Wild Keepers

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Allie nodded, slowly. “I understand where you are coming from, but it is so risky. Even if you are right, and find something, Dr. Morgan won’t forgive it. Your career could be in ruins.”

  “Or it could flourish,” he countered. “If we find something, and end this, it is for the greater good, which I am sure City Hall will understand. I am working for them, after all. They asked me to work as a consultant here. Doctor Morgan isn’t my superior.”

  She took a sip of her coffee. “Well, if you are going to do it, I won’t ask for the details of how. It would probably be better that I don’t know.”

  Caleb nodded. “I wouldn’t tell you, as I don’t want to implicate you. All I am asking is that you test the sample as soon as I get it. As far as you know, Dr. Morgan has authorised it. If we find something, we let the hospitals and City Hall know immediately.” He paused. “By the time Dr. Morgan discovers it, it should be resolved. He can’t be angry that we have found a solution, can he?” He knew better, of course, if his instincts about Dr. Morgan were correct. But Allie didn’t need to know that yet.

  “But what if there isn’t anything?” she said, her eyes wide. “What if you do all this for nothing? Then you will be held accountable by everyone. Dr. Morgan will be justified and angry that you authorised it on his behalf to boot. He can make things difficult for you, Caleb.”

  “I will risk it,” he said slowly. “I told you that. Don’t worry about me. And you are protected. As I said, as far as you are aware the sample was authorised. Simple. You are just doing the job the city is paying you to do.”

  Allie bit her lip, thinking quickly. It was so very risky. And despite what Caleb said, she didn’t think that he would just walk away from pretending to have authorisation. It could ruin his career. People wouldn’t trust him, again, to not go behind their backs. His name would be mud, even if he managed to find a solution.

  But, on the other hand, he was right. Dr. Morgan wasn’t open to other avenues, and time was ticking. It was disappointing; the doctor had a great reputation, but he was acting in a way that puzzled her. It was almost as if he was fighting against finding a solution even while he was pushing for it. And as Caleb said, people were dying. More people were coming down with this illness every day.

  They had a higher responsibility. It was bigger than the potential wrath of one man. And if it reaped the right results, then it would be justified, wouldn’t it? Even Dr. Morgan must see that.

  “Alright,” she said. “If you can get me the sample, I will test it. Hopefully, it will be worth it.”

  He smiled widely, reaching forward across the table and taking her hand. “Thank you, Allie. You won’t regret it, I promise you.”

  She gazed at him, hoping that he was right. Despite what he said, she was scared that it would come back on her. She had just started her career. She didn’t want it to be over before it had barely begun.

  “Do your thing,” she said, taking her hand away. “I’m not going to ask.”

  He stood up, gazing at her intently. “It will be okay, Allie.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll get to work. Just wait for me here.” He paused again. “Just keep an eye out for Bruce. If he comes, distract him. Talk to him about the parade or the weather. Anything. And talk loud so I will be alerted.”

  She nodded slowly, her heart thudding. He walked out. She sat back on her chair, sipping her coffee. She hadn’t asked where he was going or how he was going to do it. She didn’t want to know.

  She glanced down the corridor, a bit fearfully, hoping that Bruce wouldn’t come.

  ***

  Caleb opened the door to Dr. Morgan’s office, walking in swiftly. He left the door slightly ajar so that he could get out if he needed to, quickly.

  He frowned. The office was a mess; papers strewn everywhere. Dr. Morgan was distracted alright. He was usually meticulous. He thought of the night that he had snuck in here and found the photos. It had been in a pristine state then.

  He had to work quickly. He turned on the computer. Dr. Morgan would have an authorisation form template on his computer, Caleb was sure of it. If he could fill it in quickly, he could print it off, and rush there to get the sample today. All going well, he could get the sample back to Allie, test it, and then they would know.

  He tried to suppress a pang of guilt. Not for himself; he knew Dr. Morgan was involved in this in some way, and his mission was to find that out and stop this crisis. Simple. There was no career for him to be putting in jeopardy; it was a role he was playing, and he could melt back into his real life—whatever that was—with no consequences.

  No, he felt guilty on behalf of Allie. She was an honest person and had obviously always played by the rules. She was struggling with this. He had meant it when he said that her career wasn’t at risk. Dr. Morgan couldn’t blame her. She was just doing her job, and he would say that he had pressed her, to protect her further. Their story was that as far as she knew, Dr. Morgan was authorising this.

  But she was complicit in it, and it troubled her. He almost wished that he hadn’t asked her now, but it was too late for that. He could have tested the sample himself, but it would have looked suspicious to the security guard. He didn’t officially work here, whereas Allie did. She was his cover to get in here and do this.

  The computer was on. He quickly typed in Dr. Morgan’s password, which he had found earlier. Or Evan had found for him, to be precise. Caleb didn’t know how Evan did it, but he was grateful that he could. But it had taken time, which was why he had been a bit late.

  The computer started going through its start up cycle. Caleb drummed his fingers on the desk, impatiently. Why did it always seem to take so much time in these situations?

  At last. He opened a few files, searching. Nothing. It had to be here, surely. He was depending on it.

