Fatal Deception

by April Hunt

  Roman blew out a breath and momentarily closed his eyes. Even after all this time, when he thought about that day it felt like he stood there all over again, faced with having to make the same choice. If it had been just him out there, he would’ve done it in a heartbeat.

  With Kat less than five feet away from him, it had taken him two.

  “Do it, Ro,” Kat had begged him. “We can’t let those kids run out here. Either you do it or I will.”

  A sniffle had Roman opening his eyes.

  “You stepped on that IED on purpose,” Isa whispered.

  “It was either let the kids become casualties or become a casualty myself. It worked—at least that’s what King tells me. He was the first on the scene after the explosion. But while the IED took my leg and fucked me up pretty good, Kat had been standing too close to the Humvee full of weapons to be that lucky.”

  Pain filled Isa’s eyes, and Roman knew it wasn’t for her, but for him. And he didn’t deserve it.

  He got to his feet, that damn shot of phantom pain ripping through his knee in the process.

  Roman gritted his teeth and used it as fuel for what he needed to do next. “I’d failed Kat that day. Instead of saving her life out there, I took it. I deserve to feel guilty as hell because I am. You just deserve to be healthy and happy…and that’s what I’m damn well going to make sure happens.”

  No matter what it cost him.

  “What does that mean?” Isa’s question stopped him at the top of the ladder. “Does that mean a repeat occurrence of the caveman routine like back at the dance…or something else?”

  “Answer me one question, Doc.”

  “What?”

  “Where were you and who were you with the last time you felt truly, and completely happy?”

  Roman waited for her answer with bated breath.

  “Here at Mari’s Sanctuary, and with my grandfather.” She gestured to the sunken sun. “It’s peaceful here. Uncomplicated. It makes me feel safe in a way that I can’t even wrap my head around what’s waiting for us outside.”

  “Then that’s what I’m going to make happen for you,” Roman forced himself to say despite the fact that the words tasted like ash on his tongue.

  Isabel Santiago deserved happiness…more than anyone he knew.

  He’d made it to the ladder when his ass vibrated, his phone belting out some Celine Dion song. Leave King alone with his phone one damn time…

  Roman glanced at the caller ID. Liam. “What’s up?”

  “You and Isa need to get back to DC,” his brother said cryptically. “Now.”

  Roman’s eyes immediately found Isabel’s. She was already getting up, her gaze cautiously watching him. He let Liam tell him everything, meanwhile silently cursing at what it meant. By the time he hung up, Isabel was on alert.

  “What happened?” Isabel demanded. “And don’t tell me nothing, because I can tell by your face that it’s a very big something. Heck, the fact that I can tell anything from your expression tells me that it’s worse than bad, so just come out with it already.”

  “There was an accident at the Legion.” He waited a beat. “Maddy was exposed to FC-5.”

  Instead of the news sending Isa to her knees, she lifted her shoulders and hit him with a look that said there was no use arguing. “Then we’re going back to DC. It’s time I put my house in order.”

  Chapter

  Nineteen

  From behind the multi-layered glass, Maddy noisily blew her nose. The wad of tissues sitting next to her on the isolation room’s bed had grown exponentially in the thirty minutes Isa sat outside quarantine. At this rate, they’d need to be restocked in another hour…probably less.

  “I’m so sorry, Isa,” Maddy cried out her twenty-third apology. “I’m so sorry. I still don’t know what happened. One minute we were fine, and the next, Tony spotted the hole in my suit and I freaked out. When I freaked out, Tony freaked out. The vials ended up on the floor. All that work. Gone.”

  “Maddy, it’s okay,” Isa said soothingly.

  “No, it’s not. I panicked. You always tell me to take a deep breath and a few seconds to think, but I’d gone completely blank.”

  “It happens to the best of us, Mads,” Isa said truthfully. “But if you want someone to blame, blame me. It was unfair of me to put all this pressure on you. I’m the reason you’ve been working such long hours in the Legion. If I had been here in DC instead of—”

  Maddy lifted her hand. “Instead of trying to save people’s lives? Please. Your apology is so not needed. It actually borders on ridiculous. You were exactly where you needed to be. If we’d have waited for those corporate suits at the GHO to become interested in Beaver Ridge, we’d be waiting for them to send out a team a month from now. And that’s if we were lucky.”

