Page 33 of Salvation
Nick gave his head a shake to clear it. “Yes, fine. Coming.” He glanced at Sakura. “Go sit at the table or something. I’ll let K’rona in before she breaks yet another door off its hinges.”
If he didn’t open the door now, the quivering barrier would be in peril of meeting the same fate as B’iha’s door. Yanking the door open, he stared up at the Anferthian woman.
There was nothing that compared to the awkwardness of almost being caught in the act of doing something covertly. Like a kid caught sneaking the last cookie in the jar. The more than three-foot height discrepancy between him and K’rona added a whole new dimension to the situation. A stab of guilt went through Nick. This was exactly how he used to feel when he was a kid and his mom busted him for some infraction.
“What’s up, K’rona?” The slightly higher pitch to his voice totally ruined his attempt at the casual, ‘nothing happening here’ approach.
The Anferthian woman’s nostril’s flared and her gaze raked him from head to foot. Then she glanced over his shoulder and a little knowing smile bowed her mouth. “Sorry to interrupt.”
Dammit.He cleared his throat. “We were just going over medical records.” He tamped down a groan. What a stupid thing to say; the records were in the lab, not the dining room.
“Of course,” she nodded, then her face became serious. “Nero has the first symptoms.”
Closing his eyes, he nearly moaned out loud. Nero and Dacey were to be married next week. “Is Dacey with him?”
“She is,” K’rona confirmed.
“Good. Saku and I will be there shortly.”
K’rona nodded again, then disappeared into the darkness. God, he was a damn fool abbreviating Sakura’s name in front of someone else. K’rona didn’t react, or maybe she didn’t notice, but that was far more familiar than it should be.
Closing the door, Nick turned to say something to Sakura, but she wasn’t there. He found her in the lab a few minutes later, studying the notes on the table surface.
Her hand swept over the files. “I think I found a pattern, sort of. How long ago did Storo collapse?”
“It was about an hour and forty-five minutes ago.”
Recording that, she frowned. “Incubation time is anywhere between four and half days to two months.” She looked at him. “It is like a smart virus, programmed to go off like a time bomb. There is no predicting it from person to person.”
An intentionally engineered contaminant? That would have made it a hell of a lot more difficult to link to theatolceinjections. The fact that he and Sakura had made the connection was nothing more than dumb luck. Someone out there knew exactly what they were doing when they created this monster.
He reached out and touched the tips of his fingers to her silken cheek. “I’ve changed my mind. We’re going to kick this thing’s ass.”
The corners of her mouth rose and a sparkle he wanted to see more often gleamed in her eyes. “Let’s do this.”
