The Brain Vault (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 3) Read online

“Scotsmen playing bagpipes; are you insane?” Wait a minute, who am I talking to anyway? I turned my head. “Bear Grylls?” This guy was everywhere. “What in the name of The British Special Forces are we doing here?”

  “We’re flying over the African Savanna, Stephanie. Not to worry, I’m going to talk you down, but until we’re over the drop zone, I want you to hold on firmly with both hands.”

  “Both hands…right.” I grabbed hold of the strut with my free hand just as the plane banked hard to the right. “Better?”

  “Much. You wouldn’t want turbulence to shake you loose at the wrong time—God knows where you’d land. You might end up in a jagged ravine or in a crocodile infested river. I once broke my back in three places making a routine jump. I must say, holding on with one hand was awfully cavalier of you. You must have ice water in your veins. Most first timers would be absolutely petrified.”

  “Trust me, I’m paralyzed with fear. I don’t think I can do this. I’m going to climb back into the plane.”

  “Wrong choice.”

  “Why?”

  Grylls threw a glance in the direction of the pilot’s chair. It was empty.

  “Where’s the—” The plane nosed down just as the words were coming out of my mouth.

  “That’s our cue, Stephanie. Ready to go?”

  “No!” I was shaking my head frantically.

  “Right then—on my count: one, two, three, drop.”

  Grylls let go and began freefalling. As he did, the plane began to plummet. “Oh Christ…Geronimo.” Now, I admit the first few seconds were terrifying, but then the adrenaline spike leveled off and I realized that falling through the air was kind of cool. I mean I was still alive and I did have a parachute. “I have a parachute, right?” Grylls was next to me, his face fluttering violently against the wind. “You look like your face is going to fly off.”

  “Never has before.”

  The British: so droll. “So what about the parachute, have I got one or am I destined to become a street pizza?”

  “Packed it myself.” With that, Grylls reached over and pulled my ripcord. “Enjoy the ride, Stephanie. The view’s spectacular.”

  I bounced hard in my harness as the parachute filled with wind. Grylls on the other hand was dropping fast, and growing tinier and tinier by the second. Oh God, there it goes—I finally saw his parachute open. I was hoping he’d wait for me down there. The African Savanna didn’t sound like the type of place I’d want to navigate on my own. The ground was growing larger as I looked downward, coming at me fast.

  “Stephanie, Stephanie?”

  I heard Lido’s voice. It sounded distant, too distant to pay attention to. I almost didn’t hear it. I just knew he was calling me. And then I was back.

  “Stephanie, you scared the hell out of me.”

  I saw Lido through narrow slits. My head ached like hell as I opened my eyes. It took a second before I realized that I was in the hospital. “What am I doing here?”

  “You smacked your head pretty good. You’ve got a concussion.”

  Gus hugged me. His warm skin felt good against my cheek, but I only gave myself a second to savor his embrace. The light outside told me it was morning. “Doe, did he make it?”

  Lido nodded.

  “I was out all night?”

  “Uh huh. I found you flat on your back, lying next to Doe. What the hell happened?”

  “I was—” I was only minimally miserable, until I felt the bile rise toward my mouth. I looked around frantically for something to hurl into. I grabbed a plastic water pitcher and let go. It took a moment before I came up for air. Lido looked as if he had just seen me eviscerated. He was pounding the hell out of the nurse’s call button and looking like he needed a hit of oxygen himself.

  “Are you okay?”

  I nodded but remained silent. I wasn’t exactly feeling my oats and needed a moment to regroup. Hospital staff’s great when they know they’re taking care of a cop. A nurse came flying through the door.

  “She’s awake,” Lido announced.

  The nurse took in the scene before her. “Relax, I’ve got it,” she said to Lido, “Go get some air—you look worse than she does.”

  I smiled in spite of the way I was feeling.

  “I’m Greta,” the nurse said. She ripped open a pack of wipes and started cleaning my face like I was a baby. “Sorry I wasn’t in the room when you woke up.” She took the smelly pitcher of spew from me. “Do you still feel like vomiting? How do you feel?”

