Page 138 of Callen's Captive
Callen almost corrected Damien to say, ‘if it returns,’ but he knew it was only a matter of time before someone came into contact with an infected shifter and brought it back to the pack.
“Anna hopes the original virus will help Alex develop a vaccine against SEV2.”
“Where did she get hold of the original virus? I thought it had been destroyed a century ago.”
“She said there are only a few samples left in the world and they are well-guarded secrets. The same night she stole the equipment from the WSSO lab, she switched out another sample for the virus the WSSO had. Apparently, Kate had given her a full inventory of what that lab held, so Anna came prepared to take more than the equipment. The equipment wasn’t the target that night, rather a misdirect. The WSSO thought it had been a simple theft of expensive equipment being sold on the black market. They still don’t know the sample they have isn’t the Shifter Origination Virus. Go with Blade, sift through what’s left of that bunker, and find that virus. Then, if you want to pursue Kate, you have my permission.”
“I don’t need your permission.”
“Then think of this as an order, Enforcer. Retrieve that sample. After that, what you do is your business.
“I’ll get it, after I get Kate.”
Damien shook his head. “Now. The heavy snows are coming soon. This may be our only chance to get that sample. Frank’s guarding Kate. She’ll be fine.”
Callen checked the bond between them. She was fine. Anxious, nervous, but fine. Determined, even.
“Callen, we’ve known each other a long time. Believe me when I tell you, you need to let her go, for now at least. Give her time to figure out what she needs. If you don’t, she’ll resent you and you’ll lose her for good.”
* * *
KATE
Kate set the gun on the table by the two laptops she had opened side by side and froze. As much as she tried, she couldn’t ignore how she had left the pack—how she had walked away from Callen. The last image she had was of him standing in the center of camp, his face emotionless as his terror and bewilderment flowed across the bond to her.
She had slammed down on the thread that connected them shortly after leaving camp. When she had made her decision to leave, she had never expected to feel his pain. Maybe that was the point of the bond, to give a shifter better perspective over her mate’s feelings, so she would make better decisions.
Never in a million years had she thought leaving Callen would hurt him as much as it had. Nonetheless, she could not abandon her plans. Callen would survive her leaving and heal in time. He had his pack, after all.
Then the emptiness followed. Shutting down the bond had been necessary, for both of their sakes, but the emptiness had been unexpected and overwhelming. The entire way through the woods, she talked to Frank about anything she could think of to keep her mind off of Callen. It took everything she had not to turn around and run back to him, to rid herself of the gnawing emptiness deep inside her soul.
Never had she felt so empty in her life, even after Janie died, or her parents. It was like the life had been sucked out of her. She could not let any morose thoughts drag her down. She would ensure that both Callen and his pack would be safe from the WSSO. That thought, that one mission, was ultimately what enabled her to continue putting one foot in front of the other as she hiked farther and farther from Callen.
“Are you sure about this, Kate?” Frank asked as he checked the windows in the abandoned building one last time.
She had to do this one last job to ensure the pack would stay hidden. Once she hacked the servers and uploaded the program she created, Damien would move the pack to another location that even she didn’t know. She would never find them again. That very thought that she would never see Callen again, scared the hell of out her.
“I’m sure,” she said to Frank, her hands shaking as she typed in her passwords.She would never see Callen again.
“Why can’t you put it on a timer or something? Like what you did when you pulled the guards away from Callen when you rescued him?”
“This isn’t a simple delivery of a message. I’m hacking the WSSO on two fronts at once. I’m hacking into their financial accounts and I’m going to make sure the WSSO finds out about it.”
“Isn’t the idea tonotget caught?”
“I want to give them the attack they’re expecting. I’ve stolen money from the WSSO in the past. A lot of money. This attack will draw their attention and keep them busy while I hack their servers and make some adjustments to their satellite software. That’s the real hack, the one that will hide your pack. The images the WSSO downloads form the satellite will show no signs of life in shifter areas.”
“Don’t you meanourpack?”
“Yes, our pack. Slip of the tongue.”
“Uh, huh.”
Frank didn’t believe her.
Kate pulled the chain off from around her head, pulled apart the pendant, and inserted the USB into a computer. She uploaded the files to a storage site on the web. Those files exposed the WSSO’s illegal ties to the government and were essential in disabling the WSSO. A few quick keystrokes later, she had the link to the site ready to email to every major news outlet in the U.S. and around the world.
Most would call the information slander, a hoax even, but someone would pay attention to it and investigate. She hoped.
