by Julie Rowe
“Besides, you killed my friends, my battle. Men I’d served with for a long time. I figured I was owed a few more bodies.” He glanced at Ruby. “People who matter to you.”
Another mercenary. Not good.
Ruby shook like she was crying. He squeezed her tighter, his mouth full of regrets he refused to name where this asshole could hear them.
A small hand slid around his waist, into the back of his pants, and pulled out the gun he had tucked back there.
Hot damn. In pain, exhausted and terrified, she still had the presence of mind to take up their defense. That shouldn’t give him wood, but his cock had other ideas.
Okay, moron, what are you going to do to help?
“Who hired you?” Henry demanded. “Who the fuck would hire you to kill innocent people?”
The smile gave way to a grimace of disgust. “The CDC is guilty of a lot of crimes committed all over the world. They bring disease and death. They control too many weapons. We were pleased to find like-minded people to work with.”
A knot formed deep in Henry’s gut. Tight and hot, it twisted and twisted, tighter and tighter. “We?”
The mercenary smiled again. “Horrible, isn’t it? Not knowing when the next attack will come, or who might betray you.” He lifted his gun and aimed it at Henry’s head.
This was it. The asshole was done talking and was ready to finish what he started.
“No!” Ruby shouted. She brought the gun around, but she wasn’t going to make it in time.
A shot rang out from next to them. Nate had his weapon aimed at the mercenary.
The ass dropped to the ground as if all the muscles in his body had turned liquid.
People screamed and scrambled to get away, but Henry ignored them.
The woman who’d been shot lay on the floor a few feet away, moaning and hanging on to her leg. A nurse stopped to check on her.
“Done shooting?” the nurse asked acidly.
“For now,” Nate answered. “But I wouldn’t hang around if I were you.”
“Good to know.” She pulled out a rolled bandage from a pocket and wrapped the woman’s leg. “How did you get a gun into the hospital?”
She thought he was staff.
“I’m sort of law enforcement.”
“Of course you are.” She coaxed the woman to her feet and helped her limp toward the exit.
Henry picked Ruby up again and got to his feet.
Nate stood as well. “Are you okay?” he asked his sister.
She stared at him with her mouth open slightly and a sheen of sweat on her face. “Yeah.” She glanced at her brother. “Why did you wait so long? He could have shot us at any time during that fun little conversation.”
“I wanted to see if I could get some information and took a chance.” He shrugged. “It worked out okay.”
“Okay?” She took in a deeper breath. “Okay?” She tried to get out of Henry’s grasp, but an unhappy squeak came out of her mouth, and she immediately abandoned the attempt. “Ouch,” she said with significantly less energy than before. “I think I might have pulled some stitches.”
“We need to keep moving,” Nate said.
People were giving them a wide berth, but who knew if another mercenary would surface out of the crowd?
“I need to take this IV out first.” He glanced at the body. “Check that guy for ID and anything interesting he might have on him.”
Nate hurried toward the dead man while Henry searched and found four Band-Aids.
“It was nearly finished anyway,” he said as he set Ruby down on the floor and pulled the IV out of the back of her hand. He put one of the Band-Aids over the hole and pressed down for a few seconds.
“Ready?” he asked Nate.
“Yeah,” the other man said, leaving the body and coming over. He held out a driver’s license. “I don’t think this is his real ID.”
Henry looked at it and noted the name and address. John Smith’s accent had been South African. If he was from Indiana, Henry would eat his second-best prosthetic. “Thanks.”
Henry picked Ruby up again and headed toward the exit. A door with a bright-red exit sign came into view.
Nate went ahead, took a look through the door, then nodded. “What color is your truck?”
“Gray.” Henry handed him the keys. “I parked it in the far corner, close to the exit.”
Nate opened the door, and the sirens of several police, fire, and ambulances added to the chaos. He looked around, then motioned for Henry to go through. Police and firemen were on their way up the stairs as they went down, but other than a quick glance at them, they were ignored.
They fit right in with all the other people trying to get away.
River’s truck was parked right where he’d left it. Nate ran ahead to unlock and open the passenger side door. As soon as Henry slid inside with Ruby on his lap, Nate got in the driver’s seat, started the vehicle, and drove out. Another set of emergency vehicles—a fire truck and ambulance—whipped past them to enter the parking lot. Another set wasn’t far behind.
Henry looked out the window and for the first time saw why.
The hospital was on fire. No obvious flames, but a lot of smoke billowed out of one side of the building. People had to have died in the two explosions.
“Where am I going?” Nate asked.
“I need to check. Head toward CDC headquarters for now.”
Henry pulled out his phone, which now sported a cracked screen, and punched in Dr. Rodrigues’s number.
“Report.”
She was in full battle mode, no niceties or bullshit.
“We’re clear of the building and mobile. Where do you want us to go?”
“Ruby?”
“She’s good.” He looked down into her too-pale face. “A real trouper.”
