Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5

by Claudia Hall Christian

To tease him, Valerie slowly took off her clothing and stepped into the tub. The water splashed with her pregnant girth. He grabbed a towel and threw it on the water. She tucked herself between his knees in the tub.

  “How was tonight?” Mike asked to her hair.

  “I’m not supposed to talk about it,” Valerie said.

  “You can talk about you,” Mike said. “Just not events.”

  “Oh,” Valerie said. “Tonight was weird, Mike. All the training I did for the movie and all those endless action scenes… It was like I did all of that just to be ready for tonight. And tonight was scary, hard, and fun.”

  “Fun?”

  “Fun to feel so competent,” Valerie said. “I knew that I needed to do something. I knew it was up to me. And for the first time…”

  Valerie fell silent. She leaned against his chest and closed her eyes.

  “For the first time?” he asked.

  “I felt like Mom was with me,” Valerie said. “All of my life, she told me that I was important. She used to say that I was the brightest light in the world. I never took it seriously because, I mean compared to being able to move things with your mind or knowing the future, being a bright light doesn’t seem like much.”

  Mike kissed her head. She turned to look at him and they kissed.

  “Tonight, I realized that being a bright light is a big deal,” Valerie said. “A really big deal. I need to be the bright light more often.”

  “What would that mean?” Mike asked.

  “I don’t really know,” Valerie said. “There’s a lot of dark in the world right now. Maybe it’s just being me or being an activist like Angelina or… I don’t know.”

  “Sounds like a topic for Delphie,” Mike said.

  “Delphie would tell me to meditate on the idea,” Valerie said.

  “Will you?”

  “Maybe,” Valerie laughed.

  Mike chuckled at her.

  “I’m stronger than I realized,” Valerie said.

  “You’re amazing,” Mike said.

  “Thanks.”

  Valerie leaned back against him. They lay in the warm water for a while. Mike laughed and hugged her tight.

  “What?”

  “It’s been less than a year,” Mike said. “And everything I ever wanted is here. My paintings are selling well. I have more commissions than I can do. We have a baby on the way! We have a baby on the way! Your career is totally popping. And you’re here! You’re here being the bright light in my life. I…”

  He laughed.

  “I’ve never been happier.”

  “Me too,” Valerie said.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Wednesday early morning — 2:40 A.M.

  “Hey,” Ava said as she entered her office. “I thought everyone went home.”

  “We didn’t want to leave you here by yourself,” Lieutenant Colonel Alex Hargreaves said from the couch. She raised her hand to indicate to her identical twin Max. He was lying with his head on her lap. “Max has to sleep from two to five.”

  “And you?”

  “I can go a little more than ninety-six hours without sleep and not slow down,” Alex said. “Max can do it if he has to but he’s better if he sleeps a little. You should sleep.”

  “I have too much to do,” Ava said. “The team from Geneva is going to be here in the morning. Did you see the way the CDC investigator looked at me? They think I’m totally incompetent. I…”

  “I don’t want to rain on your panic attack but the CDC investigator was more concerned about dinner than about you,” Alex laughed. “They are amazing, the people at the CDC, very talented, but they’re total foodies. You know we got them reservations at Vesta Dipping Grill. Have you eaten?”

  Ava shook her head. Holding up the travel mug with warm water and lemon juice in it, she added, “This lemon juice sours my stomach.”

  “Maresol stopped by with some food for you,” Alex pointed to the mini-refrigerator next to Ava’s desk. “There are some enchiladas and more lemons in there for you. She also said you love toast, peanut butter and bananas.”

  Ava’s eyes went big. She nodded.

  “She brought supplies,” Alex said. “You should eat and sleep.”

  “I can’t,” Ava said. “These men’s lives depend on me.”

  “I could order you to sleep,” Alex said. “As Denver’s senior Homeland Security agent, I have control over this lab. Do I need to order you to sleep?”

  Ava’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Feel helpless?” Alex asked.

  Ava nodded.

  “I’ve been there,” Alex said. “I think as women, we’re indoctrinated that working harder will make things happen. I’ve learned the hard way that nothing trumps self care. We have to take care of ourselves. Will you eat and sleep?”

