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)
“I’m good, Draden. Keep going. Tell me everything you think.” She meant it, and the ring of sincerity was in her tone.
For a moment his eyes searched hers, and then he nodded, seeing she was telling the truth. She could have loved him for just that moment when he looked as if he would have taken her into his arms and comforted her if she needed it.
“I think the Williams brothers and Orucov had a difficult time creating a virus that would kill you, so they began to experiment in places they shouldn’t. They created a simplistic filovirus, one they thought they could reverse. If the virus wasn’t able to attach, they would continue constructing one until they got the results they wanted. I think they developed this virus, but before they could test it and find a counter, they had a falling-out with Whitney. The point is, if the three creators of the virus think there’s a chance to find a therapy against this virus with your blood, there’s a chance for you.”
Draden rubbed at his temples and she knew immediately that his head was pounding. He hadn’t had any sleep and he’d been shot, although the bullet just grazed him. The fall into the water where he’d hit his head very hard had caused the most damage. In any case, she’d heard enough and wanted out of that lab. She didn’t want to think that the virus in any way had anything to do with her, but deep down, she knew his conjecture could be right.
She laid her hand on his arm. “You’re exhausted, Draden. You can sleep for a couple of hours and get back to this. I mean it. You’re not going to do either of us any good if you’re so run-down the virus takes hold too fast. You know that. You spent all night wreaking havoc with the MSS. You’ve talked to your team and they’re on it.”
“Whose satellite are we using? It doesn’t appear to be geosynchronous. When I pulled it up, there was a time schedule.”
“I don’t know if Whitney’s virologists were using something different, but we’re using a military one. Whitney had it moved into place, but we can only have it at various times. I have a satellite phone to contact him if I need data or aid, but there’s only certain times I can do that.”
“You should have told me.”
“I didn’t think it mattered. We’re both infected and we’re not leaving this area or coming into contact with any other human we can infect.”
“I’m killing terrorists,” he pointed out.
“I realize that. I will be too.” She pointed toward the freezer.
He ignored her and paced across the room to another machine. She just managed not to roll her eyes when he inserted a tube of blood.
“We’re going to have to kill them from a distance or make certain our mouths and noses are covered and we’re wearing gloves the next time we go after them. Not just any gloves, the gloves from this lab. And that has to be after we get a little sleep. I want to make certain they don’t have any more of that virus on hand.”
“Did you expect to find antibodies in the blood you were examining?” Clearly, he was going to work a little longer. If he needed to bounce his ideas off her, she had to have a clearer understanding of what he was looking for.
“They did. The Williams brothers and Orucov. The three of them. Why do you suppose they left in such a hurry? They didn’t even try to cover their tracks. Could they have spotted you?”
“That’s just insulting. I was trained in the military. They are civilians and have no real idea of self-defense. They lived in their lab. They stuck together and didn’t have outside friends. No way did they spot me. They were gone just before I got here. Maybe even the same day.”
“Why do you think that?”
She watched him as he went from his machine back to the computer and entered information. He was fast on a keyboard, she noted. Very fast. His hands fascinated her. He glanced at her over his shoulder, reminding her she’d been asked a question.
“When I looked through the window, it appeared as if they were coming right back, not as if they’d made a hasty departure. I spent a day setting up in the ranger station and watching the hut through my binoculars. That night I set up a blind in two different trees on either side of the hut, but they hadn’t come back to the hut and it looked as if they were gone. In the morning I tracked them to the village where the terrorists are located. The tracks were fresh and led directly to the village. That was why I was doing surveillance there when you decided to strike.”