Hot Zone (22 page)

He called so quickly that he was dialing before I finished my threat. He waited a while then shrugged. “It’s gone to voice mail.”

I snatched the phone from him. “Who did you call?”

“Melissa. She’s one of his assistants.” Pretty Melissa. I felt a sudden, unwanted, and totally inappropriate shot of jealousy. I ignored it.

“Who else can you call?”

“Uh, let me …” He thought, and then dialed another number. This time he reached someone. “Yes, um, well I have a problem.” He paused. “No, she’s fine. It’s someone else.” Pause. “No, she’s my concern, but she …” Pause. It looked like the person, whoever it was, was chewing Tim out for the interruption. I snatched the phone away from him.

“Hello? Who am I speaking to?” I snapped into the phone.

“This is Carl Miller-Thornton.”

“Okay, Carl. Do you know how to reach Dr. Si English?”

“No, ma’am, I don’t.”

I was fast moving from irritated and anxious to seriously upset and a little desperate. “I have a baby here who is dying.” I said harshly, seeing several people around Jacob flinch. “I am getting in our car and bringing him there as fast as I possibly can. Your job is to immediately find Si English and get him to tell me who can help this infant. Do you understand?”

There was a pause. “Um, yes ma’am,” Carl said.

“Good. I will expect you to call this phone in fifteen minutes or less and tell me your progress.”

“But … I don’t have the authority to do this.”

I nearly growled, “Who does?”

“I don’t … I mean, I could call around, and see if there is a doctor available.”

“You have fifteen minutes. If you haven’t made excellent progress, I’m going to call your great and beloved leader Gabriel and pull his butt out of bed to yell at you.” I actually thought if I called Gabriel he might just yell at me instead, but as I said, I was getting desperate. I could see Fred carrying Jacob, wrapped in a blanket, over to me.

I ended the call and turned to take Jacob. Fred backed up, holding the limp little baby to his chest. “I’m coming with you.”

Tucker stepped up. “Me too.”

“No!” I burst out. “Look, we aren’t sure if those men are coming tonight. We need you here. And, if you go with me, you may meet him—Gabriel. And you know what will happen.”

Fred said woodenly, “I’m going.” Tucker looked back at the group, undecided. I took advantage of that.

I went to him, ignoring Tim’s warning look at my proximity and Karen’s glare. I spoke quietly, almost in his ear. “Please, for me, please don’t come. Stay here and be safe and stay Tucker. Please.”

He closed his eyes briefly and sighed. “Okay.”

We grabbed keys and ran to the black Escalade that was the car Tim and the other Gabriel guys had driven down. I figured it would go the fastest. I considered the Mercedes briefly, but there were some parts of the Interstate that weren’t in the best of repair, so we had better stick with an SUV, albeit a luxury one.

We got in and Tim tried to get in to drive but I physically pushed him out of the way. Very conscious of the ‘no touch’ rule, he stumbled away from me, and I was in the driver’s seat before he could recover. I started the car and Tim barely had time to jump in the back seat to sit with Ryan. Fred and Jacob were in the front. No car seat for Jacob. I didn’t think Fred would let go of Jacob at this moment for anything. I also noticed that no one had taken the time to wake Nick, the other guard.

I sped out of the driveway and headed towards the Interstate. We’d reached it and were going along at ninety miles an hour when Tim’s phone rang. Had it been fifteen minutes already? Tim answered it. He murmured into it too quietly for me to hear him, his other hand over his ear so he could hear better. As soon as he shut the phone I looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Well?”

“Carl found a doctor who will meet us at the clinic.”

“Who is the doctor? Does he have pediatric experience?” Fred asked tightly.

“I don’t know.” Tim shrugged, and I glared at his insensitivity.

“Why don’t you call him back and ask? Also, you might want to tell him how far we are, and when you expect we’ll arrive.” My voice was worried, and also a bit condescending. Did I have to think of everything?

