Cold Blooded

by Toni Anderson

  Where was Pip? Where was the lawyer? And where were all the bad guys?

  The itch between his shoulder blades told him this was the endgame. But no way would these assholes get away with what they’d tried to do. No way would he lose Pip. Not today. Not when he’d just found her.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Pip found herself on a cold, unforgiving floor, disorientated and confused. She must have passed out at some point. She squinted against the bright light. Pain streaked through her skull as an alarm sounded in the background. What the hell was going on?

  A large blue tarp crinkled behind her. Then she noticed a long streak of blood glistening on the floor and a rush of horror crawled over her.

  She moved her head, immediately rolled over and retched. Sweat broke out over her forehead as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  Two head injuries in one day was two too many. She forced herself into a sitting position and swayed, her vision going in and out of focus. The jerk who’d brought her in here—had to be Pete Dexter, she realized—was climbing into a spacesuit and attaching it to an air hose.

  Why?

  Her brain had kicked into panic mode but her limbs were too shaky to follow orders. Her blurry gaze followed another blood trail—a thin line of drops across the floor, ending at a cupboard.

  Weird. Her head rolled against the sealed floor.

  And then she figured it out. Someone who was bleeding had managed to crawl into that cupboard and hide.

  Pip managed to get her feet beneath her and climb upright, holding onto a nearby bench.

  Dexter eyed her but carried on working. He wore an insulated glove to protect one hand as he removed long, metal tubes from a liquid nitrogen store, which she recognized from visits to the laboratory with Cindy. He emptied the tubes onto the bench, then threw them into a Styrofoam box. Wisps of smoke were coming out of the top.

  No, not smoke.

  Dry ice.

  He was loading up samples for transport.

  “Why did you kill Cindy?” she asked, having to speak up over the stupid alarm that rang outside the glass walls of the lab. Everything pounded her brain and intensified the pain.

  Was the building on fire?

  It was a terrifying idea, but at least the emergency services should arrive soon, which was probably why Pete was grabbing samples as fast as his fingers could move.

  Help was on the way. A surge of energy flowed through her. She could do this. She just had to survive until then.

  “I didn’t kill Cindy.” He grinned. “She went for a swim and drowned.”

  Hatred moved inside her. He’d drugged her friend, raped her, and watched her die. And now he was laughing about it.

  “You were jealous,” Pip choked out. “Your ego couldn’t cope with the fact she was so much smarter than you.”

  His expression twisted under his Plexiglas mask. “Didn’t do her any good in the end, did it?”

  “You’re disgusting, you know that?”

  He smiled. “Boo hoo. Poor little orphan Pippa. Such a shame. Nobody wants her.”

  Not true. She didn’t say it but she knew. Cindy had wanted her. And she was pretty sure Hunt wanted her, too. At least, he had before she’d pushed him away.

  Keep Pete talking, she reminded herself. Feds were on their way. Hunt would get her message and Dickster would be brought to justice. “You’re the one nobody wants. You cheated on Cindy because even her love wasn’t enough for a narcissist like you.”

  He sneered. “I started dating Cindy simply to keep an eye on what was happening in Everson’s lab. We chose the weakest link. Seduce her. Pretend to love her. It was easy until she found Bea’s underwear in my pocket.”

  Pip straightened. She loathed this monster. Her headache and pain all but faded into insignificance compared to the anger that surged through her at what he’d done to her friend. “You stole her research.”

  “She built her ideas on the work of others. I just refined it further.”

  Pip paced and he had to twist to look at her. “No. She’s the one who refined it. She did something amazing, didn’t she? And you didn’t want her to get the credit. You’re a jealous little worm.”

  An ugly sound came out of his mouth. “I didn’t want her to get the cash.” He picked up a gun she hadn’t noticed on the bench and pointed it at her. “Sit back on the tarp and keep the dead FBI agent company.”

  Pip’s entire being froze. Could it be Hunt? No. He’d been called into work. She clenched her fists. It couldn’t be him. Fuller…

  “You killed an FBI agent?” She could barely get the words out. “They’ll be swarming this place.”

