He turned his attention back to Daniel. “So, what you fixin’ to do about this situation, son?”
“We have to alert my father immediately. These blueprints are all the proof we need. Joshua must be stopped.”
Hunt downed the rest of his drink and grinned. “It’s like you read my mind.”
Chapter 14—Survivor Immunity
Erik blinked his eyes several times. The glare from an overhead fluorescent light was too intense. He shut them again. Was he lying on a hospital cot? He tried to raise his arms but discovered that they were strapped down. He felt a panicky sense of disorientation. What was this place? He couldn’t remember. He’d been in and out of consciousness for days now. Or was it weeks?
He did recall being shot—repeatedly. Then he saw a man in a white hazmat suit sticking a gas mask over his face. That process seemed to be part of an infinite loop as it recurred at regular intervals in his dreams. He tried to roll to his side, but his ankles were pinned down as well. No matter, any movement he made caused a jolt of pain. The bullet wounds, he supposed.
“Ah, I see you’re waking up.”
Erik’s eyes darted around the room, trying to locate the speaker.
A dark-skinned man in a white lab coat came to lean over his bed. He looked Arabic. Strangely enough, he was smiling and appeared pleased about something. “Congratulations, my friend. Despite my best efforts to kill you, you seem determined to live.”
The paladin squinted at him, not sure if he’d heard the words correctly. They made no sense.
“While you were napping this afternoon, we removed the intravenous needles and catheter. It’s time for you to function on your own. If you promise to give me no trouble, I’ll remove the restraints and help you to sit up. Alright?”
“OK,” Erik murmured. His mouth was so dry that the word sounded like an incoherent croak.
The man in the lab coat released the Velcro straps from his wrists and ankles. “Slowly now. You may experience dizziness if you rise too quickly.”
Erik couldn’t rise quickly even if he wanted to. His muscles refused to obey him.
The Arab helped him swing his legs over the side of the bed. Then he pulled Erik’s arms forward and braced him until he could sit upright.
The paladin tried to speak again. This time he forced out the word, “Who?”
Understanding the question, the man nodded. “My name is Doctor Rafi Aboud. I am your host.”
“Wh... wh...” Erik cleared his throat and tried again. “Where am I?”
“In an underground laboratory.”
This time the paladin’s eyes flew open wide. Memories came flooding back. He’d been shot by the Nephilim while trying to rescue Hannah. They must have brought him to the secret lab, but he wasn’t sure why. Apparently, he’d been here for some time. He plucked at the front of his hospital gown in an effort to examine the bullet holes.
“Ah, ah,” the doctor cautioned. “Mustn’t do that. You might tear the stitches. They aren’t quite ready to come out yet. Given the number of bullets that struck you, it’s amazing they managed to miss your major organs. Not so much as a shattered bone. I would say that makes you lucky on two counts.”
Erik scowled. “Why would you help me?” His voice was gravelly but now fully articulate.
“Because you helped me—inadvertently, of course.” Aboud chuckled. “I needed one more test subject for my vaccine formula. You were very close to death, my friend. My assistants patched you up well enough for me to use you in my experiments.”
“Experiments?”
“In light of recent developments, there’s no point in hiding the facts from you now.” Aboud shrugged. “My benefactor charged me with the task of creating an aggressive strain of pneumonic plague. I succeeded magnificently, but this created a new dilemma.” He smiled mordantly. “It was so effective that I couldn’t quell the disease. Vaccine after vaccine failed. Until now.”
Erik’s mind was racing. The man in the hazmat suite hadn’t been a hallucination. The paladin had probably been here for weeks. Aboud must have vaccinated him immediately and, once his body had built up the necessary antibodies, infected him with plague germs at regular intervals. Why couldn’t he remember any more details? Had he been drugged this whole time?
Aboud was still talking. “After you survived my first experiment, I tried several other variations of the virus, each more lethal than the last, to see if the vaccine could stand the test. Fortunately for you, it did.”
The doctor walked over to a table against the wall and poured some liquid from a pitcher into a plastic cup. Returning, he handed it to Erik. “Here, drink a little water. It’s important to stay hydrated now that we’ve taken you off intravenous fluids.”
Erik took the proffered cup and drank. It helped soothe his parched throat. He silently marveled at the irony of his situation. For months, he’d tried without success to learn the specifics of what was going on in the secret lab. Now he found himself in the very belly of the beast. Ruefully, he remembered one of Faye’s favorite adages: “Be careful what you wish for.”
Aboud interrupted his thoughts. “Let’s see if you can stand up.” He steadied Erik’s arms as the paladin slid off the bed.
At first, Erik’s knees buckled. His legs had turned to rubber. He leaned back against the cot until he stopped swaying. Then he cautiously stood upright.
“Very good.” Aboud nodded approvingly. “Now try taking a few steps toward me.”
The doctor backed away. Erik found he had to consciously focus on placing one foot in front of the other. He felt dizzy and weak, and every movement tugged painfully at his stitches, but he
