Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (46 page)

“
But their systems will
kick it?” the SWAT Commander asked.

Colin dropped to the ground to set up an
IV.

“
They should,” Max
said.

“
And you know what you’re
talking about?” the SWAT Commander asked.

“
Toxic terrorism is one of
my specialties,” Max said.

“
Ok,” the SWAT Commander
said. “But if you’re wrong, I will not hesitate to tell the press
you killed these men.”

“
You won’t tell the press
anything,” Max said. He held up his US Intelligence ID.

“
Fine,” the SWAT Commander
said. “I’ll call your father and tell him you screw up. You’ll have
to deal with him.”

He gave Max a stern look and stalked away to
meet the ambulances. Within minutes, a paramedic arrived to give
Seth oxygen. They were about to transfer Seth to a stretcher when
they heard a shout. The first officer who had been drugged went
into seizures. In the order in which they were drugged, the police
officers began violent seizures.

“
Hang on Seth,” Delphie
said and his body began to spasm.

~~~~~~~~
Tuesday evening — 7:35 P.M.

Seth felt nothing.

Just a moment ago, he felt something. Hope?
Excitement?

But he remembered feeling something.

Face down in the grass, he tried to move his
legs or arms. The wooden projectile had effectively paralyzed
him.

But his mind was active, awake.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew
severe pain was being held at bay by… something… a drug maybe.

He was rolled over. Unable to even move his
eyes, he stared into the night sky until a shadow loomed. He saw
Colin Hargreaves’s face. Colin was a skilled Special Forces medic.
He must be there to help him.

He tried to say something but speech was
impossible. Colin yelled something. Colin’s face was a mask of
intensity and power.

Until that moment, Seth hadn’t noticed the
dead silence. He was deaf.

He heard a voice.

“
You’re going to be all
right.”

At least that’s what he thought he
heard.

Delphie’s face appeared over him. She was
talking to him inside his head.

“
You’re very lucky.
Colin’s knows what this is.”

He saw Delphie’s kind smile and knew he was
in desperate trouble. She only smiled like that when she was
scared. Her face disappeared and the night sky returned.

He had never felt more helpless in his
entire life.

He tried to fight.

He tried to move.

He tried to yell.

Nothing. Defeated, he drifted into
despair.

Out of no where, he heard… singing. He
focused his attention on the music. The song had a familiar
quality. He’d heard it before… a long, long time ago… some other
time he was helpless, frustrated and felt trapped. He felt the
music unwind his tension.

“
Listen.”

Everything went dark.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:10 P.M.

“
Ok,” Honey said into her
cell phone. “We’ll be right there, Jake.”

She and MJ were sitting on their couch in
the basement apartment. Since there was no big family dinner, MJ
had just made his world famous grilled cheese sandwiches. They had
laughed about MJ’s day in the tight, smelly van and Honey’s day
underground. She and Valerie had been about to go downtown when MJ
got the call at the last minute that Seth and the other officers
were injured. SWAT had taken over the scene. Honey closed her cell
phone and reached for her wheelchair.

“
What’s going on?” MJ
asked.

“
Jake called and said
everyone is meeting at Sandy’s salon,” Honey said. “I’m supposed to
go over there.”

“
What about Val?” MJ
asked.

“
Honey?” Valerie’s voice
asked through the door.

MJ got up to answer the door.

“
Did you hear anything?”
Valerie asked.

“
Jake called to say
they’re meeting at Sandy’s salon.”

“
He didn’t call me,”
Valerie said. “Typical. He probably thought I’d boss
him.”

Laughing, Honey plopped into her
wheelchair.

“
I can drive,” MJ
said.

“
That’s all right,”
Valerie said. “I’ll drive. Plus, I think Mike and the rest of your
team are going to play poker tonight. If you go to this ‘regroup’
meeting, you’ll miss it.”

Honey laughed at the look on MJ’s face.

“
You’ll call me if there’s
any trouble,” MJ said. “Anything suspicious.”

Honey held her arm out. MJ leaned down to
kiss her. He helped Honey up the stairs to the main floor. She was
sitting in the passenger seat when MJ ran up.

“
Take this,” MJ held the
pearl handled handgun. “Please.”

Not wanting to make a scene, Honey took the
weapon and tucked it into the pocket of her skirt. He kissed her
one last time and watched them drive away in Valerie’s old Ford
Mustang.

“
I got Sandy’s spare keys
from the key peg,” Valerie said. “You have the alarm codes
right?”

“
MJ helped install them,”
Honey held up the paper with the number on them.

“
This is great,” Valerie
said.

“
Like Nancy Drew,” Honey
said.

“
Only better,” Valerie
said. “We’re going to catch a really bad guy while Mike and MJ play
poker.”

“
Girl power!” Honey
said.

Laughing, they drove to Sandy’s salon.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:10 P.M.

“
Delphie, just tell
me.”

Ava’s voice started strong and ended with a
croak. She turned up the microphone on her cell phone. She was
sitting in the passenger seat while Dale drove like a madman to
Denver Health.

“
I would if I could,”
Delphie said. “I don’t have any idea if he’ll be all
right.”

“
Go through it again,” Ava
whispered.

“
They were shot in the
back of the neck near something called the Cerebellum. The wood
spike had concentrated Wasp venom and some other stuff I can’t
pronounce. The venom paralyzed them but their minds are active and
awake. The paramedics had set up all the monitoring when the men
started having seizures,” Delphie said. “The seizures were
horrible. Max says they’re expected.”

