“Breathe, babe.”

She blinked but his words barely registered.

“Viv. Breathe,” Logan ordered gently but firmly, his fingers giving hers a squeeze.

Her breath left her in a whoosh but she continued to stare. Swallowing deeply, she whispered, “You want me to meet your family?”

“I still don’t know what we’ve got here, Viv. But I know it feels like something real. Something that has fuckin’ roots that can grow. Fuckin’ wings that can fly.”

His words, so badass and poetic at the same time, caused her smile to slip through despite the enormity of his confession.

“I may be kinda out of practice, but I know what I feel,” he continued.

Licking her lips, she said, “We…uh…never talked about any past…relationships,” she said.

Sighing, he said, “Girl like you, gorgeous and smart. I know you’ve had men crawl over you since you were probably fourteen.”

Barking out a laugh, she shook her head. “Hardly. I had a high school boyfriend. Typical stuff. Fooling around in his daddy’s car. Dates at the pizza joint. Prom. In college, I dated a few guys, but no one ever sparked interest. In the last few year, I’ve rarely gone on a date. Most of the men I work with are married or, if they were single, we’d go out and talk about lab stuff. I work with it all day and so, why the hell would I want to spend a date talking about it? I’ve been on a few blind dates, but…nothing. No one.”

She clutched his fingers, admitting, “Until you walked through that door, barking orders and being all pissy. You were larger than life. So handsome, it almost hurts my eyes to look at you. A body that wraps around me and makes me forget everything but you. It’s like I was holding out for some kind of a hero. I didn’t know it. But I was holding out for you.” She looked down, hating to see his face if he was going to laugh at her feelings.

“I barely dated in high school…maybe one girl. Dated a few in college and had one girlfriend who lasted about four months. She was too jealous of the time I spent on my studies and getting ready for my Navy commission, so it ended. I’ll admit, I hit the bars when stationed stateside as a SEAL, but that was nothing more than an occasional scratch to an itch.”

Logan caught her minuscule wince and inwardly cursed. “Babe,” he called, waiting until she lifted her eyes to his. “Honest to God, I rarely did that. Hence the name.”

“Name?”

“Preacher.”

Biting the corner of her lip in concentration, she shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry, Logan. I don’t understand.”

“We have names we gave to each other. We rarely used our real ones. Sometimes it was based on a physical characteristic or personality trait. My last name is Bishop, so someone initially called me Preacher as a play on the religious title of Bishop. But, as they got to know me, especially the way I stayed more sober than drunk, more alone than banging a FrogHog…Preacher stuck. When I took this mission, I decided to take that as my last name for our cover.”

The important conversation was halted by the sound of cars in the driveway. Looking out, they viewed Milak, Rashad, and Nafisa alighting from their vehicles and moving into the house.

“I’m sorry, Viv,” he began, “we’re having an important discussion and get interrupted.”

Smiling, she nodded. “Yeah.” Standing, to walk over to the computers, she stopped and looked over her shoulder, grinning, “But for the record, Logan, when this is over, I’d really like to meet your family. I still think I may have just been waiting to meet you. There’s nothing you’ve told me that’s changed that.”

He watched her sit down at the table, open the laptops and begin searching the views as she picked up a pen and scribbled notes. Scrubbing his hand over his face, his heart lurched, knowing the full mission. He wondered if she would feel the same, if she knew what he was tasked to do. Once her part of the job was complete.

* * *

“Okay, something’s changed today.”

Logan looked up from his computer to Vivan’s scrunched face as she fiddled with the camera angle on her laptop. “What’s happening?”

“Up to now, they’d been cautious in the lab, but I’d determined that what they had was not highly contagious. They wore masks, but only after they had walked into the room without them. Put their gloves on in there as well. My guess, from the chemicals I’ve seen, they’ve been working with growing bacterium, but nothing airborne and certainly not lethal. Maybe practicing. Maybe looking for the best solution to increase growth productivity.”

“And today?”

“Overnight someone sealed the outside of the closed doorway with plastic. The three of them donned gloves, booties, lab suits, and masks before going in. They worked for about thirty minutes and then left again. See?”

