Scorched

by Laura Griffin

  CHAPTER 16

  The color drained from Kelsey’s face. Gage looked at Moore.

  “Anthrax?” Fury bubbled up in his chest. “You’re telling us he was making anthrax?”

  “I don’t know what he was making.”

  Kelsey made a strange noise and bent over, looking sick. Gage crouched beside her and squeezed her knee. “Kelsey, listen to me. When was your last shot?”

  She just stared at him. The stark look on her face made him feel like someone had him in a chokehold. Just a few grams of weapons-grade anthrax could kill hundreds of people.

  “Before you went to Iraq with that human-rights group,” Gage said, “you had a round of shots.”

  She nodded.

  “When was your last booster?”

  She closed her eyes. “November. No—December, right before Christmas.”

  “What about you, Lieutenant?” Moore turned to Gage. “I assume you’ve been vaccinated?”

  Gage studied Kelsey’s face. “Are you sure it was December?”

  “Lieutenant Brewer? You’ve had the vaccine?”

  Gage shot him a glare. “I’ve been in a fucking combat zone for ten years. Of course I’ve had it.” He turned back to Kelsey. “You’re sure it was last December and not the year before?”

  “It was. I remember because it was just before the holiday, and I went on my lunch hour . . .” She jumped to her feet. “Oh my God, Mia! I took her that evidence. What if it’s contaminated?”

  Gage stood up and looked at Moore.

  “What evidence?” the agent asked.

  “A soil sample from the barn. It included Weber’s blood. Or Spurlock’s. Whoever he was. Oh my God, Gage!” She gripped his arm. “What about the firemen? The first responders? Think of all the people who might be exposed!”

  “Spurlock wasn’t infected,” Moore said calmly.

  “How do you know?” Kelsey asked.

  “Our Salt Lake City field office keeps tabs on former Dugway employees who live in the area. Within minutes of hearing about the explosion, we had a hazmat team on the scene, testing for anything unusual.”

  “No trace of anything?” Gage asked. “You guys are sure?”

  “No trace. And we used the most sensitive equipment known to man. No hazardous material was detected on his property. But that’s not to say he’s never had any there. We have reason to believe he might have contracted with an outside party to cultivate the virus.”

  “What’s Dugway?” Kelsey asked.

  “Dugway Proving Ground,” Gage told her. “A military testing facility. I didn’t even think of it. It’s due west of there.”

  “He worked there for eight years until he was let go in 2005. The FBI’s been keeping tabs on him since then.”

  Kelsey stared into space. “The birds.” She looked at Gage. “That’s what they were for.”

  “Birds?”

  She looked at Moore. “He had cages everywhere. Like that saying, ‘the canary in the coal mine.’ He kept all those birds around to make sure the air was safe.”

  “I bet you’re right,” Gage said. “And every one of those damn things was alive. I didn’t see any dead ones. Did you?”

  “No.”

  “Let me reiterate—Spurlock was not infected,” Moore said. “There’s almost no chance that soil sample contains anthrax. The man was killed by a shotgun, not a virus. Your friend in the lab is not at risk.”

  “Still, I need to call her,” Kelsey said.

  “First, I need to know more about this accomplice. The man with the dark hair. Was he the person who went after you in San Antonio?”

  “Definitely not.” She shook her head. “The guy with the badge was short and stocky. This other man was taller and slender. I told Gage, I think I recognize him from that training video Blake showed me at his house.”

  Moore’s gaze narrowed. “The Asian Crescent Brotherhood?”

  “The footage from the training camp. It’s on Blake’s computer. I’m almost certain he’s the man in the final frame who sets fire to the American flag. Review the video and you’ll see. He’s the one with the lighter.”

  Moore reached into his jacket. Gage seized his wrist.

  “Easy there.”

  “I need to make a phone call,” Moore said.

  Gage reached into the blazer pocket and pulled out the phone. “Before you call anyone, I need a few questions answered. We just spent the last fifteen minutes telling you how one of your agent buddies is a murderer who hangs out with terrorists. And you know what I notice? You don’t look surprised. Why haven’t you guys arrested the son of a bitch?”

