Page 126 of Lethal Game

“Yes, but it appears that the virus isn’t viable in water for longer than an hour, and infection takes a fairly large quantity of virus.”

He was treating this camp full of people like his personal lab rats. There was no way she could do what he wanted, but she needed to give time to Con to find a way out of his predicament, and for Max to investigate why she hadn’t contacted him at their regularly scheduled check-in time.

She sighed, hoping she wasn’t making it too theatrical. “I suppose I’d better take a closer look at it. I only did a Direct Rapid Immunohistochemical Test on a small sample of brain tissue.” She gave him a frustrated look. “Most of the equipment I have with me is diagnostic.”

He didn’t say anything, just gave her a brief nod.

She went into her tent and took another look at the test samples she had on slides. The samples looked typical, but it wasn’t designed to reveal anything indicative about the virus itself.

She went back to her initial brain tissue samples and began to prepare them for several new tests. All the tests she could think of. Anything to take up time.

Come on, Max. We’ve missed a check-in. Where are you?

***

Con and Smoke tookup seated positions at the outskirts of the hospital tent, as if they were waiting on one of the patients near them to die.

Con was not happy with what he was seeing at the lab tent.

Sophia had been talking to Akbar, though not loud enough for them to hear what was said, then she went into the lab with Akbar’s permission.

Surrounding the tent were a dozen or more armed militants. Akbar himself didn’t appear armed. Though for all Con knew, he carried around containers of anthrax just for the sole purpose of tossing it at people, then running the other way.

Sophia seemed uninjured, except for her arm, which looked badly bruised even from this far away. He was going to have a short but painful conversation with Len very soon. The bastard had killed Stalls and had a hand in the deaths of the other Marines. Sophia was safe—sort of, for now—but the lust on Len’s face meant she wouldn’t stay that way.

“Would she?” Smoke asked.

Con frowned. “Would she, what?”

“Design a plague?”

The contents of Con’s stomach turned to ice. “Fuck, no she wouldn’t. A guy like him, fucking around with shit and killing people...she’d find a way to fuck him up six ways to Sunday.”

Smoke’s face looked even colder than Con felt. “Do we stop her or help her?”

“Yes.”

Smoke’s only response was a grunt.

“We need to get some of those guards away from here.”

“Missed a check-in.”

“Yeah, so Max will send a fly-by to see if there’s a problem or if it’s a technical glitch. He won’t wait long. He’s kind of paranoid.”

“The guards will disappear at the first sign of an aircraft,” Smoke said.

“Got a laser pointer in one of your pockets or did Len take it?”

Smoke smiled. “I’ve got it.”

“Find a position where you can signal any aircraft that flies over and be ready to send an SOS.”

Smoke nodded, got up slowly and disappeared into the camp.

Con considered moving to a closer location, but before he could decide where, Len arrived at the lab. He went inside, then came out with Akbar.

The two men talked quietly for a few minutes. There was head nodding and finger pointing. Akbar called a couple of his goons over and there was some more discussion, then he went back into the tent.

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