Reckless Creed (23 page)

THE NATIONAL BIO AND AGRO-DEFENSE FACILITY
GEORGIA

S
tephen Bishop swiped the security card and shoved open the door to the lab. Only the three scientists had access. Dr. Sheila Robins had left for the day, and Getz hadn't shown up this morning. Perhaps Hess had already done something with him . . . or to him. Bishop couldn't be bothered. There were many more pressing issues. Besides, Howard Getz was the colonel's responsibility.

One of the burner phones started to vibrate. The old man couldn't possibly be expecting an update on phase two this soon.

“What is it?”

“We just heard from one of the watchers at the airport,” Hess said in a tone edged with hysteria. “They've taken one of the carriers into custody.”

“Impossible,” Bishop said.

“They have dogs. Several watchers have now reported seeing them.”

“But how? The canine patrols at airports are trained for explosives and drugs.”

“You tell me how. You're the scientist.”

“We need to abort the plan,” Bishop finally told Hess.

“How can we do that? Some are boarding planes as we speak.”

“Pull them off. Have their watchers get them out of there. Do you want more of them caught and risk what they might tell officials? You still haven't even found the New York girl. I tell you, if any of them are caught they'll be able to lead the authorities to this lab.” Bishop stopped at that realization. It wasn't safe here. How much time before they discovered where the carriers were injected?

“You need to scrub everything,” Hess said. “I'll send Tabor to take care of you and Dr. Robins.”

“Okay.” Bishop ended the call with a sense of relief, then suddenly remembered that was the same thing Hess had said about Dr. Howard Getz. That he'd send Tabor to take care of him. What did that mean?

Hess was only concerned about his own self-preservation. He had chosen the other scientists and arranged for them to use the labs and offices at this facility. He took over the watchers and even provided the new list to be used for virus carriers. What started out as Bishop's lifelong project had slowly and manipulatively been taken over by Hess. Bishop saw that now and remembered how the colonel had “scrubbed” other projects that had gone wrong.

Bishop started packing a small case, adding several bags and syringes filled with the virus. There were always ways to replicate it and start over. These syringes would be for security and if necessary serve as the only weapon available right now.

The scientist started to open the lab door and get what was needed from the corner office but stopped at the sound of someone
approaching. It was a strange click-clack gait on the tile floor. Bishop pulled the door closed and sneaked a glance out of the small window at the top of the door.

Coming down the hallway were a man, a woman, and a small dog.

C
reed kept his eyes on both Maggie and Grace. He'd seen Maggie take risks before. Maybe they were alike in that respect. They were willing to risk their own well-being when they believed what they were doing was the right thing. Yes, sometimes it was reckless and dangerous. But there was one major difference—Creed wasn't willing to risk his dog's welfare. So he didn't like this idea of walking directly up to the office of Dr. Stephen Bishop alias Dr. Clare Shaw and knocking on the door.

He'd seen what Shaw was capable of doing. In North Carolina he'd helped recover the bodies that had ended up buried in the mudslide. All of them had been shot in the head. But the bodies of Shaw's test subjects were covered with red angry welts from experiments she had put them through. There were indentations on their scalps from where electrodes had been placed. The lone survivor, Daniel Tate, was plagued with hallucinations.

Yes, these men had volunteered and were paid just like Tony Briggs and Christina Lomax and Izzy Donner, but Shaw had gone way beyond ethical bounds. She had no regard for her test subjects.

Creed watched Maggie as they continued to the corner office at the end of the hallway. She kept her right hand tucked into her jacket, and he knew being armed gave her confidence. But he had a feeling bullets couldn't compete with what Shaw was capable of using in order to escape.

Maggie must have noticed his apprehension.

“Just identify her,” she said in a low voice, almost a whisper. “Then both you and Grace need to move to safety.”

“I'm not going—”

“Please, Ryder, just promise me.”

He nodded and tightened his grip on Grace's leash. He had purposely left off any special vests that might draw attention to her. Back at the Jeep, he had poured all of Shaw's belongings out of the sealed evidence bag and into the cargo area. Then he let Grace take her time with them, pawing through some and sticking her nose far into the toe of one of the shoes. There would be a bunch of scents, but she would be able to pick out the overwhelming common ones and separate them out. She had done this before. She knew the routine. When she was ready she sat back and looked up at him.

