by Jen Haeger
“Which confirms what Nicolas told you.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Is it enough to trust him?”
Evelyn looked into David’s eyes then closed her own. She thought back to the night of the battle and the time she’d spent with Nicolas. There was an intensity about him and an earnestness in his actions, both as a Wolfkin and as a human. Evelyn felt something that wasn’t trust exactly, but she believed that Nicolas would tell her the truth. Opening her eyes, she looked up at David again. For a moment a mirage of pale blue eyes, Nicolas’s eyes, stared back at her, but then Evelyn blinked and David’s eyes were green once more. She cleared her throat. “Yeah.”
David studied her face. “Okay, but we’re still going to take precautions. You may trust him, but I don’t trust the Vulke.”
Evelyn nodded and eyed the timer on the PCR machine. “Of course.”
58
The night at the lab ended with Kim testing some new virus primers and Evelyn confirming the presence of mutant Languorem luporum in the power bars: small steps in terms of the research, but not without importance. The plan now was to head back to the condo briefly, grab a little breakfast and head straight straight out again to get clear to call Nicolas then continue on to Tennessee and Kim’s visit with her mom. Wired at the prospect of learning something new and useful about the virus, Evelyn hardly needed the cup of coffee she downed at the condo or the one she stowed in the travel mug to keep her awake for the first shift of driving.
Excitement and expectation tingled inside Evelyn’s chest as she pointed the SUV south. Too many questions she wanted to ask Nicolas jumbled up in her mind as she tried to prioritize. She should ask him what the Vulke were planning strategically, if they were going to launch any surprise attacks against the allied Wolfkin, if the Vulke were watching them or their families, how many more strays had they infected, and then, finally, what could he tell her about Languorem luporum that would help her cure it. She should also ask if Nicolas knew who the traitor was. So many questions.
Deep in thought, Evelyn twitched when her cell phone rang. Both David and Kim were dead to the world after the overnight in the lab, so Evelyn carefully answered, slowing her speed and tucking the phone between her ear and her shoulder.
“Hello?”
“I want to talk to you about Nicolas.”
It was Roberto. He sounded…concerned. That did not bode well.
“Okay.”
“I’ve done some checking, and this man, Nicolas, is very high up in the Vulke ranks. He is very close to the new Vulke Alpha, Taras. I do not know what the Vulke are playing at, but I do not think we can trust him.”
Evelyn bit her lip. “But I sent you the information about the power bars, he was right. They’re contaminated with Languo—with the mutant strain. Why would he tell us that?”
“To confuse us, gain our trust? I do not know and we cannot assume that those bars are the only source of infection. I have made up my mind on this, do not contact him. It is too dangerous.”
Evelyn bit her lip harder. What would Roberto do if she deliberately went against his direct order? What could he do? In a way that she couldn’t even explain to herself, let alone Roberto, she knew that Nicolas would tell her the truth. Or do I? Maybe she was just making up some romantic notion since he’d saved her life. But surely, surely, this type of subterfuge was out of character for the Vulke and they really had no need of it. Certainly it would have been much easier and more effective to have just killed Evelyn. The cell phone hissed static as she drove under an overpass.
“Evelyn?”
Evelyn realized that she’d been silent too long, but couldn’t bring herself to lie to Roberto, or at least didn’t trust herself to do it effectively. Grabbing the phone, she held it out away from her face. “Roberto? Roberto? Sorry, I’m in the car, what did you say before? I can—“ Evelyn touched the end button and then turned off the phone. A stupid and useless gesture really, considering he would just call David and or Kim to reach her, but Evelyn had a plan.
“David! David, wake up!”
Evelyn reached out and poked David roughly just as his phone started to ring.
“Wha-yawn-what’s going on?”
“Roberto is calling you, and you have to tell him that I went on a trip, alone to…to Ohio to meet with a colleague of mine to discuss something about the virus.”
David’s sleep clouded eyes cleared. The phone kept ringing. “What? Why?”
