by Lisa Harris
A hint of a smile crossed her lips. “You’re cuter.”
It was all he could do not to kiss her right there, but they weren’t out of the woods yet. “So what happened?”
“I don’t know. I thought I’d lost the guy, but I was wrong. He walked into the hotel and saw me. Came up to me with a gun. Told me to be quiet, or he’d shoot someone in the room.” A streetlight caught the fear in her expression. “It was the same man who grabbed me at the bus stop. The same man from the security video in DC.”
“I picked up his wallet.” Aiden pulled out the ID he’d grabbed off the guy. “His name is Pete Jefferies. He’s an American.”
“Sent here to track down the virus.”
“Probably hired. And paid to take out whoever stands in the way.”
“They’re not going to stop until they have the virus,” Rachel whispered. “We need to get Charlie and leave the city now.”
Aiden’s phone went off again.
“It’s Charlie. He’s on the way to Ataturk. Let’s get this virus back to DC.”
Chapter Eighteen
Blue and red lights from half a dozen squad cars flashed on the darkened runway of the private airport just outside DC.
“What’s going on, Aiden?” Rachel asked from the co-pilot’s seat.
His father had told him there were going to be those who questioned his decision to leave the country with the virus, but he hadn’t expected the authorities to get involved so soon. How did they even know he had it? Someone had told them, but who? They’d left to keep the virus safe from whoever was after it, not to exploit it. And he could prove he’d made the right choice.
“Only one way to find out.” Aiden unbelted, helped Rachel from the co-pilot seat then shouldered the cooler bag with the cloned virus. He stepped off the plane, Rachel and Charlie following.
The moment the three of them were on the tarmac, someone shouted, “Hands in the air, now. All three of you.”
Uniformed officers encircled them. Panic surged as he complied, but his mind was still trying to process what was happening.
His father stepped between officers with their guns raised.
“Dad. . .what’s going on?”
His father held up his hand. “I’m sorry, Son, but we found evidence Rachel and Charlie have been behind the attempts to steal the virus.”
“What? You can’t be serious.” Rachel’s voice rose a frantic notch. “Aiden, tell them I’ve helped you keep the virus safe.”
“That could be true,” Aiden’s father said. “Except you didn’t need the actual virus, did you?” When his father assumed his all-business stance, it never ended well for whoever opposed him. “All you needed was its genomic instructions, and you could make it from scratch. And you have that now.”
“No,” Rachel argued. “We were trying to protect the virus. Someone is—”
“I’m sorry, Miss Allen,” one of the officers said, stepping forward, “but we have evidence that confirms what Mr. Ballinger is saying. We’re arresting you for possessing a regulated substance with intent to manufacture a bioweapon.”
“You can’t be serious.” Rachel kept shaking her head and all Aiden could think was how badly he wanted her confusion to mean he’d not been betrayed again. That he’d not been blinded by her beauty and brains. That he wasn’t a total failure when it came to character assessment.
“What evidence?” Charlie demanded.
The officer ignored his question and started reading Rachel and Charlie their rights.
“Dad. . .this is insane.” Aiden tried to intervene, but he was motioned back. “I don’t care what your evidence is, she’s not involved. Neither of them is.”
“Aiden, you’ve got to do something,” Rachel pleaded. “Explain to them what happened.”
He caught the terror in Rachel’s eyes as one of the officers handcuffed her. This couldn’t be happening. He’d promised to protect her, and now they were blaming her and Charlie for everything that had happened since the moment they’d met at that party.
“I’m sorry, Aiden.” His father blocked his path as officers led Rachel and Charlie toward the squad cars. “You might be enamored with her, but you don’t really know her.”
“I know her well enough to trust her with my life.”
“This is your problem, Son.” His father picked a stray thread from the lapel of his tailor-made suit coat. “You’ve always trusted the wrong people. You knew Charlie was guilty, and yet you continued to protect him. I tried to warn you. And your mother and I never did like that scholarship boy you took up with in college.”
“This is wrong, and you know it.”
“Is it? They both have the knowledge and the skills to pull this off. They played you, Aiden.”
The siren blipped as the car with Rachel and Charlie pulled away. Aiden dropped his hands to his sides. There was no way he’d been played by them. Was there?
He turned to his father. “What kind of evidence do you have?”
“Emails. Texts. We were able to retrieve them off our servers at the lab. Burner phones and cash in her apartment. They’d been meeting with buyers with the intent of selling to a third party.”
He wouldn’t believe it. “How can this be? Charlie didn’t even know I was coming to Istanbul. And Rachel had never met Charlie, not until I took her to his little backstreet lab. They’re being framed, Dad.”
“I wish you were right, Son, but this is what our investigation uncovered.”
“And you turned all the evidence over to the authorities?”
“I couldn’t let you throw away your life. There’s a lot at stake here.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Take the virus.” He nodded toward a shiny black SUV. “Dr. Moreno and a deputy director from the CDC are waiting in the car. The three of you will go straight to the lab. We need to ensure whatever you have in that cooler never gets into the wrong hands.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll be there soon. I’ve been asked to finish giving my statement. They’ll want to talk to you next.”
