Ashes of the Red Heifer (12 page)

The disgust she felt for this man made it difficult to look at him. Instead, she walked through the open door into the lab to survey the equipment. The dark blue sample case sat on one end of the counter, next to a small refrigerator. Again, no surprise.

Alanberg followed her, his black dress shoes slapping the concrete. “The computer has the download from your last experiment. I went to great pains to make sure your lab is set up as close to the lab at the kibbutz as is possible.”

She narrowed her eyes and tried to convey her contempt. “You’re thoughtful and considerate as always. Did you send condolences to Sophie?”

He took a step backward as if she’d socked him in his paunch. His voice took a hard edge. “This is Adi.” He pointed to the guard from the bus. “And this is Moshe,” he indicated David’s guard. “They will be your companions while you’re here. If you need anything, you have simply to ask them.” He turned and left, his steps like rapid fire.

Annie studied Adi, letting her eyes travel from his head to his feet then back to make eye contact. He had a receding hairline, nearly shaved head, and deep frown lines. He held her gaze and she knew he would hurt or kill her if she caused him trouble.

Moshe was an inch or two shorter than Annie and probably in his mid-twenties. With dark skin, wavy hair and deep brown eyes he didn’t give off the same wave of danger as Adi but probably followed orders well.

She turned to the equipment, pressed the computer on and took a deep breath trying to make herself believe this was just another day at the lab. When she opened the refrigerator she saw all the samples and slides inside. Might as well start with the calf’s liver.

David walked over to her. “What do you plan to do?”

“Do a tissue analysis.” While going back to work was the only thing she could do to help Hassan, she felt guilty at the relief it gave her.

“Put a vial of that blood in the centrifuge,” she said to David, retreating to what she knew best. Her mind flitted from the issues of the vaccine to wondering where they kept Hassan. If she could find him she could make a plan to escape.

They worked for several hours, analyzing printouts, searching for clues or assurance that her assumptions were correct. Adi and Moshe sat in folding chairs by the front door. At first, Moshe started several conversations but Adi ignored him. Eventually he stopped trying and they sat, not speaking, not dozing, watching David and Annie with the concentration of black labs.

Adi got up and strutted toward the lab. “It is time for your meal. Please come now.”

Annie waved him away. “I’m not hungry.”

Adi grabbed her arm. “You will come now.”

“Well, if you insist.” She pulled her arm free and put her printout on the counter. “David, would you care for a bite to eat?”

David stretched. “I could use a snack, I guess. Nothing too rich, though, I’m trying to lose a few pounds.”

Annie looked at Adi and affected an upper-crust accent. “Where can we get something light. But kosher. You do know David is Jewish?”

Adi grunted and pointed the way with his gun. She preceded David and Adi out of the lab to the front door Moshe opened into the desert heat. As Annie passed by Moshe, Adi said something and Moshe turned from her to look at him.

She didn’t hesitate and took off at a full run down the valley. She hoped David followed but even if he didn’t, she had a chance to escape and get help.

When Moshe tackled her after less than 50 feet she wasn’t all that surprised. But she was disappointed. A friendly laugh came from the man. “You cannot run in cowboy boots. They are for horses.” He pulled Annie to her feet and she watched Adi drag David toward her.

Adi’s face took on angry red heat and his eyes seemed to get three sizes bigger. He shoved David toward Moshe, keeping his eyes trained on Annie.

Suspecting what was coming from experience with angry men in authority, Annie clenched her teeth so she was ready when his fist slammed into her already bruised cheekbone. Annie stumbled backward and fell on her butt. She kept her teeth clamped against the scream that wanted to escape, refusing to give him the satisfaction.

But Adi wasn’t done. He caught her shirtfront in his fist and hauled her to her feet, pulling back his other hand.

Before he could land the punch David flew into Adi’s belly, knocking him into the sand. Moshe ran behind David and used the butt of his gun to bash David in the back of the head. With a grunt, David collapsed on the sand.

Annie screamed then, unable to hold back. “David!” She scrambled to him, relieved to hear him groan.