Now almost to the corner office, Creed saw that Grace's nose was skimming the floor tiles. Then her head reared back and her nose nodded up and down like she was tapping the air with it. He could see her chest rising and falling as her breath increased. They walked by one door and Grace skidded to a halt. There was a keypad. No other signs or notices that it was a secured area.

Grace hesitated there, sniffing the floor and door frame. Maggie had continued walking to the corner office, expecting Grace and Creed to follow. She turned and stopped. Her eyes flashed to
the keypad right at the same time that Grace started back up again. The dog walked slowly, passed Maggie, stopped and considered the secure door again, and then started for the corner office.

Maggie knocked on the door as she waved Creed and Grace to step aside. When there was no answer, she pulled out her Glock and tried the doorknob. Creed could see that it turned easily in her hand. He pulled Grace to the wall as Maggie shouldered the door open, entering with her weapon stretched out in front her.

She was in the room for only a few minutes when an alarm from up the hall began to screech. He could see red lights flashing over the exits. Doors all along the walls began to open and scientists, some in casual attire, others in white lab coats, spilled into the hallway. Some of them asked each other questions that couldn't be heard over the loud screech.

Maggie came out.

“She's not here,” she yelled to Creed. “What the hell's going on?”

A man came out of the office next them and said, “Fire alarm. In these labs it's best to get out and not even guess whether it's a false alarm.” And he followed the others.

Creed reached down to lift up Grace, but she bolted away. She was so quick he almost lost hold of her leash. He hurried to keep up, glancing over his shoulder and mouthing to Maggie,
Shaw!

C
lare Shaw used what little time she had to rid herself of Stephen Bishop. In no time she pulled off the jacket, tie, shirt, and trousers. It took a bit longer to unzip and peel away the elastic body suit that flattened her breasts and added extra girth to her otherwise slim figure. She discarded the heavy-framed eyeglasses and peeled away the beard, scrubbing her fingers over her smooth face to wipe away any remaining glue.

Thankfully Dr. Sheila Robins always left extra clothing in her locker. Without the pudginess that belonged to Bishop, Shaw and Robins were about the same size. The only thing that didn't fit quite right was the shoes. Rather than try to stuff her feet into too-small slippers, Shaw kept on Bishop's loafers. If she were to escape, she'd need to be able to run. She had a long trek through the woods before she'd get to the old cabin where she had already stashed everything she'd need if this day ever came.

Last, she pulled on one of Dr. Robins's long white lab coats, then stared at herself in the mirror. She ruffled her fingers through her short hair, leaving some of it to stand on end, looking more chic
than tousled. Even without makeup, the tight-knit sweater and smooth-lined jeans defined her as female without a doubt. The loafers were the last thing anyone would notice about her.

Still, she felt like she needed a distraction. That was when she decided to pull the fire alarm.

She waited until some of her colleagues were already outside their offices and labs before she opened the door. She hurried up the hallway, passing others, and took the first exit. Before that door closed behind her, she caught a look at the man and the dog in front of Bishop's office. Though the dog squirmed, the man didn't seem to notice her.

Shaw headed down the steps. There was one place she needed to stop before she disappeared into the woods.

O
'Dell searched for anyone fitting Bishop's description. When Grace bounded off, O'Dell thought the dog must have been spooked by the alarm. Her toenails clicked and skidded on the tiles as she pulled faster than Creed wanted to allow. He kept telling the dog to slow down and Grace wouldn't have any of it.

Then Creed turned to make sure O'Dell was following and she thought he mouthed the word
Shaw
.

Was it possible that Shaw had pulled the alarm and managed to sneak out?

Grace certainly thought so.

By now the hallway was filled with staff and scientists spilling from the labs and offices. And because of the screeching alarm they couldn't hear O'Dell yelling at them to move aside. Creed tried to keep Grace close to the wall. The dog was straining at the end of the leash, but Creed couldn't squeeze through the crowd fast enough to let her pick up the pace. When the scientists pushed through the first exit door and started down the steps, it was almost impossible to get by them.

