***
"Ma'am?" said a jittery man whose voice resembled a parrot's.
The Chemist had been too engrossed by other thoughts to hear him. He called her attention once more and she looked at the man in the white lab coat. He winced as if he’d been struck. She said, "I'm sorry, doctor, you were saying?"
The man said, "Yes, well, it's taken more time than anticipated but we were able to synthesize the compounds you've asked us to."
"Excellent." The Chemist looked at a nearby beaker containing an ominous copperish liquid.
The doctor rubbed his hands together. He was nervous. "However -" The Chemist looked at him and again he looked like she had hit him. She said nothing and the man gathered enough courage to continue. "The problem is finding a delivery vehicle that’ll not only transport the compounds, but also store safely them in an inert state until they’re used."
The Chemist eyed the doctor and he seemed ready to run for the hills. She thought he needed to stop eating the coffee beans he’d been hoarding. The Chemist took a few guesses on what he traded for those but discounted this as unimportant. She answered the man’s question with one of her own. "Doctor, what do you need from me?” She regretted asking him as soon as she said it, for the doctor began to sound off a list of items that would be both difficult and expensive to acquire. When he had finished she asked if they were absolutely necessary. The doctor nodded. Considering he displayed none of the frayed nerves he had shown a moment ago The Chemist had to defer to his judgment.
“Can you procure what I need?”
She thought about it and then nodded. The doctor’s eyes lit up and it had the look of a child who’s just been told Santa would give him everything he wanted. The Chemist said, “Continue your work, doctor. I want testable samples in two weeks. By then I’ll have what you need.”
The doctor nodded and The Chemist thought his head was going to unhinge and fall off. “Yes, ma’am.” He made to turn around but The Chemist stopped him with a hand.
She said, “How effective will they be?”
“Very effective.”
“Give me numbers.”
The doctor pursed his lips. After some deliberation he said, “Once dispersed into the water supply its potential lethality could measure in the tens of thousands.”
The Chemist grinned and seeing it caused the color to drain from the man’s face.
To keep his mouth from drying he said, “But as you mentioned, tests will need to be made.”
“Then don’t waste any more time talking to me...” Taking her meaning the doctor nodded and turned back to his workstation. With business done she turned and made her way to the exit.
Shutting the door behind her she was met by a lab technician working in this secret section of Johns Hopkins. Only those loyal to The Chemist were allowed here. The lab tech, a young gaunt man stopped in front of her with a piece of paper in his hands. She looked at it and then at him.
The lab tech said, “Ma’am, we’ve just received word that your husband wishes for you to return home immediately.”
The Chemist touched the object hanging around her neck and thought of him. She said, “Was there a telegraph?”
“Yes, ma’am, sent to your office.”
Good, thought The Chemist. No one else knew of this place.
“Did it say why?”
He shook his head. “No, but it seemed urgent so your secretary sent a runner here with the message and they gave it to me.”
“Okay, thank you.” The young man beamed with pride. “Is my car ready?”
“One is being arranged now. It’s waiting at the entrance.”
She nodded and made her way to the other side of the hospital and on her way there she held the blue stone necklace her husband had given her a long time ago.
***
When The Groom had recounted everything he had heard from the tape it took all her might to keep her rage in check. She asked her husband, “What happens next?”
“We wait. We wait and build.”
“Do we have time?”
“More or less. My cousin still has to consolidate his power up north. If it hasn't happened already New York will surrender, from there Massachusetts, and then the rest.”
I’ll kill him before that happens, and he will suffer before the end.
The Chemist said her brother-in-law’s name and the words tasted bitter. “He said he'd defend you. You trust him, right?”
The Groom said, “My brother won't make a move until our cousin does. Until that happens he's stuck trying to take North Carolina, and that conquest is going to be drawn out. More than anyone thinks, and more than he's willing to admit out loud.”
She paused, and then said, “Yes, you’re right.”
Your brother isn’t worthy of you, or anything. I have something special for him in mind.
She waited for The Groom to say something, and when he didn’t she turned to look at him. Her eyes grew wide when she saw he was crying. At once she felt her heart break and harden at the same time. She came around the desk and embraced him.
Between sobs he said, “What am I going to do?”
The Chemist kissed his face and forehead and said, “We'll figure it out. We always do. And if it becomes too much, I'll protect you.”
The Groom nodded in her arms.
The Chemist said, “I’ll protect you. I swear it.”
Your sister. Your cousin. Your brother. They’ll all die. Everyone who hurts you will die. You’re my love. You’re my everything. I would make the world bleed to keep you safe.
She looked into the distance and smiled, knowing what was to come of it all.
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Of Wars and Weddings Page 12