Calculated Contagion Read online

  “You think he’s capable of it, though?” Cam asked.

  “I think he’s a pretentious, condescending jerk who doesn’t like getting beaten by a girl. Would he look the other way if someone tried to undermine me? Yes. Would he insult me and tell me to bring him coffee just to prove he’s better than me? Yes. Would he kidnap me? Maybe, if he’s crazy and good at hiding it. Would he be dumb enough to let himself get caught if he was involved? No way. Don’t waste your time. He’s not your guy.”

  “Okay, so you don’t think Dr. Fabian is the best suspect. Bruce was our top suspect and we all know what happened there. Which means someone else in the lab could be involved. If we hadn’t been with you every step of the way, we’d think it was you.”

  “What if that’s the point?” Tyler said quietly, and he felt Dani stiffen.

  Dani crossed her arms. “Okay, but what are they going to do with the vial?”

  “Could be someone trying to create a bioweapon,” Tyler said.

  Dani’s face paled. “Oh no. Romania. That’s it.”

  “What?” Cam asked, not following.

  “Vaccination rates. Romania is one of the countries that the World Health Organization is focused on, since they’re pretty far behind the rest of the world. If you wanted to spread measles, you’d want to go somewhere with low vaccination rates.”

  “Why measles?” Cam asked.

  Dani furrowed her brow. “I don’t know. Measles can kill, but frankly, it isn’t an effective bioweapon if you want to wipe out an entire population. There will be some deaths, but it’s no anthrax, if you know what I mean. Most people at least recover from measles.”

  Tyler looked at his notebook, tapping his pen against it. He stilled and looked up from his paper. “Terrorism isn’t always about killing your target.”

  23

  “Morning, Ree. How’re you doing?” Matt Brown, Ree’s colleague and fellow professor at Indiana Polytechnic, greeted her with a wide smile. Ree placed her travel mug and purse on her desk so she could pull off her coat. Matt had shown great concern when she returned from her “family emergency” early and had gone out of his way to make her feel welcome when she started her job in the propulsion lab. He was quickly becoming a close friend.

  “Good morning, Matt. Oh, not too bad,” she lied. She couldn’t exactly tell the mild-mannered Dr. Brown that she’d been trying to make sense of their deadly game of shoot-‘em-up while doing housework the previous evening. Folding towels, making dinner, trying to figure out who was trying to kill a friend. Just a normal evening.

  “How’s Parker?” he asked knowingly. Ree gave a genuine smile in response.

  “Good. Stressed about work, but good.”

  “How stressful can writing really be?” Matt asked. Parker met Matt while working undercover as a writer at the university, and Matt had an excellent memory.

  “You’d be surprised,” Ree said, as she moved her purse into her desk drawer. She flipped the lock on her drawer closed and tapped the keys in her hand. She found comfort in her habits and she locked the drawer every day. Not out of concern for her credit cards, but to keep people from stumbling across the gun she kept zipped into the front pocket. She’d started carrying it for protection when she stayed late on campus alone at night, just in case. However, now that she was working with the FBI, the need for the weapon was less theoretical and more practical.

  “What’s he working on these days?”

  “Still working on the book on women in the sciences.”

  “Oh? Moved on from engineers, huh?”

  “Not entirely. But for the book, yes. He’s focused on…vaccine scientists right now.”

  Ree’s phone buzzed and she saw Parker’s name pop up. It was a welcome relief from telling half-truths, something that didn’t come naturally to her. She wiggled it in the air. “Speaking of…” Stepping out of the office into the hallway, she said, “Hey, you. What’s going on?” Parker, as a rule, didn’t call her during work, which meant it was probably business.

  “Hey there. Just wanted to let you know we are going back up to Minnesota this afternoon. Something came up.”

  Ree looked down the hallway. She was alone for the moment. “That was quick. Explain.”

  “Got some new evidence. Need to check into it.”