  “You’re starting to sound a little like Tony.” Isa smirked.

  “He’s not wrong.”

  For Maddy’s sake, Isa remained calm…and hopeful. “Well, at any rate, you decontaminated properly. You took immediate action, making sure the ratio of water particles to virus was minute. Any chance you came into contact with any FC-5 virus is minuscule.”

  Maddy gave her a watery smile. “I love you, Is, but lying doesn’t become you. Give me a distraction. Any distraction.” She glanced over Isa’s shoulder to where Roman sat in the far back corner, a magazine propped in his lap. “You can start with your sexy gargoyle loitering in the corner of the room.”

  The sound of Roman turning a page froze. He’d heard, and judging by the wicked smile curling up her friend’s mouth, Maddy knew he would. The two-way microphone didn’t allow for whispering of any kind.

  Isa bit her lip. If she didn’t laugh, she’d cry. A huge question mark hovered over Maddy’s head, and there she was teasing Isa about her love life…but if this was what her friend needed to focus on instead of the next round of blood draws in an hour, then that’s what she’d give her.

  “There’s nothing to tell,” Isa said.

  “Uh, no. There’s everything to tell. The man saved you from a psycho bitch.”

  “Actually, I kind of saved myself. He just showed up afterward…although I did appreciate the warm coat on the hike back to town,” Isa teased.

  “And then you took him home to your grandfather.”

  “I didn’t take him so much as I went and he supervised. That was all it was, Maddy. After hearing that woman from Alaska threaten my grandfather, I had to make sure he was going to let Roman’s friends keep him safe.”

  “He doesn’t look at you like a chaperone, Isa.”

  Actually, he didn’t look at her much at all since they’d left Texas. After he’d told her about what happened to him in Africa, something had shifted between them. In being more open with her, he’d also closed himself off. It almost felt as if he’d been saying goodbye without actually coming out and saying the words.

  “You’re about to head down to the Legion to work yourself ragged, aren’t you?” Maddy asked knowingly. “I know that look, Isabel Santiago. When shit’s going through your head, you work.”

  “I also work when my best friend has given me an awesome advantage. You’ve done an amazing job while I’ve been gone. Thanks to you, we’re that much closer to nailing this treatment cocktail.”

  A blush rose on Maddy’s cheeks. “I only did what you told me to. It’s like congratulating a puppy for using the puppy pad and not the carpet. It’s easy to do when it all laid out right there in front of you.”

  “You keep believing that, but I’ll know the truth.”

  “Hey, Mr. Visual Vacation?” Maddy called out to Roman. “Hide the Red Bull tucked into the far back left corner of the employee lounge and make sure she sleeps. Please. I won’t have my best friend jeopardizing her own health in the name of mine.”

  “Maddy…” Isa warned.

  “Got my word,” Roman agreed.

  “Hey!”

  “Good.” Looking appeased, Maddy feigned a huge yawn. “Get the hell ou
t of here so a girl can get her beauty rest. Seriously. All the in and out all the time. It’s like people are counting down the hours to my last day or something.”

  Isa frowned. “That’s not funny.”

  Maddy smirked. “It was a little morbid, but it was funny, too.”

  “Call me if you need anything.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I mean it, Mads.”

  “I will!”

  Isa hated leaving her friend there alone to wait and wonder. No amount of reading material or binge-watching of Downton Abbey would take her mind off the long list of what-ifs. Isa attempted not to think about them as she exited into the hall and walked toward the Legion.

  “She’s right, you know,” Roman murmured, walking by her side. “I know you want to pick up right where she left off studying those samples, but you’re not helping anyone if you run yourself into the ground. Trust me, I know.”

  “Yeah, but with Maddy in quarantine, I’m down one more person who knows nearly as much about FC-5 as I do. Have you checked in with Jaz and Tank? My grandfather’s okay?”

