TUESDAY. SAFE HOUSE, Mumbai, India.

Adam descended the stairs. He could feel the cool air tickling the back of his throat. There was something he could be doing, but he didn’t know what. Nothing could have prepared him for that.

What the hell was wrong with Heidi?

The others stood in the main room staring at him.

They had to have heard her screaming. Hell, he’d barely been able to keep from cringing at her volume.

“How is she?” Cindy asked.

“When the hell did that start?” He gestured at the ceiling. A thump of something hitting the ground punctuated his question.

“John and I were discussing this when you came inside. She doesn’t appear to have a fever or any physical signs of sickness, but we don’t know what she was exposed to while she was being held.” Cindy merely shrugged as though she hadn’t just landed a bomb in Adam’s lap.

“You think she was dosed with something?” he asked.

“That, or stress,” John said.

“This afternoon was stressful, but would it really bring out this kind of response?” Cindy frowned at the ceiling. They could all hear Heidi yelling at nothing.

“It makes sense if you know her history,” John said.

Adam glanced at the older man. The lines of worry on his face indicated that he knew.

“What history?” Cindy asked.

John glanced at Adam, but didn’t speak.

“Her parents killed themselves. She barged in and saw the bodies. Wasn’t anything we could do to stop her.” Adam’s stomach rolled. He’d been just a little too slow to realize what she was doing, and then he couldn’t catch her fast enough.

“If she is sick, what are her symptoms then? Is it contagious? Are we infected?” Kyle asked.

“We need to be prepared to deal with this,” Grant said.

“Hard to say without some form of test. Examining her in this state will be difficult.” Cindy grimaced.

“She was feverish and pale. Her eyes were bloodshot. She’s...it’s like she’s hyper. She’s scratched her forearms to the point that she’s starting to bleed. And, she didn’t remember taking off her clothes.” Adam hated admitting what had happened, but Heidi needed help he couldn’t provide. Not with her like this.

“If she’s sick, we need gloves, masks and some way to determine what she’s been infected with.” Cindy ticked off the items on her fingers.

“Make a list,” Adam said.

“Zain should have more for us soon.” Kyle checked his watch. “Let’s make a supply run, get food, that way when we know more we’re ready to act.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cindy said.

“Kyle?” Adam jerked his head toward the next room.

His Team Lead followed him while the others watched.

Adam wasn’t ready to say this in front of others, not with everything they were going through.

“What’s up?” Kyle asked.

“I think me being around is irritating Heidi, and she’s obsessed with the Reddy girl. Something’s not right. I don’t know if it’s stress or...” Adam swallowed. If she’d been infected with something in Peru that was just now manifesting, he wasn’t sure he could handle that.

“Okay, we will go for supplies and leave the others here to babysit. Don’t worry about it. Heidi will be fine.” Kyle smacked Adam on the shoulder. “Meet you in the truck?”

Adam nodded and strode out to the garage.

Most of what Heidi had yelled at the end was gibberish, but he’d understood enough to get the gist. He wasn’t sure if he wanted this to be a product of stress or an unknown disease. A sickness could be cured, at least in theory. If this was stress, there might be no recovering from this for them.

Adam got in the SUV and stared at the house door.

He wanted to be here, but if he stayed he’d go upstairs and there was no doubt that she’d gotten louder and more demonstrative when he’d been there.

Kyle came out a few minutes later and climbed into the passenger seat. He thrust a piece of paper with an address and a list of things on it at him.

Neither spoke while Adam got them on the road headed to a medical supply store for the basics Cindy and John had listed for them.

“How are you doing with all this?” Kyle asked after a couple blocks.

Adam shrugged. He didn’t have words to answer that question. Not right now. Not with Heidi unwell.

“Don’t jump to conclusions right now. Wait and see, okay?” Kyle glanced at him.

That worried expression knocked a memory lose. Adam had meant to talk to Kyle later and later was now.

“Grant thinks you’re distracted.”

“Yeah, he would. That son of a bitch lives, breathes and shits work. Sometimes I swear he’s a robot.” Kyle muttered a few uncomplimentary words about the Lepta Team Leader. “He might be right though. Don’t tell him I said that?”

“How’s your dad?” Adam was pretty certain he’d asked already, but it never hurt to do it again.