I didn’t hear Tim talking, and figured he was ignoring me. I couldn’t very well glare at him and order him around while driving, not that I was at all sure that I actually had any power to make anyone do anything. I sighed and decided to wait a few minutes and then bark at him to do it. I looked over at Jacob, and for a minute thought he was already gone, then I saw his eyelids flutter, and let out my breath in relief. I pressed a little harder on the accelerator. We were really flying now. If we hit something that was in the road—even a deer, we wouldn’t have to worry about Jacob, because he’d never survive it. I gritted my teeth and slowed down to seventy-five. I needed to have a little faith he would survive. I saw Fred frown at the speedometer and said quietly, “I don’t think killing us all will do him any good.”

Fred returned to watching his little brother. Jacob was really more like Fred’s son now. Of course with all of us taking turns keeping an eye on him (he was so spoiled, but no one ever suggested we let him cry) we all felt like Jacob was family. It would really hit us hard if he died.

I started to think about a book I read once where some disease had decimated the world, leaving something like one percent of the people after it passed. And in this world, they had wondered if the disease would just kill every child they tried to have. So much for repopulating. What if that was true here? What if we were just toxic now, and no one could be around us? No, Gabriel had said it wasn’t contagious. I wish I’d pressed him more on exactly what it was. Had he already thought of this problem? Had anyone successfully delivered since the bombs?

I noticed Tim put his cell phone to his ear. I hadn’t even heard it ring. I kept glancing back until I noticed he had that same vague, rapt expression on his face, and I knew suddenly who was talking to him. Part of me wanted to yell at him to give me the phone, but on the other hand, did I want to show Gabriel I was that obsessed? Hell, he probably knew anyway. Before I could decide, Tim handed the cell phone to me, saying, “He wants to talk to you.”

I took the phone and put it to my ear. My hand was shaking, and I glared at it as if that would help. “Yes?” I tried to sound casual.

“You have a problem?” Gabriel’s rich voice inquired. Even though the line was a little staticky, it still sounded wonderful. Just like something you could curl around.

“Yes, a very sick baby.”

He said, “And you’re on your way here? You want me to help?” Was there amusement in his tone? Pig.

“If you aren’t too busy.” The sarcasm was unmistakable, I hoped.

He repeated, “You’re asking for my help. Hmm. I guess you’ll owe me more than just one.”

I would have cheerfully strangled him if I weren’t miles away. As it was, I wanted to tell him what he could do with his help, but I couldn’t. Not with Jacob so sick. So I kept my voice even, although my words weren’t exactly meek. “Is there a pediatrician? Have other babies gotten ill?”

“Yes, and no. Mostly no other sick babies because the vast majority of the babies died in the aftermath.” It was hard to tell what his tone was here. Did he even care about that? The worst part was that at the same time as I was angry and fervently wishing I could smack him for being so unfeeling, I was totally aware of his voice working on me. I was softening up inside, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Can you have the doctor there?”

“I could. What is my incentive?”

I took the phone away from my ear and stared at it. I don’t think I’d ever been this mad in my life. Maybe this is how Eddy felt when he’d gone crazy and attacked me. Maybe I was going crazy right now. I felt tears sting my eyes. I put the phone back to my ear. “You are a pig,” I said succinctly.

He chuckled. “Which way are you coming in?”

“Interstate 35,” I said automatically. Why had he laughed? Had he just been teasing me? Or was he such a pig that he didn’t even care that he was one?

“And where are you now?”

I told him.

“The medical center had extensive damage to the emergency area, so you should come in the front. We have rearranged it so our little ER is right there.”

“All right,” I said.

He waited a moment. “What? No thank you? No appreciation at all for my help?”

I gritted my teeth. “Thank you.”

“Now, was that so hard?” He again sounded amused.

“Actually, yes,” I snapped.

“We’ll just have to make sure you get used to being grateful,” he said. Before I could answer, the phone beeped, signifying that the call was finished. I threw it back to Tim, probably harder than necessary and glared at the road ahead.

I suddenly had a thought. “Fred? Do you remember when I was so nervous before the town meeting and you calmed me down somehow? How does that work?”

Fred said distractedly, “Sometimes I can take someone else’s thoughts or emotions, I’m not sure which it is, and sort of transfer them to me. I’ve only done it a few times because it’s horrible. Like when I took on your nervousness, I had to run right out of the auditorium and throw up. I was shaking and nervous without any reason for feeling like that. It seems to be worse somehow when I take it on than it was for the original person.”

“Could you take on Jake’s illness?”

