Viable Threat

by Julie Rowe

  “I’ll check the situation,” Hall said as he hopped out and jogged down the side of the road and out of sight.

  A minute later, he came back and went to River’s side of the van. He rolled the window down.

  “Traffic is backed up a couple of blocks, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get unblocked for a while.”

  “Shit,” River glanced at Ava, then said, “Okay, let’s park here and walk in.”

  They all got out of the vehicle and strode at a not-quite jog toward the center of the chaos. River took the point position, with Ava and Palmer right behind. Hall and Castillo brought up the rear. People gave them a wide berth as they moved.

  The guard herded them through a smaller checkpoint and had them wait for Dozer to meet them.

  “Any leads besides the GPS?” Dozer asked.

  “We’ve got Harris’s laptop and clothing,” River said, handing them over. “I’m hoping he didn’t manage to delete anything permanently. The clothing might be able to tell us where he’s been.”

  The agent took the bag of stuff with the air of a man who had a lot on his mind. “Is the senator sick?” The question was directed at Ava.

  “I think so. He’s showing most of the symptoms.”

  “Damn.” For a moment, Dozer stared at the ground, then he glanced at the two soldiers. “You gentlemen should report back to your command.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said in unison. They gave River a respectful nod, and another to Ava, then left.

  “Sergeant River,” Palmer said, rubbing his head with one hand. “I’m sorry, but I think the adrenaline wore off. My head…”

  “Get yourself checked out,” Ava told him. “You might have a concussion after all.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry,” the police officer said with a wince.

  “We’ve got a triage station for personnel working the emergency setup over by the decontamination area,” Dozer told him. “They’ll get you sorted out.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Palmer headed out after giving them all a wave.

  Dozer regarded River and Ava for a long moment, then said, “Until we get a fresh lead, we’re at a standstill with the investigation. I’d like the two of you available to head out on a moment’s notice. Eat, and get some sleep. You might get half an hour or several hours, but take the downtime while you can.” He turned and went back into the hospital.

  “Let’s hit decontamination,” River said, nudging her in that direction.

  “I’m not all that hungry,” Ava protested.

  “Eat anyway.”

  They got cleaned up, grabbed a couple of MREs and water, then ate as quickly as possible. The clean room was full of people, some eating, others sleeping on the cots that filled every available space.

  River didn’t have to say anything to Ava—she followed him out of the clean room and over to Henry’s corner of the area. She knocked and asked if they could use his tent to rest in again.

  His answer was to come out to talk to them. The guy looked as if someone had gutted him.

  “What happened?” Ava demanded. “Another explosion? What?”

  “The number of deaths have really jumped.” Henry told them. “Campus security did a sweep of all their buildings. They found a lot of bodies in several dorms. The death toll is now approximately three hundred and forty-two dead and seven hundred sick.”

  “Approximately?” How could there be an approximate number? Either a person was dead or not.

  Ava gasped and covered her mouth, her hands shaking.

  “There are so many people coming in now that it’s difficult to get a firm count.” Lee’s laugh was devoid of humor. “They’ve run out of space in the morgue.”

  River wanted to let loose a few colorful words, too, but Ava’s cool pallor and distress told him he needed to keep that shit in his mouth. “We’re on standby until further notice.”

  “Right,” Lee said, looking around. “What the hell, use my tent. It’s where Rodrigues will look for you first anyway.”

  “Thank you, Henry.” Ava’s voice was a little wobbly, and that was enough to cripple River where he stood.

  She went into the tent, and he followed.

  “Is there anything worse than this?” Her voice was barely audible.

  Finally, he had an answer for a question. “A complete and utter clusterfuck.”

  “Yes. Okay.” She nodded. “That. So, how do we deal with a clusterfuck?”

  He snorted. “You just do.”

  “I thought you guys always had a plan.”

  “The situation is too fluid for any plan to last longer than the next new piece of information or event.”

  “So, no plan?”

