2 Doctors and Devil Bats
We had left Peru around seven in the morning and landed about nine hours later in Texas to refuel at the Dallas Love Field Airport. It was the same airport where we had dropped Taylor and her team off to investigate what had happened to Abi when she had first gone missing.
After we stopped taxiing, Boyd, one of the pilots, walked out into the cabin. “Hey, everyone. We thought you might want to get some lunch while we refuel.”
“You thought right,” Nichelle said. “I’m starving.”
“What time is it?” Quentin asked.
“What day is it?” Tara asked.
“It’s a little after four. About four fifteen.”
“That’s not lunch,” Ostin said.
“Who cares? It’s food,” Nichelle answered.
“I’m up for something,” I said. I turned to Taylor. “Are you hungry?”
She held up a half-eaten bag of pretzels. “I’m hungry for something that doesn’t come in a wrapper or a banana leaf.”
“How long do we have?” I asked Boyd.
“About an hour.” Boyd opened the cabin door, letting in a rush of heat and airport ambience. “Try not to be late.”
Everyone got up except for Cassy.
“I’ll stay here with Cassy,” Ian said.
“I’ll stay with her,” Zeus said. It was the first he had spoken since he’d gotten onto the plane.
“Thank you, but I’m okay,” Cassy said to Zeus. “You should get out with the others. Get some air. You can bring me something back.”
“What do you want?”
“Gummy bears. And whatever you guys end up with.”
“I can do that,” Zeus said. “You’re sure you’re okay here on your own?”
“I’ll be fine. It will be good for you to get out.”
Zeus forced a smile, then headed out with the others. I walked up to Cassy.
“Are you going to be okay here on your own?”
“Yes.” She took my hand. “Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome.”
On the way out, I stopped at Cristiano’s seat. He was still asleep. “Cristiano.”
He didn’t stir.
I shook him. “Cristiano?”
“Qué?” he said, suddenly awake. “Are we there?”
“We’re in Dallas. We’re going into the airport to get something to eat. Do you want to come?”
“Sí.” He unbuckled his seat belt and walked out with Taylor and me.
There were at least a dozen eateries inside the terminal. We stayed together as we walked around trying to decide what to eat. We eventually came to the consensus to have barbecue.
It was comforting to hear English spoken around us. It was even more comforting to eat without a hundred sparrow-sized flies trying to share our meal. Most comforting, though, was knowing that there was no one around who wanted to kill us.
We found two empty tables near the back of the restaurant. I sat near the center of the two tables so I could hear everyone, which wasn’t easy, since seventies music blared over the room’s speakers. KC and the Sunshine Band singing “That’s the Way (I Like It).”
Zeus sat at the end of the table away from us. He looked miserable. As soon as we’d sat, Jack said something I couldn’t hear.
“What?”
He leaned closer. “What’s the plan for when we get home?”
“Maybe we should wait until after we order before we get into that,” Taylor shouted.
“Or until after this song ends,” I said.
“That’s the way, aha, aha, I like it, aha aha…”
As everyone looked over their menu, a waitress walked up to us.
“Will these be on separate tickets?”
“I’ll take care of the check,” I said. “We’re ready to order.”
She pulled out her order book. “All right, let’s do this.”
After she’d left with our orders, Jack asked again, “So what’s the plan for when we get home?”
“We meet with my father and see what Veytric Security can do to help us locate Abi. They have a lot of Peruvian contacts.”
“What did you say?” Nichelle asked. “I can’t hear anything over this music.”
“The music’s too loud,” I said.
“I can’t hear you,” she said. “The music’s too loud!”
“The music’s too loud,” I said again.
“I can’t hear you guys over here,” Tara said.
“I got this,” Quentin said. He reached toward the nearest speaker and pulsed. The music abruptly stopped. The room was like a vacuum in the music’s absence. People were still shouting.
I turned to Quentin. “Did you just take out their sound system?”
“Sort of.”
“What does that mean?”
He grinned. “Yeah, I took it out.”
