Shadows in the Mist: A Paranormal Anthology

by Kristine Cayne

  This situation was so FUBAR, sex should be the last thing on his mind. He’d already been gone from the base far longer than he’d planned. It was only a matter of time before the lieutenant found out, and then his ass would be thrown in the brig. Maybe if he explained what was going on to Master Chief Romero, they could come up with a story to placate Lieutenant Hadley. He pulled his cell out of his pocket and was about to call him when the door to the locker room opened. Claire appeared and he jumped to his feet. “Everything went well? I mean—”

  Claire chuckled. “It was just a shower, Wyatt. Relax.”

  Jane patted Claire on the shoulder. “We’ll get the OR ready for you. Ten minutes?”

  “I’ll meet you in the scrub room.”

  Wyatt offered his arm for her to lean on. She smiled gratefully. He helped her hobble to the table and took a seat beside her. Without even thinking, he checked her bandages, making sure each one was dry. “I’m okay. Really.”

  “OR?”

  “We’re going to perform surgery on Kirby.”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Not all the tests are in, but I suspect he somehow contracted necrotizing fasciitis. I’m not yet certain of the specific bacterial cause, although group B streptococci is a good bet.”

  “Flesh-eating disease?” Wyatt’s head reeled. “Holy shit—isn’t that contagious?”

  “There are cases in the literature of humans with necrotizing fasciitis caused by Streptococcus agalactiae, but no evidence so far of it being zoonotic.”

  Wyatt’s tense muscles relaxed a tiny bit. “Zoonotic?”

  “Illnesses that can spread from animals to humans.”

  He relaxed even more, blowing out a long breath. Claire smiled and squeezed his hand. “The aquarium staff is very good about minimizing exposure risks. As long as you’re not a marine mammal, you have nothing to worry about.”

  You seem more animal than man. Mason’s words tattooed his brain in a staccato rhythm. What exactly was he? With everything that had been done to him, to his team, maybe he was more dolphin than man. Maybe he was prime meat for this flesh-eating bug, like some two-hundred-pound dolphin steak. Jesus. His stomach rebelled, and Wyatt swallowed fiercely to push down the bile burning his throat. He got up and took two bottles of water from the stack on the counter and handed one to Claire before downing his in one long gulp. Another reminder of the changes he’d undergone. Whenever he was out of the water, he was always thirsty.

  Setting her bottle down, Claire leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Tell me why you’re here, Wyatt.”

  He shifted in his seat so he was facing her. “I needed to see you.” Her cheeks turned a very pretty shade of pink. God, he hoped she was flattered and not embarrassed. He rushed on. “I know I’m not really up to your standards, but I think we can be good together. I can prove it to you, if you’d just give us another chance.” He laughed. “Do you have any idea how many excuses I made to go to San Diego?”

  “Wait. Are you saying you went there specifically to see me?”

  He trailed a finger down the side of her face, over her jaw and then her full lips. “Who else? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”

  “You didn’t seem to be thinking about me that much after you shipped out.” Her lips clenched into a tight line and she crossed her arms over her chest.

  Wyatt dropped his head and rubbed his clasped hands over the back of his neck. “You’d already mentioned our age difference. I didn’t want to seem vulnerable or clingy.”

  “Clingy?” She laughed, the sharp sound penetrating his chest like a knife. “One call in six months isn’t clingy. It’s quite the opposite, in fact. It says disinterested. Very disinterested.”

  His head jerked up. “I was never that. When I came back, I realized something had changed. The warm open woman I’d spent a crazy hot weekend with was gone. You have no idea what that did to me, seeing you so cold and distant.” It had broken his fucking heart. “I screwed up and I’m sorry. All I want is an opportunity to make it up to you.”

  “What makes you think things will be any different? You’re still in the military. I’m sure you’ll still be called out on missions to the far reaches of the planet.”

  “I’m not the same man I was. Combat has a way of filtering out all the bullshit. When I joined the Navy seven years ago, I was young, stupid, and idealistic. But I’ve seen things and done things that can never be erased from my memory. Things that are a permanent festering wound on my soul. I know what’s important now. And that’s you. Us. Together.”