“Bring her here. The surgeon general wants all of our people at HQ until the situation isn’t at DEFCON One anymore.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He hung up the phone and said to Nate, “CDC headquarters is our destination.”
“Why there?”
“Orders from the SG,” Henry replied.
“The surgeon general’s office or the surgeon general himself?” Ruby asked.
“She said surgeon general.”
Ruby’s face was pale and her lips pinched.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” One hand cupped his cheek. “We’re not safe yet.” She sighed. “I’m sorry, I was an idiot to try and handle them on my own.”
“Don’t apologize for being placed in a no-win situation by a bunch of psychos,” he growled at her. “You did the best you could within some very fucked-up parameters.”
This time her smile lit up her face. “You can’t fool me with that scary snarl anymore. I know your secret.”
“I have a secret?”
“You care too much. You appear grumpy, but it’s because you can’t keep all the people you think of as family safe from everything, so you growl and grouch and coerce everyone into doing what you want.”
“It’s for their own good. Most people don’t have enough situational awareness, and our people are often in dangerous places.”
“Exactly.” Her smile faded. “I should have trusted you.”
“You did trust me.”
“Not enough. Not when I needed to.”
Chapter Nineteen
8:03 p.m.
They arrived at CDC HQ, and Ruby was quickly brought up to the floor containing most of the offices for the Outbreak Task Force. She was taken into an office at the opposite end of the hall to Dr. Rodrigues’s office.
The room had been stripped of all its furnishings, which had been replaced with a couple of cots and chairs.
Henry set her down o
n one of the cots.
Nate crossed his arms over his chest and held up the wall next to the door while he watched Henry check her wounds.
Gunner walked in. “You and you,” he said, pointing at Henry and Nate. “Go get checked out by my partner, then go eat something.”
“I’ll stay here,” Henry said in his gruff voice.
“Rodrigues’s orders.” Gunner grinned at him. “Out.”
They went, but not before both men gave Gunner the stink eye.
“You enjoyed that far too much,” Ruby told him.
“It’s the little things,” he said, his grin turning into a real smile. “Do you mind if I check your wounds?”
“Henry just looked, but I suppose you’re under orders.”
“Correct.”
Gunner checked her injuries and vitals, then added them to the digital tablet. “Okay, you look good. I recommend you get as much rest as you can for the next week or so. Rodrigues probably won’t be able to talk to you for a couple of hours at least. After that, home.”
“So, that’s it? Everything’s…good?”
He frowned. “Why do you sound so skeptical?”
“Because every time I thought we were safe, it turned out we weren’t.”
He grunted. “Okay. I’ll grant you that.”
“And we still don’t know who’s paying the mercenaries’ bills.”
“Point to you.”
“Or how they’re getting their information.”
He stopped making notes on his tablet and looked at her. “When you put it like that, we start looking incompetent.”
“No, we’re just not seeing the connections.” Frustration clawed at her insides. “Maybe we’re looking in the wrong haystack.”
Gunner was wearing his thinking face.
“That is an excellent observation.” He put his tablet away. “Mention it to Rodrigues. Maybe she has info you don’t.”
“It would be good to talk about it with someone who doesn’t have an overdeveloped protective streak.”
Gunner grunted. “Don’t be fooled by her let’s-get-it-done attitude. She’s as protective as any mother bear. She’ll be by to talk to you soon. Have a nap while you wait.” He left the room, closing the door behind himself.
Ruby lay back on the cot. A nap sounded pretty good. She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but instead of drifting off, she ended up staring at the ceiling.
Her body hurt, but that wasn’t what was keeping her too keyed up to sleep.
Something was missing.
No, that wasn’t it. Someone was missing. Henry.
The door to the office next to the one she was in opened and closed. Footsteps came to her door. The door popped open, but the man who came inside wasn’t Henry.
He took two steps inside, then stopped. “Oh.” He peered at her. “Ms. Toth? Ms. Ruby Toth?”
He was of average height, plain features, and balding. He looked familiar. Where did she know him from?
He continued to stare at her as a bead of sweat rolled down his face.
She realized he was waiting for her to answer.
“Oh, sorry, I’ve kind of had a bad couple of days.”
“Yes, you look…” He paused and winced. “May I speak with you for a few moments?”
“About?”
“I understand you were in a CDC building that suffered the gas leak and blew up. I’m wondering if any of the rare specimens survived?”
That was a hell of a question to ask.
Her thoughts must have registered on her face, because he hurried to add, “I ask because the company I work for was looking forward to receiving several samples of some of the more rigorous viruses. Given the current uncertainty with the containment of the super measles and other diseases, we’ve been encouraged to speed up testing of our antiviral drugs.”
“Oh, well, that sounds logical.” Not. It was none of his business, yet here he was creeping around the CDC HQ looking for gossip? “But I’m afraid that sort of information isn’t within my job scope to provide.”
