The trail traveled outside the lab, down a hallway and eventually ended at a back door. Colby opened it and scanned the surrounding area. A set of tire tracks and spewed gravel littered the sidewalk. Colby closed and locked the door, grabbed the tail end of his shirt and polished the metal to erase his fingerprints.
“Better safe than sorry. Let’s not make it easy for them to connect the two of us. My prints would be on file for my bounty hunter license.”
“Smart.”
“Let’s go back into the lab and see if we can find something that will help us. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your friend goes missing when we need somewhere to store a virus.”
They entered the lab again. Regan headed to the corner of the room that housed four large freezers. The locks had been destroyed, as well. Her arms prickled. She opened the first one and pushed her hand into the vacant compartment, finding it warm with pooled water at the bottom.
The next two freezers were the same story. Empty and warm. Regan risked touching the pooled water. It was room temperature, but considering the water was still present and the house still smoldered, she reasoned whatever happened here had been in the last couple of days.
“Don’t you think they would have been using them?” Colby asked. “Otherwise the doors would be open to keep them from rotting.”
Regan nodded. She opened the fourth freezer. It, too, was no longer functioning. Inside were several vials and when she peered at the bottom there were some cracked and opened.
She slammed the door closed and shoved Colby away.
“What was it? What did you see?”
Regan covered her mouth and nose with the sleeve of her shirt until her lungs burned, and she inhaled deeply. Had she just killed them both by so recklessly exposing them to open vials of a substance she had no idea of what it could possibly contain? Everyone thought US labs operated at a certain safety level.
If only they knew.
* * *
Colby’s skin crawled and he had an immediate desire to bathe himself in a tub of bleach. One of Regan’s hands still gripped the freezer door—her knuckles as white as her face.
They stood there looking at one another. He exhaled slowly.
“What do we do?” Colby asked.
“If there was anything deadly in there that has an airborne transmission—it’s probably too late for us.”
Colby shoved his hands into his pockets. What he should have felt was anger. Dismay. What had he gotten himself into by agreeing to help this woman? Not every lost soul could be helped. Thoughts of Sam crept into his mind. If he didn’t finish this he might as well dig her grave himself—so desperate was her fate without the cure Regan kept in that cooler.
Predominantly, Colby felt that Regan wasn’t being on the level with him. The one man she wanted to secret away this virus to just to keep it safe was missing under mysterious circumstances. What did that mean? Was he a victim as much as Regan was?
Regan dropped her hand from the freezer’s handle. “Let’s look around some more. See if we can find any lab books that might shed light on what Brian and his staff were doing.”
Colby followed her. Surrounding the central work area were some offices. Regan pointed him to one and she headed to the other.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go alone,” Colby said.
“Why not? We can cover more ground if we split up.”
What she said was true, but if he were honest with himself, he’d have to confess he was having doubts about the veracity of Regan’s story. He couldn’t wash away the thought that something, clearly, more nefarious was going on. People didn’t torch houses unless they were trying to make a point.
“It’s just that I don’t really know what you’re looking for.”
“Lab notebooks—usually they’re composition notebooks. The same kind kids buy for school.” She stared at him and then motioned him to follow her into the first office.
The drawers had already been rifled through. No notebooks. Regan began to go through the papers strewed across the floor.
“Those don’t look like notebooks.”
She looked up at him. “They’re receipts.”
“And that helps us how?”
Regan ignored him as she gathered up and then leafed through the papers. She pulled one out, dropped the rest, and stood. “Did you know you can buy viruses?”
Colby swallowed heavily. “Like what kind?”
“Any kind, if you know the right people.”
“Deadly viruses?”
“Of course. Ebola. HIV. Marburg.”
“And that’s legal?”
“All depends on what your purpose is. The US military needs these lethal viruses to do research on how to develop countermeasures like vaccines.”
“Or build weapons.”
Regan shook her head. “Manufacturing bioweapons is against the law.”
“Sure,” Colby said.
“It is.”
“People do things regardless of whether or not it’s against the law. Why do you think I have a job?”
She turned and sidled up to him. Her bare forearm touched his and a soothing comfort spread through him. “They were buying wild polio virus.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know, but as long as you’re vaccinated, there’s probably nothing here that will sicken us. It gives me an idea. We can take some of the intact vials from the freezer and switch them for the ones I took from the hospital. There’s probably some dry ice around here so we can replenish what’s in the cooler. We just need to take the vials from the hospital and hide them somewhere where they’ll stay frozen. Somewhere safe to protect the cure.”
“Like where?”
“Somewhere these criminals won’t think to look.”
Colby rubbed his face with his hand. Where could that be? “Any ideas?”
“I was thinking of some friends I have at other hospitals but they’re also competitors. I don’t know if I would trust them to keep their hands off what’s in the case.”
