WEDNESDAY. COTTON GREEN, Mumbai, India.

Adam followed Riley and Grant down the hall into the barracks. The small base wasn’t fully occupied right now due to the rotating Indian and American forces. He was going to miss that central air when night came and there were a bunch of warm bodies trying to sleep.

“Hey, Novak, wait up.” Grant reached out and smacked Adam’s shoulder.

He stopped and turned toward the Lepta Team Leader. What the hell did he want now?

“I’m not trying to start anything.” Grant held up his hands. “We all know the situation with Kyle’s dad is getting serious. I just want to know what our plans are for how to get this job wrapped up and him home.”

Adam glanced at the other end of the room where their crates were stacked. The one they’d surrendered upon entering the country was even there. Interesting. The government here really did want them to stop being a problem.

“We get State-side, you all go home, I’m staying in Atlanta.” He’d take care of the details with Zain later.

“That’s not much of a plan.” Grant’s frown deepened.

Riley was right. Grant really did look like he’d sucked on too many lemons.

“What Grant is trying to say is that, we need a plan in place so that Kyle can split when he needs to.” Riley nodded toward the window.

Outside, Kyle paced with his phone pressed to his ear and a frown on his face.

“What are you suggesting?” Adam asked.

“There’s a good reason Zain and Abigail showed up at our door to ask us to go on this op.” Grant ducked his head and scratched his ear, pausing while a couple American airmen walked by. “No phone calls, no one paying anything. They know something we don’t know, and it’s important enough they want to eat the cost of keeping your wife safe. I don’t have a horse in this race, so where I’m sitting, our job’s not done.”

Adam nodded. He still had a bad feeling about everything, but he wasn’t an impartial party to this. He had a stake in what went on.

“I’m thinking we encourage Kyle to go home. Be with his dad. Then we hole up for a few days while they figure out who the mole is. That way we keep you and your girl safe.”

“Okay. Yeah.” Adam let his gaze drop to the ground. “What else are you seeing?”

He hadn’t thought for a moment about the circumstances surrounding this job. He’d been focused on Heidi and keeping her safe to the point that obvious details had escaped him.

“We all know Abigail is still plugged into the intelligence community. Whatever deal she struck with Mossad when they cut her loose was for show. I’m willing to bet there’s a couple agencies out there who want us to get to the bottom of this—and stop it.” Grant glanced between Adam and Riley.

“No one wants outbreaks out there like what these guys can do,” Riley said.

Adam hated the idea of Heidi at the center of a global storm on this scale. All she’d set out to do was her job, and that had put her in danger.

“Why don’t you go take care of your wife, and we’ll handle things from here. When we know something, we’ll come find you, okay?” Grant asked.

“Sounds good to me.” If Adam couldn’t be counted on to keep his eyes on the big picture, he was best aimed at the small one instead.

“Go on. Get back to her.” Grant slapped him on the shoulder again.

Adam crossed to the crates and with Riley’s help got their luggage out, all the while rolling their current situation around in his head. He hadn’t paused to consider how strange it was for Luke and Abigail to show up from their main office with Zain to deliver the bad news about Heidi. Adam had been blinded by the personal connection. What weren’t they sharing with the rest of them?

Was it possible Heidi wasn’t the first person to make this connection? What if there were others out there hunting Léo and whoever he was working with? What if they’d stumbled into a massive investigation?

Adam had a bad feeling about where all of this was going.

He returned to Heidi’s room with haste, almost jogging to get there quicker. He opened the door and ducked inside, the bags banging against the locker that did double duty as a closet.

“Holy Shit. Adam.”

He turned and stared at Heidi standing at the tiny sink in her yoga pants and bra clutching the basin glaring at him.

“What are you doing on your feet?” He dropped the bags and took a step toward her.

“I smell. I’m gross. I want a shower,” she whined.

The only facilities he’d seen were communal. With her feet torn up, he wasn’t about to let her off on her own to bathe. Besides, standing in those showers would get God only knew what in the cuts on her feet.

“Sit.” He pointed at the bed.

