Chapter 36
36
As they flew over the Wrangells on their way to Firelight Ridge, Gil watched the endless sharp peaks and sloped valleys appear and disappear through breaks in the thick cloud cover. Occasionally he caught a glimpse of a glacier or the ice fields beyond.
The more that ice melted, the more secrets would be revealed. This time it was a mining operation doing core samples. But more of the permafrost was melting every year. He thought about the secrets locked in that icy landscape. Was the world ready for that?
What about his own secrets? The part of himself he’d locked away so he could watch out for others? It was thawing, he could feel it, under the warm radiance of Ani’s smile. What would his life look like if he allowed that to happen?
Assuming she wanted it. Big assumption. He’d shown her more weakness and vulnerability than he’d shown anyone, even Lachlan. Maybe especially Lachlan, because his brother needed him to be tough in order to feel safe.
As for their immediate crisis, something didn’t sit right with him. Why wasn’t Victor champing at the bit to try out his super-secret treatment? This was his opportunity to be the hero riding in with a cure for a new virus. Even if it wasn’t ready yet, he could simply offer people the option, and have them sign a release.
Sure, he’d acted recklessly and unethically. No wonder he was afraid of the authorities. But did he need to be that afraid? Gil didn’t know the ins and outs of laws applying to scientific research, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t against the law to work on botanically based treatments for illnesses.
He’d been hellbent on getting to Firelight Ridge until he heard that there was a possible outbreak and the CDC was there. Was there more that Victor wasn’t sharing?
No doubt about it.
What did he know about Victor? Not much. As far as he knew, the scientist was a globe-trotting, cheerful adventurer who’d never been married and threw himself heart and soul into his research. He was no criminal, and no mastermind, no matter what grandiose kick he was on.
Lachlan would know more. Gil’s gut was tense with worry about his brother. That drumbeat, never far from his mind, had gotten damn near deafening since he’d learned about the outbreak. How had it happened? Had Victor passed it on to someone? Or maybe Ani had?
But no, it couldn’t be Ani, because she’d never actually contracted the virus. Victor’s spray had managed to trigger her body to produce the antibodies. As for him, he hadn’t caught it until later.
Which brought up another question. How had he caught it? The only person he’d been in close contact with over the past few days was Ani. Close, intense, life-changing contact.
He glanced over at her. She was watching the clouds with an abstracted expression. As soon as she felt his gaze, she looked his way, and reached for his hand. They interlaced their fingers and he tried to remember a time before Ani.
A vast frozen landscape lay back there. And there was no going back.
Her cheeks colored; the intensity of his emotion must be showing. But she wasn’t looking away. The opposite. Her full lips curled in a smile and she gave him another of those lust-stirring winks. I’ll protect you. Despite everything—their different worlds, the random nature of their meeting—it still made sense. It made more sense than ever, because she’d protected him too. They’d protected each other.
“Get ready to land,” Lanie called to them as they began their descent. A few moments later, they made a bumpy touchdown on the Firelight Ridge airstrip. Spruce forests loomed on either side of the runway, and a flock of crows rose into the air as they rolled to a stop.
A military vehicle awaited them, with two soldiers posted next to it. “Is that Sergeant Thomson?” Ani murmured. “I’m so glad she’s okay.” Through the plane’s window, she waved at the woman, but Thomson didn’t relax her stance enough to return the gesture. Quite possibly, she wasn’t happy with them for ditching their guard and leaving her at the hotel.
As they came to a stop near the Jeep, Dr. Christianson stepped out of it. She wore a white lab coat and her hair was tousled by the same wind that had made their landing so bumpy.
“Come on, I’ll fill you guys in while we walk,” she called to them after they’d all climbed out of the plane. “We have a delicate situation on our hands.”
As they passed Sergeant Thomson, she shot them a hard stare. Gil paused before her. “Glad to see you back on duty, Sergeant.”
She nodded curtly. “Can’t keep me off the job. But if I ever find the mother-fucker who did that to me…”
He decided not to mention that Victor had been the one who’d knocked her out. “They didn’t know who they were messing with, did they?”
She grinned and offered him a fist to bump, which he did.