“Does it have to be a fancy freezer?”
She shook her head. “Standard.”
Who could Colby trust that would never be tied to him? His former mother-in-law? They had a good relationship.
“How do you know Brian?”
Regan’s eyes widened. “What?”
Something smart almost slipped off his tongue. She’d heard him for sure. Why the delay tactic? “How do you know this guy?”
“We used to work together. I was head of a private lab once.”
“Why did you leave?”
“I was being recruited by several hospitals who were offering me very lucrative contracts. I was a single mom.”
“More money than the private sector? I find that hard to believe.”
Regan slumped into an office chair. “There was an accident while I was there. Several people died.”
Colby’s throat tightened. He leaned against the wall to hide the fact her statement made him weak in the knees. “How?”
“It was never really determined.”
“But I’m sure you have some theories on the matter,” Colby challenged.
“I really can only speculate. Let’s see if we can find anything else in the other offices.”
Shut down. Clearly she didn’t want to continue discussing it. Colby, however, couldn’t let it go. What if what had happened in that lab had every bearing on what was happening to them now?
The last two offices didn’t hold any information—at least none that Regan seemed to be interested in.
Regan, much more confidently this time, opened the freezer that held the mysterious vials, scanned the labels on the tubes and grabbed half a dozen. They found a waist high f
reezer with dry ice, put some in a bag, and walked back to the car.
“How long ago was this?” Colby asked.
“What?”
“This accident at your lab?”
“Over ten years ago.”
“What did the investigation find?”
Regan reached the car and pulled the door open but stared at him over the top of the beat-up hood. “Why are you so determined to talk about this? It was a very painful time for me. What’s in the past should be left there. I’m not asking you to go back and dig up everything you’d like to keep buried.”
She ducked down and got into the car. He climbed in, as well.
“You don’t think it might be relevant to what’s going on right now? Especially since someone you worked with is also missing? His house has been burned down. The two of you being targeted makes me look at how the two of you were tied together, and it was working at that lab.”
“Three lab workers died. Their respiratory systems seized up.”
“What?”
“Something caused instant muscular paralysis. If your diaphragm doesn’t move—then you basically suffocate to death.”
“And the cause?”
“It could have been that the polio virus became aerosolized somehow, but that was never proved. Polio can transmit via the air, but those workers had been vaccinated, so even they shouldn’t have suffered any ill effects from the virus leaking out. A mutated, highly virulent form of polio must have infected them.”
“Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know... I honestly don’t know.”
Was she telling him the truth? She opened the cooler and stuck the vials and ice inside. “What’s next?” she asked, her tone ending any interrogation on his part.
“First, we hide the cure and then go to the park and have a look around before the exchange tomorrow night.”
SEVEN
It had been years since Colby had seen his mother-in-law, Denise. Her surprise at his unexpected arrival didn’t hinder her warm reception of both him and Regan.
“Colby, I’m so surprised to see you here.”
Regan walked in behind him but as soon as she shook Denise’s hand there was clear recognition on her face.
“You’re the doctor they’re looking for. They think that you murdered someone.”
“Let’s talk.” Colby quickly ushered Denise into her living room. Though he didn’t suspect anyone was following them, he parted the curtain and peered out the front of the house just to be sure.
Empty.
“Colby, what’s going on? I don’t hear from you for years and then you show up at my door with a wanted woman.”
Perhaps Colby had misread the quality of their relationship. Now, he wondered about how wise his choice had been. Too late now.
“I’m sorry. I know I should have been better about keeping in touch.”
“Yes, you should have.” Pain etched her voice.
Colby’s heart fell like a rock. His eyes captured Regan’s, and she turned away from him and began scanning the photographs Denise had on the mantel above her fireplace.
Tears welled in Denise’s eyes and she quickly wiped at them—her movements brisk. “You’re the only connection I have left to my daughter.”
“She’s beautiful,” Regan said.
Colby felt relief wash over him. Regan would be better at this type of conversation. She was a doctor, after all—she was practiced at managing uncomfortable situations.
“Tell me about her,” Regan said.
“Brook was one of the most fascinating people you’d ever meet. She was very calm and peaceful. Yoga instructor. Massage therapist. She always wanted to make people feel better. I never thought Colby was a great fit for her, but he slowly changed my mind. He was so protective.”
Did grief ever fully go away? Just hearing Denise speak about Brook brought back a wave of emotion. Things he’d stuffed down for years. Thought he’d dealt with. Healed from.
Should he still feel this way?
“I’m sorry that she died so young,” Regan said.
“Cancer—such an awful disease.”
Regan’s eyebrows shot up.
He read her mind in that instant and knew she likely felt betrayed that he hadn’t shared that piece of information with her.
“How is Sam?” Denise directed the question at Colby.
