“Those are some pretty big ‘ifs’,” Aiden said.
“Yes they are,” Gray said.
Riya whirled around to see Gray and Commander McAllister standing in the doorway.
“If we do our job right, it’s never going to come to that, now is it?” Aiden asked his Lieutenant in a steely voice.
“The reason we send you out on these missions is because they’re fluid. It’s up to you to make sure the bad guys are stopped.” Liam’s voice held just as much steel as Aiden’s. “Dr. Patel, Gray has put in a formal protest for you not to be on this mission. What is your decision?”
All three sets of eyes were on her. She kept her gaze on the Commander. “This is my area of expertise. Nobody knows more about this toxin than I do. I promised the general I would do it, not because it’s in my field, but because I needed to be involved. I have to help my country, just like the three of you have been doing for years.”
“Then you’re going with Gray and his men.” He pushed open the door. “Get your asses back in here,” he called out. In seconds, Wyatt, Dalton, Dex and Griff filed into the room.
* * *
It had been a hell of a long flight to Abu Dhabi, and Gray hadn’t said a word to Riya the entire time. He’d been busy with Dex, and she’d been on her laptop furiously going over information coming in from Las Vegas, that she was sharing with the two other CDC scientists. The truck spit them out at one of the myriad of buildings on the Al Dhafra Air Base. It would have seemed like dream weather compared to what it had been in Saudi Arabia last month if it weren’t for the fact that his blood pressure was through the roof.
For fuck’s sake, part of the million dollars’ worth of training the good ole U.S. of A had given him was meditation and relaxation techniques to do when in stressful situations, but nothing had prepared him for this. He watched as Wyatt helped Riya out of the truck and he and Griff flanked her as they headed for the building that housed officer quarters.
On the flight over from NAS to the United Arab Emirates, he’d devoured every bit of information he could on the toxin, the delivery system and Dr. Riya Patel. How the fuck hadn’t he realized just who he was in love with? He’d known she was a genius, but he hadn’t realized she was the highest ranking fucking figure in this field of study. Hell, she was on track to win major awards, maybe even the Nobel. Thank God she was a little clumsy and awkward at times, otherwise he might be too intimidated to touch her again.
Gray winced as Wyatt grabbed Riya’s arm when she stumbled. He looked at the ground and saw nothing but flat surface where she was walking. God he loved his woman. He shoved out of the truck. Goddammit, he needed to be the one assisting her when she tripped over nothing.
“I’ve got her,” he said as he caught up to the trio.
Griff gave him the stink-eye.
“It’s okay Gray —” Wyatt started.
“I want to walk with Gray,” Riya interrupted Wyatt. “I’ll meet you inside.”
“Wyatt, work with Dex to have everything set up when Riya and I get in there. I want to go over the plans one last time,” Gray instructed his subordinate.
Wyatt nodded. Griff continued to stand there next to Riya.
“Porter, do you need an engraved invitation to leave?” Gray snarled.
“If you’re going to be this much of an asshole to me, then yes. I’m not leaving her alone with you.”
Riya straightened to her full height of five foot nothing and looked Griff straight in the eye. “It’s fine. Your lieutenant and I need to get a couple of things straightened out before this mission takes place. I want to make sure that the wax has finally been cleared from his ears, otherwise things could go badly.”
Gray cringed as Griff laughed. “Riya, I think you’ve been taking lessons from my wife. Good for you.”
Gray watched as Griff gave her arm a quick squeeze before he sauntered off to the building.
She crossed her arms and looked up at him, her eyes squinting in the sun. “So talk.”
“I don’t want you to go on this mission.”
She rolled her eyes. “Try to say something less obvious.”
Who was this woman, and why was his dick getting hard?
“Dalton and Aiden just carried in a portable biocontainment unit and blue suit. Jesus, Riya, this shit will kill you dead in under an hour if you get too close to it.”
“And that would be why positive pressure protective suits were invented.” She continued to look him in the eye. “Look, Gray, I think your plan is a good one, if, and this is a pretty big if, the Saudis choose the humanitarian award ceremony here in Abu Dhabi and if they actually use one of the air ducts on the roof like you think they will. Then there is a high probability you will stop them.”
And if that didn’t work, he and his team would normally come up with a different plan to save the world, that’s what they were trained to do. But tonight one of his fail-safes involved putting a civilian in play. Not just any civilian, either. A woman. His woman.
“There is still the unlikely, but possible chance they could just set the timer-controlled canister in the ballroom and leave,” she said.
“Do you think I haven’t thought of that?” Gray thought his jaw would shatter as he tried not to yell.
“You didn’t mention it on the plane,” she reminded him softly.
“It was one of the items Dex put down on his list of possibilities. We’re not all going to be on the roof, Riya. That’s not how we work.”
The hot morning wind started kicking up dust. Gray had sunglasses on, Riya didn’t. “Come on Honey, let’s get you inside before you melt.” He gently touched her elbow. She jerked away from him.
“No! You can’t all of a sudden be nice. It’s too confusing. You’re still mad, aren’t you?” she accused.