“I’m not a dog.”

“Sit, please?”

Heidi glared at him for a moment longer then turned and hobbled the three steps to the bed.

Did she have to be so stubborn?

He’d do whatever she needed.

He picked up the sopping wet washrag in the sink and ran it under the tap, rinsing it out then wringing the excess water from the fabric. He sat on the bed next to Heidi. Her chest and stomach glistened from moisture.

“My back, please?” She twisted to face away from him.

Adam ran the cloth across her shoulders and down her back. He remembered hurried showers together while their parents were out. Then later in hotel bathrooms. They’d never been quite big enough, which usually resulted in one or both of them getting elbowed or slipping.

“Remember that one time you got soap in my eye?” he asked.

“At your parents house? Oh, God. You grabbed the shower rod and put a hole through the wall. I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Adam chuckled while he studied the pattern of freckles and moles across her shoulders. He finished washing her back then rinsed the rag out.

“They washed my calves and feet pretty well. I guess I’m good for now, at least until I can have a nice soak at home. Are they really sending us home?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’ll leave first thing tomorrow for Atlanta.” And from there the circus would start. With any luck, Zain or Abigail would have more to tell them. He doubted the Admiral would get involved. The old man was slowly winding down after a lifetime of service.

“What happens then?” she asked.

“Don’t know yet.” He draped the rag over the side of the sink then dried his hands.

He wasn’t ready to divulge the danger they were possibly headed into. Not after what Heidi went through last night.

“There’s still a few changes of clothes in here.” Adam grabbed the bags and set them on the foot of the bed.

“You are an angel.” Heidi grabbed the bag and pulled it toward her. She selected a shirt then pants.

Adam found somewhere else to look while she redressed in clean clothes.

Instead of sitting, she took another step toward him and grasped his arm, her little fingers pressing against his wrist.

“Can we talk? I mean, really talk?” Heidi bit her lip.

“What’s on your mind? Sit. You don’t need to be standing.”

He pushed their things aside and sat on the edge of the bed with her, their hands clasped. Heidi stared at the ground, which might have worried him if she wasn’t hanging on so tight.

“I don’t entirely remember last night, but there’s enough of it that stuck with me that... I’m sorry for what I said. All of it.”

“You were feverish, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any truth in what you were saying.”

“I didn’t know what I was saying—”

“Heidi, we both know I hurt you when I left without any way to contact me. I could have done a lot of things better. Maybe we wouldn’t be here now if I had?”

“Why did you tell your parents to not let me write to you? I understood we couldn’t call all the time that you were usually in dangerous areas where that wasn’t possible—but you didn’t even let me write. Why?”

“Because you needed to be focused on school, not me. That was stupid, I know.”

“You know I got the addresses for where you were? I couldn’t bring myself to send you anything though. I kept thinking he doesn’t want to hear from me.”

Adam winced and rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

“I’m not perfect. I know I messed us up as much as you did. I’m hot tempered. I run away from my problems.” She lowered her head. “I’m just like my dad.”

“What? Wait. No. Heidi, you’re nothing like your dad.” Adam reached over and cupped Heidi’s chin. How could she ever see herself like that?

“We both have a stranglehold on the person we love. Dad couldn’t let Mom go...”

Adam swallowed down his horror. In what world did she see herself like that man?

Heidi’s father was a controlling bastard. Yes, Adam thought Heidi’s mom should have left a long time ago for her own good. Hell, she should have taken Heidi with her. Maybe Heidi would have had a better future without her dad—and Adam in it.

Adam scooped Heidi up and set her on his lap. She hunched in on herself as though she could ball up into that same little person he’d found huddled between the hedges that first day they’d met.

“We’re not perfect, Heidi. I’ll give you that, but you aren’t your father. He was a sick man, and what he did was horrible. You are nothing like him. You’re kind. You care about people. Maybe more than others because of what you’ve been through.” He squeezed her a bit tighter and kissed the top of her head.

“But the things I said...”

“Were true. At some point in the last few years. We’ve done a lot of hurting each other while thinking we were both doing what was best. I thought you wanted space, and you thought I didn’t want to be with you.”

