by KJ Dahlen
“I’m almost afraid to ask what that problem might be.”
“It isn’t a good thing.”
“Ok, what is it?”
“His sister.”
Pappy stiffened. “What about her?”
“He did something to her when she was a kid. She doesn’t remember it and he really didn’t want to tell me about it but he finally gave it up.”
“What did he do to her?” Pappy frowned. “We all know how he treated her.”
Bastian shook his head. “This has nothing to do with how he treated her. He placed a time bomb inside of her. She doesn’t know it’s there. This was the last vital info that he held and I would not give up until he gave it up.” Bastian’s expression went cold. “That man isn’t human by most standards. He needs to be dead.”
Shay stared at the man they called the Priest and he could see why he was good at his job. “What kind of time bomb?”
Every man there had grown pale with Bastian’s explanation.
“About fifteen years ago, the CDC put out an alert about a virulent strain of Ebola that went missing. This stuff was the strongest ever recorded and they never got it back. Leroy told me he put it in a capsule and surgically placed it inside her. It’s been inside her for a long time and was his failsafe in case he was ever caught. He would break the capsule and she would die slowly while infecting everyone around her. He told me he’d hoped the cops would have her on a military base when she died. That Ebola would wipe out the entire military force around her.”
“How did he plan on breaking the capsule?” Pappy asked.
“The switch is located in the necklace he gave her to wear. He told her to never take it off. He told her it was the only thing her mother left for her.” He nodded at the men. “He knew she would never leave it behind.”
“Where did he place the capsule?” Dewey looked at them. “We have to get it out of her before she infects anyone else.”
“We have to talk to Bear before that will happen,” Pappy advised. “He’s claimed her.”
“Shit.” Dewey sat back in his chair. “That might be a problem.”
“We still have to tell him,” Pappy said.
“He said he placed the capsule in the back of her neck,” Bastian told them. “First thing we have to do, is make sure where it is and that it hasn’t moved. It could be anywhere by now.”
“We’ll talk to Doc and find out how we can get that done without taking her away from here. I won’t put anyone else in danger,” Pappy warned them.
“I think that’s wise,” Shay agreed. “We don’t want to start a panic if we don’t have to.”
“We’d better talk to Bear,” Pappy stated with a sigh as he got to his feet. “But only Bear and Lacey need to know at this point. I suggest we keep this under wraps until we know more about what we’re facing.”
“And get that damn necklace away from her.” Bastian seethed. “We don’t want her to accidently trip the damn thing.”
An hour later, Bear, Lacey and the four other men sat staring at each other.
Lacey had almost passed out when they told her about what Leroy had done to her. Her hand had gone to the back of her neck when they mentioned the surgery. “I remember that. Leroy told me I fell down and hurt myself. I didn’t remember falling but I didn’t say anything.”
“How the fuck do we get that damn thing out of her?” Bear growled.
“We need to know where it is first,” Pappy explained. “Doc is trying to get hold of a MRI machine. It should be here in the morning.” He leaned forward. “Once we know where it is, we’ll have a clearer picture about our next step.”
Bear sat back and stared at them all. “I won’t put her life in danger.”
“No one wants that any more than we want to put our own lives in that kind of danger,” Dewey stated.
“But if everyone finds out what she’s got inside her, they will panic. They’ll end her life before she has a chance to end theirs and you know it.”
“No they won’t because no one here is going to tell them anything,” Pappy stated.
“You can’t keep something like this a secret.” Bear shook his head.
Lacey reached up and took off the necklace Leroy told her nothing but lies about. She placed it carefully on the table and got to her feet. Turning to Pappy she asked, “Where can I go so I’m not part of everyone’s lives here? I want to stay as far away from them as I can be. I won’t put their lives in danger.”
“There’s a cabin on the far side of the property,” Pappy told her. “You can stay there for tonight. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Lacey nodded and began walking toward the door. Bear got up to follow her but she put her hand out to stop him. “You can’t come with me Bear.”
“Try to stop me.” He turned to glare at the four men behind him. “I’m not letting her go alone.”
“Please Bear, listen to m-me.” Her voice broke as tears ran down her face. “I can’t put you or anyone else here in that kind of danger. I love you too much. You are the only man who’s ever shown me kindness and I won’t repay you like this.”
“I’m coming with you.” Bear growled. “We’re in this together all the way. If something happens to you, it’s gonna happen to me too. I can’t live without you. I won’t life without you, so you don’t have a choice in the matter.”
Lacey dropped her head as he pulled her close to him. Looking up into his eyes she told him, “I finally found someone to love and it might be over before it’s had a chance to begin. I don’t want to die, not like this.”
“You aren’t going to die and neither is anyone else,” Bear assured her. “I won’t allow it.”
Lacey chuckled softly. She cupped her hand along his jaw and without a word took his hand they left the room.
No one said a word for the longest time then Swede joined them and when he sat down he glared at Pappy. “What the hell is going on? Where did Bear and Lacey go?”
“They are staying at one of the cabins,” Pappy told him.
