KNOCK KNOCK. Huitre took one last look around the kitchen. She was early, and he had butterflies. He hadn’t felt like this in a longer time than he cared to admit. Normally, Huitre would think that being early was rude. But in the case of Julie Jordan he was prepared to make an exception.
Huitre opened the door and his mouth fell open.
Samantha Trace stood in Huitre’s doorway. Uninvited and unannounced. “I’m sorry. Is this a bad time? I was in the neighborhood and thought I would say hello on the off chance you were home. And lucky me. Here you are.”
§
“It’s peanut butter Nutella banana. I had to get up extra early to make these without my Dad noticing. I’m still not sure what to tell him tonight as at some point today he will no doubt notice that all the bread is gone. And all the nutella. And all the bananas.” Binny said as she passed out sandwiches to the other kids.
“And all the peanut butter?” Cassie said with a mouthful of sandwiches, the beginning of a chocolate mustache forming on her upper lip.
“Nope, there’s still peanut butter.” Binny replied.
“Dad never lets that run out.” Zach added.
Zach was first to finish his sandwich and spread out the map they’d been looking at earlier in the day. Zach took out his pen and drew a rectangle in the middle of the Madrona woods. “This is the cave.” Zach stabbed a finger at the drawing.
“Why do you call it that? It’s a shelter.” Binny corrected.
Zach ignored her. “I did some reading last night. If the metal door up above was sealed, then air would not be able to get out, and people staying in here for more than a little while would overheat.”
“Let’s not close that door then.” Zoe said.
“But they had to plan for the door to be closed, which means, they had another way for air to get in from outside. Probably with a filtration system, though from the smell when we got here, I’m guessing the ventilation duct has been closed for some time.”
“I agree. Let’s not close the door.” Penny added.
“Listen, the door isn’t the point. We need to make our cell phones work down here. And that means we need a way to get a wire from a little box up above, to another little box down here in the cave.”
“Shelter.” Binny corrected.
“Why not just run the wire down the hallway?” Penny asked?
“We could do that. But if anyone found the signal receiving box up above, they could just follow the wire right into this place. Making it easy for people to find us seems to go against the whole ‘hideout’ theme we’re creating here.”
“But if you can find where the air comes from, we could run the wire from there.” Zoe said.
“Exactly. But so far I haven’t found where the ventilation is down here. We need to scour the walls, every corner, and the ceiling for a clue as to how air comes down here.”
Cassie and Gabe had taken to playing various pretend games in some of the rooms. Mainly the kitchen, and the command center. Sometimes they pretended to cook for all the residents of the hideout. Sometimes they pretended to supervise everyone.
While Cassie and Gabe were busy playing, the four older kids spread out. For fifteen minutes, Zach scoured every inch of the bedrooms with his flashlight. He knew it must be here somewhere. He hoped that the others were applying the same attention to detail as he was to the search. The vent wouldn’t have to be super large necessarily, and there could be more than one.
“I found something.” Binny’s voice echoed off the walls of the shelter.
Binny had taken the north wall of the shelter. They’d explored it on their first day in the space. The wall was lined with heavy doors revealing a series of empty storerooms ready for supplies that were either removed or never delivered.
When Penny and Zach arrived Binny focused her flashlight on a space under one of the dusty shelves. A foot tall rectangular metal panel was mounted on the wall. Zach got down in his back under the shelf, slid a small lever on the panel, and yelled “Helloooooooo” into its face only to hear his voice echo up what sounded like a very long metal shaft.
“Zoe, come, Binny found it.” Penny yelled out.
Zoe appeared at the entry to the storeroom. “Actually, you should come with me, I found something too.”
§
“You don’t seem happy to see me.” Samantha Trace said to Dr. Huitre as she entered the home.
“It is not that at all. I am just home briefly before I have to head back to the hospital. Can I get you a drink of water?”
“I didn’t come to drink your water.”
Huitre’s shoulder’s sagged. “I am sorry. What can I do for you?”
Samantha spoke as she walked around the living room examining books on the shelves and other items on display. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation from the other night. I felt bad about how it ended and wanted to apologize.”
