A wry light appeared in Gabriel’s eyes. ‘Five. And counting.’ He disappeared from view.
Ashely’s irate face materialized through the glass window some time later. ‘You’re a jackass.’
I sighed. ‘It was the only option available,’ I explained for the tenth time. ‘We couldn’t afford to lose the virus.’
‘That still doesn’t change the fact that you’re a jackass,’ he retorted, a muscle jumping in his cheek. ‘How’re you feeling?’
‘The injection site is a bit sore.’ I glanced at the red halo surrounding the needle mark at my left elbow.
Ashely went pale. ‘Any fever? Headache?’
I shook my head. Another wave of remorse hit me as I studied his anxious expression. He rubbed his face and exhaled loudly.
‘You should get some rest,’ I said.
Ashely glowered at me, opened his mouth to say something, stopped, and stormed off. One disadvantage about being confined to an isolation pod was that I could hardly follow people when they stamped away in a huff.
Anatole appeared a couple of minutes later. And neither can I control the people staring in at me, I thought tiredly.
The immortal was grinning. ‘That was quite a show you put on for us.’
‘It wasn’t meant to be,’ I said coldly.
Anatole’s grin widened. ‘The lady didn’t sound very happy.’
I considered this for a second. ‘No, she didn’t, did she?’
‘Look on the bright side,’ said the immortal with a carefree shrug. ‘The plague might kill you first. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when she gets her hands on you.’
Strangely enough, this thought occupied my mind for the remainder of the flight.
We touched down somewhere on the US eastern seaboard six hours later. It was still early evening. A star-dotted night sky filled my field of vision when the pod was unloaded from the plane. It disappeared as I was lifted into the back of a truck.
‘How are you doing?’ said Gabriel above me while my steel and glass prison was securely latched into place.
‘I’m fine.’
He looked relieved at my words. ‘We’re not far from the compound.’
Twelve hours had passed since I had injected myself with the virus. I wondered how long it would be before I started to experience symptoms of the infection. An image of the three dead, bleeding bodies in the Crovir lab flashed through my mind. I grimaced.
The truck’s engine roared into life. It rolled across the tarmac and gathered speed.
A dim feeling of claustrophobia soon surfaced at the edge of my consciousness; my view was limited to the ceiling and the sidewall of the vehicle. Although I was aware that the truck was full of Schwatz Hunters and that Ashely and Gabriel were among them, I could not quell the unsettling sensation.
An hour passed. The truck started to climb.
The vibrations from the suspensions suddenly increased; we had left the main road. The gradient grew steeper, the ground more uneven. The pod rocked on its metal bed, jarring me along with it.
The truck braked briefly before setting off again. The land leveled out after a mile. We finally rolled to a stop.
Footsteps scuttled past and shadows played across the glass port. The doors of the truck opened, bringing a flood of light. From the way the vehicle suddenly rose on its wheels, a number of people had exited it. Muffled voices rose close by. The floor shuddered as someone approached.
A face appeared through the window of the containment pod. It was Sheila.
Relief washed over me at the sight of her. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy; the rest of her features were dominated by a scowl. She said something in Czech. It did not sound particularly flattering.
Ashely and Gabriel materialized next to her. Muted words reached me through the glass.
‘Has he complained of any symptoms?’ said Sheila.
‘Apart from some pain where he injected himself, no,’ Ashely replied.
‘I can hear you, you know,’ I said mildly.
‘I’m not ready to talk to you yet!’ she snapped. Movement outside the truck drew her gaze. She turned and spoke to an unseen person before addressing Gabriel. ‘The lab’s ready. Let’s get him there.’
The pod was transferred to a trolley. I had a brief vision of a dark, star-speckled heaven before a lintel appeared above me. A series of fluorescent light strips followed. A hundred feet or so later, I was wheeled into a service elevator. The doors closed behind me.
They opened again seconds later somewhere underground. I was aware of a cavernous space as I was maneuvered across the floor. Gabriel appeared at my side.
‘Where are we?’
