Dead Time Read online

  I take a deep breath, trying to put all the pieces together.

  “You know I’m right, buddy.” He gives me that condescending nod of his.

  “Okay,” I finally say, too beat down to continue fighting with him. “You’re right.”

  “I knew you’d see it my way.” He pats me on the shoulder like he’s my dad. “Promise me you won’t go running off after Shannon, and I’ll persuade Bella to call off the dogs—get her to stop serving you that green crap.” He nods at the breakfast tray. “God Almighty, even the pigs won’t eat that shit.”

  “Sure,” I say.

  “Good man.”

  “Who’s Bella?”

  “She’s the woman I was telling you about—James’s wife. Like I said, the three of us were real close.” He scans my face, looking for what, I don’t know. “I married Bella a few years after he died.”

  Bella. Isabella. Oh my God. It is her—and she’s married to Dave Kirk!

  He rubs one eyebrow. “I was told you two already met—when my men brought you in.”

  “Sort of,” I say, my thoughts racing. “She must have assumed I was James too—and she wasn’t particularly happy to see him.”

  “Can’t blame her for that. His death was pretty rough on her. And I think she blamed him for their son’s death too—but it’s not like he would have driven their car off a bridge on purpose, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Right.”

  He stands up. “Why don’t you join us for supper this evening? Straighten things out?” He glances at my clothes. “I’ll have somebody drop off a suit and tie. How does seven-thirty sound?”

  Suit and tie?

  “Uh, fine, thanks. But I have one more question—a favor actually.”

  “Shoot.”

  “Is there any way I can talk to Lani, explain what happened—maybe try to apologize?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I’d appreciate it.”

  He walks to the door and then turns back, half smiling. “So, do you remember anything? I mean, from before you fell out of that tree?”

  I shake my head. “Sorry.”

  He nods and turns away, letting the door swing shut—and I hear him mumble to himself, “Probably best if it stays that way.”

  6

  Dead Wrong

  Lani

  I place the radio headphones over my ears and shut my eyes, determined not to cry.

  “I’m sorry,” he says, the sound of his voice tearing me up inside. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about Shannon.”

  I sit there, staring at the illuminated connection light, unable to move or speak.

  “If I’d known,” he says, “what was going to happen at the Lou—and Catersville—I never would have taken her. Everyone says it was a freak combination of bad luck and ill timing, but I take full responsibility for what happened. I made a terrible mistake.”

  I focus on my breathing, knowing that any words I say will be bent and torn by my stuttering.

  He waits for me to speak, and when I don’t he continues. “It was stupid of me, Lani. I shouldn’t have assumed I knew what was best for Shannon. I’m sorry. I was an idiot. Can you forgive me?”

  He remains silent for ten long seconds.

  “Christ, Lani, say something.”

  I suck in a breath of air that seems too thin to sustain me. “How are you going to get her out of that hellhole, Nadales?”

  “Well…” I hear him swallow. “Dave is working night and day to get her back. He’s attempting to negotiate with Catersville right now.” More silence. “And if that doesn’t work, he’s got a plan to send a team of hotshots in to get Shannon out—”

  “I already t-talked to David,” I say. “He called me the minute they spied your plane and again when Madders told him what had happened to Shannon.”

  “Ah. Right.” He exhales. “So you know we’re going to get her out of there.”

  “Are you going with them?”

  “Mierda, Lani, I’m not much of a military man, and they need me here at the lab. Everyone involved thought it would be best if I stay put and—”

  I let my anger strike like a coiled snake. “I don’t c-care what the kahuna ‘everyone involved’ thinks, Nadales. ‘Everyone involved’ isn’t responsible for getting my one and only d-daughter kidnapped by a bunch of religious lunatics who intend to rape her until she dies in childbirth or can no longer produce offspring.”

  I hear his sharp intake of breath.

  “And now you’re t-telling me that the most important thing you can do is lounge around the hospital cafeteria waiting for some intern to draw your blood while Shannon rots in a prison full of sexual predators? For Christ’s sake, Diego, you’re immune. Why didn’t you do something?”

  The silence is oppressive.

  “I’m sorry, Lani. I fucked up. I don’t know what else to say.”

  “Yeah, I got it. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to hang around and listen to you soothe your guilty conscience. My daughter’s in mortal peril, and I’ve got a biodome full of panicked people trying to survive the next storm. It’s been nice chatting with you.”

  “Lani, wait! What happened?”

  “A section of the wall collapsed, but ‘everyone involved’ thinks it’s not your worry. So why don’t you toddle back to your coffee and donuts and stop wasting my time?”

  “Was anyone hurt? Are you okay?”

  “What the fuck do you care?”

  He doesn’t respond.

  “And in case I’m not being perfectly clear, I don’t want to hear your voice or see your face until I have my daughter back. And if those perverts have done anything to hurt her, Nadales, anything...” I take a slow, angry breath. “I’ll fucking kill you.”

  I slam my fist down on the disconnect button—and then sit there and cry.

  There’s a knock on the door, and Jack the radio operator peeks in. “Madders just landed.”

  I nod and head over to the main airlock.

