Author’s note:
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel, Oasis. As it ends up, getting to see the boss is pretty easy when you’re willing to assault someone. At least, that’s how it worked out for us.
Thanks be to DarcKnyt for his edits last time, and to Maelstrom, Tyler, Chad, Major, Jordan and Mal for stopping by to say hi. If it weren’t for you folk, I probably would have stopped writing this stuff a long time ago.
Chapter 33 – The Wrong Side of the Bed
Another pounding on the door.
When you’ve had time to wake up and get your head screwed on straight you tend to make better decisions. I didn’t have the luxury of thinking the situation through. All I know is that I wasn’t thinking, I was reacting.
In fact, my whole body shook with rage. My blood boiled and my face and neck tensed. Can’t believe I fell for that. I rushed to the door, tore it open and before I could even process who it was, I swung at the person behind it.
A meaty hand deflected my punch. “What the hell…”
I stumbled off balance into the hallway and growled.
The man stepped back and raised his hands. “Slow down there.” It was Rhett, the tank of a man that worked as producer on Jex’s show.
I balled both my fists and advanced swinging.
The man covered like a boxer and just let my wild blows glance off his arms and iron abs.
I lunged forward and pushed with both hands. “Where is it?”
He hopped back a few feet. “Where is what?”
Like he doesn’t know. It was clear he’d had a lot of hand-to-hand training. I was in over my head and in the back of my mind I knew it, but I was too mad to care. I sucked in a couple breaths then dove at him. “Oh, right!”
He caught me in my dive and slammed me against the wall. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but you’ve got to settle down or you’re going to get-”
“What did you do with it?”
“Corbin!” London burst from the doorway.
Rhett turned his head to the noise.
It was all the distraction I needed. I jerked my right arm free and swung my elbow for his face.
It connected with his mouth.
His head snapped back and he let go of me.
I braced my arms on his wide chest and pushed.
Before I could move him back, he grabbed my shirt with both hands.
I twisted and tried to pull away, but the hallway was too cramped and he was too strong.
He hefted me up an inch or two then flung me in London’s direction. “Calm down! What did I do with what?”
I landed on my butt and immediately tried to get my feet back under me.
London fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around my chest. “Corbin, don’t!”
I scrambled, but couldn’t quite get to my feet.
London jerked me down. “Corbin, stop it.”
Rhett touched his mouth and looked at his hand. No blood. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
I flared my nostrils and gave him my best death stare. “Where’s the virus?”
“What virus?”
“Don’t be stupid. What virus would I have brought with me?”
London tightened her bear hug. “What?”
I pointed the accusing finger. “In the middle of the night, these lying scum opened the door, cut the chain lock and stole the cooler with the virus.”
I heard London suck in a breath through her nose. “They stole it?”
Rhett raised an eyebrow. “Cut the lock?”
“Who else would it have been?”
London held me a moment then loosened her hold. “It’s okay, we’ll get it back, we’ll figure it out. Calm down.”
I stopped pulling against her. How is she the calm one? Doesn’t she get it?
Rhett lowered his guard and scrunched up his forehead. “You mean you had the virus? The virus? As in the one that…”
“That killed Oasis?”
Rhett frowned and turned half away. “No way, I can’t believe that.”
“And you want me to believe that you didn’t know he stole it?”
“If he did, I sure as hell didn’t know about it. But he tells me everything.” Rhett strode by us and examined the cut chain.
“He was the only one who knew we were here, plus he had access to the keys.”
Rhett stared at the hanging half of a chain on the door. I could practically see the gears grinding to a halt at the sign of the break in.
“…said you might be grumpy…” He shook his head. “He just sent me to get you before…”
London let go. “Corbin, it’ll be okay. We’ll find it. Trust me.”
“Before what?”
Rhett took a couple of slow steps back in the hallway. “Alan wouldn’t do… Are you sure?”
“We pretty much went through hell to get it here, and I’m pretty sure it’s gone now.” I rolled onto my knees and faced London.
Our faces were closer than I expected. In fact, if I had turned any faster we would have had a collision kiss.
London looked me straight in the eye. “Trust me.”
My lips moved involuntarily but I couldn’t speak. Why isn’t she furious?
“Trust me.”
What am I supposed to do? I pushed up to my feet, then helped London stand.
The initial flash of rage had passed. I guess plopping to the ground on your butt helps with that. As I got my breathing under control, it occurred to me that Rhett wasn’t acting – he really didn’t know about the virus. But where did that leave me?
Rhett was staring at the hallway wall and appeared to be just as lost in thought as I was.
London grabbed my hand. “Come in the room a sec.”
Rhett snapped his head to the side. “We’ve got to get moving.”
London raised a finger. “Just hold it a minute, captain butch. We’ll be right out.”
“We don’t have much time.”
London tugged me inside the room and kicked the door shut.
Why should we go with him now, anyway? I must have looked as confused as I felt. “What was that?”
“Look, when it’s not summer and the world isn’t ending, I teach third graders.” She let go of me and walked to the other side of the bed.
“What are you talking about?”
She reached down and lifted the corner the mattress with one hand and pulled out something wrapped in a washcloth. “There’s occasionally a kid that likes his neighbor’s folder or pencil or something. He gets a certain look in his eye, and within a day or two he’ll try to steal it. Jex had the same look last night when he looked at the cooler. I figured he knew we had the cooler, but didn’t know what was in it. I had to do something.”
“You didn’t touch-”
“I was careful.” She dropped the washcloth on the bed. One of the two unbroken vials rolled out.
I stared at it. The sight of the vial was almost a relief. But there was a lot still bothering me. The fact that I still had that vial only dealt with half of the problem. If push came to shove, I could still try find a way to infect the aliens. But what about the virus juice that Jex now had? Should I go with Rhett, play nicely, then try to get it back?
One thing was certain, I’d never again be bothered with the question of whether or not to trust Alan Jex – he’d proved himself a snake. But should I still try to work with him in order to fight the good fight?
And what about Rhett? He seemed like a good enough guy, but could I trust anybody? Did Jex leave him out of the virus theft plot because he knew Rhett would object? Or was it just the fewer people that knew, the better?
The deafening noise of a low flying helicopter snapped me out of my daze – was London saying something?
Rhett pounded on the door. “We’ve got to go.”
Might as well go with him for now. I carefully bundled the vial back up and put it in the Velcroed packet of my cargo pants. “Thanks, London.”
She nodded for the door. “Let’s go get the rest back.”
Keep reading! Chapter 34 is here.
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