by Brinda Berry
“They won’t tell anyone. I promise. I was afraid. I thought that you had sent those guys to follow me to Dallas. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Maybe they can protect you,” he stated in a flat voice, “I cannot protect myself or you.”
“I’m fine. And I’m not letting anything happen to you. This room is like a fortress. See the deadbolts? I guess you can’t, but nobody is getting in here.” I squeezed his hand. “Trust me.”
I knew I sounded brave, but I was coming to realize that the thugs in Dallas were news to him. He rubbed his thumb over the top of my hand and it reminded me of the way a person rubs a worry stone.
I disengaged my hand and picked up my cell phone. After texting Austin that I would call him back in a little while, I asked, “You didn’t try to follow me this weekend after I talked to Dr. Bleeker?”
“We were called to the Vault,” he answered.
“What’s the Vault?”
“It is the information center. The IIA headquarters are there. They sent for Arizona and me. We were required to return for further instructions and updates. It seems that Dr. Bleeker has been a busy man. Bleeker has been leaving a trail of dead bodies across four of your districts…states.”
“Dead bodies? Not Dr. Bleeker. That can’t be right. Why would he kill someone?” I couldn’t imagine that the information was correct. There had to be a mistake.
“It may be unintentional. We do not know, but we can guess that he has been using people from other worlds as test subjects. He fled his own world to conduct illegal experiments.”
“Oh, God. He’s like a mad scientist. And a murderer. I didn’t know what was at stake. I didn't understand.” Horrified, I covered my face with my hands.
He reached for my hands, took them in both of his. “He offers hope to the hopeless. He has been creating a specific virus for gene therapy. He creates the virus in a lab and injects it into his subject. It's a more effective delivery than chemical vector delivery, but easily contaminated. His goal is to alter DNA, but he’s failing and causing his subjects’ deaths. The IIA doesn’t think that the general population has been exposed to viral contamination yet… What happened to you while we were gone?” His grip loosened.
“Austin, Em, and I went to a convention in Dallas. I thought Pete would be there, but that’s another story. These two guys were definitely following me. They didn’t try to act like they weren’t.”
“Did they harm you?” His eyes were intense despite his swollen lids.
“No way. I was just scared. I mean, I wasn’t scared for myself, but for Em and Austin…and well, Dr. Bleeker.”
His hand shifted to touch my knee as if to reassure himself that I wasn’t going anywhere. I rested one of my hands over the top of his.
“You were the only one in danger. They didn’t want the others. Why were you frightened for Dr. Bleeker?”
I confessed all that Dr. Bleeker had said to me in the student center.
“Dr. Bleeker has broken the laws of man and nature. You can’t get in the way. You are important, but not indispensable.”
“Listen, I get it that you feel some sort of responsibility for me. Right now, you need to quit worrying about me.”
My cell phone starting ringing. An ordinary ring tone, not “Wild Thing.”
“Mia, it’s me. Where are you?” Arizona’s voice.
“Come to the back of the house. There’s a door at the back left corner. It’s almost hidden under the deck,” I said, and then added, “Hurry!”
I let go of Regulus’s hand and felt cold. I didn’t realize how warm and feverish his hand had been.
I heard insistent rapping and opened the door. I hugged Arizona in relief.
“Did he make it?”
“What do you mean, did he make it? Did you think he was going to die?” My voice sounded shrill and echoed through the basement. “I’ve been going crazy not knowing what to do with him.” I pulled Arizona by the hand around the furniture and boxes to the place where I had hidden Regulus.
“How did you get him over here?” He sounded amazed.
“I cleared the stuff to make a path and pulled him on a blanket. Moving him wasn’t easy.” I shrugged. “Now what?”
Arizona pulled a small box out of his pocket and removed a small square of translucent paper. He bent and set his thumb on Regulus’s bottom lip. “Open up, friend. I need to put this on your tongue.”
Regulus closed his eyes, meekly allowing the paper to dissolve on his tongue. The purple bruising started to recede, and his face molded into its normal shape in seconds.
