction to the family life. Adelaide was one.
During my conversation with Vincent, I’d emphasized one thing: I would be the one in debt, not Lennox.
Clayton brought the ambulance to a stop. Though it was night, the tarmac was well lit. The pilots flying our plane needed flight plans and a manifest with names. Even on private planes the FAA had requirements. It wasn’t like we were taking off from a privately owned airstrip.
Our timeline had been tight. I did what Lennox had done. I trusted someone else to make it all work. Now it was time to learn if my trust had been misguided.
As Clayton got out of the vehicle and walked around to the back, I stayed at Adelaide’s side. The holster of my gun rested against my hip as I blindly waited for the back doors of the ambulance to open. My pulse increased with each tick of the clock. I wasn’t sure what I anticipated, but as the rear doors of the ambulance opened, my solemn gaze met that of the woman standing at Clayton’s side.
“All the paperwork has been cleared,” Deloris said.
I took a deep breath and nodded.
The identifications she’d provided were false, even mine. It would be too easy for Fitzgerald to follow the plane I hired back to New York, back to Rye. Part of me wanted to change the flight plan and continue east across the Atlantic. I imagined having Adelaide in London. Medical care there was equally as advanced. Though we’d be much more difficult to find, there was one huge unknown that wouldn’t allow me to take her to my home in the United Kingdom.
When the woman on the gurney beside me woke, I wanted her to have the option to return to her life. I wouldn’t really kidnap her. She was free to do as she’d done before and tell me to leave, to tell me she wanted to work on her marriage.
If she chose that option, though it would kill me, I would let her go. But not until she was well. In the meantime, in Rye she would have access to the one person I believed she wouldn’t turn away—Alexandria.
I made a mental note to check my phone after Adelaide was secure. It would be best to have confirmation that both Chelsea and Alexandria were safe before we took off. However, it wasn’t essential. Getting Adelaide into the air was my number-one concern.
Once we made it to the home in Westchester County, we’d be safe. The house wasn’t only a fortress, but I’d made another deal with my devil—with Angelina’s cousin. There was no expense or freedom I wouldn’t sacrifice for the woman I loved. Not only was it protected on the outside, the master bedroom suite had been converted into a top-of-the-line hospital room. Silvia had been charged with the transformation. I had no doubt it would be done.
Family.
Clayton reached for the end of the gurney and pulled. As the makeshift bed hovered above the tailgate, the scissor legs and wheels fell into place. I quickly followed the gurney, supporting the foot as Clayton lifted the head and we carried Adelaide up the steps and into the cabin of the plane.
Once she was aboard, I lifted her petite body to the long leather sofa. With only a nod of understanding, Dr. Rossi inspected the bags of fluid as she moved the attachments to the improvised hospital bed she’d constructed.
As soon as the gurney was empty, Clayton moved it back toward the door.
Deloris had followed a step behind. Watching from the side, she said, “Get the ambulance back to Magnolia Woods as soon as you can. Be sure the inside is clean.”
Clayton nodded as he took one last look at Adelaide. “Is she going to make it?”
“Yes.” I couldn’t comprehend another answer.
Leery of using anyone’s name, I asked Deloris, “My son?”
She shook her head. “The last I heard, he was making his way toward her.”
My chest tightened. “Damn, she didn’t make it to the rendezvous point?”
“No. The other did.”
I nodded. I’d gotten the mass text message about Chelsea. Our mission was two-thirds complete. It wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be for Lennox. “Message me, even if we’re out of communication. I’ll get it as soon as possible.”
“Sir, may I examine your wife before we take off. It won’t take long.”
My eyes met Eva’s. “Yes, Doctor.”
My wife. If only.
Deloris handed me a paper as I stood. Together we stepped down the stairs to the tarmac. As the night breeze blew in gusts around us, I read the small piece of paper.
Marco and Laura Ferrari
Stuffing the paper into the pocket of my jacket, I asked, “Those are the best you could do?”
