Calculated Contagion Page 6

  9

  “Something is bugging me about this case, Morgan,” Cam said before he even sat in front of her desk. He hadn’t even written his trip report yet. While he was normally anal about getting his paperwork finished before meeting with his boss, his first stop after landing at Dulles was Morgan’s office. Cam had been nominated to go in person and get her take on the situation while Tyler kept digging.

  “You mean something besides you going rouge to rescue a civilian with no backup?” Morgan said with eyes narrowed, making no attempt to veil her quiet fury.

  “She was an American, Morgan.” He probably should be humble and apologize but he wasn’t sorry and he wasn’t going to lie about it.

  “Tell me again why that makes approaching a camp with 500 armed men in it, who don’t know we are watching them unless a CIA officer blows his cover, the smart move?”

  “I never said it was smart, ma’am. But I’ve been trained not to turn my back on someone who needs help and I wasn’t willing to start just because it was inconvenient. I had my backup cover to rely on and the men in the camp were careless. I made a judgment call. If you have to fire me, that’s fine.”

  “Stop being dramatic, Cameron. In the future,” Morgan pointed her finger at him, “you will call for back up. You will not attempt this level of extraction alone. You will make sure your team has your back or I will have your ass. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Cam grinned. He could have saved the life of the president and Morgan would still bust his chops if he did it wrong. It was one of the many reasons they got along so well.

  “Don’t push me, Cameron. There aren’t many men or women with your skill set. I’ve worked too hard to get you trained for you to die doing something reckless.”

  “Just glad you care, ma’am.”

  Morgan rubbed her temples and switched topics. It was probably for the best since it looked like she was waffling between kicking his ass or kicking him out of her office. “Okay. Let’s regroup. Something is bugging you about this case. Tell me about Ms. Christensen. Why did they take her?”

  “I don’t know, ma’am. We debriefed her for hours and nothing makes sense. You’ve got to get tech on the video feed I got—,” Cam slid the recording equipment across the desk. He’d carried it back personally in his carry-on, “—but, something doesn’t feel right about this one, ma’am. It’s a bunch of guys, in the mountains led by someone we know isn’t up to any good. He likes to flash his weapons around but everyone seems to be there voluntarily. More important than why did they take her is why would they take anyone? And then, why her?”

  “Well, if he isn’t a fanatic, follow the money. It takes funding to run a camp like that. Did they know she was from money?”

  “Theoretically, they could have, but they went to a lot of trouble to take a US citizen visiting Austria. There’s a lot of people with that kind of money a helluva lot closer, ma’am.”

  “Do you have anyone keeping an eye on her now?”

  “No, ma’am. She’s headed to her parents’ estate for a few days now that she’s stateside. I have her contact information. They have a security system there, and we can get personnel to her if we need it. I told the local police we’d received a threat against the family and they offered to drive by a few times a day and look for anything out of the ordinary. I told them we’d appreciate it.”

  “Good. That’ll buy us a few days to sort out potential motives. I agree with your assessment, though. Something is off. Oh, and Cam, before you go, I need you to help me with something else.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “You know how you wanted to debrief the FBI team you interfaced with in Ghana? We set up a CIA-FBI task force with the personnel involved. Your first meeting is next week. Jonathon is out of the country, so bring Tyler with you instead.”

  Cam and Jonathon had been assigned to find an enemy agent trying to launch missiles in Ghana two months prior. However, Jonathon was from West Africa and already back over on assignment. While he and Jonathon had apprehended a sniper who turned out to be under orders from a corrupt government official, they wouldn’t have been able to stop a second agent from launching missiles without the help of the FBI. Because it was the FBI’s case, he considered the teamwork of the two agencies a success. It would be a good example to show his colleagues how they could collaborate, even though he didn’t know the members of the other team past a discreet introduction to two of them in the country. He supposed he was biased because his brother Parker was an analyst for the FBI, but he’d believed for a long time there would be benefits if the two agencies cooperated more often. He also held professional curiosity about an untrained consultant, code-named “Rita,” who neutralized their mutual enemy and kept them all out of trouble. It would be an interesting meeting.

  “Oh, great, I’m glad the Agency is finally up for this. Wait–there has to be a catch. You’re going to make me write all of this up in a shiny report, aren’t you?”

  Morgan just smiled and folded her hands on her desk. “I knew I hired you because you were smart.”

  10

  Dani sat on the cozy back porch of her childhood home, rubbing her temples to ease the pain of her headache. It was a mind-numbing juxtaposition to earn the respect of the international community for her research and to feel twelve years old again in her parents’ house. She loved her parents, really she did, but since they’d found out she’d been kidnapped, being back had become borderline unbearable. They had instituted a full-court press on her well-being, insisting she stay with them for a few days to make sure she was fully recovered. Unlike many others her age, and despite the fact that she was a fully independent adult, her family’s disapproval was a burden she was unwilling to bear. Dani knew they were worried about her and appreciated the strong bonds that characterized her family. But if she didn’t get some space, she was going to implode.

