The Cure
Page 24
Who’d want to give you away? She didn’t dare say anything aloud.
“I’m looking for my girlfriend, Kathy Campion-Swink,” he whispered. “Has she been here?”
“Yes,” she breathed, feeling her heart shrink.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” asked Tanya.
She pulled out of Hector’s embrace. “You’re such a jerk,” she told him. “I told you not to come. Now we’ll have all these girls Twittering about us.”
“Well, you are an unlikely couple,” said Audrey.
“See what I mean,” Rose told Hector. “You better have a good reason.”
“Hey, little lady,” said the man in the yellow tee shirt. “Hector’s real devoted to you. He hitched all the way from Los Angeles to see you. So don’t you be hard on him.”
Tanya’s eyes lit up. “You live in California?” she asked Hector. “I’m going there, to Stanford.”
“Good for you.” Hector walked over to his friend and offered his hand. “Thanks for the ride, Kurt.”
“I’m so sorry getting my shit together took so long, man. But I got you here safe and sound.” Kurt shook Hector’s hand. “It‘s good you signed on. Not only for the Corps, but it will give you a chance to cast around before you settle into port.” He glanced at Tanya. “There are a lot of fish out in the big blue sea, you know what I mean?”
“Have a good trip back to Providence,” said Hector.
“Semper Fi, buddy.” Kurt started to walk away, then turned back to Tanya. “See you in Heaven, angel.”
“I will pray you never get there.” Tanya puffed air from her lips, then turned to Hector. “How far are you from Stanford?”
“A quarter of a mil and two grade points,” he said as he went back to Rose.
“That close?” said Audrey.
“I think he means dollars,” said Celise.
Hector nodded. “Excuse us, folks. Rose and I have to talk alone.”
“Stay somewhere we can see you,” said the bald DHS agent.
Rose yielded to Hector’s tug on her wrist and they walked across the grass with her hand enveloped by his until they were out of earshot. “Are vampires for real?” she asked.
“Too real.” Putting his arm around her waist, he turned her away from the onlookers and brought his head down close to hers. “Sorry, we have to keep up the act. Where’s Kathy? How can I get to talk with her?”
She felt warm in the sunlight. No guy’s ever held me like this.How much do I tell him? He seems to love Kathy, but is that part of his act? I don’t know this guy or who he’s working for. “Sorry. I don’t know how to reach her. She and an Asian girl who said she was a vampire came to see me yesterday. They warned me about a vampire named Baneful.”
Hector looked around. Tendons stood out in his neck. “He’s here?”
“I think so. One of the girls on my floor was attacked, but I wasn’t there.” Her gaze shifted from Hector to a bed of multicolored impatiens planted for graduation. She refocused on his face. “Why don’t you know how to get in touch with Kathy?”
“The vampires won’t let us have our phones and I have no idea where she’s staying. I only knew she was coming to see you. Did you give her what she asked for?”
Rose stiffened. “I don’t know what you mean. Why are you pretending to be my boyfriend?”
“It helped me get to see you. I thought you’d know where Kathy was.”
“She has my cell number. I told her to call me if the vampires got my father away from the Homeland Security people.”
“But we did. I mean the vampires did, last night.” Hector’s shoulders drooped. “I was just — there.” His voice broke on the last word.
“Is my father okay?”
“Yeah, he’s fine. A friend of mine died, though.” He used his free hand to rub his face.
“I’m sorry. What happened to him?”
“He got shot.”
“The vampires killed him?”
“He was a vampire.”
“Your friend was – ?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
His hand brushed the matter aside. “Forget it; it’s done. I need to get to Kathy.”
“If they have my father, maybe Kathy will call me today.”
“I’ll hang close. I need to talk to her.”
“They won’t let you in the dorm. And I have to attend the Honors Banquet tonight.” Rose looked down at her tennis shoes. “I’m getting the Art medal. Usually it goes to a senior, so I can’t let my teacher down by not showing up. I have to clean up and get dressed.”
