by Grady, D. R.
A far cry from this office. Her metal filing cabinet wasn’t the same color as her desk. The table behind her desk was missing a leg. She supported it with old textbooks.
Obviously, she wasn’t in academia America. Nor was she as comfortable as she could be. Most likely the priceless heirlooms in this room were crying at the sight of her. In her klutzier teenage years, it would have taken her three minutes, max, before she started toppling priceless vases and figurines.
As an adult, she hoped to escape the room without knocking over anything or breaking something. It would be a first for her. That’s why they’d given her the refuse from the other offices. Her department had figured out pretty quickly her penchant for clumsiness. Therefore, she was rather comfortable in her office, because if it didn’t survive her, who cared?
“You rang?” she asked as she gazed at the man behind the impressive, antique, completely wooden desk. He pointed her to a chair, a plush, comfy one on the other side.
She noticed the lines around his eyes, and a pinched quality to his lips as soon as she sat. Uh oh. “What’s wrong?”
He squeezed the bridge of his nose and stared down at his desk. “Remember our conversation about certain bacterium possibly killing someone?”
“Of course.” She’d never seen him look so haggard. Did he regret their evening? All that kissing had kept her awake for a full minute, but she certainly didn’t regret kissing him. She would kiss him right now, if he asked. There was a possibility even if he didn’t ask.
“My aunt just phoned. My mother was put through a series of tests in addition to a thorough physical examination.”
She nodded. Okay, that made sense. Had they discovered something was terribly wrong with her?
“They discovered lead poisoning.”
She blinked at him. What? “I must say I never suspected you to say that. Why wasn’t she tested for that initially?” Tia flopped against the back of the chair and stared at him. “I assumed that would have been ruled out already.”
“She was, but the tests came up negative. I don’t understand how they could have.”
Tia bit her lip. “The testing components might have degraded over time. Or there might not have been a problem when she was tested then.” They had also discovered something that she wasn’t certain she should mention to him, in light of what appeared to already be a difficult day.
Aleksi must have noticed her hesitation, “What?”
“We found evidence of silver colloid.”
His face blanked. “That figures into this how?”
“Silver colloid has been used since ancient times as an antiseptic and is used to inhibit bacteria in...” She swallowed. But Tia decided she wouldn’t be a wimp and just blurted it out, “Drinking water. Specifically from the well that feeds your parents’ section of the palace.”
“So my parents have suffered from two different heavy metal poisonings.” His voice sounded flat and weary.
“Yes, I believe so.” She hated the sorrow that crossed his face and the way he closed his eyes in a defeated manner. Groping for something to encourage him, she said the first thing that popped into her head. “Fortunately there is treatment for lead poisoning.”
“Yes, she is undergoing treatment now. My aunt suggested we all be tested again, both here in the palace, and I have sent word for all who can be, to be tested in the city. Perhaps the doctors should order new testing supplies.” He massaged his forehead like he suffered from a headache.
“Yes.” Tia nodded. “The treatment isn’t bad. They’ll give those suffering from it a chelating agent and they’ll have to stay hydrated, but it’s not bad.”
“What if you are a child or an older person?”
“It still should be okay. There is a cure for this, Aleksi. That’s not so hard.”
He didn’t comment, but some of the pinched qualities smoothed from his face.
“What was the source?” Her mind worked, churning data. This might answer some of her questions. She stood and stepped to the side of his desk to be closer.
“Lead pipes, here in the palace. Specifically in the section of the palace where my parents’ chambers are located.”
“Are there other lead pipes still in the city?”
“I spoke with our plumbers and some of the city council. There are several older parts of the city that definitely have lead pipes.”
Realization dawned. “You’re going to have to replace all of them.”
“Yes.” He sighed.
“That’s going to be an expensive undertaking.”
He raised his head to stare at her. “We have the money to do so. But what of the children? What of the older people who have already died? I cannot bring any of them back.”
Tia’s throat closed off and her heart stuttered. She darted around his desk. “Aleksi, this isn’t your fault.”
“I am the prince. I am supposed to know these things.” She could feel the pain emanating from him. Tia rested a consoling hand on his shoulder.
“You’ve only been the prince for a year. After having to deal with your father’s death and figure out how to run Rurikstan. You’re not superman.”
“Those lead pipes changed my mother’s personality and killed my father,” he whispered in a voice that made her ache for him. Ache for the evident pain there.
She wrapped her arms around him and held him as close as she dared. How did you comfort a man who’d lost his father so needlessly? “I’m sorry.” The words seemed so inadequate.
He nodded, but his arms tightened as he tugged her into his lap and buried his face in her neck. Aleksi swallowed before apparently pulling himself together. “I am, as well. How many people have suffered because of those pipes?”
“I don’t know. But you’re taking care of the problem. As soon as you discovered there was one you acted. That’s all you can do, Aleksi. If you beat yourself up over every crisis like this, you’re going to lose your...” She groped around for the right word.
“My what?”
