Chapter 31
Eden was more terrified now than ever before. You could look for men with guns, you could hide from them. Viruses? Germs? They were in places you never thought to look. And there was no getting away from them.
She opened the laptop, but instead of searching for the Saints, she looked for updates on the virus.
Eden decided to check the main news stations in the States where she learned that the virus had already mutated once, and that over five hundred people in Europe had already died from it.
It struck the old, the young, and the healthy.
Flipping from one news source to another, she gathered all the information she could. The fact that she and Maks were very near the epicenter of the outbreak frightened her. No one had been able to identify how the virus had begun, which immediately made Eden think of the Saints.
If they had been willing to go through with Ragnarok, and had made viruses similar to this current one before, then who was to say they weren’t behind this one?
It wasn’t some random act of God or a freak of nature.
This was something that had been given to the human race.
And at the rate it was taking individuals and spreading, it was clear that this was a culling of the herd.
Ragnarok had been a way to control the population by determining who would be able to have children.
If you were one of the select few the Saints chose, then you got the antidote.
This virus wasn’t much different. Eden could guess that every Saint would no doubt have the antibodies in place to prevent them from getting sick.
That would make the Saints easy to pick out in such chaos.
Though that didn’t help with the fear that threaded through her, choking her.
She thought back to the people she’d been around, wondering if any of them had been sick.
While she couldn’t think of any that had shown symptoms, that didn’t mean they weren’t infected.
It didn’t mean that she wasn’t infected.
“Stop,” she demanded when her mind began to race with what-ifs.
The only thing she could control was her work. Maks was counting on her to find something. The longer she sat there looking at news outlets as they spoke about this new virus, the further behind she’d be. It was getting them nowhere.
She closed all the news tabs and put on some music at a low volume.
Then she went looking for some tape in the house.
She found some, along with some string. She went back up to the room and took down the pictures so she had a blank wall to work with.
Then she used the tape and hung up what she had found by date.
Her brain worked better when she could see information in several different ways.
Once that was done, she stepped back and looked at it for a moment.
Then she went to the computer and put in one of the pen drives.
The files were compressed, so she had to expand them before she could look through any of it.
All of it took time. At first glance, the files didn’t seem to show much, but she knew there was more there.
Eden wished she had a printer, but she had a pen and some paper, and that was enough.
She made notes, sorting through the numerous pages in the first of over a hundred files on the drive.
A few things caught her eye, so she switched to the internet and did a few searches, though she came up empty.
That didn’t worry her, at least for the moment.
She knew she would have to dig deeper, and that was just one of the many layers an information broker had to sort through to get what they were looking for.
She heard something below. Eden picked up the gun and quietly walked out of the room. She pressed herself against the wall and listened. Heavy footfalls came from the kitchen, stopping at the foot of the stairs.
“Eden?” Maks called.
She sighed and turned the corner to find him with one foot on the stair and a hand on the banister. “You scared me.”
“Sorry I was gone so long. Things are rather crazy out there,” he said.
She frowned. “I’ve not been keeping track of time. Did you find everything we’ll need?”
“I hope so. Pickings are slim.”
“I can only imagine.”
He jerked his chin to her. “How are you faring?”
“Well, I have to admit, I spent some time investigating the virus.”
“I don’t blame you. Did you find out anything new?”
“Over five hundred deaths in Europe alone, and climbing.”
Maks let out a whistle. “That’s even more since I first heard of it.”
“This scares me in a way that men with guns doesn’t.”
“Honestly, it does me, as well.”
She sagged at his confession. “Thank you for saying that. Even if it isn’t true.”
“It’s true,” he said with a lopsided smile.
“I was thinking that the Saints would’ve vaccinated themselves against this.”
His brows rose as he nodded. “That’s definitely a possibility. I don’t know if they’d vaccinate all the Saints, but certainly the ones who are high up in the chain of command.”
“It’ll be a good way to pick them out in a crowd, though. Won’t it?”
“If they’re not worried about getting sick, absolutely. I’m always on the lookout for Saints. I didn’t see anyone that would draw my attention today, but then again, everyone seemed too intent on getting what they needed and getting home.”