  “If I take the time, I won’t…”

  “You’d be surprised what some sleep can do,” Alex said. “Max will wake up at five. We’ll work out and he’ll be ready to go. Chances are, he’ll have solved whatever puzzle he was working on when he fell asleep. Are you stuck on a puzzle?”

  Ava nodded.

  “Then sleep is your answer,” Alex said. “I promise. I have a lot more experience in these kinds of situations. Sleep is your answer.”

  “You’re not sleeping,” Ava said.

  “I’m not. And that’s good for you,” Alex said. “I’ll handle the phones. I can talk to people when they come in and get everything set up. Think of me as your assistant.”

  Ava went to her refrigerator and took out Maresol’s homemade bread. She grabbed her toaster from under the cabinet and made a couple of pieces of toast. She slathered peanut butter on the toast and added slices of banana.

  “Well assistant,” Ava said. “Eat.”

  “I never thought you’d ask!” Alex said. “Can I have the phones first?”

  Shrugging, Ava gave her the Bluetooth ear bud to the lab phones. Alex stuck it in her ear and held her hand out. Ava gave her a piece of toast. Ava sunk into her arm chair and they ate their banana peanut butter toast in companionable silence.

  “Will you sleep now?” Alex asked.

  “I’m not tired,” Ava said. “I’m too wound up. Plus…”

  “You haven’t slept without Seth since it happened,” Alex said.

  Ava nodded. Being careful not to disturb Max, Alex took a handgun out from her sacrum holster. She ratcheted a round into the chamber.

  “I’ll keep watch,” Alex said. “At five-thirty, men from my team will arrive. They’ll bring breakfast and we’ll get going.”

  “I’m not…”

  “Humor me,” Alex said. “Close your eyes.”

  Ava closed her eyes and dropped into sleep. Alex smiled and clicked off the light on the table. In the silence, Alex kept guard over the only two people who could solve this puzzle and save Seth’s life.

  CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY-FOUR

  Sure?

  Wednesday morning — 6:10 A.M.

  Ava woke with a start. Confused, she rubbed her eyes. She was sitting in an arm chair in her office. Alex and Max were gone. She glanced at her watch and turned to stared at the clock on the wall

  “Oh crap, I’m late,” she mumbled.

  Semi-awake, she hopped to her feet.

  “Slowly,” a man’s voice said. “Give yourself a second to wake up. I have coffee.”

  Ava turned to see Alex’s problem solver, Captain Troy Olivas standing in the doorway.

  “Are you guarding me?” Ava tried to say. She was so groggy she wasn’t sure what came out. He smiled at her.

  “I have two cups,” he said. “One with lemon, warm water, and some of Alex’s honey and one with coffee and a little whole milk.”

  Ava held out her hand for the lemon water. He came into the room to give it to her. She took a sip, then another. He sat down on the couch.

  “Alex’s honey?” Ava asked.

  “Alex and Max keep bees at the house,” Troy said. “They have a beekeeping club
and keep bees with Delphie. You’ll have to come over for a harvest. It’s almost a pagan ritual.”

  “Why are you here, Captain Olivas?” Ava asked.

  “Orders,” Troy gave Ava a big toothy smile. She blushed at how handsome he was. “Actually, Alex seems to think I can help. There’s a bunch of us here. Margaret’s here to help with the Geneva contingency. Colin’s here to help sort out the medical piece with your lab tech Leslie. Raz is working with your computer guy… uh...”

  “Nelson,” Ava said. “And Fran?”

  “Vince is to work with her,” Troy said. “He can build anything anywhere. He’ll help Fran figure out how that machine worked. Our orders are to help but not interfere.”

  “Were you ordered to wake me?” Ava asked.

  “I was ordered not to wake you,” Troy said. “But the CDC is downstairs and the Geneva and Israeli teams are on their way from the airport. We’re concerned there will be a turf war. And…”

  “And?” Ava asked.

  “Your fiancé is an old friend of Alex’s father,” Troy said.

  “Oh?”

  “They served in Vietnam together,” Troy said. “We don’t have time for turf wars.”

  “Why are you here?” Ava asked.

