Page 21

CHAPTER

EIGHTEEN

KARLIN

K arlin shrank back as Destiny wailed.

Her heart was racing, and once again, she felt like she was going to throw up herself, but she couldn’t let it show on her face.

The memories were back again, pressing at her mind, trying to knock her off-balance as the fear coursed through her.

That night was burned into her mind, etched as firmly as a tribal cave painting on stone. Amira had panicked just like this.

And at the time, Karlin had panicked, too.

She’d had no idea what to do or say.

She still didn’t.

Instead, she allowed herself five seconds to close her eyes and breathe in and out. Panicking now was out of the question. It wasn’t about her, it was about her patients, and she had to be the adult in the room.

God, if you’re out there, please help Destiny. Help her to be okay. Help us to help her.

Her ears hurt from the screaming and the drumbeats, but she felt a renewed sense of determination. It wasn’t the calm sort of peace that so many Christians seemed to speak of, but it was something to hold on to. It would have to be enough.

Bajwa rushed across the room to help as Destiny got to her feet. She was walking around in place, screaming all the while. “Stop, Destiny! It’s okay!”

She ignored the man, and instead began grabbing handfuls of her dark curls and attempting to pull them out of her skull.

The others were in various states of panic now.

Paul had gotten to his feet and was leaning against the wall. Karlin could see from where she stood that he was breathing far too fast. Lily was crying, and Cora had wandered over to her mat, embracing her as she rocked back and forth.

Karlin and Bajwa tried to grab hold of Destiny, but the outburst seemed to have filled her with an almost inhuman sort of strength.

She lashed out with her arms and legs, scratching and kicking as hard as she could.

Bajwa yelped as her arm collided with his face, sending blood rushing from his nose.

Axel was at her side in an instant. Despite her attempt at calm, alarm bells were ringing in her head. He couldn’t break his cover. He couldn’t ruin everything. Not after how far they had come.

Everything that came next happened too quickly for Karlin to make sense of it.

Bajwa had pulled away, clutching at his bleeding nose. Destiny took her chance and slipped from Karlin’s remaining grasp, but instead of pulling back, her foot slipped on one of the blankets, sending her reeling backward.

Karlin heard Axel swear as he rushed to grab her, but he was a couple of seconds too slow.

Destiny fell backward, her head hitting the hard floor with a sickening thwack.

Everyone was still rocking, crying, panicking. The sound of the drumbeats continued to hammer through the room, adding to the chaos.

Karlin simply stared at Destiny on the ground. Any sense of peace was gone now, pushed out by a relentless, thundering panic that gripped at her insides.

The terrified woman had managed to get into a sitting position, and her screaming had slowed, but her eyes were wild and frantic.

She had to do something.

She had to do something.

She had to help her.

She had to move.

But her body wouldn’t cooperate with what her brain was commanding. The fear and guilt of too many swallowed memories threatened to overtake her completely.

“Karlin!” Axel was shouting now, crouching down beside Destiny and examining the back of her head. “She needs an ambulance. She needs something to calm her down. Come on! You need to call 9-1-1. Hurry!”

Bajwa cut in then, his fingers still splayed over his nose as blood dribbled down his chin. “There’s nothing they’ll be able to do,” he argued. “Not without putting her at more risk. There are no known trip killer drugs for DX8 at this time.”

Her annoyance at Bajwa’s words was enough to snap her out of her momentary paralysis.

She joined Axel on the ground. Destiny had closed her eyes now, and Karlin forced one eyelid open, glancing at her expanded pupils as the woman screamed in her face at the top of her lungs.

Fortunately, she seemed to be out of energy for violence, at least for the moment.

Axel’s eyes were full of questions, but she’d have to explain later.

Once again, she was faced with the neglect of the company she’d spent years working for.

Senera should have prioritized developing effective trip killer drugs for DX8, or at least tried to work out a safe dosage of an existing benzodiazepine or an antipsychotic that could dull the effects of a bad trip in an emergency.

But they hadn’t.

Instead, they’d pushed ever forward in their trials, with no regard for their patients. And she’d been complicit.

“Dr. Bajwa, she might have a concussion,” Axel argued, not bothering to hide the annoyance that mirrored her own. “We need to get her to a hospital. She may need to be restrained by professionals if she keeps hurting herself.”

As if to prove his point, Destiny yanked out several strands of coily black hair and held them in front of her face, staring at them as tears began to roll over her cheeks.

Karlin’s heart ached. The poor woman must have been absolutely beyond afraid, completely losing control of her body and mind.

She may have failed John, and she may have failed Amira, but there was no way she was going to fail Destiny now.

As a medical researcher, she had an immediate responsibility to the patient in front of her, however Bajwa felt about it.

“He’s right,” Karlin said firmly. “She needs more help than we can give her here.”

Bajwa looked pained.

He didn’t give voice to his concerns, but Karlin could read the truth on his face.

On the one hand, he was clearly worried about his patient, but on the other, taking her to the hospital during an active trial would open up several inconvenient avenues of documentation and inquiry.

“I have to stay with the others,” Bajwa protested weakly. “How will you get her down to the main compound? An ambulance will take forever to get up here, if they can make it at all.”

“I don’t know, I don’t know,” Karlin said, pressing her palms against her forehead as Destiny let out another piercing scream and the drumbeats continued to hammer at her ears. She couldn’t think.