“You can’t stay here tonight. Baneful might come back.”
“I know. Where are you staying?”
Hector shrugged. “Under a tree somewhere. I only have twenty bucks to my name. The vampires will come looking for me here. Do you have what your father sent you?”
“What do you mean?”
He turned her to face him. “There’s no time for games.”
“You’re hurting me.” She pulled free of his grip.
“I’m sorry. Look, I’m certain Kathy asked you for whatever Dr. Quintz sent. I’m guessing that Homeland Security did, and that Baneful is here because of it. The way to end this is to give what you have to the vampires who want to develop the cure, not to Baneful or the government agents who want to destroy it. Then they’ll all go home and leave you alone. And maybe Kathy and I will get a chance to go home, too.”
Rose shook her head. “I want to talk to my father first. It’s his work. He should decide how it should be used. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Come on, Rose. The guys who invented the atom bomb or the Internet never had much say in how they were used. If nobody ever adopts or adapts what a scientist invents, chances are it was useless to begin with.”
“I don’t care about that. I’m certainly not the one to decide about his work.”
Hector frowned. “Then you have a posse of vampires coming after you. I hope you have a deep hole to hide in. Big enough for two, because I want to be there when Kathy calls. You can’t have a phone on during that banquet, anyway, so I’ll hold it while you’re in there. If she calls, I can talk to her directly.”
“No. I think Homeland Security planted an eavesdropping bug in my phone.”
“So? We can talk in terms they wouldn’t understand.”
“I don’t want to be without my phone all night. How do I know you’ll stay around to give it back to me after the banquet?”
Hector thought for a moment, then shrugged. “You have to trust me.”
“The last person I trusted stole my laptop and gave me this.” She pointed to her nose.
“That’s nasty. I’m not like that. And I helped rescue your father.”
“You call putting him in the hands of vampires a rescue?”
Hector’s hands came up empty. “What can I say? The world’s a lot more complicated than it looks from school. All I want is you, me and Kathy coming out of this alive.”
“And my father.”
“Yeah, and your father. If Kathy calls before you go into the banquet, let her know you’ve made a friend here named Hector, and I came alone. Where can I meet you before you go into the banquet?”
Rose looked about. Where could he hide? “In the barn. Out there past the athletic fields. It should be quiet before six.”
“Okay. Maybe I could spend the night there.”
“No. There’s a night security guy who makes rounds, and the riding teacher is nuts. She sometimes goes down to visit her horses in the middle of the night. Kids say she sings to them.”
“Teachers are weird,” said Hector. “At least yours don’t drink blood.”
Rose looked over her shoulder. The busybodies were still gawking. “They’re going to ask me what we talked about.”
“Tell them I’ve enlisted in the Marines and I’m going to report in two weeks. I asked you to wait for me, but you’re still all torn up about it. Can you put on a sad face?”
Hector’s expression softened. “You an only child?”
“Yes. You?”
“No. As a matter of fact, if you don’t mind, I’ll use your phone to call my kid brother in L.A. I broke my promise to him to come home from school, but I didn’t ever imagine I’d run into vampires. I won’t say anything about that or what’s happening here.”
She shuddered. “I’m scared, Hector.”
He drew her in his arms. “We’d be crazy if we weren’t. Don’t think too much. Just get through one moment at a time. Right now, they see we’ve been doing some serious talking. We have to cap this with a convincing farewell.”
“You mean another kiss?”
“You mind?”
Are you kidding? “It’s alright. Just go easy on my nose.”
4
The Prize
40
The Honors Banquet
A line of uniformed students and well-dressed relatives stood outside the brick and glass academic center in which the Leet and Lucre Honors Banquet was to be held. Walking from the parking lot with her make-believe family of vampires, Kathy tried to pick Rose Blood out from among the students. Those who weren’t entranced by their smartphones seemed less than happy as they stood with their relatives, some of whom were lost in their own electronic worlds. Parents and grandparents content to stay in the moment glowed as their offspring and jewelry sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight.
