The Rasner Effect (21 page)

“You ruined his brain,” Jen said, soft and low. “Now I’m going to ruin yours by blowing it out the back of your head.”

She moved the gun down and put it against Obenchain’s cracked lips. He pulled his head back. Jen kept inching the gun ahead, ’til he could back up no more. Now he sat with his head tipped back against the top edge of the chair. She had to hold the gun almost upright to keep it in his mouth.

“Jen!” Derrick slid off the table and strode toward her.

She ignored him. “First you, then your kid.” She began to slowly squeeze…

“JEN!” Derrick’s hand shot between the barrel and Obenchain’s face, pushing the gun away. “Stop, we need him!”

She pointed the gun at him in a halfhearted manner. “What for?”

“If we get Rick back, I can’t reverse this by myself. This stuff is way beyond my capabilities!”

“You were trained as our computer guy, Derrick. This is what you do.”

“The chip is in his goddamn head, Jennie. There’s got to be a way to turn it off, but I’m not touching the thing. We’re gonna have to count on this asshole. He will know how to do it. Guaranteed.”

Jen faced Obenchain, staring into his eyes. “It doesn’t look like he’s going to help us. If he does, we won’t know if he’s playing square.”

“We have his kid. He’ll help us.” Derrick placed a hand on Obenchain’s shoulder. “Help me give you a chance here, Doctor. Can we shut that thing off or not?”

Jen turned the gun back on the doctor, whose entire face had gone white. No, not white, more like opaque. Jen liked it better when it was an angry red. This opaque color was just freaky.

“It is…possible,” the doctor finally replied.

“Then let’s talk.” Derrick offered Jen a self-satisfied grin.

“Fine. You two nerds talk.” Jen moved the gun. “But Derrick, if you don’t get an answer, I’m shooting him, then his brat.” She turned away and shuffled past Obenchain, adding, “And then you.”

Derrick paled visibly. Must be white is the newest rage, she thought. She needed a drink. There had to be a bar somewhere in this place. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Derrick slide his rear end onto Obenchain’s lap and decided the drink could wait a few minutes.

“She’s quite serious,” Derrick said, “But if this all works out, she may actually let the Obenchain family live. So talk to me, Doc, what can we do?”

“I want to see my son first.”

“You will, I promise. But you have to give me something first—you know, to earn the right. Tell me what I need to know. How do we remove that chip of yours?”

“I already answered that. You can’t. It’s implanted in his head. It cannot be removed without intense and dangerous surgery.”

“You’ve never had to remove one of these things before?”

“There is no ‘before’,” Obenchain snapped. “It is a prototype, an experimental project. We never even named it, we weren’t allowed to.”

Derrick stood up and paced in front of Obenchain, his arms folded and his eyes pointed upward. Suddenly, he stopped. “If we can’t remove it, can we short it out?” He pointed at him, showing glee over his sudden idea.

Obenchain remained quiet, almost defiant in his refusal to respond.

“Come on, man, it’s a computer chip. It can be shorted out, right?”

“It’s…” Obenchain’s lips tightened.

“I’m tired of getting dicked around,” Jen interrupted. “Jorge, put a bullet in his head and let’s get out of here.”

Jorge stepped up close and placed the end of the rifle in Obenchain’s left ear. Derrick motioned with his hands for the Doctor to talk, a gesture that said
you’re running out of time
.

“No…please… It-it is theoretically possible! But the electric charge would have to be exact. Too small and it will do nothing, too high and it could turn him into a vegetable.”

“And if that happens, Doctor…” Jen took hold of Jorge’s rifle barrel and shoved it at Obenchain’s head.

“I know, I know, you don’t have to tell me again! But even so, I do not have the equipment necessary here to do what you would need.”

“What he needs is a good shock to his head. That’s what you’re saying?” Derrick pointed at Obenchain’s taser, now lying at the other end of the oak dining room table.

“There’s hardly enough power in that mechanism to generate a shock heavy enough…”

“We can amp it up!”

Jen recognized Derrick’s excitement. His eyes had grown wide, his words came out faster. Was he on to something?

“Come on, we’re geniuses. We can rig your stun gun with enough power to generate the shock we need! Can’t we?”

“Are you sure?” Jen asked.

“Yes. This plan could work.”

