Hot Zone (17 page)

Without meaning to, I looked up at him, my expression hard. This time, however, he was the one to look dazed. He blinked a couple of times. His hand came up and almost took hold of my chin, but then he frowned and stilled, his hand still one inch from my face. He swallowed and deliberately stepped away from me. He gave me an appraising look, and I resisted the urge to taunt him.

“You know, if you weren’t hurt, I would …” He cut himself off. He took another step back. “Go, Madde. Right now. Go.”

I found myself on the other side of the closed door before I realized he had bewitched me again. Damn that man.

Chapter 12: Homecoming

The second trip home to Catfish was much quieter than the first. The three men, including Tim, were to be my new bodyguards. I hadn’t realized that until we got there and they informed me of it. I tried to tell them to go back with the others, but they refused, and I knew I wouldn’t talk them into it. Whatever persuasive power I had, it paled next to Gabriel’s.

It was late when we got back, but that didn’t stop the others in the delegation from singing Gabriel’s praises to anyone who would listen. It was as if they had found religion, only Gabriel was their god. I stayed quiet and in the back. Tucker was the first one to come to me and ask what I thought of Gabriel with a resigned look in his eyes. He assumed I would be saying the same thing. Instead, I pulled him a little aside, trying to get out of earshot of Tim, who was taking the first shift on guard duty.

“He’s a difficult man to dislike,” I said carefully, fully aware that if I said too much, I’d be putting Tucker in line for a good brainwashing. “We can talk later.” Then, a little louder, I said, “I think it would be to our benefit to join with him, while still retaining our independence. He says he’d honor that, and I think that’s the best deal we’re going to get.”

Tucker was looking at me carefully, trying to read beyond what I was saying. It was obvious that he saw what had happened to the others. He finally smiled and nodded, apparently taking me at my word. He reached out and gently touched my cheek, which I had forgotten about. It wasn’t hurting all that much anymore, and the medication had pretty much taken care of the headache. He asked, “How did this happen?”

I knew he was just concerned, but for a moment I wished he would let it go. I doubted it, though. “I—it was a misunderstanding. It’s all taken care of.”

Tucker looked over at the man whose alert attention to me and everyone who was near me screamed ‘
bodyguard.’
“Does this misunderstanding have anything to do with your protective new friend? I assume he’s guarding you, and not making sure you behave.”

I hadn’t thought that maybe Gabriel was using the bodyguards to keep an eye on me. I was such a trusting fool sometimes. “Uh, maybe both,” I mouthed almost silently.

Tucker nodded seriously. “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

It was late, and I really was tired. “Okay.” I smiled at him. What would I do without Tucker? “Thanks.”

He leaned in to hug me, and Tim lunged over like a bullet from a gun and pushed him away from me. We both stared at Tim. “What was that?” I asked finally.

“His instructions were explicit. No one touches you,” Tim said.

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed. “This is over the top.” I pointed at Tim. “In the morning we’re calling him and clearing this up.” Tim didn’t say anything, and I gave Tucker an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, but Tim and the rest of them get a little literal sometimes.”

Tucker was looking at Tim. “Hmm. Maybe. Or maybe you have a very powerful admirer.”

Could that be true? I wondered briefly, but then shook my head. “No, I think he just used the wrong words.”

“And his orders are followed that completely?” Tucker asked softly.

“Yes,” I said, trying to convey how dangerous Gabriel was without risking Tucker’s independence.

“And Luis decided of his own accord to stay there?” Tucker asked.

I sighed, eyeing Tim. “Tomorrow, Tucker. I’m too tired to be very smart tonight.”

“I’m sorry, yes, tomorrow,” Tucker agreed, his eyes going to Tim as well.

I went to bed almost directly afterwards, pleading tiredness to everyone who wanted to talk to me. I slept like a log, and Meri had to wake me in the morning to tell me that Tucker wanted to talk to me.

Tim was off—sleeping or spying, I assumed, and one of the other men watched over me. I was able to talk this one into staying at one end of the great room and letting us have a little meeting at the other end, just Meri, Phil, Tucker, Fred, and myself. Pewter was off somewhere; otherwise I would have wanted her there as well.

Meri said quietly. “Okay, what sort of creatures did he put in their brains? They are like pod people.”

