Second Chances (122 page)

Tina arrived three hours into the surgery on Cassie. She took one look and then washed up before diving in to help. “How the hell did you get here?” Dora demanded, looking up at her. “Thank god you are!” She shook her head. Sandra had been ruthless in her classroom and simulations, but this was nothing like it. They could break one down step by step but she was overwhelmed by the number of people. And all were her friends.

“Jamal dropped off Nickie here while Angie went for me. Doctor Ventura and Senjina are being flown in by Jackie as we speak.”

“How bad are we talking, full infestation?” Tina asked, all professional. “Just wait, I thought there was five?”

“Was,” Dora said, near tears. “We lost Jaden, Tisha, and Vance,” she said.

Tina sucked in a hissing breath and then let it out slow. “Damn. That bad. Anymore?”

“I don't know,” Sandra said tightly as she removed the infested fetus, and then her daughter's uterus. Her ovaries followed...She shook her head, grimly determined to salvage something of her daughter. They'd deal with the consequences later. “We need to screen everyone,” she said not looking up as she used a laser to cauterize a bleeding capillary. “That means hundreds of people.”

“Want to tag out?” Tina asked. She whistled behind her mask as she looked into Cassie's abdominal cavity. “I take that back. This is meatball surgery,” she shook her head. Doc was going the scorched earth routine with her daughter, removing sections of her small intestine, stomach, and anything infested. Even her appendix had come out.

“Glad we've got more people coming in then,” Nicole said grimly. She looked up briefly as she tossed a writhing tentacle into a pan. “We're going to need it,” she said. Dora nodded as Tina stepped up to help Nicole scan Mitch's intestines.

------*------

The exhausted medics were grateful for the additional timely assistance. Doctor Ventura grimly took one look and then stepped up to the first people complaining of problems without a word. Sandra stared, exhausted beyond measure more from the stress than the physical and mental activity. She washed her face a few times, splashing the water into her eyes, then angrily dabbed at them, fighting the tears. She had work to do, she thought.

“Mitch and Cassie are stable. They are asleep. They are going to have a hell of a series of scars,” Tina told her, coming into the OR wash room.

“But they'll live,” Sandra murmured. She straightened.

“Did you have to take her...everything?”

“Yes,” Sandra whispered. “Unfortunately, yes,” she sighed. “I'll tell her when it's time.”

“Going into early menopause as a teenager? That so has to suck. Talk about adding insult to injury,” Tina murmured.

“At least she'll be alive,” Sandra said. She pulled off her soiled scrubs and dropped them into a special bag.

“What's that for?” Tina asked, indicating the bag.

“Burn bag. Everything goes into it. I'm even destroying the bots that are cleaning the OR and the hallway. Arby or someone can make more. I'm not going to take any chances. And you, me, and the others are getting treated just in case,” she said wearily.

Tina nodded. “Can't be too careful,” she said. She finished changing and balled up her own scrubs and slammed them into the bag. Then she washed up. “Nicole said so far so good; no one else has been infected. A few people are complaining, but we're not sure if it's real or not.”

“We can't take chances. We'll give them the meds,” Doc said. “I'll program the computer to make more.”

“That will take time. We need to narrow it down more,” Tina warned. “We could run out when we need it,” she cautioned.

“God I hope not,” Sandra sighed as they walked out into a bedlam of people all asking questions or complaining about the wait.

------*------

Mitch's early diagnosis by Sandra and his apparent small intake of the parasite let him survive, though he took days to recover. Nicole had removed the intubation tube the previous evening. He had some tape residue, sticky. An IV in his arm and a breathing tube in his nose told him whatever he'd gone through had been serious. He didn't feel any pain, just discomfort in his abdomen. When he weakly pulled up the sheets and his smock he found he had a fresh scar on his abdomen. His right index finger traced the angry long wound. Laser, his mind thought. With staples, he felt, noting the bumps.

