Page 65 of Deadly Strain

Sharp grabbed the headset and handed it to her. “Call your CO. We need info and support.”

She wiped the tears off her face and sucked in a deep breath. “Okay.” She put the headset on and said, “Smoke?”

“Fire,” he replied so fast she had to wonder if that was how he always responded to his name.

“Do you always say that when someone calls your name?”

“Only when things are good.”

She waited for him to continue, but he didn’t. Curiosity made her ask, “What if things aren’t good?”

“I say something else.”

Wow, this guy was not a talker. “I need to reach my CO again, Colonel Maximillian.”

“Roger that.”

She waited, staring at Cutter’s blood on the floor of the helicopter. They were lucky only Cutter got hit.

Lucky? That word did not apply. God, the whole situation was messed up. They had an artificially engineered, weaponized bacteria to deal with, and an officer who seemed hell-bent on making it worse.

A click came through the headset and Max’s voice filled her ears. “Grace? Dr. Samuels?”

“I’m here, Max.”

“What the fuck is going on?”

Grace winced. She’d only ever heard Max swear once, when his ex-wife tried to claim he hit her.

“Nothing good, sir,” she replied, trying to remind him to be professional. “Colonel Marshall has lost his mind.”

“So, you didn’t shoot your way off FOB Bostick?”

“No! Oh. My. God. Is that what he’s saying?”

“He’s got two dead bodies for evidence, men who were guarding you. He claims your team of Special Forces soldiers killed them getting you out.”

“No. That never happened. Those guards were perfectly healthy when we left. If they got shot, someone else shot them. Marshall, on the other hand, ordered his men to fire on us as we took off, and killed Cutter.” Her throat closed on his name and she had to focus on breathing for a moment.

Max swore. “I’ve been talking with General Stone. He’s as concerned as I am about the anthrax, but he’s also worried about this escalating situation with Marshall. He’s determined to nip things in the bud.”

“Three men are dead. We’re way past bud and into someplace very scary. Look, we’re going to try to get to you, but I don’t know if we’re going to make it. It’s a long way from where we are to Bahrain.”

“Do you have samples?”

“I picked up new ones from the village, but things aren’t looking good there either. There are people trying to get into it. And either locals or insurgents are firing at the Americans trying to maintain the quarantine. They need support. Can you talk to the general about sending them some? They need to be in bio-suits.”

“I need those samples.”

“This anthrax is so fast, Max. So very fast. I don’t know if Cipro is going to stop it. Antibiotics need time to work, but this bug isn’t going to give it to them.”

“Anyone I send to the site will be given Cipro before they go. That’s the best we can do until we have a chance to figure out how this strain is different.”

“The men who discovered the dead had been given Cipro. They’re dead now too.”

“Finding another treatment is going to take time.”

They both knew they didn’t have time. Whoever designed this anthrax only had to release it again for more people to die.