  “And I won’t be here.” Pete pulled another set of samples from the liquid nitrogen store. “But you will be.”

  “What about Sally-Anne and the professor?” she asked. “Did you stage their deaths, too?”

  His lips curled behind the mask. “Wasn’t difficult. Sally-Anne enjoyed it. She had a good time right until the end.” Pip wanted to puke. “The professor was starting to figure it out. When you got the Feds involved, he had to die.”

  Was he really trying to blame this on her?

  “Angela Naysmith almost ran me off the road on Monday morning heading to Cindy’s cottage. Are she and Simon Corker involved in this plot?”

  Pete left a metal rod on the bench and she inched closer.

  He shrugged. “I forgot to leave my Blake keycard in Cindy’s truck the way we’d planned so Angela took it up for me. We all needed this thing to work.”

  That was the keycard Hunt had seemed very interested in when they’d come across it. A lot of things were starting to make more sense now. He’d been searching for a bioterrorist. “Your company not doing so well, Pete?”

  He glared at her. “Those bastard Feds ruined everything.”

  “I think it’s their job,” she said wryly. “What happened? You tried to sell anthrax on the black market, didn’t you? And Cindy’s vaccine, too.”

  He and his cronies were monsters. They didn’t care who they put in danger.

  He pointed the gun straight at her head. “We decided to stir up the demand for our product by increasing the threat levels. But once the FBI intercepted the sale of our weaponized anthrax we had to go to plan B and try to deflect any attention away from us.”

  Plan B being kill anyone who might suspect them and get the hell out of Dodge. This was why Hunt had been so secretive. This case was way more important than any issues of trust between the two of them.

  “As soon as the Feds got their hands on the samples we’d tried to sell, Cindy and the professor both had to die.”

  And now it was their fault?

  His grip changed on the weapon. “Go and sit back on the floor like I told you. I don’t have much time.”

  Pip would rather die fighting than sit still while someone used her for target practice. She snatched up the nearest metal rod and hit him with it. The handle was so cold it burned her skin but she didn’t care. She hit him again. The gun went off and she felt the heat of a bullet brush her cheek.

  Crap. She jerked and fell to the floor, catching herself with her forearms.

  Pete dropped an open vial a yard from where she lay.

  White powder floated into the air, then dissipated.

  He started laughing, then grabbed the polystyrene box to his chest with one arm, gun pointed unwaveringly in her direction. “That vial is full of a virulent form of anthrax that Professor Everson and myself pulled out of his old supervisor’s Cold War freezer. The old man’s widow asked Trevor for help cleaning his home office. Naturally Trevor wanted to use free student labor and made me help. Bet he wished he’d done it all on his own now.” The words were snide.

  Pip stared in horror at the bone white powder scattered across the floor.

  She swallowed tightly. “Give me the vaccine.”

  Pete backed towards the exit. “We shipped it all to our new location the day after Cindy died. Don’t wo
rry. It won’t take long, but it will hurt. We tested it on a few volunteers before we decided to sell it to the highest bidder. We filmed their violent deaths and we filmed the girl who lived. That’s why the buyers were so ready to part with so much money.” He shook his head as she moved toward him. “Uh, uh. If you follow me you’ll spread the spores throughout Atlanta and who knows how many people will die.”

  Pip froze in indecision and within seconds he was gone.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  She tried the door he’d backed through but he’d locked it from the outside. Dammit.

  She snatched up a face mask and positioned it over her mouth and nose. Too little too late probably. She grabbed a couple of paper towels and laid them over the broken vial to try and contain the spores. Then she rushed to the cupboard and threw open the doors.

  Agent Fuller was inside, curled up in a tiny ball. Blood covered her clothes and smeared the veneer of the cabinet. The agent tried to open her eyes but they immediately started to droop again. She was obviously weak from loss of blood and who knew what internal damage.

