The White Iris

by Susanne Matthews

  Jacob laughed. “My uncle can be a very persuasive man, and don’t forget, as Trevor pointed out, L.D. stands to make millions here. I know a few men like that. They can never have enough money, and if it gives him a shot at the presidency … he probably thinks it’s worth it.”

  Julie sat back, listening as the men discussed the Prophet’s abilities. It wasn’t the first time Jacob had said or done something that felt familiar.

  I’ve met him before; I know I have.

  Trevor had dismissed this odd sense of recognition, saying it was because he’d shown her the pictures of James Colchester, but she was sure it was something else.

  Jacob’s hair was cut very short, and he wore tinted glasses, part of a disguise he’d agreed to when they’d arrived in Reno. Lilith had colored her hair a dark brown, apparently to change her appearance on the off-chance some of the New Horizon members worked at the White Iris facility and might recognize her around town. Since Reno was a tourist destination, there were always people coming and going, so they couldn’t let down their guard. Micah had grown a beard and let his hair grow.

  “Well, whoever decided to murder the mayor’s niece made a tactical error,” Cartwright continued. “Instead of bringing him to his knees, he’s planted his feet even more firmly on the ground. There’ll be no mercy for the Prophet and his followers. L.D. may have stormed out of the office and right back to Logan, but he didn’t return to D.C. He showed up at his ranch late last night.”

  “Have your men finished scouting out the ranch and the adjacent properties?” Trevor asked.

  “Yeah. The two smaller settlements on the edge of his property, the ones we saw in that aerial photograph your friend took, have been abandoned, but no more than a couple of months ago. If they were housing cult members, they’ve moved on.”

  “Probably to the Promised Land,” Trevor said, and Julie read the concern on his face. If the Promised Land was ready, then so was the virus.

  “What’s going on at the Reno location of White Rose Pharmaceuticals?” she asked. She was willing to go there and confront Dalton Rush, but Trevor had vetoed it. Her death was still the ace up his sleeve, and if Rush wasn’t working for the Prophet but someone else was, they’d be giving up their advantage for nothing.

  “Susan and Micah have been watching the place with a couple of men that Larson, Reno’s FBI bureau chief, provided,” Jacob said. “I know you were disappointed when the last batch of vaccine for Nome was clean, but this morning, three more shipments were sent out—one for Juneau, Alaska, another for Bar Harbor, Maine, and the last for Angleton, Texas. We’ve intercepted them all—thirty vials, larger than the ones we’ve seized before, none of them earmarked for specific patients but all going to private clinics. What do you want us to do with them?”

  “Replace the vials with regular vaccine and send the confiscated ones here to me. If these are all clean, I don’t know where the virus is coming from, and we’re back to square one,” Julie said, unable to keep the discouragement out of her voice. “Make sure someone watches those clinics carefully, just in case. If anyone gets sick, the entire town will need to be quarantined. My cultures are coming along nicely, and I’ve managed to slow the growth of the virus but not kill it. I’m close—I know I am—but if I could get my hands on undiluted serum to test against my antigens, I’d have a better shot at figuring this out. That third substance sends the immune system into overdrive. I’m convinced it, and not the viruses, is the killer. The pathogen does in twelve hours what original viruses took six or seven days to do.”

  “I’ll send someone with it tonight,” Jacob said. “As awful as it is to say, I hope there is something there for you to find.”

  Julie watched as Jacob reached for Lilith’s hand and squeezed it. She envied the couple. Their relationship had had a rocky start, but once the case was over, they’d get married. From the glow on Lilith’s face, she might have another secret.

  Envy stabbed Julie. Cassie had Miles, Rob had Faye, Lilith had Jacob, and it looked as if there might even be something happening between Micah and Susan. Trevor’s sole focus seemed to be his job, although he did dote on Hope. Everyone had something to keep them going, but her. Her career, the one that had meant so much to her for years, held no magic now. It had become an onerous, unending chore, one she planned to give up when the case was over. She’d solve this mystery, and then what? The only bright spot was Hope, and she’d probably lose her, too.

