“You’ve only got yourself to blame.”
So here he is now, outside the hospital, trying to fix her mistake. He’s been here all day, watching the comings and goings of the clinic personnel. The lone doctor on duty smoking out the back. The nurses checking their phones. The orderlies tossing rubbish into the disposal bins to the left.
The sun is going down and the time will soon be right. Soon there will be a changeover of shift and people will be distracted and less likely to notice a stranger in their midst. And because small clinics like this one usually have poor safeguards on their medication cabinets, it is likely that Daniel will be able to walk right in and simply take what he needs. Still, there is a risk. And he would have preferred not to be here. But he had to have supplies, to subdue Toni for their journey. Then he will be able to hit the road, and in less than sixteen hours they will be at the Iraq border. In less than sixteen hours they will be free.
Daniel bends over the back seat to check Toni’s bindings. Satisfied she isn’t going anywhere, he returns to the front. He pulls his baseball cap down low, takes a breath, and opens the door.
74
Julia looks out into the fading light across the dusty expanse. The sun is dipping on the horizon and the arid, stony landscape has turned an exquisite shade of gold. She has come up here to the rooftop of the Cappadocia First Hotel to be alone. To gather her thoughts. To try and think things through.
They are stuck here overnight since regulations do not permit flying in the dark due to the dangers of navigating through the rock formations. Julia hadn’t exactly been thrilled at the prospect, although in some ways she feels closer to Toni knowing that just down the road to the left, Toni had been huddled in Lucinda’s kiln.
“I had a feeling I would find you up here.”
She looks over her shoulder to see Leo in the doorway. He approaches holding out a plate of food. “Eat something.”
Julia turns away. “If I see another cube of feta, I think I’ll scream.”
“Fair enough,” he says, putting the plate to one side.
He stares at the view. “It’s incredible, isn’t it? I never even knew that places like this existed.”
Julia’s eyes track the landscape. “Toni was right here and we missed her again.”
Leo touches her shoulder. “We know she’s alive. That’s a good thing.”
She sighs deeply. “Please don’t tell me not to give up, Leo, that it’s only a matter of time, et cetera, et cetera...it’s nothing I haven’t already said to myself. I’m trying very hard to believe it but I’m not sure I can anymore.”
Leo leans forward, resting his forearms on the railings. “I never told you this,” he says. “But after we broke up, I went to therapy. I wasn’t coping well. I ended up in some truly dark places. I’m not sure you realize how much I hated myself for what I did. Being here with you, going through all this to find Toni, I realize how weak and immature I was back then. I was jealous of your success and I wanted to hurt you. But it wasn’t your fault that I fell short. It wasn’t your fault I felt so inadequate. No one was responsible for that except me. But I’m not that person anymore. I’m stronger and more capable, and I’m here for you one hundred percent and always will be.”
She squeezes his hand. “Maybe we both let ourselves down.”
Leo looks at her deeply. “When we get back, when all this is over, I hope we can be friends, Julia, proper friends.”
Julia smiles. “I do, too, Leo.”
The moment is broken when the door swings back on its hinges and Detective Muhtar rushes in.
“Bambury was at the Göreme Medical Center trying to steal medicine. They tried to catch him but he got away.”
Julia’s throat tightens. “When?”
“An hour ago.”
Julia’s heart sinks. “I don’t believe it. We’re too late again.”
Detective Muhtar breaks into a smile. “Not this time. Local police have just seen his van.”
75
“I have instructed them to stay well back. We do not want to panic him,” explains Detective Muhtar as they race to Göreme township.
“Is he in the van? Is Toni with him?”
“They do not know.”
Julia looks out the window, a bundle of nerves. Please God, let this be the end of it.
“This is good, really good,” says Leo, animated.
“I hope so, Leo, because I’m not sure how much more of this I can take.”
They turn right into the Göreme center. The area is tiny, no more than a main street really, with several smaller roads branching off. Most of the businesses are small eateries or cluttered, dusty souvenir shops.
“So what’s the plan?” says Leo.
“We will first put police in place to ensure he has no escape route, then we will talk to him. With no way out, he’s likely to surrender.”
“But how can you be certain he will?” says Julia, frowning.
Detective Muhtar pauses. “You are correct, Dr. Norris. We cannot be sure. But it is our best option.”
Julia falls quiet. Detective Muhtar is right; apart from storming the van, talking Daniel out is probably the best they could do.
“How far away is it?” she says.
Detective Muhtar nods through the windshield. “Up there and round to the right. He’s parked behind a Turkish bathhouse.”
Detective Muhtar’s phones rings. He answers. There’s shouting on the other end.
“What is it?” says Julia, alarmed.
Suddenly a siren screams in the distance.
“Oh God.”
Detective Muhtar yells into the phone in Turkish. Outside the siren grows louder.
“What’s happening!” cries Julia, bobbing her head to look out the window.
Detective Muhtar tosses the
