by Vanessa Kier
Holy shit. Rafe stared at the map, imagining the horror of watching the ones you loved turn into bloody, indistinguishable mass of flesh like something out of a monster movie.
And he felt a chill snake down his spine. The drugs Kaufmann had given him contained at least one element of Agent Styx. That’s why, if his subjects lived long enough, their bodies started to break down. Once again he realized how much he owed Gabby. She said she’d finally managed to neutralize that aspect of the formula. So he was safe.
For now.
“We can’t field a force big enough to stop those men once they’re deployed to the villages,” Rafe said. “There are too many ways they could slip by us.”
“Agreed. Ideally, we do a mass evacuation, but the situation is politically sensitive. The people on our side who have contacts high up in the Salaqutian government are all under oath to our President. We don’t have time to identify someone open to believing the President capable of such an act. Someone who the Salaqut government also trusts and will listen to.”
“So our best bet is to find out their staging location and hope we’re not too late. Tonelli have any info on that?”
“No, but there are several possibilities listed. I’m guessing the data we received was downloaded before the plan was finalized. I have other contacts culling satellite images. Fortunately, with all the terrorist cells based on the islands, the area has come under increased satellite surveillance recently.” Ryker crossed his arms over his chest and grimaced at the map. “Tonelli also said he’d be heading for the island and would call with any updates.”
Yeah, if the guy wasn’t just yanking their chains.
“In the meantime,” Ryker continued, “we’ve got another complication. Gabby has found a counteragent, but it’s extremely unstable.”
Atta girl, Rafe thought. There wasn’t a problem his woman couldn’t solve. But…
“Unstable. How does that affect us?” Rafe asked.
Ryker slanted Rafe a wary glance.
Rafe tensed. “What?”
“The formula starts to break down at two hours, despite Gabby’s attempts to keep it in the form she needs. The good news is that her antidote can be added to the water supply to neutralize Agent Styx and also be given as an injection to affected people. But both treatments have to be given within that two-hour window.”
Even their fastest plane couldn’t get a shipment of the antidote to Salaqut in under two hours. Some of the islands would take at least another hour to reach from the capital. Which meant…
“No. Hell no. She’s not coming to Salaqut with us.”
Ryker raised his eyebrow and stared Rafe down.
Fuck. Ryker didn’t have to speak. Rafe knew that from a mission perspective he was being unreasonable. But the thought of Gabby anywhere near that hellhole under normal circumstances was terrifying. Add in the potential threat from physical attack by Kaufmann’s men, the real possibility that the SSU team could be exposed to Agent Styx, and his blood ran cold.
He couldn’t lose Gabby.
Yet he couldn’t leave those villagers to the mercy of Kaufmann’s men either. He spun away from the map and slammed his fist down on the heavy oak table. “Dammit! We’re going to weaken our force by protecting her.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Ryker said. “In order to have a workable antidote, Gabby’s team has to produce the antidote in the field. The CDC is loaning us two of their portable hazmat labs. On the flight over we’ll have them tricked out to look like the local delivery trucks. Gabby’s already gathering the chemicals she needs. She and her team will be on a plane within two hours. You’ll meet them at the airport then all of you, along with the portable labs, will fly to Salaqut. Hopefully, I’ll have the staging location of Kaufmann’s men by then. Gabby and Kai will equip the labs in the air so when you hit the ground you can move out immediately.”
Rafe put his hand to the back of his neck and squeezed. Gabby had already suffered enough at Kaufmann’s hands. The thought of losing her to Agent Styx opened up a yawning, spinning void deep inside Rafe’s chest that made him want to throw back his head and howl.
“Great,” he said, letting frustration push back his fear. “Just fucking great. Did she mention if this antidote can be used as a vaccine to protect against contamination?”
“It can’t.”
Not the words he wanted to hear.
“We’ll keep her safe, Rafe,” Ryker said, clapping him on the shoulder. “She’ll be stationed as far from the staging area as possible. She won’t be in any danger. Trust me.”
Rafe looked at Ryker. People at the SSU called his boss the miracle worker. If anyone could manipulate events to keep Gabby safe, Ryker could.
But, a little voice warned, she’d been under Ryker’s protection in Georgia and Kaufmann’s men still took her.
Fuck that. If Rafe had to personally stand guard at her side to protect her, he would.
Chapter 31
The Next Day
Washraiti Island, Salaqut
Inside the air conditioned climate of the mobile lab, Gabby waited for the final hermetically sealed case of antidote to finish the decontamination process. They’d been lucky. The data from Ryker’s contact Mark Tonelli had pinpointed this island as being the target for the attack. Gabby had charge of this mobile lab for supplying Rafe’s assault team with the antidote, while Kai worked a second mobile lab a few miles away to supply Niko’s team.
A few seconds later the green light went on over the decontamination chamber. Gabby grabbed the first case and walked outside to where Rafe and his team were waiting. In just those few steps, the nearly one hundred percent humidity plastered the high-tech, moisture-wicking fabric of her loose olive-green tank top and cargo pants to her body.
“Remember,” she told Rafe as she handed him the case, “the timer on the front of each case will show you how much of your two-hour window is left.”
