Page 34 of Breaking Danger
“Like we said, we should be back before sundown today,” Jon added. “I hope to be airborne not long after fifteen hundred hours. I want to get out of Dodge as fast as we can.”
“How long will the manufacture of the vaccine take, doctor?” Snyder’s eyes hadn’t wavered from hers.
She hated being asked questions she didn’t have a solid answer to. “That depends. I’m sorry to be vague but it depends. I’ve been told by Dr. Connolly?—”
“Ross,” Elle interrupted and turned bright red.
Sophie blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Elle nestled her head against the tall dark man who hadn’t left her side. “I’m Elle Ross now, Soph.” She looked up at the man standing next to her and simply glowed. “We got married last night. There’s a non denominational preacher here and we—we tied the knot.”
Sophie brought a hand to her mouth and fought tears. A marriage. Amid all the misery and loss, a happy event. Two people swearing to love and protect each other forever in chaos and destruction. The wedding had been celebrated in what was essentially a refugee camp in the middle of a truly deadly pandemic but—two people had pledged their love to each other.
“Oh Elle…” Her voice broke and she took a second to steady it. “I’m so happy for you! A wedding in the middle of all this death. It’s wonderful.”
“Thank you, Dr. Daniels,” Nick said with a solemn nod.
“Way to go, Nick,” Jon said quietly.
“Yeah. This changes everything.” Nick’s head shifted slightly to look at Jon’s image on his hologram. “Make us safe, Jon. Give us a fighting chance to turn this thing around.”
Everyone froze. All of a sudden the background noise swelled, broke, like waves over rock.
Sophie looked around, spooked. Jon put a reassuring arm around her shoulders.
Mac consulted a monitor and spoke. “They’re right on top of you, Jon. Boiling over Jones, it looks like there are thousands upon thousands of them. God. Report in when you’re ready to leave.”
“Stay safe, Soph.” Elle reached a hand out. Though it looked as if she were touching air, Sophie knew that Elle had instinctively reached out to touch her. She lifted her own hand and, crazily, it felt for a moment as if they were touching. Sophie knew it was a construct of her imagination and yearning, but it made her feel better.
When she’d made that panicked phone call to Elle in the middle of the night before Arka’s security got her, she’d thought that they were both dead. A number of researchers and research subjects had gone missing and she knew they were next. She’d called Elle and though it was possible that small delay was just long enough for her to be caught, she’d desperately wantedsomeoneto have a fighting chance. In the back of her mind, though, she’d known they were doomed.
Arka recruited its security from the top levels of the military, paid them well, expected and got expert service. What hope did nerd scientists have against their quasi-military array? But even knowing it was hopeless, she’d had to try to warn her best friend.
And somehow, her best friend had managed to find the love of her life who had come roaring in to rescue her and Sophie had managed to escape because Arka’s plans had backfired disastrously.
So—you never knew.
Keep fighting until you die.
The hologram winked off and it was as if an energy source had winked off as well. While they’d been talking it was easy to imagine that they, too, were in a safe place surrounded by friends, or in Sophie’s case, friend. Well, Catherine Young looked like the kind of woman who could become a friend, too.
But with the hologram off, she and Jon were alone, marooned in a sea of infected, far from safety.
She shivered.
Jon put a heavy arm around her shoulders and, without thinking and without speaking, Sophie leaned into him. This was comfort at a very primitive level, but they’d been reduced to a primordial existence. Sophie rolled her head into the crook of his shoulder. Embracing a tall man could be awkward, but not with Jon. They seemed to fit together, instinctively.
He pulled her more tightly against him, arms around her back, and she felt his lips move against her hair. A kiss, perhaps.
“I’m not going to lie, Sophie, and say it will be easy, but we’ll get out of here. You have my word.”
Words were empty, only facts counted. That was the bedrock of Sophie’s existence as a scientist. Facts came first, then the descriptive words. So she shouldn’t feel comforted, but she did.
Jon clearly was a man who knew how to handle himself. If there was even the faintest hope of getting out of San Francisco alive and to this Haven, Jon could do it.
She couldn’t, on her own. Not in a million years. She rested her forehead against his strong shoulder. “We have to,” she murmured. “They’re counting on us.”
His arms tightened and she felt his chest expand to say something but then the distant booming noise swelled, echoed around the streets. A frightening terrifying sound, so horrible she was frozen with panic for a moment. She couldn’t do panic. People were counting on her.
