Note to Readers
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Sassa Nilsson stopped in her tracks as her mentor, supervisor and close friend, Dr. Sam Kruger, slowed his pace. All she wanted was to grab their car from the San Francisco airport parking lot and head home to her baby. Instead, Sam halted...again. He pushed his glasses on top of his gray head and stared off into the distance—a nervous habit Sassa knew quite well.
She dragged her suitcase around him then stopped and looked back. “For someone anxious to get home, you are stalling.”
He nodded as if jarred from a serious thought. “Stalling...yes. Yes, I am.” He pulled his glasses down, straightened his spine and headed toward the elevators.
This “trip of a lifetime” had turned into a nightmare. Sassa had been Sam’s assistant for almost five years but she’d never attended even a local meeting with him. Life always seemed to get in the way. The international conference in China with the world’s leading plant biologists and agriculture experts was supposed to be a dream come true. But soon after they’d arrived, Sam received a phone call. His wife, June, was ill...so ill that his incredible focus was shot to pieces. Sassa had not seen him this disturbed since he’d received word last year that his son, Christopher, had been killed in Afghanistan. That loss had almost destroyed Sam. He might not have recovered if Sassa hadn’t had her baby.
Keri’s birth six months ago had put joy and meaning back into Sam’s life...as well as Sassa’s. This trip was her first away from the baby for any length of time and it was supposed to be a crowning achievement...for both of them since she helped put together Sam’s presentation. Instead she’d watched in horror as Sam bumbled through his lecture on plant viruses and bio-terrorism—meant to be the highlight of the conference. He’d managed to pull it together and make his point of how easily a plant virus could wipe out the world’s crops and food sources, but he hadn’t come across as the expert he was. He was brilliant, even gifted, which was why, as a professor at the relatively midsize California State University at Fresno, he’d still been awarded a massive grant to study plant pathogens.
Sassa knew Sam too well. Either June was gravely ill or something else was seriously wrong.
The elevator doors opened to an almost empty luggage area. With dawn just peeking over the horizon, crowds were light. Sassa and the professor were among the first of the flight passengers to arrive at the luggage carousel. Sam’s nervous gaze bounced around the empty baggage area as if searching for something. At last the machine clicked on and the carousel began to spin around.
“Sassa.” Sam took her arm. “My dear, I might not be driving home with you.”
“What?” Sassa spun. “You’ve been desperate to get home and see June. What do you mean?”
“A young man is coming to meet me. His name is Jared De Luca. He’s a friend. It’s just...he’ll probably be in uniform. A border patrol uniform.”
Sassa stared at him. “Sam, what is going on? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “It’s best you know nothing. I want to protect you and precious Keri.”
“Protect us from what? You’re scaring me, Sam. Tell me what’s going on. Is June really ill?”
“No. I’m not sure where June is. I haven’t been able to reach her since we left.”
“What?”
She stared at her mentor. June was missing? Sam was afraid for Sassa and the baby? He stumbled over his words, searching for a way to explain.
Over his shoulder, Sassa spotted a man walking toward them. Was this Sam’s Jared? He wasn’t wearing a uniform. He wore a black leather jacket, black pants and sunglasses, even though the sun had barely risen. He looked odd. Something about his hair...it looked fake. Even his skin appeared almost waxen as he marched toward them relentlessly, like a robot.
A walking, live robot. Like the terminator from the movie.
Sam noticed her distraction and turned. He gasped and stepped toward the stranger.
“No...”
Without hesitation, the robotic newcomer pulled a knife from beneath his leather jacket, lunged and stabbed the older man. Sassa stood frozen as Sam cried out and bent over into the man’s leather-clad arms. The terminator man pulled his knife from Sam’s chest. As the professor sagged to the ground, the guy grabbed the strap of Sam’s laptop bag, cut it free of his shoulder and spun, marching for the sliding-glass doors of the exit. Sassa watched the whole scene, frozen and speechless. She wasn’t able to make a sound until Sam hit the floor.
She screamed his name and dropped beside him. Blood flowed from her friend’s chest and bubbled from his mouth. Sassa cried out again, knowing Sam was mortally wounded.
“Call 9-1-1!” she screamed at the other passengers moving toward