Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus)

by James Litherland

  “Kat was never so stubborn.” What was he saying? “Not quite, anyway. But Sara doesn’t have the judgment yet to back it up, so she’s more of a danger to herself.” She’d been a trainee for a while, and she would remain one until she showed better sense.

  “That explains how she got into trouble over her relationship with Paul, why Officer Courdray had to split them up.”

  “What?” What in the world was going on at Security, and why hadn’t anyone told him? “What else has been going on behind my back?” It seemed Caroline had better sources of information.

  “Apparently Michael Salazar is measuring your office for when he moves in permanently.”

  An uncharacteristic growl began forming down in Anthony’s stomach. “He shouldn’t even be there temporarily. I need to get out of here and go back to work.”

  She sniffed. “You’re not in any shape to go anywhere.”

  He let himself fall back against the pillows again with a heavy sigh. “Don’t I know it. But I’m going to have to the way things are going.” Why were things falling apart so quickly? “Anything else?”

  Caroline shook her head. “Let’s move on to my main problem. You heard how Alvin Fox is the one who’s replaced George on the council?”

  Anthony just stared at her. “No. Apparently I’m not hearing about anything in here.”

  “Well? What can you tell me about him?”

  “If you want to pick my brains any more, I want something from you first—advice about how to handle Kat. What am I supposed to do with her?”

  “You’re asking my help to seduce my daughter?”

  “That’s not funny, Care. I’m sure you know it’s just the opposite. How do I get her to give up on the idea of anything happening between us?” Looking over at the next bed, he was glad Miles was so totally unconscious. Anthony had to take this opportunity to talk freely with Caroline.

  She stood there and stared at him for a long minute. “And you want to let her down easy, of course, without hurting her feelings? Then go back to being just friends, right?”

  Anthony winced. “I certainly don’t want to hurt her. I do care for her. But not only am I almost old enough to be her father, her dad’s my closest friend, and I’ve known Kat since she was just a kid.”

  “She wasn’t a kid then, Tony, she was already a young woman, and you apparently made an impression. Now you’re making me feel old and asking my advice about—” She took a deep breath, then shook her head. “You must be delirious.”

  “You’re not going to help me?”

  Even beneath that mask, he could see her pursing her lips at him. “There’s only one thing you can do to end her fascination with you. As inexplicable as that is. You’re going to have to be brutal.”

  “Brutal?” Anthony didn’t like the sound of that. “That’s not funny.”

  “I’m not trying to be. To nip this in the bud before it goes any further, before it passes a point of no return, you will have to hurt her. You’ll have to convince her you have no feelings for her. At all. Treat her as if she might as well be a stranger. Completely cut her off, emotionally I mean. You’ll have to stop avoiding her to be that distant.”

  He shut his eyes. “That sounds horribly cruel. I can’t believe you’re suggesting I act that way to your own daughter.”

  Caroline nodded impatiently. “It’s the only way for you to stop this, the only thing that might actually work now that you’ve let things go this far. And if that doesn’t work, nothing will.”

  He couldn’t help but moan to think of how hard it would be to follow that advice, to imagine treating Kat like that. “I don’t think I can.” Though he might have to.

  She sighed. “Trust me, Tony. She’ll get over it, and it’ll work out the best for both of you in the end. Now, what about Alvin Fox? Isn’t he supposed to be some kind of modern-day Thomas Edison?”

  Anthony gaped at her, and it took him a minute to answer. “That’s just his PR. He got his start selling electronic equipment to businesses, then ended up manufacturing them. But as successful as he has been, Mr. Fox is really just a salesman. One good at selling himself.”

  From the glare she gave him, that was not what she’d wanted to hear. Too bad. He hadn’t cared for her words of wisdom either.

  “Is that all, Tony? I suppose it’ll have to do for now. Maybe the next time I visit they will have put you to sleep instead of my husband. Miles might be marginally more helpful.”