“Oh, my gosh, that’s incredible.” I couldn’t hide my excitement. The tension of the last hour faded in the pure bliss of knowing Regulus would be OK.
“The alchemist was slow, but she did well.” Arizona examined the marks on Regulus’s face as they magically disappeared. “It’s against law for me to bring him back through after he was contaminated.”
Regulus sat up and grabbed my arms. “You have to take us to Dr. Bleeker, now. He’s coming after you.”
Arizona’s mouth set in a straight, hard line. “The poisonous webbing was across your front door, Mia.”
“What do you mean? I’ve gone through that door today.” I was confused.
“I cleared the door immediately. If I hadn’t, you would be like Regulus is now.” Arizona looked me in the eyes. “The stakes are always high in our life. Don’t fool yourself that we’re playing games.”
I was stunned. I had assumed that the trap had been set at the mouth of the portal. The implications of a death trap across my door shocked me. It could have killed me or even worse, my dad. Why would Dr. Bleeker want to get rid of me?
I flashed back to the Regulus of only an hour ago and shuddered. I lifted my head in guilt. “Tell me what to do.”
“Call Austin. We could use someone to help watch out for you,” Regulus said. I saw a funny look pass between Arizona and Regulus. The moment passed, and we had to move before Bleeker did.
Chapter 14
Dead Slips
The flickering of the lab lights made me nauseous. Why couldn’t the university replace the fluorescent bulb when lighting was this bad? I stopped the complaints going through my head when I remembered that I was a trespasser. Breaking and entering doesn’t leave you room to be demanding.
“Can we go now? Regulus doesn’t look well yet and Dr. Bleeker’s obviously gone.” I hated to sound whiny, but it was the middle of the night. Austin looked amazingly content, despite the late hour, at having been included in the escapade and tasked with watching me. His calm demeanor was annoying.
“Yeah, he’s about as useful as a pogo stick in quicksand.” Austin stared at Regulus.
Regulus straightened from leaning on the laboratory workstation. A fine sheen of sweat gave his face a shiny glow. His black hair clung to his head with soft curls edging his neckline.
Arizona glanced at Regulus, apparently assessing his physical condition, and shook his head. “Something isn’t right. Why would Bleeker go to so much trouble to set a trap for you and then leave?” Arizona asked.
“We need to search every area he had access to,” Regulus said. “What about that door at the back?”
“Looks like a supply closet to me.” I started to leave the room.
Regulus went slowly toward the door. I ran over to help him, but he shrugged me off as if embarrassed. A second later, I saw a strange look on his face and he braced his arm around my shoulders to steady himself as we walked the final steps to the door. I looked up to see Austin scowling.
Regulus took a small tool from his pocket and stuck the rod into the key lock. The door lock clicked, and he quickly turned the knob. My eyes adjusted to the blackness of the supply room with its shelves filled with microscopes, glassware, and chemicals. Then I looked down.
I screamed.
Regulus slapped his hand over my mouth to muffle my high-pitched reaction, and I almost fell. Austin backed away from the d
oor in disbelief.
Arizona dropped to his knees to set his fingers on the young woman’s throat to check for a pulse, but it wasn’t necessary. Her face was bloated and her eyes stared straight ahead. She was propped up in a sitting position with her arms hanging limply at her sides.
I saw the bundle beside her on the floor. A silky wisp of black hair peeked out of the cloth.
Regulus shoved in front of me. “Don’t look. You shouldn’t see this,” he whispered. He took my chin and lifted it, forcing me to look into his eyes.
I heard Austin’s voice, “He’s right, Mia. You don’t want to see this.”
I nodded my head, stunned at the horror. I’d seen more than just a dead woman.
“Hey dude, what do you think you’re doing? Isn’t this where we call 911?” Austin held up his cell phone, ready.
“No policemen, Austin,” answered Arizona. “How do you think you’ll explain this? This woman is not of this world, nor is the child. Dr. Bleeker has left his mess for us to clean up.”