“Not good.” Kyle blew out a breath and leaned back. “They want to set us up with home hospice, but he’s refusing.”

Adam had overheard one of those conversations. They were far more colorful than Kyle admitted to. Adam wasn’t sure if he should wish Kyle’s father well, or a speedy passing, so he kept his trap shut.

“What about Heidi? Before you two seemed to be doing better.” Kyle glanced at him.

“Yeah, we were.”

“I had a completely different picture in my head of her. I wanted to not like her, but she’s feisty. I can see why she’d be good for you.”

Adam didn’t respond.

He had to believe that whatever was wrong with Heidi would pass. He’d get her back, and then he could work on keeping her. They had a ways to go before he told Kyle he was planning on retiring, but if they survived this and if Heidi would let him in, he planned on staying. They’d lost too many years and let too much come between them. There wasn’t another person on this planet Adam loved more than her. It’d merely become clearer over the years.

They made the circuit to a medical supply store then a place with an English menu and back to the house in less than an hour. There were perks to being far enough outside the city that the evening traffic didn’t slow them down.

Adam pulled back into the garage. At a glance, everything appeared in order and Grant replied to Kyle’s text with an all clear sign.

Nothing about Heidi’s state, however.

They got out, juggling food and medical supplies, and carried the load into the house.

Grant and Riley were at the kitchen bar with their laptops wearing identical frowns. Since the cowboy liked to smile and joke most of the time, it set of warning bells.

“What’s happened?” Kyle asked, beating Adam to the punch.

“Zain says he’s cracked the hard drive and will have something for us in a few minutes,” Grant replied.

“And Heidi?” Kyle glanced at Adam. “How’s she?”

“She stopped yelling. Cindy is up there with her trying to get her to take a shower in case that will help. She’s developed a real fever.” Riley leaned back and his gaze went to Adam.

Adam hated that news. He’d hoped for stress, that whatever was twisting her mind could be figured out. But if she’d come down with something, that posed a kind of risk they weren’t prepared to handle. And what would it continue to do to Heidi? How did they cure it? Was it contagious? What if they’d spread some new sickness across South America, Europe and Asia?

“Well, we can’t do anything about it right now. Best thing to do is eat and make a plan. Let’s let Cindy take a look at her and see what she things.” Kyle took boxes out of the bags.

“I’ll run this up to the ladies.” Riley stood and accepted both a bag of food and the medical supplies.

“Let John know we have food,” Kyle said.

“Will do.” Riley gave them a little salute then headed for the stairs.

Grant remained focused on his laptop. Kyle glanced at the man a few times, but when the Lepta Team Leader made no effort to interact, Kyle seemed to shrug it off. So long as they got everything done, Adam didn’t care if they were best buddies.

“Zain’s calling,” Grant announced.

Adam and Kyle rounded the bar to stand behind Grant.

“Hey guys.” Zain’s face filled the screen. “I’ve got a lot to go over, so reference the email I’m sending to you now. First, Reddy kept meticulous notes so we know what they were given, how much, when, how much they made, all of that sort of stuff. We also know the three companies he’s repaid investor money to. I present to you three heads of the hydra.”

The screen blipped from Zain’s face to a white screen with three company names. None of them were familiar.

“Companies one and two are effectively gone, but this third one still has physical holdings outside the city, including a lease on a large facility that is almost up. It’s not that far from you guys. Could be worth checking out.” The screen went back to Zain. “I’m also working on tracking the money, the emails Reddy had for these people and every digital record. If there’s a way to find them through this stuff, we’ll do it.”

“We’ve got a problem here.” Kyle glanced at Adam. “Heidi is sick or...”

“It could be a stress induced episode.” Adam wished that were the case. They saw plenty of those with people they rescued, but this time was something decidedly worse.

“Shit,” Zain muttered.

“Cindy and John are trying to determine what’s wrong with her,” Grant said.

“Okay. Keep me updated. If we need to get her to a facility, I’ll find out what’s our best option and send that to you.” Zain glanced away. “There’s still nothing about the sniper. I’m monitoring what I can from here. Abigail’s helping us, but that’s only going to get us so far without local support. We need to discuss taking this to someone. I know the clients suspect someone in the CDC is linked to this, so—Justice Department? Military? Do we go straight to the top and try to contact the head of the Health and Human Services Department?”