  “We may have some good news,” Lilith said, ending Julie’s depressing thoughts. “We’ve got a lead on Rose—not a great one, but it looks promising. We’ve managed to track down Weber’s office manager, and she led us to a storage locker where the lawyer’s files went after his death. After combing through the boxes, we’ve come up with three potential candidates. One lives in Henderson, near Las Vegas, another near Sacramento, and the third apparently moved to Florida, but we don’t have an address. We’ll keep on it. The woman said the children came from the orphanage nameless, which probably explains why I couldn’t find Rose, since she doesn’t exist under that name. I don’t want to mess with her life. Once I know she’s safe and happy, I’ll be content to leave her alone. I’ll see if she’s interested in keeping in touch, but … either way, I’ll be okay.” There was a catch in her voice. “Jacob and I plan to go to Henderson tomorrow.”

  Julie smiled. “That’s great news,” she said. “I hope she’s the one.”

  Trevor had explained about Lilith and her need to find not only her niece, but Senator Kirk’s granddaughter. Julie could certainly empathize now. If Hope were to disappear, it would destroy her. The only thing she could pray for was that, once the authorities took Hope from her, they’d let her stay in touch with the child. That wasn’t too much to wish for, was it?

  “Let me know how that goes,” Trevor said. “Rob, do you have something? You’re sitting there grinning like a Cheshire cat.”

  Rob chuckled. “Just waiting my turn. As I told you last week, my search into L.D.’s background looked good—too good, so I snooped a little harder. It’s tough finding answers from pre-computer years, but I got lucky. Basically, everything we have about the first twenty-five years of his life is false. The schools, the university, none of them have any record of him, at least not under that name. I can verify everything starting thirty years ago when his mother died and he went to work for his grandfather. Interestingly enough, those twenty-five years are blank for his mother, too.”

  “I don’t understand,” Julie said. Trevor had shared his theory about L.D. with the team, and it had been well received, but what did the man’s mother have to do with anything?

  “Rebecca Hamilton—that’s the name she used back then—ran away from home at twenty, joined an anti-Vietnam war protest group, and disappeared. Her parents hired a detective to search for her, and then a year later, they stopped looking. Thirty years ago, she was buried in the family crypt. L.D., her only son, brought her home. I managed to find a picture of her.”

  The screen changed and a photograph replaced Rob’s face.

  “She was beautiful,” Julie said. Who wouldn’t envy that rich, dark hair tumbling over her shoulders or the innocent smile?

  “She’s my grandmother,” Jacob said, his voice husky. “How can she be my grandmother? That would make L.D. my uncle—and that would make him the Prophet.”

  Time stood still as Jacob’s words sank in.

  What the hell?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Trevor pounded his fist on the table, shaking the monitors, making Julie jump.

  “Son of a bitch,” he yelled. “Of course. It fits—why he got angry when I insulted the Prophet, what he knows about Lilith. He’s not working for the man, he is the man.”

  “But I’ve seen his picture,” Jacob said. “Why didn’t I recognize him?”

  “Bald, the tinted glasses like the ones you’re wearing, pale almost albino-like skin…” Julie began, “The man you identified in that photograph had dark hai
r, no glasses, and darker skin. If that’s the disguise as Faye suggested, then he can show the world whatever he wants. You haven’t seen him face-to-face in eighteen years. People change with age. And remember, Micah didn’t recognize him either.”

  “Let’s assume you’re right and L.D. is the Prophet,” Cartwright said. “How do we prove it? I can’t just walk into his office and accuse him. Even if I could convince a judge to sign the order compelling a DNA test, his lawyers would tie it up in court for years, and the Great Burning would still go on. And, don’t forget, he’s got people in high places. We’d be fired long before that test would ever be approved.”