“Your perspective. Your edge. Your leadership abilities.” She held him tighter. “Oh, you’ll also want the plumbers to make certain nothing leaked into those pipes that added to the lead.”
He remained silent but held her so close breathing proved a challenge. Tia didn’t mind. She wanted to hold him tighter. Wanted to do something to ease his pain.
When her eyes dropped to his lips, she knew what she could do. Leaning forward, she kissed him. His lips were hot.
His arms tightened more, and then he took over the kiss with a masculine groan she felt to her toes. A thrill and a fear coursed through her. She ignored the fear and embraced the thrill.
Right now, this was where she needed to be.
In her prince’s arms, kissing him and being kissed senseless. Everything else could wait.
Chapter 18
Back in the lab, Tia popped the plastic tip off her pipette and jammed another tip onto the end. She pulled up more of the murky media in one of the tubes from well twenty-six.
This particular tube emitted a vile smell, and since they weren’t certain what it contained, she decided to run the tests on it in the lab hood to be safe. The others were capable lab personnel, but she had the advanced degree, so should be the one to suffer any ill consequences. Tia worked in the hood, but still reminded herself to breathe shallowly. The flow of circulating air sucked most of the stench away.
She placed the tip of her pipette into the second tube, released the dilution, recapped the tube and vortexed the solution. Then popped off her pipette tip, added another tip, uncapped the tube and inserted it inside. She added that to the next tube and continued the same process. Maybe these dilutions would help. She hoped so.
At least now they knew lead pipes and the silver colloid had been part of the problem. But Tia didn’t think they were the entire problem. Something was still causing the contamination of the hospital well, and it was up to her to figure out what.
She steered her pip
ette toward the waste bag in the hood and caught the bag on the tip. The bag ripped and she watched as a shadowy liquid oozed from the bag and onto the stainless steel surface of the hood.
Tia dropped the tip into the bag and grabbed another bag to place the old one inside. Then she went for sterile wipes and cleaned up the ooze. As she stared at the ripped bag, a thought occurred to her.
“I think I know where the contamination is coming from,” she told her lab crew as they raced down the palace hall and onto the street that would take them to the hospital.
“Weren’t we here already once today?” Helena mock groused.
“I’m sure I’m experiencing déjà vu,” Maria added.
Jorge alone remained silent, but he concerned her the most. He kept darting worried looks at her. Like he feared for her mental state. Not promising.
After she had finished her dilutions, she’d called for Maria. Who she instructed to contact Graham again. Then she removed her gloves, changed her lab coat, washed her hands, and they all headed toward the hospital.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Graham asked when he joined them.
“I think I know where the problem is located.” Tia kept them moving at a brisk pace. She thundered down the basement stairs, aware of the others following her with less enthusiasm.
When they erupted into the autoclave area, Anson jumped. “I not find crack,” he said and stared askance at her. Tia was fast becoming familiar with that expression.
“You won’t find it, Anson,” she assured him.
Striding over to the racks that held the waste bags before they were autoclaved, she stared at them, and noticed a couple of them dripped. And stank. Yes, just as she thought.
“Anson, do some of the bags always drip like this?”
He nodded. “I ask, to put another bag around the drip one, but they not listen to me.” He shook his head sadly.
“Well, those bags are part of the problem.”
Graham’s eyebrows soared so high they were almost lost in his hairline. “What’s the rest of the problem?” His voice indicated he didn’t look forward to her answer.
“We’re all going to need to help,” she answered and Tia grabbed a corner of the rack.
“What exactly are we doing?” Jorge asked. It was the first time he’d spoken since they left the lab.
“We need to move this rack.”
Jorge frowned at her and the rack before his visage cleared and he said, “Of course.”
He grabbed the other end and Anson, ever helpful, took another. With a shrug, Graham took the last corner. “Whatever you say, princess,” he said. She started at his name for her. How did he know she’d spent the good part of an hour comforting and kissing his prince this morning?
But a quick scan of his face indicated he’d just called her that name as an endearment. She hoped.
“On the count of three, we heft this rack and move it there.” Tia indicated a spot to her right with her head.
The men nodded and she started the countdown. “One, two, three.” And the four of them hefted the rack, some of them groaned, but they moved the rack away from the floor space where it sat.
There, beneath the rack was an obvious crack in the floor, following a masonry line in the stone floor. Coating both sides of the crack was a muddy looking scum of various degrees. The liquid leaking from the bags looked surprisingly like that of the mini bag she had ripped in the hood.
Using her hand to indicate the crack Tia said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the source of well number twenty-six’s contamination.”
“How did you know?” Jorge asked. He sounded impressed.
“I ripped the bag in the hood,” she said, staring at the disgusting liquid draining along the floor and into the crack. “It occurred to me that many scientists tend to be thrifty or oblivious, so they wouldn’t double bag their really disgusting biohazard bags.”
“Which always drip.”
“Yes. Helena’s comment today about the liquids coming from the autoclave being sterile got me to thinking. Most likely, the source of contamination isn’t going to come from the actual autoclave.”
