Carlucci's Heart

by Richard Paul Russo

  She found laboratories like the ones she had been raised in, but everything in them was burned or smashed or broken, all destroyed. She wandered through them, hoping to find food, but there wasn’t any.

  Isabel liked the new silence in the Core, the new echoes of her movements. She felt safe. Food would be a problem, but she could always go back through the storage room if she needed to. And she had a feeling that it would not be long before strange people moved back.

  PART FIVE

  PLAGUE

  CHAPTER 37

  Carlucci watched Christina while Andrea slept. Christina had not been conscious for two days now, and the doctors didn’t think she ever would be again. So it was a great shock when she opened her eyes and looked at him. Her face was flushed, her arms and neck covered with rashes. There was terror in her eyes.

  “Who… who are you?” she whispered.

  “Your father, Tina.”

  But her eyes widened, and her head jerked spasmodically from side to side. “No. No. You’re… who are you?” Terror in her voice as well as her eyes.

  The doctors would be pissed if they knew, but he couldn’t let his daughter die like this, and so he reached up and pulled down his mask, revealing his face.

  “It’s me, Tina. Your father.” He pulled the chair up closer to the bed. She reached out tentatively toward him, lightly touched his cheek with one finger.

  “Daddy?”

  “Yes, Tina, sweetie, it’s me.” He gently took her hand. “I’m here.”

  The terror left her eyes for a few moments, then seemed to return.

  “It was the shot that gave it to me,” she said. “The special shot. I know it.” She was trying to raise her head up from the pillow.

  “What shot, Tina?”

  “Don’t let them give you the special shot, Daddy.” Then she let her head fall back and her eyes closed. “Daddy.”

  “I’m here, Tina.”

  “I’m so hot, Daddy.”

  “I know, sweetie. I know.”

  He continued holding her hand, but she didn’t say any more, and soon her breathing deepened.

  “Tina? Tina, baby, are you awake?”

  There was no answer.

  When Andrea -came in an hour later, Carlucci disposed of the suit and gloves and mask, then called Paula.

  “Paula, this is Frank Carlucci.”

  “Hi, Mr. Carlucci. How’s Tina?”

  “The same. Listen, Paula, I’ve got to ask you something. Maybe she was just feverish, but Tina said something about getting a shot, a special shot. Does that make any sense to you?”

  There was a short pause, then Paula said, “Yeah, actually. About three weeks ago, someone from St. Anthony’s came to the apartment for Tina. He said they were out giving booster vaccinations, and he gave her one.”

  Carlucci felt sick, one more terrible thing crashing down on him, but he tried to hold himself together.

  “What about you?” he asked.

  “No, it was only people with police health coverage, through St. Anthony’s.”

  “A guy, you said?”

  “Yeah, a guy.”

  “What did he look like?”

  “You know, white outfit and funny white shoes. A medico. I don’t really remember, I wasn’t paying that much attention.”

  “Okay, Paula. Thanks.”

  “What is it, Mr. Carlucci? Did the shot make her sick or something?”

  “No, I was just checking. Thanks again, Paula, and I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Say hi to Tina for me, will you? And tell her they won’t let me see her, or I would.”

  “I will.”

  He broke the connection and stood there in the hospital corridor, afraid to move, afraid that if he did move, he would completely fall apart.

  The checking was a formality, but he needed to have it confirmed, and it was. There had been no special booster vaccinations given, and even if there had been, St. Anthony’s would never have sent anyone out to do it, they would have notified everyone in the program and asked them to come into the clinic itself.

  Carlucci stood outside his daughter’s room, looking in through the glass window in the door. Andrea was sitting next to the bed; Christina lay unmoving, eyes closed. She hadn’t opened her eyes again.

  He didn’t know what to do with the information he now had. Someone had shot her up with Core Fever virus. Why? Something to do with him, it had to be, there was no reason for anyone to want to harm her, to kill her this way. But what? No threats had been made, before or after.

  Or was that true?

  He remembered Yoshi Katsuda hinting that being shot had been a message of sorts, a warning. But what the hell was this? No one had ever said to him, hey, stop investigating or your daughter will die. Nothing like that had ever been implied, by anyone.

  Dr. Sodhi came down the hall and waved a greeting. As he approached he said, “Lieutenant, I’m glad you are here. I wanted to talk to you.”

  “About Tina?”

  Dr. Sodhi shook his head. “No, not exactly. The CDC has made an announcement.”

  Carlucci snorted. “What, that they’re canceling the quarantine?”

  Dr. Sodhi smiled. “No. They recognize that the quarantine is over. I believe they would be too embarrassed to actually announce the official end of it. Better to ignore it, is their philosophy, I would imagine. No, they have announced that with the help of the medical facilities of New Hong Kong, the virus that causes Core Fever has been identified, and an antibody test developed. More than that, because the virus is very similar to one that New Hong Kong has recently been studying, they have a preventative vaccine ready to put into production.”

  Carlucci tipped his head. “That sounds like a crock,” he said. “Like one huge pile of horseshit.”