  “Damn it!” Trevor said, angrier at himself than he’d ever been in years. His fists were clenched so tightly, his nails were cutting into his skin. How could he have missed this?

  “We continue as planned,” Tom said. “He’s making mistakes, Trevor, we can both see it. He’s excited because his plan seems to be coming to fruition, so we stay on him. He won’t be able to fart without someone knowing about it.”

  “That’s right,” Cartwright agreed. “I’ve got electronic surveillance on that ranch. He’s not going anywhere, and when he does, we’re on him.”

  “I thought once we found the bastard, we’d be able to take him down, but he’s like a crime boss. We know he’s guilty and we can’t touch him.” He saw the fury and frustration he felt mirrored on the faces on the monitors. “Let me know if anything new comes up. I hope he lays off another attack on Boston. Since he knows nothing will come of it, he might just wait for the Great Burning.”

  He stabbed the key on the computer, abruptly ending his participation in the call, and sat in silence as one after another of the monitors went blank.

  “It’s all on me, now, isn’t it?” Julie asked softly.

  He’d forgotten she was there.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I have to find the virus, somehow tie it to him, and neutralize it.”

  “I think if you can do that, he’ll be so angry, he’ll hang himself.” Trevor ran his hand through his hair, raising his cowlick. He couldn’t wait to cut it short again.

  “There isn’t anything more we can do tonight.”

  “Hey, you two,” Cassie called down. “If you’ve finished your call, I’ve got supper on the table. Ariel’s basketball game is at six-thirty and it’s a command performance.”

  “We’d better get up there,” Trevor said. “High school basketball is a religion around here. Sorry about the temper tantrum, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s okay. None of us were expecting that. I sure wouldn’t want to get on your bad side.”

  “You couldn’t.”

  He draped his arm companionably around her shoulder and led her toward the stairs.

  • • •

  Julie pushed away from the microscope and hurried down the hall, running into the lounge where Trevor was trying to collate what he knew about the Prophet with what he had on Hamilton.

  “Trevor,” she yelled, too excited to lower her voice.

  “What is it?” He jumped up.

  “I know what it is. Those vials Jacob sent. None of them are vaccine, but they’re different from the samples I’ve grown,” she said excitedly.

  “So, it isn’t the virus?”

  “It’s the virus, alright,” she said, trying to tamp down her excitement and keep her now quietly controlled asthma in check. Cassie had changed her medication, and she was doing better than she had in years.

  “But he’s made changes to it since Chinook Creek,” she continued. “The H5N1 variant is gone. He doesn’t need it. This pathogen is an H1N1 mutation with an immune-system booster, and I recognize it. It’s Dalton Rush’s cancer treatment prototype. He showed it to me back in June. In a cancer patient, after radiation and chemo suppress the immune system, the drug gives the body a boost to attack the cancer cells aggressively. In the case of someone who’s healthy, he’s tweaked the virus enough to make it unrecognizable to someone who’d had past flu vaccines, and the immune booster kick-starts the system while the pathogen invades healthy cells. The body goes crazy trying to suppress it, but turns on itself and the healthy cells instead.”

  “You sound impressed,” he said, and frowned.

  “Impressed isn’t the way I’d put it, but it’s brilliant. Properly used, the drug might help people with stage-four cancer, but it could kill them just as easily, too. Testing it the way he has is monstrous. He told me the FDA had approved human trials, but they wouldn’t have approved something like this,” she said, disgusted that a colleague could stoop so low.

  “So, what do we do now?” Trevor asked.

  “We have to go to Reno.” She threw her shoulders back. No doubt this uphill battle would take hours to win. “That’s where he is, and that’s where I have to go to stop him. If we hadn’t intercepted those vials, thousands of people could’ve died … millions, if we couldn’t contain it.”

  “I’ll notify Larson. He’ll raid the facility and take him down. He’s just waiting for the green light.”