  “That’s not explaining. Which means you’re being evasive or you want my help and will fill me in later.”

  “Want isn’t the right word. I think we need you here. Can you get away?”

  Ree bit her lip. “Yeah. I just ran into Matt, though.”

  “Crap. So, they know you came in this morning.”

  “Yeah. I can come tomorrow, if that works.”

  “I’ll get you on a flight from Indianapolis and you can meet us there, if you can swing it.”

  “Sold.”

  “You’re a good woman.”

  “I have good taste in boyfriends, too.”

  “I do take you to exotic locations.”

  Ree grinned. “Don’t think Minnesota counts.”

  “It’s exotic if you live on the beach and have never seen snow.”

  “Ha.”

  “See you soon.”

  “That’s a promise.”

  Ree walked back in to music. Matt was innocently inspecting a material sample at his desk, but his computer was blaring Ella Fitzgerald’s “It’s Almost Like Being in Love.” She shook her finger at him and he raised his shoulders and did his best to look confused.

  “I’m just listening to music, Dr. Ryland.”

  “Sure you are, Matt.”

  “That’s interesting.” Matt had stopped his charade of looking at the sample and was staring at a news article. He flicked the volume off and glanced up at Ree. “You’ll like this one.” She stepped over to see what had his attention. Matt skimmed the article and explained, “They discovered a new lithium mine in Romania, of all places. They’ve kept it quiet for about a year, but news is spreading. Stock for electric cars is going to go through the roof. Looks like you might be able to afford your dream car after all.”

  Ree made no secret of her love for electric cars, and they were powered by lithium-ion batteries. She’d fallen for one company’s design in particular–they were part engineering and part art. She’d been tempted to test drive one for fun, but it was safer for her bank account if she kept admiring them from afar. They were less than affordable on a professor’s salary, but a girl could dream. Ree’s team focused their research on designing machines that worked in the real world, and Matt didn’t have to explain to Ree why discovering new sources of lithium mattered. The batteries were some of the most expensive components in an electric car. The discovery of more of a key ingredient would be welcome news to an industry scrambling to get enough material. If there was an influx of lithium into the market, the price could very well drop. She leaned over Matt’s shoulder “Maybe I will get my car. Man, whoever discovered that is sitting on a big pile of money.”

  “Looks like it’s sitting on Romanian government-owned land near the border with Ukraine. Place called…Sighetu Marmației,” Matt read aloud in what Ree could only assume was a terrible butchering of the Romanian language. “Good for them. Eastern Europe has seen their share of hard times. Glad to see some good news come through.”

  “Agreed. Thanks for sharing, Matt.” Ree patted him on the shoulder.

  A student trudged through the door in hoodie and jeans, eyes sleepy and feet dragging. Not everyone shared Ree’s love for the early morning. However, she had promised to help him get his experiment started if he met her before class. His plodding pace was deceptive–he was enthusiastic about his research and a hard worker, even if it meant getting up before most of his peers. While Ree’s job was to help all of her students, the ones who shared her passion for engineering were the most fun to work with. She picked up her travel coffee mug and gestured to the open lab door. “Duty calls.”

  24

  Andrei drove up the single access road, ready to
face what awaited him. It had taken several days to get back to Romania, but Stanislav would make him pay if he didn’t make things right. He couldn’t risk further exposure. Unfortunately, moving on to the next job wasn’t an option either. Andrei either delivered the vial of live measles virus or Stanislav would hunt him down and kill him. Simple as that. Bruce had been taken care of, and there was no sign of the woman. He would have to lie and say he was sure he had killed her. He wasn’t willing to risk entering her apartment to verify his success. Not because he minded killing, but he wasn’t stupid enough to get caught doing a job.

  As he approached the camp, Stanislav stood at the entrance, surrounded by his men. The image of being killed by one of Stanislav’s goons was enough to pull Andrei up short. What an insulting way to die.

  “My friend,” Stanislav said, his Russian inflection and even baritone adding weight to the words. “Have you brought back what you promised?”