“That plan is crazy!” Obenchain shouted.

“What about theoretically? With your knowledge and my brilliance, can we make this work?”

Obenchain sagged in the chair, angry, threatened, helpless. “It is possible—but everything would have—to be precise. The voltage—the length of time the chip is exposed to such voltage…”

“We can definitely do this,” Derrick leaped toward Jen.

Jen approached Obenchain, placing an unfriendly hand on his shoulder. “I know you can do it, Doctor.” To Derrick she said, “Don’t take your eyes off him for a minute.” She faced the doctor again. “You have the night to get this plan working. Get that stun gun to do what you want it to do. We pick Rick up in the morning.”

Jen now placed both her hands against his shoulders. “You know where he is?”

“M-most likely he will be at his place of work,” Obenchain answered. “Will you bring my son back tonight?”

“Work, quaint.” She laughed, ignoring Obenchain’s question. “Where would work be for him?”

“The Brookhill Children’s Psychiatric Residence.”

“Wow, now that’s interesting,” Jen’s smirk grew even wider. “It’s been a while, but I’m familiar with
that
place.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

It was early morning when Doctor Obenchain stopped the white van at the front gate of the Brookhill Children’s Psychiatric Residence. He rolled down the driver’s side window and stuck his head out. He watched the guard step out of the booth and approach the van.

Keep it cool
, Obenchain told himself. Don’t give the guard a reason to be suspicious. Suspicion could cost Arnold his life.

“Doctor Harold T. Obenchain,” he said to the guard. “I am here to see Katherine Miller.”

The guard, a slender man with glasses and a thick black mustache, checked his clipboard, examining it carefully. “I don’t see an appointment for you, Doctor Obenchain.”

“I don’t have an appointment, sir. I have supplies Katherine needs, and this is the only opportunity I will have to drop them off.”

“One moment, let me call up.”

The guard walked back to the gate, picked up the phone, and dialed. Obenchain shuffled his hands on the steering wheel.

Stop acting like a nervous fool
, he told himself. This had to go off perfectly—otherwise they’d kill his son.
They might kill him anyway
, said a small voice inside his head. Can’t take the chance. Way at the back of the van sat Arnold, hands trussed behind his back, his legs tied with some brownish rope. There were two gags in his mouth. Physically, he seemed all right, but if the wild-eyed look was any indication, the boy would need serious counseling when—if—this was over. Sanaga knelt over Arnold, holding the fourteen-inch blade of a knife to his throat. Before leaving, he’d tried to tell them they didn’t need to do that—he’d cooperate, no more questions asked. But they were adamant. They weren’t taking any chances. First sign of rebellion by either of them and the kid took it.

To either side of Arnold sat Derrick and Jorge. Both wore long raincoats, out of place considering it wasn’t raining. Obenchain didn’t want to know what the coats covered up.

Beside him, in the passenger seat, Jen had a pistol in her hand. It was hid inside the sleeve of her baggy shirt, but it stuck out like a tire iron in his mind.

A tap on the window frame almost made him shit his pants. “Okay Doctor, you can go on in. Miss Miller will be waiting for you inside.”

“Thank you.” Obenchain let out a sigh of relief and eased the van ahead. He couldn’t help looking in the side-view mirror to see if the guard made any sign that things weren’t apropos.

****

In the facility’s main office, Rick removed his punch card from the rack and placed it in the machine, which clocked him in for work. He fitted the card back into a slot on the rack. Miller stood in the main office too, not six feet away. She had just hung up the phone on the secretary’s desk.

“Why in the world is he visiting us again?” she asked. The question didn’t seem aimed at anyone in particular.

Rick left the main office, doing his best to avoid eye contact with the head director. He hurried down the hallway to the therapy suite, the one place that felt like his own “safe space” within the uncomfortable environment, even if he did believe they monitored every single word he said in there. What did Miller mean—why is he visiting again? Just who was coming? The way she talked it was some digni—whoa—Obenchain? Why? Didn’t he get his fill of her bull the other day?

Didn’t matter, he planned to stay out of everyone’s way for the rest of his time here. Janet Murphy sat at her desk, thumbing the diaphanous pages of her Bible, as she did each morning before work, and usually during work as well. Rick waved his left hand in greeting and then made his way around the room divider to his own desk. Safe—the word shot through his brain. He’d made it without being accosted by anyone.