“I wanted us to work out.” She sniffled. “I mean, I know you thought it was a convenient solution for us to get married and all, but I really wanted it to work out. I thought that we might be done with breaking up and making up and all that.”

“I’d like to put that behind us now.”

“Me, too.” Heidi finally lifted her chin and stared at him. Tears clung to her lashes.

This whole time, all they’d wanted was to be together, but they’d let things that didn’t matter keep them apart.

THURSDAY. DOBBINS AIR Force Base, Marietta, Georgia.

Léo leaned against the car and tilted his head toward the radio.

Crane hadn’t said much to him since Mumbai, which was normal. He wasn’t a talkative man, but Léo had hoped for some feedback from the hints he’d dropped while in India. Because Julie had stuck with them, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Crane bluntly. Léo would like some assurance that when the time came to broach the topic of sidelining the boss, Léo would have help. This crazy plot today only proved what Léo was saying.

The radio crackled with another rapid report from someone on the tarmac. The weekend airmen had to be confused.

The base was mostly manned with reservists. According to the boss, the transport was making a special stop here courtesy of the CDC’s request to return their people. On any other day, this might be a routine drop off.

The chatter on the short wave radios had picked up with at least a dozen different people speaking in code. Léo didn’t understand most of it, but he didn’t need to. The boss had already texted him the pertinent details.

“Hey, Léo? First responders are being alerted.” Crane leaned out of the window and gestured at his radio.

“Good. It sounds like everyone on board is infected .” Léo was merely following the boss’ orders for now. This was his plan after all. Léo was merely the helping hands. If this failed, it would only serve as another example of why the boss had to take a step back.

“Listen.” Crane waved at Léo.

He leaned through the window to better hear the dispatch channel.

“Everyone on board is sick. There’s two CDC doctors on board. They’re doing what they can, but... Send someone. Anyone. Please?”

“Is everyone still on the plane? Has anyone else come into contact with the passengers?”

“No, the doctors on board were very clear about that.”

Léo chuckled before he could stop himself. When the boss was good, he was really good.

After some back and forth, dispatch let the radio controller know that help was on the way.

“That’s our cue.” Léo tapped his knuckles on the top of the car.

Crane got out and popped the trunk. They pulled out two standard green jumpsuits and slid them on over their clothes.

In the distance sirens wailed, coming closer.

Léo pulled a service gate open while Crane waved the first responders down.

One by one they turned onto the air strip.

The name of the game was confusion now. They had to keep the questions going so they could slip in and out undetected.

Léo grabbed the back of the last ambulance as it turned and stepped onto the wide, rear fender. Crane jogged to catch up and hitch a ride. Inside, the paramedic frowned at them.

The poor guy had no idea what was about to happen.

The landing crew around the fat bird of a plane was enough to grab the attention of the medical responders. What medical support the base had appeared to be on hand already, but this was a far bigger job.

The ambulance eased to a stop and Léo stepped off. The doors swung open, and the paramedics prepared to move out.

“Stay inside,” Léo said.

“What’s going on? We were—”

He drew his weapon from his jumpsuit while Crane took care of the driver.

“When I want to hear you speak, I’ll tell you to talk.” Léo stepped into the back of the ambulance and closed the doors.

The ambulance lurched, and all eyes went to the front of the vehicle.

A few drops of blood were splattered against the glass.

The back opened and Crane stepped in and unzipped his jumpsuit.

“Hands.” Léo took a step of handcuffs from the interior pocket of his suit and used them to bind the hands of the two men together.

Once the two men were secure, Léo stripped back out of his jumpsuit, already dressed for the role. The imitation paramedic uniforms were fairly easy to obtain.

“How do we look?” Léo asked the two bound men.

“I think they’re scared,” Crane said.

“I’m not even the scary one. You boys sit tight and we’ll go get your patients.” Léo nodded at Crane. “Come on, let’s go get the boss.”

They grabbed the stretcher and wheeled it out, keeping their heads down. A man in fatigues directed the first responders while the patients were helped off the plane.

