Smuggling Blood Read online

  "Let him in," she said in a soft tone, standing in the doorway of the bedroom with her arms folded as if she was hugging herself to relieve some of her pain.

  "You wanna allow this man into our home?" Jay asked with clear shock on his face. "You wanna let him come in to the same place Hani played with his toys?"

  "Jay, you must realize I never wanted this to happen," Patel answered the man before any question could be asked. "Why would I ever want a little boy to be harmed? Your son was a good boy. I would have been proud of him playing with my kids."

  "I'm afraid they don't mix in the same neighborhood. You folks, that are on the upper side of society would never let your children slum with ours," Priya said emotionlessly, motioning for the doctor to enter the apartment.

  "I don't wanna let him in, Priya," Jay said.

  "Jay, this may be our only chance to get any answers. Let's at least have him in so we can question him a little bit."

  "Folks, I'm not here to be interrogated by you," Patel said, moving through the doorway as Jay shifted his body to the side. "This isn't gonna be some kind of a game to try to trick me into saying I did something wrong, or that I'm to blame for your son's death. But I do understand tragedy, and I'm understanding what's happened to you and how it must have shaken your world."

  "How can you imagine? Have you ever lost a child?" Priya asked, lifting her head, and not averting her gaze at all from the man who held the highest social class amongst them.

  "No, his children are all alive," Jay said as he turned back and looking to Patel. "Isn't that true, doctor? If you're having a hard time remembering, I can tell you what school each one of them goes to, when they're dropped off, or when they return. I can even let you know when they have recess."

  "Sir, I would suggest you don't threaten me or say anything about my children," Patel’s tone was firm. "Threats like that make enemies of men, and we don't need to let that happen. There's no reason that we can't come to an understanding about what happened to your son."

  “You have a way for us to come to an understanding, something to make it all feel better?" Jay asked sarcastically and rolled his eyes. "Well, do tell me, sir. Tell me how you're gonna make it all better that my son's dead and that his mom doesn't get to hold him ever again. His father never gets to play with him again, and his future siblings lose out on a brother that they would have had for all of their lives."

  "I'm afraid in all my years of being a doctor, I've never learned that." Dr. Patel started to pace the room. As he walked by the couch, he ran his finger over the top of it, and then checking it for dust. An inspection of each area of the room was made, Patel gave a look of disgust as he attempted to find out what their home was really like, and perhaps even use it against them.

  "What are you doing here, doctor?" asked Priya.

  With a look of revulsion on his face, Patel removed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off his hand that had been touching several items that were on the counter.

  "I've come here to try to make things right," he said. "You folks have been deeply harmed. You've endured one of the worst things a parent can do, and that's to bury a child. And I don't want you to feel as if I'm not a caring man, but please, take what I'm about to say to you and what I'm willing to offer you, not as an admission of guilt of any kind, but rather the admission that a terrible tragedy did happen, and that it shouldn't happen ever again."

  "I knew it!" Jay yelled, pointing his finger and walking over to the doctor. "You gave him the wrong blood, didn't you?

  "I was not here that evening, sir. I didn't give your son anything," said Dr. Patel. "The gentleman that work for me, that come to give the transfusions at home, has many stops each night. My fear is they either packed the wrong container of blood or they mixed them up once they were out on the road. I've given them very strict guidelines to follow. They're supposed to be checking each bag three times before they ever put it into somebody's arm."

  "The gentleman that came to our home looked once, just to be able to pick the bag up. He never expected it for a label or anything else," Jay said. "I don't know what you're trying to pull with us here, but the rules that you set in place or that you say you've set in place have no reality with us."

  "But they should, and because they don't, I'm sorry," the doctor said calmly. "Priya, if I may call you Priya, could you tell me the one thing that you think would make things better for your family?"

  The woman sat still and shook her head. She had no inclination to enter in to a debate with the man or to try to appease him and lessen his guilt by taking whatever he offered.

  "I have something that would work," Jay said. Both Priya and Patel looked at him. "You could let me put a liter of blood that's not your own into your body. Then let me watch you as you try to fight it off and eventually succumb to death."

  "Jay, why all the threats? Why the theatrics of acting this way?" Patel asked. "The more that you do this, the further away we become. I've come here with an offer for you."

  "You think money is going to save you from me?"

  "Save me from you?" asked Patel letting out a small laugh. "How could I ever need saving from you. You're nothing but walk a day. Common in every way. There's no way you would have the heart to go out and engage a man of my status only to be caught by the police, and then you'd realize what true bad treatment was."

  "Are you trying to bribe us, doctor?" asked Priya. "Giving more to these children now doesn't save us from the pain of what happened to the other."

  "It's not money. I'm not about to walk up here and open a briefcase and show you an exorbitant amount of rupees that would change your life. Because it wouldn't change the one thing that you really care about, and that's the loss of your son."

  “Then what is it? What is it that you think could make our lives better?" Jay snapped. "Please tell us what's gonna ease the pain of losing our son."

  "I've come to offer you a job, Jay, " said the doctor. "I'd like you to come work for me."

