The Armageddon Strain: Book Two of The Laodicea Chronicles by Sharon K. Gilbert

Author:Sharon K. Gilbert [Gilbert, Sharon K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose Avenue Fiction
Published: 2024-08-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Pip had been listening to Daniel argue with Charlie Down for almost an hour. Standing up, she stretched her long body, inherited from her tall Scandinavian father, and walked to the dirty window that faced the only real street in Los Muertos.

“I can’t believe you’re fighting me on this, Charlie! What if those kids died of this new disease the CDC is warning us all about? All physicians in the four-state area have been ordered, that’s ordered, Charlie, to report any cases that look like they might be viral. Charlie, think of the town for God’s sake!”

Down leaned back in his leather chair, his scuffed boots crossed on the edge of the desk. “I am thinking of the town, Tohe. I can’t just let you cut open bodies without a good reason. Those kids, rest their souls, are gone, and carving them up like turkeys isn’t going to bring them back. You know as well as me the body is sacred in our culture, that it’s part of the person in the afterlife. Do you want those kids going on with scarred bodies?”

Tohe slammed the walnut desk with both hands, sending dust flying off Down’s boots. “That’s bull, and you know it! Charlie Down, you don’t believe in those old woman rituals and rules. Next, you’ll be telling me that Meektay is right! That the gods are angry, and they’ve put a curse on us.”

“Maybe they have,” the sheriff said, opening up a pack of Laramie cigarettes and lighting up. “You tell me how your way makes more sense.”

“My way? Good heavens, I’m gone for a week, and it’s like someone’s brainwashed you. Charlie, the rest of the Ibanez family has disappeared. There’s no one to complain, so let me autopsy the two children. If they didn’t die of a viral agent, then I’ll keep quiet from now on, ok?”

Down inhaled the smoke, closing his eyes. “Ok,” he said, blowing a thick gray cloud toward Tohe. “I’ll exhume the bodies. You have one day, after that they go back into the ground. No extensions.”

“Fair enough. Thanks, Charlie.”

The doctor turned to leave, but Down jumped up and put a hand on his wrist. “Watch what you do, Tohe. Meektay may be a crackpot to you, but some of us are beginning to think he may be right. Consider this a friendly warning.”

Daniel pulled away, rubbing his wrist. “Thanks for letting me know where you stand, Sheriff. I’ll definitely keep it in mind,” he said as he and Pippa left.

Alone again, Charlie Down picked up the telephone and dialed a series of numbers. He waited a moment, listened, and stubbed out his cigarette. “Yeah, it’s Down. Let me talk to Grayson.”

“So what do we do now?” Popeye asked, wiping pizza sauce from his mouth.

Maggie started to answer, but her cell phone chose that moment to jingle. “I’d better get this. It might be campus police.” She flipped her phone open and put it to her right ear. “This is Maggie Taylor. Oh, uh, hi, Hank.

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