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  Gemma had mentioned him. “I know a little about it.”

  “He messed her up. She’s been skittish for years about men. You’re the first man with whom she’s shown signs of getting over him. Don’t hurt her and undo that.”

  If he could protect Gemma’s feelings and pursue his dreams, nothing would stop him. But it wasn’t a choice. She was clear she couldn’t keep boundaries in her heart and he had a job waiting for him. “What would you suggest?”

  “Let her love you.”

  Rafe started at the simplicity of the answer. “Won’t that hurt her more in the end?”

  Jessica shrugged. “Maybe. But I have the feeling that constantly reminding her that you’re leaving hurts more because you’re using it as an excuse to keep your distance.”

  Her reasoning struck him hard. He had risked nothing with Gemma because he had known the relationship would end. Keeping Gemma inside a box—his lover in Dead River and nothing more—meant he could leave her here when he left. He didn’t have to think about how he would feel about a future with her because there wasn’t one.

  Somehow, though he hadn’t intended for it to happen, he felt more for her than that.

  Chapter 12

  Gram Dottie had lost too much weight. Gemma didn’t want to think about putting a feeding tube in her grandmother. Painful for the patient and fraught with additional medical complications, Gemma tried to entice her grandmother with Nina’s chicken soup.

  “Nina cooked this special for you,” Gemma said.

  Her grandmother watched her with tired eyes. She had swallowed a few spoonfuls, but she was looking at the bowl disdainfully. “I’ll eat some in a little while. Tell me how you are doing.”

  Gemma set down the bowl. “I’m doing okay. I’m worried about you and Jessica and Annabelle and all my patients.”

  “The last time I saw your grandfather, I told him I couldn’t wait to see him again,” Gram Dottie said.

  Gemma did not like where this conversation was leading. “Now is not that time.”

  “Gemma, you have to fight for what you want, but there are times when what we need and what we want aren’t the same. I am tired. I’ve been fighting this illness. I can’t fight forever.”

  Gemma felt tears in her eyes. She wasn’t giving her grandmother the option of saying goodbye. Death wasn’t a choice. “Rafe has made progress in finding a cure. We learned some information recently that might help us.”

  Gram Dottie smiled. “I’m old. I’ve lived my life. If you have a cure, it should go to the young people. The people who need it most so they can have as happy a life as I’ve had.”

  Gemma wasn’t ready to let go of her grandmother. “Once we have a cure, we can replicate it.”

  “I don’t have time, Gemma, and I won’t take someone else’s chance. I’ve been given so many happy years.”

  Gemma wanted to tear off her HAZMAT suit. Maybe prove to her grandmother that she had confidence in Rafe finding a cure. Her grandmother just had to fight a little longer. “Please, Gram, don’t give up. Not yet.”

  Gram Dottie closed her eyes. “Let’s talk on the computer tomorrow with your brothers and their families. I want to hear Theo, Ellie, Amelia, Flint and Nina’s voices. I want to hear about you and this handsome doctor who makes your smile brighter than it’s been in years.”

  Rafe? She hadn’t told her grandmother anything was going on with him. Then again, her grandmother had always been perceptive. “I’ll call the boys and we’ll set it up.”

  As Gemma left her grandmother to rest, she hoped she could have another day with her. Lately, Gemma felt she had been hoping and pining for a little more, a little longer. Time was working against her patients and against her.

  Gemma exited the virus wing and removed her HAZMAT suit. She needed to update her patients’ records in the computer with her observations and notes. For some reason, the system wasn’t working in the virus wing. Every time she tried to open the medical records application, it crashed.

  She rebooted the computer in the reception area and strode toward the doctors’ offices. She’d update Dr. Rand on her patients verbally, and she wanted him to take a close look at her grandmother.

  Dr. Rand wasn’t in his office. Was he resting in the doctor-and-nurse lounge? Gemma heard a crash from the laboratory and ran to investigate.

  Dr. Rand was inside the lab and not in his hazmat suit. He was throwing papers into a large metal trashcan. He was smashing their virus samples. What was he doing? What had happened?

