Dranko clasped his hands together in excitement, “That’s great news. Great news, brother!”
“Don’t I know it? We got lucky. Very lucky he caught it as the strain was deliberately mutating itself to a weaker form,” Cooper answered.
Dranko nodded. “That’s good. I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. You ready?”
Cooper nodded in return, “Yeah. Shoot. I figured you had something bad from how you were banging on my door.”
“Well, the world has been on fire with the news you dropped on them. Half the world seems to be calling what you’ve said the biggest hoax since H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.”
Anger at being called untruthful, even by strangers, flashed across Cooper’s face, “And, what are the other half saying?”
“The good news is that they believe what you’ve put out there.”
“What’s the bad news?”
“They are really pissed off about it.” He paused, his eyes squinting, “And, I mean pissed off on a Biblical scale.”
Cooper’s eyes dropped to the floor, “Yeah, I was thinking about that very thing as I told Jake about what I’d learned and what I had done.”
Dranko nodded in agreement, “Losing a loved one is bad enough. When it’s been done on purpose, revenge is the first…and often last…thing people feel.”
Cooper moved past his friend, striding toward the kitchen, “I had to do it. The world deserves to know the truth, dammit!”
Dranko turned to follow him, “Look, brother, I ain’t arguing with you. I am just here to tell you the reaction to that truth, mainly so we can be prepared for it.”
Cooper drew his pistol from its holster, laid it on the counter, and leaned back against it, facing Dranko, “Yeah, I know. Keep going.”
Dranko settled in, legs in a wide stance and arms folded, “Like I was saying. The other half is pretty damn upset. On the foreign front, recriminations and demands for justice have already started pouring in to our government.” Dranko paused and averted his eyes from his friend’s.
Cooper looked exasperated, “C’mon. What’s the worse news? I can handle it.”
“So far, that’s been the official reactions. You have opposition parties in many countries screaming for retribution. Some of the most radical have already started calling for nuclear strikes on us. It’s already being called an unprecedented ‘worldwide genocide’ that an American thrust upon the world.”
Cooper exhaled loudly; his left hand ran raggedly through his black hair, while his left grasped the countertop until his knuckles turned white, “Jesus. I didn’t see that coming.” He shook his head once, as if to clear it.
“Yeah, me neither. On the domestic front, it’s similarly bad. There are renewed outbreaks of violence and rioting. However, they’ve shifted from happening near medical and food facilities to anything that is government related. Hell, the funniest has been a report of a firebombing at the U.S. Patent office!”
“I wish I was in the mood to laugh, because that is ridiculous,” Cooper intoned. “How’s our government responding?”
“As you might expect. They are denying any knowledge of the events in question, promising a swift investigation and severe and unprecedented punishment if they discover a shred of truth about the allegations against Admonitus and the Mr. Ethan Mitchell.”
Cooper’s eyes grew quizzical, “They haven’t announced that he’s dead?”
“Nope. But, you’d better be happy about that!”
“Why?” Cooper asked.
“Haven’t you thought about it? They’d tie it to you and add murder to the list of charges against you.”
Cooper’s face went slack in surprise, “I hadn’t thought about that. I guess I didn’t think of a lot of things that might happen by telling the world the truth.” Inwardly, he cursed himself for not having thought it all through. A wave of dizziness hit him and his arm cast about until it found a wall to steady himself with.
Dranko watched him and waited until he was all right before going on, “Well, friend, you can be impulsive sometimes. But, that’s why you have me around, to worry about all the angles for you!”
Cooper’s smile returned to his face, “Thanks, brother. But, you are the ugliest nursemaid I’ve ever seen.”
“Funny.” Dranko quickly held up his hand. “Oh, I almost forgot. The President is holding a full press conference in about a half hour about all of this, too.”
“Really? Well, we’ll have to tune in,” Cooper said, as a wry grin spread across his face. I wonder how they will try to spin themselves out of this one.
The sharp rap of a cane against his door interrupted Dranko’s response. Cooper walked to the door and before he could call out, a raspy voice shrilled from outside, “Let me in Cooper, or I’ll have to blow your door down!”
Cooper and Dranko exchanged bemused smiles. Lily Stott’s voice was unmistakable and the old woman’s wit and wisdom were legendary in the neighborhood. Her reputation had only grown since the outbreak of the plague.
“Coming ol’ darlin’,” Cooper said, doing his best to mimic Lily’s accent from her native Kentucky.
He opened the door and her diminutive frame greeted him, as did her expansive personality, “Ya know, if I was a few decades younger…or you a few decades older, that accent just might get me into a friendly way with ya, Coop.” Her piercing blue eyes lit up as she lilted the last few words.
Cooper couldn’t stop the blush that ran into his cheeks and he flashed a smile at his embarrassment, “Lily, I know you didn’t come over to charm me, so what can I do for you?”
“I came here for this,” she said as she rapidly closed the space between them and wrapped Cooper into a tight embrace. It was far tighter than he would imagine an eighty-something woman could pull off. He burst out laughing in surprise.
“What’s gotten into you, Lily?”
She held him in the bear hug for several seconds longer. Cooper cast a “help me” gaze at Dranko, who only smiled in return, arms crossed.
“You’re on your own, brother. I ain’t crossing swords with Ms. Stott,” he exclaimed.
At that, Lily released him, “Oh, fool’s feathers, you young boys can’t handle something you ain’t planned or predicted, can you?” She stepped back from Cooper so she could look him directly in the eyes before continuing, “That was to thank you for what you done. Paul told me this morning it was you who sent the world the truth about this terrible thing. Plain and simple. What you done was right. And, I know it didn’t come easy to go on and tell that truth.”
Cooper shrugged nonchalantly, “You know me, Lily. After what happened to my dad, I can’t do anything but tell the truth.” He choked on the last word, as he did every time he was reminded of how deceit had destroyed his father’s life. As a boy, he had watched his father wither away in prison, put there by the lies of other men. That wrenching experience had led Cooper to a life of absolute honesty; even in the most difficult of situations.
“Pig doodles! Don’t hand me that. You coulda kept quiet. I seen you do that, Cooper, because that ain’t the same as lying. At least to you it ain’t. I believe the good Lord would take a different view. No offense,” she said waving her hand dismissively.
“None taken. That’s true, I thought about just keeping quiet. I thought about it quite a bit.”
“I bet you done. So, don’t try to shirk off your hero name tag. I’m planting it on you. And, you know what?”
“What?”
“You know me. Once I aim to do something, it sticks like a dried up bug’s wing to flypaper!”