“Thank you,” Nichelle said. “It was way too loud.”
“We could have just asked them to turn it down,” McKenna said.
“They wouldn’t have been able to hear us ask them,” Quentin said.
Jack said, “So if Veytric knows where she is, then what?”
“We rescue her.”
“That sounds simple,” Tara said.
“It’s never simple,” Taylor said. “Nothing we ever do is simple.”
“No, it’s not,” I said. “Especially if she’s being held by other electrics.”
“I’d like to meet other electrics,” Ostin said. “I’d like to know if they have any genetic aberrations distinguishable from the original mutants.”
“By ‘mutants’ you mean us?” Taylor said.
“Sorry,” Ostin said quickly.
“This isn’t a science experiment,” Nichelle said. “It’s a rescue operation.”
“What if they can’t find her?” Jack asked.
“Then we keep looking,” I said.
“What if she was taken by traffickers?” Ostin said. “And they sold her off to the highest bidder?”
I could see anger cross Jack’s face.
“They’re not traffickers,” I said. “Abi was chosen as a specific target for a specific reason.”
The waitress pulled up a stainless-steel cart with our lunches.
“Real food,” Quentin said. “Finally.”
“What did you get?” I asked.
“Baby back ribs. Same as Ostin, minus the three sides and jalapeño appetizers.”
“How can you eat that much?” Nichelle asked.
“Practice, mostly,” Ostin said. “Plus I’m saving some for the ride home.”
“The whole plane will smell like barbecue,” Nichelle said.
“Is that a problem?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Just then my phone rang. It was my father. “Hey, Dad.”
“Welcome back to the US.”
“Thanks. Who told you we were here?”
“The pilots said you went into the terminal to get something to eat.”
“We needed some real food. I feel like we’ve been hungry for two weeks.”
“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to check on Cassy.”
“She’s stable. We had to move some shrapnel away from her heart. We should take her to the hospital as soon as we land.”
“We’ll have an ambulance waiting,” he said. “We’ll see you in a few hours.” We hung up.
About a half hour later we finished eating, but not before some guys who looked like electricians walked into the back of the restaurant.
“They won’t be able to fix it,” Quentin said. “It’s their own fault. No one should play their music that loud.”
Ostin was still holding a rib as we stood.
“Are you going to finish that before you get on the plane?” Tara asked. “Your hands are sticky.”
McKenna reached into her pocket. “I’ve got some wet wipes.”
“Dude, you ate a lot,” Nichelle said.
“Why am I getting so much grief?” Ostin asked. “We just got out of the jungle. I’m just making up for all those lost meals.”
“In one sitting?”
As I was paying for our meal, the rest of the group started back to the plane. Zeus still seemed to be in a different world. He hadn’t spoken a word in the restaurant and was walking in front of everyone with his head down.
As he walked out of the restaurant, he was slammed into by one of two men who were running down the terminal hall. Both men were large and wore gray Arkansas Razorbacks football team tees. The man who ran into Zeus dropped his carry-on, but Zeus was knocked hard to the tile floor, hitting his head against the restaurant wall as he fell.
“Watch where you’re going, greaseball,” the man snarled as he reached over Zeus to pick up his bag. “Oh, man, this dude stinks like crap.” He added a kick to Zeus’s shin.
Zeus’s eyes flashed as he raised his hand to blast him. Nothing happened. The man looked at him and laughed. “What are you doing, weirdo? Casting a spell on me?”
“He’s using the force,” his friend said.
Zeus looked at Nichelle, who was standing on the other side of the restaurant entryway with the palm of her hand facing toward him. “Let me go!” he shouted at her.
“What a freak,” the first said.
At that, Jack walked up to the man. “Hey, butt face.” He smashed his fist into the guy’s face, knocking him to the ground. His nose looked broken as blood spurted around his face and onto the floor. Jack looked at the other player, who was broader and taller than Jack.
The man quickly raised his hands in surrender. “We’re sorry. It was an accident.”
