Page 69 of Perfection

Chapter Sixteen

York paced, finding comfort in theslap-squeakof his shoes on the floor. What was keeping Kindra? It had been four hours since he’d left for his workstation in her lab. He’d just checked on Fiona. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced at Fiona resting on her mother’s lap. She didn’t seem to be doing well as she slept fitfully.

His gaze skipped to his mom. She pressed her lips together and shook her head.

The door opened. Kindra paused at the threshold, a test kit gripped in one hand. The tight look on her face didn’t bode well.

“She tested positive,” he stated before she said a word.

“Yes,” she said sadly. Amanda and Stacey gasped. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand how. I’m going to do an additional set of tests.”

York clenched his jaw. “We need to take her to a cryo unit. Now.”

She swallowed, and he watched her delicately take blood from Fiona’s arm. “I don’t know if there are any units left.”

“There damn well better be,” he said more gruffly than he’d intended.

“I have to take the samples and compare them to the D Generation samples, then figure out the connection between the children and the virus.”

He nodded and tapped on his communicator, turning his back to her. Wild frustration zinged through him. Damn the timing. He contacted the cryogenics facility to let them know he was coming with a new patient. Someone would be there, he was assured; the place was staffed twenty-four seven.

Kindra startled him when she placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Do they have a cryo-pod?”

“An old one, but at least it’s something.”

“Good.”

She was nothing like he’d expected the first day he’d walked into Seville. The woman beside him was warm and caring and affectionate, not the cold scientist he’d unfairly believed her to be.

She swept her hair from her eyes. “Are you going to take her now?”

“Yes.”

He turned to his mother and Stacey. “I’ll take Fiona to the cryo unit. I think moving quickly is most important. You can visit tomorrow if you’d like. I promise I’ll take good care of her.”

Stacey’s eyes welled with tears as she leaned forward and kissed the child’s forehead. Then Amanda wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they left the room.

Kindra ran her fingers over her forehead. “I’m exhausted. But I’ll work a little longer and then I should go home and get some rest. We can begin fresh in the morning.”

“Okay.” He lifted Fiona, cradling her against his chest. “If you’d like to go with me to tuck Fiona in, I’d be glad to drop you by your place after that.”

A rush of air slipped through her lips. “No. But thank you.”

* * *

Kindra walked through the sterile halls of Seville, swiping tears from her eyes. Exhaustion and frustration finally took its toll. She’d been honest with York about being tired. For days now, she hadn’t eaten well, slept well, or done anything that wasn’t attributed to this case. And still, they couldn’t get ahead of this virus.

At the HERO computer, she categorized Fiona’s samples just like she had all the other victims. It took mere minutes, then she realized the only thing to do now was to wait. Again. She wanted to pull her hair out, she wanted to do anything more active than waiting for results.

And she wanted to be with York. He had become her comfort and strength and friend. She stopped her thoughts there, for she knew what she felt went beyond friendship, yet at the same time nothing more could be between them.

Leaving Seville Center, taking the air-tran, she decided to stop by the cryo center.

Kindra caught up with him as the cryo attendant finished preparing a unit for Fiona. “York, I hope you don’t mind, but I stopped by anyway.”

“No, of course not.” He gave her a hug.

Kindra barely held back tears as they tucked his niece into the ancient cryo pod. My goodness this whole ordeal made her emotional. That could be her little girl, sent to sleep while she waited for a cure. Kindra tried hard to keep herself removed from it all. She knew there was no room for feelings during an investigation. Her heart ached, nonetheless. He’d called his mother and cousin when the task had been accomplished. They stood among the rows of cryo-pods. She felt helpless and angry, and sad.