Logan caught her minuscule wince and inwardly cursed. “Babe,” he called, waiting until she lifted her eyes to his. “Honest to God, I rarely did that. Hence the name.”
“Name?”
“Preacher.”
Biting the corner of her lip in concentration, she shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Logan. I don’t understand.”
“We have names we gave to each other. We rarely used our real ones. Sometimes it was based on a physical characteristic or personality trait. My last name is Bishop, so someone initially called me Preacher as a play on the religious title of Bishop. But, as they got to know me, especially the way I stayed more sober than drunk, more alone than banging a FrogHog…Preacher stuck. When I took this mission, I decided to take that as my last name for our cover.”
The important conversation was halted by the sound of cars in the driveway. Looking out, they viewed Milak, Rashad, and Nafisa alighting from their vehicles and moving into the house.
“I’m sorry, Viv,” he began, “we’re having an important discussion and get interrupted.”
Smiling, she nodded. “Yeah.” Standing, to walk over to the computers, she stopped and looked over her shoulder, grinning, “But for the record, Logan, when this is over, I’d really like to meet your family. I still think I may have just been waiting to meet you. There’s nothing you’ve told me that’s changed that.”
He watched her sit down at the table, open the laptops and begin searching the views as she picked up a pen and scribbled notes. Scrubbing his hand over his face, his heart lurched, knowing the full mission. He wondered if she would feel the same, if she knew what he was tasked to do. Once her part of the job was complete.
“Okay, something’s changed today.”
Logan looked up from his computer to Vivan’s scrunched face as she fiddled with the camera angle on her laptop. “What’s happening?”
“Up to now, they’d been cautious in the lab, but I’d determined that what they had was not highly contagious. They wore masks, but only after they had walked into the room without them. Put their gloves on in there as well. My guess, from the chemicals I’ve seen, they’ve been working with growing bacterium, but nothing airborne and certainly not lethal. Maybe practicing. Maybe looking for the best solution to increase growth productivity.”
“And today?”
“Overnight someone sealed the outside of the closed doorway with plastic. The three of them donned gloves, booties, lab suits, and masks before going in. They worked for about thirty minutes and then left again. See?”
She turned the laptop toward Logan and he observed Malik, Rashad, and Nafisa pulling off their protective lab garb and equipment and placing it in a plastic bag. Sealing the plastic covering around the door again, Malik took the bag and walked down the hall toward Akram, handing it off to him.
“Fuck,” Vivian breathed. “I wish I could get hold of that bag.”
“Let me see what I can do,” Logan said. He quickly stepped out the front door and moved to Vivian’s car sitting in the driveway. Popping the hood, he puttered around inside for a few minutes. Soon, Akram walked outside carrying the garbage bag and Logan waved before turning his attention back to Vivian’s car. Planning on following Akram, he growled as he watched the man place it in a metal drum and toss a match onto the contents. Fuckin’ hell!
Slamming the hood down, he turned as Vivian walked out onto the small porch. He was pissed about not being able to get to the bag, but seeing her put a smile on his face. He stalked over, stopping at the bottom step as she moved to the top.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she gave a little hop, wrapping her legs around his waist. Heedless of anything else going on, he kissed her, hard and wet. His tongue dove in, tangling with hers as their noses bumped.
She pulled away, giggling, as she encircled his neck with her arms. “I was going to come tell you I saw something else, but you looked like a man who needed a kiss.”
“You got that right,” he replied. “As long as I’m the only one you kiss like that.”
Shrugging, she said glibly, “Well, I don’t know about anyone else. I guess we’ll have to see who else I’m around—”
With a growl, he kissed her again as his hand smacked her ass. Climbing the steps, he carried her back through the house. Before he could get too far, she reached up and placed her hand over his lips as they moved in for another kiss.
“Hate to interrupt this, but I need to tell you what I saw when Akram went outside with the bag.”