Paul, Cora, and Lily were huddled together now, muttering incomprehensibly. Bajwa was right. He needed to help them, too.

“I’ll go. I can help her,” Axel said firmly, stepping between Bajwa and Destiny.

Panic bubbled up in Karlin’s chest. She wanted to argue with him, to do damage control somehow, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. Axel was ruining his cover completely, and the retreat had barely started.

Bajwa narrowed his eyes, but Axel continued before he could say more.

“I don’t know, man,” he said. “My dose must have been too small or something. I feel totally normal.”

“Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” Karlin demanded, quickly adapting to his story.

“Sorry. I kept waiting for it to kick in, but I guess nothing is going to happen at this point.”

Bajwa considered this for only a second before nodding his head and digging into the pocket of his slacks.

“I’ll handle things here,” he said, tossing Karlin a set of keys. “Just go. And call me when you know what’s going on.”

ASHER

Seriously, where was his gym-rat twin Ben when he needed him?

“Careful, don’t bump her head,” Asher instructed as Karlin yanked open the door of Bajwa’s old Jeep.

The two of them had only just managed to half-drag, half-carry a frantic Destiny out of the hut and into the cool moonlight.

They were both breathing heavily, but the woman had calmed down a little now that she was away from the group and the noise.

“Destiny, you’re safe, okay?” Asher said, making his voice as gentle as he could manage as he climbed into the passenger seat and pulled her in after him. “We’re getting you help. This is all going to stop soon, I promise.”

His heart felt pinched within his chest as she nodded, tears still falling along her umber cheeks. He wanted to help Karlin and stop Senera from hurting people in the future, but at the moment, he couldn’t help but to feel that he had only succeeded in letting Destiny down.

He took hold of her seatbelt and pulled it across her chest, shoving the clip in so hard that his knuckles went white.

How many times would he try to help someone else, only to watch them suffer in the end?

Karlin hopped into the driver’s seat, and Asher watched as she fumbled with the key in the ignition. Now that she was away from Bajwa and the rest of the group, her panic was evident. Destiny screamed again, smacking her open palm against the window several times in a row.

Asher reached over and took Karlin’s hand in his own, gently guiding the key into the ignition and turning it. As the engine sprung to life, Asher watched as she reached up and brushed a few stray tears from her cheeks. “I’m so scared.”

“I know. And it’s understandable,” Asher said. “But we need to focus on getting Destiny’s help. I have faith that God will handle the rest.”

Karlin’s jaw tightened momentarily at the mention of the Lord, but a moment later, she nodded. A look of determination had replaced the fear on her face, even as Destiny continued to cry and shout at invisible bad guys through the window.

“Just drive carefully, okay? It’s dark.”

Karlin said nothing, but nodded firmly again as she put the Jeep into gear and started down the worn dirt road.

For several minutes, Asher focused on keeping Destiny calm as Karlin drove. When they reached the main retreat site, she stopped, hopping out of the car and racing into the small office building.

While he waited for her to return, he rolled down the driver’s side window, letting in some fresh air.

Once again, he heard a strange sound in the distance, carried by the breeze.

He couldn’t quite make out what it was, but he hoped it wasn’t anything to do with the other patients or Dr. Bajwa.

Hopefully, with Destiny gone, he’d had the good sense to cool it with the jungle drumbeats and let everyone calm down.

Before he could decide what it was, however, the sound abruptly went quiet, leaving only the swishing noise of sand blowing against the ground.

Karlin returned to the Jeep, her hair windswept as she clicked her seatbelt on.

“I called 9-1-1 from the landline and grabbed my cell, just in case I need to get ahold of Bajwa once we have service,” she explained, breaking a stretch of silence as they started driving again. Even Destiny had gone quiet now, though she was still breathing hard, her eyes roving in fear.

He took a deep breath, pausing for a moment as Karlin navigated over a particularly treacherous section of rut-filled road. Now was as good a time as he was likely going to get.

Asher steeled himself for Destiny’s reaction as he placed a hand on her shoulder. To his relief, she didn’t react violently. In fact, she didn’t even flinch.

“Look, she’s being more docile than you usually are,” he joked, glancing over at Karlin.

“Shut up.”

She didn’t take her eyes from the road, but he could see the smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. He smirked at her before turning back to Destiny.

“I’m going to pray for you, okay?” he said, trying to read the woman’s eyes.

It was impossible to know what she was thinking, but he did know that she loved the Lord, and whatever chemical imbalance, or demon, or whatever else had taken up residence in her mind, He was there within her heart.

“Lord Jesus Christ, please have mercy and help your servant Destiny. Please free her and all others suffering from mental illness or demonic influence. Please help her to regain control over her body and her mind. Please help us to reach the hospital safely. Amen.”

He felt self-conscious as he noticed Karlin stealing a couple of glances in his direction. He had never had a particular gift for offering prayer in front of others, but he knew that God was still listening, no matter how clumsy his words might have been.

For several more minutes, the car was quiet.

“Look,” Karlin said, interrupting his thoughts. “I think she’s falling asleep.”

She was right. Destiny’s eyes were drooping, and her breathing had slowed significantly.

Thank you, Jesus .

Up ahead, Senera’s main compound came into view, along with the flashing lights of an ambulance. Relief filled him, and when he looked over at Karlin, he could see that she was actually smiling.

Maybe he hadn’t failed anyone after all. They’d made it, and Destiny was going to get the help she needed. Everything was going to be all right.