A Cold Dark Promise (Cold Justice #8.5)(32)

God, the wedding…

After all his promises to Mallory he was going to let her down badly. Leave her to raise their child alone. He swallowed. Get it together, jackass. He didn’t have time for weakness. He had too much to do in the little time he had left.

“Masook said we’d be dead in minutes, and that was about five minutes ago. He’s in the helicopter, covered in spores. I’m going to prevent him from spreading this stuff. Don’t let anyone come onboard the Fair Winds unless they’re in a HAZMAT suit. And do not tell Mal about this. If I don’t get to talk to either of you again tell her I love her.”

“Tell her yourself.” Frazer sounded furious, but Alex knew him well enough to know that’s how the man dealt with emotion.

Who’d have thought Alex would be the warm and fuzzy one in their relationship. “This isn’t your fault, Linc.”

Alex rung off and called a different number, one he’d memorized a short time ago. It only took a moment for the call to go through. The explosion turned the chopper into a fireball over the dark water, burning metal raining out of the night sky and into the Med.

That should take care of the spores.

Then he heard another sound. That of an outboard motor. Damn. He couldn’t let anyone leave this boat alive. There was enough normal anthrax in one vial to kill hundreds of thousands of people. This strain was probably even more deadly.

Alex strode to the port side. Josette had lowered a small speedboat into the water.

He pointed the gun at her and fired a warning shot into the water. “I will not let you put people at risk, Josette. I will kill you.”

He heard footsteps coming toward him and glanced back.

Taylor peeked over the top step. “Please don’t shoot me. Josette told me to give you this. ‘As an offering of good faith.’” The girl came on deck and carefully handed over a glass bottle.

Alex had a heart the size of Texas stuck in his mouth as he took it from her. It was a vial exactly like the ones in Masook’s safe.

“Did she take this out of the red case that was shot up?” he asked the kid.

Taylor shook her head. “She got it from her room. She said we weren’t in any danger. She told me I wouldn’t die.”

Alex looked at the earnestness on Taylor’s face and then stared down the length of his pistol that was still pointed at the nanny. He’d been right not to trust the woman, but it didn’t make him feel any better.

He examined the vial while Josette cast off. She held up a waterproof case to show him, a case that looked exactly like the one he’d stolen from Masook’s safe. Minus the bullet hole.

“I swapped out the real toxins, Mr. Parker,” Josette shouted.

“What about the vaccine?” he yelled back.

“I need that for my government to replicate. But you’re fine. You weren’t infected. It was just cornstarch and talc!” She laughed and went to start the outboard. “I’m not the enemy, Mr. Parker. I’ll get this to our labs. My government will be in touch with your government.”

“Which government is that?” he demanded.

“A friendly one.”

Did he believe her? Damn, he didn’t know.

He wanted to. Wanted to believe he still had that future with Mallory and their child to look forward to.

His pistol wavered.

She turned up the throttle and gunned the motor, heading away fast into the night. Alex kept the SIG trained on her but, dammit, if he hit a vial, with the wind direction, he and Taylor could end up getting a face full of the spores she’d stolen. How stupid would that be? Then again, how stupid was it to watch an operative from an unknown country escape with something this potentially deadly?

Didn’t matter now. She was out of range.

He lowered his weapon. Looked at the kid. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Not sick.” She bit her lip as it started to wobble. “Where is my daddy?” She was eyeing the burning wreckage of the helicopter. Orange and red flames reflected over the water.

Alex clenched his teeth. Did he lie? What was the point? “The helicopter blew up.” He didn’t mention it had blown up because of him. “I’m sorry.”

And he was. He was truly sorry Taylor had lost her father even though Ahmed Masook had been an evil sonofabitch.

She started to cry, and he picked her up. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging like a baby monkey. He stuffed his pistol into the hoodie pocket, keeping a firm grip on the vial even as his heart pounded. He needed to find a safe place to store this sucker.

He gave Taylor a squeeze and let her go. “Come on, kid. We have work to do.”

She followed him up to the bridge. He needed to figure out if there was anyone else alive on the boat and wanted a clear view of the surrounding area in case anyone else came to visit.

The bridge was empty, the boat set to autopilot.

Salamander had organized a coup, killing off Masook’s security probably by bribing a couple of guards on Masook’s team. Salamander had probably intended to escape via the helicopter or another boat. Alex doubted any of the rest of the crew had survived. He made a mental note to check on the other security guard he’d left unconscious when he’d first come aboard.

The carnage made it clear there was no way Salamander would have let Masook live. Alex didn’t like to think about what would have happened to Taylor after Salamander had gotten what he wanted out of Masook.