“Apologize to my friend. Both of you.”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
“We are, sir,” said the other. “Won’t happen again.”
“Now get out of here,” Jack said.
“We’re leaving. C’mon, Jackson. We’re gonna miss our flight.”
The man on the floor got up, holding his nose and looking at Jack with a peculiar expression. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Tyson.” As they hurried away, the man holding his nose said loudly, “How many can say they’ve had their nose broken by Iron Mike?”
“What are they talking about?” Jack asked.
“I made him think you were Mike Tyson,” Tara said.
“I didn’t need your help,” Jack said angrily.
“I know. But it allowed us to end things faster without getting airport security involved.”
Jack reached down to give Zeus a hand up, but Zeus refused it, his gaze set angrily on Nichelle. He lifted himself to his feet. “If you ever do that again, I’ll take you out instead.”
“No, you won’t,” she said calmly.
“Zeus,” I said. “She was only protecting you.”
“Protecting me? By taking away my power?”
“She was protecting you from yourself. Look at how angry you are. You would have electrocuted him. Did you really want to kill someone for being a jerk?”
The madness left his eyes. He breathed out slowly. “No. I don’t.” He turned to Nichelle. “You’re right. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “I know you’re hurting. I didn’t want you to do something you’d regret. I care about you.”
Zeus swept his hair from his face. “I know.”
Nichelle walked over and hugged him, and he rested his head on her shoulder.
“How things have changed,” Taylor said softly.
On the tarmac, Ostin finished the rib he’d been eating. He looked around for a place to throw it.
“Just throw it onto the runway,” Jack said. “It’s biodegradable.”
“Not really. The decomposition process of skeletal remains can take from six to thirty years, depending on the intensity of the surrounding environment. Full decomposition can take more than a century. In fact, the oldest bones ever found were in Ethiopia and are estimated to be more than two hundred thousand—”
“There’s a garbage can over there,” Taylor said, shaking her head. “And please wipe your hands again before you get on the plane. None of us want your sticky paw prints around the cabin.”
McKenna was carrying the food we’d gotten for Cassy. She took it to her.
“How was it?” Cassy asked.
“The food or being back in America?”
Cassy smiled slightly. “Same thing, isn’t it?”
“Mostly. Some guy tried to pick a fight with Zeus.”
“Is the guy still alive?”
“Fortunately. Nichelle stopped Zeus from killing him.”
“I wish I’d been there. I could have helped.”
“You definitely could have helped,” McKenna said. “Jack punched the guy out.” She sat down next to Cassy. “At least the food was good. I brought you some corn bread and a barbecue brisket sandwich with coleslaw. And Zeus got you this.” She took out a bag of gummy bears.
“I’ve been craving those. Would you mind opening them for me?”
“Of course. Remember, you need to stay still.”
“I remember.”
“I’ll heat up your food, if you’d like.”
“Is there a microwave on the…?” She stopped. “Yes, please.”
McKenna opened the Styrofoam container with Cassy’s food and held her hand over it. In just a few seconds the meat was sizzling. “That should be hot enough.”
“Thank you.” Cassy tried to sit up.
“No,” McKenna said. “I’ll help you up.” She gave Cassy her arm. “I’ll do the lifting, okay? Ready?”
“Ready.”
McKenna lifted her up, then lifted the back of the seat to support her. Then she unwrapped the plastic utensils from the sack and gave them to her. “How are you feeling?”
“The area around the stitches is throbbing. I think it’s about time for another pain pill.”
“It’s just too bad Abi isn’t here,” McKenna said, then frowned. “I’m sorry, that didn’t sound right.”
“It’s okay,” Cassy said. “We’re all missing her.” She looked at Jack. “Especially Jack.”
“Do you need anything else?”
“I’m good.”
“Then I’ll go back to Ostin.” She kissed the top of Cassy’s head.
After she left, I crouched down next to Cassy. “My father said he’ll have an ambulance waiting for you at the airport when we land.” I looked at her for a moment, then said, “How are you?”
