Hot Zone (37 page)

He went and looked out the window. Meri moved very slowly until her hand was in mine. Any other movement was rewarded by an immediate and increasingly wild look by Cal. He was damp with sweat now. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly. He turned to me. “How long for him to get here?”

I jumped. “Hour and a half,” I lied. It didn’t take so long—closer to an hour. I wasn’t sure what time it was, and didn’t dare get my cell phone out to look. My only plan for the moment was to hope that Gabriel contacted someone who would help us, or that Cal would collapse before Gabriel got here, if he came at all.

I heard a car coming down the gravel drive. Cal swung away from the window and went to the front door, carefully looking out. He glared at me. “An hour and a half? You’re sure?”

I nodded.

“Blue car, a crossover.”

I tried to think. “Um, I don’t know.”

Cal shook his head and said to himself, “I’ll just have to kill them.” He sounded regretful but sure.

The person pulled in so that when she got out of the car, it was between her and the front door. As she peeked over the top of the car, I suddenly recognized who it was. Karen the toxic ex-girlfriend. Perfect.

Karen waved, calling, “I have a message from Gabriel. Can I come in?”

Cal shouted back, “He’d better get here soon.”

“Yes,” Karen called. “Can I come in?”

Meri and I looked at each other and our hands tightened. Cal finally called to her to enter, and allowed Karen to come around the car and just inside the front door.

Cal’s hair was dripping with sweat now. He weaved a little as he turned to check on us. He looked at Karen. “Go sit on the couch with them.”

Karen nodded but then seemed to stumble. She fell to one knee, looking terrified and embarrassed all at the same time.

There was a crashing noise from the other end of the room where the plate glass windows were located. In the same heartbeat, Cal reeled backwards, blood blossoming from his chest. In through the broken window ran Luis, followed closely by Tucker.

Cal was trying to get back up, and his hand was raising the gun. I yelled, and threw myself forward, but I knew I couldn’t reach him in time.

He was pulling the trigger when Karen pushed his hand out of the way. The bullet hit another of the plate glass windows, and the crash of glass filled the room. My ears were ringing from the two gunshots. Luis was subduing Cal, and Meri flew over to them both, shoving Luis away with amazing strength and screaming at me to call for a doctor. I couldn’t get my shaking hands to even find the right number, but then I heard Tucker’s voice on his phone. “We have an emergency at the Moreton house. Gunshot wound, chest.”

I turned to him. “And he’s sick—he’s got our illness.”

Tucker added, his eyes on mine, “And he’s got the illness we all got from the bioweapons.” Pause. “You are?” He walked over to the front door, where I could now see emergency lights flashing. Three medics, including our doctor and Carla Phillips, rushed in, immediately going to Cal, who was now motionless on the floor, a shocking amount of blood on him and pooling on the floor.

Tucker gathered me out of the sofa and pulled me some distance away. Hoover stepped in gingerly through the broken windows and over to me, jumping up to put her front paws on me. Luis was still watching Cal, but said to me, “That freaking dog about killed me until I told her I was here to help. I always thought you were nuts for talking to her like she understood, but now I’m a believer.”

I was staring at Tucker from the safety of his encircling arms. “How?”

But a buzzing on his phone interrupted Tucker. He looked at the message there, and then at me. “Can you talk to Gabriel? He’s worried.”

I nodded and reached for my phone, but Tucker shook his head. “He’s here.”

I looked wildly around, but Tucker gave me a gentle squeeze. “No, he’s in a car, probably in the drive now.”

I looked out the window, and sure enough, the strange limo-SUV was sitting in the drive. I said to Tucker, “Don’t go out there!”

“I won’t.” Tucker sighed. “But he wants you out there. It’s your choice, but I think if you don’t go out, he’s coming in.”

I nodded, still feeling dazed. Tucker stayed with me until we were halfway to the car, then I turned to him. “Just stay here. Don’t listen and don’t look.”

Tucker nodded, but I could see he thought I was overdoing it. Maybe I was, but I wanted Tucker unchanged. I went to the back door and it opened. I got inside. The interior was dim compared to outside, but I could see Gabriel there. He took me by the arms and gave me a thorough look. “You’re unhurt?” he said tensely.