  “You plan for the worst.” He smiled at her. “Good thing we’re dressed for it.”

  Ava sighed. “Do you ever not have a comeback?”

  “Sure. That would have been the last time I got shot.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You guys are such a pain in the ass when you’re like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “Making jokes about everything.”

  “Hey, it’s the only way to stay sane in my line of work.”

  “Eh,” she said, her voice squeaky. “I’m not convinced.”

  “Don’t hospital staff make jokes sometimes?” River asked. “Maybe even when it’s not politically correct?”

  “Yeah, but we tend not to do it when we can be overheard by nonhospital staff, ’cause we don’t like to get, you know, sued.”

  “At least no one is shooting at you.”

  “Depends on how you define shooting.”

  “Rifle, pistol, bullets. How do you define it?”

  “Syringes, needles, medication.”

  River snorted, old disappointment in the belief that medicine could cure all a person’s ills a grinding ache in his gut. “Yeah, all you need to solve a problem is the right magic potion.”

  “Bullets are a better way?” she asked, the challenge in her tone sharp enough to put a metallic taste in his mouth. “How many problems can you solve with violence?”

  She couldn’t be that naive. “Sometimes force can only be met with force.”

  “That’s not problem solving, that’s war.”

  “What do you think we’re in the middle of? A picnic? A party?” He glanced at her, noting her crossed arms and furrowed forehead. “Terrorism has been a part of every war since the beginning.”

  “So has using bacteria and viruses as weapons,” she retorted. “People have been dipping arrowheads into feces in a deliberate attempt to infect their targets with lethal pathogens for thousands of years. In the fourteenth century, the Tartars threw plague-infected corpses into the city of Kaffa to cause an epidemic. The Russians did the same thing to Reval, Estonia, in 1710. Weapons that can only be combated by your so-called magic potions.”

  “It’s an underhanded way to fight a war.”

  “Is there a good way?” She shook her head. “These people aren’t going to follow the Geneva Convention or any other rules of engagement. They want to win, even if they have to kill everyone on both sides to do it.”

  “It’s fucking crazy.”

  “Yes.” She sat on the cot and leaned toward him. “So, how does a crazy person think if they’re trying to kill everyone?”

  Unfortunately, he knew the answer to that. “They use a bigger bomb.”

  “What kind of bomb?”

  “Why settle for just one?” He shrugged. “If it were me, I’d get as many bangs in for my buck as possible.”

  Ava gasped, as if he’d stabbed her in the chest with a red-hot blade. “The more the merrier, huh?” she asked, sour disillusionment twisting her words. “Kill as many people as you can. That’s the goal?”

  River stared at her for what felt like a long time. It was probably only a few seconds, yet it seemed like forever, before he said, “No. Fear is the goal. Killing in large numbers is part of how they drive the fear.”

  “Why use an infec
tious disease as a weapon? Wouldn’t blowing things up be enough?”

  “An outbreak and explosives have two things in common,” River said softly. “Shock and awe. They’re loud, large, and flashy. One is quick, the other slower, leaving no place safe.”

  She stared at him. “That’s just…evil.”

  “And they aren’t done yet.”

  “So, more explosions?”

  “Likely.” He nodded. “It’ll be something visible and shocking.”

  “Okay,” she said, sounding like she was choking on the word. “I’m scared now.”

  He glanced at her. “No, you’re not really scared yet.”

  “How do you know? We’ve known each other all of what?” She looked at her watch. “Not even twenty-four hours.”

  “Have you ever been certain you were about to die? Absolutely sure?”

  She blinked. “No.”

  “Then you haven’t been scared enough.”

  She wet her lips. “So, scare me.” It was a challenge and a dare.

  He moved to stand in front of her, then crouched down so he could easily run the back of his fingers down her face. “Scaring you is the last thing I want to do.”