“
If they had given the men
CPR or epinephrine or…”

“
Any of the usual
interventions, they would have died,” Delphie said. “Only Max and
Colin knew what to do. If they hadn’t been there, the men would
have surely died.”

“
Can you reach him?” Ava
asked. “Seth, I mean.”

“
No,” Delphie said. “They
gave him Phenobarbital to stop the seizures. He’s completely out
for a while. Max said he’s in terrible pain – like a million wasp
stings. They’ll keep them in a medical coma for a while until the
CDC, FBI and Interpol can get here to give them more
ideas.”

“
But Seth’s going to be
all right….”

“
I would tell you if I
knew,” Delphie said. “I can’t reach him. Jake can’t reach him.
Seth’s in between worlds. Max said they usually die right away from
medical intervention. But Seth’s not out of the woods.”

“
He could still die,” Ava
said.

“
Anything could happen,”
Delphie said. “This toxin’s only been used in five other places.
And everyone died. No one’s survived this long.”

“
This is the first time
it’s been used in the US,” a male voice said in the background.
“There’s no antitoxin.”

“
That’s Max,” Delphie
said. “We’re meeting at the Castle to regroup and decide on our
next plan of attack. I wanted to stay with Seth but they need me to
catch the serial killer.”

“
Saint Jude is just gone,”
Ava said.

“
Disappeared,” Delphie
said. “He must have planned the whole thing. I knew he was watching
us. I just don’t know how.”

Filled with panic and despair, Ava fell
silent.

“
Listen,” Delphie said.
“The Denver Police are already saying Seth used his usual magic to
have Colin and Max there.”

“
Magic O’Malley,” Ava
said.

“
You’ll let me know what
happens?” Delphie asked.

“
I will,” Ava
said.

“
I have to call Maresol,”
Delphie said. “She’s going to freak out.”

“
I’ll call when I know
anything,” Ava said.

“
I see your wedding,”
Delphie said. “Not soon. Not for years maybe, but I still see
it.”

“
Does that mean it will
definitely happen?” Ava asked.

“
You have a chance,”
Delphie said. “Don’t give up hope. He’s in incredible health, even
the paramedics commented on it. And he’s in good hands.”

“
Thanks Delphie,” Ava
said.

“
Don’t give up hope,”
Delphie said and hung up.

Ava looked at the phone and tucked it in her
pocket.

“
You all right?” Dale
asked.

“
No,” Ava said.
“You?”

“
No,” Dale said. “But I’m
glad you’re here. Did you call Lizzie?”

“
When we know something,”
Ava said.

“
Sandy?”

“
Delphie’s going to tell
her when she gets there,” Ava said.

Dale was silent the rest of the way to
Denver Health. They stopped to wait for a van to pull out. They
took its parking spot.

“
I’m glad you’re here,”
Dale said.

“
I can’t lose him too,”
Ava whispered.

Unable to deal with her own rising hysteria,
Ava bolted from the car. Dale followed her into the Emergency
room.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:25 P.M.

“
Did you stay?” Sandy
asked Tanesha.

They were sitting cross legged on Jill and
Jacob’s king sized bed. Jill was weak but awake. Katy was snuggled
between her mom and their dog Scooter. Katy and Scooter had refused
to leave Jill’s side during and after her vision.

“
After he sang those songs
for me?” Tanesha asked. “You know he’s done that
before.”

“
I know,” Sandy
said.

“
She stayed,” Jill’s weak
voice came from under the covers. “That’s what she’s not saying.
She stayed at the concert.”

“
And?” Sandy
asked.

“
He took me back to his
place,” Tanesha flushed at the intensity of the evening, the
concert, the limo ride and the trip to his penthouse flat in the
Pinnacle overlooking City Park.

“
And?” Sandy
asked.

Tanesha shrugged.

“
And?”

“
We talked,” Tanesha
said.

“
You still love him,”
Sandy said.

“
I don’t know how I feel,”
Tanesha said. “Love is one feeling. Rage is another. He’s hurt me
so many, many times. I…”

“
And Cam?” Jill
asked.

“
Cam’s fun and so sexy,”
Tanesha said. “He feels easier because there’s none of this
history. But…”

Tanesha shrugged.

“
And Tres?” Sandy
asked.

“
I know really,” Tanesha
said. “When have I ever had even one man interested in me let alone
three?”

Sandy hugged Tanesha. Jill threw off her
covers and sat up against the headboard. Sandy held out the cup of
tea Delphie had recommended she drink. Jill looked at the tea and
went a little green.

“
Try a little bit,” Sandy
said.

Jill took the mug. She drank a sip and was
about to pass it back when she stopped to look at it. She drank it
down.

“
Good?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Awful,” Jill said. “But
my headache’s gone. How many of those do I need?”

“
As much as you can
drink,” Sandy said. She left the room to make Jill another
cup.

“
Will it hurt the babies?”
Jill asked.

“
Delphie said Celia drank
it with Jake,” Tanesha said.

“
Are you all right?” Jill
asked.

“
Yeah,” Tanesha said.
“Tres belongs with Heather. He knows that. I know that. Cam has his
Federal problems and Jeraine…”

Tanesha gave a sad shrug.

“
You still love him,” Jill
said.

“
He still loves me,”
Tanesha said. “But his word is crap. Seriously crap and
I…”

Tanesha looked away from Jill. Sandy came in
with another cup of Delphie’s magic tea. Jill drank the second cup
and set the mug on the side table.

“
Can you get up?” Sandy
asked.

Jill rotated to sit on the side of the bed.
She turned to pull the covers up to Katy’s shoulders. Scooter
looked up at her and dropped his head back to the bed. Sandy helped
Jill to her feet. Jill nodded to her friends and went into their
bathroom. She was washing her hands when her ‘dream’ flooded
forward. She jogged back to her bedroom.

“
We have to go,” Jill
said.

Looking around the room, Jill ran to her
closet to get a pair of clean jeans.