Kathy spotted Tanya on the line. She was flanked by a broad-shouldered man in a dark suit and a tall woman in a fur-collared purple jacket.
“Trouble,” muttered Bunny. “Wait!”
Kathy stopped and glanced back at her.
“What’s happening?” asked Soo.
“They’re taking pictures.” Bunny began digging through her evening bag as if to see if everything was there.
“It’s a fang-frisk,” said Vendetta. “Taking souvenir photos is their excuse. The feds will detain anyone who won’t smile. They’ll secretly terminate anyone with fangs.”
Bunny took out the car keys and handed them to Vendetta. “Can you put these in your pocket?” As he took them, she handed the clutch to Kathy. “Take this. You’re the only one who can smile for the cameras. The tickets and my phone are in the bag. For Vendetta press contact and V, Dr. Quintz is contact and Q. LittleHawk’s guarding him; he’s waiting for Rose’s call. He says Rose has the data on a flash drive. Make sure she cooperates.”
She’s putting it all on me. Kathy gripped the bag tightly. “Where will you guys be?”
“We’ll head over to the Admin building so as not to arouse suspicion,” said Bunny. “We’ll slip away from there. Call V if you spot any of Bart’s Legionnaires inside the banquet hall. They should have the same problem getting in as we do. We’ll crash the party if we have to.”
“Kathy.” Vendetta beckoned her closer. “Let me have the bag.”
She handed it over. “How did you get the tickets?” she asked him.
“Miss Flowers was quite impressed by us yesterday,” said Vendetta. “Like you, I imagine, she’s a young lady of good taste.” He turned away from the crowd, opened the clutch and slipped a dagger into it. “A hardwood blade isn’t much protection, but it may buy you some time. If Homeland Security finds it, tell them you heard that a student was mugged by a vampire, so you decided to take precautions.”
“You ever going to give me back my knife?” she asked Bunny.
“When I’m done with it,” said Bunny. “If you spill the beans to the feds, I’ll turn you and use that knife to kill your boyfriend and then your parents.”
“My parents have nothing to do with this. And I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Good. So you won’t mind if I kill Hector?”
Kathy’s head jerked upward. She glared at the vampire. “I mind when you kill anybody.”
“So go save a few lives. Get your picture taken and bring back the data.” She turned to Vendetta. “Being we can’t go in as invited guests, you go and bring back Edna. We may need more firepower.”
“We can’t leave the doctor alone in the motel,” said Vendetta.
“Take the newvee back to guard him. You capable of restraining a man if necessary?” she asked Soo.
The girl nodded. “You need not have any doubt.”
“She has a black belt in taekwondo,” said Kathy.
“Nice. But tonight I’d rather have someone with us who can drop a man at a hundred yards. Now you go get on line.”
“Good luck,” said Vendetta.
Soo glanced at the crowd. “Be careful.”
Kathy took a deep breath and headed for the line. Close to the building entrance, the photographer was snapping family photos before insisting on head shots, urging each person to “give us a big smile.” With a uniformed policeman at his side, a large man in a pin-striped suit was collecting tickets in front of the glass entry doors. Kathy counted four men wearing earbuds, sunglasses and bulging jackets along the perimeter of the crowd. Rose was nowhere to be seen. Kathy bit her lip. She looked toward the Admin building. Her vampire family had disappeared.
What if Rose doesn’t show up? Maybe Baneful’s already gotten to her. If she’s not inside, I’ll call Vendetta.
After a ten-minute wait, Kathy smiled for her photo and was allowed into the building. The cafeteria was decked out with crepe paper streamers and balloons overhead. There were white tablecloths, floral centerpieces, gold-rimmed plates and fancy water glasses on the tables, which had been arranged in a giant horseshoe facing a podium. People were seating themselves both within and along the outer edge of the horseshoe. Off to the side, eight white-uniformed people of color stood behind buffet tables, ready to serve. The sight of a standing rib roast and the desserts made Kathy’s mouth water, but she pushed aside any thought of eating as she scanned the crowd. She spotted Rose sitting on the outer side of the horseshoe, close to the podium. Rose was talking to a young teacher whose hair fell straight to the collar of her ivory blouse. Rose had brushed her own brown hair and pinned it back with a large barrette. Her nose was less swollen but still sported a purplish yellow color. Kathy strode forward and slid into the chair beside her.
