The Journal: Fault Line (The Journal Book 5) (25 page)

An hour later he woke again, his vision
cleared, although his brain was still a bit fuzzy, and he
recognized where he was.

***

“Marty? This is Christine, I’m worried about
Trevor. He was supposed to be home almost two hours ago, and all my
calls go to his voice mail. This isn’t like him.”

“I’ll take a run by the store, Christine, see
if maybe he’s working late,” Marty answered. He was already taking
his turn at patrol and could be at the Main Street store in a few
minutes.

***

“Christine, this is Marty. Can you come down
to the store and unlock the door?” He didn’t want to alarm her with
what he’d found.

Christine was at the store five minutes
later, her anxiety level bubbling over with alarm. Marty was there,
along with a deputy… and Trevor’s Mustang.

“I found this on the ground by the car,”
Marty said, handing Christine the bank bag. “I don’t know if it’s
good or bad that this was not a robbery.” Christine punched in the
code that opened the electronic lock. Marty and the deputy did a
quick search of the store and found nothing out of place.

“I don’t know what to make of this,
Christine. There’s no sign of a break in, no sign of a struggle,
and we already know it wasn’t a robbery gone bad.” Marty wiped his
hand across his face in frustration. “Do you know if he has any
enemies, or if he’s been threatened in any way?”

“No, as far as I know everyone likes Trevor.
You know he’s a good guy, even to the point of giving a few people
credit if they were desperate for some food and couldn’t pay,”
Christine said, panic creeping into her voice.

Marty walked around outside again, looking
around the Mustang and the back of the building. “Christine, when
did Trevor install those surveillance cameras?” he asked, looking
up.

“I think they’ve always been there. Why?”

“They might show us what happened. Do you
know where the feed is saved?”

Christine took Marty to Trevor’s office and
opened a closet, exposing a bank of electronics. She booted up the
desk computer and opened the camera program.

“It’s a little fuzzy, but do you know that
person?” Marty asked, watching a man walk around Trevor’s car.

“I can’t see his face.”

The feed continued, and showed the man now
flat against the building behind the door, looking down. The door
opened, Trevor emerged and the film showed him locking the door.
Then the culprit looked up, lunged, and stabbed Trevor in the neck
with something. Christine gasped.

“That’s Dr. Hebert from the CDC!”

“The CDC doctor that was air-lifted out of
here back in March? I thought he was dead,” Marty said.

“That’s him,” Christine said, looking closely
at the freeze frame, “though he looks... different.”

“If he kidnapped Trevor, where would he take
him and why?” the deputy asked.

“The closed CDC office!” Christine and Marty
said together. They both got into the squad car, and with the
deputy following them, headed for the vacant building, flashers and
sirens going.

***

Trevor was facing the back of the office, his
arms taped to the chair. He heard the door behind him open.

“Is that you, Hebert?” Trevor said with
disdain.

“Smart boy,” Dr. Herbert said, coming around
into Trevor’s view. His once smooth, youthful face was now
pockmarked. His left eyelid drooped, and the right side of his
mouth angled downward, giving his face a distorted, lopsided
look.

Trevor stared. “What happened to
you
?
And why am I here?”

“Oh, so you noticed my change in appearance,
have you? It’s all
your
fault!”

“How is that my fault? I haven’t even seen
you in months!” Trevor protested, although he had an idea where
this was going.

“I don’t know how you did it, but you gave me
the new strain of flu I developed,” Hebert retorted. “I was sick,
really sick, you bastard. When they got me back to Atlanta, my
colleagues
shot me up with some experimental drugs. They
saved my life and left me looking like this.”

“Let me get this straight: you’re blaming
me
for
you
catching the flu
you
developed and
were passing around to an unsuspecting public?” Trevor instantly
knew he said too much.

“Ha! How did you know I was passing it
around, you little creep? Now it’s your turn …” Hebert hovered over
Trevor with a syringe.