“If this is as big as we think it is, this is a global problem. Go straight to the top,” Kyle said.

“I’ll take it up with the Admiral, then let you know what our next move is. Go check out that facility.”

The call ended, and they stood there in silence for a moment.

This was getting heavy. They’d been in some deep shit over the last year, but this might be pushing the envelope further than they’d ever taken it. Or, it could be that this was worse because it was Heidi. Adam always wanted to do right by their clients, but he’d never been invested in some of their jobs like the others. For him, there was a professional line that he didn’t cross.

Heidi saw lines as  things to be broken. Smashed. For them, there were no boundaries, which made this that much more difficult.

“You need a minute?” Kyle asked.

“No,” Adam muttered.

“Okay. Well, two of us need to go check out the address Zain sent.” Kyle glanced at him. “Adam, do you want to stay here or...?”

“No. I need to do something.” Adam was helpless here. He couldn’t even sit next to Heidi and hold her hand without fearing he’d set her off again like before.

“Okay, then how about you and Riley go, check out the site, while Grant and I coordinate our next move with Zain. How’s that sound?” Kyle looked between Adam and Grant.

“Fine by me,” Grant said.

Riley descended the stairs without John.

“John’s helping Cindy.” Riley stared at Grant, not meeting Adam’s eyes. It was the downturn at the corner of his mouth that gave away the severity of what was going on upstairs. Things weren’t good.

“We’ll get him some dinner. You’re going to suit up and go with Adam.” Grant thumbed over his shoulder.

“Mind eating in the car?” Adam asked.

“Fine by me.” Riley shrugged.

He followed Adam into the dining room where they spent a few moments switching out civilian clothing for protective gear and a few non-lethal protection measures. Since India had one of the strictest gun policies in the world they’d opted to check the bulk of their firearms into police custody upon arriving in the country. That didn’t mean they weren’t without protection, but it made their job harder. Sometimes playing within the bounds of the law sucked.

Riley didn’t try to chat as they got into the SUV and Adam plugged their destination plugged into the GPS. They rode in silence for at least fifteen minutes before Riley began to hum, probably some country song.

“I can hear you grinding your teeth, you know?” Riley turned his head and stared at Adam. “Your girl’s going to be okay.”

They didn’t know that. They didn’t know anything about what Heidi had been through. What if she didn’t remember it all? What if she was a walking human bomb? The possibilities were terrifying.

“I take it things haven’t always been perfect between you two.” Riley turned back to stare at the highway as they merged onto the faster lanes of traffic. “My parents have been divorced and re-married twice. It’s some crazy shit. Sometimes I think that’s what made my younger brother move all the way to Texas, just to get away from them.”

Adam clenched his teeth tighter and kept driving. Crazy he could handle. Heidi had always been wild. That was their secret. They balanced each other out.

He prayed she survived long enough for them to figure this all out.

TUESDAY. SAFE HOUSE, Mumbai, India.

Heidi twisted the lock on her room.

Cindy was such a bitch.

There. Heidi had said it. At least to herself.

People liked Cindy. She was well respected and had a lot of clout, but she was a damn bitch. Always knew better than everyone else. The only reason Heidi had approached Cindy about her suspicions was because John insisted they needed her expertise.

“What a bitch,” Heidi muttered.

She turned and eyed the Styrofoam boxes on the dresser. Cindy wanted her to eat that stuff. She couldn’t trust Cindy. Heidi’s gut said so. She had to trust her instincts. Those were what had saved her time and time again whenever things got really bad between Mom and Dad.

Heidi marched across the room and dumped the meal into the waste basket.

There.

She shivered.

The sun was setting, so it made sense it would be cooler, but cold? She stared at the bed. A nap might be nice. But what if Cindy came in here while she was sleeping?

Someone knocked on the bedroom door, then rattled the locked door.

“Heidi? Hey, it’s Kyle.”

“I’m going to bed.” Heidi glanced around.

The chair.

“Everything okay? The others said they were worried about you.”

“Fine. Just fine.” She grabbed the chair and carried it to the door.

First came Kyle, then Adam and she couldn’t have him here. She and Adam were done. If they weren’t done, one of them would die and there were already enough dead dragging her down.