Early morning sunlight filtered through the dense jungle vegetation, painting Rafe in primitive shadows. Making him look so darkly sexy that she wanted to pull him down for a hot kiss.
Get your mind back on the job, girl.
Gabby sighed. Despite being on the same plane, they’d both been kept so busy that they’d only managed one brief kiss hello. Her arms ached with the need to hold Rafe close. To protect him.
To protect herself from the pain of losing him.
Disgusted with her selfishness when they had lives to save, Gabby went inside and picked up the next case. This time when she handed it over to Rafe she focused over his shoulder, afraid that if she kept looking at his beloved face and worrying that he wouldn’t make it back, she’d break down and kiss him. With his teammates waiting at the edge of the jungle, she didn’t want to jeopardize their respect for Rafe by making a public display of affection.
The trees were actually quite fascinating to someone who’d never lived in the tropics. Thick, lush, and covered in flowering vines. Rafe had chosen this section of dense jungle and volcanic hills for his base because of the existence of rocky overhangs like the one sheltering their mobile hazmat lab. Between the overhang and the surrounding vegetation, the unit was nearly invisible until you were right on top of it. Something of a miracle, given that the truck housing her lab was painted with a bright seascape with frolicking fish on one side and a vibrant jungle with playful monkeys on the other. Not what she considered camouflage, but once they’d hit the highway she’d understood. Every vehicle here was painted in outrageous, exuberant colors. Driving a plain truck through the countryside would have been a mistake.
Rafe signaled one of his men. The man took the two cases and headed toward the team’s motorbikes. One of the guards assigned to protect the lab passed by, moving away a little bit when he neared them so as to give them privacy.
Gabby picked up the final case, then just stared at it. So much was riding on luck. What would she do if Rafe didn’t come back?
The team from Kerberos—a mix of Kaufmann�
�s enhanced soldiers and normal men—had been on the island for several days. They’d already started wreaking havoc, if news reports of strange attacks on the outlying villages were to be believed.
But now Kerberos’s men were gathering at a place deeper in these hills. Ryker’s source, a man called Mark Tonelli, said this was when the men would get their vials of Agent Styx and head to their targets.
Rafe and Niko’s teams would attack before the men separated, then contain the area. Each SSU agent would carry either the antidote to Agent Styx or the tranquilizer needed to subdue Kaufmann’s men. The tranquilizer would be delivered via dart gun. The antidote could be given via injection to someone who’d already been exposed to the chemical. Dumping the antidote into contaminated water would neutralize it. Those vials had a special quick-release cap that could be opened with one gloved hand.
“Remember,” she warned, “you have to use the antidote within two hours, otherwise it’s useless. And you have to use the special masks and gloves.”
He nodded.
As she passed the case to Rafe, his fingers closed over hers. Startled, she looked up and saw heat flare in Rafe’s eyes.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he murmured. “Inside and out. I’ve missed you so much.”
Then he shocked her by planting a brief, hard kiss on her lips. “Stay safe for me,” he growled. “Keep alert and do exactly what the guards tell you. I’ll be back soon.”
He gave her one more kiss, turned and disappeared into the jungle.
Leaving Gabby staring after him, her heart soaring and a prayer on her lips.
Three Hours Later
The White House
Washington, D.C.
It wasn’t every day the country needed to be saved from the whims of a crazed President.
Ryker followed the President’s aide through the lower corridors of the White House toward the entertainment room. He ground his teeth together. President MacAdam had ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people and he was going to watch the live video feed from his lavish entertainment room as if it was a Hollywood movie.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court walked slightly ahead of Ryker, just behind the aide and next to the Vice President. The White House legal counsel walked beside the Secretary of State. Jordaine, Brown, Wehring and Remington were acting as representatives of their various agencies—FBI, CIA, DOD and the House Judiciary Committee.
No one stopped the grim group as it walked through the halls. True to his word, the aide had made certain all the Secret Service agents on duty tonight were aware of the situation and would not interfere.
The radio on Ryker’s belt vibrated. “The room is secure, sir,” the Marine on the other end announced.
“Good,” Ryker said. “We’re just coming around the corner.”
As the group turned into the hallway, the guards opened the double doors into the entertainment room.
“Close the door!” the President snapped. “I told you, I’m not to be disturbed.”
The group filed silently into the room and the guards shut the doors behind them.
The President shot an annoyed glance at his aide. “It’s the fifth anniversary of my son’s death and I’m finally going to get revenge. Leave me alone.”
The full-size movie screen was broken into twelve squares around the perimeter, each showing a village on Salaqut. In the center was a view of an encampment in the middle of the jungle. Men stood in line in front of a truck waiting to receive small packages.
Agent Styx.
The White House legal counsel cleared his throat. “Your revenge is why we’re here, Mr. President. We can’t allow you to do this.”
The president laughed with crazed jubilation. “Too late.” He nodded toward the men on the screen who had started dispersing. “They’re on their way.”
Ryker watched the countdown clock in the lower right hand corner. At precisely the correct time, the screen went black.
Rafe was right on schedule.