  “No, Trevor. It can’t be done that way. I have to go. I have to destroy all of that pathogen and look at the drug on its own. It’ll need to be researched carefully. I have to find out where else he’s tested it. The danger’s still there, and if Dalton somehow escapes, he could set up shop elsewhere and start again. You told me yourself that there are 200 missing cult members out there, ready to die for the Prophet. If we can’t find them, how will we find Dalton if he disappears? Even without the virus in it, that drug has the potential to be deadly.”

  “Julie, be serious,” he pleaded, holding her by the shoulders, the heat from his hands warming her. “I can’t let you go to Reno. You’ll be putting yourself in danger, and if anything happens … If it makes you feel better, I’ll go myself and take him down.”

  “Damn it,” she said, trying to push him away. It was almost funny. She’d craved his touch for weeks, and now that he held her, she needed him to let her go. “I have to go. I have to do this. Ellie and Lenore both died because of him and this horrible scientific quest. So what if I’m putting myself in danger? Millions of people are in danger right now, and they don’t even know it.”

  “You could get hurt,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t stand to have anything happen to you. No matter what you may think of me, I care about you. I don’t know what I’d do if you got killed or injured because of me.” He pulled her into his chest and held her.

  “I won’t, Trevor,” she said. Maybe he did care, just as she did, but it wouldn’t be enough, and deep down, they both knew it. “I need to do this. Please?”

  She thought he was going to refuse, but looking up into his face, she saw resignation there.

  “Fine, but you’ll follow my instructions to the letter, and Hope remains here. I’m not risking her, too.”

  “Agreed. I’m sure Cassie won’t mind looking after her. Maybe Stack can stay to guard them.

  He nodded and pulled her into his chest, holding her tightly, as if he was afraid to let her go.

  “When this is over,” he said huskily, “we need to talk. Right now, with everything going on, I can’t pin down my emotions, but they’re real, and I need to confront them. I think you feel something, too.”

  “Maybe,” she said, her heart doing handsprings for a moment before reality set in. “But we have to discuss the past before we can have a future. I need to know the truth. I did then, and I do now.”

  “I know,” he said. “I know.”

  He bent his head and captured her lips, slowly releasing her seconds later.

  “God, I’ve wanted to do that again from the moment I saw you in July, even longer. I’ve missed you, Jules. I never stopped missing you.”

  “Then stop talking and kiss me again,” she teased.

  He bent his head once more. The kiss was gentle at first, and then it grew deeper. His tongue licked her lips and she opened to him, to his taste. Heat and desire filled
her and made her weak. She clung to him, knowing it might only be a temporary reprieve, but how could she go on without him and Hope in her life?

  She returned his ardor with everything in her, wanting him to know she desired him as much as he wanted her. She felt his erection against her stomach and thrilled to the effect she had on him even after all this time. His hands roamed freely over her body and hers itched to do the same. Who knew how far it might’ve gone if Cassie hadn’t interrupted them?

  “I’d say you kissed and made up,” she said. “I really hate to break this up, but Luke’s on the line, Trevor. They’ve identified Mr. X.”

  Trevor’s color was as high as hers when he reluctantly moved away.

  “I’ll call him right now,” Trevor said and winked. “Jules, why don’t you fill Cassie in?”

  She nodded as he left the room.

  “I told you to have faith,” Cassie said. “So you two are good?”

  “For now,” Julie answered and proceeded to bring her up to date on the virus. What she and Trevor had was too fragile to discuss just yet. They still had to confront the past, and until they did, the future was on hold.

  • • •

  Two hours later, Trevor ushered her aboard the private jet where Owens was doing his preflight checks.

  “So this is how the other half lives,” Julie said. “Must be nice.”

  “Jacob’s a great guy. He’s got all this money, but he doesn’t rub it in your face. What he and Lilith endured at the hands of his uncle would be enough to kill most people, but he doesn’t even hold a grudge. He blamed himself for abandoning his sister, but thanks to Lilith, he’s moved on. Now all he wants is to see justice done.”