  “I have.” He waited for Stanislav to ask the next question.

  “The man?”

  “Poisoned.”

  “The woman?”

  “Eliminated. No longer a threat.”

  Stanislav nodded. “Excellent. You’ll be working with the weapon in her place.” The potential death sentence was delivered with no fanfare. Just fact. It was as he had expected.

  “I have a suggestion. One that will make our plan even more effective.” Andrei had not squandered his time alone. Avoiding working with the virus was impossible, but his plan would allow him to escape the clutches of this imbecile. It would require a few more volunteers, but Stanislav was an expert at getting those around him to put themselves in harm’s way.

  “I’m listening, my friend.”

  * * *

  “Good news, Dani.” Cam gestured at his computer. He’d been staring at the same screen for an hour without moving, but his eyes were animated when he turned to address her. Dani rose from her seat on the end of the bed to get a closer look. When she’d first met him, Dani thought Cam was detached, but she now realized his distance was actually extreme focus rather than apathy. While he didn’t share the same warm nature as Tyler, it wasn’t as if he didn’t care.

  Tyler looked at her and then looked away. He’d kept a careful distance since their impromptu make-out session. The room kept getting smaller, but he stayed on the couch, putting as much space between them as was possible under the circumstances. Dani refused to be embarrassed. They were both unattached, and it had been a long time since she’d felt more than a passing interest in anything outside of her work. Not to mention, it wasn’t easy for someone like her to find the right guy. Workplace relationships could spell disaster for anyone, and even if she was willing, her father was the CEO of the company. That meant there wasn’t exactly a line of colleagues asking her on dates. Truthfully, that was normally a positive. She shivered as she thought of Dr. Asshole trying to ask her out. So, no. She wasn’t sorry, and if she could do the whole thing over again, she’d kiss him again. He was smart, thoughtful, and loyal–qualities she didn’t stumble across every day.

  “What’s up, Cam?” Dani asked when Cam didn’t offer further explanation.

  “You were right.” Cam pointed at a scanned image and Dani leaned in for a closer look.

  “Gotcha.” Dani grinned. The strain of measles was an exact match to the missing vials. Her theory was as good as confirmed, since the coincidence was statistically improbable. Tyler joined Dani and she took a step away from him, trying not to make him any more uncomfortable than he already was.

  “Good work, Dani.” She felt his hand on her shoulder and instead of flinching, leaned into him. He took a step back but was careful not to let her fall.

  “In your professional opinion, what should we do next?” Cam asked and silence prevailed. Several seconds passed before Dani realized he was talking to her.

  “Make sure you’re up to date on your shots,” Dani quipped. “But seriously, I’d dig into this. See if there are any more cases locally and try and connect the dots. If these guys were dumb enough to work with live measles virus without being immunized, they’re dumb enough to pass it along. And this stuff isn’t a little contagious. Unless these guys were segregated or the only ones not vaccinated, it’s going to spread. This is how outbreaks start.”

  “So, we should look into the medical records at the hospital they visited?” Cam asked, in the same even tone he asked everything.

  “Sure. Talk to nurses and doctors even.”

  “You could tip someone off that way,” Tyler said.

  Dani raised an eyebrow. “Okay, then just send someone you trust over to look at the files. Go through the electronic medical records if they have them or paper files if that’s what they are using. Go to the closest major city, find the biggest hospital, and see if they’ve admitted anyone else.”

  Cam pulled up a map of Romania on his computer. “Closest city is Sighetu Marmației, hardly a metropolis, but big enough to have a decent-sized hospital. It’s where the men with measles went for treatment. It’s better than anything else we’ve come up with. We just need to make sure we have the right people looking at the information.”

  “You’re not thinking of bringing a measles expert with us, are you?” Tyler’s voice was low and held a hint of warning. Cam turned in his chair, motions careful and eyes steady.

  “Not without permission, I am not.”

