Chapter Seven
After breakfast, Nora headed back to the new temporary CDC labs. Upon going through security, she swung by the lab to find the experiments about another hour from spitting out results, so she went searching for Lynne. She stepped into Lynne’s office to see her reading charts, scuffed boots up on the desk. With a sigh, Nora inched inside and dropped into a chair.
“That was an ‘I had crazy monkey sex last night and am sore’ sigh,” Lynne mused, her gaze not leaving the papers.
Nora coughed, and heat climbed from her chest to her face. “Shut up.”
Lynne looked over the top of the file, emerald eyes widening. “Oh my. I was just kidding.” Her boots dropped to the floor. “You’ve only been here a day. What were you thinking?”
“Meow? Take me harder? Oh thank you, God?”
Lynne snorted. “How was it?”
“Amazing. Four times over—amazing.”
Lynne’s mouth dropped open. “Four times? Really? Does he have a brother?”
“No.” Nora studied her friend. Tired. Definitely exhausted. “What are you reading?”
“Your boy’s brain scans.”
Nora lost her grin. “And?”
“Zach seems fine.” Lynne closed the file and slid the mass over the desk. “Activity in the central cortex lights up as normal.”
Nora flipped open the top sheet to see a nice blue and green blend around Zack’s frontal cortex. “Why do you sound worried?”
“He’s a boy genius, and we don’t know what his cortex looked likebeforethe infection.” Lynne clasped her hands on her desk. “Also, I don’t like that he’s now a carrier and was infected in my lab. He’s twenty-two, for goodness’ sake. We need to find a cure and fast.”
Nora tapped the printout. “We sure do. Then we can destroy the mutated samples, right?”
Lynne arched one angled eyebrow. “I thought that was our plan.”
“Me too.” Nora planted the file back on the desk. The current experiments wouldn’t be finished for at least an hour, so it was time to get to the truth. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Lynne frowned. “Huh?”
“Deacan said you had a secret.”
“Oh, did he?” Lynne rubbed her elbow and blushed a very pretty shade of pink. “It’s not a secret. You and I haven’t had time to talk, and it’s not something you exactly Skype about. Geez.”
Curiosity roared through Nora, but a shadow by the doorway caught her eye. She turned to focus. “Zach.”
He stood in full protective gear, face behind a mask. Even so, something about him looked like a clean-cut movie star from the 1950s. Thick blond hair, blue eyes, trembling smile in a pale face. “I wanted to thank you for staying outside my bubble the first night.” His voice emerged tinny through the faceplate.
She glanced at Lynne. “The full suit isn’t necessary, is it?”
Lynne shook her head. “From a safety protocol, no. From a workplace and emotional standpoint, hell yes. Everyone is nervous as wet cats around here.”
Pressure built behind Nora’s eyeballs. “We’re all scientists—screw emotion. If he’s no more infectious than a carrier for regularStaph,typhoid fever,or even MRSA, then we shouldn’t treat him like he’s carrying the plague.”
Zach snorted behind the helmet. “I don’t mind, to be honest. It was my fault I got infected, and I deserve to be a little uncomfortable. Apparently walking is good for my joints, because the doctors suited me up to head down for yet another MRI.”
Nora studied him. “You look so much better.”
“I’m glad, because I feel like somebody punched me in the head with a Buick,” he said.
Lynne nodded. “Aptly put. Other than that, feeling crazy?”
