Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
He was invincible.
Charlie sighed and dropped her head to his. “I love you, Ian.”
“And as soon as we can, you’re going to love me at Sanctum.” The vaccine would be here soon and the world would open up again. A few months more.
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Charlie called.
The door opened and all their kids were there, led by Tash, who had Travis on her hip. She held the fourteen-month-old with the hands of an expert, and he clung to his big sister. Kenzie was holding Seth’s hand, and Kala brought up the rear, a worried look on her face.
They knew.
Damn it. He’d tried to keep the whole “my heart needs to be checked out” thing on the down-low.
“Is Dad okay?”
Then his heart did constrict, and he had to take a deep breath because Tasha had asked the question.
Charlie slid off his lap and reached for their oldest daughter’s hand. “Yes, sweetie. Your dad is great. We talked to the doctor and his heart is in amazing condition. He’s healthy and going to be with us for a very long time.”
He watched them all sigh in obvious relief.
“That’s good news, Mom. We were all worried about him.” Tasha smiled, a bright, happy expression. “And it’s good because he promised we could watch Ant Man again. I’ll go make some popcorn.”
She turned with the surety of a child who wouldn’t get turned down, who knew her dad would stop the world to watch a movie with her.
The kids walked out talking about snacks, and Charlie turned, tears rolling down her cheeks. “She called me Mom.”
He drew her into his arms, his heart fuller than it had been before.
It had taken awhile, but their girl was finally home.
8
Countdown: A Glimpse of a Possible Future
Countdown takes place sometime in the future.
Deep in the Himalayas
Ben Parker fired, taking down the last of the security. The black-clad guard hit the floor with a thud and Ben breathed a long sigh of relief. There had been twelve, a ridiculous number for a facility that was supposedly used to study the effects of climate change high in the Himalayas. But then Ben’s higher-ups in the CFI knew what was really going on in this remote site deep in Nepal.
The “climate” scientists were actually virologists and engineers who had seemingly made evil their minors in college. Or greed, perhaps, but given what they were brewing up here, he had to think it was pure evil.
A new delivery system for anthrax was being researched in this complex, and Canada was going to make damn sure that was one research project that didn’t get completed.
Ben was silent for a moment, waiting for any sound to reach his ear. The floors in this part of the complex were metal, and any sudden movement rattled. Nothing. It appeared the intelligence had been correct and the facility had been evacuated except for security personnel and a few lead scientists. Now all he had to do was find the big bad guy and he could call it a day.
He touched the comm system. It was sleek and small, nothing more than a dot that sat on the outer edge of his left ear. He could walk around with it all day and no one would notice. “Tim, are you there? I’m past the inner perimeter. I need the code to get into the lab.”
A garbled sound came over the line.
One of the best reasons for a whacko terrorist to hide a lab in the middle of the Himalayas was the fact that technology sometimes went awry out here. It tended to give the bad guys an edge. He stared at the door in front of him. It was massive and made of four-inch-thick steel. He wasn’t going to kick that sucker in no matter how many leg days he’d suffered through.
He knew he should have brought some damn C-4, but no, his handler was worried they would blow up the anthrax and kill the population of Nepal. There was no optimism left in his world.
He had one shot, and damn but he hadn’t wanted to take it. He’d wanted to get this thing done before the other team showed up. It would have made things infinitely easier, but it looked like there was no way around it. He hadn’t come across anyone with the key to the inner sanctum. Behind that door was the part of the building not even security got into.
He glanced around, touching his comm again. “Tell me the damn Americans came through. I can’t move forward without a code. I wasn’t able to find anyone with the proper key card. You were right. All the scientists are gone. Huisman’s in there somewhere. I think he’s crazy enough to go down with the ship, eh?”
“Americans…code…coming. Sorry, there’s a storm. Moving in…five…hang…” The line went dead.