“Why?” he asked. “What’s wrong with the room they have down the hall?”
Pappy stared at the man for a few minutes then told him, “We have a problem Swede, one that could affect every man and woman here. It’s best for them to be alone right now.”
“Best for who?” Swede seethed. “He’s my brother and she’s important to him. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Leroy put something inside her when she was a kid that could kill us all,” Pappy finally told him. “Lacey made the decision to leave the group. She didn’t want Bear to go with her but he wouldn’t listen. Your brother is a very stubborn man.”
Swede didn’t smile at the comment, he just glared at Pappy. “What are you going to do about it?”
“We have an MRI machine coming in the morning. When we find it, we’ll know what the next step will be.” Pappy shrugged. “If we can get it out of her, we will.”
“And if not?” Swede asked. “What will happen if you can’t remove what that bastard put into her?”
Pappy shrugged. “We’ll face that problem when we have to.”
Swede glared as he ran his fingers across his head. “So right now, we’re playing the waiting game huh? Damn Bear was never any good at that particular game.”
“None of us are,” Dewey stated.
All the men present fell silent.
Chapter Ten
Day thirty four…
Early the next morning, Pappy and the others watched in silence as the semi-trailer pulled into the dooryard.
Dewey broke away from the group and walked down the path to the far cabin. When he returned, Bear and Lacey were with him. Bear and Lacey went to the trailer while Dewey joined the group standing on the front porch of the main house.
When Doc joined them in the trailer, everyone waited. An hour later, the three joined the group waiting for them. Pappy, Shay, Dewey, Bastian and Swede led the way while Doc, Bear and Lacey followed them into the roo
m they used yesterday. Doc took the floor. “We found the capsule but it’s in a place that if we operate to remove it, the surgery could kill her. The capsule has moved too close to her spine. There’s tissue surrounding the capsule itself and it’s attached to the spinal column holding it in place.”
“Is it going to be impossible to get at?” Pappy asked.
“Not impossible, but the surgery is going to be tricky to do. One slip of the knife and its lights out.”
“Doc.” Bear growled.
Doc held up his hands in surrender. “I don’t sugarcoat anything. You all know that and she has to know exactly what she’s facing. Whether she goes through with, it or not is going to be up to her. The capsule has been inside her body a long time, too long I suppose not to be worried about how much longer it will remain intact. Whether or not she wants it removed is a chance she has to take.”
“I want the damn thing out of me,” Lacey told them. “Even if it kills me, I want it out.”
Bear pulled her into his arms. “Are you sure?”
Lacey nodded. “Leroy has taken everything I ever had away from me and turned it to shit. This is one thing he won’t take away. This is my decision and if it kills me, then it was meant to be.”
“I think you should know something.” Pappy interrupted them. “Your brother died this morning. He took the coward’s way out and died due self-inflicted wounds.”
Lacey rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me. He was a bully and a coward. He always hid his real intentions from the world. It doesn’t really surprise me that he killed himself rather than face the consequences of his actions.”
“I hate to bring up this subject but we should plan the surgery as soon as possible,” Doc interjected. “The CDC is very anxious to get the capsule back and under lock and key.”
Lacey shuddered and agreed. Glancing over at Doc she asked, “How soon can you do it?”
He shook his head. “I’m not touching this thing. You need better skilled hands than mine.”
Lacey went over to him and took his hands in hers. She could hear Bear growling in the background but she ignored him for the moment. “I don’t know of any better hands than yours. I don’t trust a lot of people but I do trust you guys. All of us here know how serious this threat is. If word ever got out about the capsule inside me, it would cause a panic that I certainly don’t want and the world can’t afford it. I’m begging you to take this thing out of me, please.”
Doc glanced over at Pappy and with his nod, he agreed to do it. “Ok, but we have to have the proper set up.”
“Get whatever you need,” Pappy told him. “We can set up a surgery in one of the empty cabins.”
“I can give you the necessary clearance for medical supplies,” Shay assured them.
“Then we’ll get it done either late tonight or early tomorrow morning,” Doc informed them. Turning to Bear and Lacey he said, “I want you to relax today and pray the good Lord guides my hands during the surgery.”
Lacey went over to Pappy. She had a question she needed an answer to. “How did Leroy die?”
Pappy shook his head. “I don’t want to tell you that. All you need to know is that he will never hurt you or anyone else ever again.”
Lacey stared at the man for a long moment then nodded. “Ok, I can live with that.” She turned and went back over to where Bear was waiting for her.
They went to the door and left the room.
Swede grunted. “I don’t know if she has true faith or she’s just plain dumb.”
“That little girl is scared to death,” Bastian finally broke his silence.
“How do you figure that?” Swede stared at him.
“She’s known nothing but fear all her life. Her mother was afraid of her son finding her and she passed that fear down to Lacey. When Leroy did find them, everything her mother ever told her about him came true. She had to give up everything she ever was to him but she was smart and kept something just for herself. I don’t know what it was but she’s kept that little piece of herself hidden from him all these years and now she’s still hiding it. Hoping that one day, she could bring it out and show it off to the world. That one secret is all she has left. Leroy has taken everything else from her. Now he’s going to take another piece of her soul. This surgery could cost her everything but she’s still hanging on to that one little piece and she’s praying it will be enough to give her a fighting chance when this is all said and done.”
