“You—you’re what?” The man squinted at David for a moment, and then a lightbulb visibly went off in his brain and realization spread across his features. “Holy shit, you’re David Breyer! My sister loves your cooking show. I gotta’ get your autograph!”
Just like that, the tension defused. I let out my breath, having not realized that I was holding it.
“Guys,” the bearded man said to his companions, “why didn’t you tell me this was David Breyer before I embarrassed my damn self? These people definitely aren’t from Verité.” His voice was exasperated.
Two of the goons shrugged. The final one—the guy with the limp—replied sheepishly. “I didn’t recognize him with the beard.” His voice was a lot higher than I would have expected.
“Christ, sorry for being so threatening,” the red-bearded man said, shaking his head in apology and smiling in what was probably meant to be a reassuring way. I still found it somewhat frightening. “I’m Klaus. These guys are Smith, Troy, and Gil.”
We exchanged anxious pleasantries and handshakes with the scary looking foursome.
“Please, join us,” David said pleasantly, offering them seats around the small table on the porch. “We’ve got some food if you want. We were just eating lunch. It’s nice to see other people from the states.”
“Thanks. Gil’s a filthy Canadian, but close enough. We’re from Genuprix Pharmaceuticals—at least, that’s who’s paying us for this job. I thought you guys were from their competitor, Verité Labs,” Klaus explained. “I swear, I was only putting on the tough-guy show because I thought I needed to. I’m a mercenary, so threatening the opposition comes with the territory. We’re here to secure some valuable commodities for Genuprix before Verité beats us to it. We’ve got no quarrel with a cooking show.”
David and I exchanged a quick look and tiny nod. Klaus and company didn’t know we were after the fire-leaf as well. That was good. If a pharmaceutical company wanted the fern enough to send a team of mercenaries to recover it, they might be genuinely dangerous. A thought occurred to me, and I decided to go with it before I could chicken out. I winked at David.
“I’m glad you’ve got no quarrel with us,” I said sweetly, putting on my most winning smile and aiming it at Klaus. “We’re not exactly adventurers and the ferry ride over just about did us all in yesterday. I can only speak for myself, but I know I’d never be able to keep up with you four in a scavenger hunt. I’m just a TV producer.” I batted my eyelashes at him for good measure. “Did you find what you were looking for on Nico?”
The top of Klaus’ ears turned pink. “Um, no ma’am. Not yet. We’re heading back out tomorrow morning on a mission to recover it.”
“My name is Casey,” I giggled girlishly. “You don’t have to call me ma’am.”
“Ok, Casey,” Klaus said with a big, goofy grin. He was eating out of my hand.
“Back out? So, you’ve already been looking out there? That must be hard.”
“They’re definitely dangerous conditions, but we’re well supplied and experienced. We’ve been out there for three weeks already. We wouldn’t have come into town at all, but Troy here cut his leg on the rocks and needed stiches. We’ll be getting back to our mission tomorrow.”
“Three weeks? Wow, what an adventure. You must be very tough, Klaus,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw David suppress a smirk. Trevor, Curtis, and Daphne were all pointedly looking anywhere but at us, probably to avoid cracking up. “And you’re going back up to the volcano? We were thinking about hiking a bit on it, too, in order to get some nice footage, but it looks so scary. Where are you planning on going?”
“We’re going to the windward side of the island tomorrow, ma’am… I mean Casey. That’s where our sea plane and our temporary base is. We’re sure that’s where what we need is, too. We just have to find it.”
Good. That was the wrong area. I grinned at Klaus and flipped my hair.
“Well, Klaus, I wish you lots of luck,” I lied. “I’ll let those Verité Labs people know they’re going to lose if they show up!”
22
David
Competition had arrived, and they were carrying AR-15’s. I hadn’t thought we’d have any competition, despite the half-paranoid ramblings in Alberto’s journal and his mysterious death. Given the fact that the stakes were rising, now that there were literally mercenaries here with us, I felt like I needed to come clean to the crew about Alberto. He wasn’t the only secret I was keeping from them, but at the moment, he was the most relevant.
“I’ve got to tell you guys something,” I began once Casey finished her charm offensive and the Genuprix guys were safely out of earshot. “I haven’t told you everything about the search for the flame-leaf.”
Daphne was the first to interrupt me. “Are you about to tell us you knew we’d be up against freakin’ Seal Team Six? Because yeah, that would have been really nice to know about in advance. I should have demanded hazard pay for this whole thing.” She had become a lot more opinionated since her experience on the ferry. It didn’t take a rocket scientist like my brother to know that she was no longer enjoying this job very much.
“No,” I said. My voice sounded very defensive, so I sighed and tried again. “That wasn’t what I was referring to. I want to tell you about the person that first brought the flame-leaf fern to my attention. His name was Alberto Dima, and he was a scientist visiting LA. I say ‘was’ because he died unexpectedly last month. His death was suspicious, but I thought it was a case of mistaken identity. Now I’m beginning to wonder if he was targeted.”
