Page 137 of Deadly Strain

As soon as Max had declared her fit, which wasn’t until her IV antibiotics were done, she was on a helicopter to Kabul, then a plane to the base in Bahrain. Max and a few handpicked doctors were doing their best to predict where Akbar might go next with his anthrax bombs. Max had also requested the assignment of several Green Berets to the Biological Rapid Response Team for nine to twelve months, depending on how things went. General Stone greenlighted his request and Grace found herself with a shadow named Smoke.

Sharp was nowhere to be seen. Or heard from.

She’d seen him last at Bostick. He’d waved at her, but hadn’t gotten any closer than that. She’d waved back and waited for him to return to talk to her, but he never did.

At first, she was irritated, then angry and finally pissed off that he didn’t even say goodbye before he left on whatever secret mission he was on. Goddamn SF soldiers and their war games.

Max had asked her to make a request for a team of four Special Forces soldiers that she could work with for the duration of the special mission to locate and subdue Akbar and counteract any bioterrorism incidents.

So far, she had Smoke’s name on the list, but with Sharp MIA she wasn’t sure who else to request.

Smoke read the paperwork over her shoulder, saw his own name, but hadn’t suggested anyone else.

He did look at her like he thought she had a few screws loose.

His silence was driving her crazy.

“What’s gotten you so annoyed, Smoke?” she asked on the second day he’d been following her around. “And don’t give me any more of your stoic stares. Out with it.”

“What about Sharp?”

“Sharp?” All her frustration and anger boiled out of her. “You mean the guy who disappeared without asee you laterorgoodbye? That Sharp?”

“You know what happened,” Smoke said.

“What happened? Of course, I know what happened. I tried to save that moron’s life by running away with a grenade full of the worst poison known to man and he followed me. He refused to let me—” she choked on a sob “—save him. I thought I killed him, Smoke. I really did. So, you know what I did? I told him I loved him. And after that, he just up and disappeared. He left.” She glared.

Smoke frowned back at her. “That’s not what happened.”

Fabulous. Not even Smoke believed her. “Fuck you and the tank you rode in on.” She’d had enough. She’d request a soldier she didn’t know, someone who wouldn’t make her sad just knowing he was in the room.

She strode away, determined to find Max.

Smoke grabbed her arm. “Wait.”

She tugged at her arm and after a moment he let go.

“You didn’t know Sharp was sent on assignment?”

“Assignment? No, no one said anything to me. One minute he was here, the next he was gone.” She advanced on Smoke, poked him in the chest and all but yelled, “Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I thought he told you.” Smoke shook his head. “He was flapping his gums to everyone else before he left.”

“About what?”

“He made your relationship with him known to...everyone.”

“Our relationship?” They hadn’t really sat down and figured that out. She loved him, but she didn’t know if it was going to go somewhere or not.

“You’re engaged.”

What?“How can we be engaged when I haven’t given him my answer?”

Smoke shrugged. “He wasn’t going to let some stranger have the final say regarding your treatment while you were unconscious.”

“Okay.” She held up a hand. “Let me think for a minute.” She paced back and forth a couple of times. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”

”Nope.”

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