“I’m in a lot of pain where they sewed me up.”
“I meant your heart.”
Her eyes began to well up. “I’ve almost been glad for the pain. It keeps me distracted.” She shook her head. “Just when I’m starting to get over you and find someone else, he’s taken away.” She wiped her eyes. “That’s pretty much the story of my life.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“He threw his body onto me to protect me. He died saving my life.”
“He was a good man. He was a protector.”
She wiped her eyes again. I hated seeing her in such pain.
“Can I give you a hug?” I asked.
She nodded. “I’d like that.”
“How do I do it without hurting you?”
“You can lean over here.”
I put my arms around her while she cried. A few minutes later I went back to my seat.
Taylor said, “I can’t imagine how I’d feel losing you.” She took my face in her hands and pressed her forehead against mine. “Promise me you won’t ever make me go through that.”
“I promise,” I said. I pulled her into me and just held her for the next hour.
The flight from Dallas to Boise took a little over three hours. Boise is an hour behind Dallas, so it was a little after seven when we landed. No one really talked much. I think everyone just wanted to decompress.
As we taxied to the private terminal, I could see my parents waiting for us on the tarmac, along with Ostin’s and Taylor’s parents and Nichelle’s boyfriend, the dentist. I know he has a name. I just keep forgetting it, and I’m too embarrassed to ask Nichelle what it is. Seriously, I’ve forgotten at least five times. There were three company SUVs, and as my dad had promised there would be, an ambulance was waiting on the tarmac.
As soon as we’d landed and the cabin door was open, the EMTs tried to bring a stretcher up for Cassy, but the stairs were too small and awkward. Finally Jack said, “I’ll just carry her. It will be easier.”
“That should be okay,” Ian said. “Gently.”
Jack carefully put his arms under Cassy and picked her up like a bride. “Is that okay?”
“Yes, thank you,” Cassy said. “It’s nice.”
“Keep a close eye on things,” Jack said to Ian.
“I am.”
Jack carried her down the stairs, where they were met by the EMTs. Jack set her down on their gurney. She winced a little; she was still in a lot of pain. Ian stayed close to her side.
I walked down the jet’s stairs, holding Taylor’s hand, with Cristiano behind us.
“Come with me,” I said to him.
At the bottom of the stairs, I let go of Taylor’s hand, and she ran to her mother. I walked up to my own mother and we hugged. There were tears in her eyes. “You have no idea how happy we are to see you,” she said.
My father said, “We were very worried.”
“Worried?” my mother said. “Terrified.”
My father put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry about Tessa and the others.”
“Me too,” I said. It was all I could get out. I took a deep breath, and after a moment I said, “This is my friend Cristiano. He helped us save Taylor and Jack.”
“Then we’re indebted,” my father said to him. “Do you speak English?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cristiano went to ASU,” I said. “He’s studying medicine.”
“Very impressive,” my father said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for helping us.”
“Your son and his friends helped me escape the Chasqui. I’m also indebted.”
“We had to get him out of Peru. I told him that we’d be able to help him.”
“Of course,” my father said. “We have a lot of resources at our disposal. Whatever you need.”
“Thank you, sir.”
My father turned back to me. “How is everyone else?”
“About as you would expect. We’re all hurting, but Zeus and Jack are taking it the hardest.”
“Poor boys,” my mother said. “… And Cassy?”
“She’s stable. We need to get her to the hospital right away.”
“I’d like to see her before they take her,” my mother said.
The EMTs had Cassy near the back of the ambulance. We walked over to see her.
“Cassy,” my mom said. “How are you feeling?”
“Still alive,” she replied.
My mother took her hand, then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
“The gentleman,” one of the EMTs said, motioning to Ian, “said he’d like to go with us in the ambulance.”
“You should have him with you,” I said. “Ian can see…” I hesitated, unsure of how to explain. “He’s a specialist in this kind of injury.”
“Take him with you,” my father said. When my father spoke with authority, no one questioned him.
“Yes, sir.”
