There was more than a lack of personality in the office. Doctor Murat Aksoy’s office was an all out attack to the concepts of personality and charisma. Jill felt her’s retreat at the deep end of her conscious brain when she stepped in with Walter, her partner that she affectionately nicknamed “surrogate daddy”. She only knew Walter for three hours, but she already felt a brotherly friendship towards him. She thought he was a fascinating character. He seemed to be living on another planet. Everyone seemed involved and passionate with the case of Dr. Aksoy, but Walter, or John as the referred to him “in-character”, was walking around with the grace of a cat and the calm of a Yogi Master.
He didn’t even look concerned about the mission. To him, it seemed fun like a good game of chess, or an afternoon at the paintball field with some friends. Walter looked more in control of the situation than anyone else she already met in that crazy adventure and she liked it. The insecurity feeling she had buried deep within her chest was disappearing as soon as he was around. He was nice, quiet and not very attractive, which helped to nullify any kind of tension possible. He was too tall, too thin and bony for Jill’s tastes. That’s why she felt so comfortable right away with him. Surrogate daddy he was.
The office of Dr. Aksoy was plain white and made even whiter by neon lighting. She was blinded for the first five seconds she stepped in. The doctor’s desk was made out of a wood she didn’t know, but it looked very heavy and ancient to her. There was a drawer against the wall and a big window behind the doctor where more light went in to drown the room. The nice weather outside wasn’t helping. This flood of light made impossible to discern anything else than a vaguely shaped silhouette from behind the desk. The rest of the office was empty. She felt like she was on a job interview with god. She got scared, but, as if he read her mind, Walter took her hand and smiled to her. The smile was full of sympathy and helplessness. It was the kind of smile the father of a dying girl would have. That helped Jill to refocus on the goal of their visit: extract information about the activities of Dr. Murat Aksoy.
“Sit down princess” said Walter with a warm voice.
Aksoy remained silent like stone.
“Thanks dad” she said with a weak voice, intimidated.
“Thank you for taking some of your time to see us doctor” said Walter, offering a handshake to Aksoy.
“I’m only doing my job mister…”said Aksoy, denying the handshake.
“B...Bailey, John Bailey” said Walter, even more convincing to Jill.
“Ah yes…and this must be the young Abigail.”
Jill smiled, weakly again.
“And what is the purpose of your visit sir?”
“Well hem…my…daughter is sick. She’s been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease two months ago. She’s been condemned by science. They say she has three years maximum to live…and I think heeeam….they’re full of shit you know?” said Walter, with a lot less control over his voice.
“Indeed they are Mister Bailey; indeed they are…but tell me, what do you expect me to do?”
“I’ve been referred to you by a business partner; he told me you were taking care of one of his VPs. Told me you are a miracle worker. I expect you to succeed where science have failed.”
Murat Aksoy emitted a long “mmmmmmm…” and seemed to be nodding.
The doctor got up and freed himself from his cloak of light, revealing his awkward physique. Jill saw the man before in pictures, but there was a gloomy aura surrounding the character, which she couldn’t rid herself from. All sorts of bad omens were oozing out from Murat Aksoy. He was bad news on wheels. He approached her and put his hands on her throat. His fingers were so cold she thought they were made out of ice. She did her best not to show the disgust she was feeling at the very moment. She also didn’t understand why his hands were so cold, because the room was so hot at the time. After carefully moving his hands around her throat, he put one on her forehead, giving her goosebumps.
“You are not dying young miss…a few appointments with me and you will live a long and happy ever after.” said Aksoy.
“…but the doctors said” added Jill.
“…the doctors are full of it, as your father said, I will save you young girl.”
Jill tried to smile, but the man was making it hard for her with his big eyes popping out of his skull. He finally let go of her forehead and put two fingers on her carotid artery in order to take her pulse. He stopped looking at her in the eyes while doing this and shifted his gaze towards his golden watch. For a man with such an empty office, he sure had the means to afford nice luxury, Jill told to herself. A friend of her dad had a watch like this and told her that he paid five thousand dollars for it. The watch of Doctor Aksoy seemed even bigger, so she could imagine how much money it cost him. She wanted to look at Walter, but the touch of the Turkish doctor was paralyzing. There was something to the man that sucked the life and the battle out of her. Jill imagined that it was like this for most of the man’s clients. When you looked at Murat Aksoy, you had no choice but to contemplate your own despair. The man was a walking distorted image of the reality of sick people.
“Will you two wait for me here please? I will be back shortly.” said Aksoy.
He slowly and ceremoniously exited his office, like a voodoo priest on a sacrificial ritual. Jill noted that Walter’s eyes were peaking around, looking for something. She risked a: “Are you all right daddy?”. He seemed restless. Walter carefully wrapped his arm around Jill’s shoulders and put her head on his shoulder. It was rather cushioned and comfortable, conflicting with the bony face of her partner. He put a kiss on her head and softly murmured: “I don’t like that; leaving clients in his office is not in his M.O. He never left his clients alone in his office before. He never does that. We need to bust a move.”