  Dr. Sodhi shrugged. “Perhaps. But that is the announcement that the CDC has made. With the breakdown of the quarantine, they will go into production of the vaccine immediately, and begin distribution of it as soon as possible here in the city.”

  Carlucci wanted to laugh. It was all becoming so absurd. “Preventative,” he said. “Not a treatment, not a cure.”

  “No.”

  “Then what good is it?” He turned away from Dr. Sodhi and returned to Christina’s room.

  And then, less than an hour later, she died. Quickly, and far more easily than they had ever expected. He and Andrea were both in the room trying to decide what to do for the night, when Christina went into a brief convulsion, and her heart stopped.

  Doctors and nurses came rushing in, but Carlucci and Andrea had already discussed this. They stood at Christina’s side and told the doctors “No.” No attempted resuscitation, no trying to jolt her heart back into beating. They wanted to let her die in peace.

  There were no arguments. All of the medical staff except for Dr. Sodhi left. Dr. Sodhi stayed only long enough to confirm that her heart had, in fact, stopped beating. Then he, too, left, and they were alone with her.

  They left the hospital together. It was nearly midnight, but the sounds of the rioting were still loud. Istvan had been right, it would take at least a couple of days to die down.

  Two uniforms were waiting in front of the hospital with a squad car to take them home. Carlucci recognized them, but he couldn’t remember their names. Springer, he thought, was one of them. He couldn’t bring himself to ask.

  They got into the backseat of the squad car. The two cops didn’t say anything, just got into the front seat and pulled away from the hospital. No one said a word the entire trip out to their house.

  When they arrived, the two cops remained in the car. Carlucci thanked them for the ride, then he and Andrea got out and walked slowly up the walkway, climbed the steps to the front porch, then stopped at the door.

  “I don’t want to go in, Frank.”

  “I know.”

  The house seemed different. Caroline and Christina had both been out of the house for some time, but now neither of them would ever enter it
again, even for a visit. It was a different house now.

  Andrea turned away from the front door, walked back across the porch, and sat down on the top step. Carlucci sat beside her, waved at the cops, and watched the squad car pull away.

  The neighborhood was quiet. They were far enough away from the Tenderloin and the downtown area, and the rioting hadn’t reached them. Probably never would; too much a residential neighborhood, and the quarantine had been miles away.

  The night air was warm, the skies almost clear except for the normal haze. The moon was nearly full, and well past its zenith. A cat yowled from somewhere nearby. If he listened carefully, he could hear the faint popping sounds of gunfire, the muted sounds of breaking glass or screeching metal.

  “What are we going to do?” Andrea said. “About Caroline, I mean. I want to see her again before she dies.”

  He didn’t want to have to answer her; he felt he didn’t have the strength to speak. But he swallowed, his mouth dry, and he said, “Maybe tomorrow it will be better. If we can get an escort—”

  “I don’t care about an escort. Just get us in there, Frank.”

  He nodded. “All right, I will.”

  They remained there, watching the moon and the blurred stars, and neither of them said another word.

  CHAPTER 38

  Something changed during the night.

  Cage noticed it in her breathing first. For days it had been labored, but during the night it became deep and easy. Then her fever broke, and by dawn her temperature had dropped to just under a hundred and one.

  He was afraid to hope. Nikki, too, had rebounded before getting worse. But that had happened before the Core Fever had really taken hold of her; that was not the case with Caroline. Still, he was afraid. He wasn’t sure how much he could take; if he let himself hope, he didn’t know if he could handle it when she worsened and died.

  The day was coming, bright gray light flowing in through the glass. Cage raised a window, letting in the morning air. The streets of the Tenderloin were relatively quiet. Although the rioting had begun in the Tenderloin and the DMZ, it had spread outward from the Tenderloin perimeter, through the quarantine barriers, and out into the city. Frustration and rage had been directed outward, leaving the Tenderloin itself relatively undamaged and unharmed. The announcement of the test and vaccine for Core Fever had done little to calm people there was too much suspicion, all of it probably justified and the rioting had continued out in the city, but the Tenderloin’s own natural barriers kept it outside.

  The cot creaked, and Cage turned around. Caroline had rolled onto her side, facing him. Her eyes remained closed, but she looked as if she might open them at any moment.

  He was still afraid to hope, but she looked so much better.

  Several hours later, her temperature finally dropped below a hundred. Even her color looked better. Cage sat beside her, waiting. Now he was beginning to hope in earnest; it was impossible not to.

  In the late afternoon, he discovered her bladder had let go. He took off her nightshirt, moved her onto the sleeping bag on the floor and washed her, then took her nightshirt and the sheets down to the laundry room in the building basement. Back in the apartment, he washed the plastic sheeting in the tub, replaced it on the cot along with clean sheets, then moved Caroline back to the bed. She half awakened as he moved her, her eyes fluttered open, and she mumbled a few words, but she was soon asleep again, and he was sure she would never remember being awake.

