Seliah scrolled down and pointed to the screen. "See, Sean? Right here, now, listen-this doctor, Rodney Willoughby, after Jeanna got diagnosed, he thought up this experimental way to treat her. She was going to die, right, so he had to come up with something fast. He knew that rabies viruses get into your nerve cells and go straight up the body into the brain. They crave the brain. The virus is shaped like a bullet and each one has four hundred spikes that help them penetrate the host cells. They go cell to cell. It's called 'viral budding. ' They force their way up the central nervous system and into the brain; then they replicate like crazy. The virus causes paralysis that leads to asphyxiation. That's what kills you. The paralysis starts in your feet and works its way up until you can't breathe. But guess what? Dr. Willoughby also knew that autopsies of human rabies victims showed hardly any brain damage-the whole viral brain invasion didn't really damage the brain cells themselves; it simply caused them to give off fatal commands to paralyze. So he thought, what if you could protect the body against the viral paralysis by knocking the brain unconscious? Would an unconscious victim be less susceptible to the deadly commands of the virus? Could the person simply 'sleep through it'? And, if so, and if this allowed the victim to survive for just a few more days, then the immune system could fight the virus off. Because once in the brain, the virus has almost completed its life cycle. If you can just hang on for a few more days, you can beat it. And it worked! It worked for that girl and it can work for us."
Ozburn continued to look at the screen and massage Seliah's neck and shoulders. "We don't have the virus, Sel."
Her muscles tightened and her tone of voice changed. "What the hell do we have, then?"
"I've had a nervous breakdown from fifteen months of dealing with the scum of the earth. You've had one from fifteen months of dealing with me."
"Bullshit. Wise up. I know about it. We've got the symptoms. The fever and chills. The revulsion to water and light. The aches and pains and throat spasms. The agitation and insomnia and strength. The crazy sex. One guy in the literature went thirty-six hours straight! Biting, growling, anger. Even the aversion to our own reflections-that's a classic symptom. Back in the old days, it was a test for rabies-if you could look at yourself in a mirror, then you didn't have it."
"Then watch this," he said.
Ozburn set his sunglasses on the table, then walked over and pulled open the curtains to let the late-afternoon sun rush through the sliding glass doors. He looked out to the bright Pacific and though his eyes ached at the brightness of it he did not look away. In the living room he pulled the beach towel off the mirror. The mirror was framed in stamped aluminum that caught the onrushing sunlight. Ozburn stood before the glass and looked at himself. The light scorched his eyes but he willed them to stay open and to stay focused on himself. In his reflection he saw almost nothing he understood or even recognized but he kept staring hard and true into his own vast absence. It was like being burned alive.
"I'm doing it," he said.
"Oh, baby. Look at your tears."
"I'm looking at my reflection."
"You sure are."
He was aware of her getting up from the dinette table, felt the thump of her bare heels on the pavers. In the mirror he watched her wedge between his body and one arm. Her platinum hair shone against his black vest and she faced the glass bravely. She squinted, her eyes almost shut, her fair face wrinkled with the effort and the pain.
"Me, too!"
"You, too, Sel. See? We don't have no stinking rabies. Look at us. We can do it. We're going to be okay."
Their faces were wet ghosts in the glass. He watched Seliah reach up with her hand and wipe her mouth.
"We've got it and I know it. I'm going back, Sean. I'm going to get the protocol. You have to come with me or you'll die down here. I didn't come here for me. I came here to get you."
"I'm here because this is where I'm needed."
"Because some drunk priest tells you so?"
"Joe has nothing to do with this. No more than he caused what's ailing us. See? We're looking at our reflections."
"I can't look anymore. My eyes are on fire."
Ozburn moved between Seliah and the mirror and gathered her close in his arms. Her body was hot through the cobalt satin and he could feel her strength. Their mouths found each other and Ozburn untied her robe and pushed it away and it dropped in a soft rush. He lifted her up firmly so as not to break the kiss and carried her into the bedroom.
He laid her on the bed and straddled her and whispered into her ear. "If I make love to you long enough, you won't have the strength to leave."
"I'm ready. I'm eager. Then I'm leaving." Twenty hours and eleven orgasms later Ozburn lay exhausted, watching Seliah pack the last of her things. She was just out of the shower and she moved with grim purpose.
Ozburn worked himself out of bed and slipped on his jeans. It was noon. Almost an entire day had gone by and they had barely left the bed. His feet were numb and his legs were weak and his cock ached and was filling with blood again. Out in the living room he dug into his duffel and pulled out the cash and counted out ten grand. This he folded neatly and stuffed down into Seliah's purse.
Daisy trotted from the bedroom like an impresario, followed by Seliah, rolling the suitcase behind her.
She let go of the handle and walked up to her husband and took his hands in hers. "I love you more than anything on earth. In the name of that love, come with me. You'll be dead in a week if you don't."
"I can't."
"You're choosing loneliness and death over life and me."
"They'll lock me up, Sel. You know that. It would be worse than being dead, sitting in a cell and wondering where you were and what you were doing. Don't ask me to do that."
"Charlie says maybe we can work something out."
"Charlie says whatever you want to hear."
"Father Joe Leftwich is not your friend."
No matter how hard Ozburn tried, he still could not see one reason why Joe Leftwich of Dublin, Ireland, would do such a thing. No reason at all. But Seliah had until now been a wise and loyal wife and he owed her allegiance and respect even when they saw things differently.
"I'll get to the bottom of little Joe," he said.
"It will be too late."
"It must be done, Seliah."
She put her face up to his ear and whispered, "Forget him. All you have to do is get dressed, pack that duffel and get in the car. I'll drive. Daisy can have the whole backseat. We'll be in the hospital in Orange by midafternoon. But maybe we can stop off home for a not-so-quickie. Leave Daisy and get one of the neighbors to feed and walk her."
"I love you and I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for everything, Sel. I don't know how to even begin an explanation."
"Good-bye, then."
"Good-bye."
"I didn't think they could ever bring us down."
"Who's they?"
"I don't know," said Seliah. "The whole world? ATF? Father Joe? Charlie? I know there's more to this than you and me. You and I were just fine, weren't we?"
"More than."