“Right,” he agreed, setting her feet on the floor, steadying her as she regained her balance. He followed her to the table again, where he sat next to her, looking at where she pointed on the screen.
“Look there. They take off their compromised lab suits and give them to Akram. Now watch.”
He stared at the screen as Malik, Rashad, and Nafisa went into the kitchen. Taking two bottles out of one of the kitchen cabinets, Malik shook out several pills. Handing them to Rashad and Nafisa, he took two and then placed the bottle back into the kitchen cabinet. Farrah was standing to the side, pouring glasses of water for each of them. All three swallowed the pills before handing the glasses back to Farrah.
Hearing a car door slam, he and Vivian shared a look before he checked the outside camera, seeing the three climb back into their cars and drive down the road.
Shifting his gaze back to her, he said, “Viv, you’ve gotta break this down for me. What’s happening?”
“I can’t see what’s in those bottles, but my guess is that they’re some kind of antibiotic. Taken as a prophylaxis. As a preventative. If they were dealing with a virus, there would be no need. So, my guess, at this time, is they are working with bacterium. Now, which one, I’ve got no clue.”
“If you knew what antibiotic they were taking, would that narrow it down?”
Scrunching her face, she nodded slowly. “Yeah, but you’ve got to understand that it won’t tell me what it is, just maybe tell me what it isn’t.”
“This is Thursday. Tomorrow, they don’t work, since it’s Friday. But, today, Akram and Farrah usually go to the grocery store. I can get in and find out for you.”
“Logan,” she said, her eyes wide with fear. “You can’t go in that sealed room. Not now—”
“No, no,” he assured, “I mean, find out what pills they are taking.”
“Okay,” she said, her heart pounding with an unspoken fear.
“What is it, Viv?”
She let out a long breath. “Up to now, it’s been playacting. Watching a computer screen or out the window. Pretending to be something we’re not. Even setting up my lab in the shed. But this,” she pointed to the Zaman’s house. “You going in, hoping you don’t get caught. Actually going into the bad guys’ lair.” She swallowed audibly. “Now this seems real. And scary.”
Turning toward her, he placed his hands on her face, his warmth surrounding her cold cheeks. “Babe, I got this. This is nothing compared to what I used to do. This is, honest to God, like a child’s party. And, I promise, nothing will happen to you.”
“I’m not worried about me,” she whispered, her dark eyes still wide as they stayed pinned on his.
“Then you got nothing to worry about,” he promised, pulling her in for a kiss.
23
Cake walk. A fuckin’ cake walk.
Logan slipped into the back door of the Zaman’s house ten minutes after they left. The grocery was only a few minutes drive away, so if they forgot anything, they would have already returned. With Vivian on the lookout on the front porch, trying to be casual—and that thought made him grin—he knew she would call if needed. She had insisted on taking a cup of tea out on the porch and sitting in the dilapidated chair, with her eReader in her lap, keeping watch, her phone in her hand.
He wasted no time as he entered the kitchen, going directly to the cabinet. Opening it, he found two bottles and cataloged the location of them in his mind before turning them to face the front. Sna
pping pictures of each, he then opened each one and snapped pictures of what they looked like, knowing a different drug could be contained in the prescription bottle.
Replacing them, exactly the way he found them, he made a cursory check through the bathrooms and bedrooms. He had cameras in every room—fuck privacy when dealing with terrorists—but Viv did not know that. Pushing down the guilt at not being completely honest with her, he reminded himself she was on a need-to-know basis with the mission.
Seeing nothing else untoward, he moved back to the kitchen and out the door on the back side. Rounding the corner, he observed Vivian on the porch, her eyes never leaving the driveway. Sunglasses covered them, but he knew they were filled with worry. He jogged over, making it to the porch, before she let out a long sigh of relief.
Leaning over her chair, with his hands on the arms of the wobbly, wooden structure, he kissed her, faster than he wanted. “Jesus, babe, is this thing strong enough to hold up?”