The lights flickered and the AC unit sputtered to a stop.

“Shit. I’ll be back,” Kyle said.

“Don’t hurry,” she muttered.

God, it was cold. Her teeth were chattering and goose bumps had broken out on her arms and legs.

She needed a nap. That was it. Some time asleep, under the covers and she’d be ready to execute her plan. She’d find Reddy’s daughter and turn Léo in, then it would be over. She could go back to her corner of the country and Adam to his.

He was only too happy to leave her.

She’d seen him drive away earlier. It hurt, but she should be used to it by now. They’d been doing this ever since the day Adam got his bicycle. She’d survive. She’d be okay, because she was strong. But right now, she was cold. So, cold.

Heidi stumbled toward the bed. She made it as far as the dresser before the room started to pitch and spin.

What the hell?

She went to a knee to keep from falling over.

What had they done to her?

Something wet dripped down her nose. She lifted a hand and wiped it away, only to discover that she was sweating.

A small voice in the back of her mind screamed, trying to be heard.

Heidi shook her head and used the dresser to pull herself to her feet.

A dark shape unfolded itself from the shadows below the window.

Heidi squinted at it, but the spinning was worse now. Her stomach clenched.

She was going to hurl.

Hands grasped her arm. She pitched forward, her stomach emptying it’s contents onto the floor. The darkness held her while she heaved, and when she was done it cradled her, carrying her out into the night on a fluffy, dark cloud.

TUESDAY. ABANDONED facility, Mumbai, India.

Adam frowned at the large structure. No cars were in the lot. Not a thing moved inside or out that they could see. There wasn’t even a security light on outside the building. It was dead.

“I’m not reading any heat signatures, but the walls might be messing with that.” Riley lowered the binoculars to his lap. “What do you think?”

“Let’s get a closer look.” He shifted the SUV into drive and drove across the two lane road and down the drive leading up to the structure.

The building was another warehouse facility. Lots of room, easy access to utilities and people. Given the nature of what they feared was being done here it stood to reason that the labs were mobile.

Adam drove the SUV up to the front door. Riley shone a flashlight in through the glass, but the only thing they could see was an overturned office chair.

“This is fucking eerie,” Riley said.

Adam was inclined to agree.

He eased the truck around to the side lot. Up close it was easy to see boxes and items left behind as though the warehouse had been packed in a hurry. Ordinarily Adam would assume someone had seen something, but the closest houses were a good distance away.

“See that bay door? It’s open.” Riley popped his seatbelt.

“We need to be careful.” Adam turned the SUV, so the headlights pointed into the open space and shifted into park. Heidi was already sick. They didn’t need to come down with something.

“Place seems deserted. We might as well get an up close and personal look.”

Riley got out of the truck leaving Adam to scramble after him.

He wasn’t convinced going for a closer inspection was a great idea. What if these guys were still here? The men they’d run into in Peru had been outfitted well, not to mention the bio weapons at their disposal.

They crept up a set of concrete stairs to the loading bay dock. Riley extended his baton and slid his hand held Taser out of its holster.

Adam hated relying on such tools. They were close quarters weapons that would do nothing against someone with a gun, but it was what they had.

“I’ll go first,” Riley said.

“Smell that?” Adam sniffed. There were some odors he could have lived without.

“What is that?” Riley frowned and inhaled a little deeper. “That’s not...”

Adam stepped around the other man and brought his flashlight up.

The floor of the warehouse had been cleared. What was left were odds and ends, trash mostly, and a metal shipping container. The doors were wedged shut, but the ash tracked outside as rodents went in and out gave away its contents.

“Adam—don’t. We can’t risk it. Think about Heidi.”

That made Adam stop short.

He stared at the pale dust tracking out of the shipping container. He could guess at what that was.

“You’re right,” Adam said and turned.

He’d seen enough.

There were no living people here.

Riley continued to stand there, eyes wide, the horror etched into his face.

“Do what you can to forget this.” That was Adam’s best advice. They didn’t need to see this to report it. Adam would never forget that smell until his dying day.

“Were they...”

“Don’t think about it. Come on.” Whoever did this would be gone. He strode for the open doors and fresh air.