  “I’m an ‘out of the box’ thinker,” Troy said. “I have a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics. I’m assigned to assist you.”

  “Who’s working with Bob?” Ava asked.

  “Max,” Troy said.

  “Is my team…?”

  “They’re due here at six-thirty,” Troy said. “We’re having a big meeting at eight. That gives everyone time to get their ducks in a row. Are you hungry?”

  Ava nodded.

  “Why don’t we get out of here?” Troy asked. “You can brief me over breakfast. I’m sure you’ll want to shower and change your clothes. Or at least I do when I work all night.”

  “Shouldn’t I stay here? Assert my authority?”

  “Nah,” Troy said. “Alex is here. Turf wars are one of her specialties. No one’s going to try anything while she’s around. There’s not a big dog in the world that won’t roll over at her feet.”

  Ava stood up and went to her desk for her purse.

  “You don’t mind if the rest of your team meets us, do you?” Troy asked.

  “I’d really like that,” Ava said. “I touched base with them before they left last night but it would be good to get a thorough update on their progress.”

  “Good,” Troy said. “They’re on their way to Dozens.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been busy,” Ava said.

  “Not me,” Troy said. “Alex and Max. But we’ll need to have something soon.”

  “Soon?”

  “The patients didn’t fair very well overnight,” Troy said.

  “Seth?” Ava’s voice came out in a panicked breath.

  “He’s alive,” Troy said. “That’s all I know.”

  “I should stay,” Ava said.

  “You need to come with me,” Troy said.

  “Orders?”

  “Something like that,” he said. “We’ll be back in time to get this done.”

  Ava smiled at him. He escorted her through the lab. When the elevator opened, she saw the team from the CDC waiting there. She swallowed hard. She was about to say something when Alex welcomed them to the lab. She and Troy got on the elevator and went up to the first floor. She was out of the building before she took her first full breath.

  “That was close,” Troy laughed.

  Ava smiled and followed him down the street to the restaurant. Inside, she saw her team and the soldiers assigned to each of them. They were laughing about something and Ava smiled. When Bob waved to them, she felt a rush of hope.

  “I can do this,” she muttered.

  “We’re waiting for you to,” Troy laughed.