“Please, I’ll tell you after. Just do it and try to make it sound like you aren’t in a car.”
Frowning, David fished out his cell phone and answered it. “Hello?” A false smile settled onto David’s face. “Oh, hi Roberto, I—
“Evelyn? No, er…she’s not here. She left earlier this morning to meet up with a buddy of hers in Ohio. Guess he’s some kind of virus expert and she wanted to ask him a few things about—
“Why in person?”
David shot Evelyn a look of panic. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of a single reason that she couldn’t have e-mailed her supposed colleague a question.
“Um, well, you know…she hadn’t seen him in a while and he said that he’d be happy to answer her questions if she could find time to have a cup of coffee with him. She—“ David paused and rubbed his forehead before continuing. “Uhuh, well, I guess they were important questions. Well, if I hear from her I’ll tell her you call—“ David paused again, his face darkening as he listened to Roberto. “Right, I understand. I’ll tell her.” David hung up the phone and stared out the window. “He doesn’t want you to contact Nicolas.”
“No.”
“But you’re going to anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Evie—“
“We can trust him, David. And even if we can’t, if he’s trying to use us to get to Roberto or something, I won’t let him. I’ll only contact him this once, and we’ve taken precautions.”
He turned to face her. “Why risk this?”
“Because I have to, David. I’m not going to find a cure without knowing what he knows about the virus, and maybe even not then, but I have to try. I have to try to do whatever I can to find a cure, before…before…”
“Alright, alright, I’ll back you, Evie. Get what information you can, but just don’t be too trusting. He’s still Vulke. This is still a dangerous game you’re playing and who knows what Roberto’s going to do when he finds out.” Rubbing his drooping eyes, David sighed. “He’s going to hate me forever.”
#
When it finally came time for Evelyn to make the call to Nicolas, sweat ran down her back and her mouth went dry. Fingers fumbling as she tried to replace the phone’s battery, Evelyn thought about what she wanted to say. There were so many important things that she had to ask him, yet her brain kept doubling back to a single thought. Did I even thank him for saving my life? She honestly couldn’t remember and it bothered her. Finally, the stubborn hunk of plastic and metal snapped back into place, Evelyn pressed the power button, and the phone came back to life.
David and Kim stared at her from the rest stop picnic bench as Evelyn dialed in the numbers. From their faces, one would have thought that Evelyn was punching in a nuclear launch code. Half-expecting the number to be out-of-service, Evelyn turned her back on her pack and stared off into the distant trees along the highway. As the connection went through, and the phone on the other end began ringing, Evelyn’s breath stuck fast in her throat. Her pounding heart made it difficult to hear the soft burr-ring in her ear. She strained, almost reflexively hanging up when someone answered.
“Da, Nicolas.”
Just hearing his voice again whipped up a violent storm of emotions in Evelyn, sending everything she was going to say swirling out of her brain.
“Allo? Kto eto?”
Evelyn had not a clue what he was saying, but she knew that he would hang up if she didn’t’ say something, fast. “Don’t hang up!”
The line went silent and Evelyn
thought that she’d been too slow to respond. The phone sagged in her hand and came away from her ear.
“Evelyn?”
The way Nicolas said her name made her insides squirm, but not necessarily in a bad way. She pressed the phone back to her ear. “You told me to call, so…I’m calling. Is…is this a bad time?”
“You made it back, you are alright?”
“Yes.”
“I am glad.”
A faint change in sound registered with Evelyn though the receiver. Nicolas shutting a door? Or something more sinister?
“We found the virus in the power bars, but I need more. I need notes. The determination of the infection sequences, notes from the synthesis of the mutant, anything, everything you can get to me…”
“Of course, but it will take a little time.”
Alarm bells sounded in Evelyn’s head. “Why?”
“I am not where that information is right now. How shall I send it to you?”