That was their first mistake.

If Léo wasn’t vaccinated against this particular strain, he wouldn’t want to be in the same country.

A tall gentleman with graying hair helped a smaller woman down the stairs and onto the tarmac. Léo rolled the stretcher up to them. Cindy and John, right on time.

“She’s not showing symptoms, but she’s passed out twice,” John said.

“We’ll take care of her.” Léo helped John put Cindy on the stretcher. “Follow us, sir?”

The four made their way back to the ambulance all while paramedics raced around with no clear idea what to do. With any luck the confusion would continue to hold sway for another few minutes.

Léo glanced at the two. Everything was going according to the plan for now. He didn’t want to bet on how long that would last.

FRIDAY. HARTSFIELD–JACKSON Atlanta International Airport, Georgia.

Adam gently set Heidi in the provided wheelchair on the tarmac at the ATL airport. Confused Airmen clustered on the pavement, none the wiser about why the hell they were here.

Their flight had been diverted from the local Air Force base to the commercial airport without explanation. Adam feared what was coming next. Though the initial plan was for just their team to depart, all the passengers were directed to exit after them.

“What’s going on?” Heidi asked him while crouched at her side.

“No idea, yet. Everything’s going to be fine.” Eventually. Adam kept that last word to himself.

“Well hell,” Kyle muttered and nodded at the golf cart headed their way.

“That can’t be good.” Grant stood shoulder to shoulder with Adam as the cart stopped.

Abigail and a man wearing a windbreaker with the letters F-B-I printed on the chest got off.

“What exactly did you get us involved with?” Riley asked in his slow drawl.

Abigail didn’t so much as glance at him. The former Mossad agent was cool under pressure, but there were cracks in her mask.

“Kyle, you’re relieved.” Abigail handed him a paper folder that looked an awful lot like the kind airplane tickets were distributed in. “Go home. Be with your dad.”

“I just got the text.” Kyle took the envelope. “He passed.”

Fuck.

Adam swallowed and glanced at his Team Leader.

“I’m sorry. Go. Zain will have everything lined up for you.” Abigail patted Kyle on the shoulder. “This cart will take you to be checked out, then a connecting flight.”

“Checked out?” Heidi said.

Abigail finally turned to them. “A lot has happened, but first everyone needs to be checked and go through a health screening. They wanted to quarantine the whole plane, but we managed to talk the CDC down off that ledge.”

“What the hell happened?” Heidi glanced up at Adam, then the others. “What about Cindy and John?”

“This is Supervisory Special Agent Brooks. We’ve worked with his unit before.” Abigail nodded at the blond man next to her.

“I thought you were after serial killers and violent crimes?” Grant asked.

“That’s why I’m here.” Brooks’ expression was grim. Tight lips. Tense. Things were not good.

“Let’s walk and talk,” Abigail said, leading the way. “Brooks?”

“The plane with the two doctors came in on yesterday barely managed its landing. Everyone on board was sick. Best we can tell is that Cindy and John got in an ambulance and that truck drove off but not to any hospital. Police found it abandoned a few miles away, with both Cindy and John missing. The paramedics had the same sickness, but died before they were found.” Ryan pulled out his phone and showed them a snippet of video. All they could see was four people getting into an ambulance and leaving.

“We were right.” Heidi twisted to look up at him. “One of them is the mole. One of them is who Léo works with.”

“Where are we going now?” Grant asked.

“We’ve set up a joint CDC-FBI-DOJ task force out of the CDC offices. Given your first hand experience with the suspect, we’re anxious to get your take on everything,” Brooks said.

“Who exactly do you think is responsible?” Heidi asked

“We need to have this conversation later.” Brooks glanced over his shoulder.

Adam and the others were rushed through a quick medical screening. The medical staff on hand did everything from blood samples, stare down their throats, have them cough into bags and pee in cups before clearing their team to circumvent the airport and exit to the curbside pickup where a black SUV waited to drive them across the city.