‘Inside one of our bunkers,’ said Gabriel. ‘Sheila and the other scientists set up their lab down here. We thought it would be the safest place on the compound.’
I drifted past a high containment glass wall and was wheeled through a decontamination chamber and into an inner sterile room. The pod was lifted from the gurney and secured onto a metal-framed bed.
I was patiently studying the gray paneling above my head when I detected movement to my left. The bed slowly tilted upright by ninety degrees. A wall appeared in front of me. Several figures were visible behind the window that occupied the breadth of it.
Someone punched a code in the access panel on the side of the pod. Almost half a day after I first entered it, the door of my steel and glass prison hissed open. I stepped out onto a tiled floor.
Sheila was the only other person in the room. She wore a white decontamination suit. Her green eyes regarded me steadily from behind a visor. ‘Hi.’
‘Hi,’ I murmured. I studied the window ahead.
Men and women in white coats milled about the room beyond the glass. Gabriel and Ashely stood in their midst. Tomas Godard and Roman Dvorsky appeared behind them.
‘How are you feeling?’ said Sheila.
I dragged my gaze from Godard’s stricken face. ‘I’m okay.’
Sheila carefully inspected me from head to toe. ‘You haven’t experienced any fever or chills?’ she said insistently.
‘No.’
She reached out and lifted my left arm in her gloved hands. Her fingers slowly traced the small red mark at my elbow.
‘Of all the—’ She stopped, her shoulders shaking, and punched me in the chest.
I grunted in surprise.
Someone chuckled behind the glass. I recognized Ashely’s laughter.
Sheila handed me a hospital gown.
‘Put this on,’ she instructed curtly. ‘There’s a bathroom through there where you can change.’ She indicated a steel door in a corner of the sterile chamber. ‘Place your clothes in the plastic carrier inside and give them to me.’
I was poked and prodded by Sheila and the other scientists for the next hour. They took samples of my blood and swabs from my throat and the injection site on my arm before attaching me to a series of monitors.
I sat on the edge of the bed and scrutinized the array of equipment around me. ‘Is this strictly necessary?’
Sheila paused at the door; she was the last one to leave the room. ‘Yes,’ she snapped.
‘Oh.’ My stomach grumbled loudly in the silence that followed. I made a face. ‘Could I at least have something to eat?’
Her expression softened. ‘Sure.’
The meal was hot and filling. Sheila returned and took another sample of blood from my arm.
‘Any idea how long I’m going to be in here?’ I asked patiently.
It was a while before she answered.
‘I don’t know.’ Her eyes met mine steadily. ‘So far, all your observations are stable.’ She bit her lip. ‘We should know within the next twenty-four hours if you develop any symptoms. The incubation period is quite short.’
I digested this information with a sinking feeling. ‘Can you make a vaccine from the samples you’ve taken from me?’
Sheila nodded, her face br
ightening. ‘It might take some time, but it’s feasible.’ She glanced over her shoulder at the wall that separated us from the outer lab. ‘I can’t tell you how relieved Grandfather is that you’re okay.’ She stared at me. ‘Were you aware that our grandmother died during the first plague?’
My gaze shifted from her to the room beyond. Another ripple of remorse fluttered through my conscience. ‘No. I didn’t know that.’
No wonder Godard had looked so shaken.
A sad smile flitted across Sheila’s face. ‘We’ve only just found you. We can’t lose you now.’ She turned and left the room.
I closed my eyes and lay back on the bed, her words playing over in my mind.
It was another four hours before the fever started. By then, a pounding headache was already hammering at my temples. Chills soon racked my body and sweat soaked the bed sheets beneath me.
I started to drift in and out of consciousness, barely aware of the people entering and leaving the room. At one stage, I opened my eyes and saw Sheila at my side.
‘Hang in there,’ she said shakily, glancing at the monitors above me. Her face was ashen behind the visor.
Next to her, someone was injecting a straw-colored liquid into my IV.
The tone of her words alarmed me more than anything happening to my own body. I blinked moisture out of my eyes and tried to focus on her face.
