worked his hands into his pockets, maneuvering the Glock so he could fire through his windbreaker if necessary.
Then the leaves parted and there she stood.
Her bathrobe hung open and she was naked underneath except for rubber flip-flops.
“You almost got yourself killed,” Gundersson said after swallowing the lump in his throat.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’ve been killed before.”
She waited at the edge of the clearing, twenty feet away, and she was unarmed. She was “un” a lot of things.
Gundersson rose to his feet, remembering Roland’s earlier rage. What if he’d tried to hurt her again? If Seethe had altered them the way Roland had claimed, then their behavior would be unpredictable even a year after exposure.
He had to admit, Wendy’s behavior was certainly unpredictable at the moment.
“Are you okay?” Gundersson asked.
“Yeah.” Her eyes were distant, but they held an animal cunning. “Can we talk?”
“Uh…I guess. Can I get you a blanket?”
“No. I know how to stay warm.” She came toward him and knelt by the fire, spreading her legs as she crouched. The cool air had hardened her nipples to dark, blunted points. Gundersson forced his gaze away.
“Besides,” she said with a girlish grin, tapping the penlight on her knee. “You don’t want to be hobbling around on that sore foot of yours.”
“I’m better now,” he said, even though he was feeling much worse. What if Roland was after her, and was even now watching them from the woods? He might get the wrong idea.
But what was the right idea?
“Roland’s going to be worried,” he said.
“Don’t worry, I can handle him.”
“What he told me…about the Monkey House, and what happened to you…”
“I let him do all the talking because he thinks he remembers. But there are some things he always gets wrong. Like what happened between me and Sebastian Briggs.”
Gundersson gulped. He didn’t like meddling in other people’s relationships. And he didn’t need any new complications.
“Your husband is a jealous man,” Gundersson said, choosing his words carefully. “And I don’t know enough about Seethe and Halcyon to judge anyone’s behavior. I’m just here to help.”
“Why don’t you start by helping me?”
She eased around the fire toward him, and Gundersson couldn’t move. Her body moved with an animal grace that mesmerized him, and he involuntarily tightened his grip on the Glock.
“Here’s the thing,” she said. “Roland and me were separated at the time. So I could be with anybody I wanted, right?”
“Wendy, we have reason to believe that there are powerful elements-”
She reached out and placed a delicate finger on his lips, the touch of an artist. “Shh. I know.”
She leaned closer, and her body heat was now rivaling the radiation of the flames. Her robe fell open wider and she let it.
“But you and Roland are back together now, right?” he found himself saying.
“Does it matter?”
He wasn’t sure. He’d never been a cheater, but he’d never faced the opportunity before, either. And morality was a sliding scale based on current conditions and needs. He’d learned that particular lesson well in government service.
“We’d better get you back to your cabin, before…”
“Before what?” Her breath was on him, and the soft finger trailed from his lips to his cheek. The fire reflected in her black pupils, hell dancing against a deep, soulless night. Her Asian skin was radiant, and her frame, which had appeared skeletal beneath clothes, now seemed lush, soft, and rounded.
She gently pushed him backward until he was on the ground, the soles of his feet pointed toward the fire as she climbed along his length. His Glock jabbed into his kidney but he was afraid to move.
“You have to help me.” She unbuttoned his shirt as he held his breath, and then she rubbed her breasts against his bare skin.
“I…I’ll try.”
“Sebastian Briggs wanted me to save Seethe. I can’t count on Roland. So I need you.”
“Is it Seethe that makes you this way?” he whispered, hoarse, feeling like a predator himself now, surging, hungry, utterly without remorse.
“Does it matter?”
It didn’t.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I was worried,” Alexis said to Mark, who was peeking through the curtains.
His sudden appearance had made her feel she’d done something wrong, that she was sneaking around behind his back. Of course, she was, but probably not in the way he thought.
“You ought to be worried,” he said. “With your old pal Wallace Forsyth involved, it’s hitting close to home. But I can’t figure out what he wants. I mean, why would he have me kidnapped when he could have just killed me?”
Alexis was uneasy because Mark not only was carrying his pistol in his hand as he paced from window to window, but he slung the assault rifle over his shoulder. Luckily, he hadn’t prowled through her backpack or she might have had to explain the bottles of “water.”
“They obviously want something,” she said. “First they raid my lab and steal my assistant’s laptop, and now this. They won’t kill us until they get it.”
“So, tell me some good news,” Mark said.
“Anita’s dead.”
“Anita? Your Anita?”
“It’s been ruled a suicide, but it sounds suspicious. Especially with the timing.”
“You don’t seem too upset about it.”
“Damn it, Mark, I’m numb. I’ve got so much to worry about…” She let her voice trail to a whisper. “I’m worried about you.”
He spun, wild-eyed, one side of his lips twisted into a sneer as he waved the gun wildly in the air. “Me? I think I’m the only normal one left.”
“Honey, you haven’t been yourself lately. I think Seethe…I think what happened in the Monkey House…is still working on you.”
“Is that so? Well, I happen to think it’s the other way around. You’ve changed.”
What a fool I’ve been. He’s so far gone even Halcyon can’t save him.
But she couldn’t give up yet. She’d trained all her life, and she’d dedicated so much of the past year to finding a cure. But she had to rely on people like Darrell Silver to do the dirty work. The real frustration was that she couldn’t do it alone. “Maybe if we-”
“Stop it.” His face relaxed, and now he looked forlorn. “I can’t take another of your lies.”
“What are you talking about?”
“What you’ve been doing to me. The Seethe. Somehow, you smuggled a sample out of the Monkey House. Hell, for all I know, you were in with Briggs the whole time. He might have been your fall guy, while you kept right on cranking out the shit.”
The words were like icicles driven into her heart. “Oh my God, Mark.”
“Cute little story, about those guys raiding your lab. You knew Burchfield wouldn’t leave it alone. If you make me think you weren’t working on Seethe, then you can keep me as your guinea pig.”