She could see Grace pulling, going down step by step, her collar practically choking her because Creed was left behind nearly three or four steps up.

O'Dell shoved her way to catch up. At the top of the stairs she tapped shoulders and started showing them her weapon. That startled them and moved them out of the way. When she reached Creed's back she continued reaching around him and touching the shoulders of those clogging the stairs. At the sight of the weapon, eyes widened, faces paled, and a couple of people almost tripped, but at least they moved out of the way.

Grace waited impatiently at the exit door and Creed shoved it open. The dog hesitated only for a second or two, sniffing the air. When O'Dell squeezed out the door she noticed lines of people pouring out of other exits. They all filed toward the parking lots. Grace took off, but she was headed in the other direction. Creed kept pace, jogging behind her. But O'Dell waited.

This didn't seem right. If Shaw knew they were here, if she was the one who pulled the alarm, why wouldn't she be racing for the parking lot, getting her vehicle, and making her escape?

Creed and Grace were running to an odd-shaped structure surrounded by chain-link fence. They were almost to the gate when there was a loud swoosh. A large wave of netting flew loose from the top of the structure, and through it came hundreds of birds, wings flapping, and a crescendo of chirps. For a brief moment the sky turned black with birds.

Creed stopped and watched, holding tightly to Grace's leash. The little dog appeared annoyed with the pause and paid little attention to the flocks overhead.

O'Dell caught up with them. Neither she nor Creed said a
word, but when they went through the gate they were now walking instead of running.

Grace led them into the open aviary where the birds had just exited. O'Dell couldn't help thinking that Shaw had set loose one last batch of infected migratory birds, one last attempt to wreak havoc. The space was as large as a football field. It was an open-air warehouse with netting instead of a roof. The netting was attached in sections to the metal beams, and in the middle O'Dell could see where it had been purposely opened, the latches set free by some mechanism. Shaw was probably able to operate it with a remote of some sort.

The birds were gone. Lone feathers fluttered in the air. But Grace's nose was still twitching. Only she wasn't in a hurry now. She twirled, scratching at the dirt floor, and just then O'Dell realized the three of them were standing on the droppings and breathing in the residue air of what were most likely birds infected with Shaw's strain of the bird flu.

Grace spun around and started back to where they had just come from. O'Dell saw the flash of white.

“Stop!” she yelled, and she fired a shot into the wood above the doorway. To her surprise, the figure stopped.

The woman's hair was chopped short and darker, but O'Dell recognized Shaw. She was shocked to see that she had shed her male disguise, but of course Shaw knew they'd be looking for Stephen Bishop and so the perfect trick was to morph back into her old self.

“Was it the birds that gave me away?” Shaw asked as she approached them.

“Stay where you are and take your hands out of your pockets,” O'Dell commanded, but Shaw kept walking toward them.

“It was Grace,” Creed told the woman.

He scooped up the little dog. Out of the corner of her eye O'Dell could see him quietly pull the pink elephant from his shoulder bag and hand it to Grace. Her reward. Grace took it and started squeaking it, wanting to get back down, but Creed held her firmly against his side, protecting her from the bird droppings.

“The dogs at the airport,” Shaw said calmly, nodding at Grace like she finally understood. “You trained them to detect the virus.” She stopped now in front of them and still seemed undeterred by O'Dell's weapon pointing directly at her chest.

“Take your hands out of your pockets,” O'Dell said again.

They came out slowly but halfway out, O'Dell could see that Shaw had something in both. Neither was a gun or knife. They were small plastic bags, what looked like harmless everyday Ziplocs, and they confused O'Dell enough to hesitate as Shaw flung both directly at them. The open bags hit O'Dell and Creed at the same time, and though both had put up their arms instinctively, the contents had already begun splattering them in midair. It looked like blood.

Shaw used those few seconds to turn and run. This time O'Dell didn't hesitate. She would not let this woman get away a second time. While wiping blood from her face, she aimed, took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger
twice.