  I stare out at the empty sky, unable to believe how much my life has changed in a handful of days. When Madders makes his way inside, he drops his stuff and pulls me into a bear hug.

  “I feel terrible about what happened to Shannon, Lani. I’m so sorry.”

  I blink back tears. “I never should have let her go. I should have insisted that she stay here and…” The floodgates burst, and I sob against his chest. “Oh, Madders, I can’t believe my baby’s gone.”

  “We’re going to get her back, Lani. David’s a smart, resourceful man, and he’ll come up with a way to get her out of there. But you have to give him a little time. What with the Lou failing, the Catersville fiasco, and the Bub on the edge of failure, he’s up to his eyeballs in emergencies.”

  He rubs my back, waiting for me to regain control, and then we go to collect his luggage. “Speaking of which, how is the repair effort coming along?”

  “We started a couple of days ago,” I say, “following the plans that David sent. The work requires cannibalizing pieces of the inner wall from the storage area. We reinforced it after the bomb, and we’re using an extra piece from there to cover the hole.”

  “Yes,” he says. “That’s a good idea. Did it work?”

  “Last I heard they were attempting to move the wall section into place and seal the edges.”

  “Good,” he says. “Once they finish with that, we’ll need to weld the struts that Kirk sent to reinforce things a bit.” He glances out the window. “How long do we have?”

  “Seattle says they can see a storm brewing over the Pacific. Probably be here in a week or so.”

  “Has the council come up with an evacuation plan?”

  I look over at him, knowing that the chances of us making it to Salt Lake City are laughable. “They want us to take a thousand kilometer trek over some of the world’s highest mountains.”

  “Bloody hell. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  I put my hand on his arm, unable to wait any long
er. “Madders, I need your help.”

  “Of course, Lani. What is it?”

  “I need you to fly me to Catersville. Help me get Shannon out.”

  He frowns. “But—”

  I put up my hands. “Please. Hear me out. David helped build Catersville, and he knows it like the back of his hand. There must be some way to get in.”

  “Of course there is,” Madders says. “Kirk had emergency airlocks built into all the biodomes. But you won’t be able to sneak in. They’re not connected to the biodome’s electrical grid, but they are linked into the Breach Alert System. If someone opens the airlock, it’s gonna show up on the monitors in big, colored lights.”

  “Not if they don’t have access to the control center. I dug up an old satellite photo of Catersville taken right after the explosion. David says it’s in that sector. If he’s right, they won’t have any idea we’re there.”

  He rubs his chin with his hand. “I imagine it could be done.”

  “And we could take some meds to barter with,” I say, “in case we get caught.”

  He exhales. “You know I’d do anything to get her back, Lani, but even if we could get in and find her and bring her back out, we’d be stuck there with no fuel for the plane. If you’re counting on Catersville filling us up, I don’t think—”

  “I’m not. We can land at the Lou. I talked to Shelly, and there’s a crew there now rebuilding the generator. They have a small section pressurized, and they’re flying supplies in from Omaha. Shelly says they’ll trade us fuel for medical supplies. We could fill up the plane at the Lou and then fly to Catersville and back on a single tank.”

  He closes his eyes, his lips moving as he does the calculations in his head. “I imagine it’s possible—but it’s a big ask, Lani. We won’t be able to get inside without setting off alarms, and we already know they have lots of firepower. The fuel will be tight, and whether landing the plane close enough is even feasible—”

  “Don’t lecture me,” I say. “I know it’s going to be hard. Will you help me or not?”

  He takes a deep breath, rubbing his hand across his face. “Give me a chance to unload the plane and check on the repair. We can go over your plans this evening, and if everything checks out, we’ll leave as soon as the wall is fixed, okay?”

  I throw my arms around his neck, tears streaming down my face again. “Thank you.”

  He puts his hands on my shoulders and steps back. “Can you hear that?”

  I listen for a moment and then nod, my chest getting tight. “Yes. It sounds like the groan steel makes when it’s bending.”

  There’s a loud screech of metal on metal, and the biodome shudders. A thin cloud of dust falls from the ceiling.

  And then someone screams.

  “Oh, bloody hell.” Madders lets go of me right as Shannon’s best friend, Mindy, comes racing around the radio building.

  “There’s been an accident!” she says, breathing hard. “In the construction area. They need a doctor!”

  “What happened?” I ask as we rush back the way she came.

  “I was babysitting some D-2s when that piece of wall they’re trying to install fell on the crew. My dad’s under the rubble!”

  “Grab my bag from the clinic,” I say to Mindy. “And have Lucy and Becky meet me there.”

  She nods.

  “Go, go!”

  She takes off running.

  By the time we get to the construction site, the crew has managed to pry up the fallen section of the wall. Underneath are three unlucky men. Two of them are torn up pretty badly, but don’t appear to have any broken bones. The third man is Mindy’s father, Jack—our radio operator. His leg is crushed, and he’s lost a lot of blood. His pupils aren’t responding, and I think he may have broken his back in the fall. Thankfully, he’s still breathing.

  I have Lucy and Becky attend to the first two while I try to stabilize Jack.

  There’s a loud groaning sound above us, and I look up. The emergency patch they put up a few days ago is tearing loose.

