Finding Trust (Centre Games) (20 page)

“Oh, I’ve got no doubt they’re a quality outfit, boss. I just question what their motives truly are.” Brayden ran his fingers through his hair again.

“Right. Let me see what I can dig up before two. I don’t want you walking into anything.”

Before either of them could respond, the connection was cut.

“Wow, he sounds pissed.”

“Boss doesn’t like to be dicked around by anyone, particularly bureaucrats, and I think the feds might have the bull by the wrong horn on this occasion.” Bray spun the wheel and pulled into a fast-food drive thru just a little too quickly.

“Are you okay with this for lunch? We don’t have time for much else.” He glanced across at her, already in the drive thru lane.

“Sure. Food is the least of my worries at the moment. Just get me the chicken wrap and a bottle of lemonade, please.”

Brayden placed their order and drove on to the next window, stopping at the window to pay before heading to the next to pick up the food. He took the bag of food and passed it to her. Brayden drove out of the car park and down a few streets, stopping in a quiet back street under the shade of a tree.

He turned to Rihanna, who was busy sorting out the food in the bag. He took the large beef hamburger she handed to him and immediately started digging in.

“So do you think they’ve done it?” he asked around a mouthful of burger.

“Yeah, I do,” she replied, removing different salad items from her chicken wrap.

“Fuck. I don’t trust Matthews as far as I can toss him. Little prick is so desperate to impress you, it’s sickening. I’m struggling not to pound him into the ground.” He took another bite, chewed and swallowed quickly.

“By the way, you clearly sent him the
back off
vibe.” He lifted his eyebrows at her.

She laughed out loud at that. “Yeah, I definitely did with him. He makes my skin crawl.”

“If we go in and anything feels off, I need you to let me know and I’ll get you out of there.” He’d stopped eating and was looking directly at her eyes. “I mean it, Rih. The least little thing feels off and you let me know. I don’t want you anywhere near these guys if they’re dangerous.”

“I’m sure it will be fine, Bray. I’ve dealt with lots of kooky scientists in my time.”

“I’m sure you have but I’m not about to risk you for anything.”

“But if it means I can help stop the virus, I need to be there,” she said, a little frustrated at his need to protect her.

“Rihanna, if this turns out wrong, we’ll simply find another way. Risking you is not worth it.”

“But we need to get this thing sorted, Bray,” she said, slamming her hand onto the leather wrapped dash.

He took her hands in his and looked directly at her. “I won’t lose you to these guys.”

“They’re probably just two lab kooks.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said, starting the car and pulling back onto the road.

Chapter Fifteen

Brayden pulled the car to a halt farther down the row from where it had been parked before. A few more vehicles were in the car park now. She glanced across at Brayden and he looked twitchy.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“No, I’m not. Obviously the boss hasn’t got anything, otherwise we’d have heard from him by now. Something’s not right.”

He looked totally on edge. She swore she could see the energy sparking off him.

“I’m sure you’re worried about nothing.” Her voice was hardly convincing. In fact, she wasn’t convinced at all. Mainly because Bray was so clearly not on board with this plan.

“Okay, let’s do it. Same rules as before. And if anything feels off, let me know and we get out of there.”

She moved to gather her things when he leant over and captured her face between his hands.

“Kiss me, babe.” He closed his lips over hers before he gave her even a chance to answer. His tongue stabbed into her mouth, seeking entry. The kiss was desperate, hungry and she was lost in the moment. He shifted the angle of his head and she moaned as their lips slightly parted. He went to pull away and she grabbed him by the back of the head, pulling him back to her. She needed to feel his passion and desire for just a moment longer.

This time when they pulled apart, she was breathing heavy.

“Okay, I’m coming round to get you now,” he said as he opened the door to get out.

She took a deep breath, trying to get her composure back. He helped her out and stuck close to her side as they moved to the building.

The security procedure was much easier this time and they were quickly back in the lab with Sullivan and Matthews.

“Ready to get started?” Sullivan asked.

“Sure. What’re you going to show us?” She wanted to get this show on the road as quickly as possible and get the hell out of there.

“Well, I thought we’d show you a release of the virus as a gas and as a liquid. I’m quite proud of the fact that we’ve managed to create both.” She could hear the pride in his voice.

“How are you going to demo it?”

“Well, I thought I’d just release it into a containment chamber and then evacuate it.”

“And what sort of safety procedures have you got in place?”