“I’ll go check out the door, go look in the mysterious corner meanwhile.” , said Jill.
“Good thinking partner” said Walter with a smile, “Go first, you’ll get the attention if someone is watching”.
Jill got up from her seat slowly and carefully as a sick person would do. She lumbered to the office door, resisting to the urges she had to look behind her to see what Walter would find in that corner. She tried to turn the doorknob, but she could only realize that she was locked inside the office with Walter. She took a deep breath and turned around. Walter was walking around aimlessly, like someone who was waiting. She went back to him and hugged him as a scared girl would go and told to Walter: “We’re locked inside, what do we do?”
“Well, there’s a fuckin’ trap in the floor we can hop inside and see what Aksoy is keeping from us, but we’re not armed. Better try to escape by where we arrived. I don’t feel comfortable without a weapon.”
Jill heart started racing. Her palms started sweating. They were in trouble. Not in a “parents will ground us” trouble, but real life-threatening one. She wanted to cry, but she did the best she could to swallow the tears and look professional.
Walter moved away from Jill’s arms to the center of the room. He looked all over the place, putting his hand as a visor to protect his eyes from the flooding light. Then, he took a chair in his hands. They looked big and solid, but Walter handled it with such ease it looked light like a pillow. Moving with a speed that challenged her perception he swung the chair on the doorknob and booted the poor metal device across the room, making a clanging noise against the wall.
He took Jill by the hand and said: “Time to lift off.” The waiting room of doctor Aksoy was completely empty. The secretary that welcomed them a few minutes ago was not present. They were left alone in that strange office. As Walter opened the door, Jill felt the cold touch of Doctor Aksoy on her wrist, yanking her backwards. He made her turn over with ease, put an arm across her throat and a foreign cold object across her temple.
“Where are both of you going? Why are you vandalizing my office?” asked the doctor.
“Why are you locking us in you sicko! And why are you pointing a gun on my daughter? Are you crazy or what?” said Walter with a panicked tone.
Jill felt the doctor’s grip loosen. She quickly turned around and took a few steps back. She was cold now even with the high temperature in the room. The doctor was holding one of these European pistols in his hand. A Luger, or a Walther PPK, one of these old models she seen time and time again in war movies. Her heart stopped beating for a second, she thought of her dad, her mom, Liz….and the absurdity of all of this. Within a few days she went from dating a street corner kingpin to placing herself in the way of a dangerous international criminal. The only thing she could do at the moment is trying to figure out how did it come to all of this.
“It was an accident sir, I didn’t mean to lock you in. You could’ve knocked on the door, my secretary would’ve helped you out. Instead, you chased her into hiding with your violent behavior.”
The doctor was saying the truth, the secretary was on the doorstep of the bathroom, looking unsure of what kind of aliens had landed in her boss’s office this morning. Jill wondered if she knew what Murat Aksoy was really about, because she didn’t have a clue herself. Maybe it was a good idea of going fishing on her, she thought, with the vocabulary of police movies she saw.
“Hey…who’s the violent one?” said Walter, pointing at the pistol, “you’re the one with the gun, I just got scared for my daughter’s safety.”
Murat Aksoy looked at the gun, as if he realized for the first time he was really holding it and answered: “You don’t understand, I felt MY safety was threatened with your barbaric antics. I do what I have to do to insure my security and the integrity of this clinic. I think you can understand that.”
“Y…yeah” said Walter, looking a bit fuzzed. “Of course I can understand that. I can pay you back for the property damage you suffered due to my impetuous behavior.”
“I do not wish to be repaid mister Bailey. Everything will be as good as new tomorrow morning. Let me give you an appointment so I can discuss furthermore about the treatment of young Abigail.”
Aksoy calmly retreated into his office as if nothing happened. There was a period of tension where Jill and Walter looked at each other, not know if he’d come back with a rocket launcher or something. Jill made a subtle head movement inviting Walter to run as hard as he could out of the place. He raised his index finger, wanting her to wait. She was terrified, but he seemed to be mildly enjoying the situation. He looked like a kid playing tag with friends, eagerly awaiting the next move of the tagger.
Aksoy came back of his office with a sheet of paper, with a polite smile on his face, completely dismissing what just happened: “See you next Saturday Mr. Bailey. I will call you during the week to explain to you in more depth the treatment.”
“Thanks” said Walter, bewildered by Aksoy’s behavior.
They both walked out of the clinic, enshrouded by an aura of weird awkwardness. Jill felt like they were trapped in a live action burlesque stage play. Once in the car, she asked Walter: “What’s on the paper?”
“Good question” he said. He unfolded the paper and read:
24 05 08 00 00
26 05 08 12 00
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