Neither Abigail or Brooks gave them any further information about who or what they were up against until they passed through the glass doors of the CDC and up beyond the security clearance area. People were obviously not looking at them and finding other places to be.

Adam had always thought about visiting Heidi at work sometime, but never under these circumstances.

They were led into an upstairs suite where a lot of people wearing badges and carrying guns were busy leaning over maps, tablets and talking in tense tones.

“In here.” Brooks led them into a conference room.

Pictures of bodies were stuck to the wall. A few new faces sat around the table, but none glanced up at them.

“You’ve got an interesting decorator,” Riley said.

“Sit,” Grant barked.

Adam ignored the other two men and Abigail, keeping his focus on Heidi. She was all that mattered right now.

“In a few moments representatives of the CDC and DOJ are going to arrive and we have to show them something.” Brooks placed his hand on a folder sitting on the table. “My predecessor passed along five open cases that he couldn’t solve. One of those was for what we thought was a mercy killer.”

“Mercy killer?” Riley sat across from them at the table, leaning dangerously back in an armchair.

“Someone who kills to put someone out of their misery,” Heidi said.

“Exactly.” Brooks nodded at her. “Around 2000 one of those perps went dormant and we couldn’t figure out why. Five years ago we found several dead in a warehouse. They appeared to have died from a disease we couldn’t identify. The only place that contagion was ever seen before was...”

“Your hand-me-down killer?” Heidi asked. “You think Cindy or John is that person?”

“And they’ve gone to a larger scale.” Brooks gestured at the wall. “Based on how some victims were handled, we believe John isn’t the mole. He’s our suspect.”

HEIDI STARED AT SSR Brooks.

They couldn’t be right. John was the sweetest man on the planet. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less kill people. He had to be wrong. It was Cindy. It had to be her.

“It can’t be John,” Heidi blurted.

“We have evidence that proves otherwise.” Brooks pulled out a chair and sat.

“We understand this is difficult,” the woman called Abigail said.

“I don’t fucking believe you. John is a sweet, old man. He couldn’t be the mole much less a murderer. I don’t believe you. The man I’ve worked with—he couldn’t do this. If you have to paint a bull’s eye on him to a bunch of other people, first you need to prove it to me. I’ve known him since I was hired here and I promise you, it’s not John.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. It couldn’t be John. She could see Cindy, maybe, but John? There was no way.

“We searched John’s house.” Brooks nodded at another man at the far end of the table. That man pushed a stack of pages at him. “We found a book of newspaper clippings and maps in his desk.”

Brooks laid out photographs of the evidence out in front of him.

Heidi didn’t know what she was looking at. She peered at the pages. One after the next. They didn’t make sense to her, all these maps and pins.

“These are his kills. The people he murdered,” Brooks said.

“This proves nothing. These are all about trends during cold season.” She flipped to another page. “This proves...”

Her whole world stopped.

She stared at a picture of John’s home office with a larger map spread out on the desk. It wasn’t what was in the foreground that caught her eye. She swallowed and bent her head closer. Her body went cold and her stomach knotted up.

Please, no...

“That picture on the corner of his desk. Do you have a full shot of it?” she pointed at a frame only partially in the shot.

Adam leaned over her and gripped her shoulder.

He recognized that face, too.

“I believe so...” Brooks thumbed through his stack of photographs until he found one. “Here.”

“Fuck,” Adam muttered.

Heidi slumped in the chair and stared at the young man with the sad eyes.

Why would John have a picture of Léo? Why would John know the man who’d kidnapped her?

Brook’s earlier words rang back at her.

John wasn’t just the mole. He wasn’t selling CDC resources and intel, he was using it. And he’d had her—his friend—kidnapped. Léo had wanted her to work for him. Was that John’s doing?

Adam squeezed her shoulder tighter.

She planted her finger on the face of the young man with sad eyes and hunched shoulders. He hadn’t changed all that much. Her throat refused to work at first. Once she said this, once she admitted John and Léo were connected she’d have to believe it.