“Barely,” she replied, “but I’m definitely not sure with your weight on it.” He grinned long and slow, turning her stomach into a mass of butterflies beating their wings. Whispering, she asked, “Did you get anything?”
“Yeah.”
“I was scared.”
“I know. But I’m fine. Gonna stay fine. Come on, let’s go see what I have.”
Once inside the house, they moved to the laptops as he uploaded the pictures taken. Soon, she was studying the bottle labels and matching them to the pills inside.
“Okay, they match the labels. We’ve got Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin. Both are antibiotics, but I’m going to have to do some research to see how they are possibly being used.”
“Right. I’m going to keep working here this afternoon, as well. Let me know what you find and then we’ll get ready for tomorrow’s trip.”
At the mention of the trip, her gaze jumped back to his. “Do you think we know enough about each other to pull off our cover with Iggie and Sadie?”
“First of all, I think they’ll be so excited about their mini-vacation, they won’t give a fuck what we know about each other. Second, for newlyweds, all we have to do is keep kissing and our cover is complete.”
“You are such a man,” she quipped.
“You know it, Viv.” Lifting her chin with his fingers, he kissed her, moving his mouth over hers, reveling in her sweet taste.
Watching the way his jeans fit over his ass as he walked—no, stalked—into the kitchen to grab a leftover slice of pizza, Vivian grinned to herself. Twisting back around to face her laptop, the smile slid from her face, knowing it was time to start back to work.
An hour later, she stretched her arms above her head, her neck and back aching from her inactivity.
“You got something, babe?”
Nodding, she waited until he sat down before she began her dissertation. “Okay, Doxycycline is an antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body. It belongs to the class of tetracycline drugs. It’s common and is often used to treat many different bacterial infections, such as acne, urinary tract infections, and even venereal diseases. Even dentists use it to treat gum disease. Since it was in Farrah’s name, I have a feeling it was used for a minor infection. How she’s managed to get so much…I’ve got no idea.”
“Go on,” Logan said, focusing on her discoveries, knowing there was little a terrorist could not get their hands on.
“Doxycycline is also used as a prophylaxis and can be used by researchers working with tularemia, among other bacteria. I even used it when doing some of my studies. It’s FDA approved and safe. Now, Ciprofloxacin is completely different. It is also an antibiotic, but is used to treat people who have been exposed to anthrax or even certain types of plague.”
“Fuckin’ hell,” he growled.
“It’s from the fluoroquinolone family of drugs. It can have serious side effects and should only be used for infections that can’t be treated with a safer antibiotic. And it is not FDA approved as a prophylaxis for tularemia, but if someone can’t take doxycycline...”
“Then they might have to take the harsher drug.”
“Exactly.”
“Can you tell who is taking what from the earlier video?”
“Funny you should ask that. I went back and reviewed it. Malik and Rashad both took the Doxycycline. Nafisa took the Ciprofloxacin.”
“Any ideas?”
Shaking her head, she scrunched her nose in thought. “Not really. We know that antibiotics can lose their effectiveness if taken over time. Could be she used Doxycycline a lot as a teen for acne. There’s no way of knowing, but for some reason, she feels it is safer for her to use the harsher drug.”
Sitting silently for a moment, curiosity finally getting the better of her, she asked, “So, where are we in all this?”
He studied her face for a moment, already learning her expressions. This one told him she was concerned, but about what, he was not sure. “You’re doing great, Viv. You’re figuring out that they are quite possibly working on bacteria and you are narrowing down the possibilities by using nothing more than visual clues. They won’t work tomorrow, so we can take our trip with Iggie and Sadie and have a nice break at a hot springs resort.”
“You think it will be our last break, don’t you?”
Nodding slowly, he replied, “Yeah. I think things are heating up and I’ll be able to get in there soon with your assistance. Once I do that, you’ll be busy figuring what they have while I keep working on what their plan is.”
“How?”
“Patched into all their computers and phones, babe.”
“And then you can arrest them…as soon as you know what they’re up to?”