When he was no longer groggy they filled him in on the sobering news. He was angry over the deaths, looking away when Sandra softly told him Vance had died as well.

“Mitch, did you or anyone eat any purple fruit? Here or outside? Did you see it? Touch or taste it?” Nicole asked, voice cool and professional. He shook his head no.

He reached for the breathing tube but Nicole brushed his hand away. She adjusted it, but left it in. “It's from the Tropics. We've confirmed that from the samples. It couldn't have come from around here, we just had a hard cold winter. The plant couldn't survive it. Which is odd.”

“How?” he asked, then coughed. His voice was hoarse from the vomiting, parasites, and having a trachea tube shoved down his throat into his lungs. “How...here?” he asked, then coughed again, this time into his fist. He fell back weakly after a moment, feeling like he'd run a marathon.

“Hejira checked; it's not from her. We scrubbed this place from top to bottom, no sign of it here or anywhere around,” Sandra said. She frowned. “Which makes us all wonder how the hell you got it. All of you. And before you ask, just you five.”

“Five...”

“It looks like Vance, Jaden, Cassie, and Tisha got the full dose. You were lucky,” she shook her head. “Cassie is critical and not quite out of the woods. I'm not sure about her recovery time. She's lost a lot of blood, half her stomach, a third of her upper intestine...and damage to her other internal organs...including the baby,” Nicole said uncomfortably. She looked at Sandra. “Before you, no doubt ask, your wife and son are clean, we checked,” she said and then looked at Mitch.

“Reading my mind?” Mitch coughed. “That's her job,” he said weakly. Nicole shrugged.

“How the hell did you get infested? That's what I want to know!” Sandra growled. “Any of you!”

“What's the common vector? Can you think of anything?” Nicole asked, looking at Mitch.

“Vance, Cassie, me...Jaden you said...Tisha right?” He frowned thoughtfully as Sandra nodded.

“It had to be ingested. Something you all ate. And I know you aren't a big fan of fruit honey,” Sandra said. “Focus. It couldn't have been beyond the past six weeks. I did physicals seven weeks ago and there were no signs then. Ducky said there were hundreds of the things, and they'd recently hatched.”

Mitch froze as a thought struck him. A memory, foggy, but then returning in clarity the more he focused on it. “The drink,” he said hoarsely.

“You need a drink?” Sandra asked. He shook his head no.

“What? What drink?” Nicole asked.

Mitch was stricken. He looked at his wife in agony. He reached out weakly and grabbed her hand. He squeezed. “The first day. Remember the food and stuff people were handing out? I tried some of Dunn's peppered jerky but needed something to wash it down...someone handed me a drink. I'm not sure who now. It was too sweet for me, so I handed it off to Vance,” he said. He froze. “Oh my god. Cassie stole it from him...” His face fell. “She passed it on to Jaden,” he said.

“It's not your fault,” Sandra said, resting her hand on his shoulder. “How were you to know what it was?”

“Who did it? Who made it? That was an intentional attack. Premeditated,” Mitch said, fists clenching in the sheets.

Sandra looked at him, then stroked his chest. “Are you sure?”

His eyes flickered to her. She saw the depths of sorrow for the loss of his friends fade into rage. It scared her; she knew what Mitch was capable of. She also wasn't certain of herself. Her daughter and her husband had nearly died. Her grandchild had died.

“Ciara. That bitch. She was smirking at me when I drank that damn thing. I didn't know why.
Dunn,
” he snarled, shaking in rage. “That son of a bitch. I bet you he's behind this,” he growled, eyes flashing.

“Honey, don't...we don't know who did it. I admit poison is usually a woman's weapon but...we can't lob accusations off. We can't let this...it may have been an accident,” she ground out, hating herself.

He looked at her with a pitying expression. She bit her lip. “Okay, so I don't believe it either. We need to take steps, that much is obvious. But we can't live in fear. We need to try to put it behind us. Let the investigators do their job,” she told him firmly. He scowled but then gave her a choppy nod.