“I got out of the Army to get away from this stuff.” Riley shook his head, no doubt trying to get the smell out of his nose. “I’ve never run into this on a Lepta Team job before. Is this the kind of stuff you guys see?”

“We see a little of everything.” Adam stared into the surrounding darkness.

The site was remote and rural, but there were still homes in the distance. Someone must have seen something. Yet it was dark out there. Pitch black.

Adam walked in an arc, around to the side of the structure.

A pair of lights shone through windows of what had to be a second story room. The house was over a hundred yards away, but they still must have seen or smelled something.

“What? What are you looking at?” Riley asked.

“That house.” Adam turned toward the waiting SUV. “Come on.”

“Do you speak the language?”

“No, but I bet Google does.” Adam climbed behind the wheel and shifted into drive.

“What do you think happened here?” Riley peered at the building.

“Lab had to move. Too much trouble to take the test subjects with them.”

“Fucking hell, man.”

One of Adam’s old team mates had made the round of Troy and Lepta Team before settling on Alpha. He’d said that Omega and Troy were out because he liked to live, and Lepta was too boring. Right about now, Adam would take a dose of boring.

He got back on the road and went down to the next point to turn.

“What does that sign mean? The red one?” Riley asked.

Adam slowed to a stop and peered at the homemade sign. It was a piece of plywood cut into a square. Someone had painted it a glossy red and put reflective tape around it. The words were white outlined in black by someone with impeccable handwriting, but the script meant nothing to Adam.

“That’s not on any official list of road signs.” Adam eased past. As the team’s default driver, he’d spent hours reviewing local driving laws and signs.

Even if he couldn’t speak or read the language, signs were easy enough to decipher. That one didn’t leave him with a good feeling.

“There’s another one.” Riley leaned forward.

The second sign was like the first, but bigger. Another piece of wood had been painted white and had smaller, black writing on it.

“What do you think is going on here?” Riley asked.

Adam kept his eyes on the road. Ahead, he could make out more lights between the trees. They had to be pretty close.

He still couldn’t see neighboring houses by their lights. Perhaps they didn’t have electricity? Close to such an urban area that didn’t make a lot of sense. Besides, they hadn’t seen a lot of houses in the last few miles they’d driven to get to this place. It made sense that an illegal lab wouldn’t operate under the watchful eyes of nosey neighbors.

Ahead of them, two figures stepped out from behind the foliage butting up against the road, each carrying AR-15s.

“Wow.” Riley sat back, pressing himself into the seat.

Adam eased the SUV to a stop and held up a hand.

This was interesting.

A third figure stepped into view behind the SUV. All three had their weapons trained on the ground. These weren’t boys who’d gotten guns. These men knew how to use them. It was the way they held the weapons, the positioning around the vehicle. These men were professionals.

“Get us out of here,” Riley barked.

Adam squinted at the figure in front of the SUV.

The exposed skin was paler. He wouldn’t even call it brown. The guy was Heidi white.

Adam shifted into park.

“What the hell?”

“They aren’t Indian. We need answers.” Adam rolled his window down.

“Stay in your car,” the man in front of Adam called out. There was some sort of European accent to the strained words. The man repeated the same words in another language.

“We’re looking for someone.” Adam held his hand out of the vehicle.

“We should get out of here,” Riley said.

“Not yet.”

“You must leave,” the man said.

“I’m just looking for a friend. Can you tell me if you’ve seen them?” Adam leaned a little ways out of the window to better hear the man.

“The people in this house are very sick. It is not safe for you here.” The man in the lead waved his hand.

“I’m looking for a woman named Laranya. Laranya Reddy?” Shit. Adam didn’t know the woman’s married name.

The second figure in front of the SUV turned his head and said something to the other man Adam couldn’t make out. The first one spoke, but this time Adam made out enough words to get a grasp on who they were dealing with.

“They’re French.” Adam peered into the rearview mirror at the third. “Look at their faces. They’ve wrapped scarves around their necks and mouths.”

“Mosquitoes?” Riley sounded downright hopeful.

“Nah. I’d overheat in this weather. What if they’re sick? What if they’re all sick and that’s why they were left behind?”

The man leading the trio edged as close as the front of the SUV.

“You can’t be here. It’s not safe,” the man said.

