The Viral Epiphany (16 page)

           
As soon as they closed the door to their room, Dan walked over to the large plate glass window that overlooked the street from their living room and looked anxiously down the road towards the university gate.
 
Sheila came over and stood beside him.
 
“Any sign of them?” she asked.

           
“No.
 
I have no idea where they are, but I think you were right.
 
They won’t be looking for us here.”
 
He turned and looked at her and then noticed that she was shivering slightly.

           
“Are you cold?”

           
“No. It’s…I don’t know. I just have a really, really bad feeling about those men.
 
I think you had a very close call, Dan.” She looked at him and he saw the fear on her face. “I wonder,” she whispered, “what is this Omega, anyway?”

           
Dan reached up for the drapery cord and pulled the drapes shut, and then he put his arm around her.
 
“Don’t worry, I’ll be OK.
 
In a couple of days they’ll give up and leave.
 
I’ll be fine.”

           
Sheila’s eyes met his and he could see the seriousness in them, “No you won’t, Dan.
 
These are very evil men; I can sense it.
 
Can’t you?” She searched his eyes again and then nodded.
 
“Yes, you sense it too, don’t you?”

           
Dan hesitated, then he said, “Yes, Sheila.
 
I do.
 
I need to come up with a plan.”

           
“We’ll come up with a plan, Dan.
 
I’m not letting you deal with this by yourself.”
 
He could see the fire in her eyes and he knew there was no point in trying to dissuade her.

           
“OK,” he said, “We’ll figure this out together,” he said with a warm smile, and then he noticed her dress.
 
“But first, look at your clothes!”
 
She looked down at her dress and for the first time she noticed the patches of river mud that had splattered onto it. Then she realized that her shoes were wet and cold from the river water too.”

           
“Look at yours too,” she replied with a grin. If anything, Dan’s clothes were worse than hers.
 
“We had better get these clothes cleaned,” she said, “they’re all we’ve got for now!”

           
“Good idea.
 
Look, there are robes in the bathroom.
 
Why don’t you take a shower and wear one of those.
 
I’ll call the front desk and have someone come up and get our clothes cleaned.
 
We’ll just have to wear bathrobes for a while, I guess.” he smiled broadly when he said this and she returned his smile, except her expression was perhaps a little more difficult to read than his.

           
After they had each showered and their clothes had been sent out for cleaning they sat on the dark green and gold-trimmed sofa, and Sheila poured a cup of coffee for each of them. They sat facing one another in the semi-darkness of the drapery-enshrouded room, thankful for the safe haven of the hotel. After a sip of her coffee Sheila said, “OK.
 
Let’s talk about these guys.
 
What do you think they want from you?”
 

           
“I’m not sure. I think you’re right though. It must be about the letters; they were classified Top Secret, and those guys look pretty tough. I don’t think they’re here to talk about a research project.”
          

           
“You’re absolutely right,” she said. “We have to find a way to keep you out of sight until they’re gone. Maybe we should call the
Garda.”

           
“The
Garda?
 
I don’t know, maybe not yet.
 
We don’t really have any proof about these guys.
 
What if it turned out that there really was a company called Omega Pharmaceuticals?
 
We’d look pretty foolish, wouldn’t we? Besides, what would we tell the
Garda
– that we have a hunch that these men are evil?”

           
Sheila thought for a minute and then finally said, “I guess you’re right, but we can’t stay here forever either!”

           
“I know,” he said. “We need a way to keep track of these guys.”

           
“Maybe Nancy, over in the department office, will be able to tell us something,” Sheila said. “She might know what their plans are.”

           
“Yes, but what if she doesn’t?”

           
Sheila shook her head, “I don’t know. I don’t have any other ideas right now.”

 
“Me either,” Dan said at last as he got up and walked over to the window and parted the drapes slightly.
 
There was still no sign of them.
 
“Let’s take a break and order a room service dinner.”

“Sounds great to me,” Sheila said, after realizing she hadn’t eaten since early that morning, “I’m nearly starved!”

 
Dan picked up the menu and saw it had the usual items but then he decided to surprise her.
 
Item nine on the menu was different: the Romantic Dinner for Two – fresh garden salads, Irish filet steaks, with potatoes au gratin, sautéed carrots and summer squash with a bottle of French
Cabernet Sauvignon
. Dessert would be Irish strawberries dipped in chocolate followed by Baileys coffee.
 
“They say it’ll be ready in twenty minutes,” Dan said as he hung up the phone, “I guess we’ll just have to occupy ourselves until then.”

Sheila smiled at his hint and said, “What did you have in mind?”
 
However, before he could answer there was a hard knock on the door.
 
She looked at Dan and her eyes showed instant concern.
 
They weren’t expecting anyone so soon, and no one knew they were there.
 
Seconds later there were three more knocks, this time much more insistent.
 
Dan put a finger to his lips and motioned for her to move behind the door as he reached for the door handle.
 
Sheila looked behind her and picked up a vase of flowers from the table. She dumped the flowers and water on the floor as Dan jerked the door open.

