“I get that, but—”
“It’s the biggest threat of all, Destiny.”
“You’re assuming there’s anything left worth saving.”
“You mean like you and your friends.”
“They know the score. Trust me. We all do.”
“Which is precisely why we have to stop this one.”
“Because you couldn’t stop the others?”
“Exactly.”
“Under normal circumstances, I’d probably agree with you. Maybe even say the same thing. But in the end, we’re going to need you around no matter how this plays out. So I think it’s time for you to take a break.”
“Wow, you just don’t listen, do you? Not a single word I’ve said.”
“Of course I listen, but you don’t understand. I’ve made contact with a new group out there. Someone who has the equipment and personnel we need.”
“Oh boy, here we go again.”
“You really need to trust me for a change.”
“And you believe these people?”
She nodded but didn’t respond.
“Really? After what happened the last time, I would’ve thought you learned a lesson. A big one at that.”
“Don’t really have a choice, now do we?”
“Actually we do. Let me continue. I can figure this out. I really can. We don’t need outsiders. Too big a risk.”
“I wasn’t talking about that exactly. I meant your hair.”
“What’s happening to me has already happened. It’s time to think about the rest, while I still have some energy left.”
She took a few beats to absorb his latest statement, not wanting to ask the next question. But he left her no choice. “I guess I’m going to have to ask. How long do you have?”
“Hard to say for sure,” he said, working his body up and onto his feet. “That’s why I need to get back down there.”
“No. Not without the equipment you need and some help. Real help, as in another scientist. One that has the expertise you need.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you? Despite what I’m telling you?”
She nodded, holding back a squall of tears as she nudged him back to the seat. “I’m the boss now, so what I say goes. Got it?”
“Okay, I’ll take a minute. But now I have to ask—who’s this scientist?”
“I don’t know his name, but he is supposed to be a nuclear physicist.”
“Great, another know-it-all.”
“I know it’s the last thing you want.”
“Yeah, because once was more than enough. You have no idea what I went through before. You weren’t there. None of you were. I damn near killed that man with my bare hands. Not that he didn’t have it coming, but still—”
“I remember the story. But at this point, Ash, I don’t think we have a choice.”
“We always have choices, Destiny.”
“Just not good ones. But I need you to trust me here. We have to do this. We really do. And I need you to back me up. Can you do that? For the sake of everyone?”
Asher paused for a moment, then nodded. “I sure hope he has the ability to listen and keep his trap shut.”
“We’ll find out. We’ve got a meet scheduled.”
“At a neutral site, I hope?”
“Of course. I know the rules. Not until they are vetted, qualified, and approved for entry.”
“So you have been listening?”
“Every word, Ash. Just don’t preach so much. Otherwise, we all have a tendency to stop listening.”
“Like I did with my old man back in the day.”
She nodded, letting her mind drift onto a new subject. “You know, you could always just resume your old job. So I don’t have to. Make things a lot easier.”
“Not a chance. You’re way better at all this political stuff than I am. Plus, some of your people still don’t trust me, even after all we’ve been through together.”
“Some wounds take forever to heal, my friend.”
“Which is why we must move forward—”
“—until the past is the past,” she added, knowing what he was going to say.
“The distant past.”
“And that can’t happen unless we solve the current problem, which is why I’ve agreed to meet with Nirvana.”
He paused again, flashing her a twisted look. “Is that what they’re called, or the scientist?”
“It’s the name of their group.”
“Figures. More tree-huggers. I should’ve known.”
“Except they have what we need.”
Asher pushed to his feet again, this time with seemingly less trouble than before. “I’ll go with you. Check this new guy out. See if he actually knows anything or is just a pretender.”
“You’ve done enough, Ash.”
“What, because I’ve lost some hair?”
“That and you’re old. As in really old,” she said, unable to hold back a smile.
“Yeah, Moses had nothing on me. Got a lot of mileage on these old legs.”
“Seriously, though. It’s obvious your body can’t take any more. So let me lighten the load a bit. For your sake and everyone else’s. Okay?”
“Sure, but I’m going to need that towel over there,” he said, pointing at a white cloth dangling from the edge of the worktable.
She grabbed it and gave it to him.
He leaned forward and coughed three times, each round louder than the one before. When he was done, he sat back, letting the towel drop to the ground.
Destiny bent down to pick it up. That’s when she saw it—a splotch of blood taking up most of its middle. It was bright red with bits of white mucus mixed in—all stringy and oozing in a run.
She gasped, feeling a wave of nausea swell inside her belly.
CHAPTER 27
“Open it up,” Liz Blackwell said to the jailer in the brig, motioning to the cell door on the left.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, zipping ahead of her and readying a key.
She didn’t know the guard’s name and half-expected him to make her show ID, but he didn’t. It meant only one thing—he knew who she was, a fact she found both comforting and disconcerting at the same time.
Perhaps she had a reputation she didn’t know about and it had preceded her somehow, or maybe it was something else?
Then again, it was possible she was simply overthinking it, using her misplaced focus as an excuse not to dwell on the plight of the women still under guard.
Physicians have to do what physicians do, regardless of the status of the patient. Injured, imprisoned, friend, or foe—she had to treat them. Human or otherwise. At least there was only one cell with occupants to treat—the other one was now empty.
She took a moment to study the kid playing guard. He looked to be about thirty, his auburn-colored goatee catching her eye first. His next most prominent features were his wide nose and deep-set dimples hanging above the corners of his mouth.
The guard unlocked the door but didn’t open it. Instead, he stepped back and stood to her right with his hands on his hips, not far from the weapon he carried in a holster.