“Because you were all infected with something at the lab back there?” Adam gestured at the warehouse. The moonlight glinted off the metal roof making it shine like a beacon.

“What do you know about that?” The man took a step back and raised his AR-15, pointing it at the door of the SUV.

“I know an illegal lab was set up over there. I saw the shipping container. I know the daughter of the CEO of Sorkin Pharmaceuticals was kidnapped. What I don’t know is how a couple of French mercenaries are involved or if the daughter is still alive.” Adam watched the man’s eyes, how he flinched. “You didn’t know what you were getting involved with, did you?”

The man looked away, at his partner and said something in French too fast for Adam to understand.

“Is Laranya still alive?” Adam asked.

“She won’t be for long.” The man lowered his rifle, then let go of it, allowing the weapon to hang off his shoulder by a strap. “We were hired to provide security. We had no idea what we were getting involved with. Six weeks ago there was an outbreak in the facility. It spread in a matter of hours with varying degrees of severity. Those who weren’t infected packed up, burned the bodies, then left us here to guard the family. We didn’t know until a week later we also had contracted a strain of the sickness.”

“What the hell are you doing out here? Why not get help?” Riley asked.

“No one can help us.” The man took a step back.

“You don’t know that,” Adam said. There was more going on here than simply guarding some sick people.

“We do.” The man nodded at the third blocking the road behind them. “Leave now. You’ve been too close already.”

“We can get you help,” Riley insisted.

“Our orders are to contain this. Now, I must ask you to leave.” The man raised his AR-15, pointing it at Adam.

“What’s going to happen to you?” Adam needed to put the pieces together. He had to figure out what was going on.

“Every twelve hours one of us resets an alarm. When we’re dead and there’s no one to reset the alarm, the house will burn and the sickness will die with us.”

“Fine.” Adam shifted into reverse and let off the break.

“What the hell?” Riley whispered.

“Think about it. Why would these mercenaries not just kill the hostages or go to a doctor?” Adam kept his eyes on the three figures clustered in the middle of the road.

“You think there’s leverage on them?”

“Something that keeps them here, but also nothing bad enough to make them kill the hostages and themselves.” Adam pressed the car phone button. “Call Kyle.”

The speakers beeped, followed by a series of rings.

What would keep the mercs there? Why would they continue to protect a dying woman and her family? What was in it for them?

They kept the SUV creeping backward toward the main road.

The call went to voicemail.

Adam frowned and glanced at the clock. It was late, but someone should have answered.

He hit the end call button on the dash.

“What time is it in Seattle?” Adam couldn’t recall the math.

“A little after eight in the morning.”

“Call Zain.”

The SUV rang once.

“Zain’s phone,” a woman said in a sing-song voice.

“Andrea?” Adam resisted the urge to groan.

“Yes. Zain is coming. He said to answer the phone if you called. I take it this is a hard job?”

“Yeah.” Adam would normally try to muster a polite response to Zain’s wife. The woman was kept in the dark about much of their work following her own harrowing ordeal. Tonight he couldn’t make himself be nice.

“Here he is,” Andrea said.

“Hey. What’s up?” Zain’s voice was rough and weary.

“Kyle’s not answering and we’ve got a situation.” Adam caught Zain up to speed on what they’d found at the former lab site and hostage house.

“I was able to get records on an Indian account Reddy paid into. That account still has a sum of money in it, and I can tell you I’m not the only one watching it. If I remember right, some payments were made to French bank accounts.”

“Could that be it?” Riley asked. “These guys are waiting to die because of the money?”

“Any way to find out these guy’s identities? Do they have families?” Adam hated where this was going. “That could be it. They’re waiting for this disease to run its course, and on their death their families get a payday.”

“Sitting down in my home office now. Kyle sent me a link to the security camera feed.” Zain blew out a breath. “Where are you now?”

“Headed back to the safe house. We need to let someone know about the lab and those people. There could still be a serious risk to anyone who stumbles on either. Hell, they might be able to find a cure.”

“Huh.”

“What?” Adam didn’t like that sound.

“Not to alarm you, but the cameras are offline at the safe house...”

“We’re on our way. Get someone to the warehouse. See if you can track Kyle’s phone?”

“Already on it,” Zain replied.