Chapter 5

Sabine seemed to know that something was up the second that Felicia entered the building. “You look like hell.”

“I feel like it. Had my first case of road rage today.”

“It happens to the best of us, I have road rage on an almost daily basis. It’s Los Angeles, I’m surprised that you haven’t gotten road rage sooner. You sure that nothing else is going on?”

Felicia’s mind went to the bite, but she shook the thought away. “Yeah, everything is fine, let’s just get this meeting over with.”

She walked into the board room with Sabine, where seven or eight men, all in their sixties or older, were waiting for them.

“You’re late.” One of them commented.

“Stanley, you say that every time, and every time, we are right on schedule,” Sabine replied, a cordial smile on her face, but Felicia knew that the smile was fake. For one, Sabine never showed her teeth when her smile was genuine, like she was now.

“Now, let’s get down to business, shall we? I’m sure that we all have a lot to do today.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, I’m sure that I could clear my schedule for you.”

Stanley’s innuendo made Felicia cringe. “Do you flirt with your wife like that? Because if you do, then it’s no wonder that you don’t get any from her. Oh wait, I forgot. You don’t get any because she left since you couldn’t please.”

This made a couple of the other men chuckle, and even cool and collected Sabine was trying hard not to smile.

“Now, as Dr. Okoye said, let’s get to it, there’s a lot to discuss, and I’m not sure about you gentlemen, but there’s a lot of things that I would much rather do than sit in a stuffy room for hours. First on the agenda.”

Felicia turned on a PowerPoint that was set up in the room, and a graph popped up.

“A new virus has been popping up in the northern states, specifically Wisconsin and Michigan. We aren’t sure about the origins of this outbreak, but we’re working on it. It’s airborne, so it can spread fairly quickly and easily. Symptoms mimic those of the common cold. Stuffy nose, congestion, occasionally a fever, et cetera. It’s rare, but a few people have been sent to the hospital because they have been progressively getting worse. We’re keeping an eye on it, because I think that we can all agree that the last thing we want on our hands is another pandemic.”

“What about the zombie virus in those gators?” One of the men piped up.

“It isn’t a ‘zombie virus’. It doesn’t make them want to eat us more than they already do, it just makes them a bit more aggressive about it. I don’t think that we need to worry about it spreading to people, because unless you’re an experienced alligator hunter, if you get close enough to actually contract the virus, you’re already lunch. Now, as I was saying, we’re keeping watch on Michigan and Wisconsin because they have the most cases as of right now.”

“We have people there that are going to investigate further,” Sabine added. “Here is our planned course of action…”

~

It was nearing noon by the time that the meeting was over with.

“What was that all about?” Sabine demanded of Felicia as the two women walked out of the room.

“What do you mean?”

“I am not a fool Felicia, do not play games with me. You’ve never acted that way in any of our meetings.”

“They kept getting off-track.”

“That doesn’t matter. They sign our paychecks, which means that if they say ‘jump’, we ask them how high. You know how things work, Felicia. Now, what’s really going on with you?”

Felicia sighed. “If I knew the answer to that question, I would tell you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know what’s going on Sabine, I really don’t. Right now it feels like the slightest of things is capable of setting me off, and you know that’s not like me.”

“You’re right, I’ve never seen you angry at anyone, irritated or annoyed, yes, but I’ve never seen you lash out at someone, not even when they more than deserved it.”

“And it’s not my time of the month, so we can rule that out. If it was, Hank would be showering me with chocolate to stay on my good side.”

Sabine raised an eyebrow. “So that’s why he always brought in those goodie baskets every month. I thought that he was trying to woo you or something.”

“Woo me?” Felicia let out a snort. “He wasn’t trying to woo me, he was trying to make sure that I didn’t bite his head off.”

“You mean like you did with Stanley?”

“I would say that I regret the comment I made about his wife, but you know how I feel about liars.”

“Just try and keep your emotions in check, I’m sure that they’re going to talk to me about your behavior this morning.”

“And that’s when you tell them to shove it up their sexist-”

“Felicia,” Sabine warned, and the younger woman held her hands up in surrender. “Alright, it won’t happen again.”

“Good, make sure that it doesn’t.”

“If they want a formal apology though, you can tell them that they’ll be waiting a while.”

Sabine rolled her eyes. “Just get to work.” She said, a genuine smile on her face.

“Yes, Commander Okoye.”

“How do I put up with you?”

“I make things interesting, you would be so bored if I wasn’t here.”

“If you weren’t here, then I might actually be sane.”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Just go to your lab.”

~

Hank had already heard about what happened in the meeting when Felicia arrived.

“He had it coming, but did his wife really leave him because of that?”

“I don’t know, but I’m guessing from his reaction, she left him for the pool boy or something.”

Hank shook his head. “The lives of the rich are like one big soap opera.”

“Where else would they get their ideas from?”

“Speaking of drama, how are things with Shadow? Kirk told me a little bit of what’s going on, but not the whole story.”

“He’s gonna stay at the vet for a few days so that they can monitor him and try to figure out what’s going on with him.”

“Do you have any guesses as to what might be wrong?”

Felicia ran a hand through her hair. “I have no clue, Hank. The vet ruled out rabies, and he’s just as stumped as I am. Nothing in Shadow’s daily routine has changed, his food hasn’t changed, nothing. I’m worried Hank, what if I wind up having to put Shadow down?”

“Let’s not jump to the worst-case scenario just yet.” He gave her a light hug. “He probably just has a small bug or something, I’m sure that soon he’ll be back to normal."