Fred shook his head. “I know you’re joking, but I have to say that except when it comes to Gabriel, they seem the same.”

Tucker nodded, his eyes on me. “And how do you feel about Gabriel? You were there. Can we trust you?”

I gaped at him. “What? I haven’t gone on and on about his greatness.” Even though I could understand his caution, it didn’t stop me from being offended.

Tucker didn’t seem convinced. “How are we supposed to know that you won’t tell him anything we say here?”

“Nice,” I snapped. “Tell me, Tucker, when did paranoia become part of your make up?”

He snapped back, “The minute everyone came back looking brainwashed.”

I glared at him. “I don’t—”

But Phil cut me off, her hand suddenly appearing between us, drawing our eyes to her. “She’s okay, mostly,” she said, squinting at me.

“What do you mean, mostly?” I countered, still heated.

Phil said in her soft voice, “Oh, well, the others who went with you are gold coated now. Not completely, but they have golden mixed in.” She frowned as she tried to explain. “It’s sort of like the difference between gray and silver, or between brown and bronze. Their colors have taken on a golden sheen.”

Tucker accepted this immediately, while I still wanted to roll my eyes. It was dumb of me to doubt her. Hadn’t I seen stranger things?

Phil gestured to me. “Madde’s colors have become more vibrant, but changed slightly, as if the gold has mixed in with her own color and strengthened it.”

Fred was the one least used to Phil and said with a frown, “Uh, could you put that in a way that doesn’t sound like a fortune cookie?”

I resisted the urge to giggle.

Phil looked over at Fred. “A fortune cookie?” She smiled, and I could see some of the old Phil in that smile. Fred smiled back. Hmm, what had been happening during my absence? Phil said slowly, “The others have it over them. They are still themselves, but it covers everything. Madde has incorporated it somehow, although it has changed her too, just not the same way.”

Tucker eyed me. “So can she be trusted?”

“Look, I’m not going to beg for your trust. If you want me out of this meeting right now, I’ll go. My goal is to keep Catfish Lake as independent as is possible considering Gabriel’s uh, pull.”

Meri gave Tucker an angry look. “Tucker didn’t mean that. We trust you.”

I looked over at Tucker, and he finally nodded.

“Okay, here’s the deal. If we fall into line, we get to keep our independence somewhat. I think we only got this because I’m somewhat … resistant to his allure.” I hoped I wasn’t saying too much, but I had to say something.

“And if we tell him to go screw himself?”

“Tucker, you’ve made your position clear,” I said. “If, however, we tell him that, then he comes to visit. And you all get …” Crap. I knew I couldn’t say brainwashed or I was breaking my word. I finally settled on, “a gold covering.”

Fred said, “So if we want to keep our colors clear,” he glanced at Phil, who smiled at him and nodded, “then we need to stay away from him?”

I looked uneasy. “See, if I tell you everything I believe and suspect, he will know, and he’ll come down here.”

“How would he know?” Tucker asked.

“I’m not completely immune to him, okay? Sometimes things just come flying out of my mouth.” I sighed gustily. “You know, Tucker, you shouldn’t tell me anything you absolutely don’t want him to know. I’m not exactly sure what he could get out of me. So I guess I’m not so trustworthy after all.”

Tucker backpedaled. “I trust you. I just don’t like any of this.”

I was starting to get annoyed. “Want to feel better? Go pay him a call. Everything will become clear.”

Tucker started to reply, but Meri cut him off, nearly whispering. “How does he do it? He just uses his voice? Or do you have to be within a certain distance to him? Or is it drug related?”

“I don’t exactly know. I’ve possibly already told you too much. But I can tell you he doesn’t actually do anything, like give you a drug or anything. He just is this way now.”

Phil caught on. “Since the bioweapons. It’s his gift.” She considered that. “Well, then we shouldn’t stop him. I trust the gifts. Mostly.”

“I don’t,” Tucker said. I slanted him a look, and he had the grace to blush. His own gift of intelligence was something he treasured.

“I have to go back in one week and tell him our community is in accord with this partial independence, or he comes to visit.” I didn’t want that. It would be so hard to have no one to talk to who was unbiased when it came to Gabriel.

Meri said slowly, “It doesn’t look like we have any choice. Can we frame this so the community will accept it?”