  Banging on the door’s window to get his attention, he turned to face her. He had a wild look in his eyes that scared her. She stepped back from the door.

  She’d call Flint. He had the video surveillance. He could see what had happened.

  She ran to the reception area to the phone. Lifting the handle, she started to dial.

  Dr. Rand slammed into her, knocking the phone from her hand. She hit the wall hard.

  “What are you doing?” Dr. Rand screamed. He was shaking and his eyes were bloodshot, his forehead sweaty. Was he sick with the virus?

  “What’s the matter? What happened in the lab?” Gemma asked.

  “Contaminated! Everything! The virus is loose. I can’t control it. I can’t contain it.”

  Was he having a total break with reality? A stress reaction? “Dr. Rand, please calm down. Tell me what happened.”

  Dr. Rand pulled at his hair and looked around. “Mimi got sick and died. Her baby survived. How? How is Theo alive? Countless others are dead.”

  Gemma was cornered in the reception area. She needed to circle around Dr. Rand and flee. This might be some grief reaction to his ex-wife’s death or a panicked reaction to an accidental exposure to the Dead River virus. “I know you cared about Mimi and this is hard for all of us.”

  “I hated her! All she cared about was your brother! She wanted some happily-ever-after with him. I told her she was a fool. Why would she think a one-night stand meant anything? She wasn’t sure at first if the baby was Theo’s or some other guy’s.”

  Theo had said that his one night with Mimi was something neither of them pursued further. Perhaps having a baby had changed Mimi’s mind? “I know you tried to save her.”

  “I didn’t try to save her. Now, it’s too late. The virus wasn’t supposed to spread. How is it spreading? It shouldn’t have gone this far. It’s getting stronger. It’s mutating.”

  He was speaking as if he had spread the virus. Old suspicions crept into her thoughts. “We’re working on a cure.”

  Dr. Rand looked around. “There is no cure. You know there isn’t. You and Rafe have been doing your secret research. You’ve figured it out, haven’t you? Nothing will fix this. Nothing.”

  She and Rafe had been careful about who they’d shared their results with, but they’d been conducting their work in the lab. “We’ve gotten a sequence.” Why was Dr. Rand certain they wouldn’t find a cure? What did he know that she didn’t?

  “You know it will lead to Dugway and then to me. You know I injected Mimi.”

  Dugway? What was he talking about? He was taking responsibility for the Dead River virus and for killing Mimi. Panic rose in her throat. Dr. Rand had lost it.

  “It shouldn’t have gone this far,” Dr. Rand said.

  Then Dr. Rand lifted his hand from his doctor’s coat. He had a syringe in it. “Come here, Gemma. You’re too nosy. You ask too many questions. I need to start cleaning up this mess. Starting with you.”

  Gemma tried to run, but Dr. Rand grabbed her arm and threw her to the floor. He climbed on top of her, pinning her with his body. She felt the injection into her shoulder and cried out. Hot fluid pushed into her. Was he killing her, forcing her to overdose?

  “Don’t worry. If you and Mimi respond the same, you’ll be dead in hour
s. I’ll stay right here with you until that happens. I can try to save you, but we know I can’t.”

  Gemma tried to stay focused, but her eyes began to water and her stomach roiled. He had injected her with the Dead River virus.

  Then she heard Rafe’s voice. Was Rafe here or was she hallucinating?

  * * *

  The undergraduate degree hanging in Dr. Lucas Rand’s office was from the University of Wyoming, same as the government researcher who’d been listed in the bios of the document he’d been provided. Rafe didn’t know how or why yet, but Dr. Rand was involved with the Dead River virus.

  The moment he made the connection, Rafe remembered that Dr. Rand and Gemma were working tonight. He arrived at the clinic to find Dr. Rand on top of limp Gemma.

  Rafe would kill him. What had he done to her? Rafe grabbed Dr. Rand and hurled him off Gemma. Dr. Rand swung a syringe at him. What was in the syringe?

