Page 38 of Devil
“If someone were trying to make smallpox, would they need DNA from other viruses in the same family?”
She shook her head. “No, not necessarily. In fact, the more I think about it, I’m not even sure if viral DNA would be required. Maybe other types of DNA could be stitched together to create some sort of man-made virus? I don’t know enough about the process to be 100 percent certain either way. Why?”
“I’m going to head up to my office and pull the procurement requests from Dr. Pritchard’s lab. It might not help, but I feel like I have to do something. How long will you be?”
She was bending over, her face close to the sample she was working on, and she held a pipette in her hand. “Thirty to forty minutes.”
He nodded, though she couldn’t see. “I’ll come back down in thirty minutes.”
She didn’t say anything as he left, but when he returned on schedule, she was seated on a stool waiting for him. She no longer wore the bunny suit, and her glossy black hair was pulled high into a bun. He loved how she looked in her suits and kick-ass heels. But he much preferred her the way she was now—less than perfect with her messy bun, simple sweater, fitted jeans, and tall boots.
“You look relaxed,” he said, setting the papers he’d printed down on the counter and joining her.
“Everything is doing what it’s supposed to be doing, and now I get to eat. All in all, with the exception of a possible attack on the Chinese president in two days, life is not bad.”
He chuckled and handed her a plate. “Let’s get some food then see what those tests say.”
Lily placed two chicken legs on her plate beside the biscuit she’d grabbed. “If the tests are positive, then infecting the president with smallpox seems a likely plan. But how and by whom is a different set of questions.”
“As iswhy, but that takes a back seat to the others. At least until we stop whatever is being planned.”
Lily nodded and took a bite of chicken. She froze for a moment, her eyes flickering to him. Then she enthusiastically finished chewing. “Good lord, that’s amazing. I like fried chicken as much as the next person, but that could turn me into an obsessive.”
He grinned. “My momma will be glad to hear that.”
They ate in silence, an unspoken agreement between them to take the moment and enjoy the food. When they finally threw in the towel, they’d gone through most of the chicken, and only two of the eight biscuits remained. They’d make a perfect meal in the morning with eggs and sausage.
“Will it be ready?” he asked, gesturing to their two samples of blood as he repacked their food. She nodded, and he told her to go ahead and finish the test while he cleaned up.
Not wanting to hover over her, he took his time rinsing the plates and utensils in the sink. Then he spent far too long wiping the counter down and repacking the food containers. By the time Lily looked up from the microscope, he was standing six feet away, trying not to drum his fingers.
“We’re fine,” she said. A whoosh of air left his lungs. Neither had experienced any symptoms, and he believed Lily when she said that whatever Gerard Pritchard had wasn’t life-threatening. It was still good to know that they weren’t carrying around a potentially Frankenstein’d virus, though.
“We both have antibodies, but only the kind we should.”
He nodded, still absorbing the relief. Then he smiled. “So, can we go home now? I don’t know about you, but I could use a glass or six of whiskey.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
“We have a problem.Or we might have one,” Darius said as he entered Devil’s office the next day. She pulled her gaze away from her computer, and although she had no idea what he was about to say, she couldn’t agree with him more.
“We do,” she said.
“I’m not sure… Wait, you can’t know what I’m about to tell you. What problem do you know about?”
She gestured for him to shut the door and once he did, she rose and handed him the printout of the data she’d been reviewing on her screen.
His eyes scanned the information. “What am I looking at?”
“That is the DNA sequence for the smallpox variation I found in Dr. Pritchard’s sample,” she answered.
His eyes dropped back down to the paper. “Variation?”
She nodded. “To be more precise, it’s actually a variation of the cowpox virus, which is the live virus used in vaccines. It’s harmless to people in the form used for the vaccine, and it’s been used for centuries to combat smallpox. But that”—she pointed to the paper—“is a modified version of it that is in fact potentially quite harmful to people.”
“Harmful enough to kill them?” Again, she nodded. “The dosage chart. It was for this virus, wasn’t it?” He held the paper up.
“That would be my guess.”
