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  Ronnie doesn’t know what Londergan just said, and doesn’t care. Just knowing that the Marines, and especially Ryker, are watching over her father is all she needs to know.

  “Where is the virus, Dr. Baker?” Ryker asks as the Marines efficiently go about the task of bundling the prisoners out of the building.

  “I think we can dispense with the titles, don’t you? Call me Julian.”

  Ryker smiles. “That will certainly make it easier when your daughter arrives.”

  “Ronnie is here?”

  “She should be in a couple of minutes. She was being kept well back until the facility was secured. Now, the virus. Where is the virus, Julian? Is it here?”

  “They have the virus too?” Julian asks, going pale. “I knew they had the data off the computers, but I haven’t seen the virus.”

  “Fuck,” Ryker mutters, keying his mic with a touch to his ear. “Colonel Hargraves. I need to speak with you on a secure channel.”

  Ryker hears a burst of static, then Hargraves’ voice. “Channel secure.” All their com traffic is encrypted, but now the rest of the fire team can’t hear what he is about to say.

  “The virus isn’t here. Julian hasn’t seen it. He didn’t even know it had been taken.”

  “Goddammit! We can’t catch a fucking break! Okay, you turn that fucking place inside out. Just because he doesn’t know it’s there doesn’t mean it isn’t.”

  “Understood Colonel. But understand, I am standing in what is not much more than a hollow concrete box. There aren’t many places to hide anything in here.”

  “Understood. But you turn over every speck of dust in that place.”

  “Yes sir. Evans out.”

  Ryker had turned his back to the door and the Marines as he spoke quietly to Hargraves. As he turns back toward the entrance he sees Ronnie round the shredded corner of the office, her eyes wide as she surveys the carnage in the building. Ryker and Julian are in the far corner of the building, near his makeshift bed room and it takes her a moment to spot her father. She doesn’t run until the last few feet as her face twists with tears and she flows into her father’s arms.

  “Oh, Daddy! I was so scared for you!” Ronnie says as she weeps in her father’s arms.

  “I know. Shhhh… I know. It’s alright now,” Julian says, softly, stroking her hair. He looks over Ronnie’s shoulder and smiles at Ryker, tears leaking from his own eyes as he squeezes them tightly shut.

  Ryker smiles softly, turns, and walks quietly away, leaving the Drs. Baker to their reunion.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Ryker tasks Londergan and three other Marines with taking the Drs. Baker back to the embassy as soon as they are ready to move. There shouldn’t be any concerns for their safety, but after getting him back, Ryker would be damned if he will allow Julian to be taken again.

  Meanwhile the rest of the Marines load all the computers and equipment into the remaining three SUV’s parked outside. That task complete, the prisoners handed off to the CIA for interrogation, and Drs. Bakers safely out of the way, Ryker and the remaining Marines begin to systematically destroy the inside of the building.

  Every interior wall is pulled down and minutely inspected. All the furniture is slit and the padding removed. Even the sink and toilet are removed and inspected, along with their drains. Ryker stands in the middle of the room, hot, tired, dirty, and frustrated as hell. Even though Julian has said the virus wasn’t there, he had hoped they would find something. All they have to show for their efforts is a huge pile of debris piled in one corner of the building and a few dead bodies in bags.

  “Sergeant. Let’s get the fuck out of here and let the spooks clean this place up. There is nothing here.”

  Sergeant Hicks nods and turns to face the men. “Alright Marines. Assholes and elbows. We’re bugging out,” he bellows.

  **

  “How’s Dr. Baker? Julian Baker?” Ryker asks as he sits down at the table for his debrief.

  “He’ll be fine. He’s still in the infirmary. He’s a little dehydrated, and bruised up from some slightly rough handling, but it appears that he was treated reasonably well,” Mr. Spreck says.

  “Damn fine work today, Petty Officer,” Colonel Hargraves adds. “In fact, on this entire mission. I am putting you in for your second Achievement Medal. That should go a long ways towards you making Chief.”

  “Thank you sir,” Ryker says. He’s happy that the mission was a success, and it is always nice to be recognized for doing a job well, but mostly he just wants to go home and forget about the entire affair.

  Spreck clicks on the recorder and Ryker begins to speak.

  ***

  Ninety minutes later Ryker steps out of the debrief. Debriefs go pretty fast when he is the only one involved and nothing goes wrong. It’s too bad they didn’t find the virus, but without one or the other Drs. Baker, there isn’t much anyone can do with it. They may have a leg up on developing a weapon since the virus is alive and stable, but as Ronnie explained early on, removing all the fail-safes built into the virus is no easy task.

  Ryker desperately wants a shower but he heads toward the infirmary to check up on Julian. He eases the door open and pokes his head in. Julian is lying comfortably reclined in the bed, an IV stuck in his arm. Ronnie is sitting in a chair at his side, her eyes bright.

  “How are you doing, Dr. Baker?” Ryker asks.