Salaqut
Rafe checked his watch. Twenty minutes until Ryker confronted the President. He confirmed that his men were in place, then signaled them to move toward the clearing in the middle of this dense section of jungle. In the distance he heard the welcome sound of an aircraft. Tourist planes weren’t common on this part of the island, but scientists occasionally used old crop dusters in their atmospheric studies, so the plane wouldn’t raise suspicion until it was too late.
As his team approached Kerberos’s meeting place, Rafe confirmed that Niko’s team was similarly slipping into position.
“Bro, looks like Tonelli told the truth,” Niko said in Greek over their comm line. “I count two dozen of Kerberos’s men, with more arriving.”
“Son of a bitch.” Rafe pulled up to the clearing. Straight ahead, men formed a line in front of a truck very similar to Gabby’s mobile lab. The men wearing Kaufmann’s signature black uniform with colored stripes outnumbered the normal Kerberos agents. If any of Kaufmann’s men broke through their mind control and let loose the rage Rafe knew they were feeling, the normal agents didn’t stand a chance of reining them in.
A man stepped out of the lab section of the truck holding a Styrofoam cooler. Overhead, the noise from the plane’s engine increased. Rafe pushed a button on his phone, signaling the team back in the States to start jamming the President’s satellite link.
On Rafe’s mark, his team donned their gas masks and protective gloves, then dropped to their bellies as the crop duster unleashed its special cargo directly onto the clearing.
The nerve agent acted immediately, knocking every unprotected man in the area unconscious. Rafe and his team quickly stood up and began searching for anyone left awake. The airplane circled around and dropped a load of dissipator, and within ten minutes the sensor on Rafe’s gas mask beeped to let him know the air was safe to breathe again.
Rafe finished securing the hands of the man at his feet, then removed his gas mask and gloves. Across the clearing, Niko gave him the thumbs up to indicate all the hostiles on his side were out of action as well.
Rafe crossed over to the truck and did a thorough search. Once he’d determined that none of the vials of Agent Styx had been compromised and that the lab was empty, he locked it down.
Taking his satellite phone out of its holster, he dialed Ryker. “Mission successful, sir,” Rafe announced. “The area is sec—”
“Rafe!” Andersen hurried over, waving frantically.
Everything inside of Rafe tensed at the man’s stricken expression. “The team at the mobile lab reports an attack by two of Kaufmann’s men. They think the men got lost and mistook our site for their meeting place. They’re trying to break into the lab.”
“Sir, we have a situation at one of our mobile labs,” Rafe curtly informed Ryker. “I have to go.”
Rafe shoved his phone back in the holster. “Which lab?”
“Dr. Montague’s, sir.”
No!
Rafe motioned for six of his men to join him, then quickly relayed the news to Niko.
“Go,” Niko said. “We’ve got this covered.”
Dammit, Rafe thought as he turned away, they were half an hour away from the lab. Too long for him to be of any help to Gabby.
“What else?” Rafe barked to Andersen as they broke into a run toward the motorcycles.
“The men have taken down four of our guards and are pounding on the mobile lab, trying to break down the door,” Andersen said. “Lewellyn is inside the lab’s security room and he doesn’t know how to stop them. The attackers are wearing hooded uniforms that repel the darts and bullets can’t fully penetrate the material, either.”
Rafe spared a glance at one of Kaufmann’s unconscious men. Sure enough, this close he could see the bulk of a rolled-up hood at the collar. He stopped and knelt down so he could feel the material.
Fuck. It was some sort of super flexible armor.
He surged back to his feet and sprinted toward his moto
rbike.
“Where’s Gabby?”
“Dr. Montague is trapped in the lab’s interior. She was working on another batch of antidote when the attack began.”
Rafe leapt onto his bike and kicked it into life. He didn’t know what terrified him more. The idea that Kaufmann’s men might break into the lab and hurt Gabby, or that by pounding on the lab they might cause Gabby to spill some of the deadly chemicals on her and somehow she’d be killed despite her hazmat suit.
Rafe sent a prayer up in every language he knew and turned his bike toward the lab.
Gabby concentrated on holding her hand steady as she poured one of the less toxic ingredients of the antidote into the measuring container. After this step, she’d have to head into the hazardous material room and don a full protective suit to finish mixing the antidote. But for now—
A man yelled and something large slammed into the observation window. Gabby’s hand jerked and the chemical spilled onto the counter. She instinctively jumped back so none of it would get on her, even though the safety equipment she wore—goggles, mask, apron and elbow-length gloves—would protect her.
Gabby gasped as the entire lab shook and braced herself against the counter. A second later, Lewellyn’s body hit the splintered glass of the observation window. The reinforcing wire inside the glass bent, cutting into the guard’s back as some incredible force shoved him forward. Then, with a loud crack, the wire broke and Lewellyn fell through onto the floor of the lab.
Alarms sounded and warning lights flashed.
Gabby tore off her mask and goggles and raced to his side. Oh, God. Blood seeped from under his back.
“Don’t move,” she ordered, coming to her knees beside him, thankful for the thick apron shielding her knees from the broken shards of glass. “Let me see how badly you’re hurt.”
“No,” he gasped. “Run!”
“What? Why?”