She turned the laptop toward Logan and he observed Malik, Rashad, and Nafisa pulling off their protective lab garb and equipment and placing it in a plastic bag. Sealing the plastic covering around the door again, Malik took the bag and walked down the hall toward Akram, handing it off to him.

“Fuck,” Vivian breathed. “I wish I could get hold of that bag.”

“Let me see what I can do,” Logan said. He quickly stepped out the front door and moved to Vivian’s car sitting in the driveway. Popping the hood, he puttered around inside for a few minutes. Soon, Akram walked outside carrying the garbage bag and Logan waved before turning his attention back to Vivian’s car. Planning on following Akram, he growled as he watched the man place it in a metal drum and toss a match onto the contents. Fuckin’ hell!

Slamming the hood down, he turned as Vivian walked out onto the small porch. He was pissed about not being able to get to the bag, but seeing her put a smile on his face. He stalked over, stopping at the bottom step as she moved to the top.

Placing her hands on his shoulders, she gave a little hop, wrapping her legs around his waist. Heedless of anything else going on, he kissed her, hard and wet. His tongue dove in, tangling with hers as their noses bumped.

She pulled away, giggling, as she encircled his neck with her arms. “I was going to come tell you I saw something else, but you looked like a man who needed a kiss.”

“You got that right,” he replied. “As long as I’m the only one you kiss like that.”

Shrugging, she said glibly, “Well, I don’t know about anyone else. I guess we’ll have to see who else I’m around—”

With a growl, he kissed her again as his hand smacked her ass. Climbing the steps, he carried her back through the house. Before he could get too far, she reached up and placed her hand over his lips as they moved in for another kiss.

“Hate to interrupt this, but I need to tell you what I saw when Akram went outside with the bag.”

“Right,” he agreed, setting her feet on the floor, steadying her as she regained her balance. He followed her to the table again, where he sat next to her, looking at where she pointed on the screen.

“Look there. They take off their compromised lab suits and give them to Akram. Now watch.”

He stared at the screen as Malik, Rashad, and Nafisa went into the kitchen. Taking two bottles out of one of the kitchen cabinets, Malik shook out several pills. Handing them to Rashad and Nafisa, he took two and then placed the bottle back into the kitchen cabinet. Farrah was standing to the side, pouring glasses of water for each of them. All three swallowed the pills before handing the glasses back to Farrah.

Hearing a car door slam, he and Vivian shared a look before he checked the outside camera, seeing the three climb back into their cars and drive down the road.

Shifting his gaze back to her, he said, “Viv, you’ve gotta break this down for me. What’s happening?”

“I can’t see what’s in those bottles, but my guess is that they’re some kind of antibiotic. Taken as a prophylaxis. As a preventative. If they were dealing with a virus, there would be no need. So, my guess, at this time, is they are working with bacterium. Now, which one, I’ve got no clue.”

“If you knew what antibiotic they were taking, would that narrow it down?”

Scrunching her face, she nodded slowly. “Yeah, but you’ve got to understand that it won’t tell me what it is, just maybe tell me what it isn’t.”

“This is Thursday. Tomorrow, they don’t work, since it’s Friday. But, today, Akram and Farrah usually go to the grocery store. I can get in and find out for you.”

“Logan,” she said, her eyes wide with fear. “You can’t go in that sealed room. Not now—”

“No, no,” he assured, “I mean, find out what pills they are taking.”

“Okay,” she said, her heart pounding with an unspoken fear.

“What is it, Viv?”

She let out a long breath. “Up to now, it’s been playacting. Watching a computer screen or out the window. Pretending to be something we’re not. Even setting up my lab in the shed. But this,” she pointed to the Zaman’s house. “You going in, hoping you don’t get caught. Actually going into the bad guys’ lair.” She swallowed audibly. “Now this seems real. And scary.”

Turning toward her, he placed his hands on her face, his warmth surrounding her cold cheeks. “Babe, I got this. This is nothing compared to what I used to do. This is, honest to God, like a child’s party. And, I promise, nothing will happen to you.”

“I’m not worried about me,” she whispered, her dark eyes still wide as they stayed pinned on his.

“Then you got nothing to worry about,” he promised, pulling her in for a kiss.