  He managed to grin. “You’re welcome. Now get out of here and leave me to my misery.”

  She might or might not be smiling, but her eyes were dancing. Then she nodded and cast a glance at her husband before striding out of the room. When he was sure she and the nurse who had brought her were well away, Anthony began struggling to get out from under his sheets. What Caroline had told him was bad enough, but there had to be things even she didn’t know about. He could see that all of Security was going to pieces, and he wasn’t about to just stay here while that happened. He might be sick, but he could handle Sara and Salazar and anyone else.

  He got to his feet and to the door and peered out to see an empty hallway before he slipped out of the room. Shuffling along, he didn’t see a soul until he reached the nurses’ station at the corner. The sister supervising this floor sat there, and he tried to slide past those sharp eyes—but he wasn’t well enough to get by unnoticed.

  “Chief Nelson, where do you think you’re going? You shouldn’t even be out of bed, much less walking around.” She turned off the workpad she had been making notes on and stood up. “I’ll take you back to your room now. And if you don’t promise to behave, I’ll sedate you in spite of the director’s orders.”

  Before she could follow through on her threat, a loud crash sounded from the other corridor. Anthony stumbled around the desk and saw a sister trying to pick herself up from where she’d fallen against a food cart—that she had been pushed into—and Sgt. Carruthers careening along toward them, still wearing his paper hospital gown. Tony looked down and realized he’d been trying to leave wearing the same ridiculous apparel. He had to be a lot sicker than he had thought. The next time he tried to break out of this place, he’d get dressed first.

  The head nurse ran out from the nurses’ station and planted herself between both men and the exit. “Sergeant, you’re not well. Turn around and return to your bed right now.”

  She sounded both reasonable and authoritative—but she clearly wasn’t getting through to the man. No doubt she’d summoned help already, and whatever assistance was on its way would surely be sufficient to subdue the sergeant. Then Anthony looked at Carruthers charging in their direction and had to wonder what injuries would be sustained all around when they did what they had to do. And that wasn’t necessary.

  Stepping out into the middle of the hall to place himself directly in the man’s way, Anthony held his hands in the air. “Stop right there, sergeant.”

  Carruthers didn’t even seem to hear. He ran up and took a wild swing at Anthony that a child could have avoided. Even in his weakened state, Anthony had no difficulty stepping in close and grabbing the man’s arms like they were about to waltz, then spinning him to the ground and pinning him to the floor. As gently as possible, since the sergeant was having a difficult enough time as it was.

  “That was actually pretty impressive, considering how bad you must feel yourself.”

  Glancing over his shoulder, Anthony saw David and Dr. Harker standing there and staring at him as the head nurse and another sister rushed in to take care of Carruthers. David smiled.

  Shaking his head, Anthony tried to grin himself. “Considering the shape the sergeant is in, there was nothing impressive about it.” Not just the flu. Anthony had to assume the man’s behavior was due to Carruthers being one of those who had already been infected, by the real bug.

  As the head nurse placed an IV stick against the sergeant’s neck, Dr. Harker shook her head at Anthony. “And where were you headed? We don’t c
all this an isolation ward for nothing. Even once you’re feeling better, you’ll likely be contagious for several days—you wouldn’t want to go to work and make all your staff sick as well, would you?”

  “Can I think about that one?” Considering what Caroline had told him, it might not be a bad idea. It sounded better than being away from the office for a full week or more.

  “I’m sorry, Chief Nelson, but it’s not your call.”

  He was about to argue with her when he felt the pressure against the inside of his elbow, then looked to see the head nurse had got him with that blasted IV stamp. One heartbeat. Two, and he was already feeling woozy.

  “You didn’t have to do that.” He would’ve gone peacefully. At least he thought so. He felt someone holding him as he blacked out.