  “I—I don’t know what to say.”

  “Of course you don’t. I’m not even an officer. What do I have to offer someone like you besides a lifetime of worrying and waiting?” He was such an idiot. In a hurry to put some distance between them, he shoved to his feet. Her hand on his arm stopped him from darting to the other side of the room.

  “Wyatt, please. That’s not what I meant at all.”

  He slowly let the air in his lungs out before regaining his seat. “So tell me.”

  “Earlier in the day, I was looking out the window at Whidbey Island and I was thinking about you. I was wondering if you were there and when I might see you again.”

  His heart did a jiggle and flip in his chest.

  “But the thing is, I’m older than you.”

  When he arched a brow, her gaze dropped to the floor where their feet were only inches apart. He knew exactly how old she was.

  “For heaven’s sake, I found a gray hair just last night.”

  Laughter bubbled in his chest and he tilted her chin up. “Is that what this is all about? Our age difference? You’re a beautiful, vibrant woman. I don’t care if you’re a few years older than me.”

  “Three or four for sure.”

  “Five actually.”

  Her eyes grew so round she looked like a Japanese anime. “Five? Five years? I’m one-fifth of your life older than you! Oh God. I could have been your babysitter.”

  The laughter that had been building in his chest burst out. He clutched his belly and his shoulders shook while she stared at him as though he’d lost his mind. Anger, hope, embarrassment, desire—he saw them all in her expression. When he’d calmed enough to speak, he took her hand and pressed his mouth against her palm. “Five years is nothing. When you’re sixty-five and I’m sixty, our age difference will only be one-twelfth.”

  The corner of her mouth kicked up. “Well, when you put it like that, it doesn’t seem so important.”

  “It isn’t, believe me. My only regret is that it took me two years to tell you how I feel. But we’re in the same place now, physically and emotionally, and I’m ready to be serious with someone. With you.”

  Her eyes glittered and her voice was a sexy rasp when she spoke. “What you said before about not being up to my standards, you know that’s nonsense, right? I’ve seen enough of you to know you’re extremely bright, resourceful, and compassionate. Few men possess all three traits.”

  “I was a fool.”

  “Me too, but not anymore, right?”

  His mouth came down on hers, and all the passion he’d kept bottled up came crashing out. He skimmed her lips, savoring the freshly showered taste. Her lips parted and he swept in, circling her tongue with his, stroking it, lapping at it as he hoped to do to some other part of her, sometime soon. Goose bumps spread across her arms, her legs, wherever he touched. His hands slipped under her shirt and he savored the feel of her bare back. When his hands took a downward turn, Claire ended their kiss. “Wyatt,” she said, sounding so breathless, so aroused, it was almost his undoing.

  Everything in him quaked with the need to have her. To make her his. “What is it?”

  “Are you really AWOL?”

  As though he’d just been dunked in a vat of freezing cold water without his wetsuit, his erection and all thoughts of sex evaporated. Christ. He was in so much shit, and all he cared about was the gorgeous woman in front of h
im.

  “Wyatt,” she repeated.

  He nodded. “The lieutenant barred me from leaving the base.”

  “But you did anyway… for me. So you could see me.”

  “Yes.”

  “You have no idea what a compliment that is.” She grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him down for another kiss.

  Not that he was complaining, but what the fuck? “You’re happy that I’m about to be thrown in the brig?”

  She threw herself back in her chair and slapped a hand against her mouth. “No! Would they really do that?”

  “If the lieutenant finds out.”

  “Can you get back without him being the wiser?”

  “Maybe.”

  Gripping his shoulders, she pulled herself up to her feet. “Listen to me. You have to go back now. I can’t let you get in trouble because of me. Now that we’ve talked, I’m sure we’ll have occasions to see each other, ones that won’t land you in a court-martial.”

  “I’d swim across the ocean to be with you, Claire.”

