“No. The kids all took a taste of the rock. A five senses type of thing.” He shook his head. “Tasted salty, apparently.”
Breath whooshed from her lungs. “That’s unfortunate, but I’m glad the infectious agent isn’t airborne.” Of course, neither was Ebola,E. coli, or meningitis. “Give me the rest of the facts.”
He sobered. “One student seems to have recovered fully. Nine died. Two are experiencing what can only be termed a psychotic break.”
Holy shit. “Nine died? Scorpius killed that high of a percentage of infected?” Unbelievable. She calculated the statistics. “I’m assuming you have medical and historical profiles for each of the students?”
“Yes.”
Sand, salt, and oil covered her arms, making them itch. She rubbed her elbows, hunching into herself. “The two survivors with mental issues. Any other symptoms?”
“Odd brain scans and low activity in the frontal lobe,” Deke answered.
Nora frowned. “All right. How far has the infection spread?”
He lifted dark eyebrows. “Why do you think it has spread?”
She leaned her head back against the headrest. “You wouldn’t call in a second team unless we were facing a pandemic. How many?”
“Not many.”
She studied him. He’d always been tough, but as he’d shed the look of youth, he’d gained a masculine hardness with an edge. Sexy and dangerous. Intriguing enough that her instincts yelled for her to stay away from him while her heart dared her to jump right into his fire. “What’s the urgency?”
Deacan leaned toward her, bringing the scent of wild forest and man. “The survivors continue to carry the bacteria.”
Nora blinked. “You mean they’re still contagious after surviving? That’s unheard of.”
“Yes. Trace amounts of the bacteria have been found in their saliva. If they bite and break the skin, well . . .”
“Are you sure?” Finding a cure was crucial, although many people were carriers of deadly bacteria, like MRSA, and they rarely infected people.
“Yes.” Deacan leaned even closer. “One of the infected students is the president’s daughter.”
Nora stilled. “One of the survivors?”
“One of the two experiencing what seems to be schizophrenia. Maybe.”
She breathed out. “Oh.”
Deacan gripped her knees through the blanket. “It gets worse.”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Aye. She bit the president. He’s fighting the fever right now.”
Chapter Two
Deke finished showing Nora around her new digs in D.C. just as dawn broke. For now, the government had taken over a nice condominium high-rise a block from the Washington, D.C. office of the CDC, which normally dealt with policy issues. “We’ve created an emergency command post in the D.C. office of the CDC, and we’ve commandeered a new building with secured lab space for your research, as well as this condominium building,” Deke said.
Nora shook her head. “This is serious, Deke. We should be at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.”
“No. We need the experts here, close to the president, so we transferred Lynne Harmony’s entire team from Atlanta for now. Her apartment is one floor up.”
Nora whirled on him. Brown eyes, brown hair, fiery temper. A woman born in Argentina with the mind of a statistician and the body of a goddess. “I do not work for the government, Deacan.”
God, he’d missed her.
For now, he had her exactly where he wanted her, and he intended to make good use of his time.
