Her iPad was first generation wireless only, damn it, or else she could be researching exactly what was going on right now. Her phone was just that, a phone, with the ability to dial in and out, and receive texts. She wished she could text Reggie, let him and Elizabeth know she was stuck back here, but she didn’t have his number in her phone.
She wished she could call Xander. But he was fishing today, off in the wilderness. She’d never be able to reach him. One of the things that they were both happy about in the relationship was the freedom. Sam wasn’t a hoverer, and Xander needed his space. He liked being able to come and go without letting her know his every move, and so did Sam. It was becoming the bedrock of their relationship. But right now, all Sam wanted was to hear his voice, to know that he was okay. To feel his arms around her.
The people near her started talking among themselves, and she listened to the rumors fly.
“It’s all over Twitter. They don’t know what’s going on but they’re saying fifteen dead.”
“I just heard two dead.”
“Twenty-nine bodies.”
“No one knows what the deal is.”
“Holy shit. They’re ordering extra body bags.”
Sam felt the blow to her gut. Any casualty would be too many. Two, fifteen, twenty-nine—she hoped to God those numbers weren’t just climbing as more cases were reported. If that number was even close to the truth...and with many airborne toxins, instant death was rare. Obviously people had made it out of the Metro; the triage nurse wouldn’t have asked her if they hadn’t.
Jesus. She just wanted to know what they were dealing with.
Fletcher.
Ah. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? Detective Darren Fletcher, her buddy in D.C. homicide. He’d tell her what was going on, if he knew, at least.
She went through her phone until she found his cell number. She hadn’t talked to him since she got back to town and started teaching, irrationally hoping he wouldn’t be upset with her. She’d worked a case with him before she moved back to D.C., the death of her ex-boyfriend, and the two of them had formed a bond. Fletcher would have liked that bond to go further, but he’d respected the fact that she was with Xander now. Sort of. She hadn’t been willing to test that theory yet.
The phone rang and rang and rang, finally going to voice mail. Well, that wasn’t good. That meant he was either avoiding her call or too busy to take it. She decided to try one more contact—Dr. Amado Nocek, one of the city’s medical examiners. Nocek had offered her a position with the M.E.’s office when she told him she wanted to move to D.C. She appreciated that offer so much, but being an M.E. wasn’t what she needed to be doing right now. She was still recovering, still trying to make sense of her life. Her job in Nashville had become an albatross around her neck instead of a joy. She needed to do something that didn’t involve day-to-day contact with the dead.
That’s why teaching appealed to her. She could talk about her field in a theoretical way, and not be hands-on again until she was ready.
Nocek answered on the first ring. His strangely lilting voice, the result of a European upbringing that drew on both Italian and French, combined with several years in the polyglot accent that made up D.C., calmed her immediately. “Samantha. It is very fine to hear from you this morning. I suppose you are calling to ask the nature of the emergency we find ourselves in, and not developing plans for a small, intimate gathering for dinner at your new house?”
Nocek always did have a way of cutting to the chase.
“You know me too well, Amado. I’m actually sitting outside the decontamination unit at GW. No one’s been forthcoming with information.”
“I will give you what I myself know. We have been getting reports of a biological contaminant that was released in the Metro. Multiple reports of people being taken ill, all over the city.”
“Any idea what the contaminant is?”
“No. People are presenting with respiratory distress, fever and coughing. It could be most anything.”
“Casualties?”
“None that are related to this that we are aware of yet, but that will most likely change as the day wears on. We are in an uncertain time at the moment, Samantha. I am well pleased to hear that you are safe.”
A stern-looking nurse tapped Sam on the shoulder. “Ma’am. Please turn off your cell phone.”
“And you, Amado. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to go. Will you call me if you can once you find out more?”
“Of course. Be well, my dear.”
Sam hung up the phone. The nurse nodded at her, satisfied that the breach was under control, and strode away.
There was a young man sitting next to her. He raised an eyebrow and said, “Well?”
“Nothing concrete,” Sam said. She wasn’t about to tell a stranger what Nocek had just disclosed. That was just enough information to cause a wild panic.
“Are they going to let us out of here?”
“I hope so. My friend said there have been no confirmed casualties. So that’s good news. This may be a false alarm after all. Sometimes in an emergency situation, people who are already sick have issues.”
She turned away from him and stared at the floor.