Page 91 of Lethal Game

“Dr. Blairmore said he’d get them.”

“Excellent. If this first round of samples doesn’t reveal the pathogen, there are other samples I’m going to need.”

“Oh?”

“Cerebral spinal fluid, a lung biopsy, and I’d like tissue samples from some of the dead to rule out or definitively identify certain diseases.”

“Which diseases?”

“The list is long.” She raised a brow. “You were there when Max and I discussed it and came up with eighteen possibilities.”

“Yeah, but now you’ve seen the sick. Can’t you narrow it down a little?”

She shook her head. “I make no assumptions, I deal only in facts.” She looked at the hospital tent. “Whatever this is, it’s deadly. The records Dr. Blairmore showed me are frightening. There aren’tanysurvivors.”

“What?”

“Every patient who has gotten sick has died within twenty-four to thirty-six hours.”

Holy fuck.“That’s not good.”

What was worse was the determination on Sophia’s face. She was going to figure this shit out or die trying. He’d never backed away from a battle before, but he wanted to abandon this one. Pack Sophia up and get her the fuck out of here.

Chapter Nineteen

“Why did you think wewere sent here?” Sophia asked. “To deal with some run-of-the-mill cholera outbreak?”

“I didn’t realize how dangerous your work was outside of your fancy lab at the base.”

She studied him and noted wide eyes and white lips. What had terrified her unflappable bodyguard? Was it the thought of losing another teammate?

“This is all part of my job,” she said softly. “It’s no different than when you deal with explosives. There’s always the possibility of them blowing up in your face, but if you handle them right, no one gets hurt.”

“Yeah, I get it,” he said slowly, his gaze the unfocused one of a person deep in thought. “I’ve been assuming this would be like anthrax.”

“If it were Akbar’s anthrax everyone here would already be dead. No, this is something else. Something deadly, yes, but the symptoms are different. The progression of the disease too.”

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