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

Even before you told me he was just trying to exert power over me. But it was okay before. It wasn’t so different from what I had already been through. I thought that maybe I deserved it.” He shifted onto his side and ran his fingers over her cheek. “But I can’t watch him treat you that way, especially knowing what he’s planning on doing.”

She slid closer to him, folding into his chest. “Frank, I know you don’t want to hear this, that you want to stay angry with him, but he did all this because he loved Ann. Because he wanted her to have her own happy life back. And because he wanted to hurt the person he thought had hurt her. He used me to help her. He used us, and presumably the samples of the resistant bacteria, to catch Dr. Schneider. If you had to do the same for- for Sarah, wouldn’t you have done it?”

“If that’s true, then why hold on to the samples still? He got what he wanted. Why didn’t he just tell us where they were yesterday? You gave him a chance and he refused.”

“Because I can’t fix it. I can’t bring her back. Nobody can. His only drive now is to see that the people responsible for her illness are punished. That means Schneider and Carton, that means himself too. And maybe the rest of the world. Because why should anyone else be happy or healthy when she can never be either?”

“The whole world? Nella, I would do anything to keep you safe. Anything. But I wouldn’t destroy the world if I failed.”

“That’s because you aren’t a sociopath who becomes enraged when someone breaks his toy. I told you Frank, you don’t need to feel inferior to anyone. It wasn’t the Infected that were the monsters.”

The whistle of the wind through the broken glass filled the room for a moment. Frank’s warm palm pressed against her hip and he pushed her gently onto her back, propping himself up on his elbow over her. “You’ll be careful won’t you? Take precautions I mean?”

“Yes, of course.”

The chilled breeze puffed over her bare skin and vibrated between them in little waves. The pads of his fingers were four molten stars dragging slowly down her throat and over her breast. She held her breath.

“I have a good poker face Nella. I’ve made a career out of knowing when to tell the truth and when to shut up.” His fingers were featherlight on her thigh and his hand shook, as if it were afraid to touch her. “But he knows. I can’t hide it. He knows that I love you. He taunts me with it every day because he can see how badly I want you every minute we’re apart.”

She cooled his face with a stroke of her hand. “Is that why you’ve been so angry?”

His hand tightened slowly around her thigh, his thumb sinking gently into the soft skin. A ripple of want shook her. “He said- it doesn’t matter what he says.”

Nella raised her face to his and kissed him. “No,” she said as they parted, “it doesn’t matter what he says. Because I’m here. You’ve got me, I’m yours.”

Frank smiled, but it faded quickly and he closed his eyes. “He knows though. He knows how it would hurt me if anything happened. He makes a game of it-”

She shook her head. “Nothing will happen. I’ll be careful, I promise. He doesn’t know I’m going to search his cell, he doesn’t even know that we are still looking for the samples. He’s convinced he has us outsmarted. He’s relaxed and smug now, waiting for the world to fall into his trap. It’ll be okay.”

His hand relaxed around her thigh and she felt somehow abandoned. He drew back from her a little. “Nella, do you really love me? You aren’t here out of pity or until someone better comes along?”

“There’s no one better in all the world, Frank. And if there were, I wouldn’t want him.” She pulled him down toward her and gently guided his hands where she wanted to be touched.

He kissed her neck and she could feel his lips smiling. “Not even the old man with the boat?” he asked.

She laughed. “Well, it is a nice boat.”

Frank’s hands moved smoothly now, confident and powerful. “Yeah, but can he do this?” Frank asked with a wicked grin.

“Oh God,” Nella gasped and arced into him.

 

The Search

 

“I don’t like leaving you without your car. What if you need to go to the hospital?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I won’t need to go to the hospital.”

“But if you find it and the vial is broken-”

“Then I won’t be going to the hospital. Sevita needed the car. It didn’t make sense to have it parked here all day.”

“Then drive me to the courthouse and take this one.”

The parking lot was cold and breezy, old leaves raking themselves across it and catching in the cracks like little flags. She straightened Frank’s tie even though it was already perfect. “It would look odd if I’m supposed to be treating Ann and I’m at the courthouse.”

“You’re so stubborn,” Frank sighed, “be careful.”

Nella squinted up at him, the bright morning sun splintering and bouncing from the waving spring leaves and sudden tears, blocking her sight with bright sparkles. “I will be. As much as I can.”

