Chapter 9 #2
Marta followed her into one of the apartment’s bedrooms that had been converted into an office. Two monitors sat on the desk along with a keyboard, the computer tucked behind it.
Priya sat at the desk and touched the mouse. The monitors blinked on. Her fingers flew over the keyboard, bringing them into what appeared to be a portal into the World Health Organization’s database. “We’re in.” She pushed back and stood, allowing Marta to take her seat.
“Are you sure?” Marta asked.
Priya nodded. “I trust you with my life. I would trust you even more with the lives of millions. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever known. If anyone can stop a madman, it’s you.”
Marta gave Priya a quick hug and then dropped into her seat.
Crusher and Priya watched over her shoulder as Marta stared at the screen. “What is this you’re working on?” she asked.
Priya tipped her chin toward the monitor. “I’d received several red flags from a few areas around the world. I’ve been tracking them in Uganda, Bangladesh, and Paraguay, plus remote locations with several deaths from an unexplained disease.”
“Those locations aren’t even near each other.”
“No, but the people who died had similar symptoms. That’s what’s got us looking at the three together, trying to determine what they have in common.”
“What’s the symptom profile, incubation period, serial interval, viral shedding duration and case fatality rate?” Marta shot the questions out, impressing Crusher with her cool purpose and professionalism.
Priya gave her the information about the symptoms and incubation period. “We don’t know the source or transmission route. We’re working on that. We need a common thread and haven’t quite put our thumbs on it.”
Mara shook her head, drew in a deep breath and let it out. “When I get through the current issue, I want to know more.”
Priya nodded.
Marta pushed past one screen into another, diving deeper into several levels of data until she reached the one she was looking for.
“That’s the project you were working on before they laid you off from the CDC?” Priya pulled up a chair beside Marta.
Marta nodded. “It is.”
“That was a fairly nasty virus, if I recall. Did they assign someone else to work it after you left?” Priya asked.
“Not officially.” Marta’s jaw tightened, noting the dates the data was touched after her release from the CDC. “Someone has been in my research since then.”
She brought up another data location on the second screen and hit several keys, bringing up a slew of information Crusher couldn’t begin to understand.
Marta’s hand stilled on the keyboard. “This is the database Vasquez set up for me to continue my work. He wanted me to aerosolize the virus so it can be unleashed on a population via a ventilation system. He was very specific about what he wanted. He gave me eight weeks to make it happen.”
Priya whistled. “I’m sure you didn’t appreciate being told to make a biological weapon.”
Marta’s lips pressed into a tight line. “If I hadn’t done what he asked, they’d have killed me and then brought in someone else to do the dirty work. This way, I could control the release with binding proteins and, hopefully, get away and stop him somehow.”
“Ahh.” Priya nodded. “Smart.”
Marta glanced over her shoulder and shot a smile in Crusher’s direction, making his chest tighten. “That’s where Crush—Jack came on scene and rescued me from Vasquez’s compound in Colombia. I wouldn’t be here now without him.”
Priya turned to Crusher, her gaze raking him from head to toe as if studying him for the first time all over again. “I’m sure it didn’t hurt that your rescuer is a fine specimen of a human male.” She chuckled and touched Marta’s arm. “He can rescue me anytime.”
Heat rose up Crusher’s neck into his cheeks. “You don’t have to talk about me as if I’m not here.”
Priya leaned closer to Marta. “Is he as sexy in bed as he is just hovering over you?”
This time, Marta’s cheeks blushed a bright pink. “It’s not like that.”
“Still in the same room,” Crusher said, his lips quirking on the corners, strangely delighted she was blushing at the thought of being in bed with him.
Marta focused on the monitors. Her fingers clicked faster over the keyboard as she brought up several files and opened documents and spreadsheets. After she studied the data presented in bars and graphs, she sat back, her eyes rounding as she stared at the screen. “He’s too close.”
“What do you mean?” Priya asked.
“Whoever is working on the virus is close to unlocking the binding protein I put in place. We might only have seven days or less.” Marta clicked a few more keys.
She clicked a few keys and nodded. “Good. I still have the access I need. I can put another flaw into the DNA that will stall him even more. Then he’ll have to work two flaws to get past the issue, thus buying us more time. ”
“How can you do that remotely?” Crusher asked.