“I’m fine,” I said, although I was still shaking.

He let out a breath, sagging a little. “You don’t know how hard it was to let them handle this while I hid in the car like a—” He closed his eyes. “Madde, what happened?”

I told him about Cal and his illness and his demands. “I’m sorry I called, I suppose I shouldn’t have risked your life like that, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

“No, you did the right thing.”

“So how did you know? You contacted Karen?”

“Luis first, then Karen. I told them what was happening. I was already in the car on the way here. I didn’t know if he would try to kill me, but that’s what I guessed. We had some intelligence that the U.S. was sending someone in. Your boyfriend,” there was an annoyed emphasis on the word boyfriend, “helped out as well. We had Karen come in the front, so she could be a diversion, while Luis came around up on the deck from the back.” He gave a rueful laugh. “Your boyfriend wanted to be the diversion, but I was afraid of what you would say if I let him get killed. After I heard what Karen did last night, well, I figured she owed you.” He looked at me carefully. “Madde, I’m sorry about Raine and, well, the others. I don’t really have an excuse, but I am sorry.”

I nodded.

“You’re happy with him?”

“Yes,” I said, although a scary part of me wanted to beg Gabriel to kiss me.

“I’m a selfish person, because in spite of that, I want you for myself.” His voice was self-mocking.

I didn’t know what to say. “Gabriel,” I started, but he interrupted.

“I’d give them up, if you would come and live with me,” he said suddenly. “I just want you to know that.”

I looked at him, and then I looked out of the tinted windows at Tucker, who was waiting for me, probably knowing this very thing might happen. Yet he hadn’t tried to get me to stay with him. I turned back to Gabriel, “We’d have the same problems. Always pulled together, but not able to do a thing about it. You having to be careful not to topple me, and me being careful not to do the same to you. We’d both be miserable.”

He sighed. “I see your point. But that doesn’t mean I won’t stop trying to change your mind.”

I said, “I’d better go. Thank you for saving me.”

He snorted. “I could say the same. To be honest, as mad as you were the last time I saw you, I am surprised you didn’t just lure me here and let him kill me.”

“I thought about it,” I said with a little grin.

He sucked in a quick breath and suddenly kissed me softly. “Damn,” he said. “I didn’t intend to do that.” He pulled his hands away from me resolutely. “Good-bye for now, Madde.”

“Good-bye, Gabriel,” I said, and quickly left the car before my libido could get the better of me. It was just his ability to make everyone love him—that had to be all it was.

I went back to Tucker and led him safely back into the house. We passed the medics loading Cal into the ambulance. Carla Phillips paused to say to us, “He’s alive. Not sure he’ll stay that way for long. Prayers might be as good as medicine on this one.” Meri, still looking shocked, went with him in the ambulance. We watched it leave, followed by Gabriel’s car.

Luis was full of apologies for not guarding me adequately. I gave him a hug and thanked him for rescuing us. “I suppose you could have killed him, so thanks for just wounding him instead.” I said.

“Tucker said he was a friend. We figured there must be a reason why he was acting like this, so I tried to give him a chance.”

I led Tucker into the master bedroom and closed the door. I couldn’t believe it was only now dinnertime. It seemed like this day had lasted a week. Tucker looked at me warily. “Is this bad news?” he asked.

“What?” I had no idea what he meant.

“You love him, and in spite of what you think, he loves you as well,” Tucker said resignedly.

“Cal?”

“Gabriel,” Tucker said as if that should have been obvious.

“Oh.” I sat cross-legged on the bed. “Maybe you’re right. I can’t separate the attraction I feel because of his gift, and the attraction I feel just for him. And maybe he does love me in his way. It doesn’t matter, though. I love you
.
I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. He and I can’t be together—it just doesn’t work. But you and I? That works. It really works.”

Tucker was just looking at me, and I froze. “Unless you have changed your mind?”

He suddenly laughed and hugged me fiercely. “No, never. I just am having trouble believing it. I was trying so hard to let you go, I wasn’t prepared to hear you say that.” He pulled back to look at me. “You mean it? You love me?”

“Yes, I do.” I kissed him softly. “I really do.”

Epilog: One Month Later

I put the cell phone down and rubbed my ear. I’d heard once that being on the phone all the time could give you a brain tumor or something. If that was true, I should be making a will about now.

