Damn! Daycon Laboratories issued her calling card and Daycon had probably canceled it the minute she’d left Austin. He had not been idle in the hours she was infirm. She wondered if he could somehow trace her through the card. Terrified at the prospect, she slammed down the phone. She regretted the company phone card, corporate bank account and car they’d leased for her.
Oh, no, what if Daycon had frozen her checking account, as well? A sharp pain rippled through Hannah’s chest, then disappeared.
Don’t panic, calm down, think. What next?
She couldn’t risk dialing direct and having Marcus’s phone number appear on Tyler’s telephone bill. She would call collect. Hannah dialed again and gave her name to an automated operator. Nervously she drummed her fingers on the counter.
“Hello,” a sleepy male replied.
Relief shot through her, and she unclenched her fists. Marcus was safe.
“Hannah?” he said once the call had been patched through. “Is that you?”
“Listen Marcus, listen to me very carefully—you’re in grave danger.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Something very strange is happening,” she whispered. “It’s about Virusall.”
“What’s the matter?”
“The drug is amazing. Much more effective than we guessed. It eradicates every virus I’ve tested it on. HIV, Ebola, hepatitis, influenza, even the common cold.”
“You’re kidding! That’s world-changing news.”
“I know, but wait, here’s the bad part. There are serious side effects. Everyone with type O blood that took the drug during the clinical trials eventually had psychotic breaks. They all became extremely violent.”
“But only people with type O blood?”
“As far as we know. The effects seem permanent.”
“My God, Hannah, that’s catastrophic.”
“It gets worse.”
“How much worse can it get?”
“I went to Daycon with my findings.”
“That unscrupulous bastard.” There was no love lost between Marcus and Daycon. “What did he do? Try and doctor the clinical trials?”
“He’s more unscrupulous than you ever dreamed.”
“Tell me.”
“I found out he was attempting to sell Virusall to overseas terrorists. He wants to create made-to-order assassins.” She gripped the receiver hard.
“Did you call the police?”
“I couldn’t.” She lowered her voice. Paranoia had her thinking Tyler’s phone was tapped, even though she knew it wasn’t possible. “He has a rogue CIA agent making the contacts for him.”
“Hannah!”
“I knew I had to destroy the drug but I also knew I had to find an antidote for those poor test subjects. I packed up a few samples, e-mailed an encrypted version of the formula to you and then I torched Daycon Laboratories to the ground. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. The fire was all over the news.”
“I don’t even have a television up here, Hannah, and I haven’t checked my e-mail in a few days.”
“That’s why you’re in danger. If Daycon even suspects I sent you the formula…” She let her words trail off. “You’ve got to download it, put it in a safe place and then eradicate that e-mail.”
“I’ll take care of it. In the meantime, where are you?”
The tender note of concern in his voice almost had her losing her control. She had to stay calm and not give herself away. While Tyler’s phone probably wasn’t bugged, Marcus’s definitely could be.
“I’m safe for now. It’s better if you don’t know where I am, but I’ll be headed in your direction as soon as I can.”
“You sound odd. Is there something else you’re not telling me?” he coaxed. Her old friend knew her too well. She was trying to be brave, but it was so tempting to let down her guard just a bit with someone she trusted.
“Daycon’s men found me.” She gulped, then briefly told him about the accident.
“My God, Hannah, are you okay?”
“Marcus, I’m really scared. Some very bizarre things have been happening to my body.” Gingerly, she reached down to rub the leg that had been fractured and then traced her fingers over the right-upper quadrant of her abdomen. “And I think it was because the vials of Virusall broke during the accident and burned my skin.”
“The drug is toxic?”
“Not exactly.”
“What exactly? Talk to me. I want to help.”
Deciding to tell him everything, Hannah took a deep breath and related her suspicions that absorbing Virusall through her skin had cured her injuries.
“That’s amazing,” he said.
“But how would it be possible?”
“You said the drug was very unstable and that it did have miraculous healing properties.”
“We’re talking spontaneous regeneration here, Marcus. It’s the stuff of science fiction. And nothing of this magnitude occurred during the clinical trials.”
“Did any of the test subjects have AB negative blood like you do?”
“No, but would my blood type actually make that big a difference?”
“Look what Virusall did to the people with type O.”
“I can’t believe it’s simply the drug and my blood type responsible for my healing. There’s got to be something more.”
Marcus’s tone dropped an octave. “I know what it is.”
Her heart thundered. She couldn’t even believe they were having this conversation. The discussion flew in the face of rational scientific evidence, but she could not deny what was happening to her.
“What?” she whispered, bracing herself for his theory.
“Remember when we were experimenting with radioisotopes last summer?” he said. “And there was a radiation leak at the lab? Daycon hadn’t installed the proper safety ventilation and we both got sick.”
“But he assured us the exposure was minimal. We were even tested for chromosomal changes and we came up clean.”
“And you believed him? You’ve already learned how ruthless he is. The man would lie about anything to serve his own nefarious purposes.”
Hannah sucked in air as the reality of the situation hit her. Inexplicable as it seemed, with the triple combination of her rare blood type, the topical absorption of Virusall and her recent exposure to radiation, she’d become her own human guinea pig. While the womanly part of her was horrified at the realization, the clinician in her recognized what an amazing opportunity she’d been given.
“But, Marcus, what does it all mean?” she cried.
And that was when the line went dead.
Chapter 4
Tyler couldn’t sleep.
No matter how hard he tried to quiet his turbulent thoughts, his mind stayed hitched on that fascinating woman sleeping in his guest bedroom right down the hall. It had been an eternity since anyone had entranced him, much less set his soul ablaze.
And he was scared spitless.
He