Dangerous Deceptions: A Christian Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Collection

by Lisa Harris

  “I say stupid things when I’m nervous,” he admitted.

  “That makes two of us.” She snapped his helmet latches securely in place then turned toward the door and palmed a large rubber switch designed to open the first door of the airlock. “If someone broke the seal on the second door, this door won’t open.” She kept her eyes on the last barrier between them and the possibility of a horrendous death if Aiden’s concerns were real and someone had managed to breach the safety measures and gain entrance to the lab. Handling test tubes filled with a deadly pathogen was like handling nitroglycerin; the slightest misstep could set the virus free. The gasket seals released, the heavy door swung open, and the automatic lights flickered on.

  Rachel scanned the lab. The computer was dark. The biosafety cabinet appeared undisturbed. And to her relief, the door to the freezer where she’d stored the vials was shut.

  She stepped across the threshold. “We need to hurry. We might have got here first, but they could arrive any minute.”

  Aiden followed her. “Specimens in freezer?”

  “Yes.”

  He went to the freezer, stuck his gloved hand in, and pulled out the rack. “Where do you keep your insulated shipping containers?”

  “Second cabinet to your right. I’ll grab the slow-melt ice packs out of the bigger freezer.”

  A metal tray clanged on the floor as she returned with the packs a moment later. Rachel jumped with a start.

  “Found it.” Aiden held up a small cooler.

  “If you plan to store that virus for a long period of time, we should consider adding FBS to raise the serum concentration to a final level of twenty percent.”

  “Good idea.”

  To reduce the loss of the virus’s infectivity, she opted to pack the O-ring vials on wet ice. She sealed the cooler and taped it shut for good measure, then held up the tidy package as if she’d just boxed his leftovers. “Where do you plan to take them?”

  “I’m still working on that plan.”

  “You’re going to have to come up with something fast. We’re only going to have seventy-two hours of guaranteed virus viability at this point,” she said heading back toward the shower room in front of him.

  Two minutes later, he stepped out with a towel around his waist. “Need help out of your suit?” he asked.

  “I’ve got it.” She handed him the package then disappeared into the chemical steam and shut the door. Five minutes later, she was dressed once again in her cocktail dress and heels. She fingered the tangles from her wet hair and went to meet Aiden.

  Rachel held her badge to the hallway door and it opened. They stepped into the hall. They were halfway to the elevator when the doors opened. Aiden quickly pulled Rachel into a small alcove and out of sight.

  “Can you see who it is?” she asked.

  Aiden peeked around the corner. “It’s the security guard from the video, but this time he’s alone.”

  She pressed her back against the wall, trying to slow her breathing.

  So where was Moreno?

  “Is there a back door out of here?” Aiden whispered.

  “There’s an emergency exit two floors up. We can take the stairs.”

  Aiden grabbed her hand. “It might be too late. He’s coming toward us.”

  Chapter Five

  There’s more going on here than just a deadly virus.

  Aiden pressed his back against the wall and hugged the insulated container to his chest. Footsteps echoed against the tile as the armed man they’d seen on the security footage headed straight toward where they were hiding. His boss’s words kept running through his mind, but he was trying not to think about Shepherd’s warning, or what might have happened to Dr. Moreno. His biggest concern at the moment was getting Rachel safely out of here.

  A cell phone rang and the footsteps coming toward them paused.

  Aiden held his breath, waiting for the other man to make his next move. A moment later, footsteps sounded again, but this time they were heading away from them. They needed to move. Now.

  “What’s the fastest way out of this building?” Aiden whispered.

  “Stairs to our left.”

  He let out a sharp breath then peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. The man had turned back toward the elevators and was deeply involved in his phone conversation. Aiden squeezed her fingers, signaling for them to move. His initial plan was simple. All they had to do was get to his car in the parking garage, then get as far away from here as possible. After that they could figure out how to get some answers.

  Rachel stopped in front of a door, her hands shaking as she slid her badge across the access strip.

  A red light flashed.

  “What’s wrong?” Aiden asked.

  “I don’t know.” She swiped it again. “Come on, come on. . .”

  Aiden glanced in the direction of the elevators, feeling exposed. He couldn’t see the face of the security guard, but he could still hear him talking on his phone. If the guy finished his call and decided to turn back, he’d see them.

  A second later, the green light came on, and the door clicked open.

  “Two floors up, there’s a fire door that leads outside,” she said, easing the door open and slipping inside. “From there we can get to the back entrance of the parking garage.”

  He followed her to the metal staircase. Rachel scurried up the first flight of stairs ahead of him, then stumbled on the landing. He grabbed her elbow, trying to balance her as she reached down to adjust her shoe.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yes, but next time I’m chased by bad guys, heels aren’t the shoe of choice. I can’t even feel my toes anymore.”

  “We could—”

  “It’s fine.” She held up her hand, waving off any advice. “I just need to make it to your car.”

  She stopped again on the next landing. “This opens to a hallway. To the right is the fire door that leads outside.”

  Two more doors and they were outside where the dropping temperature would soon turn the light rain into ice. He glanced at her shivering figure. In their haste, she must have left her coat behind.

