Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
His gaze flicked from her arm to her face, his eyes smiling. His mouth curved, and that combination of eyes and lips set her heart pounding and her sex pulsing with need all over again. “The thing about that blood I was examining is that the virus didn’t attach to the surface of the protein cell as it should have. I checked it multiple times. I read their notes on it. I’ve only examined two of the samples and a different virus was used in each case. The virus wasn’t able to attach to the surface of the cell.”
He deftly pulled the needle from her arm. She hadn’t felt it go in.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not certain, because I don’t know where the blood came from. Does the P stand for prisoner? X1 and X2 usually would mean times one or times two, but that doesn’t make any sense. In their notes, all three men refer to the blood they’re testing as belonging to P-001 and then indicating times one up to five. Each was studying the blood separately from the other, so this particular GhostWalker was important to them.”
“How would they get blood from one of you?”
“Shylah.”
The way he said her name made her heart pound. Her body went instantly still, as if he were a predator and every cell in her told her she needed to go into prey mode and find a way to hide. She refused. She lifted her chin and faced him, not willing to be a victim. This death was her choice and she’d made it because of this man. She wouldn’t hide anything from him because he refused to hide from her.
“What is it that I’m not getting?”
“I think this blood is yours. The P is for Peony. I think they were studying it because, aside from the obvious, something in you is quite extraordinary.”
She had to get past the “aside from the obvious.” In the middle of a discussion on why three maniacs considered her blood worth spending copious amounts of time studying, she couldn’t very well encourage him to tell her what about her was so obviously extraordinary.
“I’m not sure what you mean.” She didn’t want to know. Her breath felt as though it was trapped in her lungs and she couldn’t reach the air.
For the first time, when he was discussing anything to do with the virus, his expressionless mask slipped and excitement and interest slid over his perfect masculine features, enhancing them even more. “Joe will be picking all this up and taking it to Trap. He’ll be able to make sense of this. He’ll have their notes, but it looks to me like they began developing stronger and stronger viruses in order to infect you. The viruses they designed were specifically targeting each individual. Bellisia and Zara could be infected. You couldn’t. At least the viruses they tried in those samples didn’t work.”
Shylah frowned at him. “I was aware Whitney had the Williams brothers and Orucov design viruses to kill each of us. That’s the reason he hired them. He made us very aware of that.” Silently she was chanting, trying to change what she knew was coming. Was she responsible in some way? Had those three men created something to kill her and in doing so killed an entire village of people?
“Not just the three of you. He had other girls or women in other facilities that he needed to control. He did that through creating viruses and planting the capsules in the women. The viruses had to be ones the women could fight off, if necessary, at least for a short period of time. I’ve only looked at two samples, but I’m sending them all to Trap,” he reiterated. “He’ll share with anyone he needs to share with. Bellisia was in China too long, she was trapped through no fault of her own. The capsule dissolved, and she got sick. Her handlers gave her an injection to counter the effects of the virus.”
A small burst of anger radiated out of her. “Whitney is such a bastard. Is Bellisia all right? No lasting effects?”
“She’s fine. You saw her. She’s very happy.”
For a minute, Shylah lost her resolve. Bellisia and Zara were going to live long and happy lives. They’d probably have children. She was going to die a horrible death, right here in this place with a man she barely knew.
“Shylah.”
He said her name softly and she heard the whisper of caring. Of affection. The sound slipped over her skin, stroking and caressing. She raised her head and forced a smile. If she had to die, she’d chosen this man to die with. She had made that choice. Not Whitney. And she was still resolved. Draden was a good man. The best as far as she was concerned. She would not regret her choice.