  Pip dragged her out of the cupboard. “Wake up, Agent Fuller. I need you to wake up.” She tapped the woman’s cheek and was rewarded with a groggy glare. And maybe she should have left her in the cupboard, because as things stood they were both going to die. She hooked Fuller’s arm over her shoulder and started shuffling them to the door of the lab.

  It was amazing how the yawning maw of imminent death made all the regrets and mistakes focus with unprecedented clarity. Pip would give anything to go back in time and not run from Hunt’s place, not tell him she didn’t want to even try to see where this thing between them might lead.

  But his job was dangerous and he dealt with this sort of situation on a daily basis. She didn’t think she could cope with the idea of losing him if she did let herself fall in love.

  “We need to find a way into another lab and then we need to contact your colleagues so we can get out of here.” The longer they stayed the more likely they were to be exposed, but there was no point worrying Fuller. The woman was barely clinging to life.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Hunt checked every room. The floor was a sprawling mass of labs and he didn’t want to miss Pip if she was hiding somewhere or had gotten lost.

  His work cell vibrated and he put it to his ear, though he could barely hear above the noise.

  Will yelled, “I’m outside. I’ve got a man and a woman under arrest—Simon Corker and Angela Naysmith. The second floor is on fire.”

  “You find Fuller or Pip?” Hunt asked.

  “No. I hoped you had. Nor Pete Dexter, Bea Grantham or the lawyer. I’m gonna secure these two and head down to the basement with you. The fire department is on their way but they might not enter the facility when they don’t know what the fuck flammables or biological agents are inside.”

  “And turn that goddamned alarm off before you come down here. I can’t hear a thing.”

  Hunt stuffed his cell in his pocket and continued clearing each room as quickly as possible. Then, up ahead, a figure in scrubs appeared with a Styrofoam box in one hand and a gun in the other. Hunt froze and hugged the shadows.

  Dexter.

  That’s when he noticed the gray painted breeze-block walls. Just like in the video. These guys had killed Cindy, Sally-Anne, Grossman’s widow, and probably the drug dealer, and the professor, too. Who knew when they’d infected the co-pilot. And they’d filmed the video right here. Hunt debated shouting to the man striding away from him down the corridor that he was under arrest. Instead he sprinted, knowing the guy wouldn’t hear him over the alarm.

  He got to within a few feet and jabbed his SIG into Dexter’s spine. “Hands up,” he yelled. “You’re under arrest.”

  Hunt took the gun out of Dexter’s hand and stuffed it into a pocket. “Put the box carefully on the floor, asshole. It’s all over.”

  Dexter put the box down and tried to run. Hunt was on him in seconds and smashed him into the floor. He yanked Dexter’s arms behind his back and slipped the metal cuffs over the bastard’s wrists.

  The alarm finally stopped ringing and the silence seemed to reverberate around them.

  Dexter started laughing. “You got me. Bravo. Intrepid FBI agent finally nailed the man who’s been leading him around by his dick all week. Pity you didn’t do it before I killed the witless female FBI agent or Cindy’s stupid little friend.”

  Hunt’s heart stopped. God, no. He dragged Dexter to his feet and jammed his arm up against Dexter’s throat. “Where are they?”

  “Like that, is it?” Dexter laughed mockingly. “They’re in the containment lab. Pippa isn’t dead yet, but she will be. Just like you will be.” He kicked at the box on the floor, clearly meaning to break the contents, but Hunt anticipated the move. He blocked the kick with his leg and shoved Dexter farther down the corridor away from whatever deadly microbes were in the box.

  Hunt threw Dexter back to the floor, not caring when he landed on his face with no way of breaking his fall. Hunt used his boot to scoot the box into the nearest lab and closed the door on it.

  “What did you give them?” Crouching, Hunt jammed his gun against Dexter’s temple.

  Dexter smiled but Hunt saw the fear light his eyes. “Anthrax. But you can’t do anything to stop it. We already shipped the vaccine out of the country.”

  “What if I pour a vial down your throat, asshole? Will you find the vaccine then?”