“Before you do that, Hebert, at least tell me
why you were infecting everyone?” Trevor asked, stalling for
time.

“I’m a scientist!” He jutted out his
disfigured chin. “In order to fully track how a virus spreads, I
had to have a controlled starting point. To have that point, I had
to start the infection myself. Simple, really, and quite
logical.”

“Did you know that the recent virus got less
aggressive as it mutated?”

“Well of course I did! Do you think I wanted
to
kill
people?” Hebert asked incredulously.

“You
did
kill people. In fact, you
killed a
lot
of innocent people. The first ones to die were
a mother and her young son.”

“Collateral damage, that’s all.” Hebert
huffed, picking the syringe up again.

***

Marty turned off the siren as they approached
the closed office building that had housed the CDC crew.

“Please stay out here, Christine,” Marty
cautioned.

“I know my way around in there, Marty, and
I’m fairly sure of where Hebert may be keeping him,” Christine
said, following the two officers into the building, their weapons
drawn. She silently headed for Hebert’s office and pointed. Marty
twisted the knob and edged the door open, to find an empty room.
Christine motioned to the door that connected the office to the
lab. Marty again silently opened the door.

“Hold it right there, Doctor. Don’t move!”
Marty commanded, seeing the needle poised above Trevor’s arm.

Dr. Hebert turned in alarm. His face glowed
red from rage and frustration and he ignored the police
warning.

Marty pulled the trigger.

***

“Do you two want to tell me what’s going on?”
Marty asked. The coroner’s wagon pulled away from the building with
the body of the insane CDC doctor zipped into a body bag.

“Remember when we suspected Dr. Hebert of
starting the flu by passing money contaminated with the virus?”
Trevor reminded Marty, and then explained what Trevor had done. “It
was the only way to clear him or to stop him.”

Marty stopped writing. “I don’t think that
part needs to go into the report.”

“I’ll be back in five
days,” John said, holding Allex tight. He didn’t want to leave, not
again, even though he knew it would only be for a few days. She had
taken him back and now he was leaving again.

“You better be!” Allexa replied.

He tossed his overnight bag into the front
seat of the Green Way truck he still had, and headed for Sawyer
Airport and to his daughter’s wedding. Many hours later he was
dropped off at the house she and Trevor would share.

***

“I still think I should get a room somewhere
and let the two of you have the house to yourselves,” John
protested.

“That’s not necessary, John,” Trevor
reassured him. “I already booked us a room at the best hotel in
town for our wedding night.”

“I can accept that,” John smiled. “The
wedding is this afternoon. Having any second thoughts, Trevor?”

“None whatsoever. Christine is a wonderful
person and I feel lucky to be the one she has chosen to settle down
with,” Trevor answered. “On that note, Marty wants me to stay at
his house until the ceremony. He thinks it’s bad luck to see the
bride before the wedding. I think that’s silly, since we’ve been
living together for the last several months. I’m going to humor him
though.” Trevor paused and turned back toward John. “I want to
thank you for being here. It means a great deal to Christine.”

“Hey, she’s my baby girl! I would do anything
for her.”

***

The early summer breezes gently rustled the
edges of the blue and white striped canvas canopy that covered the
tables at the community park, and brought with it the subtle
fragrances of the nearby cherry and apple blossoms. By one o’clock
in the afternoon the temperature had reached a pleasant eighty
degrees and blue skies had replaced the early morning dark rain
clouds.

Marion put the final touches on the flower
arrangements.

“Those are so pretty, Marion,” Janis
said.

“I think I cut every flower I had blooming,”
Marion laughed.

“Those branches on the posts look really
nice. What are they?”

“Cherry blossoms. I just hope Marty doesn’t
say anything about me cutting public property! Christine didn’t
want an altar, but they didn’t say I couldn’t decorate the area,”
Marion said.

“When do you want me to set out the food?”
Janis asked. Marion had been coaching the girl on simple catering,
and she was pleased with how quickly Janis caught on.