“Which hospital are you going to?” my mother asked.
“We’ll take her to Boise General.”
“No MRI,” Ostin said, overhearing the EMT. “The magnetic resonance could heat up the shrapnel and cause burn damage to the organs. It could even break the machine. Tell the doctors that a CT scan would be more appropriate.”
The EMT looked at him quizzically. “We’ll pass that on.”
“We’ll meet you at the hospital,” my mother said, gently rubbing Cassy’s cheek. “We love you, honey. If you need anything…”
“What I need you can’t give me.”
My mother just frowned. “I’m sorry, dear.”
“We’ll go now,” the EMT said to us. They lifted the gurney up into the back of the ambulance.
Ian climbed in back with the other EMT, and the driver closed the doors, then walked around to the front. He turned on his lights and drove off.
My father said loudly, “As long as we have everyone here, I should make an announcement. May I have your attention?”
Almost no one stopped talking.
Quentin whistled loudly and then shouted, “Hey, listen up. Mr. Vey has something to say.”
“That rhymed,” Nichelle said.
Everyone looked over to Quentin. He smiled. “There you are, Mr. Vey.”
“Thanks, Quentin.” My dad took a deep breath and then said, “Welcome back. There are not words enough to express how grateful we are to see you and how truly sorrowful we are at our losses. You’ve been through a great deal, more danger than we can even imagine. For now, our concern is to get you taken care of.
“We have booked suites for all of you at the Grove Hotel. We thought you might like to stay together for now. If you would prefer to go home, just tell your drivers.”
He motioned to the three black company Suburbans. Each of the uniformed drivers was standing outside the driver’s door. “These cars are here for you. If you would like your driver to stop for dinner, please tell them. You can work it out among yourselves. The drivers each have our company cars, so we’ve got you covered.
“If you just want to go back and take a hot shower and order room service, that would be fine as well. Whatever you need. There’s a full-service spa at the hotel. It’s after hours to book a massage, so we’ve hired masseuses to be on call just for you. If you’d like a massage, just tell your driver and he will arrange it.”
“Thank you,” Quentin said. “That sounds nice.”
He was followed by a chorus of “Thank you.”
“One more thing. We’ll be meeting tomorrow morning in the Veytric building conference room on floor seven. If you don’t remember where that is, it’s just a block west of the hotel. Nine o’clock sharp. That’s floor seven at nine.”
Everyone nodded.
“Mrs. Vey and I are headed over to the hospital to be with Cassy. If any of you want to come by, you’re welcome to join us. I know you are all loyal to a fault, but I doubt Cassy will be able to have visitors, so I recommend that you get some dinner and rest and see her tomorrow.”
“I’m going to the hospital,” I said to my dad.
“Me too,” Taylor said. “After dinner.” She leaned into me. “I told my parents I’d get dinner with them. Would you like to come? It’s just us and Tara. After, we can drive over to the hospital. Tara wants to come too.”
“That sounds good,” I said.
I told my parents, “I’m going to dinner with the Ridleys. Then we’ll meet up with you after. What should we do with Cristiano?”
“I’ll have a driver get him a room at the hotel,” my father said.
“I’ll take care of him,” Jack said.
“Thanks,” I said. “We’ll meet you at the hospital.”
He nodded. “We’ll see you soon.”
Taylor and I walked to her car. Tara and her parents were already inside.
“Michael’s coming too,” Taylor said.
“We were planning on it,” Mrs. Ridley said.
We had dinner at a small Thai restaurant converted from an old home. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded. Still, Mr. Ridley requested a table away from the rest of the diners. After we sat down, a waiter brought over some menus, then took our drink orders.
We looked over our menus for a moment. Then Mrs. Ridley asked, “How is Cassy?”
“I think she’ll be okay after they get the shrapnel out,” I told her. “I don’t know what kind of job the surgeon in Peru did stitching her up, but he seemed competent.”
“How’s her mental state?”
“Worse than her physical state.”
