Page 61 of Deadly Strain

“But—”

He pointed at her. “Number-one asset, remember?”

She frowned, yanked a pair of gloves out of a side pocket of her pants and smacked them on the palm of his hand. “Until the outside of the container is properly decontaminated, no one touches it without gloves on.”

He pulled on the first glove with a snap and saluted. “Yes, ma’am.” He grabbed the sample container, identical to the one she’d carried for almost two days, and brought it on board. He stowed it to the interior bulkhead with straps, then turned to her and waggled his hands, silently asking what to do with the gloves.

She had more in her pocket.

She mimed crumpling them up in a ball and throwing them out of the helicopter. So that’s what he did.

Smoke turned and waved at her from the pilot’s seat, but she wasn’t sure what he was trying to say.

“Leonard needs to talk to us,” Sharp said. “We’re shutting the bird down, okay?”

The level of noise dropped as the engine was turned off.

“Is it really important enough to delay getting the samples to the lab?” she asked.

“He wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t.”

The rotors slowed down and most of Sharp’s team took up defensive positions on either side of the aircraft. Two of them took Cutter’s body, wrapped it in a tarp and strapped it to the bulkhead, as well.

Leonard walked toward them, but stopped about ten feet away. As soon as the noise from the helicopter was low enough for him to be heard, he started yelling.

“We’re all in deep shit.”

That much she knew already. “Can you be a little more specific? Shit is all I’ve been in lately.”

“Marshall has issued an arrest order for all of you. Those of us on the team that came here initially are to be put under arrest as soon as we leave the site. No one is to assist you in any way.”

Grace’s jaw fell open. “He can’t do that.”

Leonard looked at Sharp. “Where’s Cutter?”

“Dead.” Sharp gestured with his head at their commander’s body, covered and anchored to the bulkhead.

Leonard stared at them for a moment, then exploded with, “What the fuck?When? How?”

“About thirty minutes ago,” Sharp answered. “When we were taking off. We took fire from the base.”

“Crazy bastard,” Leonard said, pacing a few steps away then back again. “What a giant clusterfuck.”

“We can’t stay here,” Sharp told him. “For all we know, Marshall has another bird coming in behind us.”

Leonard raised his hands in frustration. “Where the hell are you going to go?”

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