“And he killed them?” My voice came out as a croak. I blinked hard at hearing the truth about Dr. Bleeker for the second time today.
“Bleeker believed in life and healing, but he couldn’t follow the rules. His own misfortunes in life have distorted his reality of what is right.” Arizona’s voice held no emotion.
Austin stared at us as if he had grasped the enormity of the situation. “So now what?”
“We bury them. Isn’t that normal?” Arizona looked exasperated.
“Normal. Normal?” Austin’s voice had risen. He rubbed his hand over his forehead. Afraid, he was hiding his face.
“Hey, Austin. It’s gonna be OK.” I removed myself from the warmth of Regulus’s arms. I hadn’t even realized that I had hidden my face in his chest for comfort. “We need some big trash bags. Come on. We don’t have all night.” Even though I was shaking the words came out evenly.
They stared.
“I don’t know which is scarier: dead people in the closet or you taking charge of the cover-up,” Austin said with a nervous laugh.
Regulus started and suddenly smiled. He said cheerfully, “You heard her. Find something to wrap them up and I’ll watch the entrance.”
I turned my head away from the closet and began opening doors at the bottom of each lab station. Austin disappeared, then showed up a few minutes later holding a large roll of heavy fabric. “Here’s a tarp I keep in my Jeep.”
The three worked together to roll out the tarp near the supply closet door. I went to the lab doorway. “I’ll open doors when it’s time,” I said, embarrassed because I didn’t want to touch the bodies. Gutsy one minute, a quivering coward the next.
Austin had met us at the lab in his Jeep, so we had the dilemma of which vehicle could better carry the body, my small car or his Jeep. Two guys carrying a rolled tarp was conspicuous enough. Plus, it was the middle of the night. Austin and Arizona carried the roll with Regulus supporting the middle weight as much as he was able. I stood fidgeting from foot to foot as they struggled with boosting the tarp and its dreadful weight into the Jeep’s back seat. Again, I turned away at the sight.
“You go with Austin. Mia and I are going to Bleeker’s home in case he went back there.” Regulus yelled to Arizona while he jumped into the driver’s seat of my car.
“I can drive, you know. I’m fine,” I said quietly as I got into the passenger side. I saw Austin backing up to leave.
“We don’t want to ask for any more trouble than we have at the moment,” he said, turning toward me from the driver’s seat. “There’s a university security guard coming this way.”
“Crap! Why didn’t you say so?” I said, panicky.
“Because you were doing beautifully until now. You’ll be great as an enforcer. ”
“You’re so wrong.”
Blue and red light flashed behind us. The campus police.
As the police car pulled closer, Regulus edged over the console in the middle. “I hope this works.” Leaning over, he surprised me by cupping my face in his hands. I opened my mouth to protest, ask him what he was talking about.
He came even closer. I felt as gooey as a chocolate bar left in a hot car. My insides trembled. He set his lips on mine.
I had been kissed before. Sure I had. Awkwardly, quickly, probing. But I had never felt as though the guy tasted my mouth. But that’s exactly what Regulus’s kiss felt like. One tentative nibble led to a bigger one and he was diving in.
The pressure of his lips was warm and soft. His tongue slid over my bottom lip and sent tremors and heat from my head to the ends of my toes. My hands wound around his neck to pull him over closer onto my body, to my side of the car. I saw a myriad of colors, plum and red swirling in my delirious mind. I wanted only to be closer.
A quick and extremely loud rapping sounded right in my ear. It took me a minute to realize that the sound was at the car window. Oh…my…gosh. I had lost my mind. I had forgotten about the campus police, forgotten about the mess we were trying to cover up, had practically forgotten my name in a matter of seconds.
Regulus leaned back to his side and pushed the button to roll down the window. He was a better actor than I could have guessed. He actually looked embarrassed. “Officer? Sorry about that. We didn’t hear you come up,” he said.
“Yes, son. That’s obvious. Do you know that you can’t be loitering in the parking lots here at night? Campus ordinance.” The officer flashed the light he held in my eyes.