  “Trent Lohman is not my buddy,” Moore said flatly. “For the past forty-eight hours he’s been at the top of my suspect list in Blake Reid’s death.”

  “Then why is there a warrant out for me?”

  He hesitated. Again, he seemed to be debating how much to tell them, and Gage’s temper festered.

  “I’ve been investigating violent crimes for the Bureau for sixteen years,” Moore said. “I always start with people close to the victim, which is why I looked at you,” he told Kelsey. “And that led me to you.” He nodded at Gage. “But I also looked at Reid’s closest colleague on the counterterrorism team.”

  He paused for a moment and gazed out at the elephants. “Trent Lohman has an alibi for the night of Reid’s murder. He was in Washington, D.C., at a late-night meeting with Rick Bolton, the director of counterterrorism.”

  The news was like a sucker punch. Gage stared at the man, thinking maybe he’d heard wrong. But then he looked at Kelsey and knew she’d heard exactly the same thing.

  Gage tipped his head back and looked at the sky. His career was over. His fucking life was over. This setup went to the highest levels of law enforcement and there was a serious chance Gage was going to spend the rest of his days rotting in prison for another man’s crime. He closed his eyes and tried to swallow the lump of rage that was lodged in his throat.

  “You see my challenge here?” Moore said. “And I probably don’t need to spell out for you the sort of power someone in Bolton’s position has. So that’s the reason for the warrant. While that warrant is in place, certain people can rest assured that our investigation is on the wrong track.”

  “That’s unacceptable.”

  Gage looked at Kelsey. Her eyes blazed. She had a fierce expression he’d never seen before.

  She stepped forward and jabbed a finger at Moore’s chest. “If you don’t have the evidence you need, you do something about it. You do your job. You do not destroy a man’s life just to save your own ass.”

  Moore eased back from her. “It’s not about my ass. Or even his.” He looked at Gage. “This is much bigger than that. If you’ve got your facts right, that means there’s a terrorist inside our borders with access to a biological weapon. And if I’ve got my facts right, there’s a conspiracy in place not only to protect him, but to help him. This thing’s a minefield, and I’m trying to navigate it without getting blown up.”

  Kelsey still looked pale. “Do you have any idea what weaponized anthrax can do?”

  “It can kill thousands of people. Maybe hundreds of thousands,” Moore said. “Believe me, I’m well aware. I’ve hardly thought about anything else since I found out about Spurlock.”

  The phone in Gage’s hand buzzed, and he looked down at it. The caller ID said US GOV. Gage smiled bitterly at the irony and held out the phone. “It’s for you.”

  Moore took it. He gave Gage a stony look. “I’ll do what I can about the warrant, but not now. In the meantime, you should think about using one of your phony passports and taking that dive trip you had planned.”

  Gage glanced at Kelsey.

  “Take her with you,” Moore said, and answered the phone. “Gordon Moore.” Pause. “Let me call you back.” He hung up and held out his hand. “I’d like my gun back.”

  Gage smiled ruefully and shook his head. He and Kelsey were in a world of shit and he had no idea h
ow he was going to dig them out. He held up the key fob he’d lifted when he reached into Moore’s pocket. The agent frowned as Gage unclipped the key from the remote locking device.

  “I’d just as soon not walk out of here in handcuffs.” Gage gave him the key. “Take your phone call. I’ll leave your gun and the rest of your keychain in your trunk.”

  • • •

  Kelsey checked the peephole and pulled open the door.

  “Wow.” Mia stepped into the motel room. “You look awful.”

  “Thanks.” Kelsey shut the door behind her. “I really needed to hear that today.”

  Mia set her purse down on the table and glanced around at the latest in this week’s series of dingy motel rooms. Her gaze lingered on the pistol atop the dresser.

  “Where’s Gage?”

  “Across the street getting food.” Kelsey sank onto the bed. “Although I told him I can’t eat anything. I feel terrible.”