“Oh, that’s very kind of you. No apology necessary. But I appreciate you coming by.”
“That’s not all. I’ve been thinking about you. About you and I specifically. I know we’ve primarily had a professional relationship, but I think that sometimes colleagues can evolve into something more. I think that you and I are more compatible than you may realize.”
“Samantha, I –”
“Hear me out Henry. We both have a scientific background. We’re both intellectually curious. We’ve both been on our own for some time. I really think that we should give things a try. We could start today, right now, have lunch together or something. Let’s be spontaneous.”
Henry Huitre looked at his watch before he looked back at Samantha Trace. Her eyes were wide and hopeful. He had dismissed her as callous and single-minded in the past. He didn’t suddenly like her. But he could see that somewhere in her stilted overly-formal style was an actual human being.
“I am flattered Samantha. Truly. But I have to tell you that I recently started seeing someone.”
Samantha Trace looked mortified. Henry imagined that it was incredibly rare for her to put herself out on an emotional limb like she had with him. And to be rejected on her one and only attempt must have felt like quite a blow.
When she saw the sympathy in his face, Samantha Trace’s composure cracked and she started to cry. Not knowing what else to do Henry put his arms around her to comfort her.
§
OK. There was no denying it. Now it feels like sneaking around, Julie Jordan thought to herself. She’d taken a circuitous route to Huitre’s house so she wouldn’t drive by her old house. She didn’t want the kids to see her driving by and wonder why she was in the neighborhood in the middle of a work day.
Pulling up in front of the modern style house, Julie scouted the area one more time, craning her neck to make sure none of her children were wandering by as they tended to do on their way to whatever it was they did in the woods.
Julie approached Huitre’s front door. The door was framed on either side by glass panes. Julie cocked her head so she could catch her reflection in the panes and examine her appearance one last time before she went inside. But her eyes didn’t settle on her own image; instead they saw past her own monochromatic image into the full color living room. Julie felt an instant and unyielding acidic emptiness in her stomach.
Julie quietly turned on her heel, walked to her car, and drove away.
§
“Maybe it’s a safe.” Binny suggested.
In the very last storeroom, right next to the hardwood floors, a large circular steel door sat mounted in the concrete. Zoe stood by it, proudly showing off her find.
“Oooh. Maybe there’s lots of money inside.” Cassie rubbed her hands together.
“Why would they need a safe in a bomb shelter?” Binny said to her sister.
“How did we not see this before?” Zach asked.
“We thought all these rooms were empty.” Penny said.
“And it was dark?” Binny added.
“Well, we found it now.” Zoe said.
“Should we open it?” Penny asked?
Gabe and Cassie immediately registered their approval of this suggestion. Binny was about to register a concern, but not before Zoe said, “Already tried. It won’t budge.”
“Let me try.” Zach put down his flashlight, and started adjusting his shirt, preparing for the physical exertion.
Binny, Zoe, and Penny started giggling.
“What? What? I’m just trying to get in the right frame of mind.” Zach grabbed a hold of the wheel at the center of the metal door and tugged hard. It didn’t budge.
“Sorry Superman.” Zoe teased Zach.
“I bet I could open it.” Gabe offered.
“No way. You’d hurt yourself trying.” Zoe said.
“Watch me. I have powers too.” Gabe whined.
“Maybe you should save your energy for when you really need it. We wouldn’t want you to be too tired when we need you to do something really heroic.” Binny said to Gabe.
That seemed to mollify Gabe for the moment.
Binny turned to Penny. “What do you think?”
Penny eyed the door.
“I’m worried it will fall on her.” Zach said.
“It doesn’t have to be the whole door. Just the mechanism that opens it.” Binny explained.
“What makes you think that breaking the mechanism will open the door. Maybe it will make it even harder to open.” Zach reasoned.
“Well right now it’s impossible to open, so I don’t think it can get harder to open than that.” Zoe said.
“I think I can limit it to just the handle and the mechanism.” Penny was staring intently at the door handle.
“How?”