  Dani chose to work for her father’s company because she believed working there would give her the best opportunity to make a difference. However, he was insisting she take another two weeks of leave to give her time to cope with her kidnapping. Since he ran the company, her boss wouldn’t cross the CEO and allow her to sneak back in the office until her two weeks were up. Daniel Christensen meant well by forcing her to rest, but the best way for Dani to snap out of her funk would be to get back to her research.

  As Dani took in the peaceful lake in their backyard, inspiration struck. Her sister was in Indianapolis, definitely within driving distance. The journey was just over nine hours but it was doable in a day. Olivia Christensen, now Olivia Duffy, taught at a business school in town and was married to a software engineer. A quick call was all it took for Olivia to reiterate the open invitation to come stay whenever she liked. In addition to getting to see her sister for a few days, Dani would be close to the biomedical and bioengineering facilities at Indiana Polytechnic, should she need to exercise her brain and connect with other researchers.

  Two short hours later, Dani had finalized her plan to leave the following morning. Her parents were pacified that she was taking her remaining downtime under the watchful eyes of family and she could do some work under the radar. It was a win-win. As she zipped her suitcase shut, her mind was finally at ease. All she had to do was get some sleep before morning came.

  * * *

  After too many hours alone with her thoughts in the car, Dani pulled up to a Cape Cod-style home and parked her Audi behind a sensible Honda Accord. She was looking forward to warm conversation and the comfort of home, with a little less hovering. Dani had learned early that home is what you make it, and for her, home was time with people she loved. She grabbed her small rolling bag out of the back of the car, but before she could shut the trunk, Olivia bounded out of the front door and pulled her into a hug. Dani smiled and held her sister just a little longer than normal.

  While Dani was the hyperfocused sister, Olivia had always been the thoughtful one. She led Dani upstairs to the guest room and
left her alone for a few minutes to get settled before fully ambushing her. Dani assumed by the way her sister was acting that her mom had called ahead, and she was about to be subjected to the comforting nosiness of family who cared. A bottle of Prosecco and a box of chocolates appeared in the doorway and Dani grinned. The rest of Olivia followed her bribes a few seconds later.

  After plopping onto the bed, Olivia opened the wine and suspended it over an empty glass. Before a drop hit the bottom, she looked up from her task at her older sister. “Okay, do you want to get in your pajamas first and tell me everything that happened, or do you want to tell me everything that happened, then get in your pajamas? Or do I need to pretend I don’t know anything? I’ll have to leave and come back, then act surprised, but I can do it if I need to.”

  Dani shook her head and laughed. Her emotions took a sharp corner into tears, which she wiped away while still laughing.

  “So, sip of wine for fortification, then pajamas?” Olivia continued, gesturing to Dani’s bag.

  “Yes. I think I’m going to need to be comfortable.” After accepting a delicate but full wine glass from her sister, Dani took a long sip before pulling her clothes out of the bag and taking them to the adjacent bathroom. Seconds later, she returned and joined Olivia. Dani let out a deep sigh and reached for a chocolate.

  “Dani, you’re okay being here, right?” Olivia had hidden her worry well but began to tap her pointer finger on her thumb, a dead giveaway that she was fussing.

  “There is no way you could be more suffocatingly protective than Mom and Dad.” Holding up a hand, Dani continued, “I adore them. And I know they are intense because they care, but seriously, it’s a lot to deal with. Obviously, Mom told you what happened. I didn’t even tell them half of it because they were freaking out on me, and I wasn’t about to make it worse. I’m dying to talk to someone about it.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask the obvious question. You were in Vienna. How did you get from Vienna to Romania?”

  “A car. Evidently, I was driven across a few borders.”

  “Oh my goodness. Were you hurt? Did they put you in the trunk?”

  “No to both, thank God. Well, mostly no. I had a pillowcase over my face in the back of a Jeep. So that’s not really a trunk. I don’t speak Romanian and I don’t know what they wanted. Dad thinks they wanted money. That happens a lot in foreign countries, but generally, Austria is as safe as being here.”

  “Yeah, well, we have our bad areas of town too.”

  “It was in a hallway of a swanky conference hotel.”

  “Jeez. If you were at the conference, how did they get you in the car?” Olivia asked.

  Dani paused for a moment, second-guessing the wisdom of revisiting the memory. Fighting through the terror that began to rush to her veins, she said quietly, “One stuck a gun in my ribs and the other men surrounded me. I was walking away from the bathroom in broad daylight. I keep kicking myself because I saw the guy who stuck a gun in my ribs the day before in a protest line and then later as an attendee at the conference. If that coincidence wasn’t strange enough, just looking at him gave me the creeps, and I tried to ignore it. Told myself I was just worried about being in a big city alone. I knew better.”

  “Hey, it’s not your fault the guy was a nut job. It sounds like it could have happened to anyone.”

  “That’s just it. I didn’t know them, they had never met me, and it just doesn’t make sense. I think I’m safe in the States, but given that we have no idea why I was grabbed…I just can’t feel sure of it. I’m not going back to my apartment alone until I feel better about it, either. I know that’s not very brave.”