The last month had been extremely busy. Gabriel was firmly in control of the entire quarantine zone. There had been a few rumors that the quarantine might be lifted, and I’d been helping Gabriel as much as I could. It was far too much for one person, but Meri, Phil, and Tucker were a huge help. They all knew me well enough to follow my sometimes-erratic leadership, and without them I would have run away screaming long ago.

Things were coming together. We had supplies coming in and towns without basic services had, by and large, gotten them back. There’d been a tense couple of days where the cell phone companies of this area had told us they were shutting down the zone because we hadn’t paid. Never mind that we didn’t get mail from the outside except very rarely. Gabriel had set up a videoconference, and by the time it was done, the Hot Zone owned its own cell services, at a very reasonable price.

I’d managed to keep Meri, Phil and Tucker free from Gabriel’s influence and they all were free to hate him if they wished. None of them did, however, seeing how tirelessly he worked and seeing the things he had accomplished. Gabriel was cooler towards me since I had seen him that day Cal had been shot. Maybe he was trying to make things easier, but I suspected he was pouting.

I still thought about him a lot—more than I thought I should. I knew I’d been right when I said we couldn’t be together, and I think he knew it as well. He hadn’t insisted that I come up to St. Paul at all in the last month, and I appreciated that nearly as much as Tucker did.

Cal had mostly recovered. There was definitely something different about him, but no ‘abilities’ we had found so far. He had his arm in a sling; still he seemed in good spirits—horribly embarrassed at how he had acted. I’d taken him aside and told him the entire Eddy incident nearly word for word, and I think that had made him feel better. He had been working for an elite group of soldiers who went into problem areas and took out (as in killed) selected people. When he realized I was working with Gabriel (he saw that wretched TV interview where I looked shocked as Gabriel explained my new responsibilities), he had offered to meet Gabriel and assess the danger. Mostly he had done it because he’d known that once he got into the quarantine zone, he’d be stuck in it with Meri. The other reason was that he knew there were some world leaders who were very wary of this man who’d risen from nowhere in the middle of an area where strange things happened. Once Cal had heard that Gabriel had an ability to gain everyone’s love and trust, helped along by the rising anxiety and paranoia of the illness, he had panicked, and our little crisis had been the result. Meri had forgiven him immediately, of course, but it had taken longer for me, then again, I wasn’t sleeping with him.

Tucker had explained that he’d accidentally dropped his cell phone, and the battery had become loose. It had turned itself off, and as he tried to keep Karen from killing herself from shame over the scene she’d cause at the house plus her disturbing new ability, he had not known I was calling. Once he’d realized it, he’d texted, and was just leaving Karen’s house when she’d come running out, telling him I was in trouble. Tucker had helped organize the rescue with Luis’ help, and Karen had been glad to assist. The waiting ambulance and the overwhelming medical support had been Gabriel’s doing.

I started as the door opened and Tucker walked in. He pushed the keyboard to the computer out of the way and sat on the corner of the desk. “Are you going to take a break? It’s a party and you’re missing it.”

Cal and Meri were getting married, and this was their engagement party. I nodded, still bothered by my thoughts. Tucker, always so sensitive to my moods, kissed my forehead and used his hand to cup my chin so he could look in my eyes. “What is it?”

I sighed. “I was thinking about something Cal said that night he got shot. He said killing Gabriel was like getting the chance to kill Hitler. At the time, I thought he was ranting, but what if he’s right? What if we are like Hitler’s little worker bees, getting the Third Reich set up?”

Tucker chuckled until he saw my face. “I’m not laughing at the thought. I’m laughing because I used to think of Gabriel that way. I don’t any more, but I can see how other people see him as a threat. Do you know what changed my mind?”

“No.”

“The night we came to rescue you, he was determined to go in as the distraction. He only gave in when I told him that you were adamant that your friends not be changed. Would he do that if he weren’t a compassionate man? Plus, he has set it up in the Cities so that it’s safe, and there’s always enough to eat. No, I don’t worry that he’s Hitler, but I do wonder what his background was that has enabled him to lead us in this way. He doesn’t seem to have a history at all. It’s like he was born as an adult during the bombings. I’d really love to hear his story.”