  “I thought I told you to call me Julian.”

  Ryker smiles. “So you did. How are you feeling, Julian?”

  “Better now. I can’t thank you enough for what you did. I have never seen anything like that. Except in the movies.”

  “Yes. Thank you… Ryker. Thank you for everything,” Ronnie says quietly.

  She's still trying to sort out her feelings for Ryker. She had thought she was over him, but now… maybe not. He keeps saving her, or her father. But then there are things that she just can’t overlook. Like telling that fucking kidnapper to go ahead and shoot her father. The man hadn’t, and that was probably his plan all along, but hearing him say that so calmly, like he didn’t care at all… that’s a hard thing to swallow.

  “All part of the job, sir.” Ryker says, carefully avoiding eye contact with Ronnie. He still wants her… but it appears she is lost to him forever. “I’m sure the powers that be will want to debrief you. But after that, you and your daughter should be on your way back home.”

  Julian smiles at Ryker. “Thank you again. If you ever get out to Berkeley, I expect you to look me up. I want to buy you a beer.”

  Ryker smiles, gives a quick nod of his head, and leaves.

  Julian watches Ryker leave then turns to Ronnie. “So what’s the story with you two?”

  “What?” Ronnie asks in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  Julian smiles at his daughter. “Ronnie… I haven’t lived sixty-six years without learning a few things. I see how Ryker looks at you.”

  Ronnie flushes furiously. “It’s nothing Dad.”

  “Uh-huh,” Julian says, but doesn’t press.

  ***

  It takes three days before Dr. Julian Baker is fully debriefed. Ryker has reported to Colonel Hargraves each morning, asking if his orders have come through. Hargraves is sympathetic to his desire to leave, but his orders haven’t changed. He is still attached to the mission, even if the mission is technically over.

  With nothing else to do, Ryker hangs out with the off-duty Marines or hits the gym. Anything to keep his mind occupied and off of Ronnie. He has severed his attachment to her, but the lingering sadness of what he thought he had remains.

  The Marines have accepted the Navy puke as one of their own after the op. One of the female Marines has even made her willingness known, without being pushy. Ryker debated taking her up on her offer, and she 's certainly pretty enough--prettier than the other WM Devil Dogs--but he isn’t quite ready for the comfort of another woman’s arms.

  Not yet anyway. He just wants to go back home to Norfolk and get back to hi
s routine.

  Tuesday morning he reports to Colonel Hargraves as he has each morning since extracting Julian. “Any new orders for me sir?”

  “These came through last night,” Hargraves says tapping the sheet of paper in front of him. “I know you are anxious to get back to Little Creek, but I have new orders for you.”

  Ryker can feel his heart sink, but he pulls himself to parade rest. “Yes sir, Colonel.”

  Read on for Book 3

  Guide Me Home

  ***

  Tap here to return to the Table of Contents

  GUIDE ME HOME

  CHAPTER ONE

  Ryker Evans, Petty Officer First Class, United States Navy, stands at parade rest, waiting for Marine Colonel Thom Hargraves to give him his new orders. He has just completed his mission in Beirut, Lebanon, and he is ready to go home and forget he was ever here. But it looks like the Navy has other plans.

  The mission had gone well. Even though he hadn’t found the missing virus, he had successfully rescued Dr. Julian Baker, Ph.D., unharmed from Syrian terrorists. Without Dr. Baker to encode the virus with the target DNA sequence and design a payload for the virus to deliver, the missing vials of the genetically modified virus are all but useless.

  The problem isn’t the mission. The problem is Dr. Baker’s daughter, the other Dr. Baker. He had become emotionally entangled with Dr. Veronica Baker, Ph.D., and things hadn’t gone well. After saving her from a kidnapping attempt he had, despite knowing better, acted on the attraction he was feeling for her and they had become lovers. When she later found out that he had been ordered to kill her father if he couldn’t extract him, she hadn’t taken the news well. And who would? Colonel Hargraves and Mr. Spreck had put him a no win situation and Ronnie had dropped him like a bad habit.

  He hadn’t fallen head over heels for her—they had only been lovers for a week after all—but making love to the single most beautiful woman he has ever met each night had quickly cemented his attraction to her. An attraction based on much more than just her heart stopping beauty. So, yes, he will get over her. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t still hurt when she emotionally kicked him in the balls. He has spent the past five days licking his wounds, the last three waiting to be relieved and shipped back to Little Creek, Virginia, so he could put this whole sordid mess behind him. But, despite all he has done here these three weeks, the Navy is asking still more from him.

  “Evans, officially you have been ejected from the country for your role in the killing of the six terrorists,” Hargraves begins. “Officially you will be boarding a plane home this afternoon and flying back to Little Creek. In reality you are staying and a Marine will be rotating home in your place. You are persona non-grata. But we need you to find the missing vials of the virus.”

  “Sir, how am I supposed to move about if I am officially not here?”