  She giggled. “From what I gathered, you practically did. How long will it take you to get back?”

  He loved the sound of her voice, her laughter, and yes, even her giggles. “I can make it in about two, two and a half hours.” Without the urgency of seeing her, he’d take things a bit slower.

  “Where’s your boat?”

  “My boat? I don’t have a boat.”

  Her brows pulled together. “Then how did you get here?”

  Shit! He couldn’t believe he’d let his guard down that much. Claire couldn’t know about MK X or the enhancements he and his team had undergone. “I don’t have a boat, but I borrowed one from my friend. It’s at the marina.” He prayed she wouldn’t ask him why he’d been in the water if he’d come by boat to see her. “Isn’t Dr. Jane waiting for you?”

  “Crap. I got so caught up in”—she waved a hand between them—“well, anyway, you need to go now before your lieutenant figures out what’s going on.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Claire. That bomber is still out there and we don’t know what he was after.”

  She sighed. “Okay, suit yourself. But this is going to take a while. Deep surgical debridement of dead flesh is a long and messy process.”

  As she limped away, Wyatt knew she would put everything she had into saving the animal. But who was going to save him? Lieutenant Hadley would have his ass in a sling when he didn’t show up for their 0900 appointment with the doctors. He just hoped the civilian cops caught the bomber before the Navy Masters at Arms came to arrest him, because the MAs would have a fight on their hands. No way was he leaving Claire unprotected.

  Chapter 5

  Two hours later, Claire finished tying the last suture, exhausted but satisfied that she’d removed as much of the diseased flesh as she could.

  Jane patted her on the back. “Great job, Claire. Now it’s up to the antibiotics and Kirby’s own immune system.”

  “Let’s just hope it’s enough,” Claire said, snapping off her gloves and tossing them and the surgical scrubs she’d worn into the medical waste bin. Everything that had come into direct contact with the bacteria had to be incinerated. Since she was planning to stay with the animal until he woke up from the anesthetic, she grabbed a fresh set of scrubs. Jane’s voice stopped her.

  “I’ll stay with him, Claire. Why don’t you go get something to eat while the restaurants are still open? It’s going to be a long night, and I bet that gorgeous man of yours is hungry.”

  “But what if something goes wrong? What if you need me?”

  “I’ll call your cell phone. Okay?”

  She was about to say no, when she heard a loud, decidedly very male, scream. Alarm raced through her. “What on earth?”

  “Go. I’m here.”

  As quickly as she could, she hobbled out of the OR and followed the loud cursing toward the individual pools they used to house injured or sick animals that required closer attention from the medical staff. She froze halfway through the entrance to the observation bay as a fully clothed Wyatt pulled himself out of a saltwater pool. A maintenance man was crouched at the back corner of the enclosure, examining the wall separating it from the one where Kirby had been.

  “What’s going on? I heard yelling.”

  Crimson colored Wyatt’s cheeks as he sat on the pool’s haul-out area, his feet dangling in the water. “It’s nothing. I slipped and fell in.”

  “Ha!” The maintenance man snorted. “Macho man got spooked when I caught him undressing in here.”

  “I wasn’t spooked, I was startled. There is a difference.” Wyatt looked up at Claire.

  She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “Why were you undressing?”

  “I wasn’t. Jeez. I just wanted to see if it was fresh or salt water.”

  Pinching her lips together to keep from laughing, Claire took another step closer. “This observation bay is all salt water. The one next door is fresh water. Why did you want to know?”

  Wyatt raked his hands through his wet hair. Water dripped onto his back as though he’d used a squeegee. Sighing, he pushed to his feet.

  Seeing the wound on his leg, she sucked in a breath. “You’re hurt.”

  He stared at the thin line of blood rolling down his shin. “It takes more than a scratch to knock me off my feet.”

  Abruptly, the maintenance man stood, his expression tight.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “The water level alarm went off, that’s what I came in here to check. Seal between the enclosures is cracked. Water’s seeping in.”