  “Like I’ve been run over by a truck.”

  “You may be nauseous for a while. You’ve got a huge lump on your noggin.” She turned to Lido. “Seriously, handsome, amscray. I’ll take care of the lady cop. Why don’t you get yourself a cup of New York’s worst coffee. Anything will taste good in the condition you’re in.”

  Greta looked to be in her late fifties. She was thin, blond, and looked like she had been on the victorious side of many a bar brawl.

  “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” Gus said.

  “I seem to be in good hands. Take your time.”

  We both watched until Gus was out the door. Greta cleaned me up a bit more and then checked my blood pressure.

  “He’s a good man,” she said. “Stayed up all night running back and forth between here and the ICU. Tell me, where do you find a man like that? I’ve been married three times—never latched onto a man worth keeping.”

  Greta’s comment warmed my heart, but I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t up to snuff and didn’t want to say anything I’d end up regretting. Greta glanced at me over the top of her glasses as she pumped the blood pressure cuff. Her look indicated that she was waiting for me to fess up.

  “Not talking?”

  I shook my head.

  “No need to.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Look, Honey, I’ve been nursing for thirty years. I’ve seen couples married for decades where the husbands weren’t as concerned about their spouses as Detective Lido is about you. Your blood pressure’s fine. If you don’t mind me asking, you came in here wearing one of the shortest gowns I’ve ever seen—you working some kind of decoy detail?”

  “You asking if I was dressed as a hooker?”

  “Yeah, I see that on TV all the time.”

  “No, I tore the hem off my dress to make a tourniquet for John Doe.”

  “Oh, that was pretty quick thinking.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You had a busy night.”

  “I did indeed.”

  I waited patiently while Greta checked my pulse. “You look like you’re strong as a horse, Honey. How’d you hit your head?”

  “I’m not sure but I think I was Tasered. The last thing I remember was lying on my back in the middle of Central Park, staring up at the moon.”

  “No crap? Did they get the son of a bitch that did it?”

  “Beats me, I’ve been asleep. I think he got away. Do you know how John Doe’s doing?”

  “Not a clue, Honey. I only know what Detective Handsome told me. I think the poor SOB’s in a coma. I’m gonna check your temperature.” She slipped the thermometer probe into a sanitary plastic sleeve. “Open wide.”

  I guess I had about thirty seconds of peace and quiet before Greta started prying into my private life again. I still felt light-headed and it took a special effort to put my thoughts together. I tried to reconstruct the sequence of events that took place the night before, the sprint through Central Park and finding Doe sprawled out in the middle of the Strawberry Fields Mosaic. I pictured myself checking Doe’s vitals, just before Lido left to direct the EMS team. Doe’s pulse was getting weaker. I rolled him sideways to see if he had a back wound, when… I spit the thermometer out of my mouth.

  “Hey, you’re not finished.”

  “There’s no time for that now. Get Gus, I need him now.” I threw back the sheets and started to get out of bed. Greta tried to stop me, but she saw the look on my face and backed away in a hurry. M
y heart and my stomach had discrepant ideas. The pitcher wasn’t handy enough—I lost it on the linoleum, missing Greta by mere inches.”

  “Are you nuts, Honey? Get back into bed. I’ll find your partner right after I clean up the mess.”

  “No, I need him now.”

  “Okay, okay, just let me get the floor—”

  “Leave the floor. I need him now.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now!”

  I think I scared Greta out of the room. She took off running.

  I tried to assess my physical condition, my state of readiness, because I’d be leaving the hospital shortly if Lido answered the sixty-four thousand dollar question incorrectly. What I really needed to know was if Lido had seen the skull, the one that was lying under the bushes last night. I had seen it for a split second just before noticing the Taser plug in Doe’s back. I’m sure Lido and the EMS team had other things on their mind, like saving Doe’s life and mine. All the same, there was a crucial bit of evidence that I needed to get my hands on, and get my hands on it I would, even if I had to carry a barf bag every step of the way.