  “You picked the wrong time to check on your girlfriend,” Dr. Rand said. He was sweating and his face was red.

  “What did you do to her?” Rafe asked.

  Gemma was motionless on the floor.

  Dr. Rand smiled evilly. “Gemma got sick. I tried to help her.”

  He hadn’t tried to help her. He had tried to kill her.

  Dr. Rand seemed on the edge. Rafe was careful not to push him further. “I’ve already called Flint. Put the syringe down and we’ll talk about this.”

  Dr. Rand shook his head. “The chief of police won’t believe me. He didn’t believe me when I told him about Danny attacking me.”

  “Because it didn’t happen,” Rafe said, realizing how sick Dr. Rand was. Gemma had been right, and it was even worse than she had suspected.

  Dr. Rand lunged at Rafe again. Rafe grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. Dr. Rand let out a howl and dropped the syringe.

  “Are you insane?” Rafe asked. “You’ve been behind everything, haven’t you?”

  “Have I thwarted your plans to have a perfect life in Dead River? The long-lost doctor returns to be hero of the clinic, winning the girl and fostering his own little family. Please, how long can you keep up that charade? I’ve saved you from a life of boredom.”

  Dr. Rand threw himself toward the syringe. Rafe scrambled for control of it. Dr. Rand let out a howl of pain as the end of the needle punctured his palm.

  Dr. Rand held his hand. “I’ve gotten it.”

  “What was in the syringe, Rand?” Rafe asked.

  “Dead River virus,” Rand said, horror written on his face.

  The man appeared surprised that he’d injected himself and Rafe took advantage. He landed a punch across Dr. Rand’s face. Dr. Rand dropped to the ground, motionless.

  Rafe kicked the syringe out of reach.

  Gemma moaned and Rafe turned his attention to her.

  He looked her over for some signs of what had happened. Had Dr. Rand injected her with the Dead River virus?

  Dr. Rand rose to his feet and raced out of the room. Rafe considered chasing him, but Gemma needed medical attention.

  Looking her over, he found a red spot on her arm. Dr. Rand had infected her.

  “Gemma? Gemma, can you hear me?”

  “Rafe? The virus. Isolation.” She was mumbling, but he could make out the words and the message was clear.

  Flint burst into the clinic and Rafe called out to him for help.

  “Dr. Rand injected Gemma with the Dead River virus. He fled on foot.”

  Flint would handle Dr. Rand. Rafe had one priority: to take care of Gemma and keep her alive until he could find a cure.

  * * *

  The FBI had arrested Travis Kayhill, former lead scientist of the Classified Virus Center at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The site of the army’s test facility for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives was the source of the virus.

  The FBI had Kayhill in an interview room and they were allowing Rafe to question him over a video call.

  “We haven’t been able to convince him to reveal how he smuggled the virus out of the lab,” the FBI agent said.

  Rafe didn’t care about the how and the why of what Kayhill had done. He needed Kayhill to help him with the cure.

  “Tell me how to cure the people who have been infected,” Rafe said.

  Kayhill lifted his cuffed hands and scratched his head. “There isn’t a cure. The virus is resistant to anti-virals.”

  The scientist didn’t seem interested in helping. It didn’t bode well for them. “How do we stop the spread?” Rafe asked.

  “It’s not airborne. At least, it wasn’t four months ago.”

  “What would have changed?” Rafe asked.

  Kayhill glanced at his lawyer. They had struck a deal to lighten Kayhill’s sentence for his cooperation in helping Rafe and divulging what he knew about the virus. “What made it of interest to the United States—”

  “The United States is not claiming any responsibility for this virus. This is a rogue scientist.” The representative from the military was in the room to ensure no secrets were leaked and likely to keep the government’s distance from the Dead River virus outbreak.

  Rafe didn’t care about where responsibility lay. He needed answers.

  Kayhill cleared his throat. “What made this of particular interest in general,” he glanced at the uniformed military man, “is that the virus mutates quickly and stays alive for a long period on a host, draining them slowly enough to infect many others. Except when administered in high doses. High doses are lethal within hours, maybe days, depending on an individual’s immune system response.”