  Aiden pulled off his jacket and handed it to her. “You’re shaking.”

  “More from terror than the cold.”

  He helped her pull the tweed jacket close around her with his free hand, not waiting for another one of her excuses, then paused when she looked up at him. Her upper lip quivered. He could read the fear in her eyes, but there was also a note of determination. Why did she have to be so beautiful? Why did he have to notice?

  He turned away abruptly. “Which way to the garage?”

  “This way.”

  He followed her down the sidewalk toward the parking garage at the back of the connecting building, while placing another call to Shepherd. No answer. Frustration loomed again. He needed to talk to Shepherd. Needed his boss’s help with an exit strategy.

  Rachel stopped at another door and swiped her access card again in order to get inside the parking garage.

  “This place is like Fort Knox,” he said as the light turned green. “How did that guy manage to get into the lab?”

  “He has to have an inside connection. It’s the only way.”

  But who? The same person who had been hacking his communications from the field? There had to be more than one person behind this. Shepherd had told him not to trust anyone, but he needed to know more. The garage was quiet. It was late enough that only a couple of parked cars remained, including his rental.

  The elevator on the far side dinged and someone emerged.

  “Hold on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her back behind one of the cement columns as two men stepped out. He caught the profile of their Mr. X and felt his stomach churn. They were trapped. If they moved back toward the door where they’d entered the garage, they’d be seen. At the moment, there was no way to get to the car.

  “We need to call 911,” Rachel whispered.

  “
They won’t get here in time, and besides, we’d lose the virus, and we can’t afford that. We both know what will happen if it gets into the wrong hands.”

  “So what are our options?” she asked.

  “There’s a metro stop a couple of blocks from here, isn’t there?”

  “Two blocks away.”

  He glanced down at her feet. “And your shoes?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He peeked around the column. The men were having a heated conversation near his vehicle. If they started searching the garage, he and Rachel would be found before they could get to the car. Leaving by foot seemed like their best option.

  “I say we take a chance and get out of here,” she said.

  Aiden nodded, then grabbed Rachel’s hand. His foot kicked against a rock as he sped toward the door, and it ricocheted against the wall. So much for their stealthy exodus. One of the men shouted at them, but they kept running. Rachel managed to match his steps as they raced toward the door. A shot rang out, the bullet missing them by inches as it slammed into the cement wall next to them.

  Outside the garage there was a side street leading to a string of restaurants, most of which had already closed for the night. The men were yelling again, but it was obvious they weren’t sure which direction their prey had gone.

  Aiden pulled Rachel behind a dumpster and crouched next to her. With any luck, they’d lost them. She leaned against him in the darkness. He could feel her pulse pounding against his hold on her wrist as she tried to catch her breath. His other hand gripped the handle of the insulated cooler box. For the first time in his life, he felt pulled between two very important choices. He’d been deployed over a dozen times through the rapid response medical team he worked with. His team had been assigned to outbreaks of pneumonic plague, cerebral meningitis, and a long list of other diseases, always aware of the risks involved. He’d worked in dangerous conditions alongside infection prevention control specialists and his own emergency medical response team. But he’d never been shot at, or chased by armed men, or had such an intense desire to protect a woman he’d just met.

  The voices faded, but he hesitated to move for another few seconds. “I think we’ve lost them for the moment.”

  “The metro’s not far.”

  He followed her down the side street, making sure they stayed in the shadows so they weren’t caught in the light from the streetlamps.

  “We’re almost there.” She was breathing hard as she tugged something out of her purse then handed it to him. “I always carry an extra metro card for when my brother comes to visit. You’re going to need one.”

  He caught sight of a large post with an M marking the station then followed her down the escalator, his adrenaline still pumping. This late at night the loading platform was fairly empty, making it impossible to disappear into a crowd. But it also meant that whoever was after them couldn’t hide either. He scanned the passengers as they got off the escalator, but there was no sign of either of the men who’d been after them. Lights flashed along the platform as the train approached. Seconds later, they stepped on the subway.

  “Do you think they’re still following us?” she asked, stumbling into one of the seats facing the doors where they could watch anyone coming in or out.

  “I think we shook them.” He caught her gaze. “You okay?”

  “No, I’m not.” Rachel leaned against the back of the seat and closed her eyes for a few seconds. “Apparently, you were right. Someone is willing to kill for a super virus with the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic. Your boss warned you not to trust anyone, my boss is missing, and on top of that, my heel just snapped off.”

  Aiden looked down at her shoes. The sling-back pumps couldn’t be comfortable in a normal setting, and she’d somehow managed to run from a couple of bad guys in them in the middle of winter.

  She tugged on the bottom of his jacket. “I’m sorry I’m having a meltdown, but I’m not going to apologize for freaking out. Not after everything that’s happened today.”

  “I’m not asking you to.” He held out his hand. “Give me the good shoe.”

  “Why?”

  “Unless you want me to carry you off the metro and up the escalator when we reach our stop, I need you to be able to walk out of here on your own.”

