Web of Deceit (14 page)

“Let’s see.”
Heather inspects the schedule. “We just had a shift change, and her nurse is in
room 202. I’ll send her to Sarah’s room when she comes out.”

“No, you must be
mistaken. My daughter wanted to go home so her nurse is taking her for a walk
as we speak.”

“Were you informed
of anyone taking room 204 out for a walk?” Heather asks the nurse next to her.

“No. I’ll go ask
the nurse in room 202.”

Concern and fear
wash over Elizabeth.
Oh Lord, the nurse doesn’t seem to know where my
daughter is
. The Lord brings Phillippians 4:6-7 to her mind,
“Be careful
for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace
of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus
.” Then, 1 Peter 5:7.
“Casting
all your care upon him; for he careth for you
.
”
S
he prays to
herself,
Dear Jesus, I put my trust in you
…

The nurse runs out
from room 202. “Call security. Cynthia hasn’t finished her rounds and the other
nurse left thirty minutes ago!”

“What is she
saying?”

“I’m sure theres’
been a mistake. Go into you daughter’s room and wait while I get her.”

Elizabeth hurries
back to Sarah’s room. “Edwin?” She tries to remain calm. “Do you remember which
way the nurse took Sarah?”

“Yeah, to the
right towards the elevator. Why?”

Elizabeth lifts
her eyes toward heaven. “Sweet Jesus, please help our daughter. The nurses
don’t know where she is.”

“Let’s go find
her!” Edwin grabs his keys off the over-the-bed table. He and Elizabeth race
out of the room toward the elevator. “You take the elevator, and I’ll take the
stairs to make sure nothing is missed. We’ll meet by the doors in the main
lobby,” Edwin says as they reach the elevator.

“OK,” Elizabeth
manages to say, grief stricken. She presses the “Lobby” button, watching Edwin
disappear toward the stairwell.
The doors close and the elevator
descends to the lobby.
Sarah’s always there for others in need, putting them
first and giving God the glory. You’ll use this Lord and may you be glorified.
Thank you, Jesus.

The doors open and
she hurries toward the lobby to meet Edwin. Elizabeth rounds the corner with
her thoughts on Sarah’s safety, not noticing Elliot before they collide.  Her
purse tumbles to the floor and it
’
s contents scatter.

“Elizabeth, what’s
wrong?” Elliot says, helping Elizabeth scoop everything back into her purse.

“Sarah’s missing.
Edwin is checking the stairs, and we’re meeting by the doors in the lobby.
We’re going to find her.”

“Yes, we will,”
Elliot assures Elizabeth as he guides her to her feet and escorts her to the
lobby doors.

As Elizabeth
reaches the front doors, the head nurse Catrina is getting into her car.
Elizabeth hurries through the doors hailing her. “Sarah’s missing! Have you
seen her?”

“Yes, I just saw
her get into the back of that gray Subaru next to the exit sign.” She points to
the vehicle leaving the lot. “I assumed she was discharged.”

As the Subaru
enters the street, Sarah’s face and hands press against the rear passenger
window.

“Elliot, that’s
Sarah! We need to help her!” Elizabeth shouts.

“Get in. My car’s
running.” Catrina offers to help.

Elizabeth scans
the entrance of the hospital searching for Edwin and doesn’t see him. She
glances back to the gray Subaru. Watching the car speed away, she decides to
get into the front seat.

Without
hesitating, Elliot takes the back seat and slams the door.

*   *   *

Edwin makes it to
the double doors in time to catch sight of Elizabeth and Elliot getting into a
brown Cadillac and speeding away. Edwin runs down the stairs keeping his eyes
on which way they go so he can catch up with them.
They’re heading toward
the highway. Good, I’ll be able to follow them. Oh Lord, please help me not to
lose them,
he prays as he starts his car, joining the race against time.

*   *   *

Elizabeth reaches
for the phone inside her purse. “I’ll call Edwin and let him know what’s going
on.” She starts to dial his number. “That’s odd, I don’t have any bars.”

“Huh, I don’t have
any bars either.” Elliot checks his phone. “So much for calling backup. Get as
close as you can, and I’ll try to shoot out a tire.” Elliot directs Catrina.

“OK.”