  He called in to the clinic, told them he wouldn’t be able to make it in at all for a day or two. He couldn’t tell Franzee why he wasn’t coming in; he was afraid to say it aloud, to put his hopes into words. He had not realized he could be so superstitious.

  As evening wore on, and her temperature didn’t climb, his hope grew, though he could hardly believe what was happening. He sat in a chair beside her through the night, dozing, periodically checking on her. As dawn approached, her temperature was down to ninety-nine, and he knew.

  Around six or seven, there was a knock at the door. When he got up and opened the door, Carlucci and his wife were standing out in the hall. They looked exhausted.

  “I was going to call you in a while,” Cage said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “We wanted to see her one last time,” Andrea said. “Be with her.”

  Cage smiled. “I think you may have wasted a trip.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Carlucci asked. “Is she already—”

  Cage shook his head, cutting him off. “No. I think she’s going to live.”

  She woke, unsure of where she was, or what had happened to her. Her eyes were still closed, and they started to open automatically, but she kept them shut.

  How long had she been asleep? It seemed like days. Maybe it was. She’d been sick. Yes, that’s what… Core Fever. No, impossible. Was she still alive? Yes, and not so hot anymore. What was happening?

  Caroline opened her eyes. No, that couldn’t be right. She was seeing her parents sitting beside her, and they were looking at her.

  “Caroline?” Her mother’s mouth moving, and it was her voice, but that was impossible, wasn’t it?

  Caroline closed her eyes again. She still ached a bit, but she felt better. On the other hand, she was still hallucinating. She was in Nikki’s place, and if anyone would have been here with her it would have been Cage. Maybe she should just sleep a while more.

  “Caroline?” Her father’s voice this time, quiet and tentative.

  She tried opening her eyes again, and they were both still there.

  “Caroline, are you awake?” Her mother.

  “Is it you?” she asked. Still thinking it couldn’t be. “Where am I?” She moved her hand to the side, feeling the canvas. Yes, she was on the cot.

  “You’re in the Tenderloin,” her mother said.

  “Nikki’s?”

  “Yes,” her father answered. “Nikki’s apartment.”

  “Cage.”

  “He’s here.”

  “How…? You’re here,” she said. “How? I told Cage not to tell you. I made him promise.”

  Her mother reached out and took her hand, a sad smile on her face. “He broke his promise,” she said. “Thankfully.”

  Caroline tried to pull her hand away, but she was too weak. “Don’t touch me,” she said. “Please, don’t, you’ll catch it.”

  Her mother shook her head. “There’s a vaccine,” she said. “Besides, Cage doesn’t think we could catch it now. He thinks you’re almost certainly not contagious anymore.”

  “Not…? How can that be?”

  “He thinks you’re going to live.”

  No, it was too much. She had to be hallucinating. She closed her eyes once more, but she could still feel her mother holding her hand. And then, somehow, she knew. Her parents were really there, her mother was holding her hand. And, most of all, she was going to live.

  She was going to live.

  She slept for a while, and when she woke again, her parents were still in the room her mother in a chair beside the cot, her father doing something at the stove or sink. She worked herself up with her elbows and looked around the apartment, but she didn’t see Cage anywhere.

  “Where is he?”

  “Cage?” her mother asked.

  Caroline nodded, then dropped back onto the cot.

  “He’ll be back in a while,” her mother said. “He said you were going to be fine, and he thought we could use some time alone together.”

  Caroline wanted to see him. He had stayed with her through it all, taken care of her, done everything for her. Risking himself, he had kept her alive, and she wanted to see him. Cage.

  “How did you get here?” she asked. “Through the quarantine?”

  “The quarantine’s gone,” her mother said.

  “Why? Is the disease gone? Core Fever?”

  Her mother shook her head. “No. It’s a long story. The quarantine collapsed. Core Fever is everywhere. People knew
. The quarantine was a joke.”

  “Then why…?” Then she shook her own head in reply. “Never mind,” she said.

  Her father approached, holding a steaming mug. “Chicken broth,” he said. “Cage said it would be good for you. You want some?”

  She nodded. When was the last time she’d eaten?

  They helped her sit up, propping her against the wall with pillows. She was still incredibly weak, and she could barely hold the cup. But the broth tasted good, and she slowly sipped at it, relishing both the taste and the heat going down her throat and into her belly.

  When she’d finished the broth, her father brought the cup to the sink, then returned to the cot and sat down beside her mother. The way they were looking at her gave her a sinking feeling in her gut.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “It’s Tina,” her mother said. “She got it, too.”

  “What?” Unbelieving. “Core Fever?”

  Her mother nodded, but didn’t say anything more. “How sick is she?”

  But her mother just shook her head, unable to speak, the tears beginning, dripping down her left cheek.

  “No,” Caroline said, shaking her head from side to side. “No.”

  But another voice inside her answered Yes, and she knew her sister was dead.

  CHAPTER 39

  Eric Ralston finally got in touch again. Now that the quarantine was gone, and all the announcements had been made by the CDC about tests and a vaccine, Eric called.