“That’s Léo. That’s the man who kidnapped me.” Heidi covered her mouth and shut her eyes. Her friend, the one person she’d really trusted these last few years, was a murderer. How had she missed that? Why hadn’t she seen the signs?

“This man?” Brooks tapped the picture.

“That’s him,” Adam said in Heidi’s stead.

“I’ll find out more about him.” Abigail stood and pressed her phone to her ear.

“Yeah.”

“Jade, do we know who this man is yet?” Brooks turned to the red haired woman sitting a few seats down from him.

“Léopold Peloquin,” the woman said. “John’s ward. I have someone looking into their history, but...the timeline would be about right to explain the dormant period.”

Léo was the reason John stopped killing? But he was the one behind the business and the lab. Mr. Reddy had even known who he was. What was going on?

“What the hell is happening? What does this mean? How did we not know?” Heidi shook her head. None of it made any sense.

Brooks glanced at the red haired woman. He’d called her Jade. Some look, some communication passed between the two. A language Heidi didn’t understand.

“Some people are very good at hiding their inclinations. Without observing and studying John’s behavior, we don’t have an explanation for you. I’m sorry,” the woman said.

“I’d love to offer you a moment, but we have minutes here. Please?” Brooks stared at her.

Heidi swallowed down the ball of emotions in her throat and straightened.

“What do you want to know?” She folded her hands together to keep them from shaking.

“What can you tell us about John’s behavior over the last week?” Brooks asked.

“He was very focused on us finding Heidi. If he wanted to keep her why go to the effort to help us find her?” Adam sat in the chair next to Heidi.

“It could be self preservation, he has to play the part,” Brooks said.

“Or he could be gloating. Some people like this get a lot of pleasure out of manipulating a situation.” Jade leaned forward.

“I understand what you’re saying, and I get where you’re going, but...” Heidi shook her head. “This doesn’t make sense. Léo did kidnap me. Are we sure they’re working together? What if Léo is the killer and John was just...protecting him?”

That didn’t sound as good as it had in her head.

Someone tapped on the door. Brooks glanced up and sighed.

“No, we’re not sure of anything right now. I’ve got to present what we have to the DOJ. Our agents are going to escort your team to a safe house. I’d like more time to talk to you each individually later.” Brooks pushed to his feet and buttoned his jacket.

“We’ll be available,” Adam said.

“Abigail, would you mind coming with me?” Brooks asked.

“Not at all.” Abigail kept her phone to her ear and glanced at Adam. “I’ll meet up with you guys tonight.”

Brooks grabbed a few things and strode out of the office with Abigail.

Heidi had grown close to John over the years. How was it he could do something like this? She couldn’t believe it.

“You’re going to ask yourself why you didn’t see it, how you never noticed his behavior before, if there was anything you could do. Not that you’re asking for advice, but—none of this is your fault.” Jade pushed to her feet.

Heidi stared at the woman. Her green eyes were sharp, striking. There was a story, some darkness that Jade struggled with.

“I hope they find him and Cindy.” Heidi sat back and sighed.

“Everyone’s looking for them. If you’d like, there’s an FBI team set up to take your people to a secure location.”

“Is that necessary?” Adam asked.

“Given the resources John and Léo seem to have available to them, yes,” Jade said.

“That’s not comforting at all.” Heidi stared at the ceiling.

John had infected an entire plane full of airmen, and for what? Why?

“Léo wanted me to work with them. Is it possible that they took Cindy because I got away?” she asked.

“That is a possibility,” Jade replied.

“I’d like to get Heidi something to eat,” Adam said.

Food sounded wonderful to Heidi’s empty stomach.

“Let me call the team. They’ll have food at the safe house along with your luggage. Thank you for your help.” Jade pushed to her feet and pulled out a phone.

“Were we given a choice?” Riley chuckled.

“There’s always a choice.” The corners of Jade’s mouth twitched, but she didn’t smile.

Adam turned Heidi’s chair until she faced him. He took her hands between his and leaned forward. She watched him, numb to the events going on around her.

“It’s going to be okay,” he muttered.

Heidi wanted to believe him. She really did, but how was any of this going to be okay?