“I’ve noticed that if I do it slowly, I can almost see into the thing I’m breaking. It’s like I’m shrinking myself down and flying through the machine itself, popping things loose, and disconnecting things. I can just stop myself before I go too far.”
“Cool.” Zach and Zoe said in unison.
Binny and Zoe pulled the smaller kids back to a safe distance. Penny put her hands on the handle and closed her eyes. Everyone held their breath.
First there was a creaking sound. Then a pop, and a whoosh. The wheel-shaped handle dropped to the ground and Penny screamed.
§
“Samantha, I am so sorry about this. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Really? Nothing? Come on, admit it, this is just a little bit humiliating. No?” Samantha made a small smile as she took the proffered tissue from Huitre.
“Not at all. Being honest is never something to be embarrassed by.” Huitre pronounced as he looked at his watch again. “I am so sorry to say this, but I actually need to be moving along now. Normally I would be happy to talk more.”
“Of course, of course, I’m the one who dropped by unannounced.” Samantha made towards the door. Before she opened it to leave she said, “One question, this person you’re seeing, who is it?”
Huitre knew that he should lie to her. He knew of her animosity towards Julie Jordan. But he thought that maybe this news would make sure Samantha was permanently disinterested in him, which seemed like a good thing. Having her show up unannounced at his house was definitely not something he wanted to ever happen again.
Samantha’s eyes burned. “Julie Jordan?”
“Well, it’s early yet, but yes.”
“Are you serious?” Trace’s eyes narrowed. “You’re actually interested in her? Truly?”
Since his previous answer had backfired so spectacularly, Huitre was quite sure he had no idea what to say now. Instead he just stood there in silence.
“Oh my god. You know Henry, it’s this obsession of yours that got you into trouble in the first place.”
“I am sorry?” Huitre’s palms were open to the air as he thought frantically of what he could say to calm Trace down.
Trace took several steps back into the living room. “Let me ask you a question Doctor Huitre.” Trace enunciated his title mockingly. “Do you think that the ethics board at your hospital would approve or disapprove of you being romantically interested in one of your patients?”
“Samantha, she hasn’t been my patient in a very long time.” Henry tried to smile reassuringly. It only added fuel to the fire.
“Well, do you think that your patient – Ms. Jordan - would feel good about the fact that the only reason she was your patient in the first place is because of your romantic interest in her? Do you think she would feel that your recommendation that she participate in our fertility study all those years ago was free of any conflict of interest? How do you think it would affect your budding romance?”
“Samantha.” Huitre lowered his voice. “I never asked you to –”
“Are you playing dumb Henry? You remember exactly what happened. I saw how you mooned over Julie all those years ago. Julie’s doctor, your partner, didn’t just up and leave for the other side of the country randomly. You knew it wasn’t luck or fate or the cosmos that suddenly made Julie Jordan your patient. You knew exactly how she became your patient. And you repaid us – you repaid Luce Laboratories – by making sure she participated in our study.”
Huitre looked ashen.
Trace took a breath, and applied a forced smile to her lips. “I’m just saying that being honest is never something to be embarrassed by. And if you’re uncomfortable being honest with her, I am happy to do it on your behalf.”
§
“Are you okay?” Binny rushed to Penny’s side.
“Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.” Penny was leaning on the large steel door with one hand, standing on one foot, while massaging her other foot with her spare hand.
“I’m so sorry.” Zach said.
“It’ll be okay. It just caught the tip of my toe when it dropped. I doubt anything’s broken.”
“If your foot had been an inch closer it might have been.” Zoe observed.
“We need to be more careful.” Zach said.
Before Zoe could stop him, Gabe marched towards the door, grabbed the edge and pulled hard. Groaning creaking sounds of metal that hadn’t moved in decades filled the room, but the door swung wide open. “See? I told you I had powers.”
“Very impressive.” Penny smiled at the others as she patted Gabe on his skinny arm as he made a show of his muscles.
Zoe rolled her eyes at her little brother.
Zach carefully poked his head through the doorway. A tunnel lined with stone and brick stretched to both his right and left as far as the eye could see. Zach’s nostrils filled with the smell of moist wet earth.