  Oh, this was not good. If water from Kirby’s pool contaminated the others, all the animals in here could contract the same bacteria. “Which enclosures are affected?”

  The maintenance man pointed to the pool directly beside them—the one where Kirby had been treated.

  “Oh, shit.”

  “What’s the matter?” Wyatt asked.

  “That’s the pool Kirby was in.”

  His face turned ashen. Every muscle in his body stiffened until he looked like a caged animal, an animal who desperately wanted to be free. Clutching both sides of his head, he paced the length of the pool. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”

  She stepped in his path. “It’s okay, Wyatt. There’s no evidence that Kirby’s illness is zoonotic.”

  His hard gaze met hers. “Assuming your diagnosis is correct.”

  “Yes, assuming that. We’ll know for certain once the differential staining is complete.”

  “When will that be? Christ, Claire. I could be dying.”

  Even his voice sounded strained. And to her at least, scared. Seeing the maintenance man’s rapt attention, she took Wyatt’s wrist and dragged him into the hall. “Go have a shower. I’ll be done with the tests by the time you’re finished.”

  When he hesitated, she touched his arm. “We need to decontaminate you quickly.” She handed him a trash bag from the supply closet. “Put all your clothes in this.”

  Without a word, he headed into the locker room. She limped into the lab and located the tissue samples she’d taken from Kirby. After transferring one of them to a slide, she prepared the heat-fixed smear, then flooded the slide with the primary stain crystal violet. She rinsed the slide with distilled water, applied Lugol’s iodine, waited a minute, and rinsed the slide again. After blotting it, she then observed it under oil immersion.

  With the microscope, she could see the organism had retained the original stain and appeared dark, which identified it as a Gram-positive bacterium. Based on its round shape and the fact it presented in pairs or short chains, she identified it as streptococci. She wouldn’t be able to confirm the strain of streptococci tonight since the aquarium’s lab didn’t contain any samples of Staphylococcus bacteria, which would be needed to administer the CAMP test. Nevertheless, she now knew they were dealing with a strain of Streptococcus and that the antibiotic treatment they were giving Kirby was the correct one.

&nbs
p; Wyatt found her as she was disinfecting the slide with a bleach solution. He’d exchanged his wet clothing for the same shorts and T-shirt uniform she wore, along with a pair of flip-flops. “Let’s go into Jane’s office. I’ll treat that cut on your leg.”

  The shower had helped relax him, but his eyes were still clouded with worry. When she finished cleaning and bandaging Wyatt’s injury, she took his hand. “What’s this all about?” she asked, gently. “Why are you so worried about contracting necrotizing fasciitis from Kirby?”

  “What’s the death rate from this thing?”

  “In humans?”

  His throat visibly worked as he swallowed. “Yes.”

  “Around 60-75% if proper treatment is delayed. But with immediate treatment, survival rates are 75-95%.”

  “Maybe you need to start treating me now.” He looked down at his hands. “Just in case.”

  “First, I’m a vet, Wyatt. I can’t legally treat you. Second, I don’t have any reason to believe that you’ll get this.”

  “But it can be transmitted between marine mammals, right? I mean, a dolphin could catch it from a seal?”

  “Sure, it’s possible. There are some studies in the literature that support this hypothesis. But what does that have to do with your situation?”

  Wyatt stood abruptly. “Nothing. Absolutely…” He paused, then his shoulders slumped. “Everything.”

  As though weighted, Claire’s jaw loosened and dipped. She shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t possibly have heard right. “You’d better sit down and tell me what you’re talking about.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck as though it pained him. She’d never seen Wyatt so upset. “I can’t, Claire.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “It’s classified.”

  “Look, I know you work with the Navy Marine Mammal Program. We both have. Unless they’ve started doing some secret experimentation to replace the dolphins and—” Seeing the wild look in his eyes, she snapped her mouth shut. No, it couldn’t be. The US military wouldn’t do something so crazy, so ill-planned, to its own people, would they? Wyatt stared at her, his expression stony, his lips pressed together as though cemented.