“This isn’t right, Dad.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m getting them a lawyer—”
“I already called someone, but you’re not responsible for them. We’ll make sure the entire truth comes out, but for now, your priority is securing the virus. I’ll have your things delivered for you and meet you there.”
Numbness spread through Aiden as he headed for the black SUV where he found Moreno in the driver’s seat and the deputy director in the front passenger seat. He placed the virus cooler on the floor then climbed in behind them.
“Welcome back,” Moreno said. “Though I’m guessing this isn’t the ticker-tape parade you were expecting.”
“No, it’s not.”
“This is Daniel Faraday with the CDC,” Moreno said, making introductions. “This is Aiden Ballinger.”
Aiden snapped on his seat belt as Moreno shifted into Drive then started toward the exit. “It’s good to meet you, but I can’t help but wonder why I’m coming with you and the virus instead of heading to a holding cell?”
“We never found any connection to you in the evidence,” Faraday said.
“But Moreno, you know Rachel,” Aiden countered. “You don’t really believe she’s guilty, do you?”
“I don’t want to, but I’ve seen what they found. She had opportunity. . .motive. The police found cash stashed in her apartment. More than her annual salary.”
Aiden pinched the bridge of his nose as a wave of exhaustion flooded through him. “I don’t care what the evidence is, I still don’t believe it.”
“It’s hard for me to see her involved in something like this too,” Moreno said. “But according to her financials she has quite a bit of education debt.”
“Her parents were missionaries. She had to take out loans to pay her own way.” Aiden leaned back against the seat, wishing he could ignore the heavy feelings of betrayal. What if his father was r
ight? How well did he really know Rachel? She was the one who’d claimed to be a missionary kid. He’d taken her at her word.
The thought that his father was right and he’d allowed this beautiful girl to play him with the same story of growing up poor Iceman had told him made him sick to his stomach on the one hand. Mad as a hornet on the other.
No. It simply wasn’t possible. They’d spent hours talking about life and work and faith, and when she’d kissed him, he let his mind dare consider the possibility of something more than friendship with her. His gut clenched at the thought that he’d imagined the fierce connection between them. But then again, Iceman had betrayed him. Something he never would have imagined. Had he totally misread Rachel as well?
Aiden’s head pounded and his body screamed for sleep after all he’d been through, but he couldn’t rest. Not yet. This was far bigger than his personal feelings. He, of all people, knew how high the stakes were. Until this virus was secure, his original fears of a worldwide pandemic in the wrong hands was still a possibility.
He stared out the window, the lights of the city blurring together. “This isn’t the way to the lab.”
“I just got a message from your father,” Moreno said from the front seat. “There’s been a change of plans. He’s worried about the security of the virus. Worried there could be more inside people involved.”
“So where are we going?” Aiden asked.
“Another high-security lab not too far south of here.”
Aiden shifted in his seat, not sure he was comfortable with the change of plans, but all he could think about was what Charlie and Rachel were going through and what questions they were being asked. His phone rang and he snatched it out of his pocket.
“Aiden?”
Aiden’s heart hammered at the sound of the private investigator’s voice he’d hired.
“Don’t let on it’s me.” Evan rushed on before Aiden had a chance to speak.
“M-mom,” Aiden stuttered. “Is everything okay?”
“I saw on the news that Rachel and Charlie were arrested when you landed in DC. They’re being set up.”
Aiden hesitated. “I know.”
“Do you have the virus?” Evan asked.
“Yes.”
“Is Moreno with you?”
The uneasiness in Aiden’s gut spread as he shifted his gaze to the front seat. “Yes. Why?”
“Charlie and Rachel were framed, and I have proof.”
The news slammed through him.
“Be very careful what you say and do right now,” Evan said. “The people behind this, including Moreno, are powerful and dangerous.”
“What do you want me to do, Mom? Ask Joel and Teresa to meet us for dinner?”
“Don’t let that virus out of your sight. I’m working on an extraction plan.”
“Look, Joel and I are kind of busy tonight. I’ll come see you as soon as I can.” Aiden dropped the phone into his lap, his looming paranoia growing.
“That was your mom?” Moreno asked, taking the exit off the freeway.
“Yeah.”
Moreno cut a glance at him through the rearview mirror. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, she’s just in town to do a little shopping. Trying to settle her nerves after what happened on the island and all.”
Dr. Moreno glanced in the mirror and smiled. “Iris has always been a firm believer in retail therapy.”
Questions surfaced in rapid procession. If he couldn’t trust Moreno, who was he supposed to trust? And how was he supposed to stop this? Was the deputy director, if that’s who the man in the passenger seat really was, in on this with Moreno?
There was no time to process his thoughts.
“Hang on!” Moreno slammed on the brakes and jerked on the steering wheel as a car zipped in front of them.
Aiden lunged forward and tried to brace himself, but his head slammed against the window and everything went black.