“After the ceremony will be soon enough to do
that. For now it’s best the food stay in the coolers. It will only
take a few minutes to put everything out. Janis, you’ve done a
remarkable job with all of this. I’m very proud of you.”

“Thank you, Marion. I’m so happy that
Christine wanted me to help. It makes me feel… like part of a
family again,” Janis said sadly.

***

John drove Christine to the park at precisely
two o’clock. He helped her out of the car and tucked her arm into
his.

“You look dashing in that suit and tie, Dad,
very handsome.”

“And you, baby girl, are stunning!” he said,
kissing her cheek.

Christine wore a long, cream colored dress
and matching shoes. Marion came up to her, gave her a hug, and
pinned a single blue carnation surrounded with baby’s breath
flowers into her short blonde hair. Then she handed her a bouquet
of blue and white mini-carnations tied with cream and blue ribbons,
the same blue that would match Trevor’s tie.

“Oh, Marion, they’re beautiful!”

Marty and Trevor had arrived a few minutes
earlier and were waiting with Seth beside the flowered barrier
posts. John walked his daughter to her future husband, and placed
her hand in Trevor’s.

“You take good care of my baby girl, Trevor,”
John warned him.

“I will, sir.”

Seth began his simple sermon. Partway through
the ceremony, the roar of motorcycles drowned out the minister’s
soft voice, bringing a halt to the proceedings.

A dozen motorcycles stopped on the road
adjacent to the park and the lead biker dismounted. John, Marty,
Trevor, and Marty’s deputy turned as one, handguns drawn. The biker
raised his hands, fingers spread wide in submission, and backed up
to his waiting motorcycle. The gang took off as quickly as they
arrived.

“Now where was I?” Seth said. “Oh, yes, I now
pronounce you husband and wife.” The group of friends showered the
newlyweds with birdseed, while Holly and Dot danced around
them.

Marion and Janis separated from the group and
set out the food. When John saw the various pasta salads, deviled
eggs, bread rolls, and raw vegetables, he was once again reminded
of Allexa, and wondered if it was the right decision to not even
tell her about this wedding.

***

“We haven’t had a chance to talk much since
you got back, Dad,” Christine said, accepting a glass of champagne
from her father. “Did Allex take you back? What gift did you take
her?”

“Yes, she took me back, but she didn’t want
the new car I bought her. You were right, she wanted
me
,”
John said.

Christine grinned. “A new car? Way cool gift,
Dad! And I’m happy she was smart enough to see a good thing when it
was right in her face –
you
!” Christine gave him yet another
hug. She wanted to ask him why he hadn’t brought Allex with him,
but she knew her father to be a very private person and if he
wanted to tell her, he would.

“She eventually accepted the car, though.”
John grinned and sipped his scotch on the rocks. “Christine, when I
go back, I’m going to take her another gift,” he showed her the
emerald and diamond engagement ring he’d bought earlier, “and ask
her to ask her to marry me.”

Christine threw her arms around him and
hugged him again. “I hope she makes you as happy as Trevor makes
me.”

“Marion, the garden is
looking good. I guess. I’m really not sure what to expect,”
Christine said. “I did think we would be getting
something
after two months.”

“Yes, we should. Last time I was here I
noticed some green beans close to picking and that one mature
tomato plant had something ripening. Let’s go take a look. Beans
can sometimes be elusive.”

Marion gently moved the bean plant leaves
aside to find only some fresh blossoms. “That’s odd,” she murmured.
“And where is that tomato I saw?”

“Do you think someone is sneaking in and
picking our vegetables?” Christine questioned. “That would be
really rude. We’re doing all the work!” The two had spent hours
weeding and cultivating every week since they dug up half of the
yard.

***

“I can spare one of the surveillance cameras
from the Exit 31 store, and rig it over the garden,” Trevor
suggested.

“What will we do if we catch someone
stealing?”

“We call Marty. I know it seems minor, but
food is still scarce, and this is still theft and shouldn’t be
tolerated.”