Evelyn’s mind raced. How would he get the information to her? E-mail addresses could be traced back to a location and she wasn’t going to expose herself to the Vulke by sauntering up to some P.O. box somewhere. “Um, hold on.” Stabbing the mute button, Evelyn spun and skittered back to the picnic table. “David, how do you hide the location of your e-mail address?”
His normally sharp green eyes dulled. “How should I know?”
Evelyn frowned. Men were supposed to know techy stuff like that.
“You could use a web-based proxy.”
Evelyn and David both stared at Kim like she had just spoken in tongues. She smiled back at them innocently.
Evelyn blinked. “What’s that?”
“Basically it’s a service that allows you to use the IP address of their computer instead of the address from your own computer. Oh, and there’s also TOR which does kinda the same thing, but routes your connection through a bunch of servers all over the world. That’s probably the best way.”
“How do you…never mind.” Evelyn rotated around and marched away from the table again, disengaging the mute.
“Nicolas? Are you still there?”
“Yes, but I have not much time.”
“Give me an e-mail address and I’ll e-mail you when I’ve set up a secure connection.”
“Da.”
Evelyn’s breath came out in a rush and her cheeks flushed. “Can you tell me other things right now?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Do the Vulke know where we are? Are we or our families being watched? Will the Vulke strike again before the next full moon? Are they infecting more strays? What are they planning? How can we fight them?”
Sorrow conveyed in a sigh emanated from the speaker.
“Lots of questions.”
“You said that you would help me.”
“Da…Taras has been hunting Roberto since the fall of the Wolfkin Council, but he has lost interest in you now that he has his own scientists. He is confident that we have the upper hand in the war and he will not rush or do anything that might bring unwanted attentions before the next full moon.” Nicolas took a deep breath. “As for the strays, we cannot make more. There was one successful production of the mutant virus, but all others have failed. Taras feels that this is deliberate sabotage by the scientists and has punished them severely, but for now, there is no more virus to distribute that way. Obviously, Taras is redistributing his armies to areas where we did not obtain complete victory.”
“To North America and England?”
“Da…Evelyn, I do not know how you can fight his numbers. They are trained to kill and there are those who were at the battle on your side who did not even know how to fight.”
As his words sunk in, Evelyn inhaled sharply. She hadn’t thought of it before, but of course Nicolas had fought in the battle. Of course he had killed or at least wounded Wahya and Amaruq. He’d been the enemy, might still be the enemy.
Nicolas continued. “I fear for you. Could you not stay away from this coming fight? I could make things safe for you after if…”
Evelyn came back to herself. “If all of my friends and allies are slaughtered by the Vulke?”
A reluctant syllable whispered through the air. “Da.”
“Nicolas, if you want to help me, you have to be willing to help all of us, all of those against the Vulke. If this is just about me…” Evelyn didn’t know how to finish her sentence.
Silence.
Evelyn wanted to ask him how many Wahya he’d hurt before the fire engulfed the forest. She wanted to ask him why he was helping the Vulke destroy innocent lives. Why he was choosing to be a monster.
“I have decided now. I will help all of you.”
“Why?” Evelyn hadn’t meant to say the word aloud, but it broke free of her lips before she could stop it.
“I wish you did not have to ask me this.”
Evelyn heard more noises in the background. Her heart stuttered in fear.
Nicolas rattled off a Yahoo e-mail address, then repeated it more slowly. More noises sounded in the background and Nicolas’s voice became urgent. “I must go now. Evelyn, I…must go.”
The line gave a click of finality. When she brought her cellphone down, the screen showed “Call Ended.” Without any reason, knowing that he had hurt, maybe even killed her friends, she believed Nicolas would help them. But what if I’m wrong? What if this is all some kind of sick Vulke game? She flipped the burner phone over and scrabbled at the battery, finally using a key to pry it loose from the phone before pocketing the battery and chucking the phone into the nearest garbage can.
David and Kim approached her. “Well?”
“Let’s go. I’ll tell you what he said in the car.”
David nodded and angled towards the parking lot. “Evie, do you trust him?”