  Mia walked over and gazed down at her with a worried look. “Physically you feel terrible? Or emotionally?”

  “Physically, I’m fine. I think it’s just all the stress catching up with me.” She laughed without humor. “I mean, it’s pretty unbelievable. The last seven days have been one catastrophe after another and I couldn’t imagine how things could get worse, and now suddenly I think the worst catastrophe is yet to come.”

  Mia tipped her head to the side and looked concerned. “How’s Gage?”

  Kelsey laughed, even though nothing was funny. Tears burned her eyes and she blinked them back. “He says he’s fine, but I know he’s lying. God, I’m so worried about him. I can’t believe I did this to him.”

  “Hey.” Mia sat down beside her. “You didn’t do anything to him. This is someone else’s doing.”

  Kelsey took a deep breath and nodded. “I know that logically, but I still feel responsible. This murder investigation could end his career.”

  “I thought you didn’t like his career.”

  “I don’t,” Kelsey said. “I hate it. I hate that he puts himself in danger all the time. But Gage loves being a SEAL. He wouldn’t trade it for anything—not even me—and the thought of that being taken away from him . . . It makes me so angry, I want to hurt somebody.”

  Mia watched her for a long moment. “How are you and Gage relationship-wise?”

  She was talking about sex—one of their frequent conversation topics. Kelsey looked at her lap and warmth flooded her cheeks as she recalled Gage’s kisses, his body, the feel of his hands on her.

  “Mia.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “It’s so good. He’s just . . . amazing. You have no idea.”

  “I think I might. Ric’s pretty amazing.”

  She glanced up, and Mia was grinning at her.

  “It’s just that, besides the physical, I don’t know what we really have together. There are things I want that I’ll never be able to have with him.”

  “Such as?”

  She looked at Mia, uncomfortable with the idea of saying it out loud. She wanted simple things, things she’d lost when her dad had died suddenly and her mother had become cold and withdrawn and stopped being a mom. She wanted a family. She wanted aunts and uncles and cousins and big Christmas mornings with children underfoot. She wanted things she would never have if she devoted her life to a man who was overseas all the time and defused bombs for a living.

  But it wasn’t only Gage’s career that got in the way. It was hers, too. She’d never seriously considered leaving her prestigious job at the Delphi Center to be close to a naval base. And for the past four years, she’d spent her summers in remote locations digging up bones. Her career wasn’t exactly conducive to family, either.

  “I don’t know, Mia. Maybe I’m being unrealistic.”

  “Don’t be ashamed of what you want.” Mia looked at her pointedly. “You deserve to be happy.”

  The door swung open. Gage stepped into the room with armload of bags. He looked from Mia to Kelsey and narrowed his gaze.

  “Uh-oh. What’d I miss?”

  “Nothing.” Mia popped up.

  Gage put all the bags on the table and shot Kelsey a suspicious look. “I interrupted something.”

  “I was just telling Kelsey about the delivery I brought you.” Mia unzipped her purse and pulled out a white paper bag. “I had a doctor friend of mine write a script for an antibiotic.”

  Kelsey walked over. “I thought you said we were in the clear?”

  “You are.” Mia opened the bag. She handed a small brown bottle to Kelsey and one to Gage.

  “Seprax.” Kelsey looked down at the label, which had Mia’s name on it. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “You’ve heard of Cipro. This is just a knockoff. You’re both vaccinated, and you weren’t even really exposed, so this is totally unnecessary. It’s for peace of mind. The script was actually written for me. I figured you wouldn’t want your names popping up on some computer system. Anyway, I hope it will help dial down the stress level a little.”

  “Thank you.” Kelsey reached over and squeezed her hand. She realized how much she’d desperately needed the very brief bit of girl talk. “I’m glad you came by.”

  “Anytime. You take care.”

  “I will.”

  “Gage.” She gave him a curt nod and walked out.

