The Rasner Effect by Mark Rosendorf

Author:Mark Rosendorf [Rosendorf, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Action-Suspense, Contemporary, Suspense
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2014-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

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.

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