The man in the hallway stepped back in alarm as the door opened suddenly and then recovered enough to hold up the two packages he was carrying and said, “Your laundry, sir.
 
We rushed it through as you requested.”

Dan stood and stared at the man and the packages for a few seconds then burst into laughter. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I thought you might be someone else.”
 
He took the packages from the deliveryman and handed him a generous tip.
 
Then he closed the door and turned around. Sheila was still standing there with the vase still in her hand.
 
There was a smoldering fury in her green eyes that he had never seen before and this, plus her long and slightly disheveled red curls, made him stop a moment and then he laughed.

“I guess not all of the Vikings left Ireland, did they?” he said.
 
She laughed with him and put the vase back on the table.

“Maybe not,” she replied as she pushed back her hair and he could see a different excitement forming in her eyes, “maybe not.”
 
Without saying anything, they decided to keep wearing their robes and they hung their newly washed and ironed clothes in the closet.
 
By the time they had hung their clothes and cleaned up the flowers that Sheila had dumped on the floor there was another knock on the door.
 
This time it was room service and the waiter wheeled in the dining table, complete with a vase of roses and two tall, pink, tapered candles.
 
The waiter quietly lit the candles while Sheila simply looked at Dan, her lips pursed in that way that women do that can mean so many different things.

The waiter deftly removed the warming covers from their meals and then bid them an enjoyable meal and a pleasant evening.
 
After the waiter left, Dan poured each of them a glass of wine and then said, “I think we should have a toast.”

“Certainly,” Sheila said, “go ahead.”

He lifted his glass and looked at her, “To my heroine, the beautiful Sheila O’Neill, fearless and true, who will, no doubt, be always remembered for her expertise with the deadly flower vase!”

Sheila laughed heartily as she recalled the scene at the door and then raised her glass, “And to the handsome and mighty Daniel Quinn, navigator and explorer of the rapids of the
River Lee,
a man who can strike fear into the hearts of deliverymen in hotels everywhere!” Dan roared in laughter as he thought of the way he had acted, and then they clinked their glasses and drank deeply of the delicious wine.
 
They looked at each other as they put their glasses on the table and they each burst into laughter again as the stress of the day began to leave their thoughts.

The entrées were as delicious as any Dan and Sheila had ever had – made all the more delicious by their conversation and the sense of relief and safety they now felt.
 
When they had finished their dinners, all that was left was the long stemmed strawberries, dipped in Belgian chocolate.
 
Dan held one of the strawberries by the stem and held it to Sheila’s lips.
 
She looked at him for a long moment and then opened her mouth to let the chocolate-coated berry rest lightly on her tongue before she closed her lips around the red fruit.
 
As she sank her teeth into the fresh strawberry the sweet juice filled her mouth and a small trickle spilled out and dripped onto her chin.”

“Ooops! I got it,” Dan said and he wiped her chin with his index finger and then licked the juice from his fingertip.
 
Then it was time for Sheila to feed him…

 
It was late evening when they finally finished their meal. Without a word being said between them they knew it was time for bed.
 
Sheila stood beside the king-sized bed and pulled back the duvet; then she turned and looked back at Dan and her eyes glowed green again in the soft light of the candles. However, this time it was different; it was the green of the forest and the fields of Ireland and the mist-shrouded hills of the Celts.
 
She slipped the robe off of her shoulders and let it fall to the floor.
 
She stood there a few seconds smiling happily at him before she climbed under the covers.

Dan had stood entranced as he watched her, but now he felt his heart begin to race and he walked over to the other side of the bed.
 
He untied the belt of his robe and, like Sheila, he let it drop to the floor and then he lifted the corner of the duvet so that he could join her.

“You look like you have high expectations,” she said grinning widely as she looked him over.

Dan laughed and said, “I guess I do”

“Good,” she replied, “you won’t be disappointed.”

Eighteen

           
Several hours after sunrise the next day, while both Dan and Sheila slept, the ultra-modern, silver and green, Dublin-to-Cork train rolled to a gentle stop at the Cork train station.
 
Stephen Itagaki stretched, arched his back, and lightly rubbed his eyes.
 
Surprisingly, he wasn’t tired now.
 
He had slept well on the long Japan Airlines flight to London and then he had caught a short Aer Lingus flight over to Dublin.
 
There had been no trouble passing through Irish customs and immigration and now he had even taken a restful nap in
Iarnrod Eireann’s
first class railcar during the three-hour trip to this brash and bustling “rebel city” on the southern coast of Ireland.

           
The rural Irish, if not the Cork city dwellers, would have called this a soft day.
 
A light mist was falling while translucent gray and white clouds drifted easterly across the sky.
 
The streets were shiny black as rainwater ran in small rivulets along the curbs.
 
Stephen stood in the exit door of the train station and watched the brightly colored umbrellas bob through the parking lot as the other passengers walked to their cars.
 
For a brief moment he enjoyed the light breeze that carried the refreshing scent of trees and grass and the nearby ocean.
 
Then he saw the taxi stand off to his right and a minute later he had decided upon a plan.