  “Why, so you can have me under your thumb? If I work for you, then you control me financially." Jay shook his head at the man. "I'm no fool, sir. I understand exactly what you're doing."

  "You haven't even heard my offer. I'm sure Priya would like to hear my offer." Dr. Patel looked over at Priya who appeared to be hanging on the man's every word.

  "We can at least listen, Jay," she said in a soft tone.

  "You want me to listen to this man after he murdered our boy?" Jay quickly turned on Priya.

  "The job I have, you would be at my clinic. I need someone to help with organizing the blood and making sure the right shipments get to the right people. I felt that because of what happened to you and the struggles you've been through, you'd be the most diligent man about making sure everything was right."

  "That's it?" Jay asked. "That's all you have to offer me. There's some job organizing blood and sending it out."

  "It's a permanent job. It never goes away," Patel confirmed. "If you can tell me anybody else around here who can offer a guaranteed job that you can never be fired from and always be in control, well then I think you're a rich man because you know two such people that could give you work. Well, Jay, I want you to think about it. And don't think of it as me having control over you, or that this is a battle between good and evil, because it's not. This is just one man reaching out and hoping to smooth things over and help give your family a comfortable life."

  "Sure, Patel. That's what you're after," Jay said, folding his arms in front of him.

  "Well, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink," Patel shrugged, walking back toward the door and turning back to face them. "The only problem is… if the horse is too stupid to drink, there's not much you can do with it except shoot it.

  Nineteen

  Staked out one block away from Patel's office, Jay sat on a bench wearing a wide-brimmed hat and eating an apple. Peering down the street from time to time, he watched these anonymous people walk in and out of
Dr. Patel's office, knowing that he was waiting for the right person at the right time.

  A woman appeared from around the corner, Jay knew this was who he had been waiting for, he immediately got up and made his way over to her quickly. "Ma'am. Ma'am."

  The beautiful woman with the green eyes lifted her head, seeing Jay coming toward her. As if commanded to do so, she started to walk quickly toward him, pushing her hand in a downward motion, letting him know to calm down.

  "What the hell are you doing here, Jay?" Gabriella asked. "This isn't the right place for you. Please tell me that you're not gonna do what you wanna do today?"

  "I want you to take a walk with me," Jay said. "We have to discuss things."

  "Okay, let's go."

  They walked away from Patel's office moving down the street, passing by the university. Feeling they had walked far enough away from the doctor’s office and were in a safer location, the two began to speak. Gabriella knew they hadn't been followed and nobody was trying to interject on their conversation.

  "Ma'am, I don't believe I ever got your name."

  "That's because I never gave it to you. And you never asked," Gabriella smiled.

  "I believe I heard you at the meeting say your name was Gabriella?" Jay asked.

  "Yes, it is. But it's not really something you need to be concerned with. I think with these sorts of situations, it's better when people don't know each other's name."

  "Well, I was wondering if I could get you to help me." Jay placed his hands into his pockets as he walked. Fumbling with the change at the bottom of his pocket and a key to return home and the other, he had been distracting himself with tiny trinkets that laid in his pockets all his life. "I'm just kind of wondering if you'd mind being the bait."

  "What do you mean by bait?" Gabriella asked. "I'm not accustomed to putting myself in situations where people can murder me."

  "Murder?" Jay said, stunned, and turning his head to her as they continued to walk. "I have no intention to murder you. Patel is the man that I want."

  Jay, you seem like a very good man." Gabriella paused and looked at him in the eye. "Every one of the people in that meeting you took me to seem like good-hearted people that have undergone a horrible tragedy."

  "You're right. That is the kind of people they are. What does it matter?" Jay asked.

  "It matters because they care about their loved ones, and a few people in there are worried about tarnishing their reputations after they're gone by having this all end in a bloodbath. Jay, you're not cut out for this. You're not a murderer, you're not a man who could kill people and then just walk away from it. If you avenge your son’s death by killing this man then you're gonna shut down as a human being, and you'll never be there for your other kids, your wife or even yourself."

  "But I have to avenge my son, there's no other way," Jay argued. "I don't know how anybody can ask me to do otherwise. The old woman at the meeting, she speaks and speaks, but she never says anything. Around and around in circles, she talks only to have us wind up at the same place. I'm a man of action. I'm a man that needs to get things done. That's not what the other people in that meeting are like."

  Gabriella started to walk forward again, strolling rather than walking with purpose. Her eyes closed in, gazed in to each of the shops, seeing what they had to offer, but keeping her mind firmly locked on the conversation with her and Jay.

  "I wanna be the man to kill him but I want you to help. I know that he's going to want to have you for his own again," Jay said. "And if you would make him feel like you wanted him back, he'd consider it a triumph.”

  "You can't be serious," Gabriella raised an eyebrow at him. "With all that man has put me through, you want me to lay and be the bait, so that you can kill him?"

  "Well, yeah. Unless you have a better plan."

  "So, what is this great plan you have. I'm sure you've got all the details figured out since you're a born killer," Gabriella allowed her tone to show her frustration.

  "What is with the attitude toward me?" Jay asked. "I just wanna do everything I can for my son to make sure his life is remembered the right way."