“We work with computers to tap into DNA. I have a backdoor into the data I was working on. I can get in, make the change and hide it so that it’s not obvious where it came from.”
“That’s brilliant.” Priya squeezed Marta’s shoulders. “You are the smartest person I know.”
Marta tapped her fingers against the keys, her focus on the screen, the data and saving lives. “Time?” she barked.
Crusher was so engrossed in Marta doing what she did with science, he had to shake himself out of the trance to glance at his watch. “We have thirty minutes before we need to be back at the airport and checked into our flight.”
Marta nodded and kept working.
Fifteen minutes later, Crusher was worried that whatever Marta was working on wouldn’t be done in time for them to make it to the airport and catch their flight.
The scientist was so occupied with her work that she seemed to lose track of everything else around her. He’d seen her intensity when running through the jungle, but this was completely different. All her concentration was on saving lives through the things she could do with DNA manipulation.
But time was up. They had to get to the airport or miss their flight. “Marta, we need to leave now,” Crusher said.
She swept her fingers across the keys, paused, pressed the enter key and sat back. “Done. I created a different flaw in the binding protein and wiped clean all traces of my entry into the system.” She pushed the chair back and stood.
Priya stood as well and wrapped her arms around Marta. “You’re an amazing scientist and even more of an amazing woman. I'm glad you’re my friend.” She leaned back. “Don’t let it be so long before I see you again.”
Marta’s eyes swam with unshed tears. “You’re a good friend, Priya, and every bit as smart as I am—and more beautiful.” She laughed, hugged her friend again and shifted her gaze to Crusher. “I’m ready.”
Crusher could admire people who trusted and respected each other’s abilities. He found it similar to the trust and respect he had for his team members and their skills in combat, intelligence and concern for doing what was right—the reasons the SOS team had left the government and gone independent.
Priya drove them back to the airport, dropping them off at the departure gate.
Marta held her friend’s hands. “When I get past this disaster, I want to know more about what you’re working on. Perhaps I can help.”
“I’d love any help you can give me,” Priya said and waved goodbye.
The next hurdle was to get past Mexican security with their fake passports.
Marta studied her phony name and murmured it to herself several times before approaching the security checkpoint.
They sailed through with the Agentes Federales de Migración, who barely looked at their passports before stamping a page and sending them on their way.
Onboard the aircraft, Crusher sat beside Marta, holding her hand for the three and a half hours it took to fly from Mexico City to Miami.
The closer they got to Miami, the longer he wished the flight would take.
Being with Marta these past few days had changed his world, and he wasn’t sure he wanted it to change back.
When the pilot came on the intercom, announcing their descent into the Miami airport, Marta’s fingers tightened around Crusher’s.
“What happens from here?” she asked.
His world would change, yet again.
“Once on the ground, we’ll coordinate with my boss, Royce Fontaine, and the State Department guy, Devon Marsh, and let them know we’ve arrived.” He stared out the window as the runway rushed up to greet the plane.
“What if Devon Marsh doesn’t take me to a lab where I can work on an antiviral or vaccination to slow or stop the spread of this virus? What if he doesn’t understand the devastation it could cause to the entire world?”
Crusher squeezed her hand gently. “Then call me. I’ll get you where you need to go.”
“I don’t have your number,” she said.
“Right.” He asked the flight attendant for a pen. When she brought one to him, he wrote the burner phone’s number on a napkin and handed it to her.
She stared down at the number and then held out her hand for the pen.
He smiled as she wrote the number near the scabs on the inside of her wrist, close enough that the ink appeared to blend with the scabs. “In case I lose the paper,” she said and handed the pen to the flight attendant as she passed, collecting trash.
When the plane came to a stop, the seatbelt sign blinked off, and they slowly filed out of the plane into the terminal.
After they made it past customs and border control, Crusher reluctantly pulled out his burner phone and called Swede, placing the phone on speaker and turning the volume down so only he and Marta would hear.
“Did you make it to Miami?” Swede asked.
Crusher stared across at Marta. “Yes, sir.”
“With the asset?” Swede asked.