Cool. Glad that was settled. He liked and respected Sergeant Thomson and was glad she was here. He hurried to catch up with Ani and Victor, who were following Dr. Christianson toward a large military-style canvas tent that had been set up in the gravel lot.
More CDC team members were working at a long table in the tent, set up with laptops and a generator to provide power. A whiteboard was set up at one end of the table, with a map of Firelight Ridge taped to it. It was scattered with notes in black Sharpie that Gil assumed were cases of the new omegavirus.
Dr. Christianson grabbed a steel Thermos off the table on her way to the whiteboard. “Anyone need a drink? We’ve got water and coffee around here somewhere.”
They all declined except for Victor. “Water?” he asked meekly.
Gil wondered if he was still worried about being arrested. Was he going to own up to his role in this mess? Was he going to offer up his “treatment”? Whatever happened, Gil intended to keep an eye on him. He didn’t trust Victor, not anymore.
The doctor called for someone to get Victor some water, then launched into her explanation. “We think this is ground zero.” She tapped a spot on the map a few miles out of town. “A local retired miner was the first to report symptoms.”
“How did you hear about it? There’s no clinic in town,” Ani asked.
“We’ve had people here monitoring for over a month.” Dr. Christianson lowered her voice. “This part is classified, which is why I couldn’t tell you about it the last time we met. Intelligence services picked up some chatter about a new bioweapon being developed in Alaska. They were able to pin it down to the Firelight Ridge area. We didn’t want to create a panic, but we needed to keep an eye on the situation while more information was being developed.”
Gil slid a look at Victor to see if he wanted to pipe up yet. But the scientist, looking like a deer in the headlights, kept his mouth sealed shut.
“Can you tell us who’s behind it?”
“I can’t. It’s a tricky situation. There are international interests at play.”
He thought about the car with diplomatic plates at Ani’s house. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss John’s story as a complete fabrication.
“At any rate, once several cases were reported, we moved in. It’s to our advantage that summer ends early in the mountains and the flow of sightseers has already died down. Another advantage is that this is a tiny little outpost. We have a team fanning through the town locating anyone who’s experienced symptoms over the last few days.”
“That’s going to be a challenge.” Gil stroked the scruffy growth on his chin. He probably looked as if he’d spent that past few days in the wilderness. “Most people don’t live in town. There’s folks in homesteads miles away. I’m not sure even Google Earth knows everyone.”
“We have access to better tech than that.” The doctor gave a smug smile. “We’ll find everyone. Of course we’re most concerned about the elderly and the young, so we’re starting with them. We’ve asked everyone to stay home as much as they can until we get a handle on the situation.”
Ani spoke up. “How can we help? I’m a pediatrician, and Victor?—”
They all looked around, only to spot Victor outside the tent, texting frantically into his phone. Gil caught Ani’s eye—yet another moment of weird behavior from the scientist.
“Anyway,” Ani continued, “I can help with the existing cases, if you like. I have recent experience of treating one, and I believe I’m immune by now.”
“That would be very helpful.” The doctor gave a brisk smile. “We have four children who are sick right now, and we’ve taken over a floor of the old boardinghouse to care for them. Strict quarantine, of course. The problem is that with an unknown virus like this, we just don’t know how contagious it is.”
“How are they doing?” Ani’s dark eyes filled with concern.
Watching her, Gil’s breath caught. How could she be so damn beautiful in the middle of a medical crisis in a military tent? Once again he experienced that odd time-shift moment of disbelief that he’d only met her a few days ago. She wore the same suede jacket he’d first seen her in, that indelible moment on Lachlan’s porch. An entire lifetime had passed since then.
“Feverish, headachy. Most are okay, but one child has a particularly bad case.”
Victor reappeared, tucking his phone into his pocket. He looked positively ill, thought Gil. Had he gotten bad news? Or was all that Milagrosporos in his bloodstream catching up with him?
Ani caught Victor’s eye, as if urging him to speak up. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
The doctor swung her attention to Victor. “As for you, Victor Canseco, we’ve been hoping to talk to you. We’d like to retrace your steps, list everyone you came into contact with, that sort of thing. You might have had an asymptomatic case when you left the Ninuk area.”
