The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (184 page)

Abdullah turned almost all the way around in his seat. “Rayford? Are you serious?”

Rayford quickly filled Abdullah in on the situation. “I’ll make sure he goes nowhere,” the pilot said. “You know I can manage.”

“How well I know. What’s your ETA?”

“Fourteen minutes, but I’m shooting for eleven.”

Rayford clapped his phone shut and said he was going to check on Hattie. He got three steps down and bent to see her in a fetal position on an old couch. He shook his head and went back upstairs.

“How’re we doing, Doc?”

“We’re going to induce, but I can start her slow and give Buck plenty of time. Everybody OK with that? Fetal pulse is not critical yet, but it will be in an hour. I’d start the drip if it was my call.”

Chloe pointed at Floyd.

“That means it’s your call, Doc,” Rayford said.

“Small airport,” Abdullah said as they descended.

“Not too small for you, though, right?”

“I could land on an envelope and not cancel the stamp.”

Buck knew it was nervous tension, but he didn’t stop laughing until he climbed out. He stretched so far he dizzied himself and thought he would break in two. He told Abdullah, “The guy on the radio was T, the one we’re supposed to meet. He’ll point you to where you’re staying and hopefully introduce you to Ernie. You know what to do.”

Abdullah smiled.

Fewer than ten minutes later, Abdullah was unpacking next to Ernie’s room. Buck and T traded phone numbers with Abdullah and left, Buck driving his own car.

“You guys have had some excitement,” Buck said.

“Not as much as you’re about to have.”

“I can’t wait. I should call Chloe.”

“I wouldn’t do that just yet. I understand the doctor has her on oxygen and is going to induce labor, but they’re trying to stall for you.”

Buck sped up. They were already bouncing so that each had to brace himself with a hand on the ceiling. “What was that?” Buck said, studying the rearview mirror and then swerving to miss the giant concrete pile he had forgotten about on Willow Road.

“I don’t see anything,” T said, looking back.

Buck shrugged. “Thought I saw a bike.”

T looked again. “If there’s a bike back there, its light is off. Probably your imagination.”

Buck looked again. His mind was playing tricks on him, and why not? He’d have let T drive if T knew where they were going.

“You want me to call Abdullah?” T said. “Make sure he’s still got an eye on Ernie?”

“Maybe you’d better.”

T dialed. “How are things going, my friend? . . . All right? . . . Yes, he’s a fascinating boy. You won’t let him hoodwink you now, will you? . . . Just an expression. It means put one over on you, ah, pull a fast one, um, cheat you, swindle you. . . . Attaboy, Abdullah. You should be able to get to sleep now. You’ve stalled him long enough.”

Buck and T pulled into the yard behind the safe house just before ten, and Buck was out of the car before the engine died. Chloe, who had just experienced her first contraction, beamed when she saw him. Doc Charles greeted him with a point to the sink. “First things first, stranger.”

Buck washed up and moved to Chloe’s side, where he took her hand. “Thank you, God,” he said aloud. “I would not want to have missed this.”

“I would like to pray too,” Tsion said.

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Buck said.

“Doctor, you have a waiver on closing your eyes. Almighty God, we are grateful for your goodness and your protection. Thank you for bringing Buck to us, and just in time. We know we have no claim on your sovereign will, but we plead for a safe delivery, a perfect baby, and a healthy mother. We need this tiny ray of sunshine in a dark world. Grant us this, our Lord, but above all, we seek your will.”

Rayford’s head jerked up with a start at the sound of an engine coming to life in the yard. He scanned the room, looked at T, and said, “Hattie.”

Buck shouted, “Catch her! She can’t expose us like this!”

Chloe tried to sit up. “Relax, Chloe!” Floyd said. “I’ll be fine with Buck and Tsion if you other two have to go after her. But just do it and stay out of here.”

Rayford dashed past T and skipped down the steps and out the door. He heard a motorcycle engine, and the Rover was missing. He and T jumped into T’s Jeep, but the keys were gone. Rayford ran back in the house. “Floyd! The keys!”

“Agh!” Floyd said. “Tsion, my right pants pocket, and then you’ll have to wash again.”

Tsion tossed Rayford the keys, and Rayford and T were soon careening back toward Palwaukee. “So Ernie followed you after all?”

“Impossible,” T said. “We talked to Abdullah on our way, and he said Ernie was still there. Buck did think he saw something a couple of times though.”

“Maybe Ernie had the drop on Abdullah and made him say that.”

“He was pretty convincing. Small talk, details, and all.”

“Frankly that doesn’t sound like Abdullah. Call him.”

Abdullah answered on the second ring. “Did I wake you? . . . Listen, just answer yes or no. Is Ernie still there? . . . He is? What’s he doing? . . . Digging? Put him on for me, will you?”

Rayford shook his head. “I’m telling you, he’s not—”

“Ernie? Hey, how’s it goin’, man? Whatcha doin’? . . . Cleaning Ken’s area? Nice of you. Abdullah said you were digging. . . . Just sweeping, huh? . . . Yeah, I can see how he could mistake that for digging. Well, tell him we’ll see him in a few hours.”

Buck could not imagine what Hattie was up to. He had long since quit trying to figure her out. Where would she go in the middle of the night besides crazy? Maybe that was it. She’d got cabin fever and just had to escape. It’d be just like her to get lost and wind up leading someone to the safe house.

Chloe gripped his hand and grunted. Buck looked to Doc, who had attached a fetal monitor to the baby’s skull through the uterus. He said it was as accurate as it could be and that he was encouraged. “We’re going to have a baby tonight,” he said. “And it’s going to be all right.”

Buck sighed heavily, too excited to notice his fatigue. He also held out a sliver of realism, knowing that for the sake of the patient it was just like Floyd to sound more optimistic than he felt. Buck was glad he was there, no matter what happened. He would not have wanted Chloe to go through this alone, regardless of the outcome.

“So Ernie really
is
a gold digger,” Rayford said.

T nodded. “And I’ll bet you dollars to donuts we’ll find Bo has been released from Young Memorial too. Shall I find out?”

“Sure.”

“Humph,” T said a few minutes later, his hand over the phone. “They say he’s still registered.”

“Ask to talk with him. No wait, ask for Leah and let me talk to her.” T did and handed him the phone. “Leah, it’s Rayford Steele, friend of Dr. Charles.”

“What now?” she said, but not unpleasantly.

“We just need to know if a patient who has not checked out or been released might be gone anyway. Name’s Bo something. Just a minute, I’ll get the—”

“Beauregard Hanson,” she said. “We don’t get a lot of Bos, you know. Yeah, he’s still here.”

“You’re sure?”

“You want me to check?”

“Would you?”

“I’ve done more than that for you guys.”

“That’s why we love you.”

“Hang on.”

Doc Charles seemed elated, and that made Buck feel better. “We’re doing the right thing,” Doc said. “This could not have waited, but the pulse is steady and has been for a while. We’re going to be OK. You doing all right, Mom?”

Chloe nodded the perspiring nod of the extremely pregnant.