  “The Lebanese don’t know what you look like so you will be free to move about. The CIA will provide you with papers for your new identity. But what you won’t have is the support of the embassy. It couldn’t be helped, but the embassy has gotten a black eye from this fucked up mess of a mission. The Lebanese know we ran some form of covert operation from the embassy and, understandably, they are pissed off about it. So from this point forward, other than logistical support, you are on your own. I would like to bring in some more troops to help, but the Lebanese would shit kittens, so that that option is off the table.”

  “Permission to speak freely, Colonel?”

  “Granted. What’s on your mind Evans?”

  “Sir, how do they expect one man to find five vials that are small enough to hide in my pockets? This is unreasonable.”

  “The spooks are going to help as much as they can. They are still interrogating the prisoners from the lab. But all they can do is feed you information and supply you with leads. Our hands are really tied on this by the State Department. You know how the diplomats think. They don’t have the first fucking clue what the real world is like and they think everyone should just play nice. Personally I think the Lebanese should be grateful we didn’t take out the entire fucking block with cruise missiles.” Hargraves grins nastily. “But that’s just me.”

  Ryker feels his jaw tighten. “How long do they expect me to look for this needle in a haystack?”

  Hargraves mentally winces. “Until the vials are found.”

  Ryker grits his teeth. Fuck that! He has two years left on his tour. Let them try to keep him here after that! “Is that all, sir?”

  “Not quite. This afternoon a specially-equipped van will be arriving on a C-147. It will be equipped to test any samples you may find to determine if you have in fact found the missing virus.”

  This just keeps getting better. “So now I’m supposed to find the stuff and become a geneticist too? Sir,” Ryker grumbles, his tone dangerously close to insubordination.

  Hargraves lets Evans’ tone pass. He would be pissed off too if he were in his shoes. “No. Spreck is talking to the Bakers right now, trying to convince one or the other of them to stay.”

  “Why would they do that, sir? What’s in it for them? Why can’t the Pentagon just send out someone to do this?” Ryker asks, getting his attitude under control.

  “It is my understanding that there aren’t a dozen people in the world that can properly identify the virus with one-hundred percent certainty. Two of them are right down the hall. We have limited options and having one of them stay is our best bet.”

  “It should be Julian,” Ryker says firmly. “He is the virus expert.”

  “He’s also over sixty-five years old.”

  Ryker purses his lips in annoyance. Ronnie could do the work, but having her so close would be... difficult. “This shouldn’t be strenuous work.”

  Hargraves nods. “I understand. Better than you think.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “No fucking way! We’re not doing it!” Ronnie shouts, rising out of her chair. If this Spreck asshole thinks they are staying here for one minute longer than they have to, he has another thing coming.

  “Dr. Baker, please sit down,” Mr. Spreck says calmly.

  “I’ll do it,” Julian says softly. This mess is mostly his fault anyway.

  “Dad! No!” Ronnie cries as she sits down again. She just got him back!

  “Ronnie, I have to do this. We created this. We can’t allow our work to be corrupted by being twisted and used as a weapon. We can’t!”

  “Dad! All the fail-safes! The virus will likely die before they can undo all of those to make a viable weapon.”

  “Are you sure? Are you willing to bet the lives of millions of innocent people on that? We don’t know how long the virus will survive in suspension. It could be dozens of years. We just don’t know.”

  She fumes. Her dad is right. This was the first virus than lived even a day. Who knows how long it could last. “Look, dad, they don’t need us. Just let them irradiate everything that they even suspect is our virus and…”

  “And how would you like it if someone burst into our lab, took our work, and destroyed it? Ronnie, sweetheart, I can do this. Go home. Put the lab back together. Work to get our materials released.”

  “But… Dad…”

  Spreck decides to move this along. He would have preferred Veronica because she is younger, but Julian will do if that is all he can get. “Thank you Julian. We will of course pay…”

  “No, dammit!” Ronnie cries. “No! He can’t!”

  “Thank you, Dr. Baker,” Spreck says, looking at Ronnie. “I will arrange to have you flown home on the next diplomatic transport…”

  “No!” Ronnie shouts again. “I’ll do it! I’ll do it instead of him, okay?”

  “Ronnie,” Julian begins. “I can…”

  “No. It’s alright dad. I can do it,” Ronnie states in resignation. “You’re the head of the research team. You have to go. The team needs you more than they need me when we have to start over. If we start over.”

  Mr. Spreck wa
its a moment, but the lengthening silence indicates the matter is settled. “Very well,” he says, turning his attention to Julian. “I will have you flown out on the next diplomatic flight, then a private flight to Berkeley. I will have all your research returned to you and a new, more secure lab set up. I want you to continue your research. But this time, we will make sure you are protected.”

  “Why?” Ronnie sneers. “So you can take our work and make your own weapon?”

  Mr. Spreck looks at Ronnie. “No… So perhaps you can cure my daughter. She has leukemia.”

  Ronnie can feel herself flush. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”