  "No, you wanna put me out there and risk my life so you can swoop in and kill him." Gabriella was irritated with the man. "Why don't you just put on a dress and some make up and you can try to draw him in? And then you'll see what it's like if he tries to start harming you."

  "Come on, Gabriella, don't be ridiculous. I really think I have something here, at least hear me out."

  "Okay, give it to me, but I'm telling you the odds of me liking it, are gonna be slim."

  "It's really rather simple." Jay started to explain. "My idea is to have you simply call on the man. With your beauty, he won't be able to resist you. And you've been in there before, haven't you?"

  "I have, I don’t care to recall those memories though,” Gabriella lied easily.

  "And don't you feel like you'd love to kill him?" Jay asked. "Picture it in your mind, being able to shoot a bullet into him or to cut his tongue from his mouth. Anything to silence him, anything to get him to back off."

  "You know, this is all ridiculous, Jay. I want Patel dead, just as bad as you do, but I'm just not willing to get myself thrown in prison over it. And what about your wife Priya. It's very clear to me that she doesn't want you doing this. Don't you feel like it's gonna ruin your relationship with her?"

  "Well, that really doesn't matter at all," Jay shrugged. "I think she's already too far gone. Ever since our boy died, we haven't been able to see eye to eye on this issue and everything else. All the work we did to stay in love and keep young with each other has gotten dashed. She asked me for a divorce not that long ago, but wants to hang in there in case a change is coming."

  "I'm sorry to hear that, Jay, but I can't say that I think Priya is wrong. I think she just wants to move on and you're fighting it. I've felt that way in the past too. And the only thing that heals it, is time, but even then, there's still gonna be an emptiness that's inside you. And it could easily be fifty years from now where you all of a sudden get an opportunity to avenge your son's death. I would encourage you to take it but not now. Not under these circumstances."

  "And why not now, Gabriella? What makes you think that this man deserves any respect from any of us. If you could lure him up into a bedroom, I could be lying in wait. And then when the time is right and you gave me a signal, I could pop out, shoot him, and then we could leave him for dead. I've researched all this stuff on the internet and watched about every organized crime video there is. Getting away with a crime like this really isn't that hard."

  "What are you talking about?" Gabriella was again frustrated with him. "Jay, you are no killer."

  "You don't know what I am. I'm different than who I was before."

  "Well, I can clearly see that you're not a killer, it's just not in your eyes. You're a lover, not a fighter. So while you're trying to take the fight to him, somebody else is going to kill you, unless you know everything about tactics."

  "Tactics, is that what you have to say to me? I have to learn tactics?" Jay couldn’t help the irritation in his voice. "The only tactic I need is to shoot that fucker in the head."

  Taken back by the aggressive language, Gabriella reassessed the situation, seeing that the man needed more compassion than pushing.

  "Okay, Jay, let's just think out this plan a little bit to see if we can get it to work." Gabriella decided to change her own tactics. "For us to pull this off I would need to approach and captivate the doctor. I would then need to convince him to come with me to an undisclosed location to make sure he doesn't let anybody else know. Upon the completion of that and getting him there I'm expected to take him up to a room, romance him, so you can move in and kill him. Is that about right?" Asked the woman knowing the answer to her question.

  "Well, that was the general idea of it. And honestly, I think it'll work."

  "It might work if he's the dumbest man in the world," said Gabriella. "Don't you think th
is man has people looking out for him?"

  "I'll let you do it," Jay said, pleading with her and looking for an opportunity to connect with her. "You can be the one to finish him off, even though I want to be. Is that a deal?"

  "Look, Jay, we can’t do this, it won’t work. You haven't done this before, you have no idea what you're doing, and neither do I. We're gonna go in there and we're gonna get shot and we're gonna die."

  "What makes you so sure of that? Don't you think we have enough in us to take this man down?" Jay asked.

  "I think we have plenty in our hearts but I don't think we have the skills. So, let's just let it go, Jay, we'll find a different way. You'll get your revenge and you'll get your pound of flesh, but let's just not make it so difficult for ourselves."

  "You really think it doesn't stand a chance, do you?" Jay asked quietly, stopping where he was walking, frustrated by the plan being shut down so quickly. "I thought it was a good plan, I thought we could make some real headway."

  "It's not a bad plan," Gabriella admitted. "But it just needs to be polished a lot or you’re gonna get yourself in a situation where you die."

  "How do you know so much about all this?" Jay questioned. "You seem to have the language down, and once you start to talk about it, it's clear that you have expertise in this area. Are you someone who's involved with pyrotechnics?"

  "You could say that in a way." Gabriella grinned. "I've seen a lot of those shows and my family did work in the industry, so I know unless your plan is foolproof and it has been battle tested over and over and over again, you don't really know what you're gonna get. The process of finding something new and doing something different is erratic for all of us. I just hope you find the strength in yourself to say goodbye to it all."

  "Can you explain to me how to do that? Do you really expect me to drop this, and get over the fact that he killed my son and harmed so many others?"

  "No, you’ll never get over that loss, but I do expect you to drop this and not let Patel have this kind of power over you," Gabriella said.