  It takes only a glance at Madders to see how dangerous that is.

  “Everyone put on a mask!” he shouts and then turns to the crew leader. “Get everyone out of here as quickly as possible.” He grabs one of the council members. “Go increase the air pressure to the max and start the sequence to seal off this sector of the bubble. Hurry.”

  “Are you sure?” The frightened woman’s eyes are huge. “If we do that, we’ll lose access to the filtration system and the communications center.”

  “Better than having the whole damn fishbowl contaminated. Send anyone you can spare to move the radio equipment out, and have someone set the filtration system to automatic.”

  As she scurries off, Madders turns back to the assembled crowd. “Get those damn masks on now! This is not a drill. If you are not helping here, get to the communications room immediately.”

  He looks down at me. “Can you get these blokes out of here without me?”

  Jack moans as I work to stem the blood flow in his crushed leg. “Yes.”

  “Okay. I’m gonna see if I can reattach that patch.” Someone hands him a rebreather and he puts it on. “Get your mask on now, Doc.”

  I nod and take the mask Shannon made for me off my belt. “Be careful!” I call out.

  “Always am.” He takes a couple of the repair crew and hurries off.

  I send two women to get a backboard from the pool. “Put those masks on now!” I yell after them.

  I fit my mask onto Jack, securing it the best I can without moving his neck. Then I take a moment to search through the debris until I find the mask he was carrying on his belt. I put it on, wishing I had told Shannon how proud I am of her, wishing she could see how many lives her rebreathers might end up saving—wishing she were still here with me.

  I hope you’re okay, baby. I love you.

  I see Lucy and Becky head for the clinic with their charges.

  Good.

  I glance down at Mindy’s dad. “Don’t die on me, Jack.”

  I flag down four D-1s who have been through a training rotation at the clinic and quickly check that their masks are on properly.

  “We need to get him out of here as quickly as possible,” I tell them, “but if his back is broken, any twisting movement to his spine will paralyze him for life. I need you to make sure his neck doesn’t move while I get him stabilized. Okay, folks?”

  The D-1s nod, their eyes wide.

  “Once the backboard arrives,” I say, “we’ll lift him onto it and get him to the infirmary.”

  “Is he going to make it?” Mindy asks, her face pale.

  “Yes,” I say, determined to make it so.

  We hear the announcement to put on a mask and exit the sector immediately, and a moment later, the wooden backboard arrives.

  Just as the huge bulkhead door behind me clangs shut, I hear a desperate yelp from Madders.

  “Shite!”

  I glance up as the patch swings away from the exterior wall of the biodome, exposing a small sliver of deadly blue sky.

  For the first time in twenty years, I can feel a soft breeze blowing against my skin—and then the breach alarm goes off.

  I hope to hell they got all the bulkheads closed in time.

  Those of us left in the contaminated room turn and look at each other. The faces staring back at me are frightened and silent, some of them Outside for the first time in their lives.

  Counting the injured man, there are ten of us, all with Shannon’s re-engineered masks on, and all still breathing.

  I turn back to the D-1s, attempting to keep my voice level. “Keep your masks on and make sure that Jack’s doesn’t slip off. On three, help me lift him onto the board.”

  “We’re ready.” Mindy’s hands are shaking, but her movements are calm and controlled.

  “We’re all going to be fine,” I say. “We’ll go out through the airlock in the storage area and get back inside through the main entrance.”


  Their heads bob again.

  “One, two, three.”

  We manage to get him on the backboard without mishap, and a second later, Madders joins us, a nasty gash on his arm. I stare at the bright red blood, suddenly worried that the biotoxin will enter through the wound and kill him—even though I know the virus is airborne and can’t survive in the alkaline environment of blood.

  He shakes his head, reading my mind. “I’m fine, Doc. Let’s get Jack to the clinic.”

  All eight of us lift the backboard and carry the man through the evacuated section of the bubble. As we pass the open doors of the communications room, I notice a body slumped on the floor in a puddle of frothy bile and blood. The sight brings back horrible memories, and I fight down the urge to panic.

  Madders takes a closer look inside the room and then comes out with an armful of cables. He closes the doors. “It’s too late. He should have heeded the warnings to use a mask.”

  We pass two more lifeless bodies in pools of vomit and blood. “Keep your eyes on the patient,” I say using my doctor voice, “and avoid any abrupt movements. Saving this man’s life is our priority here.”

  We carry the wounded man out through the open airlock and into the bright sunshine. I can hear sobs coming from the D-1s—and some of the adults too.

  A minute later, we step inside the main airlock and press the Emergency Cycle button. As the outer door slides shut, I turn toward Madders, and he lets out a startled gasp.

  “Are you okay?” he asks, his eyes wide.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I say, wondering why he looks so frightened.

  “Your mask is broken,” he says and brings his hand up to my faceplate. “You’ve been exposed to the virus.”

  “What?” I run my fingers across the fractured plastic. The gash in the faceplate is wide enough to get my pinky through. I stand there for a moment, waiting for the convulsions to start.

  But nothing happens—except my mask fogs up from my panicked breathing.