She shrugged. “Two of the most common names, difficult to trace.” She reached into her pocket and handed me an envelope. “Identification for each of you. The doctor already has hers. I’ll stay here and get the next plane lined up and ready.”
I ran the smooth envelope between my fingers. “I rarely depend upon someone else.”
Her lips that had been set in a straight line of concentration shifted to an almost smile. “I’m aware and honored.” She tilted her head toward the plane. “Maybe one day you or your son will share the reason why she means so much to you, but sir, you’re like your son or maybe he’s like you. His fidelity is rarely given, but when it is, it’s fierce. I don’t understand why or how, but you are the same. I’d never witnessed it before. I’m sorry I never knew Lennox’s mother, not really. She was very ill by the time I came around.
“It is my observation that you wouldn’t hesitate to kill in order to save that woman.”
I didn’t respond. She was one hundred percent correct.
“I’d rather work with you than against you.”
“Thank you. I never forget a debt,” I said.
“I’ll message you as soon as I hear from your son.”
“Until we’re together again.”
Deloris nodded as I again ascended the steps. Once I was inside, the copilot closed the door, retracting the stairs.
“Mr. Ferrari, please take a seat. The airport is unusually quiet this evening. We can take off immediately.”
“Thank you.” I turned back to Adelaide. Dr. Rossi was tucking a blanket around her body. Her exam seemed to be complete.
“Once we’re in the air,” the copilot said, “you’re welcome to help yourself to the bar. Your assistant insisted that you have only the flight crew, no attendant.”
“We’re quite capable. Thank you.”
Eva and I waited for the copilot to disappear behind the cockpit door.
“How is she?”
Years of medical training gave people the ability to mask their feelings. I knew the facade well. It had come in handy in many of my endeavors.
“Before we take off,” Dr. Rossi began, “I’d like to make a call and arrange for a few additional things at your home. Unless you’d reconsider a hospital? In a hospital I could—”
“Make the call. Hurry. We’re about to take off.”
Eva nodded and securing herself into one of the seats opposite Adelaide, spoke softly into her phone. She rattled off medications and instructions. I tried to listen, but it was a foreign language. Hearing the name of a six-syllable medication and knowing what it was used for were two different things.
I sat closest to Adelaide. “Amore mio, stay strong. You always have been too strong, too unwilling to let me help you. Now, I will help. It’s not too late. I refuse to allow that.”
My heart ached at memories of Angelina. Perhaps it was what Deloris had said, but I recalled her illness and my helplessness. There was no price I wouldn’t have paid to make her well again. God had other plans. As I held Adelaide’s petite hand, I prayed that this time God’s plans would be different.
The plane began to move as Dr. Rossi turned off her phone.
“Talk to me.”
“I won’t know until I run a few tests.”
“Know what?”
She took a deep breath. “The medication, the Versed, is a benzodiazepine. It’s relatively safe when used as intended but it isn’t meant for repeated use, especially not in a patient who is suffering from alcohol and opioid withdrawal. Repeated use of the drug is a lot for a healthy body to take. If that body is compromised, it’s more difficult.”
“Tell me what you’re worried about.”
“I didn’t say I was worried.”
I brought my lips together and stared.
“Her breathing is irregular. The sedative can cause respiratory depression. From what I’ve seen, she hasn’t been on oxygen. Lack of oxygen can cause irreversible damage.”
“Damage?”
“To the brain, to the heart. We won’t know for sure until she fully wakes. I know the doctors at the clinic were preventing her from waking—the chart said the order was to help her through her DTs, but I advise that she be eased off of all medications. If it becomes too difficult for her to endure, there are less potent pain suppressants to take off the edge. Without blood tests we don’t know the level of toxicity in her system.”
“But she’ll be all right.” It wasn’t a question.
“Sir, I’ll do all I can.”
We both looked to Adelaide as the plane lifted off the ground.
“I wish we had oxygen on board, but an FAA regulation requires that the crew and aircraft on private flights be certified.”
I looked around. “But what about the masks. Isn’t that oxygen?”
“Yes, an emergency supply. Let’s hope we don’t need to try to access that.”