She closed her eyes and inhaled and exhaled as he sat their silently. “Damn it. This is supposed to be a new world! What is wrong with people!” He reached out and pulled her into his arms. He was weak, she could feel it, but she wrapped her arms around her and nuzzled him, crying softly.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry I brought this on...you. Cassie. Vance. The baby,” Mitch said, voice still rough.

“We're tough. We'll get through it,” Sandra said, snuffling on him. She decided now was not the time to tell him Cassie's miscarriage and emergency surgery had left her barren. Her daughter was going to be a wreck when she woke.
If
she woke, she thought.

“Right, with that hanging over our heads. I'll feel better when whoever did it is taken care of. Permanently,” Mitch snarled.

She rose out of his arms, eyes searching his face. “You don't mean...”

“We don't have a prison. Nor do we have...” Mitch sighed looking away. “Look, this is a frontier. They
killed
three people. Kids. Four including your grandchild.”

“An eye for an eye is never right,” Sandra said, shaking her head.

“And if it had been Cassie who had died and not Vance?” Mitch asked.

She blinked, then her eyes narrowed. “That's low, Mitch Chambers,” she growled. He shrugged.

“I'll sleep easier when I know this person isn't going to kill any more of my friends and family,” he said. “And there is only one...no two ways to be sure of that,” he said.

“Two?”

“One, we kill them,” he told her, looking her straight in the eye. “Option two, we exile them. Drop them somewhere and let nature take its course,” he said coldly.

She winced. “Same thing in the end.”

He shrugged. “If they are as enterprising as they are to slip a poison in, this damn parasite,” he said cradling his sore abdomen. “Then they can figure out how to live on their own,” he said.

“First we have to find them,” Sandra said. “We need more than suspects and circumstantial evidence. Motive won't be enough. A lot of people want you out of the way since they still think you are setting yourself up as king.”

He nodded. He reached out and touched her hair, gently stroking it. “I'll settle for you as my queen,” he murmured. She snuffled, then burrowed into his arms to be held once more.

“God, I thought I'd lost you,” she murmured into his shoulder. He hugged her tight, then stroked her hair.

“You are so not getting rid of me that easily lady,” he growled. She chuckled and kissed his cheek.

------*------

News of the deaths hit the community hard. There was some initial panic over the parasites, a few people reported to the infirmary repeatedly...sick but all ended up with a normal case of indigestion. The fear had caused the upset stomach as well as a normal case of mass induced hypochondria.

The colonel was annoyed when he got the news that they hadn't gotten Chambers after all. “Now what genius? They know it's from the tropics; that much is obvious. How are we going to get out of this?”

“Us? We had nothing to do with it,” she said. “If anyone points a finger, it will be to Tariq, who safely left for home a day before Chambers got sick.” Her steady tone and almost casual attitude reassured him that they were indeed covered.

“But...”

“But nothing. Calm yourself. I do regret the kids. Damn,” she said, shaking her head. Hearing that Cassie had lost her baby had hit her hard. Collateral damage indeed, she thought with a pang, one hand straying to her own abdomen.

“Bob is still a problem. He's panicky. And he's avoiding me now,” Miles finally said.

“He...yes. He may be a problem. And since he won't head south where we can keep him quiet one way or another...” she let the thought linger and then die a natural death. “We may need to arrange an accident as you suggested,” she said.

“I'll take care of it,” Miles growled, eyes cold.

------*------

“We're keeping Cassie in a medically induced coma to let her body heal. It took a lot of insult and damage,” Nicole said. Sandra nodded. She had kept her hands off the two patients; Doctor Ventura and Nicole took over managing their care. “Mitch is pretty much out of the woods. We'll have him out of the ICU tonight or tomorrow. There is no further sign of infestation,” Nicole reported.

“Thank god,” Sandra murmured. She scrubbed at her face and then finger combed her hair in frustration. “Any word from the chief or Phyllis?”