  “No, that’s smart. But how did you get away from them?”

  Dani had read the summary report Cam had given her several times and had it memorized. She knew the reason she was supposed to lie, but it still felt so wrong. There was a short pause as duty fought honesty in her mind. She replied, “When they took me to their camp, the bindings they had on me were too loose. I waited until it was dark and they thought I was asleep, worked my hands out of the rope, and hiked to a small village nearby. There was only one road, so I had no choice but to follow it. Fortunately, I found a woman who could help. I went to the airport on the next truck that was headed to town. It was a lot of gesturing but we eventually figured it out. I’ve never been so scared in my life, though.”

  “Wow, that’s unbelievable,” Olivia said, placing her empty glass on the nightstand.

  “Not really. I mean, if you think about it, kidnappings happen every day, and all kidnappers can’t be as competent as the ones we see in the movies,” Dani said automatically, her answer nearly identical to Cam’s when she had questioned the plausibility of his cover story.

  “I didn’t mean, literally unbelievable. I believe you, Dani,” her sister said, placing a hand on Dani’s jiggling leg. “Hey, it’s okay now.”

  Dani’s hands began to tremble, not from shock this time, but from worry that she would blow the cover of the two men who had saved her life. Olivia, misinterpreting the source of her sister’s panic, mercifully diverted the conversation to safer ground.

  “So, Dani, remind me what you were speaking about at the conference again?” Olivia probably knew the answer, but her gesture was appreciated all the same. Back on neutral ground, Dani recovered.

  “I was there to represent the foundation arm of VacTech. Since VacTech is a private company with the majority owner passionate about finding cures to diseases, we have a little more flexibility in how we run our operations. The foundation arm was set up to work with the diseases where there isn’t a possibility of a profit, but there is a significant need for our products. We find a way to either produce new products or lower the cost of the existing distribution channels of the business arm so we can reach more people.”

  “Wow, that’s incredible,” Olivia said. She poured a little more sparkling wine and was kind enough not to look too proud of herself for dragging Dani away from a low-grade panic attack.

  “I’m really passionate about my latest project. I keep telling the scientists that I work with that we need to develop everything in the context of how it will be used in the real world. In the case of vaccines, there is a huge societal element to consider. In some cases, people who need it don’t trust outsiders. If the vaccines need special storage, handling, or punctures, people may be less likely to sign up. So, my focus has been on shelf- and temperature-stable oral versions of existing vaccines that can be delivered by trusted locals instead of global organizations. The stomach is a pretty harsh environment and it’s harder than it sounds. I’ve done a number of experiments with smallpox, measles, tetanus, and other infectious diseases.”

  “Is that what your talk was about?”

  “Yes. I’ve published a lot of basic science on a number of vaccine-preventable diseases in underserved populations that I’m really proud of. It doesn’t leave time for much else, but if I didn’t, I have to spend more time correcting the people who make assumptions about my work because Dad runs the company.”

  “Who cares what they think?”

  “I don’t care what they think about me, but the work needs to be above reproach. Anyone who actually knows Dad knows he expects more from me than a regular employee but I’m afraid the general consensus would believe it was the opposite. In fact, Dr. Fabian–you know he’s normally such a delight anyway–reminded me of that in the elevator, literally on the way to my speech. Vienna was my first opportunity to prove I could speak to a broader audience about the sociological implications of our research. And while the presentation went well, the rest of the trip was…a bust.”

  “It sounds like you are doing some really meaningful work, Dani. Don’t let anyone scare you away from it,” Olivia said, patting Dani’s knee. Dani, no stranger to diversions, asked about Olivia and her husband and let the tiniest feeling of relief creep back into her heart. When her blinks began to get longer and longer, Olivia gave her a hug and told her to get
some sleep, assuring Dani she would set the security alarm. Dani snuck in a quick check of her work email and was gratified to see her team was handling things without her. She was able to fall back asleep for a few hours before the nightmares woke her up. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

  11

  Not far from Indianapolis, in Enterprise, Indiana, Ree Ryland tapped a DVD case of an old favorite movie against her open hand while eying her closed laptop. It was a Friday, a day normally reserved for relaxation, but the quiet evening offered a chance for her to get caught up on the ever-growing number of assignments being turned into the electronic grading system. While they weren’t due for a few days, she usually relished any chance she had to get ahead. Still, the romantic comedy in her hand would pair perfectly with her comfortable brown couch, fuzzy slippers, a bag of popcorn, and pretty much anything else that didn’t involve work. The scale had very nearly tipped to procrastinating on grading assignments when a text lit up her phone with good news. Parker was going to slip away from Chicago to visit the next morning, which meant she would have more time with him than she’d expected. Alexis had called earlier to let her know the joint CIA-FBI meeting had just been set for Monday in the Chicago FBI office, which meant they would get three whole days together. A fan of compromise, Ree decided to grade her assignments while watching the movie. The next few days were going to be better than expected.