Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(30)

He gestured her into the hall. “Rumors about your arrival have surfaced, and I want to update my head soldiers now. Seeing you is the best way.”

She gulped and wished for a power suit with high heels. Her heart beat faster. Finally. She could finally get to those damn records and find Myriad. Hopefully before the people after her found where she was hiding. “Fine.” Sweeping by him, she turned down the hallway toward the stairs.

He slipped his hand over hers.

Shock caught her breath. He wanted to hold hands? Because they’d slept together or just to keep her in line? Warmth engulfed her hand as if they were a normal couple walking together. She should probably tug free, but she didn’t want to be cold and alone. Perhaps a few moments of feeling safe and normal wouldn’t hurt, so she left her hand in his, uneasy with the pleasure it provided.

He led her down two flights of stairs, through a twisting hallway, and into an empty room littered with overturned milk crates. She only tripped once. Several industrial safes lined one entire wall, and boards covered the windows.

“This is my war room. It used to be attorney offices. I took out all of the walls except for the back office, which is where we use the ham radio.” Jax tilted his head toward the safes. “Guns.”

“Oh.” Lynne followed him to what appeared to be the front of the room.

He kicked a milk crate closer. “Have a seat.”

She turned and gingerly sat, biting the inside of her lip to keep from wincing.

He grinned. “Sore?”

“Fuck you,” she retorted without enough heat.

“You already did.” He pointed to the hand-drawn map on the far wall. “We have seven blocks of territory, and the soldiers are housed along the perimeter.”

Lynne squinted and began memorizing the layout. “Most folks would have put the main headquarters dead center.”

“If we’re attacked, I need to get there fast, and if any enemy infiltrates to the center, we’re fucked.” He stepped partially in front of her as men and women filed into the room, all armed, all wearing dark and torn clothing with a multitude of guns and knives strapped to their bodies. A vigilante uniform.

Sami swept inside, next to a broad blond man, and immediately lost her smile. Her glare lasered past Jax to Lynne, and Lynne met her gaze evenly. If the small soldier thought she could intimidate Lynne so easily, gun or not, she was mistaken.

Jax waited until about twenty people had filed in. The last one, the huge black guy who’d covered Jax’s back in the firefight, shut the door.

Everyone seemed to ignore Jax and focus on her. Her hands dampened, and she wiped them on her borrowed yoga pants.

“You’re my head soldiers, and you get the information first. If you decide to stay, it’s your job to relay the same information to your squads.” Jax cleared his throat. “Listen up. I’m going to say this once, and then you have a decision to make. This is Lynne Harmony, she’s under my protection, and she’s staying here. You can stay, you can go, and you have one night to make your decision.”

Dead silence, filled with tension, spread from one end of the room to the other.

Lynne remained perfectly still and tried to keep her expression clear. Her lips wanted to tremble, so she tightened her jaw until her teeth ached.

A redheaded guy with a long scar down his face stood in the back. “How do we know that’s her?”

“It’s her, Red,” Jax said.

Manny, the guy who’d driven the car the other day, nodded. “I saw her heart. She’s Lynne Harmony.”

The big blond guy who’d covered Jax’s back in the fight stood. “I’m staying.”

Sami jumped to her feet. “I say we talk about this. The woman is not only a carrier, but the distributor of a virus that killed billions of people.”

Lynne stood. “Bacterium.”

Sami whirled on her. “Excuse me?”

“Scorpius is a bacterium, not a virus.” Lynne lifted a shoulder. “There is only one strain of Scorpius, no matter what rumors you’ve heard. I didn’t create the strain, nor did I spread it, but I have survived it when others haven’t.” She kept her voice level.

“You seem all cut up about that,” Sami spat out.

Lynne smiled. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you’re a carrier,” Sami returned.

“I am.” Lynne glanced around the group as a whole. “Anybody who has been infected and lived through the fever is now a carrier, and that’s the truth. About one-third of the population before the illness carried staph or MRSA, and only people with wounds or weak immune systems caught those.”

The blond guy smiled, his gaze warm. “Do you think there’s a cure for Scorpius?”

Lynne faltered. She didn’t want to lie or give false hope. “If there is, it’ll be a long time before we figure it out.”

A murmur fluttered through the room.

Jax cut a hard look over his shoulder. “There might be a cure, and we’re going to keep looking.”

“Absolutely,” Lynne said softly.

Sami shook her head. “There’s a reward on her head. We could get more vitamin B, guns, and food if we turn her back in to her own people.”

“No.” Jax crossed his arms. “She’s our best chance for a cure.”