Ice Princess (Alpha Agency Protectors Book 4) Read online

  Dr. Mason nods and then flashes me the ten minutes sign. It appears that they will be testing this blood ASAP.

  Now they will sit and wait for the results of the tests and hope that the team hasn’t all been exposed to a deadly virus.

  ****

  Raven looks up from watching Dr. Daniels suture the wound closed and sees Dr. Mason standing outside of the room. He is dressed in full protective gear and her heart jumps into my throat. It could just be a precaution, but she walks over to the door, and he slips a piece of paper through the receiving spot. He points to the phone on the wall and she picks it up.

  “He is infected with a virus known as N562 referred to as the Kraken Virus due to its shape.”

  “What are the specifics?” Raven asks, turning back to look at my team. They know something is going on, it is highly irregular for a surgeon to supervise the simple stitching up of a patient with a resident, especially one as skilled as Dr. Daniels.

  “Mortality rate 70%, spread by contact with infectious body fluids, no evidence of it being spread by air. A navy seal team specializing in infectious diseases will be here shortly. The hospital is now on lockdown. They are moving the patients that they can onto this floor and the ER will be sealed. Tell your team. Finish up the surgery, we have an isolation room ready.”

  She nods and hangs up the phone before turning to the team. They are some of the most competent nurses and residents that she knows. She hopes they are able to handle this news.

  “Team we have a problem,” Raven says walking back to the table.

  Chapter 4 ~Blade

  “Charlie, you have news for me?” Blade says rubbing his hands over his face as he swings his legs over the bed. The clock by the bed says 2 am.

  “We found the terrorist.” Charlie’s voice is serious.

  “I take it from your tone there is no sign of the virus?”

  “No, we found that too. Our officer got the drop on the terrorist. They started shooting our agent was wounded but not before he was able to shoot one of the terrorists dead. The other was seriously wounded but able to inject himself with the virus before he passed out. They are at a hospital in Phoenix. We have it locked down.”

  “How many were exposed?”

  “The FBI agent checked the man’s pulse and had a blood transfer. Fifteen hospital staff are exposed. We have the ER and surgical floor on lockdown.”

  “How long since the patient was admitted?”

  “It’s been about 12 hours. It took a while for the surgeon to be warned and tests to be administered.”

  “If there are any infected, they should start showing symptoms soon.”

  “Word is the originally infected man is starting to show symptoms. They have him sedated for now.”

  “I will gather the team and be on the next flight out. Our supplies are ready, and I will make the order to have them loaded. We should be wheels up within the hour.”

  “I will let the President as well as the other powers that be know. Good luck and be careful.”

  Blade hangs up and reaches for his jeans and go bag. This needed to be contained if Kraken was to get out and infect the general population there would be mass panic. Someone bleeding from all of their orifices after they fall down dead in the street would be a hell of a visual.

  Blade picks up the phone and starts barking orders as he walks out of the house and gets into the car. His team is ready for this, he just hopes that he doesn’t lose any of them.

  *****

  Welcome to Phoenix General, Master Chief Benson.” A man in a suit greets me at the door to the hospital.

  “I am Shawn Finch, the director of the hospital.”

  “It is good to meet you. Have all the possible infected been quarantined?”

  “Yes, they are all up on the surgical floor.”

  “Is anyone showing symptoms?” Blade asks as they walk down the hall to a staff lounge where the team will dress in Personal protective equipment.

  “Just patient zero at this point. What precautions do we need to take in regard to staff?”

  “They will need full suits from the neck down, N95 masks, goggles, and hoods. It isn’t an airborne infection as it happens when there is contact with bodily fluids so full respirator suits will not be needed. We have brought extra PPE for the staff to use.”

  “Thank you. We appreciate your assistance in this matter.” Blade nods and heads into the lounge with his crew to suit up. The hospital director follows them in. This part of the job is hardest for Blade as people have trouble relinquishing their authority. Blade turns and gives him a professional smile.

  “Mr. Finch, we appreciate your help, but this hospital is now under my direction. Every order will be followed to the letter. Do I make myself clear?”

  Blade watches the myriad of emotions cross his face, anger, fear, and others that he can’t name. Blade has learned it is best to be blunt and tell them upfront how it will be.

  “Yes, that is fine for the duration of the emergency.”

  “As soon as we know the virus is no longer affecting your hospital, it will be returned to you. Now if you will excuse me, I would like to get up to the surgical floor and talk with the surgeon in charge.”

  “As to that, Dr. Raven Ballenger is her name. She can be a bit difficult to work with, but she is an excellent surgeon.”

  “She will not be difficult for me or she will be contained to an isolation room for the duration of the outbreak situation.” His voice is hard and brooks no argument. This is not a situation where a pissing match is appropriate. If this would be to get out, it would kill millions of Americans if allowed to spread and weaken our country opening the U.S. up to an attack.