  Dexter sneered. “I already took the vaccine, so go ahead.” He started smirking and then Hunt stuck his gun in the man’s mouth, desperate to end the evil little shit. The thought of losing Pip brought back every reason he’d had for keeping lovers at arm’s length over the years. Loving people was easy, but losing them? That fucking sucked.

  Footsteps ran toward them. Hunt eased the gun back against the man’s cheek.

  “He’s threatening to kill me!” Dexter yelled.

  Hunt climbed to his feet as Will approached. “Asshole says he exposed Fuller and Pip to the anthrax and doesn’t have any vaccine here.”

  Will swore. “What the hell did you do to Agent Fuller?”

  Dexter sneered again and his face grated on Hunt’s nerves so much his trigger finger itched.

  “She’s been dead for hours. Waltzed in like a lamb to slaughter. Bled like a pig—uff.”

  Will kicked the man in the stomach, but Hunt held him back from beating Dexter more. “He’s a lying sack of shit. Don’t lose hope. Get him out of here.” Even though he’d love to hurt the guy, they needed to know where Dexter had shipped the vaccine and any other nasties. Hunt pulled out his cell and called Jez Place from CDC. “Jez? I’m gonna need some of that vaccine you’ve been making. Enough for three adults. And we need it immediately down at Universal Biotech. Meet Will at the side bay door. Bring an ambulance and medical doctors. ASAP.”

  Dexter looked smug. “If this is Cindy’s stuff from the lab it won’t work. I substituted it with serum.”

  “It isn’t Cindy’s stuff,” Hunt said calmly. In reality he was anything but calm about what he was about to do, but he was gonna do it anyway. “Get him the fuck out of here,” he told Will. “I’ll be at the side bay door in fifteen minutes. Meet me there with Jez. Don’t let anything stop him getting through. No Bureau bullshit. No crime scene blockade.”

  Will nodded. “Bring her back to me alive, Hunt.” Will hauled Dexter to his feet and shoved him along the corridor, moving stiffly, clearly terrified for Fuller but doing his job.

  Hunt ran back to the side corridor where Dexter had come out of. He remembered it from his tour. The containment labs. He ran along the corridor and spotted the crash door but he couldn’t get inside. He moved to the window and spotted Pip with Fuller draped over her shoulders trying to get out the main door. There was no time for that. He banged hard on the window, making her startle and turn toward him. Her brown eyes filled with happiness before they turned distressed. She dragged Fuller with her, but h
is fellow agent was in bad shape. She was covered in blood and barely conscious.

  He pointed at the exit for the crash door but Pip shook her head and mouthed back “anthrax.”

  “I have the vaccine,” he yelled. He gave her the hand signals to get her to move it. He was lying but he didn’t care. He needed to get her out of there and to Jez as fast as possible. Smoke was starting to fill the corridor. He didn’t want them all burning to death on top of everything else the women had suffered.

  He watched Pip pull in a deep breath and push the big red button. The door opened, the fire doors sealed either side of them and the shower came on as both she and Fuller fell into his waiting arms.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Pip couldn’t believe she was in Hunt’s embrace. Steaming hot water poured over their heads, soaking them. The smell of bleach came from spray down near their ankles. She coughed as fumes filled her lungs.

  Hunt took Fuller’s weight and held her upright. The water turned bright red as blood washed out of her clothes.

  “They thought she was dead,” Pip told him, starting to shiver despite the heat of the water.

  “Fuller’s too stubborn to die.” Worry dimmed his smile even as she was captivated by the intensity of his blue eyes, which ran quickly over her. He touched her cheek.

  “Where’s the vaccine?” she asked.

  Hunt winced.

  Oh, God.

  “I didn’t lie,” he forestalled her. “I have a CDC doctor arriving at the side door with it as we speak. How long ago were you exposed?”

  Pip’s teeth started to chatter, which made her head hurt worse, and at first, she thought it was being soaked through while dressed, but then she realized she wasn’t feeling well. She didn’t know if it was the head injuries, the anthrax or something else. “About five, ten minutes ago.”

  “The shower is on a short timer that cannot be overridden, but it will make sure no anthrax leaves with us.”