Unfinished Business by Tim Susman

Author:Tim Susman [Susman, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 24 Carat Words

7

Exigent Circumstances

“Of course we should hurry,” I said. “This was about an hour ago, so she has anywhere between zero and a couple hundred minutes left.”

“If you’re right.”

“She was sweating so much. I was running for my life and I wasn’t sweating that much. But yeah, fine. Sergei!” The bear turned to me. “Go find Desiree. If she’s suffering from K-118, she’ll be…” The people on the bus looked up at me, sweating, bodies jerking. “Agitated, clutching her chest maybe, breathing hard. She might look like she’s having a seizure. They had convulsions in the last fifteen-twenty minutes.”

He nodded quickly and then disappeared. Czoltan waited a moment and then descended the stairs to the other side of the kitchen from me. “So you think her husband used this extremely rare bioweapon on his wife, why exactly? As punishment for cheating?”

“I think he wanted to kill her so they could be ghosts together,” I said. “Or something like that. He’s a ghost so his actions are driven almost entirely by emotion rather than reason.”

“All right.” Czoltan rubbed his muzzle. “And if it is that, then what’s the cure?”

“There’s—one cure.” He raised an eyebrow, so I took a breath and told him. “It doesn’t work on werewolves. Metabolism’s too different. So if she gets bitten…”

“Whoa, wait,” the wolf said. He held his paws up. “There’s—that’s so illegal.”

“Not in the case where the person’s life is in danger and the change could save her.” I got up. “Do you still keep the wolfsbane…” I opened the cabinet over the sink and got up on the counter to reach into the top shelf.

“Hey!” Czoltan hurried over to push me away, but I’d already found the small metal tin. “That’s—my roommate must have—”

“Doesn’t matter.” I slid off the counter and pressed the box into his paw. “This will save a life.”

“Look.” He weighed the tin. “They’re not going to believe me either.”

“I’ll go with you. I can explain it all.”

“Aren’t you hiding here because people want to shoot you?”

“Yes, and how would I feel if Desiree died because I played it safe?”

Czoltan shook his head. “There’s playing it safe and then there’s being an idiot and getting yourself killed.”

“Hold on. Do you know Galen?” He shook his head slowly. “What about—Sergei, did we ever get the name of that other officer, the woman?”

“No.”

“I have one friend who’s a warrant officer,” Czoltan said. “Or, not a friend really, but at least he knows me.”

“Call him,” I said. “Have him look up the warrant so he can see you’re listed as a victim. Then he’ll know it’s fake. Maybe he can—I don’t know, send something out or something so Galen will know not to shoot me.”

Jae, Sergei said. I have found them. Desiree is not well. He showed me Desiree, sitting on the sidewalk, dripping sweat and panting. Galen stood over her with a paw on her shoulder and his helpless terror ripped at my heart.

“Shit,” I said aloud. “Sergei says Desiree looks really bad. She’s not convulsing yet though.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.