  Four

  Lenox Hill Hospital was just a stone’s throw from Central Park. I was sitting next to Lido in the back of an RMP as we were escorted back to the scene of the crime. Okay, so this was the first time I’d ever taken a tour of duty wearing borrowed hospital scrubs, but as I said, there was a human skull in the park last night and I needed to recover it now. There was a perp in the park with us last night. He had likely followed the escaped John Doe and Tasered him moments before Lido and I arrived on the scene. He must’ve been there, waiting in the shadows, when we found Doe, hiding and waiting for his opportunity to recover the skull. I gave him that opportunity when I sent Lido to guide the EMS team. I was praying that he hadn’t circled back later last night to recover his lost treasure.

  I was forced to sign releases up the wazoo before they’d let me out of Lenox Hill. The truth be told, I felt like death warmed over, but there’s something to be said for an adrenaline rush that pushes all concerns about physical wellbeing into the background. Officially, I’d have to undergo a department physical exam before I could return to active duty, but I’m not the kind of gal that sits on the sidelines

  It was almost 10:00 a.m. when we arrived at the park. I felt terribly uneasy. Whoever had Tasered me last night, had ample opportunity to revisit the park in the wee hours and make off with the skull. My heart was pounding in my chest as we arrived.

  Lido had forced me to swear that I’d do no more than point out the spot where I’d seen it. If it wasn’t still there, I was supposed to wait like a good little girl while the boys in blue conducted their search.

  I have to admit, I was feeling awfully woozy as I got out of the RMP, but I had to put on a brave face because Lido was hovering around me like a mother hen. The park looked so completely different in the clear morning sunlight, but it only took a second for me to orient myself once I stepped foot on the memorial’s ceramic tiles.

  “I don’t see it.” I flashed back to the prior evening. I could picture the skull lying at the base of a shrub. I walked directly over to where I thought it should be. “It was right here.” My heart sunk—I was damn sure the perp had come back and taken it.

  “Are you sure?” Lido asked.

  “Yeah, right here.”

  We had a small detail of patrolmen with us. Lido gave them instructions and they began searching for the skull.

  “Alright, you sit down in the car and wait,” Lido said. “We’ll find it if it’s still here.”

  “No, I’m okay. I can help.”

  “Don’t make me get rough.”

  I gave Gus a weak smile. “Really, I can—”

  “First of all, you promised me. Secondly, you look like hell.” Gus took my arm and escorted me back to the patrol car. It wasn’t like me to give in, but my legs were beginning to feel like rubber and cold sweat was breaking out across my forehead and upper lip.

  “Now don’t get pissed,” Lido said, “but I have to ask…are you sure you saw a human skull last night? It was late, you were Tasered, and you smacked your head. Human skulls aren’t lily white anyway. They’re more of a creamy color.”

  “I know what I saw.”

  “It couldn’t have been a white plastic bag? I mean in all the commotion. On the way over here you told me you had dreamt that you were skydiving with Bear Grylls. You sure you didn’t dream up this skull?”

  “You’re pressing your luck.”

  Lido threw his hands up in defeat and closed the door to the car, leaving me alone with my thoughts—dangerous company. I watched from the car as Lido and the patrolman searched the park. For the moment, there was nothing else I could do. I needed to get my act together, but my body and my will to proceed were not on the same schedule.

  I noticed a group of school kids, chaperoned by adults, probably a class trip to the park. Two of the boys in the group were giving me, and the patrol car an odd, concerned stare. I thought it strange that the police elicited a response like that from a couple of school kids, but I was tired, too tired to play detective, and the spring air was exquisite. It was warm and smelled from freshly cut grass and lavender. I put my head back and closed my eyes to gather strength. Within a moment, I was floating through the air, tethered to a parachute as I had been before.

  “Stephanie.”

  “Who said that?” The voice I heard did not belong to Bear Grylls. It was a woman’s voice.

  “I did.”

  The ethereal form of a woman wearing tribal robes materialized before me. She was floating lithely in the air. I had to do a double take. “Madonna?”