  Tyler crossed his arms. “Watchman, I strongly advise–”

  “Eagle, you’re too invested to advise on this.”

  “We’ll talk about this later.” Tyler’s tone was unusually firm.

  “There’s no time. I have a call with Morgan in ten minutes. We need to make a call, and this is what’s best for the operation. The op I’m running, Eagle.”

  “And what about safety?” Tyler’s eyes narrowed.

  “You want to transition to a different bodyguard?” Cam asked Dani. She shook her head, and the two men went back to staring at each other. “Didn’t think so. You have nine minutes to come up with a better idea.”

  Tyler began to pace. Dani returned to her laptop. She attempted to work but was limited by the CIA’s ban on her using email, since she was supposed to be playing dead until they figured out what they were going to tell her coworkers. Cam and Tyler had a team fabricating a reason for her disappearance. The latest plan involved telling a small number of her coworkers she was murdered and admonishing them not to tell anyone else. The spread of this information was expected, and the organic flow of gossip was intended to keep whoever was hell-bent on killing her complacent. Since a dead woman couldn’t exactly remote into the system to work on paperwork, she had to work offline…even if her fingers were itching to get back to her research.

  Several minutes later, Cam left the room and she was once again alone with Tyler. She could see his pulse beating in his neck, and his arms were crossed so tight his biceps bumped up under his hands. Dani wanted to give him grief for looking like an angry guard dog, but in the short time she’d known him, she’d never seen him like this. She closed her laptop and stared, willing him to speak.

  “Dani, I was out of line. What we—I—did, it was totally against protocol and I don’t break rules like that. I hope you’ll forgive me. If you want, I’ll pull myself off the case.”

  “What? Are you apologizing to me?” Dani’s mouth fell open of its own accord.

  “Yes. It was unacceptable.”

  “No. It wasn’t. It was two adults who were attracted to each other acting on it. If that was unacceptable, the human species would be extinct.”

  Tyler’s features relaxed and his mouth twitched. “It’s been a while since I took biology, but I don’t think what we did is how babies are made.”

  Dani allowed herself a small smile. “True. Regardless, I didn’t realize I was putting you in a bad spot. I could have gotten you fired.”

  “I knew as soon as I met you that you would be trouble.”

  Dani grinned. “You don’t nee
d to be sorry. But I don’t want to get you fired.”

  “I appreciate that. I agree. And I don’t want to take advantage of you. So, we’ll just focus on me not taking advantage of you and you not getting me fired from here on out.” Dani nodded and Tyler cleared his throat. “We need to talk.”

  Dani’s shoulders fell under the weight of his words. “I thought we just did. Am I getting fired?” she joked.

  “No, you’re getting a promotion, I think.” Tyler rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Cam wants you to keep helping. He’s talking to Morgan, but I wanted to give you a heads up. Our contact at the CDC called and said we should run the test you already suggested. You need to understand, Cam doesn’t have an off button and he’s laser-focused on making sure he has the best team possible on every job.”

  “I’m confused.”

  “CDC is slammed. They have other priorities and you said yourself, this is a low-level threat for the US, which means we will have some turnaround time if we go through them. You have the knowledge, the motivation, and the composure to continue to be an asset to the team. In real time. We’re going back to Romania tonight, and Cam wants you on the plane with us.”

  “What do you want?”

  Tyler rubbed his face. “To get you away from this mess. You didn’t do anything to put yourself in the middle of this, and you don’t deserve to have a sniper outside of your apartment. Bad news, I think our team is your best bet for that. While I’d rather you stay in the States, I think you’ll be safer with us than anyone else if someone is really out to get you.”

  “Why would someone be trying this hard to kill me? I hardly have time for friends and I certainly don’t have time for enemies.”

  “The most likely explanation is you are a loose end, a liability. Once we solve this, you’re safe again.”

  Dani let out a breath. “So, Cam is going to come back in and ask me to come with you to Romania.”