Page 61 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
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Goddammit,why hadn’t she responded to his text?
Goddammit, he was acting like his niece!
I need to put my phone down and concentrate on the job. But why hasn't Lark texted back?
Kostya had his phone sitting on the table in front of him. The sound and vibration were both off, so there wouldn’t be any interruptions during the briefing. Still, Linc caught him checking it and he saw his lip twitch upward. It made him want to nudge against his braced leg, just because.
Kostya grinned when Lincoln moved his chair so he could shift his injured leg farther away from him.
Kostya leaned into him. “I’d never actually hit you where you’re injured,” he assured his man under his breath
“I like being careful,” Linc responded just as quietly. “Who is she?”
“Now let me tell you what our scientists have discovered in relation to the bioagent so far,” Commander Clark said from the podium
Kostya and Linc sat up straighter from their seats in the back.
“Doctor Lord was immediately taken to Fort Detrick to work with the NBACC.”
Landon’s hand shot up.
“That’s the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center,” Simon answered without waiting to hear Landon’s question. Landon put down his arm and nodded.
“That was two days ago, and from what I’m hearing there’s already good news.” Simon looked up and gave a nod to Gideon. “From all the comps you and the team pulled, all of the computer analysts at Fort Detrick were able to confirm that Grigor’s real data made it to Moscow. What they were actually given was a pathogen that was a placebo. The man was definitely paranoid.”
“As he should be,” Kostya muttered.
“And the actual pathogen?” Kostya asked from the back of the room.
“Well, that’s not quite handled. Our scientists have definitely confirmed Doctor Lord’s findings, but they have not found a way to counteract it. That’s something they are working on. In the briefing I attended, I was told that…” Kostya watched with a small smile as his boss started reading from his notes. It was nice to see he wasn’t the only one who struggled with all the scientific jargon. Simon began talking again. “I was told that they are working to determine exactly how the metabolic host cells are triggered by the pathogen so they can create effective countermeasures.” The man looked back up at the team. “The scientist who was talking was confident they’d get this accomplished. I liked him, he said that he and his team had always completed their missions.” Simon grinned.
Kostya looked around at his men, and they were all grinning as well. He looked down at his cell phone and pressed his thumb against it to unlock it. Still no response from Lark.
Dammit!
* * *
I love my job.
I love my job.
Lark held her breath as she walked past the pile of feces in the hallway. Damn, it didn’t look like dog or cat poo, therefore it must be…
I love my job.
She thought back to the crack house that she had been invited to by Jeremy, a fourteen-year-old boy, three years ago. She tried to tell herself that this shitty tenement wasn’t so bad. But it was bad. And it literally was shitty.
She pulled the sleeve of the raggedy hoody she’d bought at a thrift store over her hand before knocking on the door. She could hear the TV blasting inside, but nobody answered. This was where Jay Jensen lived, she knew this was a solid address. Lark balled her hand into a fist and pounded on the door.
“Nobody’s home,” a man yelled.
“It’s about Candy,” Lark yelled back. She knew that Jay had gotten Candy tangled up in a scheme that he was working at his old company, so she hoped that by mentioning her name he would open the door.
“Nobody’s home, and I don’t know anyone named Candy.”
Lark rolled her eyes, then pounded again.