“Yes, sir. We had a late night study session and my friends dropped us off here, at my girlfriend’s car.” Regulus looked over at me with a shy grin on his face and back at the officer. “We were leaving. I wanted to say goodnight before I take her home.”
“Then do so, and don’t let me catch you in this lot again. The student lots are in the west corner of the campus.” He turned the black flashlight off and clipped it in a belt holster.
“No, sir. I have to get her home immediately. She’s past her curfew anyway,” Regulus said with a defeated tone.
The officer grinned sympathetically at him and nodded. After he returned to his car, he waited for us to back up and leave the lot.
“OK, was that really necessary?” I shouted. “I don’t think being an enforcer requires being violated by your partner.” I folded my arms over my chest. I tried to slow down, but the words came out in a rush like my breath. My heart pounded as adrenaline made me lightheaded.
“I’d do it again, if we weren’t in such a hurry,” he said in a low confident voice without even looking at me.
“Oh, you would, would you? Well, I…” I lost my train of thought. My face burned. I turned to watch the trees as they whirred past the window.
I would love to be kissed again. How ridiculous. I had dead Slips, a brother hiding out for some reason, a man I trusted trying to kill me, and now a guy who had me wrapped around his little finger. At least that one part felt good.
* * *
The house sat at the end of the street in an old neighborhood in Whispering Woods. Its tan siding, black shutters, neatly manicured lawn, and iron post gas lamp in front yelled respectable to anybody.
Not to me.
I saw a picture of deceit. A charming lair for the man who had fooled me.
We had parked a block away to observe the house, and I said, “The house is dark. Not even a lamp on. He’s already gone.”
“It appears that he is,” Regulus said. “We need to look around.”
“You don’t think there’s more dead bodies, do you?” I tried not to squeak. The thought of finding another one made my stomach do a flip. I pictured the dead Slip from the lab and the bundle that I knew to be a baby. Bile rose in my throat.
“No, I wouldn’t assume that. I need to see if I can find any clues of his associates or where he might be going.” He glanced at me. “Will you be OK?”
“Sure. Sure.” I knew I was repeating myself like an idiot but I had to reassure myself as much as him. I slow
ly opened the car door.
He glanced at me. “We’re going to look around. Five minutes. Then we’ll go to meet Arizona and Austin.”
He exited the car quietly and I followed. The wind had picked up and lent an appropriate ghostly air to the night. Regulus walked quickly and I concentrated matching his pace. We crossed the neighbor's lawn and stealthily crept to the side door.
Regulus removed an instrument from the pocket of his cargo pants. While he unfolded the gadget, I turned the doorknob. He glanced at me, surprised.
“Unlocked.” I gave a tiny push and the door moved.
He grimaced and shoved the tool back into his pocket. He signaled by holding one finger up to indicate that I should wait, and I nodded.
He slid like a fluid cat into the house. I waited with my back pressed to the wall and peered into the darkness inside.
A minute later, he returned and switched on a light. “You were right. No one’s here.”
“That makes sense. Who would be walking around in the dark?”
“We were, a few minutes ago,” he answered.
I grinned. While walking into Dr. Bleeker’s house, an eerie chill traced a path down my spine. The kitchen was bright yellow with pictures covering the refrigerator door panel. Some were taken with a camera and some were drawn by a child. Miscellaneous magnets randomly held them in place. I heard a ticking and looked up to see a clock shaped like a dog over the sink. Its tail wagged back and forth with the clicking sound.
“Homey,” I said, looking at Regulus. He’d put gloves on and was opening drawers.
“You may actually be a burglar and I didn’t know it. How is it that you have a tool to break into a house…and gloves?”
“Don’t touch anything. I’ll have to clean your prints off the outer doorknob.” He didn’t even look up from his task as he said it. “We don’t know what other mess Bleeker has left and we don’t want you to get blamed for it.” He rifled through the drawer of pencils and papers.
