Wilclass="underline"
I was put in quarantine, drugged, smuggled to Prague, and held against my will in some kind of hospital. but not a real hospital, more like research lab. they locked me in a room, did tests on me, injected me with things. the past five months of my life have been a nightmare, but last night I escaped.
Julie:
i don’t have time for this crap
She didn’t believe him! Desperation flooded his mind, and he assaulted the keyboard with a barrage of keystrokes.
Wilclass="underline"
EVERYTHING I’M TELLING YOU IS TRUE! I’m in Prague, with no fucking money, wearing somebody else’s clothes, and the two kids who shared a room with me at a youth hostel last night are infected and are probably dying right now. I’m running out of time. I know this sounds crazy, but I need help and you’re the only person in the world I can trust. PLEASE JULIE…
Another pregnant pause tormented him until at last she replied.
Julie:
okay, you’ve got my attention.
Julie:
do you have money for a train pass?
Wilclass="underline"
the train is not an option. they’re looking for me and I don’t have a passport
Julie:
ok. vienna is less than 300km from prague. i’ll drive there and pick you up later tonight.
Wilclass="underline"
you are a goddess! when and where should i meet you?
Julie:
2AM at the astronomical clock in the center of town. it’s a famous landmark. ask any local about the “Orloj” and they’ll point you in the right direction.
Wilclass="underline"
okay. I’ll find it. but I need to tell you something else. when I was in quarantine the doctors told me i was infected. i think they were lying, but i don’t know for sure. i might be contagious. i might be a walking biohazard!
Julie:
what are you talking about?
Wilclass="underline"
i’ve been in quarantine for the past five months. u know the kind with men in yellow bubble suits who talk with Darth Vader voices.
Julie:
sounds to me like you have the flu and a very high fever which is making you delusional.
Wilclass="underline"
i’m a basket case, not a mental case… i’m serious about this. i have no idea what they’ve done to me. what if i infect you?
Julie:
how can I help u if I can’t get near u. do you want my help or not?
Wilclass="underline"
yes, but i wanted to warn u first.
Julie:
i’ll try to round up a N95 surgical mask for you to wear. Just try not to bleed on anyone in the meantime. now tell me about your symptoms so i can do a little research before I come.
He rubbed his temples. The itchy maroon scarf was still wrapped around his face, and the stench of his own breath was beginning to make him sick. He hadn’t showered or brushed his teeth in days. If Julie did actually come to get him, he could clean himself up. Eat real food. Drink a beer. Thinking about this made his mouth begin to water.
Wilclass="underline"
right now, my symptoms are gone — i’ll explain that later, but the frat boys had stomach pain, fever, tons of mucus, and then it seemed to be spreading to their lungs. in quarantine, some of the other patients i caught glimpses of were actually coughing up blood. also, some of them had gross purple bumps on their necks and
He stopped typing. Something had changed. He could feel the weight of another person’s gaze on him. He glanced at the front desk. The attendant, a young Czech girl, was pointing at him and talking to a man dressed in a collared shirt, black pants and gray trench coat. The man’s lips curled into a thin, malevolent smile — a wolf’s grin that made Will blanch.
Wilclass="underline"
LOG OFF RIGHT NOW!
Julie:
What’s going on?
Julie:
Will?
Will!
Chapter Seven
AJ Archer glanced up at Thomas Ball’s statue of General George Washington, seated majestically atop a prancing steed. It was a grand equestrian statue, twenty feet tall and oriented to make an impressionable greeting to all visitors of the Boston Public Garden entering through the Arlington gate. For a late April morning, the temperature was unusually temperate. The morning sun had already knocked the previous night’s chill from the air, and some of the park’s joggers were even wearing shorts. He skirted around the left side of the statue and selected a path toward the “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture where he was supposed to meet Briggs. A striking woman wearing a black pantsuit and a white silk blouse caught his attention. As she strode toward him, she flashed him a smile and then shyly averted her eyes. His gaze drifted from her eyes downward. Her liberally unbuttoned blouse flicked open in the breeze, offering him a fleeting glimpse of her ample cleavage.
The force of the collision spun him halfway around. Unable to catch his balance, he tumbled to the ground and felt another body come down on top of him. When he opened his eyes a large embroidered “B” filled his field of vision. A man sporting a navy blue Red Sox cap and wearing a backpack was splayed out on top of him, flailing about like an overturned beetle trying to right itself.
“I’m so sorry, bro,” the man said as he untangled himself from AJ. “I totally wasn’t looking where I was going.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said through clenched teeth. His left side ached where he had fallen; he was surprised he hadn’t cracked a rib. Before getting up, he glanced down the sidewalk in an attempt to catch one more glimpse of the raven-haired beauty in the white blouse. He spotted her just as she rounded a bend and was sure he glimpsed a smile. She had seen it all. No doubt this kind of thing happened to her all the time.
“Did you see the pair on that chick?” the guy in the Red Sox cap said, looking in the same direction as AJ.
AJ grunted as he got up. “See them? How could I miss them? They’re the reason I ran into you.”
“They don’t call them knockers for nothing, I guess,” laughed the man in the Red Sox cap.
AJ gathered himself and looked at his watch, 08:04 AM.
“Shit! I’m late.”
He took off running north along the lagoon, ignoring the curious glances as he dodged left and right between morning commuters. As he approached the “Make Way for Ducklings” sculpture, he scanned the area for Briggs, but he didn’t recognize anyone resembling the recruiter he’d met the day before. He sighed in relief and shuffled over to the bronze casting of a mother duck with her ducklings in trail — frozen forever in mid-waddle.