***
I wasn’t sure if Blake just waited to be polite, or he didn’t want to spoil his own meal, but the moment the dishes had been cleared and the dragon and damsels doing the work had left, shutting the wooden doors behind them, Blake blurted, “There’s a bug in Durango.”
Tonbo didn’t seem surprised or ruffled. “Are you sure?”
“I’ll never forget a bug’s stench.”
Tonbo shook his head. “So Kory’s claims are true then? How can this be?”
“I don’t know, but it hovered over Sam, didn’t touch her,” Blake said through clenched jaw.
Mack proceeded to fill Tonbo in with the rest of story, informing him of the other assailants while all the while, Tonbo locked eyes on me.
When he stroked his chin and mumbled, “Strange indeed,” I knew he thought the same thing I did. Why didn’t the bug follow ‘bug M.O.’? Why didn’t he grab me when he had the chance?
“I wanted to go over your list of soldiers, your research at that time, the procedures, everything, just see if there is some small detail we missed,” Blake said.
“Of course, anything I can do, but I know of only the ten, which have each been properly disposed of. You and Kory took care of the last one, Arno Clemens.”
Blake grimaced. “I don’t like to think of who that thing was before. By the time we got to it, there was nothing left to spare or pity.”
“No, no, you’re quite right, Blake. What those early injections had in them, no man could fight. It was a Jekyll and Hyde mess. Now, there are many safety measures put into the serum. I never want to repeat that mistake again.” Tonbo’s brows seemed to grow heavier with each word he spoke.
For some weird reason, I wanted to tell Blake to stop pestering the old man. He obviously didn’t know anything about this bug. Why make him feel bad for what happened hundreds of years ago?
I glanced at Blake; his eyes met mine. Why indeed? It didn’t take long for me to realize that Blake wasn’t firing question after question. What did we hope to gain from this trip?