A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(31)

“Why not you?” Alex pulled the bag over his head and placed it on the floor.

“I insisted on getting vaccinated before I’d handle the transaction.”

“Anthrax?”

Masook nodded. “But a virulent and fast-acting strain. You have only minutes to live. Inject the vaccine quickly into your bloodstream and you might survive.” Masook looked down at his daughter. “Stay with this man, Taylor. I will come for you one day.” With that Masook turned around and ran.

Alex swore. No matter what, Masook wouldn’t get far.

Taylor went to chase after her father, but Alex snagged her arm.

“Let me give you the injection first, poppet, so you don’t get sick. Then we’ll go find your daddy.” The fucking asshole.

He opened the cracked case.

Time stilled, and a million disjointed thoughts rushed through his head before everything inside him shattered. He stared at the row of glass bottles snug in their foam inserts. The bullet had destroyed a vial of the toxin, but it had also destroyed the vial containing the liquid vaccine. His gaze met the nanny’s and then he stared at the child who was looking at him with trusting, big, blue eyes even though she’d seen him kill three men in the space of a few minutes.

There wasn’t any vaccine left.

He wanted to tell Taylor everything was going to be okay, but he couldn’t force the lie past his lips.

If what Masook said was true, chances were Alex wouldn’t get to marry Mallory this coming Saturday. Chances were he wouldn’t get the opportunity to be a father, or even meet his child.

Alex was a dead man.





Chapter Eighteen





“Step back. Both of you.” Alex carefully placed the broken case on the floor.

The most dangerous form of Anthrax infection was the inhalation type so he was careful to keep his breathing as shallow as possible although, really, if Masook was telling the truth about this being some kind of amped up version of the bacteria, chances were he was already fucked.

Minutes to live.

Well, that sucked.

He wanted to call Mallory and tell her he loved her, but there were innocents to care for and bad guys to stop. “Go into that bathroom over there and wet some towels and wrap them around your faces.”

The two females disappeared into the nearby toilet and even as he stripped off his shirt and pants and laid them on top of the laptop case in the hopes of containing the spread of the spores, he allowed that sliver of despair to work its way through him. Goddamn it. He’d never imagined this mission would end this way, never imagined he’d finally have to pay for his sins. He stripped down to his boxers and checked his weapons.

He coughed as something seemed to scratch at the back of his throat and panic scrabbled at his mind. He pushed it away. Even if he was dying he had a job to do.

He would not allow anyone to spread this disease and Masook might be immune, but he had spores all over his clothes and would spread the contamination with unknown consequences. Alex knew what he had to do. He picked up his SIG.

“Look after the child,” he called out to Josette.

Alex didn’t want Taylor to see her father die. She was an innocent in this nightmare and there was a good chance she was going to die soon, too. He had to hurry.

He ran up the steps, grateful he was still mobile. Who knew how violently this thing would kill him.

The lights of Antibes were already small and faded in the distance. Another good thing—less chance of the spores making landfall. As Alex approached the top deck he called Frazer.

“Everything all right?” Frazer asked.

“Not exactly.” Alex forced the words past a knot in his throat.

“You have the girl?”

“She’s here.”

“The weapon?”

“I have it.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

It was getting harder to hear Frazer because of the incredibly loud noise from the helicopter’s rotors.

Masook was going to make a run for it, leaving his daughter behind to possibly die a cruel and horrific death. Alex jogged faster, but the asshole was already taking off, uncaring of the fact he might spread a deadly toxin. Alex sprinted across the deck to where he’d left the guard bound and gagged earlier. The man was permanently out of the game with a bullet in the back of his skull. Dammit.

Alex grabbed the gear he’d left on deck and slipped on the thin black hoodie, wincing a little at the wound where the bullet had grazed him earlier. At least it camouflaged his pale torso against the incipient blackness. He didn’t bother with the protective vest. A bullet might be preferable to dying from this goddamned insidious infection.

Were the bacteria replicating in his lungs, right now? Were they multiplying through his cells?

Finally, the bird was far enough away that he could hear Frazer talking. “Listen,” he cut in. “One of the toxin vials cracked open during a gunfight. According to Masook it contained a highly virulent form of anthrax.” Tears pricked at Alex’s eyes, and emotion made his throat ache. Or maybe he really was a soulless bastard and it was just the sharp, sea breeze.

Or maybe it was the anthrax.

“Use the damn antidote!”

He’d never heard Frazer sound panicked before. “That got shot up, too.”

“Alex…” Frazer sounded grim. “I swear to God if you die, I will kill you. Get me information on the supplier. We’ll get more vaccine shipped in, antibiotics… The wedding can be postponed.”