Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (55 page)

They fell silent for a moment digesting
Leslie’s news.

“
We can’t give up,” Bob
said. “The men’s lives depend on what we decide.”

“
And what did we decide?”
Ava asked.

“
Surgery,” Max said. “The
men need surgery to clean out the wounds. The rest of the toxin
must be removed. That’s got to be first.”

“
Dialysis with the
Immunoglobulin filters,” Leslie said. “The ER docs are already
talking about it. If they use the right filter, they can reduce the
immune response.”

“
And?” Ava looked up from
her writing.

“
We have to think of our
response as a treatment protocol,” Bob said. “Not
anti-toxin.”

“
And our treatment
protocol is surgery followed by dialysis,” Ava said.

“
Meds for pain, steroids
to reduce allergic response, and blood pressure stabilizing,” Bob
said. “Flush their systems with saline IVs and more dialysis if
necessary.”

Her team nodded.

“
And if we kill them?” Ava
asked.

“
They are dying anyway,”
Leslie said. Noting the heartbreak on Ava’s face, she added, “I’m
sorry Ava but it’s true. The docs say they won’t make another
night.”

“
Have the families been
notified?” Bob asked.

“
They have,” Nelson said.
“But everyone expects that we’ll pull off some miracle. We are
their last chance.”

Ava nodded to Nelson. She reread her notes
and nodded to her team.

“
Anything else?” Ava
asked.

“
We’re praying for him,
honey,” Fran said.

Ava looked up to see the kind eyes of her
lab techs and Max Hargreaves. She gave them a smile to keep from
crying in exhaustion and despair.

“
I’ll go tell them,” Ava
said. “If they agree, I’ll need your help relaying it to the docs
at Denver Health.”

“
I don’t work for the UN
or the Israelis or Homeland Security or the USDA,” Nelson said. “I
work for you.”

“
Nelson’s right,” Leslie
said. “We should relay the information to Denver Health while you
and Max talk to the research teams.”

Ava looked at Leslie and Nelson.

“
He’s right you know,”
Fran added.

“
I agree,” Bob said. “I’d
be happy to make the call.”

“
Let’s go ahead,” Ava
said. “Let me know if the docs have anything else to
add.”

“
Will do,” Leslie
said.

“
You guys can go home when
you’re done,” Ava said. “It’s been a long day and we were here late
last night.”

“
We’re not leaving you,”
Fran said.

“
Plus, Franny and I have
babysitters,” Leslie said. “I want to get another meal…”

“
In an adult restaurant,”
Fran said.

“
Without kids!” Leslie
added.

“
We’re trying to say we’ll
wait for you,” Nelson said. “And we want to go out
again.”

Ava smiled at them. Bob got up and crossed
the room to use Ava’s phone. Ava stood and Max followed her. They
were almost at the door when they heard Bob begin to relay their
plan to the ER doctors who had been tracking Seth and the other
police officers. Ava and Max shared a look and went to tell the
international team about their findings.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY-FIVE

Dark clouds

Seth looked up from his fishing rod and
noticed dark clouds rolling in. The wind picked up on the big lake
at City Park. The snow capped mountains were almost completely
covered with pregnant clouds. In the distance, the rain pounded the
foothills.

“
Looks like it’s going to
storm,” Seth said.

“
Don’t worry,” his younger
brother Silas said. “It gets like this sometimes.”

“
If you don’t like the
weather in Colorado,” Seth started.

“
Wait fifteen minutes.”
The boys laughed at the oft repeated saying.

A gust of wind began to whip the tree above
them. Worried, Seth glanced at the branches. The old men who’d
appeared to be fishing vanished into the scenery around the boys.
They were alone. His older brother began pulling in his line.

“
Don’t want to get it
tangled,” Saul said. “Nothing’s worse than having to untangle a
line.”

Mimicking Saul’s actions, Seth and Silas
pulled in their lines. When they were done, Saul took the fishing
poles from them and leaned them against the tree trunk. He sat
down.

Before Seth’s eyes, Saul began to age. His
image shifted from a bright twelve year old boy to a worn, filthy
twenty year old. His US Army uniform hung on his emaciated body.
Seth turned to Silas to say something about Saul when he saw Silas
had grown into his thirty year old pink haired, daisy duke wearing
self. The lake in front of him transformed into the modern contours
of Ferril Lake.

“
I’m dying,” Seth
said.

“
Not quite,” Saul
said.

“
We’ll be here no matter
what happens.”

“
Like you were there for
us,” Saul said.

“
I wasn’t with you, Saul,
when you died,” Seth said. “You died a prisoner in
Laos.”

“
Weren’t you?” Saul began
to hum a piece of the Concerto Seth had written when he’d left for
Vietnam. “That tune ran through my mind all four hundred and twelve
days I was in that camp. Just when I thought I’d go crazy to hear
it again, I began to relish every note. The music nurtured me and
led me home. Only my brother Seth could love me like
that.”

“
Do you remember the
ragtime you wrote for me?” Silas said.

“
I played it at your
funeral,” Seth said.

“
I followed those notes to
Mom and Saul,” Silas said. “Remember how terrified I was of being
alone? The music accompanied me until I found them; you accompanied
me until I found them. I was never alone.”

“
That’s why we’re here.
We’re here to keep you from getting lost.”

“
Like you kept us from
getting lost,” Saul said. “No matter what.”

Saul held his hand out to Seth and Seth took
it. Silas tucked his fingers into Seth’s other hand. A lightning
bolt hit the lake in front of them and rain began to pound down.
The tree sheltered them from the violence of the storm but they
were soon dripping wet.

“
Whatever happens, we’ll
be here with you,” Saul yelled over the deluge.

“
Every time,” Silas
yelled.

“
Until whatever end,” Saul
yelled.

