“We have to,” he said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because we’ve got a Russian team of a dozen agents coming ahead. Too many of us to hide in one place.”
“What if we can’t take them out?” she muttered. She stared around her, struggling to see in the dark. She generally had great night vision, but this was a whole different story. It was complete blackness all around. “Don’t suppose you have more night goggles, do you?”
“No,” he said. But he wrapped something around her waist.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a rope,” he said. “When I say I want you to stay close, I mean it.”
She gasped as he tied the other end around himself. “Isn’t this actually worse?”
“It’s a weird darkness in here,” he said.
“I think they were doing experiments with lights, altering infrareds, et cetera,” she said. “I know I often thought the hallways were really weird. We’re also still low in the ground.”
“We’ve actually come up one full flight of stairs,” he said. “The lights can be very disorienting.”
As they kept moving forward, she said, “You can’t be there to help your friend, if he gets into trouble.”
“No, I’m not,” he said, “and he won’t be there to help me, if I get into trouble.”
She studied his shadowed profile, wondering at a life where he was prepared to step out into danger, without anybody to back him up. “You’re really good at this, huh?”
“We all are,” he said, “but we don’t, in any way, delude ourselves into thinking that it’s still not a fatal job.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was thinking my job wasn’t all that dangerous. Now I’ve changed my mind completely.”
“The company you work for should have supplied security, once you made your breakthrough.”
“I don’t even know how anybody knew. I don’t even know how much of a breakthrough it is. I haven’t been able to do any testing,” she said, knowing the frustration in her voice was obvious.
He gave a light laugh. “And I guess that’s everything to you, isn’t it?”
“Well, that’s definitely a lot. This is my life’s work.”
“Got it,” he murmured. “And that makes a huge difference.”
“It really does. I just know that we’re starting to have excellent treatment results on some of these viruses.”
“Any in particular?”
“We’ve been working on several.” She listed them, and he shook his head.
“Those are pretty major. The plague?”
“It still exists,” she said, “unfortunately.”
“I had no idea,” he said.
“And it’s still deadly,” she said. “But because it doesn’t show its head very often, we tend to think that it’s been dealt with. But it’s still there, and it’s still in the US too.”
“That’s unbelievable,” he murmured.
“And one of the things that I’m trying to deal with is some of these latent diseases.”
“And the stem cells are doing it?”
“Yes,” she said, “similar to the way that they’re helping HIV patients. It boosts the immune system, so you can get the stem cells where you need them.”
He nodded. “And is it the delivery system that you perfected or what? Because stem cells and stem cell research has been around for a while.”
She laughed. “Yes,” she said, “exactly that. It’s a matter of taking the stem cells, making them do what we wanted them to do in the body.”
“Got it,” he said. “So you could pretty well cure anything?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. We’re really just at the beginning of that research.” She felt her lungs starting to burn as they raced forward. “How much farther?” she gasped.
He looked around and said, “We’re coming around the side to where Jerricho and the other two are, making sure that this is a clear pathway. We didn’t think that the other two would make it as far.”
“No,” she said, “definitely not.”
“Which is why you are with me,” he said cheerfully.
“Great,” she moaned. “I was afraid of that. I just realized that I should have said I was in just as bad shape as they were.”
“But, you aren’t,” he said. “You’re full of nervous energy and looking for a plan of action and frustrated because you can’t get it.”
She stared at him in surprise. “Wait. Are you a shrink?”
“No,” he said, “not at all, but it’s my job to understand the people I’m picking up because I need your cooperation to do what I need to do.”
“You have it,” she said, “just even being out of that damn room is a joy. Nothing like being locked up and knowing that nobody will give a damn about opening up your cage to let you out before you die.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“That’s one of those forever fears after being kidnapped and held captive like that,” she murmured.
“Did you ever think that there was a time when they would just lock you up, walk off, and throw away the key?”
“Every day when they locked me in,” she said flatly.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s hard.”
“Very.”
“Well, the good news is, you’re out of the room, and I don’t intend on ever having you go back in again.”
“But intentions aren’t necessarily plans,” she clarified.
And he chuckled softly. Then he immediately calmed his voice. “It’s nice to see you have a sense of humor,” he said. He held up his hand and stopped, and she realized they had come somewhat around in a circle.
“Are they up ahead?”
“They are, and they’ve also been taken,” he said.
Diesel placed a finger against her lips and said, “Don’t speak again. Not until I say so.” And he quickly moved forward, giving her no choice but to follow, since they were still tied together. He heard the Chinese words firing rapidly up ahead and heard Jerricho respond.
He looked at her and whispered, “Do you understand Chinese?”
She shook her head.
So far, Jerricho was being treated with respect, so he must have said something, but Diesel didn’t have a clue what. His gear would have given him away if nothing else. But just one male was up against Jerricho and the two scientists with him.
As Diesel watched and waited, the lone man lifted his rifle and held it against