  Chapter 8

  Getting in the Ring

  1:25 p.m. Wednesday, May 21st

  CAROLINE paused in the doorway to the council chamber when she saw Ms. Belue was again the only one sitting at the conference table. She’d hoped for making more of an entrance today. Waiting there in the corridor, she was weighing her options when the sound of footsteps brought her head around to find Alvin Fox approaching. Making her decision, Caroline stepped away from the door and moved to meet him with a smile.

  “Mr. Fox, I’m glad to see you arriving before the session starts.”

  He smiled back. “With less than five minutes to go, I must say I’m surprised to find you taking time to dally with me. Should I be pleased or wary at being the focus of your attentions?”

  She lifted her chin and gave him a haughty, disdainful look. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just bored. Since the deputy director is the only other councilor here yet, there’s no point rushing in.”

  He nodded. “And since everything we say in the council chamber will be recorded, we might as well stay out here and enjoy a less constrained conversation, Ms. Sanderson.”

  “I’m a married woman, Mr. Fox, and you’d best remember that if you don’t want my husband expelling you from the compound.” She took a long, deep breath. “You’re right, speaking without an audience can be so freeing.”

  The man only grinned, in a way that irritatingly reminded her of Tony. “You know, I was a fan long before I began perusing the past few weeks’ worth of video, the recordings of these council meetings, but now I truly admire your abilities. We’re supposed to be equals, and you are a new member—yet you took the reins deftly from the start, chairing the sessions without bothering to even suggest you should be the one to do that. It was quite a performance.”

  Caroline squinted at him. “I’ve dealt with lots of flirts, Mr. Fox. Men far more charming than you as well. Don’t think you can handle me with some simple flattery.”

  “I’m sure you have, and I wouldn’t even dare to dream of handling you. Or only dream.”

  She gave him her most withering glare. “While Verity and George and Alice might’ve had more experience at attending boring conferences, I’ve been a hostess in more challenging settings than this, and with more difficult guests than you could imagine—and managed those. And after all, somebody has to keep these meetings running smoothly.”

  Mr. Fox nodded. “At least as smoothly as possible, considering the personalities involved.”

  “I’m glad to see you getting these comments out of your system before we go in. If they were recorded they might later be used against you. Sometimes I believe the other councilors forget that they’re being watched, that people will actually be listening to what comes out of their mouths.”

  “But it’s not in real time, is it? Psychologically it must be different from knowing somebody is watching you at that very moment, thinking that someone might conceivably view the video at some later time. Probably they don’t imagine many people do watch. Neither do I, for that matter.”

  Caroline didn’t like hearing her own ideas being presented to her by Mr. Fox. “I suppose that makes as much sense as any other explanation.”

  Over his shoulder she saw Dean Kittner coming around the corner and advancing down the hallway toward them, an unknown woman trailing in Alice’s wake—a tall brunette with big glasses and, as Caroline could see as she got closer, a shy smile. Returning her attention to Mr. Fox, she spoke. “We should probably head in now and get this show going.”

  She pivoted on her heel and timed her entrance to give the impression she was leading the little procession into the council chamber. It wasn’t the kind of grand entrance she’d had in mind, but it wasn’t a bad start. Nodding to Verity, she again took the seat facing the door. Not to observe each person as they entered, but to establish this as the head of the conference table and where she belonged—the one fact reinforcing the other.

  This time Mr. Fox claimed the seat between her and Verity. Alice once again took the place directly across from Caroline, acknowledging their position as rivals. The unidentified woman she’d brought to the meeting entered the room hesitantly and moved to stand behind the chair between Dean Kittner and Verity.

  Caroline stared at Alice. “Excuse me, but who’s your friend?”

  Dean Kittner snorted. “She’s not my friend but Dr. Harker’s proxy. Let her explain.”

  At that moment, Jeffrey Minchin came ambling into the room. Looking over at the FURCS workpad Ms. Belue had out, Caroline saw it was one thirty exactly. He was cutting it fine, but she was glad to see she’d been right to think he would not show up late. Pausing and looking around for a moment, he went to take the empty seat across from Verity.