  “Safe and subjecting Jaz and Tank to manual work around the ranch—together. Pretty sure your grandfather’s using it as some form of team-building exercise. It’s pretty genius, actually. I wish I would’ve thought of it sooner.”

  Isa smiled. “Leave them to the devices of my abuelo, and they may come back to DC engaged for real.”

  Roman barked out a laugh. “If that happens, I’ll run naked across the National Mall.”

  “I’ll prep my camera,” Isa teased.

  Knox joined them at the end of the corridor, and the two brothers became her unofficial guards as they headed to the Legion. With others positioned around the entire building, Tru Tech had never been safer.

  Mark, her backup assistant, bounced his nervous gaze between her and her armed escorts.

  “Hey, I was thinking…” Isa kept her voice calm. “Is it okay if I go into the lab alone today? Call it OCD, but I want to make sure I’m able to document each step as accurately as I can, and I can do that better if I’m just recording my own actions. But you can be my spotter, though. How does that sound?”

  He nodded a little too exuberantly. “Yeah. Sure. That’s cool.”

  Isa badged into the door that would take her into the prep room, but before she stepped through, Roman’s hand caught hers.

  Concern filled his eyes as his gaze dropped to her mouth and back.

  She surprised them both when she lifted to her toes and pulled him down for a soft, quick kiss. Her heart rate kicked up a few notches, wondering if he’d push her away, but he didn’t.

  His arm now wrapped around her waist, he held her close. “Be careful, Doc.”

  “I’m always careful.” She flashed him a confident smile that in no way showcased the turmoil happening inside.

  Less than twenty-four hours ago, they’d trusted each other. They’d each bared their soul and shared things with the other that they hadn’t with anyone else. And she had no clue what he thought about it. They hadn’t had time to talk it through or for her to ask just how he’d make sure she’d get her happy ending.

  And they wouldn’t have time to talk about it until she played into those bastards’ fears and made sure FC-5 was no longer a threat to anyone. But when it was done, all bets were off. She’d tell him how much his honesty in the barn had meant to her…and she’d admit that her happy space didn’t just include Mari’s Sanctuary and her grandfather.

  It also included him.

  “Time to work some magic.” Isa forced her head and her body away from Roman and back on the task ahead of her. “Go brood in a corner somewhere and let me work.”

  The second the door hissed closed behind her, she donned the first level of protective gear. Paper jumper. Boots. Hair cover. Once that was done, she slipped through the second door with Mark, where he helped her step into a hazmat suit.

  She did as much as she could herself, and then turned for Mark to connect the air tubes. Only after a triple check of all systems did she enter the lab. He left the way he came, and Isa proceeded ahead.

  Alone.

  Before stepping into the Legion, Isa released a slow, deep breath.

  Head in the game, Roman had told her, and that’s what she did.

  Bringing up the last few weeks’ files, she scanned Maddy’s previous reports and tagged the samples showing the most hope. Then, she got down to business.

  Isa lost track of time. She jumped between the samples collected from the infected patients in Beaver Ridge and the ones Maddy had made with the antiviral meds. The first six medications seemed to have no effect on FC-5 virus at all, and after making that note, she jotted down the observations and moved on to the next.

  Samples subjected to both an inhibitor and a reducer made her pause, go back to the initial single-med samples, and look again. It slowed. Although the virus continued to duplicate, the rate of replication wasn’t as severe.

  Her heart lurched into the throat. This is good.

  This was better than good. It was fan-freaking-tastic. Isa forced her hands to still as she shifted to the next batch of samples.

  Any excitement she felt evaporated.

  “Now why are your friends over there doing something while you guys are being sticks in the mud?” Isa murmured softly.

  She brought up the fact sheets of all the medications and compared them. Six samples. Twelve different medications. And only one of the combinations showed any promise, and she didn’t know why. They were all the same class, same equivalent doses.

  “Doc?” Roman’s voice burst though the intercom. “It’s about time, don’t you think?”