Seth closed his eyes to say a silent prayer
of thanks for his brothers. They were here. He wasn’t alone. And he
wouldn’t get lost.

No matter what.

~~~~~~~~

Wednesday evening — 7:10 P.M.

“
Why is Katy going with
Heather and Tanesha?” Jacob asked.

He started Jill’s SUV and followed Mike and
Valerie out of the Castle driveway. Taking an immediate left at the
light, they were making their way to the 270 and the Brighton
resting place of the black serpent.

“
I thought we could use
this time as a chance to talk,” Jill said.

“
Talk?”

“
You’ve been avoiding me
today,” Jill said.

“
I have?” Jacob
asked.

Jill laughed.

“
Why is that funny?” Jacob
asked.

“
While I’m pregnant with
your boys, I can read your mind,” Jill said. “It’s funny to hear
you lie.”

“
You’re the one who says
random mind reading is rude.” Jacob gave her an irritated
look.

“
I don’t know how to
control it,” Jill said. “For the record, I hate it. People’s
thoughts are noisy and generally pretty stupid. School is hell.
That woman I hated? Ms. Cornielle? I just feel sorry for her now.
She’s really unhappy.”

Jacob nodded.

“
And it helps me
understand you better,” Jill said. “What’s wrong, Jacob? Just tell
me.”

“
Do you miss Trevor?”
Jacob asked.

“
Trevor? No.” Surprised,
Jill touched the ‘Soul Mates’ tattoo on her wrist. “Why?

“
Delphie said you were
being moody because the anniversary is next Saturday,” Jacob
said.

“
Oh,” Jill said.
“Huh.”

“
Why huh?”

“
She’s wrong,” Jill said.
“I haven’t known her to be wrong. I wonder if the babies block
her.”

“
She said I should figure
it out myself and asked me if I remember what happened last
summer.” Jacob repeated what Delphie had said.

“
Oh, that’s a little
different,” Jill said.

“
What happened last summer
that I should remember?” Jacob asked. “I remembered meeting you at
the engagement party, getting injured, Katy’s bee sting, making
love for the first time, and…”

“
I think I’m tired because
I’m pregnant,” Jill said. “I’m moody because I almost never see my
husband any more. I could really use some Jacob time. I know Katy
could as well.”

“
And Trevor?” Jacob
pressed.

“
There were a lot of
things that happened at that party, Jacob,” Jill said.

“
Like what?”

“
You’re really freaked out
about this,” Jill smiled at him. “Okay, you tell me. What happened
at that party?”

“
Honey was almost killed,”
he said.

“
Heather got pregnant with
the gorgeous Mac.”

“
Valerie ‘came out’ to her
friends and everyone met Mike,” he said.

“
I wore an amazing red
velvet dress for Claire Martins,” she said.

“
You were gorgeous,” he
said. “You started working for her line. Val’s been modeling the
pregnancy line. Will you do that?”

“
I think so but I’m not
sure,” Jill said. “What else happened?”

“
Trevor was killed,” he
said.

“
By my father,” Jill said.
“Yes, that happened. And what else?”

“
I don’t know,” Jacob
said. “What else?”

“
My baby Katy was
kidnapped with her best friend Paddie,” Jill said. “I just feel
like she’s been through so much. She saw Trevor get shot that night
too. Then all this crap with the serial killer and evil serpent
and…”

“
And?”

“
Trevor’s parents want to
spend Saturday with her,” Jill said. “They accept that she’s not
Trevor’s child. But Trevor thought she was his child and that’s
enough for them. They want to go to the cemetery with
her.”

“
And Katy?”

“
Katy wants to spend the
day with Paddie like they always do,” Jill said. “She doesn’t like
Trevor’s parents or really does not understand why they want to see
her. She’s also a little scared, which makes me a little
scared.”

“
Scared?”

“
Like are they going to
kidnap her? They already tried to get full custody. What if they
hold her for ransom? Which they totally would do,” Jill said.
“Plus, all of Trevor’s friends are going to be around.”

“
We won’t let her go,”
Jacob said.

“
It’s not that easy,” Jill
said.

“
Why not? We’re her
parents. We have legal custody of her. We don’t want her to go,”
Jacob said. “Seems pretty simple.”

Jill turned away from him to look out the
passenger side window. They lapsed into silence. Jill turned on the
radio and they shifted to chatting about other things. When they
turned off onto the road toward the Brighton Barn, Jacob flicked
off the radio.

“
Why don’t we set up a
date day?” Jacob asked. “We could ask Colin and Julie if they could
take Katy on Saturday. We could go for a hike or whatever. It would
give us a chance to really talk.”

“
You don’t have to work
this Saturday?” Jill asked.

“
We’re closed this
weekend,” Jacob said. “The employees voted to take a Saturday off
every eight weeks in the summer. This is the first one.”

“
That’s why Aden wants to
go somewhere,” Jill said.

“
It’s his last chance
before coming back full time and before things start popping in the
late summer,” Jacob pulled up behind MJ and Honey’s van in the
circular gravel driveway. “Date day?”

“
Sounds really nice,” Jill
said. “But maybe we should plan a date morning. I know Katy’s been
missing you too. I’ll ask Julie if Katy can sleep over. And
Trevor’s parents?”

“
I don’t see why we have
to accommodate them,” Jacob said.

“
It’s not that easy,” Jill
started.

Turning to look at him, she was about to
continue when she saw he wasn’t listening. His entire focus was on
the barn and the adults, children, and dogs walking toward it.

“
Are you all right?” Jill
asked.

He jerked back to the present and turned to
look at her.

“
We need to do this and do
it well,” Jacob said. “The creature is not happy his mate is dead
and their babies destroyed.”

Jill took his hand and squeezed it. They got
out of the car to face the creature together.