Casey was staring at me with a gaze like a laser beam. I felt like she could see into my soul. “David, can you please tell us the whole story from the beginning?” Her voice was flat and expressionless.
“There’s not much to tell, Casey, and I swear I didn’t think any of it was relevant until right now. The day I recruited you, I was supposed to meet Alberto for lunch. He never arrived, and later I learned that he’d died in an unexplained explosion in his hotel. I do have his journal, however, which he mailed shortly before his death. It reveals that he was somewhat paranoid about his safety.”
“How exactly did your friend die?” Curtis asked.
“There was a package delivered to his room. When he opened it, the package detonated and killed him instantly.”
“Did he think that pharmaceutical companies were after him?” Trevor followed up.
I nodded. “Yes. But he also thought that a lot of people were after him. He was a paranoid person in general. I swear that I didn’t take any of that seriously before now or I would have shared it. The last thing I want is for any of us to be in danger.”
“Are the police involved in any of this?” Casey asked. “What do they think?”
“Yes, and they have no idea. The last I heard, they still have no motive or suspects for his death.”
Casey nodded, seemingly mollified. Her eyes had turned back to their usual soft expression and the little stress line between her eyebrows was gone. I exhaled heavily in relief. Even if the rest of the crew hated me, if Casey was with me I’d be ok. Not only because she would convince them, but because I was hopelessly in love with her. Having Casey angry or disgusted with me had become totally unacceptable.
“Casey,” Daphne said, “can I talk to you in private for a second?” Her face was tired.
The two women disappeared for a moment and then Casey returned alone. She and Curtis exchanged a significant look and he shook his head.
“Daphne has decided to go home tomorrow on the ferry,” Casey announced. “She’s making this decision based on her assessment of her own health and personal happiness. I think this is the best thing for her.”
“I can take over the lighting,” Trevor said. He might be obnoxious and weird, but I had to hand it to Trevor, he worked hard and always seemed willing to take on more. In spite of the insanity of this production, he looked more committed than ever.
“If you take over t
he light monitoring, I think I can do some of the videography,” Casey said. “Curtis, can you walk me through it? I’ve forgotten some of it.”
Curtis nodded. “Yeah. You’re just rusty. We’ll be ok without Daph, but we really can’t lose another person.”
“Speaking of which,” Casey said, “if anyone else is going to quit, speak up soon. Once we head out on the slopes of that volcano, if you quit you’ll be walking back to town alone.”
“I’m all-in,” Curtis replied, looking at Trevor. “I don’t know about you, Trevor, but this is too much of an adventure to give up now.”
“I’m not giving up,” Trevor said. “I’ll probably never get to do anything like this ever again. I want to see what happens, although I’m not gonna’ lie, I really hope that whatever happens doesn’t involve those Genuprix guys. They look like they would kill me and roast me on a spit.”
That was an image I could have done without, but I took his point. I didn’t want anything further to do with Klaus and his scary friends, either. Although I’m not easily intimidated, I also knew that there were only four of us and four of them. And all four of them had semi-automatic weapons.
“The good news is that they’re headed to the seaward side of the island,” I said. “Thanks to Casey’s manipulative flirting earlier, at least we know they’re never going to find it since Dr. Cruz says that it grows on the leeward side.”
“Manipulative?” Casey asked innocently. She was pouting adorably.
All three of us men nodded. “Yeah it was definitely manipulative,” Trevor said. “But, uh, good job I guess.”
Casey rolled her eyes.
When we were alone later that evening, Casey asked me if there were any other secrets she needed to know.
“I don’t think so,” I replied, and technically I wasn’t lying. I didn’t think she needed to know there was no distribution deal for the show. At least not right now.
“Ok good,” she said, kissing me on the cheek. “Because I really hate surprises.”
23
Casey
Morning found me kneeling over the toilet, again.
“Casey are you ok in there?” David’s voice was frantic, and he kept knocking on the door. From my position in front of the tiny toilet, I was unable to reply. Another painful wave of nausea sent me right back down before I was able to say anything.
Daphne had already come in to check on me once, and after proving to her that I was alive, I’d quickly sent her on her way. She had a ferry to catch. The rest of the crew were all getting ready for our expedition out of the village and up the volcano. The weather had finally cleared, and we’d planned to get an early start. I’d already delayed us thirty minutes.
“Casey!” David called from the other side of the door. “Talk to me here. Just let me know you’re alright.”
In truth, I wasn’t sure what I should say to David. Since our conversation after sex yesterday afternoon, everything had felt weirdly tense. The last time someone said that he loved me, I got dumped a week later. That was a long time ago, just after college, but it still stung.
I knew I was falling in love with David. I could practically feel him claiming all the available territory in my heart. But as much as I wanted him to have my heart, I was also scared. I barely knew him. What if our lives were fundamentally incompatible? He was celebrity and third generation billionaire. I was a farm girl from Arkansas that produced weird television programs. What kind of future could the two of us have?
When I awoke the next morning to the worst nausea of the trip so far, all the fear and insecurity of not really knowing if David cared about me seemed to boil up in me along with last night’s bouillabaisse. I knelt over the tiny toilet attached to the infirmary, cursing my shitty timing, the fact that I hadn’t found another pregnancy test in Manila, the fact that I’d told David to be quiet the afternoon before.
