Cake walk. A fuckin’ cake walk.

Logan slipped into the back door of the Zaman’s house ten minutes after they left. The grocery was only a few minutes drive away, so if they forgot anything, they would have already returned. With Vivian on the lookout on the front porch, trying to be casual—and that thought made him grin—he knew she would call if needed. She had insisted on taking a cup of tea out on the porch and sitting in the dilapidated chair, with her eReader in her lap, keeping watch, her phone in her hand.

He wasted no time as he entered the kitchen, going directly to the cabinet. Opening it, he found two bottles and cataloged the location of them in his mind before turning them to face the front. Snapping pictures of each, he then opened each one and snapped pictures of what they looked like, knowing a different drug could be contained in the prescription bottle.

Replacing them, exactly the way he found them, he made a cursory check through the bathrooms and bedrooms. He had cameras in every room—fuck privacy when dealing with terrorists—but Viv did not know that. Pushing down the guilt at not being completely honest with her, he reminded himself she was on a need-to-know basis with the mission.

Seeing nothing else untoward, he moved back to the kitchen and out the door on the back side. Rounding the corner, he observed Vivian on the porch, her eyes never leaving the driveway. Sunglasses covered them, but he knew they were filled with worry. He jogged over, making it to the porch, before she let out a long sigh of relief.

Leaning over her chair, with his hands on the arms of the wobbly, wooden structure, he kissed her, faster than he wanted. “Jesus, babe, is this thing strong enough to hold up?”

“Barely,” she replied, “but I’m definitely not sure with your weight on it.” He grinned long and slow, turning her stomach into a mass of butterflies beating their wings. Whispering, she asked, “Did you get anything?”

“Yeah.”

“I was scared.”

“I know. But I’m fine. Gonna stay fine. Come on, let’s go see what I have.”

Once inside the house, they moved to the laptops as he uploaded the pictures taken. Soon, she was studying the bottle labels and matching them to the pills inside.

“Okay, they match the labels. We’ve got Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin. Both are antibiotics, but I’m going to have to do some research to see how they are possibly being used.”

“Right. I’m going to keep working here this afternoon, as well. Let me know what you find and then we’ll get ready for tomorrow’s trip.”

At the mention of the trip, her gaze jumped back to his. “Do you think we know enough about each other to pull off our cover with Iggie and Sadie?”

“First of all, I think they’ll be so excited about their mini-vacation, they won’t give a fuck what we know about each other. Second, for newlyweds, all we have to do is keep kissing and our cover is complete.”

“You are such a man,” she quipped.

“You know it, Viv.” Lifting her chin with his fingers, he kissed her, moving his mouth over hers, reveling in her sweet taste.

Watching the way his jeans fit over his ass as he walked—no, stalked—into the kitchen to grab a leftover slice of pizza, Vivian grinned to herself. Twisting back around to face her laptop, the smile slid from her face, knowing it was time to start back to work.

An hour later, she stretched her arms above her head, her neck and back aching from her inactivity.

“You got something, babe?”

Nodding, she waited until he sat down before she began her dissertation. “Okay, Doxycycline is an antibiotic that fights bacteria in the body. It belongs to the class of tetracycline drugs. It’s common and is often used to treat many different bacterial infections, such as acne, urinary tract infections, and even venereal diseases. Even dentists use it to treat gum disease. Since it was in Farrah’s name, I have a feeling it was used for a minor infection. How she’s managed to get so much…I’ve got no idea.”

“Go on,” Logan said, focusing on her discoveries, knowing there was little a terrorist could not get their hands on.

“Doxycycline is also used as a prophylaxis and can be used by researchers working with tularemia, among other bacteria. I even used it when doing some of my studies. It’s FDA approved and safe. Now, Ciprofloxacin is completely different. It is also an antibiotic, but is used to treat people who have been exposed to anthrax or even certain types of plague.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” he growled.

“It’s from the fluoroquinolone family of drugs. It can have serious side effects and should only be used for infections that can’t be treated with a safer antibiotic. And it is not FDA approved as a prophylaxis for tularemia, but if someone can’t take doxycycline...”

