Page 41 of Deadly Strain

Chapter Nine

Surprise wasn’t enough, but if she added a distraction, it might cause the confusion she needed to get Sharp out of there.

She knew what Sharp would say.The mission was more important than him. She should get out while she could.

Too bad for him, he wasn’t in a position to stop her from doing something stupid.

Distraction, distraction. What did she have that would work?

She had a couple of smoke flares. Setting one or two of them off would certainly be distracting. She didn’t dare wait. How long could he last, bleeding who knows how much, with no medical treatment? Were they giving him water or food?

She was careful and quiet as she made her way back to her hiding place. She found a small gully a short distance away and threw the flare into it as hard as she could.

She ducked into her hidey hole.

Shouting followed after only twenty or thirty seconds.

Several people rushed past her haven, yelling and shouting, toward the place she’d thrown the flare. Two gunshots followed, but they weren’t close. Sounded like they’d come from the direction where Sharp was held prisoner. An aggressiveoorahwas cut off by gunfire.

Grace’s breathing staggered to a halt.

Had they just shot Sharp?

Had her distraction gotten him killed?

Oh God,oh God. She’d thought she was so clever and sneaky. Provide the perfect distraction so she could tiptoe in and rescue Sharp with no one the wiser. Only minutes ago she’d been patting herself on the back for her ingenious plan. She should have left well enough alone. Sharp had probably had a plan of escape.

Now he wouldn’t be going anywhere, because he wasdead.

Self-loathing, regret and indecision held her hostage. Now what? Her situation had only gotten worse. She was trapped in her refuge, alone, with only a day’s worth of water and a case of anthrax samples strapped to her back.

She caressed the butt of her Beretta, dark thoughts making her hands shake as tears flowed down her face.

How could she have been so stupid?

Another burst of yelling caught her attention. At first, she wasn’t sure why, until she began hearing words shouted in English, in a voice sounding remarkably like Sharp’s.

He was alive?

“I don’t know,” he yelled. It was definitely Sharp. “Whoever did is a long way from here.”

There was a grunt of pain, then nothing audible for several minutes.

Someone had probably hit him.

What were they doing now? Were they hitting him,torturinghim?

Another pain-filled sound echoed, and she found it difficult to suck a proper breath in. She had to stop it, save him. She couldn’t bear the thought of him hurt, and she knew,knewhe’d never say anything to risk her safety.

Well, she wasn’t willing to give his life to save her own. He was her friend, herbestfriend... Oh, who was she kidding? He was more than that, even though she didn’t have a label for what they were to each other. She cared about him and couldn’t leave him in the hands of men who were going to kill him.

She worked at calming her breathing. Sharp was alive and well enough to holler. The thing was, did setting off the flare help or hinder her chances of getting to him and getting them both out of here?

Just as she was about to leave her shelter, several men walked past, one talking, the others only adding a word or two here and there.

She waited for a long time before easing out of her hole and making her way back to the wall.