“I don’t believe you! Untie me now dammit!”
The door was kicked open and the young female researcher whose name he couldn’t remember walked in, a needle in her hand. “You’re disturbing the others, Doctor Carpenter. I’m afraid you’ll have to be sedated again.”
“Like hell!” He tugged at the strap again and the large man gripped his forearms, trying to hold him down.
Carol reached over the pair and injected a clear liquid into the saline drip. “I would tell you to count down from ten, but…” she trailed off. Charles felt the fight abandon him and he collapsed under the weight of the intern. “And, he’s out.” She patted the man’s arm and clipped the chart back to the end of the gurney.
“He looks like an overcooked bowl of oatmeal. Who’d a thought he was that strong.” The intern said, rubbing at his shoulders.
“It’s the virus.” She watched Charles for a moment, then shook her head with disbelief. “I just can’t understand why his reaction is so different than other people’s.” She glanced at her watch then marked the time and sedative dose on the chart. “Keep an eye on him. If he burns through that quicker than normal, we need to document it.”
The intern stiffened. “You want me to stay in here? With him?”
She rolled her eyes, then tucked her pen back into her breast pocket. “Just check on him from time to time. When he wakes, let me know.”
The man nodded quickly, then rushed from the room. She stared after him a moment, then fell into step behind him. “Why are you suddenly afraid of him? Is it because of his increased strength?”
The intern paused and sighed. He turned slowly and avoided her eyes. “I heard how he got infected. By one of the test subjects that was nearly cured, right?” He shook his head vigorously. “The dude that got him was on the mend and the doc still got infected.” He hooked a thumb toward the isolation ward. “He’s infected. He may not be bleeding out his eyeballs or screaming like a banshee, but he’s got the bug.”
She nodded, trying to follow his logic. “And?”
“And I don’t want to risk that son of a bitch infecting me!” He stepped farther away and glared at the door. “He’s one of them types that looks down his nose at folks like me. He wouldn’t give two shits if I got infected, much less if he was the one to do it during one of his fits. Thank, but no thanks. I want no part of it.”
Carol sighed heavily and nodded. “Understood.” She looked up and searched the man’s face. “Just check on him. You don’t have to touch him; you don’t have to interact with him. Just check on him; make sure that his saline is full and report to me if he comes to. Can you do that?”
The man nodded, his face still full of worry and anger. “Yes, ma’am. I can do that.”
“Thank you.” She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and he glanced at it as though she had wiped a bugger on him. He turned and marched out of the room.
She leaned against the counter and rubbed at her eyes. “I need a raise.”
“What took you so long?” Candy was nearly frantic and Vicky hovered, waiting for an explanation.
Roger slid off the ATV and blew his breath out hard. “I ran into some trouble.” He searched their faces, hoping they would interpret, understand, and drop it. They didn’t.
“What kind of trouble?”
He stepped away from the ATV and lowered his voice. “I got made. By one of the members.”
Vicky waved him on with her hand and Candy’s eyes widened. “What happened?”
Roger clenched his jaw and shook his head slowly. “I had to remove him.” Candy’s face dropped and she turned to walk away. He fell into step behind her, talking quickly. “I had to. I couldn’t risk him going to Simon and letting it slip that he saw me.”
She stopped and spun on him. “What do you mean, let it slip?”
Roger balked, holding his hands up defensively. “I may have…I may have convinced him that Simon had me working undercover. To try and flush out your group.” He waved at his face. “That’s why I shaved the beard and raided an LL Bean…to convince you I was harmless.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And?”
“And…I think he bought it. But I couldn’t risk it. I got close and I…removed him from the chess board.”
“You killed him.” It was a statement, not a question.
He nodded. “I had to.”
Vicky blew her breath out hard and eyed Candy. “He did the right thing.”
Candy’s jaw ticked as she tried to play out the scenario in her mind. Slowly, she began to nod. “I don’t like it, but you probably did.” She glanced around the busy warehouse, then turned for her office. “I’m glad you made it back okay.”
Roger’s mouth fell open and he turned to Vicky. “What the what?”
She shook her head. “Give her a little time to come to terms.”
“It’s not like I had much choice here. I couldn’t risk—”
“I know.” She wrapped an arm over his shoulder and walked him slowly away from the foyer. “Just give her time. This whole running things is new to her. She has to make a lot of adjustments and something like this is just too much at once.”
Roger stopped and stared into Vicky’s eyes. “You know this isn’t me, right? I mean, I don’t do something like this lightly.”
“I know. And so does she. But you need to give her a little more time to make her heart realize it. Her head knows that it makes all kinds of logical sense.”
Roger sighed and leaned against the large concrete column. “It’s not like I went there looking for trouble.”
“We know
