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Authors: M. C. Miller
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welcome to The Project, Dr. Gardner. Thank you for your service.”
The line went dead. For a few seconds, Faye could only stand and listen to the silence. A core of isolation like no other enveloped her.
She had been a part of secret projects before but this was different. Way different. Neither anthrax nor Ebola, nothing had ever required the invocation of C-Value Imperative . It was somebody’s way of prepping her for what would come. They needn’t say more to stress the seriousness of the matter. Fragments of the voice replayed in her head – “ avert a major crisis…an exception made…special circumstances .”
It told her nothing. She knew better than to read too much into the obvious.
She locked the phone away in the safe and started back to her dinner party. At the closed office door, thoughts of Jacob made her waver. He expected to spend the night with her. Should she still let him?
Tomorrow was Saturday. On other weekends when he stayed over, they often slept in the next morning. It was one way they managed to stretch intimate time together. But that wouldn’t be possible now – or would it? How long would it take to get to Andrews? When should she tell him she had to go?
Worse yet, what would she say?
Questions came faster than answers.
The voice on the phone had made everything sound so matter-of-fact. It was nothing of the sort. It was complicated and difficult. The need for secrecy made everything so damned uncomfortable. She felt her life slipping out of her control.
It was the nature of a crisis; little respect was shown for human lives.
Thoughts of separation, of stress and the potential horrors to come swept through her. Her expertise was vitally needed. But that expertise played out behind the maximum confinement of a BSL-4 lab. Bio-Safety Level 4 was required in only the most dangerous of situations. Her imagination ran riot. Whatever could have happened? A possible pandemic? A looming biological terror attack?
If it was going to take work in a BSL-4 lab to avert the crisis – that only proved to her how extraordinary the danger truly was.
She took a deep breath but teared up anyway. There was no way of knowing when – or if she’d ever be back. Anything was possible but in her line of work, that wasn’t good. Her mind was made up. If nothing else, the sweep of events wouldn’t rob her of one last night of normalcy. Jacob would stay the night.
But more than that – she’d make sure they made love all night long.
Chapter 5
0918 Hours
Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility
An icy wind drove diagonal sheets of rain into sleet gathering on the windows. Clutching Gore-Tex over a pantsuit, Faye exited the black SUV and sprinted for the jet’s fold-down steps. Holding the brim of his cap in place, her escort, an Air Force Colonel, followed behind with one black suitcase in hand.
Scurrying up the steps, Faye could see the jet’s blue and white fuselage had only two markings. One stretched above six oval windows and boldly announced – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA . The second was the distinctive US Air Force insignia, a white star and red-and-white stripes against a blue field. The insignia emblazoned the rear-mounted engine.
An open door and uniformed flight attendant waited at the top step. Faye hurried inside to find a fleeting sense of relief. The Colonel handed her suitcase to the attendant then shook her hand in parting. To her left, the cockpit door was open. Two pilots, a flight engineer, and a communications systems operator prepared for takeoff. At her service, the male flight attendant was pleasant but all business.
“Will you be needing anything out of your bag during the flight?”
Faye hadn’t even considered it. “Ah…no.”
“Very well. I’ll stow it away. May I take your coat?”
With a quick unzip, she handed it over.
His hand directed her onward. “Mr. Insworth is expecting you in the second section, just beyond the first partition. The door
The line went dead. For a few seconds, Faye could only stand and listen to the silence. A core of isolation like no other enveloped her.
She had been a part of secret projects before but this was different. Way different. Neither anthrax nor Ebola, nothing had ever required the invocation of C-Value Imperative . It was somebody’s way of prepping her for what would come. They needn’t say more to stress the seriousness of the matter. Fragments of the voice replayed in her head – “ avert a major crisis…an exception made…special circumstances .”
It told her nothing. She knew better than to read too much into the obvious.
She locked the phone away in the safe and started back to her dinner party. At the closed office door, thoughts of Jacob made her waver. He expected to spend the night with her. Should she still let him?
Tomorrow was Saturday. On other weekends when he stayed over, they often slept in the next morning. It was one way they managed to stretch intimate time together. But that wouldn’t be possible now – or would it? How long would it take to get to Andrews? When should she tell him she had to go?
Worse yet, what would she say?
Questions came faster than answers.
The voice on the phone had made everything sound so matter-of-fact. It was nothing of the sort. It was complicated and difficult. The need for secrecy made everything so damned uncomfortable. She felt her life slipping out of her control.
It was the nature of a crisis; little respect was shown for human lives.
Thoughts of separation, of stress and the potential horrors to come swept through her. Her expertise was vitally needed. But that expertise played out behind the maximum confinement of a BSL-4 lab. Bio-Safety Level 4 was required in only the most dangerous of situations. Her imagination ran riot. Whatever could have happened? A possible pandemic? A looming biological terror attack?
If it was going to take work in a BSL-4 lab to avert the crisis – that only proved to her how extraordinary the danger truly was.
She took a deep breath but teared up anyway. There was no way of knowing when – or if she’d ever be back. Anything was possible but in her line of work, that wasn’t good. Her mind was made up. If nothing else, the sweep of events wouldn’t rob her of one last night of normalcy. Jacob would stay the night.
But more than that – she’d make sure they made love all night long.
Chapter 5
0918 Hours
Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility
An icy wind drove diagonal sheets of rain into sleet gathering on the windows. Clutching Gore-Tex over a pantsuit, Faye exited the black SUV and sprinted for the jet’s fold-down steps. Holding the brim of his cap in place, her escort, an Air Force Colonel, followed behind with one black suitcase in hand.
Scurrying up the steps, Faye could see the jet’s blue and white fuselage had only two markings. One stretched above six oval windows and boldly announced – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA . The second was the distinctive US Air Force insignia, a white star and red-and-white stripes against a blue field. The insignia emblazoned the rear-mounted engine.
An open door and uniformed flight attendant waited at the top step. Faye hurried inside to find a fleeting sense of relief. The Colonel handed her suitcase to the attendant then shook her hand in parting. To her left, the cockpit door was open. Two pilots, a flight engineer, and a communications systems operator prepared for takeoff. At her service, the male flight attendant was pleasant but all business.
“Will you be needing anything out of your bag during the flight?”
Faye hadn’t even considered it. “Ah…no.”
“Very well. I’ll stow it away. May I take your coat?”
With a quick unzip, she handed it over.
His hand directed her onward. “Mr. Insworth is expecting you in the second section, just beyond the first partition. The door
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