Aiden had no idea how much time had passed when he woke to shouting. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. Their vehicle wasn’t moving anymore, and his head was pounding. Someone opened his door then yanked him out of the vehicle and onto the pavement before grabbing something out of the back seat.
The virus.
Aiden rolled over onto his bruised shoulder, trying to focus, but his vision was still blurred. He stumbled to his feet, forcing himself to stand up. His head throbbed, but he had to get the virus. Had to stop whoever had ambushed them and was taking it. He glanced into the front seat of the vehicle. The deputy director wasn’t moving and the driver’s seat was vacant.
Where was Moreno?
Movement shifted his attention to the left.
He blinked again. “Moreno?”
The older man had the cooler slung over his shoulder and was running away from the vehicle. A car honked as Aiden started running down the sidewalk, but all he saw was the friend he used to trust. He quickened his steps until he was only trailing him by a few feet, then lunged forward, tackling him to the ground. Both men rolled onto the grassy strip. Moreno turned, slammed his fist into Aiden’s rib cage, then grabbed for the cooler again. Moreno might have thirty pounds on him, but Aiden was younger, stronger and faster. Sirens whirled in the distance as he pinned Moreno’s shoulders to the ground.
“Give it up, Moreno. It’s over,” Aiden huffed.
Moreno struggled to get up. “You have no idea what you’ve just stepped into.”
Aiden pressed his knee into the man’s back. “Unfortunately, I think I do.”
“I saw him running with the virus.” The deputy director stood huffing over them. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Aiden pulled Moreno to his feet while feelings of betrayal swept through him. “But I just learned there’s proof the doc here was behind all of this. Not Charlie and Rachel.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting your so-called proof,” Moreno argued, as three police cars surrounded them, “but whatever you have is nothing more than lies.”
Aiden shook his head and nodded to one of the officers. “Get him out of here.”
Aiden walked into his parents’ primary residence in Bethesda after being checked out at the emergency room. He tried to fight the emotions consuming him, but the past few days had shaken him.
His father strode across the marble tile toward him. “Are you okay?”
“For the most part.” He stopped in the middle of the foyer, his hand going automatically to his shoulder. “I still have a headache from the impact, and I’ll be sore for a few days.”
“Thankfully nothing was broken.”
Just his faith in humanity.
He studied his father’s expression, surprised. “What’s going on? I was told Charlie and Rachel are here and they’ve both been cleared.”
“Thanks to the evidence your private investigator dug up, they have been.” His father shoved his hands into his pockets and dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry. I was wrong about her. About both of them.”
“You were just following the evidence. None of this was your fault.”
“I understand how betrayed you feel by Iceman. Joel Moreno and I grew up together.”
Aiden hated seeing the disappointment on his father’s face, but he felt the same way. He’d admired Dr. Moreno and had considered him a friend. This wasn’t how he’d expected this to end.
“They would both like to see you,” his father said, motioning toward the library.
Aiden headed toward the room his mother had recently redecorated with mahogany bookshelves and leather furniture with stacks of colored pillows and throws.
When Charlie saw Aiden, his weariness disappeared from his face and he leapt to his feet.
“Thank you.” Tears glistened in the old man’s eyes as Aiden pulled him into a hug. “For believing in me.”
“I never stopped.”
Charlie fiddled with the buttons on his sweater. “Because of what you did, I might get to bring my work out of hiding.”
Aiden shot him a grin. “You wouldn’t mind that too much, would you?”
“I might get used to it. . .eventually.”
“It’s going to happen. I promise.”
“I hope you’re right, but for now, you need to talk to Rachel.”
Aiden glanced around the room. “Where is she?”
“Out on the back deck. And, Aiden. . .you need to tell her how you feel.”
“Charlie, I’m not sure I can—”
“Don’t give me your excuses.” Charlie clasped his shoulder. “The girl’s in love with you, and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way about her.”
His heart quickened as he stepped through the French doors. Rachel was sitting curled up on the end of a cushioned loveseat with a thick blanket wrapped around her. Even with dark circles from lack of sleep and tangled hair, she was beautiful.
“Aren’t you cold?” Aiden sat down beside her, wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders, and pulled her close.
“I’m not sure I can feel anything anymore.”
“I am so, so sorry this happened.” Aiden brushed away a tear from her cheek.
“I’m honestly not sure how to process everything. They just kept asking me the same questions, over and over, and I had no way to defend myself, because I didn’t know anything. I haven’t felt that terrified since. . .” She let her gaze drift toward the trees and Aiden knew she was thinking back to the day when a little girl stumbled upon men murdering her father. How he wished he could erase her pain.
“It was all a setup to frame you and Charlie.”
“By Dr. Moreno?”
Aiden nodded.
“But why? I just. . .I can’t believe he would do this.”
“I’ve known Joel my whole life. Teresa must be crushed. We’re still putting everything together, but from what Evan discovered, Joel’s been planning the sale to a buyer for a long time. He didn’t count on us running into his hired guns and taking the virus with us.”
“Why did he involve me with the testing of the virus?” she asked.
“I’m guessing it gave him proof someone else inside the lab knew about the virus if he needed a scapegoat.”
