Toxic Game (GhostWalkers 15)

“What happened to your head?”

“Got shot and then I knocked myself out diving into a river. Bellisia and Zara’s friend, Shylah Cosmos, rescued me. Whitney sent her here to kill the three men. They worked for him and developed this shit. I’m sending you an audio file as well, explaining everything. I’ve got their notes here. I’ll work here when I can, but I have more faith in your ability to find a therapy in time, at least for Shylah. She gave me CPR and she’s infected as well. We can’t go after these men ourselves, and they have to be stopped.”

“I’m here in Indonesia. In Sumatra. The military set up a lab for me. Wyatt and Joe are with me. I’m bringing in Louisiana and Ezekiel.”

Others crowded around Trap. Draden found himself grinning, which he never would have done before. He leaned into Shylah. “He’ll hate that. He doesn’t like to be in close proximity of anyone other than Cayenne, his wife. Especially if they’re touching him.”

He put his arm around her and drew her into view of the camera. “The three virologists are Tyler and Cameron Williams from Mississippi and Agus Orucov from here in Sumatra. They worked for Whitney developing the viruses to kill the girls if they didn’t get back to their handlers fast enough. We think they will be targeting the GhostWalkers, so alert all teams and be very careful.”

“Will do,” Trap said. “Are you showing any signs of infection yet?”

The screen split, and Ezekiel was there with a few of the other GhostWalkers and Bellisia and Zara in the background.

“It’s early,” Draden hedged. “I’m going to take a sample of both of our blood. This place has a remote lab set up. It’s done too well. Obviously these three men, or at least the Williams brothers, have worked in the field before. Everything is contained, but they left in a hurry. I need to find out why.”

“I need to know what’s happening with your blood as soon as possible, Draden,” Trap said. “In the meantime, send me everything you’ve got. I’ll look over the notes, everything you’re sending me now and I’ll be working out of there to increase our times. Wyatt and I will divide it up and come at it from two different angles. We’ll share with every other military lab with good people so we up the chances of coming up with a therapy. We’re running against the clock.”

“I’m aware.” The fact that Trap had already flown out told Draden he knew time was flying by. “Zeke, is it possible for Shylah to talk to Zara and Bellisia? She’s been a trouper through this entire thing. She’d like to see them if possible.”

“Draden.” Trap’s breath hissed out in a protest. “We don’t have time for sentiment.”

“You don’t,” Draden said when Shylah tried to pull away from him. He locked her in place to his side. “We do. We both need this contact, Trap. Have Nonny explain it to you sometime.”

“After. I’ll have her do that after,” Trap said. “I have a million questions.”

“Hold on to them. Zeke, please get Bellisia and Zara.”

“We’re here,” Zara said off-camera.

She shouldered her way through the wall of GhostWalkers. Like Shylah, she was tall. Bellisia was very tiny and she followed in Zara’s wake. Zeke hovered, his hands on Bellisia’s shoulders to give her support. Gino, Zara’s husband, was standing behind Trap and Wyatt, still in Indonesia with the rest of his unit.

Zara sank into a seat and Bellisia stood very close to her. The three women stared at one another. Shylah put her hand up to the screen. Her two “sisters” followed suit. A fine tremor ran through Shylah’s body. Draden felt it and wanted to pull her onto his lap, but was concerned she wouldn’t like it in front of everyone.

“I was worried,” Shylah whispered. “I had no idea if you were alive or dead.”

“Alive,” Bellisia said. “This is my husband.” She leaned back and circled Ezekiel’s neck with one arm, pulling his head down so the camera picked him up. “He’s wonderful, Shylah, and so smart. Too smart. Trap is off-the-charts crazy smart and so is Wyatt. They’ll figure this out. I know they will.”

“Hi, Ezekiel,” Shylah said. “I’m so glad you’re taking good care of Bellisia. She’s an amazing woman.”

“I think so too,” Ezekiel said. His gaze moved over Draden and then Shylah. “You two hang in there. We’re going to get you out of this.”

“Regardless, I’ll record everything for you, all symptoms as they come up. I have a bitch of a headache right now,” Draden admitted, “but that’s probably from the blow to the head.”

Shylah immediately turned toward him, her fingers gently sliding over the bump there. “You need to lie down, Draden.” She turned back to the screen. “Whoever is in charge needs to order him to rest.”

“That would be me,” Ezekiel said. “Or Joe. I’ll be here to defend the home, Draden. Joe’s there to be the liaison between you and the labs. He’ll collect your blood daily and bring you supplies. We’re working things out.”

“What about the MSS?”

“The Kopassus is ringing the ranger station. They’ll allow you through to pick off the members of the terrorist cell, but they’ll make certain the MSS don’t come to you. We’ll use a helicopter to drop what you need and collect the blood samples. So far the MSS hasn’t come this far into the interior of the forest. They’re staying close to the river.”

“Sounds good.”

“If you get run-down, that won’t help. You have to be strong enough to fight this mother off, you understand me?”

With his team rallying to help them, Draden felt hope. Not a lot of it, but if the three virologists thought they could manufacture antibodies to fight the virus, then his extremely intelligent teammates could as well. He had no doubt that Trap—one of the smartest men on the planet—could do it; it was just a matter of whether or not he could do it in time.

“Yes, sir. I’ll be resting, and then we’re going to go after more of the MSS members. I managed to take a few of them out, including their commander. We need to know if they have any of the virus left. If they do, it has to be recovered and destroyed.”

“Don’t get killed.”

“I don’t intend to.”

Shylah hadn’t said a word, but he knew she wanted to talk to Zara. He sat back in his chair and indicated for her to speak.

“Zara, I was hoping you made it out of Cheng’s place. I planned on taking care of these men and then coming to get you. Draden told me his team rescued you.”

“That’s right.” Zara nodded her head. “Zeke, Gino and the others came for me. Gino and I are married. I wish you could meet him. He’s there in Sumatra with Joe and the others. He’s absolutely a rock for me.”

“It’s good that you have him.” Shylah’s hand, under the tabletop, slipped into Draden’s.

“I’m here, princess,” Gino said, moving in front of Trap. “Good to meet you, Shylah. Zara and Bellisia talk about you all the time.”

Draden looked at her. She was trying very hard not to cry, but he could see that was going south fast. “We’re going to be breaking up soon,” he reported, warning the others they would need to go.

“I love you both so much,” Shylah said. “Please be happy. For me, be happy.” She turned away from the computer, backed away and hurried out of the room.

Draden hurriedly sent the files to Trap. “I’ll try to contact you tomorrow around the same time. Keep an eye out because if I can, it will be sooner.”

“Done,” Trap said. “We’re on this, Draden.”

He counted on that.

6

Shylah was so embarrassed that she’d fallen apart. She hadn’t realized how emotional she’d be when she actually saw Zara and Bellisia. They both were in tears, neither even trying to stop the emotions, although the tears just ran silently down their faces. Maybe they weren’t even aware of it. She was happy for them that they’d found partners. If they felt anything like she did when she was in Draden’s company, she was certain they were going to live very happy lives.