Read Online The Spy Who Saved Christmas by Dana Marton - Free Book Online Page B

wasn’t like her to be a masochist. Maybe he wouldn’t answer. God, she needed to get out of here. She moved away from him, walking to the hall closet for her coat.
    “No.”
    And she nodded, equally disappointed and relieved.
    He came around her to block the front door. “And you’re not going anywhere. How are you feeling?” He searched her face.
    “Better. My heart is still ripped out, but the drugs are wearing off, so at least I can think. You can’t expect me to sit still here.” It was midafternoon. She couldn’t stand the thought of all those hours her babies had already spent without her.
    “So what, you’re planning a statewide house-to-house search? They can be anywhere. Before we act, we need information to act on. I know waiting is pain—”
    His cell phone rang.
    “Thanks. I owe you one,” he said to whoever was calling. Then he walked over to Ben’s laptop on the coffee table.
    She followed, needing to know what information was coming in.
    He opened his e-mail. He had a single message in his otherwise empty inbox. She must have had ten thousand in her own. Maybe he never saved anything, as a security measure.
    The sender field was blank. The message said, Here is the first file. Still working on the rest.
    She watched over his shoulder as he opened the attachment and scrolled through information that meant little to her. “What is it?”
    “The ingredient list for some kind of chemical compound.” He scrolled some more. “No, never mind. That’s just the carrying agent.” His finger stopped on the keyboard. “Oh, hell.”
    “What?”
    “PX12. A virus originally engineered as a bioweapon by our own fine government. Then abandoned when it proved to be too difficult to control.”
    “How deadly is it?” she barely dared to ask.
    “Enough to take out a couple of thousand people by New Year’s if it’s released at Christmas. And as it’s passed on… By Easter, we’re talking about a hundred thousand deaths.”
    She sat suddenly, the strength going out of her knees. She’d suspected that he was involved in something pretty bad, something she didn’t even want to know about. But this was worse than she’d thought. And now her babies were in the middle of it. She couldn’t breathe all of a sudden. “When?” she asked, stunned. “Where?”
    “That’s the million-dollar question. Let’s hope there’s information about that in one of the other files. In the meantime, I know someone who might know more about this stuff.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
    “Hey. I’m going to read you a list of nasties. Can you tell me who handles this stuff in the New York–Philly area?” He read the list of ingredients for the carrying agent then waited for the answer. “That’s fine. Call me back when you have it.”
    He stood to stretch his legs, his expression thoughtful, as if he were searching through a catalog of information in his head, trying to look for something, anything, that would give them a clue, a connection. He was calm, but not relaxed. More like the complete silence of the land before a major earthquake or other natural disaster. There was something foreboding in the way he measured his steps.
    She walked out to the kitchen for a glass of water, her mouth dry as baby powder. Side effect of the drugs she’d been given, no doubt. Now that they’d worn off, panic was gripping her muscles again, nothing dulling the pain that seared through her chest. She felt hollow without her babies, empty. She took a long drink. It didn’t help. Her hands began to shake. She was losing it.
    “I can’t stand the waiting.” She slammed the plastic cup on the counter. She couldn’t stand thinking how scared Zak and Nate must be without her.
    “We won’t be sitting around much longer. The second we have something to go on, we’re out of here.” He looked at the e-mail on his laptop again, then back at her. “So here are the ground rules. When I say duck, you duck. When I