“What’s wrong with her?” Evan had been on the other side of the house in the laboratory with Margo, Andrews and Paulie, but had stepped out to retrieve some notes from his room. It was a good thing he did too, because the lab was essentially soundproof. Evan was at his sister’s side immediately.
“I don’t know, Ev. A guy found her like this up the path and…she’s burning up with fever. She hasn’t said a word; hasn’t responded at all,” Alik was watching his little brother’s skilled hands as he started with Meg’s head and began examining her.
“What’s all the yelling about?” Cole hurried into the room and looked around trying to determine what he’d missed. His eyes found Meg lying so fragile and small on the sofa.
“Cole, Meg’s sick. Go get everyone from the lab. Run!” Alik ordered.
“Oh, God, Meg!” Cole took half a moment to study Meg’s face before he bolted from the room and down the hall toward the laboratory.
“Should I call 911?” the stranger asked from a few feet behind the sofa.
Both brothers turned quickly to glare at the guy they hadn’t even realized was in the room.
“We got it from here,” Evan responded cautiously.
Alik stood, hurried to the door and opened it saying, “Thanks for your help, man. Really, we appreciate it.”
“Right,” Creed nodded, getting the hint. “Don’t mention it.” Just as he slipped through the open doorway he turned and added, “Hey, I’d like to stop by tomorrow and check in on her, if that’s okay.”
Alik looked back at his sister lying on the sofa and really just wanted to get rid of this guy so he could go back figuring out what was happening to her. He turned to the stranger, shrugged noncommittally and said, “Aloha, man,” before letting the door shut firmly between them.
Creed didn’t move for a minute, thinking about what just happened. He took a deep breath before heading back down the steps toward the path. He was replaying the events of the last half hour and trying to be sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.
Farrow’s impulsive shot was right on target, and so far, the family seemed to be reacting to Meg’s “condition” as planned, but he had a nagging sensation that something was wrong.
“It all feels wrong, damn it,” he muttered to himself. He shoved his hands deeply in his pockets and bit his lip. He was going to have to do some serious thinking tonight. He had to go weigh his options and their consequences. If there was one thing he learned is that there were always consequences. He picked up his pace as he walked toward his rental parked down the road.
24 Uncertainty
Now that the stranger was gone, the brothers returned to their examination of Meg.
Evan pulled a small flash light from his pocket, gently lifted Meg’s eyelids one at a time and flashed the light into them looking for pupil dilation. “Well, her pupils are responsive, but sluggish. Her heart rate is extremely fast. Breathing is shallow and her lips are purple. She doesn’t seem to have any bruising or lacerations I can find. Her fever is very high.” Internally, Evan’s mind was racing with logical possibilities, externally, his face looked almost as pale as Meg’s.
“Evan, we’ve never been sick; none of us. What’s wrong with her?” Alik was searching his brother’s eyes for an answer. Evan only shook his head slowly.
They heard the family running down the corridor and moments later burst into the room. Dr. Andrews was the first at Meg’s side, “The calculations were correct. This wasn’t supposed to even begin happening yet.”
“You knew this was how it was going to come on and you didn’t warn us?” Margo was seething with worry and anxiety.
“We need to get her back to the lab. We have to run tests on the status of her gama-globulin and electrolytes. Maybe something set off her countdown; something that triggered this early onset,” Paulie thought out loud while scratching his scruffy beard.
Alik carefully lifted his sister and hurried down the corridor to the laboratory. Everyone else was right on his heels.
Margo took the lead in removing her daughter’s clothing so she could dress her in a hospital gown. As they worked, she only allowed herself to think as a doctor. She saw no cuts or bruises anywhere on her daughter’s body. Her coloring was unusual, though. She had taken on a yellowish hue to her skin and her lips were somewhat purple. That, combined with her high fever, made for very strange symptoms. Margo fought back panic because she couldn’t think of any reason for her daughter to be in the condition she was in.
“Okay, we’re ready,” Margo called to the other side of the privacy curtain.
Evan came in with a syringe and several empty vials to collect blood samples. Dr. Andrews began setting up an I.V. so he could hydrate Meg with fluids and so there was a path already established should medications need to be administered quickly. Margo took on her motherly role and simply worked to position a surgical cap on Meg’s head so she could tuck in all her daughter’s dark curls, minimizing possible contamination to the sterile room.
Alik left the room quickly to clean up and returned fifteen minutes later to the laboratory hoping he could be of some help. He walked into the room filled with people he loved and respected rushing around his sister who laid still as stone on a white-sheeted gurney.
Cole was standing in the corner looking like he was trying to stay out of the way. The boys exchanged helpless glances. Everyone else in the room was a doctor, except Evan, but he was only lacking the papers. Over the last five months, Evan had educated himself and was as versed as anyone who had gone through four years of medical school. That’s how smart Evan is. Matter of fact, he was specialized in the one area Meg needed most: Metahuman-ology.
“Alik, was it you who found Meg?” Dr. Andrews asked.
“No, sir,” Alik responded a little too quickly. “I mean, I wish I had. But this guy said he just found her on the jogging path and carried her to the nearest house for help. Luckily, ours was the nearest house.”