“Excuse me — ”
Rose turned away from the teacher. Her eyes widened.
“We need to talk,” said Kathy.
“Ms. Wurzinger, this is my friend, Kathy. Ms. Wurzinger is my art teacher.”
“Nice of you to come, Kathy,” said the teacher.
“I couldn’t miss this. Excuse me, but I have to give Rose a private message from her father.”
“Certainly.” Wurzinger turned away.
Kathy leaned in toward Rose’s ear. “They’ve given me a phone for you to call him,” she whispered. “Come outside.”
“I can’t now. The Headmistress…” With a slight thrust of her chin, Rose indicated an austere woman in a black pantsuit approaching the podium. The woman had a thin nose, restless blue eyes and a helmet of silver hair. Her smile seemed more proud than warm,
Kathy couldn’t suppress a soft grunt. Give her fangs and she could be Vendetta’s wife.
Using a hand-held microphone, the Headmistress welcomed everyone, apologized for the delay and said she’d keep her initial remarks brief. Still, she launched into a recitation of acknowledgments and announcements that made Kathy want to scream. When the Headmistress finally yielded the mike to a female minister to say grace, Kathy poked Rose’s elbow. “Let’s go! Restroom calling.”
Rose shook her head. “It’s rude to leave during a prayer.” She leaned into Kathy and whispered, “Hector’s on the campus.”
Kathy froze. Her breath caught in her throat. “Now you tell me?” She grabbed Rose’s arm. “Where?”
“In the barn. He’s alone. We can go after I get my medal.”
Who gives a crap about your medal? she almost said. Kathy let go o
f Rose’s arm. How do I get her out of here? I have to get the flash drive for Bunny before I do anything else. Then how do I get away from her to find Hector? She put her hands to her head and closed her eyes, but no answers came to her.
The sudden babble of voices and the scrape of chairs told her the invocation was over and people were on their way to the buffet line. Her eyes flicked open. She grabbed Bunny’s evening bag.
“Rose, it’s going to take forever until everyone gets through that line. Come make your call and then we’ll come back.” You will, but I’m out of here. She stood up. “Come on! The medals won’t be given out until after the meal.”
“Okay.” Pushing her chair back from the table, Rose got to her feet. “Kathy and I are going out to call my father,” she told Wurzinger. “Please save our seats. Oh, and will you hold this for me?” She offered her own phone to the teacher.
Wurzinger raised her eyebrows. “Then how will you make the call?”
“On Kathy’s phone.” Rose placed her own phone on the tablecloth in front of her teacher. “Ever since that Mr. Winkish messed with it, I don’t get good reception.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and headed for the door.
As she followed Rose out, Kathy noticed Tanya watching them closely. Probably wondering why I’m back.
The corridor was empty. Kathy opened Bunny’s clutch and handed Rose the phone.
“I’m still worried Homeland Security hacked into mine,” said Rose.
Kathy nodded. “On this one, just press contact and Q.”
Rose walked away from the babble emanating from the cafeteria and headed toward a seat by a window.
“No, don’t!” said Kathy. “Homeland Security might see you. They have listening devices that can hear through glass.”
“You’re right. I want this conversation with my father to be private. I’m going to tuck myself in next to the display case in that alcove. Give me some space, will you?”
“Why? I won’t say anything.”
“You being here could influence what I say, or what I decide.”
Kathy reached out. “You have to understand our situation. Hector and I are dead if I don’t bring back the data. Bunny – she’s one of the worst vampires — will either kill us or turn us into vampires.”