The Last Survivor (A Wilde/Chase Short Story) Read Free

the festival. I’ll see you later.’
    ‘Nina!’
    She waved a dismissive hand over her shoulder, not looking back as she exited. ‘Give Natalia my regards,’ she said, letting the door swing shut behind her with a bang.
    ‘Buggeration and fuckery,’ Eddie muttered. He considered catching up with his wife, but decided – drawing on experience – to give her time to cool down first. Instead, he took a cab to the airport, initially still fuming before eventually calming down. If nothing else, the argument had encouraged Nina to go out and actually
do
something rather than just sit at her computer working on the book. Neither the circumstances nor the timing was ideal – he wouldn’t have minded going to an Italian food festival himself – but it was a start. And now that the subject of Nina’s denial about Macy had been brought into the open, maybe she would think about it instead of trying to avoid it.
    He arrived at the terminal and headed for the arrivals gate, seeing on the information board that Natalia’s flight had landed not long before. Even so, it still took more than half an hour for her to finally appear; it was her first visit to the United States, forcing her to go through the rigmarole of biometric scanning before being allowed to exit. ‘Natalia!’ he called, waving.
    Natalia Pöltl gave him a wide smile. The young German had changed in appearance since their last meeting, finally returning home after eight years of self-imposed exile in Vietnam. Her hair was now cut short and styled, and returning to a Western diet had fleshed out her figure. Eddie could still see a weariness beyond her age in her face, though. The former aid worker had endured a nightmarish experience, kidnapped by forces from both Russia and the US seeking to obtain the genetic secrets locked in her DNA – those of a biological agent that was slowly killing her.
    Nina had been infected by the same substance. But she had found a cure – and now Natalia could share it, ending the threat once and for all.
    ‘Eddie!’ she replied, hurrying to meet him. They embraced, and she kissed him on the cheek. ‘It is so good to see you again!’
    ‘You too. How’ve you been?’
    ‘As good as I can be,’ she replied, expression turning downcast. ‘More tumours have appeared. The illness is getting worse.’
    ‘Well, we’ve got something that’ll fix that, I hope. But what’s it been like finally going home? How’s your dad?’
    ‘My father, he is …’ She paused to find the right English word. ‘He was overjoyed when I came back to Hamburg. He had thought I was dead. When I first telephoned him, he was almost angry because he thought someone was playing a cruel joke on him. But,’ she smiled at the memory, ‘he soon became happy when he realised it really was me.’
    ‘And nobody’s been following you?’ Everyone involved directly with Natalia’s kidnapping – on both sides – was now dead, but there was a chance that others might be continuing their work.
    ‘Not that I have seen. I have done what you said, and watched for people. And I have not spoken about the eitr to anyone, not even my father – especially not on the telephone.’ The deadly toxin had been a formative part of Norse legend: eitr, a primordial poison from the depths of the earth.
    ‘Good. Better to be safe, eh?’ He looked down at her luggage; she had only one bag. ‘Is that everything?’
    ‘Yes.’ She smiled. ‘I lived in a village in Vietnam for eight years. I realised I do not need many possessions.’
    ‘Same here. I always travel light if I can. Learned that in the army – the less you have to lug about with you, the better. Here, I’ll take that.’ He picked up the bag. ‘Okay, we’ll get a taxi.’
    Natalia shook her head. ‘No, no, that will be expensive. We can take the … it is called the subway in New York, yes?’
    It was his turn to smile. ‘Yeah, it is – but we won’t be taking it.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because