  He opened another file, scanning it quickly. Eureka. It was the form that he needed. He quickly copied it, then started filling in the details. With this, the hospital would give him a sample, not a problem. He pressed print on the file, and heard the copier in the next room start to whir into action.

  He closed the computer then gazed around, listening. He couldn’t hear anything; no footsteps approaching or voices. Bruce the security guard was obviously somewhere else. He still had time.

  He picked the lock on the drawer, again. The photos were exactly where they had been, along with everything else. He reached back, searching for whatever was stuck there that he had to leave the other night.

  His hands closed over it, and he pulled it forward.

  It was a pile of letters, tied together with brown string. He turned it over, looking at the address on the top one. It was addressed to Dr. Timothy Morgan at his home address. He gazed at the pile, frowning.

  Suddenly, he could hear Allie’s voice. She was laughing, making small talk about the parade. He could hear Bruce’s voice as well. Time was up. He had to get out of here, now.

  He hesitated, staring down at the pile of letters. They could be nothing, and he didn’t have time to sit here and read through them all. But if he took them, he would have to find time and opportunity to get them back. He didn’t want Dr. Morgan getting suspicious.

  He stuffed them into his jacket pocket and closed the drawer, relocking it.

  He crept to the door, listening. They were still talking; it sounded like Bruce was in the common room with Allie. He could slip out undetected.

  He closed the door softly behind him then walked to the printer, picking up the authorisation. A surge of elation shot through him. He was so close, he could almost touch it.

  ***

  Allie glanced anxiously at the door, trying not to make it obvious. Where was Caleb?

  She was talking louder than she normally would, and she could see that Bruce was a bit puzzled by it. But other than that, he didn’t look suspicious. He seemed happy to talk. She supposed it was a lonely job, being a security guard.

  They had already covered the parade, and the weather, by the ti
me Caleb walked through the door, grinning.

  She let out the breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding. She didn’t think she was gladder to see someone in her life.

  She stared at him. His grin widened. He must have done it.

  “I need to get to the hospital,” he said, gazing at both her and Bruce. “Urgent business. But I will be back as soon as I can. You’ll still be here, Allie?”

  Allie nodded. “Of course I will.”

  “Great.” He folded the piece of paper he was holding in half, putting it into his pocket. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” He turned to Bruce. “All quiet on the Western front?”

  Bruce nodded. “It’s been as quiet as anything in here, Mr. Stone,” he said, stifling a yawn. “Sorry. Been up all night. Todd should be here any minute now to take over, and then I’m off home, to sleep the day away.”

  “Have fun,” said Caleb, walking away. He glanced back, staring at Allie, as if he was going to say something else. But if he had been, he changed his mind.

  And then he was gone.

  Allie stared after him, her heart thudding. She hoped that he knew what he was doing. It was going to be a long wait, sitting here staring at the door until he returned.

  ***

  Caleb sat in the waiting area of the hospital, staring at the hands of the large clock on the opposite wall. What on earth was taking so long?

  It had seemed to go well when he had first walked in here. He had explained who he was and handed them the authorisation letter.

  The nurse had quickly scanned it. “You want to wait for the sample?”

  He had slowly breathed out. It seemed that the letter passed muster.

  “Yes,” he had said. “It’s urgent. I want to get it back to the lab as soon as possible.”

  “Wait here,” she said, going through a door. When she next appeared, a doctor came with her, in a white coat. He was clutching the piece of paper in his hand.

  “You’re requesting a lumbar puncture?” he asked, looking at the paper.

  “Yes,” answered Caleb. “As quickly as possible, please. I need to analysis the cerebral spinal fluid immediately.”

  The doctor nodded. “I’ll send it through.” He looked at Caleb. “You have a suspicion there might be something in it that could unlock this mystery illness?”

  Caleb nodded, cautiously. “Exploring all avenues, Doctor. Any patient suffering symptoms of this illness will be fine, but if you could do two for me, even better. That way we could compare them.”

  “Why did Dr. Morgan change his mind?” asked the doctor. “I got in contact with him yesterday when you were here requesting it without the authorisation. He laughed, saying it was a ridiculous theory.”

  Caleb felt his blood go cold. So, Dr. Morgan was already aware that he had been seeking this. That wasn’t good. But if he could just get the sample in his hands and get it to Allie, he would worry about that later.

  “He saw that there was nothing to lose, I guess,” replied Caleb, smiling.

  “Alright,” said the doctor. “Sit here. We will be as quick as we can.”

  That had been two hours ago.

  Caleb stood up, pacing the room. What was the delay? It shouldn’t be taking this long. He walked to the counter, pressing the buzzer. The same nurse who he had seen earlier walked through.

  “How is it going?” he said, through gritted teeth. “I thought that I explained this was urgent.”

  The nurse raised her eyebrows. “Hasn’t it come, yet? That is strange. I’ll call down, if you like.” She picked up the phone receiver and dialled a number.

  Caleb sat back down, expelling his breath slowly. He was just about ready to lose it, but he knew that he had to stay calm. If he got angry with them, it would only delay things further.

