Page 22 of A Colby Christmas Rescue

Then why did she feel as if she regretted it already?

Chapter Five

Excalibur Court,

2:00 p.m.

Abi excused himself and went outside to take a call.

He hadn’t stopped for food. But Jamie got why he hadn’t.

“I don’t like this.” Poe stared beyond the wall of glass doors and watched Abi pace back and forth next to the infinity pool.

Jamie braced her hands on her hips and met her friend’s gaze. “I’m with you, believe me. If something is going wrong this early in the game, we’re in trouble.”

“You’re thinking of that tail he struggled to lose.”

She nodded. “That was my primary reason for wanting to go out today. He’s making this all seem so pat—as if everything is in place with no concerns. This—” she looked to the man outside “—is a concern.”

Poe turned his back to the outdoor space and fixed his worried gaze on Jamie. “You know when you have this feeling deep in your gut that something is really, really wrong but you can’t quite put your finger on the problem?”

Jamie flattened her palm against her belly. “Right here. The same place that lets you know when you need to cut and run.”

“Yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder at the man outside. “I’m not saying your friend is setting us up, but he knows this is off somehow and he’s just going along as if it’s all good.”

Yeah, she’d picked up on that. “The good news is I didn’t get the impression at Luke’s place that there was a truly violent struggle or any of the usual issues we should worry about.”

Actually, that could be good or bad, but she had decided to see it as a good thing. Victoria had heard Luke’s voice. For now, the situation appeared to be running along without any glitches—with the exception of the potential tail they’d had to lose. If the plan played out the way they had been briefed, then hopefully Luke would be released tomorrow night.

She wasn’t thinking beyond that. It wasn’t like a person or persons could be kidnapped and everyone involved just walked away as if nothing had happened. There would be repercussions. And, frankly, it wasn’t like she could pretend she had immunity in the kidnapping of a prestigious doctor—if this went down as planned.

Since Abi appeared in no hurry to get back inside, Jamie decided to use the time wisely. Who knew how much time she and Poe would have alone?

“What do we know about this Dr. Case?” Poe asked. “I mean, really? Beyond the bio on his website and in the file Abi provided?”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Jamie admitted. “The basics are that he graduated from Vanderbilt, then went on to specialize at Johns Hopkins. He spent the next dozen years building his claim to fame in neurosurgery.”

Poe glanced outside to ensure Abi remained preoccupied. “Early this year he completed the first successful surgery removing a previously deemed inoperable brain tumor. Since that time, he’s completed many more such operations. But he’s only one man.”

“And patients from all over the country are frantically trying to get on his schedule.”

“While he,” Poe said, “is talking about cutting back on the number of surgeries he’s doing in order to train more surgeons to do the same.”

“But the patients are desperate—they’re facing death sentences without this surgery.” Jamie started to pace. She could only imagine how the patients felt. If the doctor was doing all he could, then this wasn’t easy for him either.

“The bottom line is,” Poe went on, “what does your friend’s employer want with Dr. Case?”

“Ostensibly, this lifesaving surgery for himself or a family member.”

“Either way, the man—woman, whoever—has the means to go after what he wants no matter that it’s not legal.”

“He has the means but he doesn’t have the time to wait,” Jamie agreed. “So he’s buying a place at the front of the line.” Certainly not fair but there were those who would do whatever necessary to get what they wanted.

“If he’s smart he has created a plan that ensures he will walk away from this without revealing his identity.” Poe shrugged. “It’s the only possibility that makes sense. Why would he want to live only to go to prison?”

“Which suggests it’s a family member, so he doesn’t care.” Jamie frowned. “The one hitch in that plan is the doctor. How does Abi’s employer protect his identity from the surgeon himself?”

“I don’t see how he can.” Poe considered the idea for a moment. “Unless it’s all carefully choreographed in a way that Case does his thing and then he’s taken away. The employer’s personal physician will take it from there. Which would mean he’d require a private surgery suite.”

---