“Did she collapse?” Dr. Paulie asked.
“I don’t know. The guy just said,” Alik replayed the conversation in his mind and quoted, “‘I just found her on the ground a dozen meters up that way.’”
“Who was he? Did you get his name?” Margo asked.
“No, mom. He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. I was too worried about Meg,” he said feeling upset with himself for not having more information to give to the doctors trying to help his sister.
“But he did say he would come back tomorrow to check on her,” Alik added, brightening at the memory. “Maybe we can ask him some questions then and get a better idea of what happened.”
“Right, let’s plan on that.” Margo smiled softly at her oldest son, sensing his feelings of guilt and helplessness.
Dr. Paulie spoke up, “I’d like to rule out anything ordinary before we jump right into her meta physical status. Does anyone remember anything unusual about Meg? Did she eat or drink something different? Was she behaving differently? Dizzy spells? Mood changes?” he said as though he were gathering a typical medical history on a patient. The whole room stopped and looked over at Dr. Paulie, “I mean unusual mood changes?”
“Nothing I can think of,” Evan said returning to his microscope.
“I can’t think of any change in her behavior either,” Margo added.
“She was typical Meg until the family meeting this morning,” Cole answered thoughtfully.
“Yeah this morning was rough on everyone,” Dr. Andrews said even as he swabbed a Petri dish with a blood sample.
“Hum,” Alik mused. “I wonder if that was the ‘trigger’.”
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
“Well, Meg is an emotional superconductor, right? She can sense the feeling of those around her. In a word, her skill is her empathy,” Alik continued.
“So maybe she overloaded?” Cole concluded.
“Something like that. What do you think, Mom?” Alik looked to his mother who was carefully checking the I.V. bag and adju
sting the pace at which the fluids were dripping.
“I think it is a possibility. She must have been experiencing so much of her own worries and sadness, but then to be bombarded with the emotions all the rest of us were feeling…” her voice trailed off.
“Yes, I agree,” Evan’s face was tight with worry. “It would be a logical conclusion.”
“Maybe this doesn’t have anything to do with the countdown. Maybe this is something else entirely,” Dr. Paulie offered. “The possibilities are innumerable.”
25 Choosing Sides
The next morning, the family was exhausted with both mental and physical fatigue. No one had slept. Though they tried to set up shifts to monitor Meg’s condition to allow everyone time to rest, no one was willing to leave the lab for longer than it took to grab some food and use the restroom. Everyone was keeping vigil.
Even Maze howled his distress though he couldn’t understand exactly what was going on. He didn’t know why he was wasn’t allowed to see his Meg, and he wanted the world to understand how scared and furious he was about it.
Maze announced Creed’s arrival. Alik was taking his break when he heard Maze’s growling change to alarmed barking. “What’s going on boy?” he said to the coyote as he walked to the kitchen window. He saw the same guy who had found his sister yesterday walking up the path, just as he had promised he would. Alik grabbed Maze by the collar and walked him to Meg’s room.
“You’re gonna scare the crap out of him, Maze. Stay here for now, and I’ll come back to let you out in a while. Try to calm down, okay?” he lectured the coyote.
Alik hurried to the front door and had it pulled open even before the stranger had a chance to knock.
“Hey, man,” Alik said with relief in his voice. “Thanks for coming by this morning. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions about yesterday.”
“How’s the girl?” the stranger asked seeming genuinely worried.
“Not good,” Alik opened the door wider and motioned for the guest to come into the house. “She’s really sick.”
Creed stepped into the house and walked toward the living room. A mournful howling came from down the hall that stopped him in his tracks.
“Oh, don’t worry about him. Maze isn’t too happy with me for shutting him in Meg’s room,” Alik waved dismissively toward the sound. “We’ve got to tell everyone you’re here.”
“Sure. I’ll wait here,” Creed said.
“No, you won’t. You have to come with me. No one’s going to want to leave Meg, and they’ll all want to hear what you have to say. We’ll just get you scrubbed in,” Alik spoke while leading the way down the corridor toward the lab.
“Scrubbed in? Like at a hospital?” Creed asked, pretending he had no idea there was a lab onsite.
“Well, yeah. We’re pretty well set up back here in the lab. And to be sure no containments are brought into the sterile room, you’ll have to get scrubbed in,” Alik said matter-of-factly, as though it were completely normal to have a hospital-like clean room in an estate on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“If you say so,” was all Creed could think to say. He was trying to brace himself for what was about to happen.
Creed stood to the side and watched as Alik slipped a blue gown over his clothing and tied the paper-like belt to secure it. Then he ripped open a package, and took out a premoistened, blue, plastic scrubbing brush. He began working vigorously on his hands, focusing especially under his fingernails and continuing up his forearms. Creed mimicked everything Alik did. Finally, they put on light blue masks that covered their noses and mouths and were held in place by wrapping small elastic loops around their ears.
Creed was feeling queasier now than ever before, which was saying a lot considering how many times he had been put in situations of extreme stress.
But this was different.
He was about to see the sweet-faced girl who made his heart leap inside his chest. He was about to meet her family, and he was about to confess who he was. Nothing about the next hour was going to be easy.
