Page 34 of Wicked Love
Dexter knit his brow. “It was the freezer container that led us to the seafood market in the first place. The thug who attacked Maddie was overseeing deliveries for them. We still haven’t figured out what they’re shipping.”
“What would need to be kept cold over long distances?” I asked, tapping my fork against my mouth. “I guess it could be something edible—some kind of illegal food. Or—” The idea hit me with a jolt as I thought of the labs in the biology department where I spent so much of my class-time. “What if they’re transporting bacteria or viruses for some kind of biological warfare? Or organic materials that contain toxins? Something like that is what killed my dad.”
Beckett nodded slowly. “Something along those lines wouldn’t surprise me at all. And it would definitely fit with the method of your dad’s murder.”
“Who the hell are they waging biological warfare on around here?” Logan demanded.
Beckett cut his gaze toward the other guy. “It can be on a small scale. Infect a small group that’s in your way here or there. Or this is only the first step to transporting them overseas where there are plenty of wars being fought that you’re barely aware of here in the States.”
A chill ran through me with the knowledge that he was right. We could barely wrap our minds around the potential depths of this man’s villainy.
This was the kind of person Beckett was standing in the way of when he kept his spot in the Devil’s Dozen. If he backed away, there might be no one working against the worst of the criminals—and another psychopath like this Doom’s Seed psycho could take his place.
Suddenly it was hard to have any qualms at all about what he did, given the alternative.
Dexter hummed to himself. “That could explain how Maddie’s father got involved in the first place too. They could be stealing samples from hospitals or other laboratories he did work for. Or he might have heard about a mysterious death that got him started on the trail. If he noticed something suspicious and then discovered the shipments, the criminals involved could have seen him as a threat.”
“But why wouldn’t he have told anyone?” Logan said with a little growl of frustration. “If he even suspected—he should have sounded the alarm, not gone digging all on his own.”
When I gave him a pointed look, he made a face at me. “At least the three of us had each other for backup.”
I guessed he had a point. But I could easily imagine why Dad would have kept quiet. “You should be able to understand his point of view, given how you’ve acted the entire time you knew. He must have realized he was onto something dangerous, and he was trying to protect me and my mom until he had something concrete he could bring to the police.”
Logan hesitated. “I guess that does make sense. And it’s hard to think of how he could have stumbled on any illegal materials these people are shipping that wouldn’t be related to his work in the hospital. If we assume they’re transporting biological samples or toxic substances, what would we need to look for next to prove that?”
In the moment of silence that followed, Slade pushed back his stool with a rasp of the feet against the floor. I realized with a start that he hadn’t said anything in a while, just sitting there watching the rest of us hash out the possibilities. Like he was pulling back from the group.
“As much as my brilliant insights are solving both world hunger and global warfare, I’ve got to get to my study group,” he said in a typically joking voice before I could ask if he was okay. “We’ve got an exam next week, and they’ll all be lost without me. It’d look strange if I didn’t show up.”
We all nodded, but an ache formed in my chest as I watched him stride away. Something wasn’t quite right with him, no matter how much he tried to pretend he was his usual jovial self. I didn’t know how I could force him to talk about it, though. The next time I had him to myself, I’d have to bring it up.
As the door shut behind him, I yanked my thoughts back to the problem right in front of us. “I should try to get into more records at the hospital back home. I could look for any mysterious deaths or illnesses that came up there in the last few months before my dad died. Whenever he started writing those notes that you found about the investigation.” I glanced at Logan. “If we figure out what tipped him off, that’d be a huge step forward.”
“You don’t need to be the one to do that,” Beckett said. “I have people who can handle it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, understanding his protectiveness but unwilling to give in. “I have easy access to the hospital because my mom’s still going back for check-ups after her accident. There’d be no reason for anyone to think it was strange for me to go back to visit.”
“Doom’s Seed might have people watching the hospital at this point. I don’t like you putting yourself in unnecessary danger.”
“It isn’t unnecessary,” I insisted. “I won’t let anyone see me doing anything that’d be strange for a daughter helping out her mom. He’ll be keeping an eye on you now too, won’t he? Do any of your ‘people’ have a good excuse to stop by?”
Beckett’s jaw tightened, but I could tell he didn’t have a good argument for that. “We could get at it using a more roundabout approach.”
“Which would take more time.”
“Hey.” Logan set his hand on my arm and, to my immense shock, tipped his head to Beckett. “He’s making a reasonable point.Noneof us wants you in danger.”
Because being overprotective was something that Logan could always relate to. I wanted to roll my eyes at the suffocating masculine energy in the room. “Of all the things you guys could have agreed on, could you pick something else?”
They both gave me a similar look that said,Absolutely not.
I glowered at each of them in turn. “Well, I don’t want any of you in danger either, and I’m the one who’d be in the least. So I’m the obvious option.” I paused. “Of course, there is the small problem that I don’t know how to hack into the hospital network once I’m in the building.”
The guys appeared to stew on that for a moment, Dexter shooting me a sympathetic glance. Then Beckett squared his shoulders. “Fine. I might know a way to help with that.”
He looked at Logan, who hesitated before letting out a resigned sigh.
No more arguments. We were doing this.