‘It’s all right,’ I stammered, my teeth shattering uncontrollably. ‘I’ll be okay.’ I was stunned at the weakness of my voice.
‘No, it’s not!’ Sheila’s eyes glistened wetly.
It took all of my willpower to reach out and take her gloved hand into my own shaking one. ‘I’m going to be fine.’
Her fingers curled around mine. A single tear spilled down her face. My eyelids fluttered closed and I sank into oblivion.
The fever broke thirty-six hours later. How I lasted until then, I was not sure myself; the details were more than a little hazy. Apart from a sore head and some general grogginess that hung around for most of the next day, I was back to my normal self.
It was another twenty-four hours before Sheila returned to give me the news.
‘Your body mounted a response in the form of an elevated white cell count. Otherwise, all the other parameters have stabilized.’ For the first time in days, her eyes were bright with barely concealed excitement. ‘I’ve got the results of your latest tests.’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s over.’ Sheila smiled at my puzzled expression. ‘The infection. It’s gone.’
My eyes widened. I was unsure I had heard her correctly. ‘Gone?’
Sheila nodded.
‘Completely?’ I said insistently.
‘Yes. There’s no trace of active disease.’
I digested this incredible fact slowly. ‘How is that possible?’
Sheila hesitated. ‘I—I don’t know.’
I observed her troubled expression. ‘Did you manage to isolate the virus?’ I said finally.
‘Yes. And it’s definitely the one Burnstein was working on. You already have significant levels of protective antibodies in your blood.’
‘That’s good, isn’t it?’
‘It is.’ Sheila’s tone was wary. ‘It’s also incredibly fast.’
The meaning behind her words sank in. Coldness spread through me.
‘You think this has something to do with surviving the seventeenth death?’
It was her turn to be quiet. ‘Yes, I suspect it does,’ she eventually murmured. Her eyes grew shuttered. ‘You may be truly invincible after all.’
I stared at the floor, uncertain how I felt about that statement.
‘Am I still contagious?’ I said distractedly.
‘No. The virus is no longer detectable in your blood stream or your swabs. This is the final all clear.’
I looked up. ‘Does this mean I can get out of here?’ I asked, unable to mask the hope in my voice.
Sheila smiled. ‘Yes.’
The first person to greet me was Ashely. Godard and Gabriel followed closely on his heels.
‘How do you feel?’ said my partner.
‘I’m okay.’ More than anything, I was relieved to be out of the containment room.
Godard pulled me toward him and engulfed me in a tight hug. I stiffened for a moment, before relaxing in his grip.
‘You’re a very silly boy,’ the old man said gruffly. ‘Silly, but brave.’
‘Yeah, I get that a lot,’ I murmured. I ignored Ashely’s knowing grin and turned to Gabriel. ‘Any news on Burnstein and the Crovirs?’
‘Burnstein’s holed up in DC, along with the rest of Santana’s scientists,’ he replied. ‘It appears they have another research facility there.’
An image of the tower we had followed the CEO of GeMBiT Corp to on Pennsylvania Avenue flashed in my mind. Our trip to Washington felt like a lifetime ago.
‘And the vaccine?’
Gabriel’s expression hardened. ‘They’ve completed the trial. Gazmuuk called a few hours ago. Santana started the inoculation yesterday.’
Shock darted through me. I was stunned at the speed of events. Only three days had passed since we broke into the Crovirs’ lab in Germany. ‘That’s not good.’
Gabriel sighed. ‘No, it isn’t.’
I looked around the lab, aware of the curious stares of the scientists and several Hunters. ‘Where’s your father?’
Gabriel exchanged a meaningful glance with Godard.
‘In Europe,’ he said in a low voice. ‘The Councils and Assembly are proving more difficult to persuade than we originally anticipated. We suspect some of them are deliberately delaying the process.’
I studied him for a moment. ‘What’s the plan?’
‘I’m glad you asked. Walk with me.’
Half an hour later, I stood back from the table that dominated the crowded operations room in the main lodge of the Schwatz compound.
