Page 134 of Deadly Strain

“She’s been scrubbed head to toe and she’s getting massive doses of antibiotics. What more do you want?”

Huh. If that wasn’t Sharp, she’d eat her boots.

“She could be infectious and she should be isolated,” someone else argued.

“She doesn’t even have a cough,” Sharp shot back. “Standardisolation procedures work just fine.”

“You’re a sniper, not a doctor.”

“I’ve been working with an infectious disease specialist for months who was happy to share her knowledge. If you’d like more information, why don’t you ask her? She’s right over there.” He pointed at her.

Grace looked at herself. Someone had removed her clothes and dressed her in a hospital-style gown. Her skin looked as if it had been scrubbed hard, the dirt and sand embedded under her fingernails gone.

No sores visible.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. No coughing either.

“He’s right,” she said.

The whole group stopped their arguing to look at her.

“I’m asymptomatic. I pose only minimal risk.” She smiled at them. “If I start hacking up blood and form bleeding sores on my skin, feel free to stick me in a plastic bubble.”

Sharp folded his arms over his chest and gave the officer afuck yougrin. “Colonel Maximillian will be here in an hour. You can check with him if you want, but we’re following his infection control protocol to the letter.”

The officer finally left, the others following him.

Sharp waited until they were gone before walking over to sit on the floor next to her gurney.

They weren’t in the infirmary on the base, there was no noise from other medical staff or patients. Someone had set up portable hospital curtains on all four sides of her gurney, making it look like she was inside a box.

“Where, exactly, are we?”

He smiled at her. A much too happy smile. “We’re in what used to be the supply room for the infirmary.”

“Oh.” She studied the grin on his face. Was he high? “How long have I been here?”

“Six hours.”

That had her blinking.

He laughed. “After we detonated the grenade, you kind of crashed.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It didn’t bother me. You ran out of gas. No shame in that.”

His grin was starting to get creepy. “Did you sleep?”

“A couple hours here and there.”

“So, what, that fills your gas tank? Find a bed and get some real sleep.”

“I will, as soon as Max gets here.”

“Why are you waiting for Max?”

Sharp looked at her and raised one eyebrow.

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