“Then they might have to take the harsher drug.”

“Exactly.”

“Can you tell who is taking what from the earlier video?”

“Funny you should ask that. I went back and reviewed it. Malik and Rashad both took the Doxycycline. Nafisa took the Ciprofloxacin.”

“Any ideas?”

Shaking her head, she scrunched her nose in thought. “Not really. We know that antibiotics can lose their effectiveness if taken over time. Could be she used Doxycycline a lot as a teen for acne. There’s no way of knowing, but for some reason, she feels it is safer for her to use the harsher drug.”

Sitting silently for a moment, curiosity finally getting the better of her, she asked, “So, where are we in all this?”

He studied her face for a moment, already learning her expressions. This one told him she was concerned, but about what, he was not sure. “You’re doing great, Viv. You’re figuring out that they are quite possibly working on bacteria and you are narrowing down the possibilities by using nothing more than visual clues. They won’t work tomorrow, so we can take our trip with Iggie and Sadie and have a nice break at a hot springs resort.”

“You think it will be our last break, don’t you?”

Nodding slowly, he replied, “Yeah. I think things are heating up and I’ll be able to get in there soon with your assistance. Once I do that, you’ll be busy figuring what they have while I keep working on what their plan is.”

“How?”

“Patched into all their computers and phones, babe.”

“And then you can arrest them…as soon as you know what they’re up to?”

“I’ll take care of it all.”

Smiling, she leaned back in her chair. “Good. Then we can get on with our lives.”

* * *

“Oh, my God, this is amazing!”

Vivian looked over at Sadie, sitting next to her in the back seats of the helicopter, and grinned at the other woman’s exuberance. “I was a nervous wreck when Logan first took me up, but I love it now.”

While Sadie continued to peer out of the window, exclaiming over the landscape, she looked toward the front where Iggie was in conversation with Logan. Smiling, she settled back in her seat, enjoying the vista below. So far, her fears about trying to convince Iggie and Sadie they were truly married had been for nothing. Grinning, she remembered how, when they arrived at the little airfield, Logan made sure he had his arm around her. He had kissed her as he buckled her in, too. She had just rolled her eyes at him, receiving a grin from him in return.

The Zamans came to mind, but she tried to push them out. Logan told her there was nothing they could do today, so she needed to just enjoy the weekend. Sadie’s hand suddenly grabbed her arm, shaking her out of her thoughts.

“Oh, my God. Did you see that? Lived here my whole life but never saw it from the air.”

Turning her attention back out the window, she watched the snow-capped mountains in the distance pass by and the crystal blue waters of the lake below. “It is gorgeous.”

“Preacher, you’re gonna love the lodge,” Iggie said, loud enough for them to hear in the back. “They got hot springs you can soak in, gonna feel like a sauna. Good food in the restaurant, and I was looking at the rooms on their website and they look nice. Got balconies that overlook the springs with the mountains in the background.”

“Sounds good, man,” Logan said, looking forward to spending time with Vivian that did not involve terrorists or sleeping on fuckin’ twin mattress pushed together on the floor. Calling in his codes to the Nome Airport, he eased them to the ground.

Watching Logan alight, talking to the manager in charge of the helicopters and then turning back to give a thumbs up to Iggie, Vivian followed Sadie out the door. Sadie and Iggie grabbed their bags and, as she reached into the back to get hers, a long, muscular arm came from the side and snagged it.

Logan whispered near her ear, “Babe, I cannot wait to get to the lodge with you. Don’t expect to come up for air the whole time we’re there.”

Twisting her neck, she looked up at him, her face near his neck. Lifting on her toes, she planted her lips there, right on his pulse, causing a swift intake of air.

“Oh, hell, Viv, you just got me hard as a rock.”

Giggling, she slid to the side, settling under his arm, with their bags on his other shoulder. “Then, lead on. I’m yours to command for the night.”

“Can’t ask for more than that, woman. Let’s go.”