“I’ll take care of it all.”
Smiling, she leaned back in her chair. “Good. Then we can get on with our lives.”
“Oh, my God, this is amazing!”
Vivian looked over at Sadie, sitting next to her in the back seats of the helicopter, and grinned at the other woman’s exuberance. “I was a nervous wreck when Logan first took me up, but I love it now.”
While Sadie continued to peer out of the window, exclaiming over the landscape, she looked toward the front where Iggie was in conversation with Logan. Smiling, she settled back in her seat, enjoying the vista below. So far, her fears about trying to convince Iggie and Sadie they were truly married had been for nothing. Grinning, she remembered how, when they arrived at the little airfield, Logan made sure he had his arm around her. He had kissed her as he buckled her in, too. She had just rolled her eyes at him, receiving a grin from him in return.
The Zamans came to mind, but she tried to push them out. Logan told her there was nothing they could do today, so she needed to just enjoy the weekend. Sadie’s hand suddenly grabbed her arm, shaking her out of her thoughts.
“Oh, my God. Did you see that? Lived here my whole life but never saw it from the air.”
Turning her attention back out the window, she watched the snow-capped mountains in the distance pass by and the crystal blue waters of the lake below. “It is gorgeous.”
“Preacher, you’re gonna love the lodge,” Iggie said, loud enough for them to hear in the back. “They got hot springs you can soak in, gonna feel like a sauna. Good food in the restaurant, and I was looking at the rooms on their website and they look nice. Got balconies that overlook the springs with the mountains in the background.”
“Sounds good, man,” Logan said, looking forward to spending time with Vivian that did not involve terrorists or sleeping on fuckin’ twin mattress pushed together on the floor. Calling in his codes to the Nome Airport, he eased them to the ground.
Watching Logan alight, talking to the manager in charge of the helicopters and then turning back to give a thumbs up to Iggie, Vivian followed Sadie out the door. Sadie and Iggie grabbed their bags and, as she reached into the back to get hers, a long, muscular arm came from the side and snagged it.
Logan whispered near her ear, “Babe, I cannot wait to get to the lo
dge with you. Don’t expect to come up for air the whole time we’re there.”
Twisting her neck, she looked up at him, her face near his neck. Lifting on her toes, she planted her lips there, right on his pulse, causing a swift intake of air.
“Oh, hell, Viv, you just got me hard as a rock.”
Giggling, she slid to the side, settling under his arm, with their bags on his other shoulder. “Then, lead on. I’m yours to command for the night.”
“Can’t ask for more than that, woman. Let’s go.”
24
Iggie had taken care of the rental SUV, so Logan piled into the back seat with Vivian as they made the short drive to the huge, log cabin lodge. Once they checked in, he almost dragged her along the passage to their room. With Iggie’s laughter and Sadie calling out the time to meet for dinner, he unlocked the door, swinging it open. Stepping inside first in order to do a perimeter check, as was his habit, his eyes were still viewing the room when Vivian ducked underneath his arm and gasped.
“This is gorgeous,” she cried out, twirling in the middle of the room. It was paneled, with one wall containing a sliding glass door leading out to the balcony. The heavy, wooden furniture included a king-sized bed, its posters made of logs. The bedspread in blues and greens added color to the dark, cozy room. She peeked into the bathroom, her breath leaving her in a rush. “Oh, my God, Logan. Come look.”
He stepped behind her, his hands on her shoulders as he viewed the private toilet, long counter, large shower and, in the corner, a huge, kick-ass jetted tub.
“I don’t have a bathing suit, but we don’t have to leave the room—umph!” she grunted as he scooped her up and stalked back to the bed, laying them both down.
“I’ve been hard since we got here, babe. We can explore the merits of the jetted tub later.”
Laughing, she planted her hand on the bed and sat up. Standing, she grinned as she said, “Allow me.” Bending, she grabbed one of his boots and undid the laces, pulling on the sides before sliding it from his foot.
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