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Back The Nest Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Copyright page
  3. Introduction by Will Errickson
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. TREMORS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. SUSPICIONS
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. DREAD
  19. 1
  20. 2
  21. 3
  22. 4
  23. 5
  24. 6
  25. WITNESS
  26. 1
  27. 2
  28. 3
  29. ALERT
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. ENCOUNTER
  36. 1
  37. 2
  38. 3
  39. 4
  40. 5
  41. 6
  42. HAVOC
  43. 1
  44. 2
  45. 3
  46. 4
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. SEARCH
  50. 1
  51. 2
  52. 3
  53. 4
  54. 5
  55. CLASH
  56. 1
  57. 2
  58. 3
  59. 4
  60. 5
  61. 6
  62. 7
  63. COUNTERATTACK
  64. 1
  65. 2
  66. 3
  67. 4
  68. 5
  69. 6
  70. 7
  71. VICTORY
  72. 1
  73. 2
  74. 3
  75. 4
  76. 5
  77. 6
  78. 7
  79. 8
  80. 9
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. About the Author

At times like this the least said among them, the best. The sheriff quietly asked Craig to make a coffin. Meantime, Elizabeth and Bonnie had, with aching tenderness, wrapped the woman’s broken body in old curtains. The shroud was not clean, but it covered the terrible sight. The men, as if in a funeral procession, reverently carried the body to the empty second-­floor room and laid it on the sandy floor until the officials could decide how to handle the matter the next morning.

When Elizabeth called the Task Force to dinner, they ate without appetite. In the general quiet, they became conscious of the noisy way Russell Homer stowed away his food. He didn’t slurp, but he bent over his plate and sucked food into his mouth, swallowing with an audible gulp. It was a little irritating, but at the same time somehow comforting, a reminder of normal Yarkie days when there was nothing more troublesome to be worrying about than one’s manners and what herbs to put in a fish chowder.

4

FOUR

That night on their side-­by-­side cots, Elizabeth and Bonnie were dismally aware of the missing bed. It had been moved into Peter Hubbard’s room for Elias Johnson to use. With families gone off the island, the other men remained in the lighthouse for an early start to hunt the roach nest at daybreak. They were in sleeping bags on the laboratory floor, except for Ben Dorset who was spending the night with the volunteers in the firehouse. Stephen Scott was in his own home, feeling ill, he said.

The overall plan was clear and agreed. With dawn, they could scout the pirate cave Elias Johnson had mentioned that afternoon. Assuming the woodland would be cooled by the rain that had fallen on and off, the forest should be safe enough for bringing in cans of gasoline. If they found the nest, Peter Hubbard would use carbon dioxide—in gaseous form—to immobilize the insects while he studied them. Then the flame would put an end to the scourge. Hubbard believed that most if not all of the roach armies would have swarmed back to their hub, especially after the disturbance of the forest fires. If there were individual strays, they could be dealt with in time, probably with baited traps.

On the other hand, if the nest was not discovered, then Elias Johnson was to call in the U.S. Public Health Service. Officials would have to be advised of Wanda Lindstrom’s body and of the mysterious disappearances on the island. It was going to be a tangled nightmare of red tape, Johnson thought as he turned on his cot with a sigh of despondency.

Peter Hubbard had remained silent about “Plan B.” Time enough to interpose it if it became necessary. It would have been a little easier with Wanda’s help, but he could manage it alone.