  She smiled at him and went to meet her team.

  ~~~~~~~~

  Wednesday morning — 6:10 A.M.

  “Jill!” Valerie whispered and tapped on the door.

  She’d crept up to Jill and Jacob’s apartment. As if she’d been waiting for her, Jill opened the door. Jill smiled at Valerie and gestured her into the kitchen. Jill nodded to a bar stool and Valerie took a seat at the counter.

  “Isn’t Katy up?” Valerie asked.

  “She and Jake are sleeping in,” Jill said. “We were up late. Doesn’t matter when Katy falls asleep. She’ll sleep for exactly eight hours and wake up. She won’t be up for a few hours yet.”

  “I had the weirdest dream,” Valerie said.

  Jill set a cup of tea in front of Valerie and poured one for herself.

  “I dreamed that we killed the monster in Brighton,” Valerie said. “You, me, the kids, Honey, like we did last night. I woke up with this feeling that we had to do it. Today.”

  Jill smiled and stirred her tea.

  “You don’t have to be so quiet,” Valerie said. “I know about the twins.”

  Jill’s head jerked up with surprise.

  “You do?” Jill asked. “Jacob doesn’t even… How…?”

  “Mom told me,” Valerie said. Jill raised her eyebrows and Valerie laughed. “When we were kids. Not now.”

  Jill smiled.

  “She told me that only Jake could have boys,” Valerie said. “I always knew it but I was still so devastated at losing Jack.”

  “I know,” Jill reached out to cover Valerie’s hand with her own. “I haven’t known how to tell you. I’m so sorry about Jack.”

  “Me too,” Valerie said.

  Jill gave Valerie’s hand a squeeze.

  “So you’re not upset?”

  “About the twins?” Valerie said. “No. Not at all. I’m excited to be an aunt. I’ve been buying baby stuff for the boys. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Jill smiled. The women fell silent for a moment while they drank their tea. Valerie looked up and smiled at Jill.

  “Mom told Jake too. He would have a girl, a set of twin boys and maybe more later. She couldn’t tell after the twins,” Valerie said. “He would roll his eyes and head out to screw some other chick. It was pretty funny looking back on it.”

  “Screw some chick? When?” Jacob tried to sound indignant but couldn’t keep from laughing. Wearing his pajamas, he kissed Jill good morning. “Thanks for ruining my big moment.”

  “Which big moment was that?” Valerie laughed.

  “My moment of surprise and love – Twins? Us? Really?” Jacob leaned over to whisper in Jill’s ear. “We’ll talk later?”

  Jill nodded.

  “Are you here about the monster in Brighton?” Jacob asked.

  Valerie nodded.

  “I’m not going to let you go by yourself,” Jacob said. “I doubt Aden will let the kids and Sandy go by themselves. Mike’s going to insist on coming. And there’s no way MJ’s leaving Honey’s side.”

  “We’d probably have to kill Delphie to keep her from being involved,” Jill said.

  “But we need to go, right?” Valerie asked.

  “Today,” Jacob said. “I’m a little surprised…”

  “Jill?” Delphie stuck her head in the doorway. The dogs, Sarah and Scooter, came running in. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

  Scooter made a beeline for Katy’s room.

  “I can stay here with Katy,” Jill said. “We don’t have the mitochondrial DNA.”

  “You need to go,” Valerie said.

  “But…” Jill said.

  “We need you there,” Delphie said.

  “Katy won’t be awake for another hour or so.”

  “Maria is here,” Delphie said. “She wanted to talk to you about furnishing your nursery anyway.”

  “So everyone knows?” Jill asked.

  Delphie gave Jill one of her flower child smiles. Jill shook her head and Delphie hugged her.

  “We leave in a half an hour?” Valerie got up from her stool. “I’ll talk to Honey.”

  “The police are coming at eight,” Jacob said. “They wan
t to talk to everyone. That’s going to take all morning.”

  “Sissy can’t miss dance,” Jill said. “But I can stay here with her. She and Charlie don’t have the DNA either.”

  “No, I think everyone has to be there,” Delphie said. “You, Katy, Sissy, Charlie, Teddy… Yes, we need you to kill this thing.”

  “Construction has started on the fields around the barn,” Jacob said. “We can’t run the risk of involving their crew.”

  “We go tonight,” Valerie said.

  “After dinner,” Jacob said.

  “It’s a plan,” Delphie said.

  Valerie gave a pert wave and left the loft.

  “I’m thinking of staying here,” Jill said.

  Concerned, Jacob reviewed her face.

  “What is it?” Jacob asked.

  “It’s just been a lot,” Jill said. “For me. For Katy. Serial killers. Monsters. Crazy people. It’s just a lot. I don’t know… I guess I’m tired.”

  “Is it the babies?” Jacob asked.

  Jill shook her head.

  “I need to shower,” Jill said.

  She smiled at him and Delphie and then left for their bedroom. Worried, Jacob’s eyes followed her to the door. He was trying to figure out if he should follow when Delphie cleared her throat.

  “Did you notice it’s summer?”

  His mind still distracted by his worry for Jill, Jacob gave Delphie a curt nod.

  “Do you remember what happened last summer?” Delphie asked.

  Puzzled, Jacob tried to figure out what Delphie was saying. Delphie twirled back and forth making her skirt puff out.

  “I met Jill at the engagement party?”

  Smiling, Delphie twirled and her skirt puffed out.

  “Katy got stung by a bee?” Jacob asked. “Honey was almost killed?”

  Delphie twirled back and forth.

  “You’re not going to tell me,” Jacob said.

  “I’m not,” Delphie said. “You can ask her but it’s probably better if you figure it out yourself.”

  With that, Delphie turned in place and left the loft. Sarah, his yellow Labrador, looked up at him. Confused, he rubbed Sarah’s ears. His mind ran through the important days of last summer. He took Jill on her first date to the zoo. Katy was stung by a bee. They made love the first time. He was injured. Jill and Katy moved in. They moved into this loft. He shook his head with confusion. Hearing Jill start a shower, he turned to look toward their room.