“We need to
hurry,” Elizabeth says. “The sun is setting. It’ll be harder to follow them in
the dark.”

The brown Cadillac
continues to close on the Subaru as it works its way through the
rubber-necking, rush-hour traffic a car length at a time closer.

There it is.
Elizabeth strains to focus on the bumper of the car that had stolen Sarah. “The
car’s in gunshot range.” Elizabeth tries to raise her arm to point at the
vehicle.
What’s wrong with my arm? It’s heavy and slow.
The gray Subaru
pulls away. “Elliot, something is wrong. We shouldn’t be taking this exit.”
Elizabeth strains to force her head to face Elliot. A thick fog hovers
throughout the backseat with Elliot slumped over in the center.

Still in control,
Catrina pulls the Cadillac to a stop on a side street.

Catrina is
involved?
Elizabeth asks herself.
Oh dear Jesus, please help me to save
my baby girl. I don’t know what to do. Help me, please Lord, please.
Elizabeth
struggles to breathe. Her consciousness fades, and she starts to fall forward.

The words of
Isaiah 40:31 enter Elizabeth’s mind,
“They that wait upon the Lord shall
renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run
and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Elizabeth’s heavy
exhausted limbs rejuvenate as the Spirit of God removes the effects of the
poisonous gas. She reaches for the door handle and escapes from the car with
renewed strength.

Catrina’s
conditioned immunity to the gas allows her to remain conscious, although
groggy. “No, you can’t go.” Catrina speaks with great effort.

Elizabeth runs
around the back of the Cadillac to rescue Elliot. He is unconscious from the
full dosage he inhaled. His body is dead weight and slumped forward with his
head wedged against the back of the driver’s seat. She grabs him under an arm
pit and tries to lift him, but fails. She gets a tighter hold and prays, “Oh
Father, please help me, I’m not strong enough.” She feels two strong arms reach
around her torso and take hold of Elliot, pulling him out of the car as Catrina
steps on the gas. The Cadillac lunges forward, dropping Elliot’s feet to the
blacktop as Elizabeth tumbles backwards. Catrina accelerates and disappears out
of sight, taking the first cross street.

Grateful,
Elizabeth whirls around. “Oh Edwin, Praise God! He led you to us!”

“Yeah, it appears
just in time.” Edwin helps Elizabeth stand. “Let’s get him in the back of our
van.”

“That was Catrina,
the woman that was in charge of Sarah’s floor this morning. She made us think
she was helping, but somehow she was involved. I didn’t realize soon enough.”

“This is even
crazier than I thought,” Edwin says. “Do you know which way they took Sarah?”

“They were still
on the interstate going straight, driving a little gray station wagon.”

After loading
Elliot, half conscious, into the back seat of their minivan, Edwin makes a
U-turn and heads back to the exit.

As they speed
toward the exit, Elizabeth asks, “Is that a construction detour?” pointing at
the on-ramp.

“Yeah, you better
brace yourself. I’m not messing around with a detour. We’ve lost too much time
already.” Edwin holds the gas pedal to the floor as the minivan charges the
construction barrier.

“Don’t do it!”
Elizabeth shouts and closes her eyes tight.

“Hey, watch out!”
Elliot hollers from the back seat.

“Elliot! Praise
God!” Elizabeth opens her eyes. “I was so worried about you.”

Elliot, staring
straight ahead, does not respond. He swings around to peer out the back window.
Confused, he glances to the front and then back again. “Did you see that?
That’s impossible,” Elliot says, amazed. “That didn’t just happen.”

“What’s he talking
about?” Elizabeth asks Edwin.

The awe in Edwin’s
eyes and his thick smile confirm that Elliot’s hallucination is a reality.
“Blessed is the Lord on high! He took us straight through that wooden sign and
those plastic cones. They didn’t even wiggle.”

“But that’s
impossible!” Elliot says.

“Yes,” Edwin
agrees. “But the good Lord can do anything. He makes the impossible possible.”

Elizabeth gazes
out the back window at the receding construction barrier. “No way to go around
them except through them. It’s a miracle!”

*   *   *

Elliot runs his
fingers through his hair, still in shock. “That could’ve messed us up. What
were you thinkin’?”