  The doctor walked in, holding two vials. “Sorry for the delay, Mr. Stone,” he said. “There was an issue getting consent from some of the patient’s families. We had to call around and explain what it was for.” He handed the vials to Caleb. “Good luck. I hope you find something. This illness is terrible, and it’s getting worse.”

  Caleb clutched the vials, breathing out a sigh of relief. He was already walking towards the door. He turned back, looking at the doctor.

  “Thank you,” he said. “If my hunch is right, we are on the way.”

  He walked down to his car, wondering briefly if he would have a ticket. He had been longer than he expected, and he had only paid for an hour.

  Getting in, he carefully placed the vials containing the spinal fluid in the glove box. These were precious. He couldn’t afford to break them, or spill them. It had taken so much to get them as it was.

  He turned on the engine, moving out of the park. He stopped at a small intersection, waiting for a car to pass.

  And that was when he saw it. In his rearview mirror.

  A car, behind him. Just a regular car. He wouldn’t have bothered glancing at it twice. But it wasn’t the car that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was the face behind the wheel of the car, staring straight at him.

  It was grey, with piercing black eyes. No hair or only wisps of it. It must have felt very confident to reveal itself so publicly like this. Or it didn’t care. Usually they wore their disguises in public.

  Caleb stared into the face of the demon. The Vilgath.

  It knew. And it was after him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Allie walked to the coffee pot and poured herself another cup of coffee. She didn’t really need it, nor did she particularly want it. But there was so little else to do while she waited for Caleb to return. He had been hours already.

  She had passed the time looking at the blood samples again, straining to detect any abnormalities. But there was nothing, as always. She had gone into the basement library, looking through books and journals on unusual parasites and rare pathogens. There were millions, of course, but it didn’t help her.

  Where was he? She had messaged him a few times. He had responded the first time, telling her that he was still waiting for the sample, and that he hoped he wouldn’t be too much longer. As the hours had dragged on, she had messaged again. Two times. But he hadn’t responded to those messages at all.

  It was ridiculous, she thought. She shouldn’t even be here. When she had first agreed to what he had suggested, it had seemed the right decision. But as the hours went by, and he didn’t return, her courage had started to falter. He was asking an awful lot of her; regardless of what he said, she knew that Dr. Morgan would be angry with her when he found out. She could plead ignorance, claiming that she had accepted that he had authorised it and inquired no further. But he would still wonder why she had decided to come to the lab on a Saturday to do it with no one around to ask. Especially him.

  She had rehearsed what she would say. That Caleb had called her and told her that Dr. Morgan wanted a sample tested urgently. It was a priority situation, after all. People were dying.

  Allie drained the coffee cup, placing it in the sink. She gazed out the long windows, overlooking the huge car park. She could see a playground in the distance, and houses. And further back, roads crisscrossing towards the city. The sky was dull, as if it might suddenly rain. She checked her watch. It would be starting to get dark soon. What should she do?

  She sat back down, thinking quickly. She couldn’t stay here all night. He hadn’t responded to her messages; she had no idea if he was close or still at the hospital. A surge of anger shot through her. It was rude. He was the one who had insisted they come here, and then he persuaded her to do something that she really didn’t feel comfortable with. And now, he wasn’t even answering her. He had left her here, alone, with no idea of what to do.

  She shifted, uneasily. Was she being a fool? A stupid, lovestruck fool who would do anything for the man that she loved? Even risk her career? The thought made her glow with rage. She wasn’t an idiot. She was a science graduate with a good job. An independent woman, carving out a new
life for herself. Not some numbskull who could be manipulated with a few sweet words.

  She stood up so suddenly that the chair almost fell over. That was it. She wasn’t waiting a second longer. He could be as angry as he liked with her. It had all been a big mistake. She shouldn’t have even come here. And she most certainly shouldn’t have made love with him last night.

  She put on her coat and picked up her bag. She quickly glanced at her phone on the table. Still nothing. She put it in her pocket, turning to leave. She would have a glass of water, and then go.

  She walked to the water cooler and picked up a paper cup, watching the water bubble as she poured. She was glad that they had this here. It meant she didn’t have to buy her own water and bring it in.

  She kept watching the water in the cooler. It settled down as soon as she had stopped pouring. It was such a pity that the water analysis had come back negative. She had been so sure that whatever was causing this was in the water.

  She straightened, thinking about it. Dr. Morgan had merely told her—he hadn’t given her a copy of the analysis. She shifted, uneasily. Had he even sent it to the water testing lab? But he had told her that he would even though he didn’t have any hope for it. Why would he lie? What would motivate him to do that?

  She shook her head. She was being stupid. Dr. Morgan was the director, and it was his job to find out what was happening. He wouldn’t deliberately sabotage those efforts. None of it made sense.

  She could test the water herself. Right here. Right now.

  She glanced around at the empty office. Should she? If nothing else, it would put her mind at rest. If Dr. Morgan told the truth, then her analysis would confirm it.

  It was a relatively simple procedure. All she needed to do, initially, was get some tap water and look at it under the microscope. If something was in it that she was suspicious of, she could then fix and stain it, so that she could observe its features clearly. It wasn’t a difficult job, and the only reason they used the water lab was because it wasn’t part of their job description to test water here.