Irritation flared up in Evelyn like a struck match. “I don’t know? I mean, how can I? Every logical part of my brain says that this is all way off, that it has to be some kind of trick or trap.”
David pressed his lips together and nodded. “But you have but-face.”
“What?”
“You look like you’re going to say but.”
“Oh.”
She hoisted herself into the passenger’s seat while David got behind the wheel and Kim situated herself in a middle seat. “But because it’s so very weird is why it seems like he might be honestly helping us…Argh! That makes no sense, sorry.”
David’s eyebrows knitted in thought as he pulled out of the parking lot. “No, it’s okay. I think I kind of know what you mean. Even knowing that the Vulke are crazy, I can’t find an angle that does them a whole lot of good stringing us along like this.” He glanced up at the rearview mirror. “What do you think, Kim?”
Even to Evelyn’s ears, the question sounded like an afterthought. A twinge of guilt and empathy for Kim’s situation passed through Evelyn. She craned her neck around to look at Kim. She was tugging at her lower lip, an uncharacteristic mask of unhappiness upending her cheerful features.
“I think we should talk to Clem.”
59
“Well ain’t this a good ole’ kick in the britches? Evie darlin’, ya know I love ya, but what in the hellfires of Satan’s outhouse are you thinkin’!”
Clem’s colorful reprimand had all the weight of a dandelion fluff brushing against Evelyn’s face. “Clem, you know what I’m thinking. I’m thinking we need all the help we can get now to stop this, to stop the Vulke.”
Evelyn heard a muttering of imaginative expletives. “Yeah, and jest what does you’re Alphaman say?”
“Are you pulling rank with me Wahya Gamma?”
“Aw Evie, don’t read me the riot act, I jest want David’s op-pin-nion on the matter.”
Evelyn unwound the old school phone cord from her fingers, shifted her position on the worn couch, and eyed David through the window, sitting next to Kim and her mom in lawn chairs in Kim’s mother’s driveway.
“He agrees with me th
at there just doesn’t seem to be any reason for a big elaborate ruse. If Nicolas wasn’t on the up and up, he could’ve easily killed or captured me before, and since there’s already a spy in our ranks, he really doesn’t need to infiltra…you did know about the spy thing right?” Evelyn brought her palm to her forehead with an audible smack. Oh, Evelyn, you really are bad at keeping secrets, aren’t you?
“Yeah, yeah, Roberto already unbagged the cat on that one.”
“Well then, why? Why would they go through all this trouble?”
Clem grunted. “Evie, it might not be a ‘they’ thing. It might jest be one crazy ole’ Vulke’s warped up game ‘o’ tiddly-Wolfkin.”
Evelyn bit her bottom lip. She honestly hadn’t considered that it might be just Nicolas trying to personally toy with her. Frowning, and though Clem couldn’t see her, she shook her head. “No. It’s not that.”
“How do ya know that, Evie?”
“I…I just know.”
Clem’s sigh even had a drawl to it. “You’ll be careful with this right, Evie? I mean rea-al careful?”
“I will.”
“Well, alrighty then, but put me down on the ‘not liking it’ side.”
“Thanks, Clem…Ah, just one more thing.”
“Uhuh.”
“You can’t tell Roberto.”
Evelyn had been mistaken when she’d thought Clem’s cursing couldn’t get any more evocative.
*
After two nights visiting Kim’s mom, the whole Inali pack drove back to Lansing together. Once back at the condo, Kim showed Evelyn how to set up the secure e-mail and Evelyn used it to send a message to Nicolas. She had no idea what to say, so she put nothing in the subject line, and “as discussed” in the body, figuring it would look suspicious no matter what she typed. Kim sucked in a breath when Evelyn hit the send button.
“Now what?”
“Now we wait.”
Kim nodded.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend more time in Tennessee.”
Kim smiled. “Oh, that’s okay. Two days is about all me and my mom can go before we’re at each other’s throats. She was already starting in on my time away from school and training. Another twenty-four hours and she would’ve really gotten going”.