“Wait a minute!” Tucker said hotly. “What if he brainwashed the group to just scare us like this—to push us into his control without having to do a thing? Have you considered that?”

I just looked away. He knew what I thought already.

Meri watched my reaction. “I think Madde’s right. We don’t want him here, or we won’t have any independence at all.”

Tucker shook his head. “If he can’t control Madde, why couldn’t others be immune too?”

Meri took his hand, and he calmed a little. “Tucker, do we want to take that chance?”

Phil said softly to me, “Tell Tucker about Luis.”

I stared at her. I hadn’t told them about that. Was she reading minds now? Phil smiled. “Karen told me about it, although I doubt you will have the same perspective on it that she did.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “We were driving back. I was getting tired of all the talk about how great Gabriel was, and said something stupid.”

“What did you say?” Meri sounded resigned.

“I said I’d like to run him over. You know, like with a car?”

Fred laughed, as did Phil. Meri grinned at me, and even Tucker smiled. “Yeah, well, once you meet Gabriel, you don’t find stuff like that amusing, apparently, because Luis clocked me.”

Tucker said too loudly, “He hit you?”

Meri shushed him, shooting a look at my guard.

“Yeah, that’s how I got this.” I gestured to my face, which was even more hideous today that it had been yesterday.

“Oh, hon,” Meri said softly. “I didn’t have a chance to ask you about it. I thought there had been an accident, or that you’d fallen. I never thought for a moment that someone punched you.”

“Well, we stopped right there on the road, and they—some of the Gabriel guys—cuffed Luis and called Gabriel. He had us return—we weren’t that far away, and he had a doctor look at me to make sure I was all right. He knows some people go overboard in their unthinking zeal to protect him, but he’s not sure how to fix it right now.” I was saying far too much now, and I knew it.

“What will happen to Luis?” Phil asked.

Tucker didn’t let me answer. “Why wasn’t he mad at you? You’re the one who wants to run over him. And getting a doctor for you? Isn’t that a bit overly controlling? Or maybe he couldn’t bear to see you get hurt.”

“Tucker, stop it. He’s not my boyfriend, okay? We didn’t carve our initials into a tree trunk, and I’m not wearing his class ring, so knock it off.”

Tucker gave me a hard look but didn’t say anything further.

“I don’t know why I saw Dr. Si. I—maybe he feels connected to me because I’m the only one who can tell him he’s an idiot.” I was blushing and hated it. “Okay. There is something between us, but it isn’t like I want him. I mean, a part of me loves him, okay? Just like everyone else.” My words were tumbling out now. “I can’t help it, but I can keep it under control.” I looked down. “And, he seems to be affected by me in somewhat the same way, although I think the degree is a lot less.”

Meri started to put an arm around me, then thought better of it. Everyone knew that I was untouchable for the time being. “No one is judging you, Madde,” she said kindly, pushing an elbow into Tucker as he made as if to speak. She hesitated. “But you think he loves you?”

“No, not loves me—he says I’m appealing to him. But it isn’t really me, it’s just whatever weird chemistry that is occurring with these ‘gifts’ we have, and—”

“Wait,” Tucker said, ignoring Meri’s look that said plainly,
shut up Tucker.
“Your gift? You mean the ability to see the future?”

I turned to him and the tears started. “I can’t see the future, you dope! And I can’t talk about this. I have to go back and see him, and he’s going to ask me if I said anything, and if he asks in a certain way, I just … I mean, the words just come flying out before I can stop them.” I sniffed, feeling teary. “And then he’ll come here and it’ll be all my fault because I couldn’t keep my damned mouth shut!” I rose and went back to the room I had slept in, hugging my arms around my middle. Both Phil and Meri, and even Fred had made a move to comfort me, pulling away as they remembered.

I needed to get that untouchable thing removed as soon as I could. I sat on the bed until I felt back in control, and thought that my supposed ‘gift’ was not doing squat at this particular point in time. No one was listening to me. I thought back to the times when people had listened to me. One time was in the van, and I had yelled at them. But didn’t yelling at someone usually make him or her listen? Isn’t that why people yelled in the first place? Did I need to order people around now? Yeah, that was my style all right.

I was finally calm, and I went out of my room to find the Gabriel guard standing right at the door. Probably was freaking because I was out of sight.