He looked at the building that was fifty meters away. Once they were inside, they wouldn’t have any privacy. He turned her around so he blocked the wind. “Riya, I sure as hell hope you know I love you.”
She looked like she was going to cry.
Fuck. Had he really blown it that badly?
“Riya. Let me state it loud and clear. I fucking love you. That’s why I don’t want you to go. Hell, I really don’t want those CDC motherfuckers on this mission, but I’d take them in a minute instead of you.”
She flinched, and turned on her heel.
Holy mother of God, he was sounding like Drake Fucking Avery.
“Riya, stop. Goddammit, please stop. I’m wrong. I’m dumb. I’m sorry.” He ran in front of her and gently put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from moving forward. Fucking-A, she was crying now.
“I cannot believe the amount of dumb crap that is falling out of my mouth.” He took a deep breath. He shoved his sunglasses up on his head and bent down so they were eye to eye.
“Number one, I love you. Say yes if you understand.”
She didn’t answer for a long time, but her tears dried up. “The Gray from yesterday loved me. I don’t know this Gray.”
“That brings us to number two. I’m scared to fucking death that something bad will happen to you. Scared to death.” He prayed she could read the truth in his eyes, but she was looking down.
“Please Riya, look at my face. Look into my eyes. See that I’m telling you the truth.”
“No, you’ve been mad at me.”
She looked lost and confused.
“I’ve been mad at this situation. And terrified that you could die. I love you to pieces, I want you in my life forever. I would fall apart if something bad happened to you.”
She shoved him in his chest so hard he fell back a step. “You dumbass, you mean to tell me that when you feel protective, you’re going to act like a pissy asshole? I can’t believe this!”
He jumped forward and grabbed her in a hug. “Now you get it. Am I forgiven?” he begged with a hopeful grin.
“I don’t want to get it. I want you to behave like a logical human being,” she wailed. “But yes, you�
��re forgiven.”
“I told you that the SEAL quirks were worse than your quirks any day of the week.”
“Gray, you have to take me seriously. I’m part of this.”
There weren’t enough antacids in the world to handle this situation. But…
“Riya, me and my men are going to do everything possible so you don’t have to touch that toxin, but if push comes to shove and you have to suit up? Well, you’re the scientist I trust the most to handle things.”
“You’re not just saying that?”
“Absolutely not. Riya, I’ve watched you take on every obstacle and succeed, of course you’ll handle this with ease.”
She laughed. “Yeah, well you’re a superhero, I won’t have to do anything.”
He sure as hell hoped she was right.
Please God, let her be right.
15
Wearing a little black cocktail dress was not what she anticipated when she thought about going on a mission with a SEAL team.
Talk about bizarre.
“Be careful with that,” Wyatt said to the two bellhops who were lugging the two large cases that contained her portable biocontainment lab. Another bellhop had a cart that was filled to the top with suitcases.
“Riya, you need to cut back on the shoes,” Wyatt teased. “The luggage fees are out of control, Darling.”
Riya had no idea how to respond to that, so she kept her mouth shut. Wyatt was wearing Navy dress whites, as he escorted her to the hotel elevator. They were supposedly a couple checking into the awards ceremony that was supposed to start in two hours.
Wyatt was with her because he was still not battle ready, so he would be manning logistics and communications. She was pretty sure that he’d really been brought to Abu Dhabi to babysit her.
As soon as Wyatt had tipped the bellhops and they were alone in their room, he threw all the suitcases on the beds and quickly started opening everything up.
“Just how many guns did you bring?” Riya asked.
“You can never have enough fire power,” Wyatt said, not bothering to look up. He continued to open suitcase after suitcase. Finally he opened the one that contained her positive pressure protective suit, and everything she would need inside the biocontainment lab.
“What is all of that?” Wyatt asked as he booted up his computer.
“This is a centrifuge and that is a thermal cycler.” Riya continued to unwrap items from the bubble wrap. “Hold on and I’ll tell you what the rest of the equipment is.”
“No, Riya. I don’t need you to tell me what the name is of each piece of equipment. I want to know what you plan to do with them. I mean, I’m not going to tell you this is a MP7 submachine gun, you just need to know it goes bang. For example, what the hell does all this do?”
“The thermal cycler will amplify segments of the DNA, that will assist me in isolating what is relevant.” She bit her lip. “Actually, I pray to God that your team finds the canister before it opens and emits anything. If it’s closed, we still know it’s on a timer to open and emit the vapor, so we’ve got to get it into a containment system.”
“We’ve got that covered,” Wyatt pointed to the five oxygen cylinders. “They’re empty, and they’ve been modified. Using the canister that was found at the nightclub in Vegas as a template, two mechanics in San Diego made these up from our oxygen tanks. We can drop in the ‘live’ poison canisters and dispose of them at our leisure.”
“They’re not live until the two gel packs inside the canisters dissolve and the liquids inside the packs mix and form the gas.”
“Yeah, Riya, you explained that the gel packs will dissolve within an hour, so they have to time this just right. But what I don’t get is why it matters, once the canister is filled with the gas, can’t they just let it sit there forever, before opening it up?”
“They recovered the canister in Las Vegas where the toxic gas was held.”
