Sami shrugged. “Yeah. I figured he knew what he was talking about. For once. I mean, since he said actual words.” Her grin was genuine. She’d secured her black hair into two sassy braids, making her look about eighteen. With her sparkling dark eyes and creamy skin, she could’ve easily been a model. Well, a short one.
Tace leaned back against the counter. “A cop would’ve known the best gun for herself.”
Her chin lowered. “Six months ago, we didn’t have much to choose from.”
True. They’d emptied more than a couple of abandoned pawnshops in addition to homes during that time. “I don’t really give a shit if you’re lying, and I’ve lost any sense of curiosity.” Tace rubbed his whiskered chin. He needed to find a razor without rust on it.
“I was a cop,” Sami shot back.
“How?” Tace asked, not really caring.
She lifted her chin. “I slept my way in.”
He studied her. Her pretty face, posture, tone of voice—definite sarcasm.
She frowned and stepped back. “You’re not envisioning me on a plate for dinner, are you?”
He scoffed, surprised at the hint of humor bubbling inside him. “No. I was just noticing your facial tic when you lie. I wouldn’t have caught that before the infection.” Maybe his intelligence had increased. It was too bad they didn’t have access to either an MRI or any sort of intelligence test. Of course, he’d never taken one before Scorpius, so there’d be nothing to compare it to. “Stop lying. Don’t tell me the truth, but stop talking. Be Raze.” Perhaps that’s why Raze didn’t talk—the guy didn’t want to lie. Interesting.
Lynne Harmony hustled into the room with tape in her hand. “I found tape from the office raid.” Smiling broadly, she grabbed a printout of the Scorpius bacterium to tape to the wall. “There’s the little bastard,” she murmured, stepping back.
Scorpius was a big blue blob with spikes spreading out in every direction. The news, while there had been news, had played picture after picture of the contagion, so anybody who was old enough to see and comprehend knew exactly what Scorpius looked like.
“Did you get Jax to agree to the use of a generator for some tests?” Tace asked.
“Not yet,” Lynne said. “We need more of a plan before I even try, and I think we need more gasoline. Aren’t you guys planning another raid into Bel Air soon?”
“Yeah,” Sami said, shoving her new gun in her waistband. “When do you want to train today?” she asked.
Lynne shrugged and looked up at her new artwork. “Maybe later. For now, I need to go through all of these documents and figure out if Myriad found what they thought they’d found.”
“A cure?” Sami breathed, doubt wrinkling her forehead.
“Yes, or maybe,” Lynne said.
Sami nodded. “Fair enough. I’m going to teach a class on basic hand-to-hand. Tace, let’s meet up later to shoot before the next raid.” She crossed to the door and then turned. “If we get the generators to work, is there any chance we could use a computer?”
“Maybe, but why? The ’net is down,” Lynne said.
“I know. But what if we went to where the servers are?” Sami shuffled her feet. “Is it possible?”
Tace shook his head. “I don’t see how we’d generate enough power, even with solar panels as well as generators.”
Sami sighed. “That’s harsh, Tace.”
“It’s the new harsh me,” Tace returned, the truth slamming him in the gut.
Sami left without another word.
Lynne glanced at him. “You’re still dealing with the aftermath of the most dangerous bacterial infection to ever attack humans. Give it time.”
Tace eyed the woman he’d only known as Blue Heart until recently. Intelligence and weariness shone from her deep green eyes while dark circles marred the smooth, pale skin above her cheekbones. A dark bruise, purple striated with yellow, spread over her slender throat from the Ripper attack the day before. She moved carefully as if on alert and ready to flee at the slightest sound. “You’ve seen some shit,” Tace said slowly.
She focused on him. “Who hasn’t?”
Good point. “You know if we find positive results in those ten boxes of papers you brought, we might have to rig up a lab somehow.”
She lifted her chin, resignation curving her pink lips. “I know.”
“Are you ready to give blood if necessary?” He’d seen her arms and couldn’t even imagine how much blood had been already taken. She’d lined up the blue, green, and pink vials of different liquids on the counter even though they didn’t have refrigeration. Not all compounds needed to be cool, yet he didn’t like the idea of mutated Scorpius being so close. “I’m just a medic,” he said slowly, his gaze on the bright vials.
“I’m ready.” She wiped grime off the table. “And you’re not just a medic anymore. Now you’re a medic, soldier, and lab tech. Like the rest of us.”
He wasn’t like anybody else, not anymore. He might have survived the fever, and he might not want to kill anybody, but Scorpius still thrived inside him, turning him into somebody different. Somebody new. Who, he had no clue. But for the first time, he lacked the internal compass he’d used his entire life. What was good and what was bad?
The line had disappeared.
Jax finished training a group of girls in knife fighting and hustled across the road to the infirmary, his mind clicking possible raiding locations into order. He needed ammo and gasoline, and it was time to hunt. Although it was only midmorning, he’d given Lynne and Tace enough time to go through boxes.
It was time to call the president.
Lynne worked in the makeshift lab, where several pictures of Scorpius decorated one wall.
The damn blue blob looked fucking harmless, didn’t it? “Pretty pictures,” he murmured.
Sitting at a small round table, she glanced up from a stack of papers, her gaze slowly focusing. “You said you liked the blue.” Her voice came out scratchy.
“I like the blue inside your body because it’s inside your body, and I like you naked.” He looked at the macabre artwork. “I do not like the bacteria.”
She looked up at the pictures, her face pale and lines of stress tightening her pretty mouth. “You have to admire its strength. So small as to be invisible, it divides and conquers humans, who are so much more advanced and have heart and intelligence.”
He didn’t admire shit. “All I see is the enemy, which I’m going to take down without mercy. There’s no time for admiration.” Striding forward, he dropped to his haunches. “Let me see your neck.”
She batted away his hand. “It’s just a little bruise.” The hoarseness of her voice belied the statement.
“Humph.” He ignored her movement and slid his fingers into her hair, gently tipping her head to reveal the bruise on her neck. The sight pricked his temper, so he softened his voice. “Looks painful.”
“It’s fine.” She planted a hand in the center of his chest, slamming pain into his ribs, and he bit back a snarl. “How’s your injury?” she asked.
He met her gaze and released her hair. “Surface damage with no problems breathing.” If he could breathe, he could fight, and that was all that mattered. He pointed at the stacks of paper. “Find anything yet?”
“No, but all of it’s out of order, so I’m flying in the dark here.” She tapped the nearest pile. “This is research I actually sent to Myriad, but they made notations in several areas, so I’m reading those.” Several more boxes lined the floor by the far counters, and she pointed at them. “I’m hoping Myriad printed hard copies of all their research, but we don’t even know that for sure.”
He glanced around, restless with tension. “We’re under a time crunch.”
“Yes. The box of vitamin B won’t last long, and people like Tace really need a full six months of shots as Scorpius goes to work in their bodies. If we don’t find more B or a way to help the body produce the vitamin in larger quantities, we might lose Tace.”
Fuck. Jax couldn’t put down an insane Tace. His heart thumped at how hard Lynne was working for people she didn’t even know. He set his hand on her thigh, wanting to touch. “I’ve always liked smart girls.”
Her eyes lightened with a smile. “Have you, now?”
“Yep.” Seeing the genuine amusement in her eyes warmed him, and he stopped worrying about her bruise. She’d heal.
She shuffled papers in front of her, her gaze catching. “Wait a minute.”