Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(32)

Wyatt grimaced. “Does Pepperdine even have a football team?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Geez.” Wyatt turned and headed for the door. “When are we telling the medical personnel and civilians about our water-polo-lovin’ scientist making her home with us?”

Jax sobered. “Tomorrow. I want a count of how many soldiers are staying before we tell the rest.”

“Water polo,” Wyatt muttered, disappearing out the door.

Lynne rocked back on her heels. “I can tell, your people love me.”

Jax rubbed his whiskered chin. “They’ll do as I tell them. Well, most of them besides Wyatt. I think you’ve blown it with him. He’s a great soldier, and a good guy, but his ego and Super Bowl ring make him think everybody should know who he is. Or rather, was.”

Tace chuckled. “I knew who he was, but I was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. Took my nearly getting shot by a Ripper for him to like me.” Tace jerked his arm toward the door. “How about we retire to the medical room, go through the records you requested, and talk shop?”

Lynne wavered. “Don’t tell me. You’d like to take blood.” It had been months since somebody had stuck her with a needle, and she’d enjoyed the reprieve.

Tace shook his head, his smile charming. “Gotta be honest in that we don’t have the facilities to do anything with your blood. But I thought maybe you could catch me up on everything you know.”

Jax pivoted to face them. “What about a cure?”

Tace sighed. “I’ve told you, pard. There’s no cure at this point. There’s the bacteria, the illness, and then the recovery. No cure.”

Lynne blew out air, her foot tapping. She had to get to those documents. “Maybe. We never found a cure, Jax. Containment and treatment are the paths we ended up finding.”

Jax and Tace shared a look Lynne couldn’t decipher. “What?” she asked, her stomach roiling.

“We’re out of B,” Tace said softly.

Lynne gaped. “There are four research facilities near L.A. that were ordered to mass-produce B the second we discovered its importance.”

Jax’s head jerked back. “We raided Hyroden Labs, and Cruz raided Phillip Labs. Those are the only two we’ve known about.”

“In the L.A. area, the CDC also contracted with Philter Drug Company and Baker and Baker Incorporated,” Lynne said.

Tace’s eyebrows lifted. “Baker and Baker was a shampoo company.”

“Their parent company was Washington Pharmaceuticals,” Lynne said quietly.

Jax ran a hand through his hair. “We need the location of Baker, as any place with drug in the name was raided almost instantly. What do you know about Baker?”

Lynne shook her head. “Just a name on a list. They had an impressive research and development program, and we ordered them on B immediately. I don’t know how much they created or how much they shipped before shipping stopped. There may be nothing left.”

“We have to try. Find out the location,” Jax said, lips tightening into a white line. “You two do your thing in the lab and update me later. We go at midnight.”

Tace shook his head. “We won’t know who’s with us until tomorrow.”

“Small group, then. Wyatt, me, and Sami, if she stays. I’d like to take Raze and see what he can do.”

“What about me?” Tace asked.

“Can’t lose you, Doc. You’re too important.” Jax sighed. “We need to get a few more medical personnel somehow.”

“No problem. I’ll order a couple up on the Internet,” Tace said.

“Asshole,” Jax muttered without heat, moving toward the other corridor. “And, Lynne?” he asked, turning.

She turned her head. “What?”

“I have neither the time nor manpower to keep a guard on you at all times. Promise me that for at least the next twenty-four hours, you won’t try to make a break for it.” His eyes darkened to the color of warmed whiskey.

Her shoulders went back. He trusted her? “What makes you think I’ll keep a promise?”

He lifted one broad shoulder. “Gut feeling.”

She breathed out, her chest heavy with a sweet warmth she didn’t want to examine. “I promise.”

His grin flashed a dimple she hadn’t noticed before. “Thank you.”

With that dimple, with that trust, she suddenly felt bound to Jax Mercury with stronger ties than when he’d been thrusting inside her.





Chapter Eleven





The inevitable conclusion for our species doesn’t mean we won’t fight—and fight hard to survive the unsurvivable.

—Dr. Franklin Xavier Harmony




Jax jogged into the combat infirmary, his gut swirling. Three new victims had succumbed to Scorpius somehow, and right now they thrashed uncontrollably in makeshift beds in the inner hospital. They had to get more vitamin B, stat.

Darkness climbed across the sky, and his nerves settled as he planned the midnight raid.

He hustled around the corner to see Lynne and Tace in the makeshift lab, papers and graphs spread out before them. Discarded paper plates and bowls showed they’d spent all day working.

His mind had gone to her several times during the day, and he needed to knock that shit off. When he’d first found her on the deserted highway, so brave and alone, he’d instantly been drawn to her, but he hadn’t considered that he’d genuinely like her.