Eden shifted her feet. “I’ve only just gotten into the first drive. I wasn’t expecting so much information. It’s going to take me a while.”
“I have a feeling we’ll be here for some time.”
“Too bad we couldn’t have stayed at your cabin. We had just about everything we needed there.”
“We certainly did,” he said with a grin.
Eden glanced down the hall. “I guess I’ll get back to work.”
“All right.”
She returned to the bedroom and her computer and turned off the music. She could hear Maks moving around in the kitchen, putting things away and looking through cabinets. It had been a while since they’d eaten lunch, but she wasn’t hungry. Fear could do that to a person.
For the next few hours, Eden worked through each file, making notes and doing a basic search online for things she uncovered. It wasn’t until she smelled something delicious that she looked up and found Maks standing in the doorway with a plate of food and a glass of wine.
“I could get used to this,” she said with a smile as she set aside the computer.
Maks smiled. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to eat while you worked.”
“A break sounds great. Let’s go downstairs.”
They made their way to the first floor and the small table in the kitchen. She looked at the food on her plate, then up at Maks.
“What?” he asked.
“If I’d been the one preparing this meal, I would’ve dumped the tuna out of the can onto a lump on the plates. I certainly wouldn’t have made it all pretty with the different olives, slices of various cheeses, and crackers.”
Maks shrugged. “I’d already cleaned all my guns, so I had to do something busy with my hands. Since you needed to eat, it was the perfect opportunity.”
“Do you always do this with your food?”
He snorted and pulled a face. “I would’ve eaten the tuna out of the can.”
They shared a laugh, both reaching for their forks at the same time.
Eden was mildly surprised to find that the tuna had been seasoned. “This is good. What’s in it?”
“Garlic, onions, and lemon juice.”
“So simple, but really packs a punch. I might hire you as my cook.”
His bright blue eyes crinkled at the corners as he popped a cracker and some cheese into his mouth. “There are some important documents on the drives. I’m sure you’ll know them when you get to them.”
“That’s the problem. It’s taking time to sort through what’s junk and what’s important. As I mentioned, there is a lot there. Where did you get the information?”
“A laptop. I’d spotted a man inside the FSB. He wasn’t one of them, but he was obviously important by the way everyone treated him. No one said his name. When I asked about him, I was told I didn’t need to know anything.”
She swallowed her bite of olive. “And you just happened to be in this man’s office and copied files.”
Maks shrugged. “Something like that. I followed him for a few days. He changed offices each day, but he was always put in one of the best ones in the building. I knew he would eventually be put in my boss’s office sooner or later.
And I knew the space like the back of my hand, including how to sneak in. ”
“No one checked the office before he used it?”
“Nope. I waited in there while he worked and took phone calls.”
“So, you know what he looks like.”
“Damn right, I do.”
She set down her fork. “He’s Russian?”
“That’s the tricky part. I heard him speaking Russian, English, Italian, and Turkish. I know dialects, but I couldn’t tell where he’s from. He’s an older man. I’d put him in his mid to late fifties.”
“Did anyone come to see him in the office?”
Maks shook his head. “Never. He went there to take calls and send emails. He left to visit others in the building. During one of those times, I got the information off the computer and copied it to the drive.”
“It took up both?”
“Only one. The other contains things I’ve gathered from other computers in the FSB. I can help you sort through the files.”
She lifted her glass of wine to him. “Much appreciated. I know some Russian, but not nearly enough. My translator is working overtime, and it’s taking a lot of time.”
“As soon as we’re finished, we’ll head up and start going through them.”
Not for the first time, Eden realized how lucky she was to have Maks. He not only made her feel safe—especially now—but the man had a way of calming her in any situation. It took nerves of steel to do what he did. She was awed by him.
In more ways than one.
When the meal was finished, they went up to the room where she’d been working. She showed him where she was. In less than five minutes, he went through what had taken her hours to look at before because she didn’t know the language.
“You are certainly handy to have around,” she told him.
Maks pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers. “I’m glad you think so.”
It would be so easy to forget the files and spend the night in his arms. That’s all Eden wanted to do, but the world was falling apart. What she wanted would have to wait until later.
As one, they turned back to the work at hand.