“Oh, it’s totally safe, my dear. We’ll watch it all from just over at that viewing window.” He pointed to a long narrow window to the side of the lab. “The containment chamber sits inside the room next door. Should any particles escape, they will be collected in the outer chamber room and sucked through our filtration and disinfecting systems, finally to be returned to a liquid, and disposed of as grey water recycling.”

“And so how do we know it has been successful?”

“Well, the scopes inside the chamber will give us a reading on the volumes of the live virus particles in the chamber. The data will be auto routed to the monitor beside the window.”

“Okay, let’s not drag this out any further. Let’s see it, Jerry.” Rihanna wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. These guys were just a little too scary spooky for her.

“Of course, Rihanna,” he said, rubbing his hands together as he headed to the window. “Come, come,” he called to them.

They moved towards the viewing window and Bray leaned into her, whispering, “Is this totally safe?”

“I think so. I’m guessing they wouldn’t risk their own exposure.”

“I hope you’re right,” he whispered back as she moved to take up position beside Jerry. She noticed that Brayden stood slightly behind her left shoulder. Outwardly he looked relaxed but she could feel the tension rolling off him.

“Set the demonstration in motion, will you please, Jeremy?”

Jeremy reached up and pressed a couple of buttons on the control panel beside the window. They could clearly see a mist of stream of what looked like water enter the Perspex chamber in the middle of the room.

“Now, look at those readings: virus is at eighty-two percent concentration.” The glee in his voice was undeniable.

It sent a chill down Rihanna’s spine.

“Evacuate the chamber, Jeremy, and switch to gas.”

Jeremy pressed the large red button to the side of the panel and all the water vapour vanished into the compartment at the base of the box. The box then started to fill with a pale pinkish gas. If she didn’t know better, it almost looked like a perfume cloud, only highly deadly.

“Those readings aren’t quite as good but still significant. Sixty-seven percent concentration.”

“What’s the lifespan of the virus once exposed to the environment?”

“Well, that’s the interesting thing. The virus seems to remain stable for around eight hours in the two carrier mechanisms that we have demonstrated this afternoon.”

“Have you conducted any research or testing into neutralising the liquid or the gas transmission?”

“Not at this stage. It’s only in the last couple of weeks that we discovered the carrier mechanism.”

They moved away from the window and headed back to the bench. Rihanna noticed Jeremy checking his watch and looking a little anxious.

“It’s impressive work, Jerry,” Rihanna offered.

“Thank you, that means a lot coming from a fellow scientist and researcher. I’ve read some of the papers you and your father have produced. In fact, some of your research around a carrier for the vaccine led me to these breakthroughs.”

Rihanna was about to ask the question that had been bugging her since this morning when a voice came across the internal speaker system. “Dr Matthews, report to the loading dock. Dr Matthews, loading dock.”

Matthews turned and headed to the door. “I’ll see you all later,” he threw over his shoulder.

Rihanna’s skin started to twitch and she had the terrible feeling that something wasn’t right.

“So why did you do it, Jerry?”

“Oh, my dear, that’s simple. Because everyone said it couldn’t be done.” The pride in his voice was evident. Clearly, he’d given little thought to what the ramifications were.

Rihanna felt Brayden move up behind her and put his side against hers.

“Rih, we need to get out of here now,” he whispered.

Brayden stepped forward and placed his body between Rihanna and Sullivan. “Jerry, I’m sorry but we seem to have another follow-up call from the one earlier. Rihanna and I need to leave now.”

“Oh, what a shame. We’ll carry on tomorrow. Bright and early.”

Rihanna didn’t know what was going on but Bray was in a hell of a hurry to get out of the building and she had to say that the little voice in her head was telling her exactly the same thing.

They got through the first set of security doors and Brayden grabbed Rihanna’s hand and practically charged down the maze of corridors. He hit the release button with a fist at every set of doors. A sideways glance told her his jaw was set solid and he was totally focused on getting them out of there.

They came out of the building and hurried towards the car as Rihanna noticed a black sedan come around the side of the building. Bray swooped her up in his arms and sprinted the distance to the car. He flung open the passenger door and dropped her unceremoniously inside, slamming the door and then, placing one hand in the centre of the hood, vaulted over the front of the car.

“Put your seat belt on now,” he growled as he slid into the car.

He was in beside her and had the engine started in a split second. Her head was thrown back against the seat as the car lurched backwards and then forwards as Bray slammed the car into drive, spun the wheel and planted his right foot.

“Ahhhh,” she screamed as they narrowly missed the black sedan as it seemed to be trying to block their exit. It was only due to Brayden ripping the wheel one way and then immediately back the other that they avoided the collision.

“Bray, what’s going on?”

“Not now, babe, I’m kind of busy.”