“I think she has survivor’s guilt,” Tara said. “She’s the only one who survived the attack, and that was only because her boyfriend threw his body over her.”
“I didn’t know she had a boyfriend with her,” Mrs. Ridley said.
“It was new,” Taylor said.
“She’s probably suffering from PTSD,” Mr. Ridley said. “What she went through would traumatize anyone. I remember, as a police officer, the first time I saw a dead body.”
Mrs. Ridley touched him on the arm. “Chuck, not during dinner.”
“You’re right. Sorry.”
“What are you going to have?” I asked Taylor.
“The gaeng massaman. How about you?”
“I think the pad thai.”
“The pad thai is really good,” Mrs. Ridley said.
Mr. Ridley said, “Michael, do you have any idea where Abigail is?”
Mrs. Ridley said, “Chuck, please. They need a night of relaxation. Can we not talk about any of this?”
“It’s okay,” I said. “Not really. It hurts knowing Abi’s out there somewhere, alone and afraid.”
“We’ll find her,” Mr. Ridley said, though it sounded like something people say not because they really believe it but because we hate to leave things hopeless.
“I just hope she’s not in Peru,” Taylor said. “I’m sick of Peru.” She turned to me. “Or any jungle. If it is, Michael’s not going.”
Mr. Ridley looked at me with a confused expression. “You’re not going?”
“I never said I’m not going.”
“But he’s not,” Taylor said. “I had a dream about him in the jungle.”
“One of her prophetic dreams,” Tara said. “It wasn’t good.”
Mrs. Ridley asked Taylor, “You have prophetic dreams?”
“I haven’t had one for a while,” Taylor said. “They seem to come during stressful times.”
“You had a bad dream about the jungle?” Mr. Ridley asked.
“A horrible one about Michael.”
Just then the waiter brought over our meals. I was glad. I didn’t really want to talk about the dream again. The pad thai was good like Mrs. Ridley had said, and for a while we all ate in silence, a sign of good food or tired diners. At the end of our meal, we had dessert: fresh mangoes in sweet sticky rice.
As we were finishing, I said, “I think we should probably get over to the hospital.”
“Here,” Mr. Ridley said, handing me his keys. “Take the car. We’ll Uber home.”
“Thanks,” I said. “And thank you for dinner.”
“Our pleasure.”
As we got up to go, Mrs. Ridley said, “Michael.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Thank you for bringing Taylor back safe.”
“I’ll always bring her back,” I said. Sickeningly, my mind went to Tessa’s body in the plane’s cargo hold.
When Taylor, Tara, and I arrived at the hospital, Cassy was still in surgery. My parents were sitting on the couch in the reception room. Ostin, McKenna, Nichelle, and her boyfriend were there as well.
“I thought you’d all be dining somewhere or getting massages,” I said.
“Not with Cassy in here,” Nichelle said. “We just stopped at a drive-through, then came here.”
“How is she?” Taylor asked.
“We haven’t heard anything yet,” my mother said. “It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
My dad said, “You probably didn’t see on the news that a flock of electrified bats infested a port off the coast of Louisiana. They almost burned the city to the ground.”
“Electrified bats?” Nichelle’s boyfriend asked. It might have been the first time I had heard him speak.
“Which port?” Ostin asked.
“Port Fourchon.”
Ostin nodded. “Port Fourchon is a petroleum hub and provides over twenty percent of the US’s oil and gas supply.”
“Apparently the fires still aren’t contained,” my father said. “Some Middle Eastern terrorist groups are claiming responsibility for the attack, but there’s no evidence of that. At first the FBI thought the bats must have been fitted with some kind of incendiary device, but they’ve caught several hundred of them and discovered that the source of the electricity is the bats themselves.
“The news people are calling the bats ‘firebats’ or ‘lightning bats.’ Scientists are flying in from all over the world to study them. Some religions are calling the bats demons from the underworld and saying this is proof of the ‘end of times.’ ”
“The demons are the Chasqui,” I said. “And what’s left of the Elgen.”
