After the Cure, Deirdre Gould [the beach read TXT] 📗

and through the nearby door. Wells and Johnson were stuffing the last mattress against the concrete wall. The small yard was soaked in bright light. Even Nella squinted in the spring sun. Ann stopped moving and lifted her face, closing her eyes. Warmth pulsed around them and the soldiers looked relaxed as they lounged in the daylight.

Something was scratching at the back part of Nella's brain. For a man who had spent his time meticulously documenting the lab procedures, Dr. Pazzo had certainly seemed to miss a lot. How could he not have known about the altered bacteria until Dr. Schneider told him? Nella was uneasy as she watched Ann bask in the golden day of early spring. Something crept up her neck and crawled behind her eyes with pricking insect legs. If she could only think of what exactly was bothering her . . . But a guard walked through the doorway. “Dr. Rider,” he said abruptly, “You have a visitor. She's waiting for you at the entrance.”

“Thank you.” Nella turned to Johnson. “Are you and Wells going to stay with Ann?”

“Sure Doc,” said Johnson, “I've never seen her so calm. We'll be fine.”

“I'll make sure I write that order for sedative use. You remember what I said. You’re in charge, not Mr. Grant. And I'm going to order those tests for the next few days. She will have to be transported to a facility that has the correct equipment.”

“And that will tell us if she'll- if she'll stay like this?” asked Johnson.

“I hope so,” said Nella. She watched Ann turn in the sun one more time and then went to meet Sevita.

Sevita was pacing at the entrance. “What's going on?” she asked as soon as Nella came in view. Nella sighed. She wanted to just tell Sevita, but Frank would be upset. “I can only tell you part of it,” she said apologetically, “I need to get into Dr. Carton's house.”

Sevita snorted. “So do I, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen. How many hundreds of hours have we watched that housed? We've only ever seen one person go in or come out.”

“Yeah, and I need to know where that person went.”

“What? Why? I thought this was about Dr. Carton.”

“I can't tell you Sevita, not yet.”

“Well, what did you need me for?”

“I don't know all the entrances and exits like you. I need to make sure that the woman we saw on the tape, if she is inside, that she doesn't get out until I've talked with her.”

Sevita sighed. “Can I at least come with you?”

“It might be dangerous, Sevita. Not just for you, but for Christine too.”

“What are you talking about?”

Frank touched Nella's shoulder. She jumped and then blushed when she saw him.

“Sorry,” he said, “didn't mean to startle you.”

“Frank, this is Sevita Das from HCN. She's going to help us get into Dr. Carton's house.”

Sevita gave Nella a strange look and then smiled as if she knew something that Nella did not. She shook Frank's hand. “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

“Likewise. I've watched all of your documentaries,” Frank said.

“Look,” said Sevita, “I don't know what you’re up to, but I'm coming along. I realize it's probably confidential because of the trial and I promise not to air anything until you tell me it's okay, but there is no way-” she held up her hand to stop interruptions, “Nella, there is no way I'm not going into that house with you after all this time. You want my help? Sure, of course I'll help you Nella, you're my friend. But I'm not going to pass up an opportunity either.”

Nella glanced at Frank. He seemed slightly troubled. Sevita saw it too. She folded her arms and looked at Nella expectantly.

“Okay,” Nella said, with an interior wince, “but I'm serious that this could be dangerous. If I tell you it's time to leave, then you leave and don't wait for me or for Frank. And Sevita, if I tell you we can't go home for a while, you have to trust me. For Christine's sake.”

Sevita still had her arms crossed but she was biting the corner of her bottom lip and Nella knew she was nervous. “Yeah, okay Nella, I won't ask questions but I can see you're worried. I'll be a good girl scout and follow directions.”

Nella glanced at Frank. He looked concerned but saw her look at him. He shrugged and smiled. “If you think this is best Nella, then we'll all go together. Why don't we go somewhere that isn't so public to discuss the details though, okay?”

Sevita nodded. “Nella's apartment is closest. But I brought the bike. I don't have car privileges like you important folks.” Nella laughed. Sevita squinted at Frank and looked particularly sly. It made Nella's skin prickle apprehensively.

“Frank, can I catch a ride with you? I'll show you where Nella lives.”

Frank looked startled and shot a glance at Nella. “Sure,” he said quickly, but Nella blushed, knowing Sevita was not fooled. But Sevita showed mercy and didn't say anything, just walked toward the door. Frank turned toward Nella. “Dr. Pazzo won't tell me anything,” he said quietly, “and my contact hasn't been able to find any labs connected to Dr. Schneider, all he has is her home address.”