“Sam is partly why we’re here,” Colby said. “Dr. Lockhart developed a cure for Sam’s type of brain cancer, but some bad people are after her. What you see in the news is a lie. She’s not responsible for her nanny’s death. Her daughter is being held for ransom for what’s inside this cooler. We’d like to leave it here...to protect it.”
Denise settled herself on the couch. Heaviness settled throughout Colby’s body. He hadn’t been fair to Denise and now his absence from her life could cost him the help he needed.
Regan cleared her throat. “I know this is asking a lot. More than anyone should ever ask of a stranger...at least to me, but above all I want to protect this cure for other patients. If you don’t hear from us in seven days, I want you to stick the vials in a cooler like this one with some dry ice and take it back to Strang Memorial. They’ll know what to do with it.”
“Even without you?” The words slipped from Colby’s mouth before his mind had formed the thought. Why did he challenge her? Or was it even a challenge at all?
“They’ll find a way.” Regan turned back to Denise. “Will you help us? I know that I don’t have anyone else to turn to, and Colby thinks you’re our best hope.”
“What happens when the police figure out that Colby is helping you?” Denise asked. “Won’t they come here? Checking family first?”
In truth, he hadn’t teased out all the potential possibilities. The scenario playing out in front of him was odd in the least and not having experience in hiding a wanted woman made it less possible to rely on his experience. He had to undo his training and think opposite of how he normally thought.
It wasn’t a comfortable space to be in.
Denise was at risk. If they tied Colby to Regan, then of course they would look into all of his known associates. Dead wife or not, they’d talk to Denise at some point.
“You need to give the cooler to someone else. Someone you trust but that I’ve never met,” Colby said.
Regan shook her head. “No, I’m not willing to take that chance.” Regan turned to Denise. “Listen, you are putting yourself in danger. I’m worried that the more people are involved, the more at risk their lives will be and the higher the chance the cure could be lost.”
Colby folded his hands together and leaned forward. “Perhaps we’re putting too much emphasis on the importance of these vials. The cure can be made again.”
“Of course it can, but not manufactured in enough time to save Sam. And if something happens to me, it could delay this treatment for years to come. I have notes, but to protect this intellectual property I’ve left gaps in those documents to prevent a competitor from stealing it.”
Colby inhaled, and tension caused his neck to ache. Did the criminals intend to put them between a rock and a hard place?
Of course, that was the goal of every criminal.
“I’ll do it,” Denise said.
Both Colby and Regan zeroed in on Denise.
“If ultimately whatever is in this cooler will help people suffering from cancer, then I want to help. No parent should have to go through what I’ve gone through—burying a child.” She turned to Colby, a measure of resolve in her eyes. “A young marriage shouldn’t end in the manner yours did. So much was taken away when Brook died. I’ll do what I can to give back—even if it could mean trouble for me.”
* * *
After their long day yest
erday, Regan and Colby had crashed at the hotel and decided scoping out the park would be better in the morning after they were rested and well fed.
Regan surrendered to the pull of Colby’s hand and nestled her prone body next to him in the dirt. He pulled out a set of binoculars and scanned the area. The day was bright—a morning where parents could expect to play with their children in a park uninterrupted by criminal happenings. And here it would come to pass in a few short hours that she would trade her daughter for an active polio virus. At least, she assumed that was what was now present in those vials.
Regan’s stomach was in knots. Having this virus was risky. It put the community at risk if it didn’t stay frozen in that cooler. Everything about this play area reminded her of what she’d missed with Olivia. She hadn’t been the type of mother to take Olivia to the park—to watch her gallivant around and try the monkey bars and jungle gyms under her watchful eye. It was hard not to feel guilty for those lost times, but she didn’t think she had wasted her time. Life was a balance and as much as she yearned to change her approach with Olivia, would anyone else have come up with the cure she had?
The teeter-totter swayed in the wind as if two invisible children played. That tilting of one end up and down was so much like life. A decision always had consequences. Even good decisions could have bad outcomes.
If she got Olivia back, there had to be a way to change her trajectory with her daughter. The look in Denise’s eyes at remembering all those lost moments with her daughter had been a knife of conviction straight into Regan’s gut.
Lord, I know I probably haven’t been all that Olivia has needed, but You gifted her to me for a reason. Please, help Colby and me get her back safely. Above all, keep her safe until I can figure out a way to get her back.
Colby took her hand and squeezed it. “You okay?” he asked, his voice a shade under his normal tone.
“Could be better,” Regan confessed.
“We’ll get her back.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
His words sounded even and sure, though her body still trembled despite the warm day. Her training taught her to always consider the worst-case scenario first but going down that path in her mind when it involved Olivia’s life was something she couldn’t do. It was time to just work the problem one step at a time.
Taken Hostage Page 6