The first of the double doors to the lab slid open automatically, and closed behind Alik and Creed. Then the second set of doors opened.
The room was large and immaculate. All the equipment looked shiny, new and expertly maintained. Half a dozen people were in the room, all dressed in the same sterile surgical gowns he wore himself. Even though each person in the room was completely covered in blue, including their faces, Creed could tell immediately who was who. His eyes stopped scanning the moment he found Meg.
She looked so much worse than she did last he saw her. Alik was right; she wasn’t doing well at all. Though he could only see the eyes of those who spoke, he could read them clearly. Everyone in this room was terrified and exhausted, but they all looked at Creed with a glint of hope as though he would have some magic answer to their questions. Creed knew he wasn’t going to be able to be their solution. At least, not the way they were hoping he would be.
“Everyone, this is the guy who found Meg yesterday,” Alik announced to the room.
The room murmured “welcomes” and “thanks for coming backs.”
“You’ll have to forgive us if we seem rude, but we’re desperately trying to determine what is wrong with our Meg. So, we’re going to skip introductions and jump right in with some questions, okay?” Margo began.
“Yes, ma’am,” Creed responded formally.
“Tell us what you saw when you found Meg,” Dr. Paulie began.
“She was jogging. She stopped, looking like she was dizzy, and held on to a tree to steady herself. Then I saw her slump to the ground holding her head. By the time I reached her, she was completely out,” Creed replayed the scene in his mind trying to stick as close to the truth as possible.
“Wait a minute,” Alik said. “Yesterday you said you just ‘found her’ on the ground. Now you’re telling us you saw her before she passed out?”
“Yesterday, you looked like you were about to rip my head off for touching her. I was trying to save my own skin!” Creed said, only half lying.
“Regardless. So you say she collapsed holding her head,” Dr. Paulie redirected the conversation.
“Yes, sir. Like she had a migraine that came on fast,” Creed answered.
“Did she say anything to you when you approached her?” Margo asked.
“No, ma’am. She was completely out,” Creed responded.
“How long from the time you saw her jogging until she was on the ground unconscious?” Dr. Andrews asked.
“Seconds, sir. It all happened fast. I’d say maybe fifteen seconds,” Creed estimated.
“Was anyone else around to see what you saw?” Margo asked.
“Not that I know of, ma’am,” Creed lied. These people were not to know about Farrow. That wasn’t part of the plan.
“What were you doing on the path when you saw her?” Evan asked.
“Excuse me?” Creed asked, stalling.
“You were on the path where Meg was jogging. How did you happen to be there?” Evan pressed.
“I…well, I was….” Creed stammered, unable to meet the intense gaze of those in the room. And just like that, Creed lost all pretenses.
“It’s not a difficult question,” Evan was walking toward the stranger. Alik, completely aware of the change in the temperature of the conversation positioned himself beside his brother facing the interloper.
“Who are you?” Alik asked the stranger point blank.
“I’m...um,” the stranger hesitated, “I’m not sure now’s the time to get into that.” Worry lines etched across his tanned face.
Alik and Evan exchanged glances and without saying a word they moved themselves between the stranger and their family. “Maybe you’d better start talking right now,” Alik warned.
“Listen, if I wanted to hurt her, I could have done it out there on the path when I first saw her collapse and neither of you could have stopped me.” His unfamiliar eyes we
re both pleading and heated at the brothers’ mistrust. “I know who you are and where you come from, but I don’t know why she’s sick,” the stranger said and anxiously ran his fingers through is hair.
“What do you mean you know who we are?” Alik’s eyes formed into angry slits. From behind the brothers, Margo eased her way to her daughter and put one hand protectively on her feverish arm. Her other hand was clinched into a fist.
“You’re metahumans, like me,” he said simply.
The words felt like ice down Alik’s back. He was stunned into momentary silence. Evan felt punched in the stomach, so he wasn’t talking much either.
The stranger continued speaking. “Ten years ago, you were involved in the research conducted by Dr. Kenneth Williams and were stolen by a woman who worked for his company, Dr. Margo Pullman, now going by the name Dr. Margo Winter…”
Dr. Andrews was at Margo’s side in an instant, ready to lay down his life to protect her.
“Stop right there. You obviously work for Williams. Did he send you to kill my mother?” Alik’s face could not have been redder, seething with fury. He could barely contain himself. But the logical part of him was forcing restraint knowing he needed to gather more information before he broke this guy’s neck.
“Yes,” the man said simply. “That was my original objective, but things have—changed.”
“If you came to hurt anyone in my family, you will not walk out of this room alive. Clear?” Alik’s vein in his forehead was pulsing deep purple with absolute ferocity.
“Crystal.” The stranger met Alik’s glare unflinching.
“We obviously have a lot to talk about. Are you willing?” Margo asked the outsider.
Evan couldn’t stop staring at the stranger as though through new eyes. Of course, he was a meta. His physique was perfect. He looked like he may even be stronger than Alik. Here was the man who had been sent by their enemy to hunt them down. Instead, he just brought Meg to them, ill, but alive. Now he stood in front of them confessing his plot. This was all too surreal.
Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2) Page 10