  The things he wanted to do to her, with her, required time, privacy, and a large bed. He tried to imagine how long it would take to work her out of his system and…couldn’t. She delighted him in every way from her soft skin, deep eyes, and sharp intelligence to her stubborn strength of will. She was his match.

  Fear rolled over him in a dark, icy tide. Violence was his business, and it followed him with the mercilessness of a shadow, tainting everything he touched and every thought in his head.

  He didn’t deserve her, not with the ghosts of his fragmented memories haunting him, ambushing him. He was damaged. Wounded in mind and body.

  But, some of his missing memories had surfaced. He’d finally let go and trusted someone—her—in a way he hadn’t been able to since he’d been kicked in the head. His memories were coming back.

  Could he have more than just a day-to-day existence? What if he left the Army? It had crossed his mind more than once, but with nowhere to go, it had just been a passing thought. What if he looked for work in…Atlanta…where the CDC was headquartered?

  She covered his hand with hers, keeping it trapped against her soft skin. “Every time I think I understand you,” she whispered, “you go and say something that confuses the heck out of me.”

  He shrugged, enjoying the feel of her under his hand in a way that satisfied something ravenous deep at his core. “I’m a simple soldier.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “No,” she said slowly. “No, you’re not.” She leaned forward and kissed him.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  11:22 a.m.

  River froze under her lips.

  Surprise.

  She’d certainly surprised herself. There’d been no internal dialogue or decision-making process, just a bone-deep, heart-deep need for his touch she refused to deny herself. Not if things were as dangerous as River claimed they were.

  And they were. So many sick. So many dead. With no end in sight.

  She wanted him, wanted the pleasure, the care she knew he would give her, even if was just for an hour. It would hurt to see him walk away when all this was over, if they both survived, but it was a risk she was willing to take.

  He still hadn’t moved, and she almost smiled at the idea of seducing him. She’d never seduced anyone before. How hard could it be?

  She ran her tongue across his bottom lip, and he detonated, his hands yanking her off the cot and onto his lap.

  Not hard at all.

  Her knees landed on either side of him, proving to her that some parts of him were very hard indeed.

  He took her mouth and plundered it with an urgency that made her crazy in return. She wanted him inside her, not his fingers, his cock. She rocked against him and bit his bottom lip at the same time.

  He growled low, almost silently, but the vibration went all the way through her, as he shoved his hand down the back of her pants. His long fingers caressed and teased her, making her squirm and moan.

  “Shh,” he whispered in her ear. “There are people all around us, and those little sounds you’re making are killing me.”

  She nipped his earlobe, then sucked on it, and he jerked beneath her, his breathing becoming choppy. His fingers were busy coaxing cream from her body, but she wanted more than that.

  Ava jerked herself away, checked the tent’s closure. Zipped up tight. Giving River a grin, she tore off her clothes, all of them.

  His mouth fell open as he took her in. She didn’t give him time to protest or try to talk her into putting some of her clothes back on. She went to her knees in front of him and attacked his pants.

  “Ava,” he breathed, his hands coming up to cup her breasts, tease her nipples. “Fuck me, you’re gorgeous.”

  “Yes, please,” she told him in a voice so soft she was almost mouthing the words. She tried to undo the button on his pants, but he brushed her hands away and undid them himself.

  He shoved his pants and briefs down his legs until they were just above his knees. “One of us needs to be able to react quickly if someone comes,” he said in that soundless whisper. He yanked a condom out of a small pocket in his pants and rolled it on.

  Ava didn’t comment; she was too busy staring. She hadn’t been with anyone since Adam, and River’s cock was every bit as large as she’d thought it was when she’d stroked him to orgasm.

  His hands pulled her toward him, breaking her concentration, and she reached for him. When her hand wrapped around him, he hissed soundlessly.

  She straddled him again, kissing him as she guided him with one hand. He entered her, slowly, carefully, at first, but his thrusts gathered momentum, and soon he was all the way in. He hit places inside her that made her want to moan and cry. Bending her backward so he could take one of her nipples into his mouth, he sucked hard while he loved her.