He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll be back after court.”

“Okay. Good luck.”

“You too.” He got into the car and watched her walk across the lot to the prison. He was gone before she had opened the heavy glass door.

Yesterday had been torture. It had worn away grain by grain as she sat in the hot courtroom and listened to Dr. Schneider’s lawyer drone on in her opening statements. Frank had been testy and anxious all night too. He had been frantic, almost desperate and panicky when he touched her. Neither of them had slept well and Nella felt like it had been weeks since she’d had a quiet, full night’s rest. It was almost a relief not to be waiting any more. She tried to pretend that she wasn’t on edge, but everything seemed grating and sharp. The florescent bulbs buzzed like a colony of dying flies and the smell of bleach and floor cleaner was dizzying. She brushed it off as she walked to the metal detector. Terry was slumped on a stool beside it. Shocked, Nella almost asked what he was doing there before she remembered that he hadn’t seen her at Frank’s house. He waved her through without concern. She hurried to Stan Kembrey’s closet sized office. He was tapping a pen too quickly on the side of his knee and staring at the biohazard suits he’d hung from an upper locker.

“I don’t like this,” he said without greeting her, “I think we should let the military handle it.”

“I understand. You go ahead and make a call to the Governor. I’ll get started and he can catch up.”

“It’s not my fault it’s gone on this long. You and Frank have been mighty close with all this.”

Nella perched on the stool across from Stan. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap. I’m as nervous as you. But we don’t have time to wait for the military. You didn’t see that courthouse. It’s packed to the gills. If the samples somehow end up there-”

Stan stood up and patted her shoulder. He grabbed one of the biosuits and handed it to her.

“I’ll go alone if you like. I’ll understand if you don’t want to go in there,” she said.

He pulled the other suit off the hook. “No way. Frank would have my head. Besides, I know all the good hiding places.”

The suit was sticky and hot and the mask itched and scraped. Nella tried to adjust to it as they walked toward the cell block. “Did you clear the block?” she asked as loudly as she could. She had to strain to hear Stan’s muffled response.

“Yeah, we moved Miss Connelly to the infirmary for now. The only staff in the block are lab techs to help, you know, if we find it. They are wearing suits too. Could it be in any other spot than his cell?”

“It’s possible, but very unlikely.”

Stan glanced around bending to peer down the hall. “As far as anyone knows, this is a routine drill. Let’s try to keep it that way.”

Nella nodded to show that she understood. Stan opened the dented metal door to the block. He started barking orders as they entered. “You and you, search the common area. You and you get Ann Connelly’s cell. You two on Dr. Schneider’s.” Stan grabbed her arm. “You’re with me.” He called after the scattering teams. “Remember, treat this as a real biohazard event, not a drill. If you find the goods, don’t handle them. Call me. Is that understood?”

A chorus of affirmatives echoed back at him. He looked at Nella and she could see the sweat rolling down his forehead. “God I hope you’re right,” he said.

“Me too.”

They walked into the small cell and closed the door behind them. There was barely room to pass by each other and Nella was grateful that she wasn’t claustrophobic. “You said they’d be in vials. Where should we start looking?”

“I think they are in the pens. The jeweler is making fountain pens for the defense lawyers and you said he came in with some. Maybe he’s replaced the cartridges with the vials.”

Stan nodded. “All right, you try on the table there and I’ll check the bookshelves here. As you go, make a neat pile of things you have checked to one side so we don’t repeat. Remember to check the spine of books and open them all, a lot of prisoners will hide things in the spine or cut small holes into the pages. We’ll empty out the whole place if we have to.”

Nella reached for the small cup of pens and pencils on the desk. She tried to keep her hands from shaking. Two of the three fountain pens were sitting in the cup. She gently picked up the first one. She slowly unscrewed the handle and pulled the cartridge out. Just ink. She clicked her suit’s small flash light on and checked the hollow where the cartridge had been and then the empty space in the handle. Both empty. She put the pen back together and placed it beside her on the window sill. She reached for the next one. The handle unscrewed easily but the cartridge was stuck. Nella clicked the flashlight on. She couldn’t see what it was stuck on. It looked like a normal cartridge. The suit was clinging in several places because she was sweating so profusely, but she felt a chill growl up her spine and bite