The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 20 - The Exam Rooms

And then, without warning, they had arrived. When the security guards opened the back doors to the van, Binny, Zach, and Cassie were all in their original places. The tarps remained on the floor in a pile just as they were when the kids had entered the vehicle.

Jay and Julie Jordan, as well as Dr. Huitre in his car, had also arrived and were gathered by the back door of the van. Binny tried hard not to glance back at the pile of tarps. When she looked up at her parents, Binny saw that her mother’s eyes were puffy again and wondered what her parents had been discussing in the car. The stern look on her father’s face didn’t give Binny any better clue.

“Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.” Jay almost barked at Dr. Huitre and the security guards.

“Of course, of course.” Huitre tried his best to sound reassuring.

The three vehicles had parked near one of the oddly shaped modern buildings that populated the Luce Laboratories campus. The lettering on the side spelled out “Epaphus”. Binny didn’t recognize the building or the name. Nor did she see the Records Room with its signature glass dome. She hoped that wouldn’t be a problem for Zach or Penny as that’s where she needed them to go.

The Epaphus building was shaped like a three-dimensional parallelogram stood up on its side. It looked like it had been dropped from space with such force that one side of the parallelogram had lodged itself in the earth while the remainder stuck up at an odd angle. A suspended walkway jutted out from the high end connecting the parallelogram to a building that looked like a squat white cartoon tornado. It reminded Binny of a museum her parents had taken her to on a trip to New York City.

Grater finally spoke up. “Patients to the right, others to the left.”

A pained look on his face, Huitre reminded the Jordan’s about the quarantine requirements.  

If Binny was going to keep the truth from her parents, she thought it might actually be easier if they weren’t in the same room as the kids. “Mom, I promise, we’ll be okay.” She looked at Zach for help.

Zach took a second to process what Binny was saying and then quickly jumped in, “Yes, I agree. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine!”

Binny smiled her best smile and after taking Cassie’s hand in hers added, “I promise, we will take care of each other. Just like when you leave us to take care of Cassie at home,” added Binny, not realizing how unsettling that might sound after the events of the past couple of days.

While Julie wasn’t exactly at ease, she was proud of her children’s independence and maturity. Jay wasn’t quite as reassured given the history.

Huitre looked reassuringly at the Jordans and said, “I will introduce you to the doctor who ran the clinical trial before any tests happen. I am sure that will put you at ease.”

Jay and Julie reluctantly agreed and started walking with Huitre to the non-patient entrance to one side of the building. As they rounded the corner, Binny saw the glint in Grater’s eye as he cocked his head signaling the three children to move towards the patient entrance. 

As the party got closer to the building Binny suddenly realized that the other guard, what was his name, Barrios, wasn’t with them. He was still at the van, opening the back door. Binny froze.

When Grater noticed that Binny had stopped walking he followed her gaze and saw that his partner was in the van. “Hey, Victor, you thinking of joining us? Or have you had enough work for one day?” Binny sensed the undertone of anger in the man’s joke. It felt to her like Grater was angry a lot of the time. 

Barrios poked his head out of the back of the van, “I’m just going to clean up these tarps. They’re a mess, and shouldn’t be here anyway. I’ll be inside in a minute.”