  “This is a terrorist attack, make no mistake about it. It will be contained without worry of stepping on toes or hurt feelings.”

  “I am confident that you and your team will be able to halt the spread of the outbreak. Just a little heads up in regard to Dr. Ballenger. I will get out of your hair. Please contact me if you need anything from the hospital.”

  “Noted,” Blade says, brushing past him and into the elevator with the rest of the crew. He hoped that Mr. Finch was exaggerating the attitude of the surgeon. It would be nice to have another doctor familiar with the hospital and staff to help with logistics. If that was not possible the team would work around her it wouldn’t be the first time that was necessary.

  Blade gets off the elevator and standing in front of him is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

  Her blonde hair is swept back into a high ponytail, clear blue eyes assess him with cold efficiency, and from what Blade can see around her scrubs she has curves that would make any man weep.

  “You must be Master Chief Benson. I am Dr. Ballenger.” She doesn’t try to shake his hand which he appreciates given the circumstances she seems calm cool and collected and if I can get her on my team, it would be beneficial. It is obvious from the staff that he can see going about their business that she has been able to help everyone keep their cool.

  “Have there been any staff infected?” Blade asks her and sees a flash of worry in those cool blue eyes.

  “We can discuss particulars in a moment. I want to stay on the case and help. I am not an infectious disease specialist, but I was top of my class in med school. I have been reading over the information you sent over and would like to continue to work on the case if possible.”

  “You will follow my orders to the letter.” He says staring her down.

  He sees her straighten her spine. Good, he likes his women with a backbone and if he has anything to say about it when this is all over, she will be his.

  “If I believe that they are the correct orders to keep my staff safe.” She rebuts and he can see what Mr. Finch was talking about.

  “You either agree to follow my orders or you are off the case it is that simple.”

  “I agree for now.”

  Blade nods, “If that changes please know that I won’t hesitate to tak
e you off the case. Now here is the PPE for your staff and can we please discuss possible infections of your staff.”

  She stands looking at him for a long moment before taking the packages of gowns and other equipment.

  He has to try hard not to smile. They will butt heads, he can see that but if they can get past it, she will be an excellent addition to his team.

  Chapter 5 ~Raven

  Raven walks briskly down the hall, calling out to her staff as she goes. They need to get this PPE on so that no one else is infected. They have masks and gloves, but this extra protection will go a long way to making her feel that the staff is safe.

  Raven looks back and sees Master Chief Benson talking on his cell phone. He is a demanding man, but from her research she knows that he knows what he is doing. He downplayed his education by not butting in and calling himself Dr. Benson. His multiple PHD’s and training in infectious disease makes him the logical point person here, but she will not be shunted aside. Two of her staff have been exposed and are in isolation. They have mild fevers suggesting that the infection has taken hold.

  Handing out the PPE She pulls hers on wanting to get back on the floor as soon as possible. Raven knew that Blade Benson would be hot. She googled him before he arrived expressive green eyes, muscular body, a neatly trimmed goatee at least in his last photo and obviously intelligent.

  He was military and alpha male, so they were going to butt heads it was a fact. He was the first man in a long time to give her these kinds of tingles. She needed to keep her head in the game and get more information on this virus, and how to treat it before she lost two members of her staff.

  She was the ice princess it shouldn’t be hard for her to keep her head in the game. But then there were those tingles.

  ****

  “How much have you been able to glean about the virus?” He asks standing outside of the isolation chamber containing patient zero.

  “I read everything you sent over. That it appears to be a base of the Ebola virus crossed with an unknown virus protein to make it survive longer outside of the body. Spread by body fluids non-aerosol as of now and you are still learning. Not sure how it quite attaches to the body cells, and it is impervious to known anti-virals.” She takes a deep breath, trying not to think about her friends.

  “Seventy percent kill rate, and high likelihood of mutation to aerosol if an anti-viral and vaccine are not developed.”

  He nods, “Good work you are up to speed now, tell me about the infected employees.”

  “One is a nurse she was stuck through the glove with a needle when trying to insert his IV line in the OR. The other is another Nurse he vomited on when he was admitted right into her face from the sounds of it.”

  “Are they showing any symptoms?”

  She stands there for a moment as the reality of what is happening sinks into it. There is a very high likelihood that the two women laying in isolation as friends of hers will not survive this.

  “They are both showing low-grade fevers.”

  He nods again. She can see the sympathy in his eyes behind his goggles. She tries to not to let it affect her, but it does make her feel better about this man. He came in with an attitude of authority, but that look in his eyes tells Raven that underneath all of that he understands the human toll of something like this.

  “That is the first stage of infection. We haven’t known about this long, what we do know is classified but you and your team are being read in as a need to know. I need you to understand that none of what you learn in the next few hours or days can be shared. It is a matter of national security as well as we don’t need the mass panic that this information will cause if it gets out into the public.”

  “You have my assurances that we can be trusted, and that no information will leak out from this team.”