  “It ain’t the blessed virgin, Sweetheart.”

  “You don’t have a parachute.”

  “That’s for mortals.”

  “You’re amazing.” Her hair and makeup were perfect. Her face wasn’t fluttering. She was just sitting aloft in the sky with her legs crossed in the lotus position, looking serene and confident. “So, you’re just hanging around?”

  “I’m here to accompany you on your spiritual journey.”

  “Don’t look now, but the ground’s coming up pretty goddamn fast.”

  Madonna’s voice sounded otherworldly. “You don’t have to close your eyes, Stephanie. Take my hand and we’ll float down together.”

  “You can do that?”

  I reached out and took her extended hands. “I think so. I know I can walk on water. Anyway, what are you worried about? I’m the one without a parachute.”

  We were below the mountain peaks. I’d be on the ground soon. I braced, not knowing how hard an impact to expect. I said the Our Father—who knew if I’d ever have the chance to commune with The Almighty again.

  And then we were down.

  We were in the middle of vast rolling grasslands. My parachute and harness were gone. Somehow, my jumpsuit had transformed into a white gauze robe. I was wearing psychedelic flip-flops on my feet.

  I heard a rustle in the elephant grass—Madonna was walking toward me through the thicket.

  “Well here we are.”

  “Yes, here we are,” Madonna said, “By the way, love your flip-flops…Steve Madden?”

  “I haven’t got a clue. Your tribal gown is just darling.”

  “I love these. They look warm, but they’re actually very light and airy.” She leaned forward to whisper. “And you can get away without wearing underwear.”

  “That’s a big plus,” I said in a soft voice.

  She winked. “You have no idea.”

  “Pleasantries aside, why am I here?”

  “This is why.” The tall elephant grass parted next to her and an adorable little girl strolled out. She was a tiny little thing, dressed in a delicate white blouse and a red tartan plaid skirt.

  “She’s gorgeous.”

  “This is why you’re here. Stephanie, this is Naponu. Naponu is alone in the world. She has no family.”

  I felt such a pang
. I could feel my heart melting, leaving a desolate cavity within my chest. “Who takes care of her?”

  “The Maasai villagers.”

  “Is she well cared for?”

  “The villagers care for her as best they can, but there’s no substitute for a mother’s love.”

  “This is why you brought me here; to become her mother?”

  “That’s right, Stephanie, are you ready to become this little one’s mother, her protector and spiritual light?”

  Naponu was beautiful and innocent. I doubted she understood a word we were saying, but in her eyes as she looked up at me, I saw such intense need and such boundless hope. I felt so terribly torn. “I don’t know. I know that I’ll be ready someday, but now? I just don’t know.”

  “Sometimes you have to accept the challenges life throws at you as they come along. Besides, you can be a mother to this special child without doing an ounce of damage to that rockin’ bod of yours.”

  “You had two of your own. You sacrificed your body.”

  “Yes, that’s completely true, but have you ever had an episiotomy?”

  “No.”

  “Trust me, this way’s easier. You get the same results and no one has to stitch up your va-jay-jay.”

  Madonna’s words and that precious little face were tugging on my heartstrings. I didn’t know what to do. “I’m sorry, I’m just not—”

  “You’re not sure?”

  “I don’t know. I want to be sure, but I’m not. Am I a terrible person?”

  Madonna smiled. “You’re not terrible, you’re just feeling intimidated. You want to do the right thing, but you don’t want to feel like you’re being pushed into something you’re not ready for. I have that effect on most people.” She glanced up at the sky and spoke to the heavens. “I need the closer,” she said, and then a bolt of lightning flashed in the sky.

  I heard the grass rustling again. The stalks spread apart from the tips down to the base, parting as I imagined the Red Sea had parted before Moses. Angelina Jolie strode purposely through the clearing, dressed as Lara Croft, head to toe wearing form fitting white Lycra. She was carrying a Glock automatic in a cross-draw shoulder holster, and yes, as if the package wasn’t complete enough, the earth mother was holding a baby. “Don’t you want to be a mother, Stephanie?”