“I know,” Wyatt said. “That’s what we based our safety containers on.”
“Well, that canister is too small to house the gas for long, maybe a half-hour at the most, before the gas will revert to liquid.”
Wyatt frowned, “but it’s still poisonous, right?”
“Oh, it’s deadly in that concentrated liquid form,” she confirmed. “It’s just not an aerosol, which is a good thing.”
“When it hits the air, will it go back to its aerosol form?” Wyatt asked.
“No, the original interaction that occurred between the two is what created the gas. We’re good once it goes liquid. It’s that first fifteen minutes that we’re screwed.”
“Not a problem,” Wyatt said with a grin. “We’ll get the guys, and contain the shit, before it farts.”
It took her a moment to figure out what farting had to do with what they were talking about. When she did, she giggled. Riya felt one of the boulders fall off her shoulders.
Wyatt reminded her of the UCSD soccer player she tutored for a semester. He’d been hard for her to understand to begin with, because he’d always been goofing around, but in the end she’d realized it was important to him to earn her respect and be her friend. They still talked at least once a quarter. Yep, if she really spent time and studied Wyatt she bet he would turn out to be the same way.
“Riya? Are you okay? You’re kind of spacing out on me.”
“I’m sorry, I do that sometimes.”
Time to stop reminiscing.
“Here’s what needs to happen. We need to measure the bathroom, and see if the lab will fit in there after we get it open,” she said decisively.
“Already ahead of you. I checked out the room specs before reserving the room. That’s one of the reasons I ponied up for the Palace Suite. The containment lab will fit when it’s unfolded.”
“Good, that’s good. The suitcases the lab comes in actually turn into tables, so that’s easy enough to set up. Then I put this equipment in there.”
“Do you take that with you everywhere?”
“What?” she asked.
Wyatt pointed to her black and white college notebook.
“Oh, I go through these like water. This is the one I started using when I came home from D.C. last month.” She went over to him and he moved two of the guns so she could sit beside him on the bed. “Here’s the sequencing that they did on the toxin last time.” She pointed to a page excitedly, then turned many pages forward. “But here’s a sample of what they took off the triplets. Can you see the difference?”
She looked up expectantly, and Wyatt gave her a crooked grin. “Doc, I’m not anywhere close to understanding that. I’m really honored you think I might have had a snowball’s chance in hell of comprehending it though.”
Riya felt the blush starting from her toes and ending at her forehead. Of course he didn’t know anything about this. Nobody but the other CDC scientists would have known. She was just so excited to share this with someone. At least Gray would have realized the importance of her differentiating between the two different samples. That was huge!
“Hey, don’t go feeling all bad. You should see the stupid shit I pull. It’s mostly with women.”
She laughed. How can I not, when he is so dang cute?
He got up from the bed and within five minutes had the biocontainment lab set up in the hotel’s luxurious bathroom. The CDC’s soft-walled lab came with a portable generator that powered the HEPA filtration system. Wyatt even had it worked out so she would step into the bathroom’s tub to scrub down between the two doorways of the biocontainment lab, so that she wouldn’t track any of the particles to the outside. Again, it shouldn’t be a problem, since it would be DNA specific, but it was still a good protocol to have.
“Riya, you’re kind of weird, do you know that?” Wyatt asked.
“Yeah, I do. But why are you saying it?”
“This bathroom has a whirlpool tub, a sauna, a steam room, and a huge vanity for you to sit down at, but you could care less. I cover it all up with aluminum and plastic a
nd you’re a kid in a candy store. You’re just weird.”
Riya clapped her hands and grinned. “I know.”
Wyatt handed her a small earpiece. She looked at it, and twirled it around in her hand until she determined how to put it into her ear. Then he handed her something to go around her neck.
“It’s a throat microphone. It works better than the ones you see the kids using to play video games. You can whisper, and we’ll hear you.”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
“You’re going to want to change, right? There’s another bathroom, and don’t forget the butler’s pantry behind the bar.”
Riya shook her head in amazement at the extravagance and went to go grab her regular clothes out of the suitcase that stored the microscope. As she was getting into her jeans, she heard male voices out in the room. The rest of the men must have arrived. They were coming in through different entrances, since some of them were dressed more casually.
She felt her palms sweating. Even though Gray had explained things outside the Al Dhafra Air Base, they hadn’t had a chance to interact as she was getting ready to act the part of Wyatt’s girlfriend.
“Ow.” She hit her elbow against the sink counter when there was a knock on the door.
“Riya, are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she told Gray.
“Can I come in?”
She opened the door. She was just putting on her shoes and socks.
How could it surprise her how tall he was? She should be used to it by now. Instead she found herself looking at an expanse of black in a tight t-shirt. She took her time wandering upwards to look at his face. Even his throat was sexy, then there was that scar on his lip and finally those blue eyes.
He pulled off the microphone around his throat and took hers off as well. He opened the bathroom door back up and threw them out. Riya heard shouts of laughter. She didn’t care. Gray pulled her into his arms. He cupped the back of her head, so she was tucked safely under his chin. She could hear his heart beating.
Her Captivated Hero: A Black Dawn Novel Book 6 Page 16