Adi was on his feet rushing toward them. Annie pictured the horrible scene outside the bus and shielded David with her body. She wouldn’t let Adi do to him what he’d done to Hassan. Better she take the blows herself.

But Adi pulled her from David, almost effortlessly and flung her to the sand. “You do not learn quickly. I will use chains if I must.”

She glared at him and felt her blood turn to ice when he smiled slowly. “Or perhaps I will take your punishment out on this man.” He indicated David, who moved his head from side to side as if willing himself to wake up. “See what your foolishness has already cost him?”

Adi was right. She’d gained nothing from running except another bruise for herself and more pain for David. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She’d have to think of something else. To stay here would mean death for Hassan, David or herself.

Strong fingers closed around her upper arm and Moshe heaved her to stand. He pointed her toward her shed.

She turned to see David but he lay on the desert floor with Adi standing over him. “Wait! What are you going to do with him? Don’t hurt him! Please!”

Moshe escorted her inside her shed and before leaving shook his head. “Why do you want to make Adi grouchy. He’s already mean enough.” He walked out and snapped the padlock closed while she peered through a crack.

Adi pulled David to his feet and marched him off in another direction.

Acid swirled in a mixture of fear and guilt in Annie’s stomach. She’d caused this, whatever it was they were doing to David. Like Avrel dying and Hassan’s capture, it was her fault.

Annie paced the shed, pushing on boards in her search for a way out. She stopped frequently and put her eye to cracks in the walls. Where was David? What was going on out there?

The sound of a truck approaching made her struggle to see the compound. A dull green farm truck pulled to a stop in front of one of the tents. Three men jumped from the back of the truck and untied the tarp, pulling it back to reveal stacks of boxes and plastic 100-gallon water containers. It was a huge load of supplies. Much more than would be needed for a camp the size Annie had seen. Unless they planned on being here for months.

Several men came out of the tent and soon they began carting the boxes and water around the back of the tent. Where were they taking everything? Annie couldn’t see but didn’t remember there were any other structures beyond the big tent.

She’d been so focused on watching the unloading she didn’t see David and Adi until they were nearly to the shed. David held something wrapped in paper toweling. But Annie was more concerned with his swollen nose and new black eye.

Adi unlocked the door and held it open for David. He shut it behind, snapped the padlock closed and strode off.

Annie approached David, touching his nose tentatively. “Oh god, David. I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry. This is only to scare you.”

Tears clogged her throat. “It does.”

He gave her two falafels. She took a tentative bite. The vegetables were limp and the meat flavorless, the pita stale.

David leaned close to her and gently touched the new bruise on the side of her face. “Are you okay?”

She forced another bite and nodded. “The face doesn’t feel too bad. My hip is a little sore.”

His eyes softened with concern. “You’ve got to quit fighting them or they’re going to end up killing you.”

“It’s you I’m worried about. They won’t kill me until I give them the vaccine.” Eating the falafel seemed like work. She wasn’t hungry and it wasn’t tempting. But she would need energy to survive this.

He tightened his lips. “But they can hurt you. I don’t think I can stand to watch them beat you again.”

At the sound of raw emotion in his voice Annie’s heart leapt up her throat. She remembered his arms around her last night and how good it felt to lay her head on his chest, to let him carry the worry for a little while. She looked away and took another bite. She couldn’t afford to go all weak and watery now.

David got up and walked to her. He knelt in front of her. “I love you, Annie.”

Those dratted tears again! She swallowed to keep them away and averted her eyes from David. She couldn’t look at him.

“Did you forget I asked you to marry me?”

She let out a puff of air and looked at him. “I told you no, remember?”

He leaned closer to her. “Why?”

She stood up, knocking his hands from her thighs, moving to the far end of the room. Dagnabbed lock on the door. She wanted to get away because she was scared and alone and afraid she’d agree. “You don’t want to marry me, David.”

“You are the only woman I’ve ever wanted to marry.”

