Oath of Honor

huge.“Gun!” Evyn shouted and launched herself across the last eight

feet. The sharp crack split the air, heat flashed over her, and the rage in

Jennifer’s eyes swallowed her.

v

• 261 •

RADCLYfFE

Evyn went down and Wes jumped to her feet. The COM lines

flooded with shouts.

Shots fired.

Agent down.

Medics. We need medics.

Wes grabbed the hazmat container, shoved the rear door of the

van open, and shouldered through. Block was beside her, running. Her

breath tore from her chest—shards of pain shredded her throat. Half a

block seemed like an eternity. A clot of agents hovered over the prone

figures. Jennifer’s shoulder bag lay on the sidewalk, its contents strewn

around it. The box Jennifer had received from her contact lay half in

and half out of the bag.

“Get away from the bag,” Wes shouted. “Everyone—back away

from the bag.”

Roberts materialized from the huddle of bodies and jogged toward

her. “Subject is contained. We’ve got an agent down.”

Evyn. Evyn was hurt. Wes clamped down on her panic. “The

specimen could be compromised. This area is a hot zone—get everyone

out, cordon off the street.”

“Already gave the order.”

“How is she?”

“Gunshot—close range. She’s shocky.”

“Evacuate her—tell them to put her in isolation. Everyone else

goes into lockdown until I know what we’re dealing with.”

“I have to interrogate the subject,” Roberts said.

“Then you’ll have to do it in an isolation cell.” Wes kept her

focus on the bag and what it contained. Her duty, her obligation, was

to neutralize that biological agent, a substance every bit as lethal as a

dirty bomb and capable of killing far more. They didn’t know what they

were dealing with, and every member of the team had potentially been

exposed. Her heart demanded she find Evyn, protect her, aid her above

all others, but her duty drove her toward the open bag. Kneeling, she

flipped the lid on the biohazard chest filled with dry ice and pulled on

a pair of gloves. She extracted the suspect package from Jennifer’s bag

and dropped it into the chest. The package appeared to be intact. After

stripping off her gloves and depositing them in a red biohazard bag, she

donned another pair of protective gloves, pushed the spilled contents

back inside the bag, zipped it, and dropped that into the biohazard bag

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Oath Of hOnOr

as well. Using yet another pair of gloves, she sealed the red bag and

carried it and the hazmat chest to the SUV idling half up on the curb

next to her. She climbed into the back, and as the agent inside pulled the

doors closed, she looked back at the group on the sidewalk.

Jennifer Pattee was facedown with her hands cuffed behind her

back. Hernandez, the medic assigned to Stark’s team, and Stark knelt

over Evyn. Wes couldn’t see Evyn’s face. She stared at the plain white

chest with the iridescent green biohazard sign stamped on the front

resting at her feet. The SUV sped up, leaving the scene on the sidewalk

farther and farther behind. Leaving Evyn behind. Wes concentrated

on the job that needed to be done, ignoring the pain that made every

heartbeat as agonizing as a bullet tearing her flesh. She’d had to

abandon her wounded in the field again, and this time, she’d left her

heart behind.

• 263 •

RADCLYfFE

chapter thirty-three

They made it the eight miles to the army research lab in Silver

Spring in under twenty minutes. When Wes climbed out of

the SUV with the white ice chest in her hand, three uniformed soldiers

converged on her.

“Captain Masters?” the female major asked.

“That’s right.”

“Come with us, please.”

The silent escorts led her directly through the building to an

elevator and down one floor. A fortyish African American woman with

short black hair and luminous mahogany eyes in a disposable cover

gown and gloves met Wes as she stepped out of the elevator. The

hallway in front of the air lock to the Level 4 lab was empty, save for

the slowly panning security cameras mounted at intervals along the

stark white corridor.

“I’m Dr. Felice Glover,” the woman said. “What’s the status of

the specimen?”

“Contained at this point,” Wes said, handing over the chest. “I

don’t know if we have a viable virus. I doubt it’s been kept at optimal

conditions since it went missing from the original lab. If the vial is

compromised, widespread contamination isn’t likely, but we’re taking

precautions.”

The scientist nodded briskly. “We’ll know soon enough about

exposure risks. We’ll scan the container for any leaks and I’ll call you

and Director Roberts.”

“Thank you,” Wes said, feeling caught up in the surreal. They

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were casually discussing a potentially lethal contagion while Evyn was

somewhere, injured, possibly seriously. “I need to go. I’m sorry.”

“I think the risk is slight, but keep the team in the vehicle until I

report. It’s as good as an isolation room.”

“Roger that.”