The feeling was short lived as Janet called out, “How are you feeling, Rick?”

“I’m all right. Well, as all right as can be expected.” Rick slumped into his chair, wishing he could hide here all day.

He could hear Janet put her Bible down on her desk and rise to walk around the divider. She invited herself to sit in the patient’s chair. She leaned forward and folded her hands on the desktop. “You really should talk about it.”

“Talk about what?”

“You know what I mean.”

He shrugged.

“Yes, you should talk about it.”

Outside the suite came the sound of students being led to their classrooms from the cafeteria.

****

Obenchain stood at attention as the hallway door creaked open, revealing Officer James’ oversized frame. The officer greeted him, then stepped out of the way, giving Obenchain access to the second floor hallway. Hefner rushed the last of the students into a classroom, then locked the door behind them. Miller then exited the main office and marched his way. Miller eyed Obenchain with a look of concern, understandable considering his sudden unscheduled visit.

“Keep it subtle, Doctor,” Jen whispered into Obenchain’s ear. “Don’t even think of tipping her off.”

Obenchain nodded in agreement. He had no intentions of sacrificing his son’s life, or his own, in some futile attempt to play hero. Still, he couldn’t imagine how this group planned to abduct Rick Rasner without tipping anyone off.

Obenchain stepped forward. Jen kept pace at his side. Her pistol poked him in the small of his back. “Nice knapsack.” Officer James’ comment made his shoulders tighten. How silly he must have looked with Arnold’s green knapsack over his shoulders. More than silly, it may have also looked suspicious.

As Miller approached, her gaze shifted to Jen. How could he explain her presence to the facility’s director? He couldn’t pass her off as his assistant; Jennifer Duke didn’t exactly blend in among professionals. Miller had worked with troubled individuals long enough to recognize the eyes and stance of a psychopath.

Officer James, assuming only two people had arrived, attempted to push the door closed. He found his attempt blocked when two men in raincoats pushed the door open and strode in. They brushed to the sides of Obenchain and Jen.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” James yelled, placing a hand against Jorge’s chest, stopping him in mid-walk. “Who the hell are you?”

“Doctor Obenchain, what is going on here?” Miller asked. “Who is this—?”

“We’re here for Rick Rasner,” Jen said. “Go fetch him, now!”
So much for subtle and not tipping anyone off.

Miller’s eyes narrowed with exception. Had she not yet realized the magnitude of the situation? “Excuse me, young lady!”
Guess not
. “I don’t know who you are but I am the head director of this facility and you will
not
speak to me in such a manner. I…”

“You’re boring me.” Jen released her arm from around Obenchain’s back, her gun now pointed at the side of the doctor’s head. “Get a move on, you’re holding us up.”

Jorge followed Jen’s lead by reaching under his rain jacket and removing his rifle. He pointed it into the chest of Officer James who raised his arms in the air and backpedaled away from the door. Derrick, who sported a raincoat two sizes larger than his frame, folded his arms across his chest, like he thought things were going quite well indeed.

“Okay, everyone, let’s all keep cool,” Jen said. Obenchain had to second that thought. “We’re here for Rick Rasner, and I expect to be reunited with him
immediately
.”

“Young lady, I agree this can be handled calmly and without need of threats or violence,” Miller said. “Now, who are you and what do you want with a member of my staff?”

“I see you haven’t changed much over the years,
Miss
Miller.” Jen flashed a confident smirk that appeared to irritate the shit out of Miller. Jen added, “You’re still the same stubborn bitch I always knew…and loved.”

The word love, not surprisingly, wasn’t tempered with fond emotion. “You seem to know me very well. Am I supposed to know you?” Miller asked, although it suddenly made sense to Obenchain. Miller had seen so many patients come and go over the years, she couldn’t have remembered them all, even one named Jennifer Duke. “My mother put me in this dump when I was thirteen years old,” Jen said with venom in her voice. “I dealt with your crap in that classroom for an entire month before I took it upon myself to get the hell out.”

Escape
. She’d escaped. A board meeting from years ago hit Obenchain like a falling piano. Only one patient had ever escaped from here. Miller took responsibility for the incident. Her nobility almost ended her career. “You’re that Duke girl!”