And Then You Die Read Free Page A

doubt if you could nap with all that caterwauling,” Bess said dryly. “You didn't mention the coyotes, Rico. I don't think that––” She stiffened. Oh, God, no. Not coyotes.
    Dogs.
    She had heard that sound before.
    Those were dogs howling. Dozens of dogs. And their mournful wail was coming from the streets below her.
    Bess started to shake.
    “What is it?” Emily asked. “What's wrong?”
    “Nothing.” It couldn't be. It was her imagination. How many times had she awakened in the middle of the night to the howling of those phantom dogs?
    “Don't tell me nothing. Are you sick?” Emily demanded.
    It wasn't her imagination.
    “Danzar.” She moistened her lips. “It's crazy but–– We have to hurry.
Hurry,
Rico.”
    Rico stomped on the accelerator, and the jeep careened down the road toward the village.
    They didn't see the first body until they were inside the town. A woman lay curled in the shadow of the fountain.
    Emily grabbed her medical bag, jumped out of the jeep, and bent over the woman. “Dead.”
    Bess had known she was dead.
    “Why is she just lying here?” Emily asked. “Why didn't someone help her?”
    Bess got out of the jeep. “Go find your mother, Rico. Right now. Bring her here.”
    “What's happening?” Rico whispered.
    “I don't know.” It was the truth. This wasn't Danzar. What had happened there couldn't happen here. “Just find your mother.”
    He roared off down the street.
    Bess turned back to Emily. “How did she die?”
    Emily shook her head. “I don't know. No marks of violence.”
    “Disease?”
    Emily shrugged. “I can't tell, not without tests. What do you know about this?”
    “I don't know anything.” She tried to steady her voice. “But I think there will be others. The howling . . .” She hurried toward the cantina across from the fountain. “Bring your bag and come with me.”
    They found four bodies in the cantina. Two young men were slumped at a table, a pile of chips and money in front of them. An old man lay behind the bar. A woman in a purple dress was crumpled on the stairs.
    Emily went from one to the other.
    “All dead?” Bess asked.
    Emily nodded. “Come here.” She opened her bag, drew out a face mask and rubber gloves, and handed them to Bess. “Put them on.”
    Bess slipped on the mask and gloves. “You think it's contagious?”
    “It won't hurt to be careful.” She moved toward the door.
    “How did you know?”
    “The dogs. When I was in Danzar, we heard the dogs howling from miles away. Everyone in the village had been butchered by the guerrillas.”
    “Everyone,” Emily echoed. She straightened her shoulders. “Well, none of these people died of wounds, and I won't believe everyone is dead just because some stupid dogs are yapping. Come on, let's find someone who can tell us what happened.”
    They found no one in the first house they entered. Two dead in the shop next door. A woman behind the counter and a little boy curled on the floor. Chocolate malt balls were scattered beside him. More candy was clutched in his hand.
    His hands were smeared with chocolate, Bess thought dully. Children loved sweets. When her niece, Julie, was younger, she'd had a passion for M&M's and Bess had always brought her––
    “What the hell are you doing?” Emily asked.
    Bess looked down at the camera with which she'd just shot a picture of Emily and the little boy.
    Focus.
    Shoot.
    Danzar again.
    But she didn't have to take pictures here. There would be no secrets or hidden mass graves. “I don't know.” She stuffed the camera in her vest.
    “Stop crying.”
    She hadn't known she was weeping. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Whatever happened here, it happened quickly. Most people go home when they become ill.”
    Emily rose to her feet. “Maybe some of them did. I'll have to find out. It's crazy. I've never heard of a fatal outbreak like this except maybe Ebola.”
    Bess froze. “Ebola? In Mexico?”
    “I didn't say that's