“That would make Hatch the devil,” Nichelle said. “That’s about right.”
“I’m sure Hatch is at least keeping the devil company,” Tara said.
Taylor asked, “Does that mean the Chasqui are still operating?”
“No,” I said. “I think we’re just seeing the results of their earlier plans.”
Ostin said, “I think Michael’s right. The Chasqui have been planning their terrorist attacks for years. They had bats in cargo containers all over the world. Something must have accidently released them. To get to Louisiana, those bats would have had to be shipped weeks ago. It might have been a storm, or worker error. Cargo ships lose containers all the time. It’s probably not the last time we hear about something like this.”
“You’re probably right,” my father said.
“Should we contact the authorities?” Tara asked. “Tell them what they’re dealing with?”
“That would be a terrific idea,” Nichelle said. “Let’s also tell them how we know and who we are while we’re at it. Then they can cage us up and study us, too.”
“You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Tara said.
“I have a technical question,” Taylor said. “Is it a flock of bats?”
“ ‘A flock of bats’ isn’t wrong,” Ostin said. “Though, they’re usually referred to as a ‘colony of bats,’ sometimes a ‘camp of bats,’ or even a ‘cloud of bats.’ But my personal favorite is ‘a cauldron of bats.’ ”
“A cauldron of bats?” Nichelle said.
“Whomever made up English grammar had a sense of humor,” Tara said.
“Whoever,” Ostin said.
“So people without humor could police it,” Tara said.
Ostin said, “Bats are in the order Chiroptera, which in Greek means ‘hand-wing.’ In Portuguese they’re called ‘morcego,’ which means ‘blind mouse.’ In German it’s ‘Fledermaus,’ which means ‘flittermouse,’ and in Russian it’s ‘letuchaya mysh,’ which means ‘volatile mouse.’ ”
“His knowledge is truly dizzying,” Taylor said to me.
“So where does the word ‘bat’ come from all of that?” Nichelle’s boyfriend asked, speaking an unprecedented second time.
“From the Middle English ‘bakke,’ which likely comes from the Old Norse ‘leðrblaka,’ which literally means a ‘leather flapper.’ Then ‘bakke’ just kind of combined with the Latin word ‘blatta,’ which means ‘a nocturnal insect like a moth.’ ”
“Where do you store all this stuff?” Tara asked.
“I know,” Nichelle said. “It’s crazy. I’d like to walk through his brain one day.”
“You might never find your way out,” Taylor said.
“Like an Ikea store,” Tara said.
Just then a doctor came out through the emergency room’s double doors. He called, “Is there a Mr. or Mrs. Vey here?”
“That’s us,” my father said.
Taylor and I followed as the doctor led my parents off to the side.
My mother asked, “How is she?”
“We just finished her examination. Her wounds have been properly sutured, as we’d hoped, but we picked up multiple fragments of shrapnel in her body. One of the pieces is dangerously close to her aorta and left ventricle. She’s a lucky woman. Had it been just a quarter inch deeper, she would have suffered massive internal bleeding and bled out within a few minutes.
“We need to remove the shrapnel, but because of its location I’d like to have a cardiologist work on it. In the meantime, she needs to stay down. We have her heavily sedated.”
“When will you operate?” my dad asked.
“Tomorrow morning. Unless, of course, she experiences a complication.” His brow furrowed. “Where did you say she came here from?”
“Peru,” I said.
He shook his head. “It’s really a miracle she’s alive.” He looked at us for a moment, then exhaled. “Unfortunately, there’s more. While we were examining her, the CT scan exposed cancer.”
The word rang through us like a bell.
“How bad is it?” my mother asked.
He slowly shook his head. “It looks like she’s had it for a while. It’s metastasized. We believe the primary cancer site was in her colon, but it’s already spread to her lymph system, liver, lungs, and bones. We would classify it as stage four.”
Taylor gasped softly.
It was as if he had just read Cassy’s death sentence.
“How long does she have to…?” I couldn’t finish.