  She frowned but handed him the shoe.

  A second later, he’d popped off the heel, giving her a matching set of broken shoes. “Saw that in a movie.”

  “These heels weren’t exactly cheap.”

  “I’ll buy you a new pair.”

  “On a researcher’s salary?” Her frown only deepened as he tried to read her expression. “Forget it.”

  “You’re mad.”

  “Yeah, I am mad, though not about the shoe, and not at you.” She rubbed the back of her neck, still frowning. “I’m used to dealing with tense situations in the lab. Deadly pathogens barely faze me. I respect them, and I’m careful, but they don’t send me spiraling out of control. All of this. I don’t like getting shot at. It reminds me of. . .”

  “Of what?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said, but from the sadness he saw flash across her face, there was more to her story. She was as complicated as any chemical formula and just as intriguing. “I just don’t like bad guys chasing after me.”

  “Or not knowing who to trust.”

  “Exactly.”

  “We’re going to figure this out.”

  “How?” She shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around herself. “How did a routine testing of a virus turn into me breaking my rules that never should have been broken?”

  “The only thing that makes sense is that whoever hacked into my digital transactions is after the virus.”

  “But who is it?”

  “I have no idea. Only a couple people knew I’d returned to the States. But with our online security compromised, I have no idea who knows what we’re dealing with at this point.”

  She rested her hand on top of the insulated box sitting between them. “What do we do?”

  “Not we. Me. I need to get you somewhere safe,” Aiden said, making a decision. Dr. Moreno might have dragged her into this, but this wasn’t her fight. And he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

  “Somewhere safe? Where would that be?” She shook her head. “We’re not supposed to trust anyone, but we also can’t keep running with this virus in our possession. Maintaining its integrity is essential if we’re going to find a way to stop this pathogen from spreading.”

  They needed a plan. “We’ll go back to my hotel. No one knows where I’m staying, so it will give you a safe place for now. Then, I don’t know. I’ll make some phone calls. See if I can get in touch with Shepherd. Track down your boss—”

  “Aiden. . .”

  “I see him.”

  The metro was pulling into another station. A man wearing black stood on the platform, same height and build as the man who’d shot at them. He was waiting for the train doors to open. The men couldn’t have tracked them here, or could they? His phone was just a cheap burner phone, but Rachel had a smart phone.

  “We need to get off,” he said as the man stepped onto the metro. “Stay close.”

  He grabbed her hand but didn’t move. Timing it so they were stepping off the metro a second before the doors slid shut behind them, so whoever was after them—if they really were after them—couldn’t follow.

  “You think that was one of them?” she asked as they hurried toward the escalator and up toward the street level.

  “I don’t know.”

  Shaking with outrage, Rachel stepped into the freezing night and yanked out her phone.

  “What are you doing?” Aiden asked.

  “Calling the police.”

  “No.” He took her phone, smashed it under his boot, then threw it in the trash can on the curb.

  “Hey!” She lunged for the trash can, but he snagged her arm.

  “Maybe we’re both overreacting, bu
t if they tracked us to the subway, then that means they’re tracking your phone.”

  “How do they even know who I am?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “So what do you propose we do?”

  “I need to talk to Shepherd. He’s got to have answers.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  Aiden ignored her question, refusing to consider that possibility. Instead, he surveyed the street, trying to orient himself. They were still a couple miles from his hotel, and on top of that, the rain had turned into a sleety mix. They needed to get off the street and out of the cold. The lights of an open café caught his attention.

  “When’s the last time you ate?” he asked.

  “I don’t remember. Why?”

  “We need to get out of sight until we have some answers. Come with me.”

  Chapter Six

  Sleet pellets pounded the windows of the diner Aiden had dragged her into. At least rain on the windows of the small café created a protective curtain between them and the bad guys. But Rachel felt like they were sitting ducks in a carnival booth. Easily picked off by the men with guns. Guys with no more qualms against doing harm than the drug lord who’d gunned down her father. And now, she and Aiden had foolishly allowed these evil men to chase them into a corner. Bad guys who’d do anything to get the virus.

  Heart still pounding, Rachel twisted the hem of her dress and watched water puddle on the black and white tiles of the diner floor.

  “Is your dress ruined?” he asked.

  “Probably,” eeked from between her chattering teeth.

  “Send me the bill.” He pointed at her mangled shoes. “For the heels and the phone too.”

  “Forget it. Those are the least of my worries right now.”

  “I know you’re afraid, but once I can hook back up with my team, everything’s going to be okay.”

  “You don’t know that.” She realized from the edge in her voice that she was more angry than afraid. Very angry. But mad as she was at the man who’d just dumped her phone into the trash, she was even angrier at herself for trusting him. Memories she’d fought to erase over the past decade surfaced. She’d heard gunfire coming from the river. She’d disobeyed her parents’ rules and left their cinderblock house in the Amazon jungle. The tragedy she’d witnessed when she peered through the foliage had changed her life, and that painful image had taught her to never make another move without thinking through every possible consequence of breaking the rules. She’d learned to value predictability and the security that came from knowing what was going to happen next.