“I don’t know. But
I do know there’s no safer place than in the center of God’s will. If we
weren’t where he wanted us, we wouldn’t have passed through an obstacle like
that,” Edwin answers.

“Why doesn’t he do
things like that all the time?” Elliot asks. “Then maybe people would believe.”

“He does,”
Elizabeth says. “Their eyes are closed, and they see what they want to see.”

“What about Sarah?
Why is he letting this happen to her? Surely a God that can take us through a
solid barrier can zap her into this van.”

“Yes, that is
true,” Edwin responds. “But God has a plan. We only see a small …”

“Yeah, yeah, I
know. ‘A piece of the puzzle, but he sees the finished work.’ I’ve heard that
so many times, I have it memorized.”

“Elliot, God loves
Sarah more than Edwin or I ever could and if …” Elizabeth’s eyes well up with
tears, “ … if she dies through this, she will be with God. I will be
heartbroken, of course, because, I can only see what is in front of me, and I
will miss her. But I will see her again and that’s the truth.”

“Son,” Edwin says.
“God has shown himself to you several times during the past couple days. It’s
time to pay attention and listen to what’s he’s telling you. He’s reaching out
to you, and you have to make a choice. Choose God and the life he has waiting
for you or keep doing things your own way until the day you die without God and
be ready to face eternity in hell all alone. Romans 6:23 says, ‘for the wages
of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.’ When Jesus was nailed on the cross, he could’ve gotten off at any time.
He didn’t even have to get on the cross, but he did it to free us from the
mental and physical pain of the world. For example, the breakdown you had about
a year ago when you beat that guy and threw him over the side of the building
because you thought he killed that young girl …”

“He screwed up and
when she dropped from the building, her screams just rang in my mind. I thought
she died, it happened so fast.”

“Was that the
first time you had a missing person case?” Edwin asks.

“No, and they
don’t usually end happy like this one,” Elliot says. “And I remember every
case, wishing I could have done something to save them.”

“That burden is
too big for anyone to carry without shutting down inside. No wonder you
exploded. See, that’s why Jesus died on the cross to set the world free from
their burdens and sin. Your burdens are too heavy for anyone to carry. You need
to give them to God. When Jesus died on the cross, he carried the weight of the
world on his shoulders so that we don’t have to. He descended into hell to
defeat death and break the chains that bound you and me and loosed our shackles
to set us free. God rose him from the dead on the third day. So, now there is a
way to escape hell’s grip and that’s through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus went
to hell so that we don’t have to. You can give your worries to God. He wants to
replace your bitterness, anger, and sorrow with righteousness, peace, and joy.
God will come and live with you and fill that void that doesn’t seem to be
filled by obsessions.”

“Like a hooked-up
Vette?”

“Exactly,” Edwin agrees.

“I believe, guys.
Get me to a church after we find Sarah.”

Tears stream down
Elizabeth’s face. “You can do it right here. It’s easy. Romans 10:13 says, ‘for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ” She reaches
her hands between the seats to hold his hands. “Go ahead, dear. Pour your heart
out to God. He’s listening.”

Elliot closes his
eyes which are welling with tears and overflowing down his cheeks. “God,” he
says, “I can’t keep my hate and anger locked up any more.” Elliot clenches his
right fist and rests his forearm on his leg. He bows his head and prays from
his heart, “I need the peace that Edwin and Elizabeth have. I don’t know how
this works God, but I know I’m ready for you to change my life. I know I can’t
live the way you want me to, and I need your help. Oh God, please forgive me
for my sins.” Elliot forces himself to keep from sobbing. “Jesus, I can’t do it
my way anymore. Please come into my heart. I don’t want to be alone anymore.
Thank you, Jesus.” Elliot’s face brightens as he continues to pray and a joy
beyond his understanding sweeps through him. His sadness disappears. Elliot has
begun his new life of freedom, in Christ.

“That long
building at the end of the block must be it.” Beth drives down Sycamore Street.
“You should be the one to contact Jade since you have more experience.” Beth
shoots a glance at Symphony. “Unless you don’t want to.”

“I’m good. You
should drop me off here. I’ll walk the rest of the way. When you see me getting
close, go in and distract the staff on duty.”