“You got it, boss,” Declan said. “Safe travels. Danger, out.”
“Zulu, out.” Zac saluted his boss and followed Declan, leaving just the three of them.
“Danger?” Bec asked.
Cal bit back a smile. “His call sign in the service. Let me reiterate that when I say don’t call the police, I only mean if you can avoid it.” He glanced between them. “If one of my men is hurt, the place goes up in flames or one of you is in trouble, then you call the police.”
“Understood, boss,” Iris said. “Not that it would matter. The police are so far away that by the time they arrived, we’d be dead anyway.” Bec gasped, immediately noticing Iris’s grimace. “Sorry. I should stop talking.”
Bec shook her head as her shoulders slumped forward.“Iris, you didn’t say anything that isn’t true. It just took me by surprise when you pointed it out.”
Bec felt terrible that she’d upset Iris and made her feel she had to stop talking. That was the very last thing she wanted. The woman was captivating in her beauty, knowledge and matter-of-fact way of seeing life. She could appreciate someone who wasn’t afraid to say it like it was, whether by choice or not. Life was short, and trying to dance around important subjects was never an effective way to communicate. However, what surprised her most about Iris was how quickly she calmed her with just one touch. A warm hand on her shoulder or brush of her fingers across hers, and Bec’s heart rate slowed. While she didn’t interact with anyone much, that wasn’t the reason she was comforted by the woman’s touch. Iris Knowles was intriguing. In any other scenario, she’d ask her out for dinner and drinks, but they were in a fight for their lives, so the last thing she could do was distract her from her job.
“We have a built-in system for fire suppression,” Bec said to cover her momentary lapse into silence. “She’s right about the police. Sinlis Park only has one full-time officer and one part-time, so the closest force that could help is over thirty minutes from here.”
“Which is why I’ll be setting up a command post in Sinlis Park,” Cal said. “It keeps us within a few miles of the facility, allowing us to monitor everything closely. To do that, I need to get back to Secure Inc. Since the kidnapping occurred only a few hours ago, I’m confident that you’re safe here with Declan and Zac. If you need anything, you know the protocols,” he said to Iris, who nodded.
“Get after it then,” he said, patting her shoulder. “Charlie, out.”
He spun on his bootheel and strode from the room, leaving the two women facing each other. “That was a lot,” Bec said as Iris ducked her head to stare at the table. “Do you need a breather?”
“I’m okay. I’d rather get started if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s absolutely fine,” Bec said, motioning her forward. “Where would you like to set up your machines? Let’s avoid Dr. Hoerman’s office for now. If we have to call the police, they’ll want it untouched.”
“I’d like to be wherever you are,” Iris said, and Bec glanced behind her to catch Iris’s eye for a second. “I get nervous in new environments and don’t like to be alone until I know where everything is and—”
Bec turned and took her hands. “You’re safe here with me, Iris. Please, don’t feel you have to justify anything to me, okay? Just know you’re safe, and I’m here to help you, whether you need coffee or have a question about the system.”
Iris smiled and held her gaze momentarily, which she took as a solid win in her column. “Thank you, Bec. I appreciate that you don’t think I’m weird like most people do. Well, not the people I work with, but everyone else.”
“Sweetheart, it upsets me to know others make you feel that way. We’re all different, but wouldn’t this world be boring if we weren’t? Now, we could pull one of the empty tables over to sit next to my desk. That way, as you work, you will also have easy access to my computer. Does that work for you?”
“That would be a good idea,” Iris agreed, staring atthe floor again. “I’ll call Declan to come move the table. My foot drop makes it hard to push things around.”
“I got this,” Bec said with a wink. “I can do the heavy lifting with this since you’ll do the heavy lifting that matters.”
Forcing herself to turn away from the woman who had charmed her so quickly, she prayed Iris had the skills to fix this mess before mankind suffered unimaginable pain and loss. She was betting on the quiet, unassuming woman who thought she didn’t matter to prove just the opposite was true. Bec vowed to make sure Iris understood her worth, or she’d quite literally die trying.
Chapter Five
Iris pulled her hands from the keyboard and took her glasses off to rub her eyes. She’d been working on getting the containment and ventilation systems under Bec’s control again by writing a workaround code for the malware. Ace still controlled the entire lab system, so she was confused about why they hadn’t received a ransom request yet. He held all the cards and could demand anything he wanted, so why hadn’t he? Why had he kidnapped Dr. Hoerman if he didn’t plan to leverage him for money? Her biggest fear, that he would use him to access the virus, was still a real possibility. He could demand the virus and open the lab long enough for Bec to get Ignis Cerebri before meeting him with the deadly pathogen. She had been half convinced that two things were happening until Bec mentioned biometrics was the only way to get inside the facility. Ace and the kidnapper had to be working together or were one and the same, otherwise the kidnapper would never have gotten inside. Frustrated, she blew out a breath and tried to refocus. She had to keep working regardless of what he might do.
“How about a break?” Bec asked, setting a cup of coffee down in front of her. “You’ve been at this for hours.”
Iris greedily picked up the coffee cup and took a longgulp of the hot liquid. “Oh, that’s good,” she said with a sigh. “Thanks. If I don’t finish this workaround soon, I’ll need another gallon.” She took another sip. “Is that caramel?”
“Yep,” Bec said, sitting at her desk with a mug, too. “It’s my guilty pleasure. I have it shipped in from a place in Wisconsin. I had it once at a hotel in Door County and have been a fan ever since.”
“You don’t get out much, do you?” Iris asked, and Bec chuckled. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t meant sarcastically. Like, I meant, you don’t get to go out much while working here, right?”
“I know what you meant,” Bec promised, patting her leg and sending a tendril of heat into Iris’s belly. She had known Bec less than twelve hours yet somehow, it felt like they’d been intimate partners for years. Something in Bec’s touch told her she felt the same way. “And you’re correct. I’ve been working here since May and haven’t left the compound other than for a daily walk.”
“Five months is a long time to be this secluded,” Iris said. “Is that by choice?”
Bec’s laughter filled the space, and Iris thought it was a lovely sound. It reminded her of Hannah Grace’s laugh when she was on the swing on a sunny afternoon. “It’s not a choice in the respect that I can come and go as I please. I could leave if I had to, but organizing that would be more effort than it was worth for an occasional outing. It was better to keep working on the vaccine since, as you know, the sooner the better when it comes to this virus.”
A shudder racked Iris, but it wasn’t from the cold. “The very idea of it is disconcerting. Especially knowing those systems are still under someone else’s control.” The idea was too much to bear, so Iris set her mug down and started typing again. “I keep telling myself he has to know that if he lets this virus go free, he’s dead, too, right?”