“But will occur before I autoclave bags.” Anson stroked his goatee.
“Yes. We didn’t find the crack this morning, because we were looking for it in the wrong place.”
“Never think to look under rack,” Anson admitted.
“I wouldn’t have either, until I ripped that bag. And I realized a dripping bag, which could contain anything from bacteria to acid, to some things we won’t mention, dripping for an extended period of time—”
“Would eventually break down the mortar holding the stones in place,” Helena finished for her.
“Exactly. I suspect this hospital is old,” Tia said, and Graham and Anson both nodded.
“And the basement is always the last place to be remodeled. Especially since this is the autoclave room.”
“All hospital waste come here,” Anson said proudly.
“Yes.” Tia smiled at him, thankful to have this problem solved. She didn’t have the heart to remind him there was another autoclave room in the other wing.
“So what happens now?”
“We’ll need a cleanup crew, one familiar with biohazard waste cleanup, in here immediately.” Tia paused when she saw her crew roll their eyes. “Oh, does that mean us?”
All three nodded, and stared without enthusiasm at the disgusting blobs on the floor. “Wonderful,” she said. “There are worse things than cleaning up nastiness like this.”
None of them looked convinced.
“What do you need me to do?” Graham asked.
“While we’re preparing for this cleanup, I want you to bring tours down here to witness this. Everyone who has contact with the biohazard bags needs to see what happens when these bags drip. They need to know this is not acceptable.”
She glanced at Anson, who’d gone a little pale. “It’s okay after the bag has been autoclaved, but not before.”
He brightened a bit. “I remind them.”
“Thank you. I think seeing what happens when they don’t follow proper biohazard procedure will also help them to remember to follow hospital protocols. Also, Anson, I’d like some tests run on you.”
“I’ll personally bring everyone down here,” Graham said. “And I’ll schedule Anson’s tests.” Graham looked a little peaked around the gills, and Tia realized he wasn’t as used to the interesting stenches created by bacteria and such.
“We’d appreciate that. In the meantime, clean-up peons, we have work to do,” Tia said cheerfully. She fully expected and appreciated the groans that followed her suggestion.
***
“You’re doing what?” Aleksi asked again, still not sure he understood.
“We’re preparing to clean up the mess in the hospital autoclave room. It’ll probably require a professional crew, as well, but we can mop up the worst of it,” Tia replied, her voice still as patient as the first time he had asked.
“You found the source of contamination and now you’re going to clean up the mess?”
“Yes.” She placed more items in the small plastic box, and he realized he only had part of her attention. The other three scurried around the lab, as intent on their tasks as Tia.
“Do I need to call in the professionals?”
“No, Graham is planning to do so. I gave him some names and numbers, so he should be set.” Tia glanced around the room, a furrow between her eyebrows. Like she knew she was forgetting something. “You will have to have professionals re-clean and repair the crack after we do some preliminary testing and cleaning.”
He nodded. That wouldn’t be a problem. “How long will the cleaning take?”
Maria turned to stare at him. “All day,” she said pessimistically.
“It won’t take all day,” Tia corrected, and sent Maria a droll look.
“All day,” Helena said and Jorge echoed.
“Oh ye of little
faith,” Tia scolded. “How many times have you done a cleanup like this?”
“Never.” Maria sounded happy about that fact.
“Exactly. While I on the other hand, have performed this task many times.”
Helena raised an eyebrow. “You’ve done this before?”
“Of course. When you’re the lab klutz, you learn lab cleanup fast.”
“This is a little more than a simple spill,” Jorge reminded them morosely.
“True, but I also moonlighted on a professional cleanup crew during school.”
Maria blew some hair out of her face and glared at Tia. “Why didn’t you tell us that?”
“You never asked.”
Tia expertly ducked the flying object and laughed. He liked how she lit up a room and how easily she worked with the people in her lab. He’d known Jorge, Helena, and Maria from boyhood. Never before had he seen them enjoy their work more. He suspected their enjoyment had more to do with their beautiful leader than the work itself.
Again, he reminded himself to breathe shallowly, because he couldn’t imagine someone actually enjoying these odors all day, every day. Bacteria did seem to come with its own stink, and so far, he had yet to encounter a pleasant smelling one.
Then there was the whole medium they used to grow the bacteria. Also not pleasant smelling. Most of it wasn’t unpleasant, but then it wasn’t nice, either. He’d rather smell a bunch of wet dogs.
Knowing Tia, she’d probably remind him that the reason wet dogs stink is because of the bacteria on them. He would rather not know such information. Let him keep his illusions. They were easier to stomach.
“Okay, boss, we’re ready,” Jorge said and hefted one of the tool boxes. Helena wrapped her arms around a huge bag of what looked like white marshmallow sheets. Maria picked up another tool box with a grunt. Finally, Tia grasped the handle of the last box, and with a frown, placed a supporting hand underneath.
“All right. Let’s go then.” She turned to Helena. “Did you place a set of Tyvek in there for Anson?”
“Yes. I figured he’d want to help us.”