“I don’t think it’s actually Dr. Schneider’s lab. I think it’s Dr. Carton’s. Ann said Dr. Carton lived in Kingsfield and that Dr. Schneider was in a relationship with him. That's all I could get from her.”

“Kingsfield? That's still in the Infected zone.”

“That's just where Carton used to live, maybe the bacteria is somewhere else. Wherever Dr. Schneider is. Maybe even in the mansion.” She paused and looked at him. “I know you don't want to tell Sevita anything, but we can trust her. She's my friend and we've been through a lot together.”

Frank nodded. “For her own peace of mind, though, perhaps the less we tell her, the better.” He followed Sevita out to his car. Nella glanced back down the hallway. If only she could place what was bothering her. Just a few minutes and she knew she could figure it out. The worry was palpable, tasting acrid, like burnt sugar in her mouth. She shook herself. She didn't have time for this. Nella sighed and pushed through the glass door into the bright, sunny afternoon.

She worried what Sevita was telling Frank in the other car. The two women hadn't met until the Cure, but Nella, like most other Immunes, was not innocent of blood shed. She had felt a serious twist of guilt shoot through her when Dr. Pazzo had laid bare the fact that Immunes had killed people who were merely ill. People who were not in control of themselves. Nella knew that others had killed too, that people had defended themselves or even sought out people like Frank as if they were prey. But her feelings were of overwhelming personal guilt. As if she ought to have known better. And she didn't want Frank to know what she had done in the past. She worried that he would be disappointed somehow, that he would turn cold and unfriendly if he knew. It made her feel deeply alone.

Sevita was already drawing a diagram of the mansion on Nella's table when she came in. Frank was rummaging in the kitchen for lunch. Sevita looked up with a wicked smile as Nella walked through the door. Nella should have been exasperated, but she was not. She was relieved and comforted to see them both there, in her home, relaxed.

“So when did you want to do this?” Sevita asked.

Frank looked up from the cutting board. “As soon as possible,” he said. Nella laid her keys on the counter and walked over to the table.

“Shouldn't we wait until dark if we are going to be sneaking in?”

Sevita shook her head. “It won't matter, that place is lit up like a pre-plague Times Square at all hours. If there is any actual security, they'll be less likely to expect someone during the day anyway.” She pointed to the diagram. “As far as I know, the only entrances are the front door and the side door here. But I've recorded hundreds of hours of video and never seen anyone go in. So I either have really bad luck, or there's another entrance somewhere.”

“Where?” asked Frank.

“Maybe underground,” suggested Nella, “If he has a lab in there it’d be easier to control the climate if it were built underground.”

“But that means the entrance could be anywhere. How are we going to monitor it if we don't know where it is?”

“I don't like it either, Frank, but I think we're going to have to take some chances. If we can sneak in somehow, then maybe we can locate the lab when we are inside without being caught. What we are looking for will be there anyhow.”

Sevita gave Nella a sharp, worried look, but she didn't say anything.

“We should probably go through the side door then,” said Frank, “but how are we going to get through the gate without being spotted.”

“That I can help with,” Sevita said. “A while ago, I tried to get close enough to the house to peek in the windows.” She blushed. “I just wanted to see if I could Nella, don't look at me like that. Anyway, in the back here, this is all hedge. He must not have a very industrious gardener because the deer ate a patch back there and left a gap. It was wide enough to slide through when I was there last time, but I don't know if it's grown in since then. The hedge is about neck high- er, maybe chest high to Frank. So we can come right up to it without being seen. It's only crossing the yard to the door that we might get caught. But like you said Nella, we're going to have to take a few chances to do this.”

Nella walked toward her bedroom. “Where are you going?” Sevita asked.

“For supplies,” she replied grimly. She could hear Frank and Sevita still talking quietly over the diagram as she moved the trunk that was sitting in her closet. Even Sevita didn't know that Nella had kept them. While not exactly illegal, Nella had a feeling that still having a gun in a Cured area would make her a person of intense interest to the military police. She also had a feeling that she wasn't the only one who had them. She looked at the long wooden case and felt guilt smashing down on her. How many people had she killed with these? At the time she hadn't thought of them as people. At the time she believed they were monsters. After the first few, there hadn't even been any hesitation. As if they were all just paper targets that could run. She hadn't hunted them, like some of