“How do you know all this?” Shay asked.
“I study people. I’ve been doing it all my life. I’ve been where she grew up except the foster homes I had were better than what she had with her brother. I think we all do what she did and hold back a little part of ourselves. I got to be the best at what I did because I knew how to reach people’s minds and turn them to where I needed them to be. I learned which questions to ask and how to get the right answers.”
Then the men all turned to look at the man once known as the Priest.
Bastian shrugged.
“I think we all need to say a prayer tonight,” Doc stated. “Pray that she lives through the surgery because if she doesn’t, Bear is never going to understand why. Then we are going to have an all-out war on our hands.”
“Amen to that,” Swede commented gruffly.
It was just before dawn on day thirty five that Doc began the surgery needed to remove the capsule from Lacey’s neck. Moments before she went under the knife, she called Bear over to her bed and whispered something to him. Bear started to fuss about her request but after she kissed him, he settled down and agreed to her demands.
Bear, Swede, Shay, Bastian, Pappy and Dewey waited outside the makeshift OR while Doc began the procedure necessary to remove the capsule. The first hour the men all watched the clock needing the time to pass quickly. Bear’s eyes glazed over during the second hour they waited.
It was well into the third hour before Doc came out of the room. He looked exhausted when he sat down with them and handed Shay a covered dish with a bloody capsule inside it. The dish was sealed against leakage. The capsule itself was metal and it has bits of stringy fibers stuck to it.
“How did she do?” Pappy asked quietly.
“I think she did fairly well,” Doc spoke quietly. “We did have a bit of a scare at one point though. The capsule was fairly stuck and the tissues surrounding it didn’t want to let go but I took my time and got it out. I’m going to keep her under for the rest of the day just give her time to recover. Any type of surgery is a trauma to the body and this one was that. She needs time.”
Swede got down on his knees in front of his brother and looked into Bear’s face. “Did you hear that Bear? She’s gonna be fine. She just needs time to recover.”
Bear tried to focus but his eyes never came back from the hell he was visiting at the moment.
Swede knew enough not to touch him and the others wisely left him alone.
Shay got to his feet. “Thanks Doc, I’ll make sure I get this to the proper place.” Turning to Pappy he said, “I guess this is over as far as I’m concerned. If you need anything call me.” He turned to Bear. “Bear, I hope with all my heart your girl is gonna make it.” Looking at the other men waiting he said, “Let me know how this turns out. I’ll be in touch.”
When Shay left, Swede grumbled his descent. “I’d really like to punch that man, just once.”
Pappy chuckled. “You be sitting in prison for the rest of your life if you did, you know that don’t you?”
“Yeah, but it might just be worth it,” Swede commented as he sat back down to wait with the rest of them.
Doc got to his feet and walked toward the recovery room they had set up. At the door, he looked over his shoulder at Bear. “You want to come wait for her to wake up Bear? I’m sure she’d like to see you first thing when she opens her eyes.”
Bear’s eyes snapped over to the Doc. Getting to his feet, he almost ran right over the other man. Doc opened the door and watched as B
ear went over to the bed Lacey was resting on. He pulled a chair over close to the bed and sat down. When Doc got close enough to take her vitals Bear asked, “Can I hold her hand?”
“Yes,” Doc smiled. “I think she’d like that.”
Bear reached out and grabbed her hand gently. He wasn’t a gentle man but he was for her. He laid his forehead on hers and began whispering to her. Doc couldn’t hear what he was saying but that didn’t matter. Bear wasn’t talking to him anyway. His words were for Lacey and Lacey alone.
Most of that day and long into most of the next, they all waited for Lacey to open her eyes. Doc had told them she was doing well, but she still didn’t wake up. Bear hadn’t left her side the whole time.
Pappy and the others had gone back to the main house and told everyone what was going on. Now that the capsule was gone, there was no threat to any of them. People stopped by the cabin off and on throughout the day and well into the night time hours but still she didn’t wake up.
Doc was beginning to fear something was wrong but every time he checked her, the results were the same. She was getting stronger, her vital signs were good, she just wouldn’t wake up.
Bear stayed by her side religiously as he kept talking to her urging her to wake up.
Early the next morning, Pappy stopped by the cabin to find out if she was awake or not. Doc didn’t know what to tell him.
“I don’t understand Doc,” Pappy said. “I thought you said the surgery went well. Why isn’t she awake yet?”
“I don’t know what to tell you Pappy.” Doc shrugged. “All I do know is that I hope she opens her eyes soon. Bear is getting worried about her, as am I. There is nothing wrong, her vitals are good, her skin is clear, her breathing is fine. All she needs to do is open her eyes.”
“Has he slept at all?”
“Not a wink.” Doc sighed.
“Damn, that doesn’t sound good.” Pappy muttered.