  Rafe thought of Gemma laying in a coma in the virus wing. Her vitals were stable, but Rafe knew the virus was multiplying inside her, taking over her body. If he didn’t find a cure, she would die.

  “Tell me how to cure it,” Rafe said again. “I have hundreds of people sick. I need to help them.”

  Kayhill sighed. “It’s not simple to explain how to find a cure. The research was started, but we weren’t able to develop a cure, which made it unusable as a weapon. Until the government, I mean, until I found a cure, I didn’t want to release it into the world. It could create a worldwide epidemic.”

  “Why would you give it to Lucas Rand?” Rafe asked. The question wasn’t relevant to what Rafe needed, but he couldn’t understand this man’s motivations.

  “He was enthusiastic about my research. He paid well. I didn’t think a cure was necessary in capable hands,” Kayhill said.

  “Did you know that Rand planned to use it to kill his wife?” the FBI agent asked.

  After conferring with his lawyer, Kayhill responded. “No.”

  “Tell me everything you know about the cure. I need your research leading up to it. We don’t have time to cover ground you’ve already explored,” Rafe said.

  “I don’t have the research. You’ll need to speak to the United States government about that.”

  The military man looked like his head was going to blow off. “We have researchers who are looking for antidotes to the illnesses that threaten the American people. We will check our databases and be in touch with any relevant information.”

  Rafe couldn’t hide his frustration. Dr. Goodhue seemed perplexed. They would have to cut through red tape to make this work, but could they cut through it fast enough to save Gemma?

  * * *

  Flint stayed close to Nina as they combed the woods for Lucas Rand. Flint had organized search parties of volunteers with an officer in each party. From what Rafe had described, Rand was not armed with a gun, but he was unhinged and he could have acquired one.

  Dead River was surrounded by woods and caves nestled against the Laramie Mountains. It meant many places to hide. In the dead of winter, it was also a barren, unforgiving
place to try to survive.

  Unless Dr. Rand had contingency plans and had supplies out here, he couldn’t last long.

  “If we spot him, I need you to stay back,” Flint said to Nina.

  Nina had experience with search and rescue, but looking for Dr. Rand was dangerous. He had attacked Gemma, he had attacked Rafe and he would be desperate to escape. A life in prison would be terrifying for the doctor. Flint wouldn’t let Lucas Rand hurt Nina.

  Flint recalled Gemma’s warning about Dr. Rand from earlier in the month in the café. She believed he had harmed patients. Knowing what he did about the last several months, he could picture Dr. Rand as the culprit for the events at the clinic: the alleged break-in of his office, the trashing of Rafe’s office and the lab, the “attack” on himself, the assaults on Gemma, the stolen items in Danny’s bedroom and the problems the clinic had experienced.

  Had Dr. Rand done this because he had wanted to kill his wife? Cover-ups could be complicated and unexpected situations were what caused a criminal to go from free to locked away.

  Flint hadn’t been sure what to make of Amelia’s mother, the woman Theo’d had a one-night stand with over a year ago, but Flint knew she’d deserved better than to die of a terrible virus at the hands of her deranged ex-husband.

  Their flashlights did a poor job of cutting through the dark. The ground was heavy with snow. Nina was calling on her tracking abilities and every eye and ear was open looking for clues. Signs of human presence, like a dropped food wrapper, broken branches or footsteps in the snow could lead to a capture.

  Dr. Rand running amok in the town with nothing to lose created a desperate situation. Would he return to the clinic to kill Gemma? Flint had left two officers at the clinic and had released a warning to the media about Dr. Rand, but was it enough?

  They walked deeper in the wood. Nina hurried ahead and Flint tamped down the urge to reach for her hand and keep her close. She was working, and she was good at this. He balanced the pride he felt with the worry of her being injured.

  “I think I have a trail,” Nina said, stopping and shining her flashlight around in the dark, keeping it pointed on the ground.