  Caroline sent Dr. Harker’s replacement a kindly look. “We don’t bite. It’s alright to go ahead and sit down, dear, but please tell us who you are so we can address you properly.”

  With a sheepish look, the woman took her seat. “I’m Tracy Johnson, a history professor, and Amita asked me to fill in for her here. She’s far too busy to make it today. And she wanted me to report in person about the status of the outbreak.”

  “Well, we want to welcome you, Professor Johnson, even if you’re only a temporary replacement. I know we also want to hear the news Dr. Harker has for us.” Looking around the room, Caroline heaved a dramatic sigh. “Once again Sara is the one holding us up. If there’s no objection, why don’t we let Professor Johnson fill us in while we wait?”

  There were nods all around. Tracy was the only one who seemed reluctant to proceed. “Is it truly alright to go ahead and give you Dr. Harker’s message before everyone is here?”

  “It doesn’t really count as official business, and one of us can bring Sara up to speed after the meeting. If it helps, I think all of us have heard that Chief Cameron is also ill now, and in isolation.”

  Professor Johnson nodded, then paused to consult the FURCS pad in her hand. “The original mild strain of the virus has mutated into a more virulent form. It’s highly transmissible and potentially fatal, but Dr. Harker wanted you to rest assured that with proper medical care, particularly for patients who’d be at greater risk, the mortality rate should be quite low. Efforts are concentrated on identifying the infected as quickly as possible, both to see they get the care they need and to contain the spread of the flu.”

  Caroline smiled at the woman. “Was that all Dr. Harker had to report?”

  “Those are the basic points. She sent all of you a more detailed report through the FURCSnet, just in case you needed it. But I’m no expert, so she didn’t think it would help to have me try and explain any of that—she would have to explain it to me first, and it didn’t seem like she had the time.”

  Caroline nodded. “I’m sure she’s very busy.” It would be useless to try and read that more detailed report without someone to translate all the medical terminology.

  “She also wanted me to remind everyone that it is vitally important to wash their hands often and to avoid unnecessary close contact with other people—that’s the best way to keep from catching the flu.”

  “Thank you, Professor Johnson. We appreciate the advice, and you can tell
Dr. Harker that.”

  Tracy smiled, unaware of the sarcasm. But then Caroline didn’t want anyone to sense she was being snarky. A quick glance around the table told her only Verity and Alvin Fox had picked up on the subtle note. Sara still hadn’t showed.

  “I move that we start the session. We’ll want to save our most crucial concern until Ms. King is present, but surely we can begin with old business. Assuming anyone has some they want to bring up.”

  Dean Kittner spoke up right away. “There’s one topic we might want to address before Sara arrives, and that’s the trouble with Security.”

  Verity leaned forward over the table and turned her head to look down at Alice. “I didn’t know there was a problem, unless you’re referring to the lack of adequate staff at Security. I can tell you we’re in the process of addressing that question.”

  “I’m referring to the three supervisors not being able to cooperate with each other during Chief Nelson’s absence. Apparently he doesn’t have a deputy like Chief Cameron, and the administration has not appointed an interim chief yet, so there’s nobody in charge over there. I think we should choose one of those three supervisors to be acting chief until Nelson can return to work.”

  Verity squinted at Dean Kittner. “Even after the director has transferred some of his authority to the council—which he won’t do until the residents have elected the First Councilor—that authority won’t include making such an appointment. You argued the point enough last time, Alice, you must be aware of that. And if you really want clear lines of authority, why don’t you leave the decision to the person in the position to make it?”

  Dean Kittner snorted. “With Director Miles out sick, that would be you, wouldn’t it? So why haven’t you done it? If you won’t do what needs to be done, then why shouldn’t the rest of us step in to make the decision?”

  Thankfully, Sara bounded into the room before the discussion could get any more heated. The topic died as everyone’s minds must have turned to what had to be foremost in all their thoughts. Now it was time to tackle the nominations.