  Isa’s gaze flickered from the computer to where he stood next to Mark. The younger man shifted anxiously in his seat, steeling an occasional glance at Roman’s gun holster.

  “I just need a few more,” Isa stated.

  “Minutes?”

  She grimaced. “Hours.”

  Roman was already shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Do you realize how long you’ve been in there already?”

  “An hour? Two?”

  “Try eight. Without so much as a damn piss break.”

  Isa glanced at the clock and cursed. “Give me one more hour.”

  Roman opened his mouth to argue.

  “I promise. Just sixty minutes. I want to set up another six samples with a different group of medications. We’re getting close.”

  “One hour,” Roman reluctantly agreed. “Then you’re coming out, even if I have to put on one of those spacesuits and drag you out myself.”

  “I don’t think we have one that would fit you.”

  “Doc,” Roman growled.

  “If I only have sixty minutes, then you need to close your trap and let me do my job.”

  Tuning out distractions and keeping the previous samples in mind, Isa hunted for the proper meds in the cabinet. The new samples were made, catalogued, and inserted into the holding tank with five minutes to spare before Roman could make good on his threat.

  As she approached the decontamination room, Isa suddenly felt every single one of those nine hours. Her muscles ached as if she’d run a marathon, and her head blossomed with a headache that throbbed right behind her eyes.

  Her body felt half run-down and half hopeful.

  It wasn’t the full-blown cure she’d hoped to find, but at least they had something. Something that could potentially give them more time, which was more than what they had before.

  Roman stood outside the level 1 door when she stepped out.

  “I need to make a few phone calls to the GHO in Beaver Ridge.” Isa’s gaze slid hesitantly to her assistant.

  Roman’s eyebrows lifted. “With good news?”

  “Not with news that I wanted, but I’ll take it nonetheless. I think I bought us and everyone else a little bit of time. I just don’t know how much.”

  He nodded as if understanding. “We’ll take whatever we can get.”
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  * * *

  By the end of the day Isa hadn’t gotten the miracle cure she’d hoped for, but they did get other good news. Clean bloodwork had meant springing Maddy from quarantine, and her one and only request was to go somewhere and get mind-fogging drunk. Since Isa was still on a tight leash, that meant hitting up Iron Bars.

  “I didn’t realize how much I like whiskey until this very moment,” Maddy announced to no one in particular, dropping her empty glass to the counter. “Barkeep! Another!”

  Behind the Steele Ops wet bar, Ryder chuckled. “You have another and we’ll be mopping you off the floor, sweetheart.”

  “Screw it,” Maddy’s words slurred slightly. “Leave me where I fall, because anywhere is better than that isolation room. Do you know how difficult it is to sleep when someone’s watching you on a video screen? It’s some fucked-up crazy shit, let me tell you.”

  “Definitely not one of the fun reasons to be videoed, that’s for sure.”

  Maddy let out a drunken snort-laugh. “I hear you. Hey.” She glowered at Isa from over the rim of her glass, pointedly looking at Isa’s nearly untouched drink. “Why aren’t you on your fourth one by now? A good friend never lets her bestie drink alone.”

  “A good friend also remains sober to make sure her bestie crawls into her own bed and not the bed of a serial killer.”

  Maddy sighed comically. “Fine. You got me there. But could you do me one tiny, itsy bitsy little favor?”

  Isa was almost afraid to ask. “What?”

  Maddy started to hum the chorus to “Secret Agent Man” and looked across the room to where Roman talked to Knox and Zoey. As if sensing he was being talked about, he looked up.

  Even from a dozen or more feet away, Isa felt his gaze as if he stood next to her.

  “You need a vacation, Isa.” Maddy practically shoved her off her barstool. “And babe, you deserve it. Thanks to your crazy smarts and ridiculous work ethic, we’ll have a brand spankin’ new treatment plan for FC-5 within the next few days.”

  “I don’t know about a few days, but I do feel like we’re really close.”

  “Which means you need to go somewhere that is not here and way over there.” Maddy pointed across the room. “Away with you. Be gone.”