She turned to look at him, running a hand through her hair. “I let myself get caught in this crazy conspiracy that is holding the cure ransom to some religious tic tac toe. It’s my fault your’s and Hassan’s lives are in danger. I’ve got nothing but disaster to show for my life.”

David took deliberate steps toward her. When he got to her he put both hands on her cheeks, careful to avoid the bruises. “You are the toughest woman I’ve ever known. You are brilliant, finding a cure for a disease that has eluded a hundred scientists with more experience. You keep driving in the face of all odds. And the depth of your love and caring is beyond bounds.”

She huffed in disbelief and tried to look away but he held her face steady.

“You risk your life to save Hassan. You found the cure not for fame and fortune but to help people.” He smiled then. “And cows.”

“But you don’t know me inside.”

“I know that you try to act like nothing scares you and no one hurts you. I know that you demand perfection from yourself. But Annie, no one is perfect. You are caring and soft and vulnerable, even as you are fearless and strong.”

She laughed then, his over-the-top praises finally sounding comical. “Who is this woman you’re describing?”

He stepped back. “It’s you, Annie. You are unique and precious.”

She rolled her eyes at him, getting her feet on solid footing and dismissing his romantic notions. “Let’s look at the practical side. You are a Jew. I don’t believe in God. And even if I were all those things you said—which is a ridiculous notion—it would never work. You can’t love me, David. And I can’t love you. I won’t set us up for a train wreck like that.”

David shrugged as if it made no difference. “Love can overcome many obstacles. And when two people are so right, as we are, religion is a small thing to work out.”

Some rose colored glasses he wore! Religion was never a small thing. She leaned against the wall and let her gaze focus on the crack between two boards. Without looking at him she said, “Does it seem bizarre to discuss marriage when we’re prisoners, Hassan’s life hangs by a thread, and there is no guarantee we’ll even be alive in two hours?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice low and caring. “I won’t pressure you any more. Just know that I love you and I will protect you in any way I can.”

His words trailed off in her head as her focus narrowed to the crack and what she saw through it. Moshe carried a package wrapped up in paper toweling, exactly like the one David brought her. He walked across the compound to the other shed.

Why hadn’t she noticed the padlock on that door? Moshe unlocked it, pushed open the door and handed the package to someone inside.

That someone had to be Hassan.

TWELVE

       Three days disappeared and Annie hadn’t come up with what she remembered of the vaccine. She tended to work intuitively tweaking her procedure as she worked. Of course she kept notes, hand-written on yellow legal pads sprinkled around her lab. But she didn’t always get them into the formal records on the computer until she had time. Hassan had often entered data for her. She carried his inhaler, he recorded their research. They were always there to take care of each other. But not now.

David had asked to take a break nearly a half hour ago. Adi had taken him out, leaving her alone with Moshe.

She injected detergent into the blood sample she worked with to begin filtering for rRNA. What exact level did they use with Esther? Had that been sufficient? The calf had been weak but it hadn’t been deformed. She needed more time, more cows, more opportunities to try and fail.

Desperation rose in Annie’s gut like lava in a volcano. She only had one more day to get the vaccine right. A deviation of even a small amount could render the whole vaccine worthless. If she didn’t get it right, they’d kill Hassan. They’d kill her and probably David. How long would it take some other scientist to figure out the puzzle? How many people would die or lose everything because she couldn’t remember?

Annie sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. If she could ask Hassan what she’d done that day she knew he’d remember.

She snapped upright. and blurted out, “I need to ask Hassan about the research.”

Always cheerful, Moshe was quick with a response. “And I need a week on the beach.”

She tried to dislike Moshe but his youthfulness and charm were difficult to resist. She couldn’t believe he was a trained killer…until she saw the automatic weapon he always carried. “I’m serious. If you want me to get this right, I need to have answers.”

Moshe laughed. “You are like my oldest sister. Always trying to get me in trouble.”

“This isn’t a joke.”

“Why is it so important? You will bring cows here to this place where there are no other cows. How can they get sick? They will have good babies. Red ones.”