When Victor didn’t answer, Gil turned toward him and nailed him with a look that promised all kinds of living hell for the scientist if he didn’t speak up. Victor ducked his head, then nodded.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll give you everything you need. I might be even more help than that. All I need is…well, I need to get out to Smoky Lake and see if there’s anything left of my research. There might be something helpful there.”
The doctor frowned at him. “I’m sorry? What are you talking about?”
“I can explain better when I have my notes. I became curious about the virus after I left Ninuk. I have some theories, put it that way.”
He was still being so damn cagey. Gil watched Dr. Christianson wrestle with the question of whether to yell at Victor or accept his help. He could sympathize, since he’d felt exactly the same ever since Victor had reappeared.
Finally she came down on the side of getting help. “Fine. You go find your research. I assume you’re talking about the Institute? It’s almost completely destroyed.”
Victor visibly flinched. “I know.”
Watching him closely, Gil came to a disturbing conclusion—Victor knew exactly who had destroyed the Institute and why. He felt guilt about it. What more was he hiding? Plenty, Gil thought.
The doctor tilted her head at Gil. “Will you go with Canseco? I can’t spare anyone from here, and I don’t want to send anyone into the wilderness on their own.”
“I can handle—” Victor began.
Gil cut him off. “I’m going with you. That’s final.”
Victor obviously knew when he’d lost. He nodded grudgingly.
Dr. Christianson gestured toward a military Jeep outside the tent. “Ani, Sergeant Thomson will take you to the boardinghouse. Gil and Victor, we have some four-wheelers you can use.”
They all trooped out of the tent. Victor beelined toward the four-wheelers parked in the grass next to the lot.
Gil hesitated before following him. For the first time in days, he and Ani were going to be separated, and that thought gave him a deep pang of worry. They’d been at each other’s side ever since she showed up on that floatplane — unless you counted the hours he’d spent sleeping off his fever. Even then, he’d always known she was there.
Was she going to be okay out there on her own?
Idiot, she was fine the previous thirty years of her life.
More to the point, was he going to be fine? He laughed at the idea of even asking that question, one that had never crossed his mind before now.
“What’s funny?” Ani murmured as she shaded her eyes from the sun. Her skin glowed like dark honey mead.
“It’s nothing. Just me wondering if I’m going to be okay on my own now that we’re parting ways. Not sure I ever had that thought before.”
She stopped on the gravel; he did too, and they faced each other. He cupped his hands around her face and brushed his thumbs across her cheeks. She was so beautiful. She surveyed him gravely, her dark gaze soft on his face. “When this is over…”
He waited for her to finish the thought. She licked her lips nervously. “This is awkward. There’s something you should know about me that I haven’t mentioned.”
His heart twisted, and he tried to imagine if there was anything in the world that would change his feelings for her. He came up empty. “I know everything I need to know, Ani.”
“No. You don’t.” She slipped from his grasp and took a step away from him. “I love children.”
“I know that.”
“I want children.”
A heady rush of emotion ran circles through his head. If she was bringing up the topic of children, that must mean she was taking this thing between them seriously.
Just as seriously as he was.
“Of course you do. I’m all in.” Were those the right words? Her expression shifted, but not to one of happiness. A line appeared between her eyebrows. “I mean to say, I’m onboard with that. With children.”
When she still didn’t look reassured, he decided to try a lighter approach.
“I always knew I’d have to be the one to continue the family line. Lachlan won’t do it, he’s too single-minded. And single.”
Even though she smiled at that, her eyes filled with tears. “You don’t understand,” she whispered.
“What don’t I understand?” He took one of her hands in his. “I want what you want. I want you to be happy.”
Sergeant Thomson called out, “We gotta go!” and Ani shook herself out of her tears. She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, but couldn’t quite meet Gil’s eyes.
“All of this has been so crazy. I’m not like this. I don’t like action and excitement. I’m an ordinary person who just wants things to go back to normal.”
“Believe me, my life isn’t usually like this either.”
“See, we really don’t know each other, do we?” She took a step back from him, then another. “I’m sorry. We should talk about this later.”
She fled across the tarmac to the impatiently waiting Sergeant Thomson, who shot Gil a look as if to say, “What the hell did you just do?” He had no idea. He watched, helpless, confused…gutted…as the Jeep drove away. That phrase, “talk about this later,” had sounded unnervingly final.