He sighed, stroking little Jacob’s hot, flushed face. “I already tried. I didn’t think it would work since it’s not a mental problem but a biological one.” He looked out the window at the dark Interstate ahead. “I found out I had this ability when Jacob was screaming one night. This was before I moved into your house. He was just beside himself, and I was so desperate I just tried to ‘will’ him to look at me and calm down. You can imagine my shock when I started feeling incredibly upset—just a formless fear and desperation that was fed by my own tears and sobbing. Jacob calmed down, but then I couldn’t get control of myself for hours, and he ended up crying again. I never wanted to try it again, but finally realized that it is temporary, just like Jacob’s crying would have been had I done nothing. I’ve done it a couple other times, but as I said, it’s a very limited gift.” He slanted me a look of self-recrimination. “And I’m afraid if I took on something that wasn’t temporary, such as Granny’s senility, it would never leave me, and I’d be stuck with it forever.”

I patted his hand, unseen by the touch-police in the back. “Don’t do that to yourself. There is nothing that says being a good person means you have to sacrifice yourself.”

Soon we were in town, and I had to concentrate more. I knew there was a detour around the broken bridge, but couldn’t remember exactly where it was, and in the dark the road looked unfamiliar. I found it, and then once I was back on the Interstate, I instructed Tim to watch for my turn off. He, at least, knew how to get there.

As we were getting closer, Fred tapped my arm, his eyes wide. “His breathing is getting so soft, sometimes I can’t even hear it,” he said, almost whispering.

I screeched to a halt in front of the entry of the hospital, upset that I’d entered the parking lot in what had to be the furthest entrance, winding around cars that had been left behind during the aftermath of the bombs. Fred was out of the car almost before I could turn it off, and I was out a few seconds after. Tim scrambled to meet me as I followed Fred and little Jacob inside the doors.

Two people were waiting in the foyer of the hospital. One of them turned and led the way quickly to an area that looked as if it might have once been the billing or admitting area. Now it was a small emergency area, much better equipped than I’d dared to hope. A woman came to meet us and motioned Fred to put Jacob down on the table. I was hovering as Fred began to answer the doctor’s rapid-fire questions about how and when Jacob had fallen sick. The stress of getting here was overwhelming, and now that the emergency was out of my hands, the tears rose up and rolled down my face. One of the people who had been waiting for us to arrive, possibly a nurse, told me to go and wait outside, and since I didn’t want Fred to see how I’d fallen apart and was continuing to fall apart, I did as he told me.

There were a few chairs out in the open foyer, and I slumped into one of them, studiously ignoring Tim as he stood against the wall, guarding me from absolutely nothing. As I sniffed, I stood and went in search of Kleenex, and finally found the pharmacy. It was gated and locked. I suppose Gabriel the all-powerful didn’t want the locals gorging on the sleeping pills or morphine. I held on to the gate while I tried to pull myself together. Why hadn’t I made sure that procedures were in place in case someone got sick? Why didn’t I have someone find the nearest hospital and doctor? The thought that there had been a closer hospital, or maybe even just a pediatrician in the area was sickening to me. What if I had doomed little Jacob because I was a terrible leader? How could I ever look at Fred again? Oh, sure, come and live at my parent’s house, and we’ll all pretend I know what I’m doing. I’ll gain your trust and then let your little brother die.

I heard a sound behind me and realized that Tim must have followed me. I suddenly couldn’t stand him watching me in my disgrace. Without turning, I said in a bitter, teary voice, “Why don’t you just go away and leave me alone? Please? Just get the hell away from me? Could you do that?”

There was no sound of movement for a moment, then a rich voice said, “I suppose I could, but why would I?”

My eyes were closed, my forehead resting against the metal gate that guarded the pharmacy. At the sound of his voice, I closed them tighter and tightened all over. I hated that I hadn’t known it was him and sounded so weak and whiny. I hated that he sounded calm and controlled, and most of all, I hated that part of me adored him just like everyone else.

I didn’t move, just ignored the voice and tried to pretend I was somewhere else. When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I jumped, not having realized he’d moved closer. He put his other hand to one of my hands gripping the gate as if it were a lifeline, and carefully loosened my fingers, pulling my hand away. I gave up then, and let him turn me until I was facing him. But instead of saying something else that would humiliate and mock me, he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.