“I don’t like to think in terms of a specific time frame. Some people show incredible resiliency. But speaking from experience, I’d say no more than a few months. But, again, this is preliminary. We’ve sent samples of her tumors to biopsy. For the time being the shrapnel near her heart is our primary concern.”
“Does she know yet?” my mother asked.
“No. She’s still under anesthesia.”
My mother dabbed a tear from her cheek. “When will you tell her?”
“I’d like to get more information. I don’t think there’s anything to be gained by telling her before her next surgery.”
My father put his arm around my mother.
“I’m sorry to bear such bad news,” the doctor said. “We’ll let you know when the surgery is scheduled.” He started to leave, then stopped. “One more thing.” He leaned closer to us. “That young Black man that came with her, he’s with you?”
“Yes, that’s Ian.”
“I don’t know how he knows what he does, but it’s nothing short of miraculous. He told us exactly where every piece of shrapnel was. It’s almost like he has X-ray vision. We’re all a bit puzzled.”
“He was there when they performed the surgery in Peru,” I said.
“That’s not the only thing he did. He told us that another patient had a blood clot approaching her brain. There’s no way anyone could have known that. He probably saved that woman’s life.”
I said, “Ian has remarkable intuition.”
The doctor seemed skeptical of my explanation. “Whatever he has, I’d love to have him around here.” He let his words settle, then said, “We’ll contact you when we have an exact time for surgery.”
“How long will the surgery take?” my mother asked.
“It always depends, but I’d say three to four hours.”
“Can we see her before surgery?” Taylor asked.
“Like I said, she’s heavily sedated. Let’s just let her get a good rest.”
“All right,” my father said. “You have our number. We’ll wait to hear from you.”
As we walked back to the others, I fought the emotion I felt welling up inside me.
“I can’t believe this,” Taylor said. “She’s already going through so much.”
“Why didn’t Ian see this?” I said. “How could he have missed that?”
“Maybe he knew,” Taylor said.
“Maybe.”
The others walked up to us.
“How is she?” Tara asked.
“For the moment she’s fine,” my father said. “They want to bring in a specialist to remove the shrapnel from around her heart. They plan to operate in the morning.”
“Can we see her?” McKenna asked.
“No, they want us to let her sleep,” my dad said. “You all should do the same. I’m sure you’re all exhausted.”
“Exhausted was last week,” Tara said.
“Go sleep,” he said. “And don’t forget. Veytric conference room, floor seven, nine a.m.”
Taylor didn’t want to talk more, so I drove Tara home and then we drove to my house and parked in the driveway. My parents were already home, and most of the house lights were off. For a moment we just looked into each other’s eyes. Then Taylor said, “I can’t believe Cassy’s dying. After all she just went through.”
“It seems wrong,” I said.
Taylor sighed. “Everything about our life feels wrong right now. It even feels wrong being home in suburbia, like nothing happened. We could be like any other couple just coming home from a vacation.”
I shook my head. “We’re not like other people. We never will be.”
“What if Cassy’s cancer was caused by her electricity? Does that mean we’re all going to die young?” She grimaced. “Hatch used to tell us that.”
“There’s no reason to believe that. Besides, Hatch lied about everything.”
Taylor said, “How many more times do you think we’ll be lucky?”
“Lucky?”
“Come back alive.”
I put my arm around her. “Hopefully at least one more time.”
“You’re talking about saving Abi.”
“Yeah.”
“Who do you think took her?”
“I think it’s someone we’ve never encountered before.”
We were both quiet a moment more. Then Taylor said, “How about we pretend that none of this is real and we just got back from dinner and a movie?”
“I can do that.” We kissed for more than ten minutes. It felt nice.
When we finally parted, Taylor said softly, “Me too.”
I was used to her responding to things I never actually said out loud. I sometimes wondered if she even noticed anymore that she was doing it. Not that any special power was needed to discern our feelings right now. There was no doubt how much we loved each other. After all we’d been through together, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not have her. I hoped I would never find out.