‘Santana will no doubt have a significant number of Crovir Hunters guarding that place.’ I inspected the satellite and surveillance photos of the Pennsylvania Avenue sky rise pinned to the board on the wall. ‘How many men have you got?’
‘Enough to do the job,’ said Grigoriye.
I watched the Council member steadily. ‘I doubt that. You’ll need to leave a considerable fraction of your army behind to guard the Godards. You won’t have a large enough number to defeat the Crovirs.’
Costas frowned. ‘You’ll do well not to question your superiors, Carpenter.’
A strained silence followed the Schwatz noble’s words.
‘You forget,’ I said quietly. ‘I’m not a Hunter.’
Costas half rose from his seat, his face red. ‘I will not—’
‘Enough!’ Gabriel interrupted harshly. Costas settled in his chair with a disgruntled expression. ‘Adam is right. We’d be lucky to breach the front door with our current numbers.’
‘I have a suggestion,’ said Ashely from where he leaned against the wall. He rolled a cigarette between his fingers. ‘Christophe Lacroix.’
Mutters rose around the table. The Schwatzs glanced at each other in confusion.
‘Who’s this…Lacroix?’ said Costas.
I stared at Ashely. ‘That’s gonna require some leap of faith from the man.’
His lips curved in a wry smile. ‘After what he witnessed in Vienna, he’ll be begging us for a piece of the action.’
I smiled back. ‘Solito?’
Ashely shrugged. ‘We owe him. Besides, the more the merrier.’
A strangled sound escaped Costas’s lips. ‘Will one of you tell us what the hell you’re talking about?’ he roared.
Ashely and I explained our involvement with the FBI and the French detective. Costas and Grigoriye listened with mounting skepticism. Gabriel watched us silently.
‘Do you seriously expect us to enlist the help of humans in the affairs of immortals?’ Grigoriye ev
entually said with a frown. Ashely’s eyebrows rose. ‘Present company excluded, of course,’ the Schwatz added grudgingly.
‘Humans have as much at stake here as immortals, although they’re yet to be aware of that fact.’ I glanced at Gabriel. ‘They could tip the balance in our favor.’
Costas sneered. ‘Are you suggesting we reveal the affairs of our race to a bunch of—of mortals? You think we’re suddenly going to get friendly with them, after thousands of years of keeping them out of our business?’ He turned to Gabriel. ‘This is preposterous!’
‘After what went down at the Hauptbahnhof and in Vienna, I would be surprised if they didn’t suspect something already.’ I gazed unwaveringly at Gabriel. ‘It’s your decision. Ashely and I trust these men.’
Gabriel held my eyes for several seconds. ‘Call them,’ he said finally.
It was almost midnight when we ended our negotiations with the FBI and Interpol. Lacroix was taking a chartered flight from Paris with some twenty agents from Europe, the Swiss and Austrians having been all too keen to offer their assistance. Solito’s boss promised us another eighty men, including two SWAT teams from the local Metropolitan Police. Homeland Security and the CDC had been placed on high alert.
‘You have friends in high places,’ I told Gabriel while the room slowly cleared. I had listened while he spoke with various senior officials at the Pentagon and in the White House, and found myself strangely unsurprised by their discussions. ‘We didn’t really need to contact Lacroix and Solito, did we?’
A dark smile crossed the immortal noble’s face.
‘Let’s just say the top brass like to have good grounds to offer us their assistance. The events in DC and Europe are more than enough reason to justify this operation under the counter terrorism act.’ Gabriel paused. ‘The few mortals who know of our existence are extremely wary of us, understandably so. After all, we’ve shaped the course of human history for almost two millennia.’ He sighed. ‘Neither side wishes to see a war between our races, us more so than the humans. That’s why we have observer status at the UN and maintain close ties with the political leaders of the world.’
‘I’m sorry to interrupt, but has anyone given any thought to the mortals who’ll be working with us on the ground?’ said Grigoriye. The Schwatz Council member hovered in the doorway, a frown on his face. ‘It won’t be easy to hide the abilities of our kind from them. They’re bound to talk.’