Page 110 of Deadly Strain

Chapter Twenty-Five

Grace ran. Blood dribbleddown the back of her hand and off the end of her middle finger. When had she taken the IV out?

Someone bellowed her name behind her, but she ignored it. The clatter of footfalls, many of them, chased her, but she ignored them too.

She wasn’t going to lose the father like she’d lost the son.She wasn’t.

A hand wrapped itself around her arm just south of her shoulder and tried to pull her to a stop.

She abruptly switched directions, throwing her weight onto the man who’d grabbed her, pushing him to the ground. She twisted her arm to get him to let go, but his grip was strong and sure, and she found herself hauled down on top of him.

She bared her teeth at the one man she trusted to let her do her job and snarled, “Let me go.”

“Doc,” Sharp growled back at her. “You can’t go in there.”

She met him glare for glare. “I can’t let him die.”

Sharp’s voice was hard, cold and unrelenting. “He’s dead already.”

A cold chill abraded her exposed skin, and a broken sound of protest escaped her tight throat. “We don’t know that for sure.”

“Lying to yourself never works out. I know, I’ve tried.”

His shot hit home, and she sucked in a painful breath, then pushed at his chest with both palms. “We can’t do nothing.”

He scanned her face with an intent gaze, then let her go with slow deliberation. “We can’t run willy-nilly into danger either.”

She had run off without thinking. The bio-suit was damaged. No one should go anywhere near Marshall’s room until the air and surfaces within twenty feet of the doorway had been tested for spores.

How the hell was she supposed to do anything to help anyone without a way to protect herself?

Anger’s heat suffused her body, curling her hands into fists. Helpless—she was helpless to stop this weapon, to stop the man behind the weapon.

Helpless was one thing she refused to accept.

She forced herself to engage her brain. She needed information. “Does Marshall have a phone or radio with him?”

“Yeah.”

“I need to talk to him. I need to know exactly what happened.”

Sharp’s gaze didn’t waver, but he nodded. “It’s this way.” He helped her up, then led her to another set of prefab buildings, these devoted to communications.

---