“Oh no, no, I’m not asking for privileged information, just hoping to hear that those samples survived.” He turned to look at the door behind him, and as her view of his profile changed, she remembered where she’d seen him.
Mr. Hoffman. He’d whispered into the general’s ear at the meeting.
He didn’t work for the CDC.
How the heck had he gotten in here?
Hoffman wrung his hands together for a couple of seconds. “Um, I heard that some of the terrorist people died in the explosion. Is it true?”
“Who told you that?”
“Oh, well…I didn’t hear it per se. I may have overheard the surgeon general mention it during another high-level meeting.”
The surgeon general talked about casualties in a meeting attended by this man?
The surgeon general or his office kept coming up.
There was an old adage by the spy novelist Ian Fleming her parents liked to quote: Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
They were deep in enemy action territory, and she was wounded, exhausted, and unarmed.
Shit.
She pulled out her phone and texted Henry. One short, four-letter word.
Hoffman moved faster than she expected, charging at her and slapping the phone out of her hand.
“Ow, what was that for?” she asked, pretending to be clueless.
Hoffman pulled a handgun out from under his suit jacket, no longer playing the apologetic, polite person. “You have a very expressive face, Ms. Toth. Disgust doesn’t suit you.”
“This isn’t personal,” he said to her as he aimed the weapon at her. “You seem like a nice enough girl, but business is business.”
No, no, no. She had to stop him, but she was in no position to defend herself. So she did the only thing she could think of.
“Why?” she asked, putting every ounce of her terror into the one word.
He hesitated, maybe to explain, maybe her question confused him, or maybe he’d retained just enough compassion that the fear in her voice reached him for that moment. Whatever the reason, he paused.
The door swung open hard and fast. Muscled arms wrapped around Hoffman from behind, jerking his gun up. It went off, but the bullet went through the window instead of hitting her. The noise made her jump, and her whole body responded with a deep spear of pain that seemed to reach every nerve she had.
Hoffman struggled to bring the gun down, but the man behind him was stronger. A hand dug into Hoffman’s wrist, and he cried out in pain and dropped the weapon.
Hoffman shoved his attacker backward, or he tried to. Instead, the attacker half pulled him out of the room, twisting them around so she could see that it was Henry who’d saved her life. Again.
Someone shouted, and the fighting men disappeared from view. She tried to sit up, but they were out of sight.
Thumps hit the wall several times.
More people came running over, and a minute or two, and a whole lot of swearing later, Henry came into the room.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Hoffman appeared in the doorway, struggling with the two security guards who were trying to lead him away. “I’m not going down alone,” he snarled. “I can tell you who’s behind the FAFO.”
“Oh?” Henry said, sounding only mildly interested.
“Give me immunity and I’ll tell you everything.”
“You’re too late,” Henry said, his tone smug. “We already know everything.”
Hoffman’s eyes bulged, and he tried to jerk out of the guards’ hands, but they hauled him away.
“It’s the surgeon general, isn’t it?” Ruby asked.
Henry turned around and came over to her cot. He reached out but di
dn’t quite touch her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice sounded watery. She frowned for a second before asking, “Is anyone else going to try to kill me today?”
“Fuck, I hope not. It’s getting really old.” He rotated his shoulders and wrapped his hands around the edge of her cot. “Or maybe I am.” His knuckles were white.
“It was the surgeon general, wasn’t it?” she asked again.
“Yeah. Stupid bastard.”
“Is Ruby okay?” Dozer asked as he entered the room and looked Henry and her over.
“I’m fine,” she said. “But I’d rather not stay in this room.”
Dr. Gunner stuck his head through the open doorway. “Bring her into my office. There’s room for her in there, and Joy and I can keep our two pairs of eyes on her.”
“Three pairs of eyes,” Henry corrected. He stood tall as if he were addressing his troops and they were about to go into a battle they weren’t sure they were going to win.
“You’re not even supposed to be here,” Gunner argued.
“I can sleep on the fucking floor. She’s not going anywhere without me.”
“Maybe I should go somewhere else. Use cash, stay in a random motel?” she suggested.
“No,” all three men chorused.
“Move her into Gunner and Joy’s office,” Dr. Rodrigues said, brushing past Gunner and Dozer to enter the room. “Henry can sleep on the floor if he wants.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Ruby asked.
Rodrigues pressed her lips together before she finally replied, “Homeland Security, the FBI, and CIA all have questions for Hoffman’s family and the company they own. We have video from inside the high-risk containment lab of known mercenaries breaking into the building using explosives and a whole lot of prejudice. We need to link this man and the mercenaries and the FAFO and figure out how the surgeon general of the United States fits into the group.”
She checked her watch. “It’s going to take a while to clean this up. Henry and Gunner, move Ruby, please. Dozer, come with me. I need to talk to the FBI, CIA, and Homeland directors. And probably the president of the United States.” She paused and said to Ruby, “As soon as I can, I’ll send you home.”
“And will I have a job to come back to?”