Page 14 of Deadly Strain

“Thank you.”

She gathered up her samples and went back to the Sandwich.

She didn’t want to accidently contaminate any of the samples with cast-off expectorant, so she used a spray bottle of bleach from among the supplies included with the analyzer to clean off all the blood the patrol leader had coughed onto her suit.

She input one sample, put half of the rest in her container to go with her to the lab and put the remainder inside the Sandwich’s cooled storage compartment.

The machine spit out the result and Grace made herself read it.

Anthrax.

A cold shiver rolled over her, making the hairs on her arms stand up straight.

Fuck.

“Anthrax,” Sharp breathed. He stood right behind her and had obviously read the result over her shoulder. “That sucks donkey’s balls.”

Chapter Four

Grace groaned. “Shutup.” She searched the area and found Leonard still standing with Bart by the communications station. As she walked toward him, he began waving at her to come quickly.

“Marshall is on the phone,” Leonard said. “He’s insisting on speaking to you.”

She sucked in a deep breath and took the sat phone from Bart.

“Yes, sir.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Marshall’s tone could have sliced her into very thin slivers.

“Sir,” she began, injecting calm and confidence into her tone. “One member of the discovery patrol has tested positive for anthrax. If it’s the same strain as the one that killed the villagers, we could be looking at a devastating weapon.”

“What did you do to endanger my men?” His bellow could easily be heard by all three men around her.

Marshall was angry and looking for someone to blame. If she tried to defend herself, he’d stop listening. Sheneededhim to listen. Needed him to understand and agree with the next steps in the process to correctly identify and destroy the pathogen.

“I believe the pathogen was still active in the area when the discovery patrol arrived. I believe it might still be active. I need time to properly identify this strain and discover how it was introduced into the environment.”

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