As for me, there’s no being quiet while I’m getting sick. It’s not a quiet thing for me. The worst part is that I can’t stop crying when I’m vomiting. It’s an automatic response for me and felt like it was just adding insult to injury.
“Casey, open the door or I’m going to break it down,” David said. “And I don’t know how to break down a door. I’ll probably hurt myself. Don’t hurt my pride and my shoulder.”
I laughed through my tears at that but didn’t move from the toilet. I didn’t want him to see me like this. A tiny, proud sliver of me wanted David to see me as beautiful, perfect and feminine. It’s hard to be any of those things while worshipping at the porcelain altar.
“Casey, please? I’m really getting worried about you.” His voice was much softer now. He did sound worried.
Reluctantly I turned enough within the narrow confines of the bathroom to unlock the door. David opened the door the instant he heard the lock click. He stared down at me in fear.
“Are you alright? You’ve been in here a long time.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” I told him miserably. “I feel so bad.”
He knelt and brushed my sweaty hair back from my forehead. I’m sure I looked horrible.
“Its gonna’ be alright, Casey. It’s all gonna’ be ok. I told Curtis and Trevor we aren’t leaving this morning. We’ve got to figure out what’s wrong with you. There’s no way you can hike up a volcano like this.”
He was right about that. The thought of scaling a flight of stairs felt out of reach right now. A volcano was definitely out of the question. I nodded reluctantly.
“I’m going to go get Dr. Cruz, ok?” He wasn’t really asking, more telling. “She’s a doctor. Maybe she can figure out what’s going on with you.” I could hardly argue with my guts in my throat.
He returned with her only a few minutes later. She was all business, taking my blood pressure, listening to my heart, and doing all the normal doctor things.
“Any preexisting health conditions or family history that could explain it? IBS? Lupus? Anything like that?”
“No.”
“Recent infections? Exposure to ticks, fleas, parasites, biting or stinging insects?”
“Um, no. At least, I don’t think so.”
“Have you made any recent, significant changes to your diet?”
“No.”
“Any food or medication allergies?”
“No.”
“Hmm. Morning nausea, general lethargy, no fever… Could you be pregnant?” she asked it just as bluntly as her other questions. At her side, David’s eyes went enormous and his mouth dropped open. I could see him putting the pieces together for himself. He was counting on his fingers as I shook my head.
“No. I’m on the pill,” I replied with less confidence than I felt. “I always take it.”
She frowned. “Your symptoms are most consistent with early pregnancy. When was your last period?”
David was staring at me. He was very, very still, and his face had become extraordinarily pale. I couldn’t articulate a response with him looking at me like that. Dr. Cruz picked up on my discomfort, looking from him to me and back.
“David, could you please step outside?” She asked him. He didn’t respond. I’m not sure he could, or even if he was listening. He was still staring down at his fingers in dismay. Dr. Cruz waved a hand in front of his face. “David?”
He blinked and came back to reality. “No. No way. I’m staying with Casey.” His voice, and expression, were stubborn.
“I’m having a private conversation with her, David,” she told him. Her voice had gone from friendly to ice cold. “Step out. Now. She’s having a conversation with her physician and has every right to privacy.”
“Do you want me to go?” he asked me. His voice was confused and lost-sounding. I didn’t want to make him sad, but I needed privacy for this conversation.
“Please go,” I managed. “I just need a moment.”
It wasn’t until Dr. Cruz shooed David out of the room that I felt capable of answering her quest
ions. I took a deep breath to steady myself.
“Okay, yes. I think I might be pregnant,” I told her. She looked at me with a level, bemused expression. Her face was not remotely surprised or judgmental. She was just listening, and I was intensely grateful that I got to have this conversation with her and not a male doctor. I’d never felt comfortable with male physicians, especially when it came to lady things.
“When was the first day of your last menstrual period?” she asked.
I pulled out my phone to give her the exact answer. The date I gave her was almost three months in the past. She cocked an eyebrow at me.
“You didn’t consider pregnancy before now?”
“I took a pregnancy test in Manila, but it didn’t work,” I blurted defensively. “There were supposed to be lines to tell me the results, but there were no lines in the little box-thingies. I thought that meant no. I’ve also been taking my birth control religiously.”
“Ok, Casey. Let’s take this one step at a time. I’m going to need a urine sample,” was all she said.
An hour later, I was lying back with an ultrasound machine’s little wand pressed against my belly and lubricating goo smeared all over me. The image being produced from inside my tummy looked like nothing at all to me, but Dr. Cruz squinted and pronounced the results with confidence.
“Well, the urine test was definitely not a false positive. You are pregnant. Actually, you’re pregnant twice over. You’re having twins. I’d say you’re twelve weeks along. Too early to tell the gender.”
Twins?! I stared at the picture on the ultrasound, looking for something that looked like a human, but didn’t see anything but gray and black splotches. Dr. Cruz pointed at one splotch.
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