  He nods, “Then let’s start researching the confidential files, see what we can come up with.”

  She follows him out of the patient rooms, and down the hall to the doctor’s office. Between the two of them they should be able to find a way to beat this virus.

  Chapter 6 ~Blade

  “It is hard sitting this close to her as we research breathing in the smell of her skin. Every time our arms brush it sends a sizzle up my arm. I don’t know how much longer I will be able to resist the pull of her.” Blade is not a man that usually resists. He goes for what he wants. The more he is with her, the more he knows that this is it for him. They are going to be together now all he has to do is convince her.

  “It looks like from the information coming in from Africa that it infects the host cells much like Ebola but then there is the twist that comes from this other virus DNA that they have spliced into the original Ebola virus. I hate to say anything positive about the monsters that made this, but the virus is truly a beautiful piece of work. Deadly and horrible, but a master piece of engineering and science.”

  “Do you have any idea how we might develop a serum to combat this?” He asks looking over at her. He can’t take his eyes off of her. Even in all the PPE gear, she is beautiful.

  “No, but there might be something we can do involving the protein envelope. We will need antibodies from one of the infected and then maybe we can work out something. Is there any way that I can have contact with this Dr. Owens, the man on the ground in Africa?”

  “I think I can arrange that. The reception is a bit spotty out there, but I am sure that we can work something out.”

  “That would be great maybe he has some insight that we can’t glean from this research or that he hasn’t had time to upload yet.”

  She scoots her chair back and rolls her neck. They have been sitting at this desk for hours going over the research and bouncing theories off of each other.

  “It’s time for a break I am starving may I buy you dinner?”

  Her eyes are wary, but she nods and shows him to the staff break room. They have delivered supplies via elevator to the people quarantined. They may be stuck up here for a while, there is no telling how fast the team will be able to come up with a serum to fight the virus. They will be quarantined at least two weeks to make sure no one is an asymptomatic carrier.

  Ravens tests as well as most of the other staffs have come back negative for the virus. When we received the news an hour ago Blade found her breathing out a sigh of relief. In the very small amount of time that he has known her, Blade has fallen for Dr. Raven Ballenger and it was a huge relief to know that she wasn’t infected. Now he just had to convince her to give in to the heat between them.

  He looks over at her as she takes a bite of her sandwich and grins. He knows she feels the same heat that he does, he saw how her skin pebbled at the brush of his arm.

  They finish up lunch and he waits for her to stand.

  “Raven, I know you can feel the attraction between us, and if this is something that you don’t want, I need you to tell me now.”

  “I can’t focus on my personal life right now Blade, my friends are dying.”

  “We can’t work on this problem 24/7 we need to rest let out brains run through the probabilities. I just need to hear you say that you are feeling the same way that I am.” He is close to her now, his breath whispering across her lips.

  Blade watches as her lips part and her pink tongue darts out to moisten those lips.

  “Blade I….”

  The door to the break room swings open, and he steps back. Her reaction was all he needed to know she wants him as much as he wants her. She is right finding a cure is more important than the way that they feel right now, but they are both going to have to blow off some steam in the next two weeks. He knows exactly how he would like to accomplish that.

  They walk out of the break room and find the hallway deserted he grabs her arm, “We will finish this conversation later Raven. I mean to have you.”

  She looks me in the eye, “You will only have me as you put it if I allow it.”

  Blade nods, “I would never force you, but you need to know I
always get what I want.”

  There is fire in her blue eyes as she narrows them at him, “You should know I always get what I want, and I am not sure that means you.”

  She puts her mask and goggles back on before marching down the hall to patient zero’s room.

  A slow smile crosses his lips. She can fight all she wants, but he knows she is feeling this attraction between them and with these close quarters she will eventually cave.

  He finds a little spring in his step as he follows her down the hallway. He may not be a patient man, but for this he can wait. He had a feeling that she isn’t going to be able to hold out long.

  Chapter 7 ~Raven

  “Dr. Ballenger, are you there?” She rubs her tired eyes and tries to smile at the jumpy image of Dr. Owens.

  “I am here, can you hear me? See me?”

  “I can. How are things faring there?”

  “We lost patient Zero, but I was able to extract some blood. I am trying to make a serum and vaccine from his antibodies but it’s slow going. I have tried one mix, and it didn’t have any effect on my other two infected.”

  She closes her eyes for a moment. Thinking of her friends as the infected is easier than remembering them as the bright and funny women they are. She can’t think of the last time that they had a girl’s night out she needs to focus on finding a cure so that she can save them. There will be time for emotions later but now is not the time. She needs to focus on saving them and then she can think of them as her friends again.

  “I am doing the same, but nothing seems to be working. The antibodies from infected don’t seem to have any effect on slowing the virus or allowing the immune system to defeat it.”

  “We will just have to keep at it. I will send you over some of my findings. You send me yours, and then we will work together. Two brains are better than one. Well, two and a half if you add in Benson.”