They were on the street and heading for the freeway, the black sedan trying to gain on them. Parked cars flashed by and they’d nearly collided with cars at the two intersections he’d run through against the traffic.

Rihanna could do nothing but hold firm, one hand on the door handle and the other on the dashboard to protect her from the abrupt acceleration and vicious braking.

“Look out—there’s another car coming from the left,” she screamed.

Bray glanced left and noticed what Rihanna was screaming about. They were a split second away from being T-boned. Bray floored it and the car shot forward even faster. The car coming from the left skidded to a halt, the driver laying on the horn and shaking his fist.

He took the exit to the expressway on what seemed and sounded like two wheels. The tyres screamed their protest at the speed in which the corner was negotiated. As they merged, Bray immediately started weaving in and out of traffic, trying to gain an advantage. The black sedan refused to be shaken free.

Cars and trucks were approaching the front bumper of the car at an alarming speed. Her world was running on fast forward. The engine of the car was screaming in response to Brayden’s right boot planted firmly against the floor.

She snuck a glance at Brayden; he seemed totally focused but icily calm amongst the madness that seemed to be operating at warp speed.

“They’re still there, Rih. Hang on, babe, I’m gonna try something.”

She looked up and to the right and immediately she understood what he planned. Bray had moved the vehicle into the service lane. A break in the shrubs separated the north and southbound lanes for emergency vehicles.

At the last second, he stomped on the brakes and yanked the wheel to the right, sending the car into a four-wheel power slide between the north and southbound lanes. Her head slammed into the window from the G force of the manoeuvre. Pain shot down her left side.

By the grace of God, there was a gap in the far-right lane of the northbound traffic and Bray managed to correct the car’s course by using both the outside and service lane. They were racing northbound again, dodging in and out of traffic. The smell of burning rubber was still pungent in her nostrils.

“Can you see them?” she shrieked.

“I think we’ve lost them,” he said, remarkably calm as he took the next northbound exit.

Rihanna relaxed enough to realise she’d been holding her breath. Bray kept driving at a speed significantly more than the speed limit but nowhere near the breakneck speed he’d been travelling at moments ago.

“Where are we going?” she asked, confused by his selection of roads.

“We’re going to take the back roads home. I’m not risking putting us back on the highway. It’ll take a little longer but we’ll get there.”

She took another few deep, cleansing breaths.

“Bray, we need to call the police. That was totally out of control crazy. We’ve just been in a fucking car chase down the M1. What the hell’s that about?”

To Rihanna’s complete astonishment, he threw his head back and laughed. Full-bellied laughing his ass off laughter.

She glared at him, temper fuming. “What the fuck are you laughing about? We could have been killed or worse still, killed other people on the road.”

He stopped laughing long enough to take a quick sideways glance at her. “I know it felt bad but we were almost perfectly safe.” He grinned.

“What drugs are you on? Perfectly safe, my arse. It was a fucking car chase,” she stormed.

Her anger seemed to act as an antidote for his laughter. “Rih, it may be small consolation now but I’m fully trained in high speed and defensive driving. The Centre also makes sure we have refreshers at least once a year. I do agree that these sort of things are not appropriate for public streets.” He glanced at her, checking to see how she was taking his comments. “My gut feeling is that the guys in the black sedan were part of the group that we’re tracking. I think Matthews alerted them to us being in the building. I need to call this in to the boss.”

Before she had time to add anything further, he set about making that call. “Call Tom Anderson mobile,” he instructed the audio system.

“Calling,” the automated reply responded.

“Anderson.”

“Boss, it’s Bray and Rihanna. Time to rethink the plan. Shit hit the fan in a big way.”

“What’s happened?”

“We’ve just had a carload of suspects try to engage us.” He paused. “It resulted in a rather public high-speed car chase down the M1.”

“Fuck. Did you recognise any of them?”

“No but I’ve had a weird gut feeling all day, and it got a lot worse this afternoon. They did the demo and then Matthews disappeared to some page that felt like a setup to me. I got Rihanna out of there immediately and as we came out of the building, a black sedan tried to run us down. The car chase ensued. We’ve evaded them now and are snaking our way home through back roads.”

“Watch for tails. I’ll see what I can get happening here with regard to surveillance. Do you have a make and registration number?”

“Yeah—black, EB Commodore; 876 SPU were the plates.”

“Did you get a look at the occupants?”

“Not a great look. Windows seemed to be darker than legal tint. But I got enough of a view to be confident they’re of Asian descent; at a guess, I’d say northern Chinese. They were big boys.”