The Click

Barnaby stood in his living room peeking out the window through the closed

drapes. He could see two VAMA hearses parked on each end of the street. They were in plain sight and obviously didn’t care. The few things he was taking with him were waiting at the café in town. He ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner there for the last two days, and with each meal he brought some of his belongings from home. He was sure neither of his VAMA tails suspected.

This is it, he thought, then locked up the house and left for the café. By the time he reached his destination and pulled into a space, both hearses drove into the shopping center. He left his car and entered the café where a young woman, a member of the Cause, quickly led him out the back and into the ally, and an awaiting white Van with dark brown print on both sides: Pinochet Bakery Products. He sat in the back with his belongings under a sheet surrounded by loaves of bread.

“Hold your breath, Barnaby,” the young woman called out from the driver’s seat. “One of your friends just pulled into the alley and will be passing us any second.”

“Don’t forget to throw him that magical smile of yours,” Barnaby said under cover and laughed. Once they were out of the alley and sure they weren’t being followed, Barnaby pulled off the cover, sat up, took a deep breath, looked at all that bread, and tapped on his scud.

RING, RING, RING. Kathy stood in Christopher’s hospital room watching several nurses connecting and disconnecting tubes and wires in preparation for them to leave. She quickly looked for her scud. It had fallen from her pocket onto the chair next to his bed. She picked it up to see who was calling and frowned. She really didn’t want to go. She really didn’t believe all of this was happening. And she wouldn’t be going if it hadn’t been for Ralph Delahunt.

“Yes, Barnaby?”

“How’s Christopher?”

“Raring to travel halfway around the world, I would guess, but how would I know. I’m only his mother.” She dropped her shoulders and sighed as Ralph came into the room with another doctor. “I’m sorry, Barnaby. … He seems okay. They’re about to sedate him and, yes, we are ready to go.”

“I’m sorry too, Kathy, but …”

“I know. … We will see you in a little bit.” She clicked off and looked at Ralph. “Kathy, sweetheart, this is Dr. Ringthaller. He will be attending Christopher

during your journey.”

Twenty minutes later Kathy found herself keeping pace with Christopher’s gurney and all the connected devices as they sped through the hospital toward the kitchen in the back. Before long they were in the kitchen’s receiving area preparing to step into a large empty supply truck; Kathy, Dr. Ringthaller, Christopher, and two paramedics. She had hoped that Ralph Delahunt would come along. After all he talked her into going on this insane wild goose chase. “We are all out of options,” he said. “Who knows? Maybe this is God’s plan.” That wasn’t terribly comforting considering that Ralph was as much an atheist as her father. Ralph couldn’t come along. He had other seriously ill patients to look after. That wasn’t comforting either since her only child was well beyond seriously ill. It could be worse, she thought. At least there would be a doctor making the trip with them.

Barnaby waited on the tarmac next to a corporate jet. Whose it was and how it was paid for, he didn’t know but apparently this mysterious Meta DeCarlo made all the arrangements. He looked at his watch. They should be here any moment, he thought. How he managed to convince Kathy to come at all wasn’t entirely clear to him.

When he first approached the subject not long after introducing himself, she stared at him as if he had just escaped from an institution for the mentally challenged asking her to run away with him.

“And how many times have you been to this … this DanSheba?” she finally asked. “I … well I … I’ve not been there, but …”

“But you have no choice if you want any chance to save Christopher’s life,” came the words from behind both of them. It was Ralph Delahunt. He was a tall, thin man with gray hair above both temples, bald on top, and a thin white mustache. Barnaby liked his no-nonsense manner immediately, maybe because he saw kindness in the man’s eyes at the same time.

“Ralph,” Kathy barked out.

The doctor approached and took both of Kathy’s hands in his. “Kathy, there are no answers here. Christopher will die for sure if you stay and …

“And if we go to that God forsaken place in … in …” Kathy stopped herself and began crying. Dr. Delahunt pulled her to him and held her tight. Barnaby could see him tear up.

“I have no answers, sweetheart. Only an engine of hope … and a large number of people who are greasing its gears and programming its computers to insure it reaches its destination.”

As Barnaby relived those moments, his only regret was that Ralph was not able to go with them. He shook his head and looked up just as the supply truck came into view. The paramedics on board carried Christopher into the jet on a stretcher. He was fast asleep by then.

Kathy approached causing Barnaby to stiffen, trying to prepare for another battle. All of a sudden, he felt her hands grip his shoulders and watched in disbelief and relief when she kissed him on the cheek.

“I’m sorry for being such a naysayer, Barnaby. I will try my best but I can’t make any promises.” She tried to smile, or seemed to, but couldn’t.

Under the circumstances, who could, Barnaby Bloom thought as they followed Dr.

Ringthaller onto the Jet.