  Her climax seemed to come out of nowhere, detonating a chain reaction of pleasure that had her biting down on the heel of her hand to keep from screaming. River increased his pace, taking her harder until his own orgasm shuddered through him.

  For a few moments, they rested together, their arms around each other, and it was so easy, so comforting, she wanted to stay that way for the rest of her life.

  Voices outside the tent, none too close but audible nonetheless, tore her out of her fantasy and dropped her back into cold, cruel reality.

  River gave her one last, lingering kiss, then lifted her off him. While she dressed, he got the condom off and added it to a small bag of garbage near the tent’s door.

  Putting on her clothes felt awkward, and her body shivered in the chill air. What had she just done?

  River came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, you okay?”

  “Yes, just…wow, that was so inappropriate. Anyone could have walked in on us.”

  His body shook. He was laughing.

  “It’s not funny.” She elbowed him.

  He kept grinning. “Sweetheart, you didn’t give me any options. You had your clothes off so fast, I haven’t recovered yet.” He kissed her neck. “I probably never will.”

  “You could have…protested.”

  “Not a chance. You’re a fucking bombshell.” He kissed her again. “Come on, let’s get some rest.”

  He nudged her toward the cot, and she lay down while River stretched out on the mat Henry had lent him the last time they rested here.

  River hadn’t slept well then.

  “Are you okay down there?” she asked, peeking over the side of the cot.

  His eyes were closed, but he smiled. “Yeah, you have well and truly tamed my ghosts for today.”

  Ava rolled onto her back. What did that mean?

  The next thing she knew, someone was calling her name.

  Ava sat up in a rush and stared at the man poking his head into the tent. Agent
Dozer.

  “You awake?” he asked.

  “Yeah, yeah,” River said, also sitting up. His position on the floor put his head just above her waist. He glanced at her. “We’re up.”

  “We’ve caught a break,” Dozer said with a satisfied grin. “Police patrol spotted the senator’s car at a motel.” Dozer pulled his head out of the tent.

  River stood, already wearing his boots. She had to put hers on.

  “You okay?” he asked her.

  “Yeah. How long did we sleep?”

  He checked his watch. “Only about thirty minutes.”

  “Huh. I feel oddly refreshed.”

  River’s grin was massive.

  She shook a finger at him and mouthed, “Don’t you dare take credit.”

  He just kept smiling.

  Dozer was waiting for them with Private Castillo about ten feet away from the tent.

  “The police said there was no activity at the motel,” Dozer told them. He nodded at Castillo. “He’s all I can spare right now.”

  “No problem,” River replied. “We’ll check this out and let you know what we find.”

  Ava watched their faces as they talked and wondered at the calm she saw. “You think he’s dead, don’t you?”

  “Only if he’s lucky,” River muttered.

  Dozer didn’t respond, just glanced at her before saying to River, “Keep in touch.”

  “Our vehicle is this way,” Castillo said, starting out at a fast walk. Ava grabbed the equipment she needed to take samples, if there were any to take. River had his rifle, a handgun, and at least two knives she could see. Castillo was armed with another rifle, not quite as fancy as River’s.

  They donned respirators, gloves, and safety glasses, then left the clean area for wherever their vehicle was waiting. Castillo already had the address, so he drove.

  No one said anything on the drive to the motel. It was all Ava could do to keep herself calm. She would be cautious and careful. Everything else was out of her hands. Breathing in and out in a slow, even pattern finally helped to loosen the fist around her throat.

  The motel wasn’t a very inviting-looking place. 1970s-era design with an interior courtyard badly in need of fresh paint and new concrete.

  Castillo drove in at a crawl and parked a few spaces down from the only luxury vehicle in sight. There were a few other cars in the lot, but they were old, battered, and dirty. If the kid was trying to hide, he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. His dad’s shiny car stood out like a diamond in a coal pile. “Do you think he parked in front of his motel room?”