  Kelsey glanced down at the medicine in her hand. She looked up as the door opened again and Gage stepped out. The door thudded shut and she stood there, staring at it. What now? She went to the window and shifted the curtains. Gage stood in the parking lot, hands on hips, towering over Mia. He was at least a foot taller than she was, but Mia had her arms crossed over her chest and didn’t look at all intimidated. Kelsey couldn’t hear the words, but clearly they were arguing.

  Kelsey watched, astonished, as Gage leaned down and kissed Mia’s forehead. Mia looked equally surprised.

  She stepped away from the window. Gage reentered the room and started unpacking food. The scent of French fries filled the air.

  “What did you say to her?” she asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “I told her to put the claws away.”

  Kelsey stared at him.

  “She cares about you. I get it. But I’m sick of being treated like I’m pond scum.” He glanced up at her. “And I don’t want her bad-mouthing me while I’m trying to make things right with us.”

  “You are?”

  He plopped an enormous order of fries in front of her. “I told you that. What, you didn’t believe me?”

  Kelsey didn’t know what to believe. And she didn’t know how she felt about his effort to sweet-talk her friends and “make things right” when she was almost certain it meant starting up a relationship he didn’t really want.

  Kelsey distracted herself by addressing the deadly illness they’d almost been exposed to. She took out a pill from each of the brown bottles and set them on the table.

  “Take one a day,” she instructed. “It’ll give you peace of mind.”

  Gage sneered. Kelsey popped her pill and washed it down with a slurp of syrupy-sweet Coke. Gage handed her a cheeseburger.

  “Thanks, but I don’t feel like eating,” she said.

  “You stressed?”

  “Just a little.”

  “Why don’t you take a hot bath?”

  “That sounds really good.” She stood there, waiting for the innuendo.

  He continued to unpack food.

  “I’ll just soak in the tub for a while, see if I can get some of these kinks out.” She waited. No suggestive look. No lewd comment. “Are you feeling okay?” she asked.

  “Considering my career has gone to shit? I’m feeling pretty good, actually.” He sank into the chair in front of what appeared to be two super-size meal deals. “Why?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Okay, here’s the plan.” He unwrapped his burger. “You go have your soak. I’ll have some of this food. And then we’re going to sit down at the table
and map this thing out, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit around and wait for any more shit to come down. It’s time to make a battle plan.”

  Kelsey’s ring tone sounded and she crossed the room to dig the phone from her purse. After a brief conversation, she turned to Gage.

  “We’ll have to postpone the battle plan. That was Gordon Moore.”

  His eyebrows arched. “How’d he get your number?”

  “No idea. But I’m urgently needed back at the Delphi Center.”

  CHAPTER 17

  By the time Kelsey got things into position and arrived at the lab, everyone else was already gathered in the visitors’ conference room on the ground floor. Moore stood up when she walked in, and the impatient look on his face told her they’d been waiting on her.

  “Sorry I’m late.” She looked around the table and was startled to see not only Ben Lawson, but his boss, Mark Wolfe, who ran Delphi’s cyber-crimes division. Mark had a laptop open in front of him. Kelsey sent Ben a questioning look as she took a seat at the table.

  “Where’s Lieutenant Brewer?” Moore asked.

  “Close by.” Kelsey smiled to mask the threat behind the words.

  Moore glanced at the door, then at the conference room window, which had a view of the woods behind the building. Kelsey pretended not to notice the agent’s look of irritation.

  “I’d hoped you both could weigh in on this, Dr. Quinn.”

  “It’s Kelsey,” she said. “And I don’t think you’re going to be seeing much of Gage until you drop the warrant for his arrest.”

  Moore gave her a hard stare, and she knew he was debating whether to take up this topic in front of the others.

  “Call me Gordon,” he said. He glanced at the window. “And maybe you’ll be able to give us what we need without him.”

  “Hi!” Mia breezed into the room, looking windblown and frazzled. She dropped into the chair beside Ben, and Kelsey could tell she wasn’t surprised to see the other people here. Obviously, she’d been told more about this meeting than Kelsey had.

  “Let’s get started,” Gordon said. “Mia, you want to share the results?”