Chapter Nine

6:05 a.m.

Carmen ended her phone call just in time to hear Dozer say to DS, “If you start singing that K-I-S-S-I-N-G song, I will punch you in the mouth.”

DS’s smile got larger. “I’ll have you know I have a lovely singing voice.”

“DS, stop flirting with my bodyguard,” she said before she could stop herself. “Our people are on the ground in Orlando, and the number of sick is higher than initially reported. At both hospitals. Prep another dozen frontline staff to head down to Orlando. I want them ready to go on the next available flight.”

He was standing almost at attention, all casualness gone from him. “Full gear?”

“Yes. And, if the numbers of infected and sick continue to rise, we’re going to need the on-site temporary shelters and a command and communication center ready to roll.”

“I’ll put them on standby.” He marched out of her office.

She and Dozer stared at each other for a moment.

“It must be bad,” he said quietly.

“The vast majority of cases have been in children and younger teens. We’re seeing high fevers and seizures. No adult victims, so far.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad,” he said, looking a little pale.

“Nothing about this is good.”

“I didn’t mean—” he said quickly, his voice apologetic.

“I’m angry, but not at you. The staff at Kissimmee Public had seen cases a full twenty-four hours before Orlando General’s first case came in. If they’d reported the possibility of measles sooner, we would have gotten there a whole day earlier.”

“Hindsight is easy,” he said. “No one can afford to waste money on an outbreak that isn’t confirmed.”

Her phone rang—one of the doctors on the four-by-four team, Dr. Sean Stevenson—and she turned away to take it. Dozer continued to watch her, a frown on his face making him look pensive. And pale. And tired. He needed more rest and recovery time.

She should have made him stay at the apartment. No one but people she could trust knew he’d been there.

DS came back in with another man, whose voice was loud enough to prevent her from hearing the person on the phone. She waved at them to lower the volume.

Dozer gestured at the other two men to leave, almost pushing them out of her office.

“Can you repeat that, please?” she said to Dr. Stevenson.

“…rash isn’t typical. We’re seeing it on the body’s hot zones, inside the hairline, neck, armpits, groin, tops of the feet and the back of hands. Fevers are running between a hundred and five and a hundred and seven. If it’s measles, these people have been contagious for at least four days, maybe longer. The ten showing symptoms all spent time at the theme parks, so the number of possible people exposed could be in the hundreds. Or thousands.”

“Aside from the atypical rash, anything else telling you this isn’t measles?”

“I wish I could say there was. Samples are on their way to the lab.”

“Even if I push the testing as hard as I can, it’s going to be two to three days before we get a confirmation and a specific genotyping.”

“The high fever is what concerns me the most,” Dr. Stevenson said. “We’re trying to control it, but it means worse outcomes for every patient who becomes sick.”

He meant brain damage, seizures, blindness, circulatory shutdown to extremities that could lead to limb amputation and even death. But, given the amount of background noise coming through the call, he was in a public place and didn’t want to chance anyone overhearing specifics.

“I’m sending more people, along with temporary housing and a command center.”

A beep from her phone told her another call was trying to come through—the doctor she’d sent to Orlando General Hospital. “I have to go. Dr. Shaw is calling in.”

She switched calls. The woman gave her much the same type of report as Dr. Stevenson did. Carmen told her the same things she’d told Stevenson and hung up.

Raised voices in the hallway intruded.

After a rapid hard knock, her door popped open. A man strode through, almost at a run, and didn’t stop until he was leaning over her desk, his face flushed and pulled into a severe frown.

“I want an explanation.” His voice was threatening. “For why I was treated like some…some…uneducated neophyte. Fired without cause?” He pointed a finger at her. “It’s unfair and unprofessional.”

“Dr. Halverson,” Carmen said in an even tone. “I don’t know any of the details of why you were…let go.” She continued before he could jump in again: “I’ve been out of state trying to talk sense into politicians who wouldn’t know an outbreak from a coffee break, and now I’m dealing with an emerging outbreak in Florida. I suggest you speak with the CDC director.”

He leaned farther over the desk. “I know you had something to do with it.”

“No.” It was hard to maintain a calm demeanor in the face of righteous anger. She was telling the truth—she hadn’t been involved in the decision to let him go. “I wasn’t consulted before you were terminated, nor have I been informed of the reasons since returning.”

“Sir,” John said, approaching from where he’d been seated in the corner of her office. “Dr. Rodrigues has had no time to catch up on any internal email or notices beyond those regarding the outbreaks she’s currently managing.” He managed to look chagrined and sympathetic. “Those of us who do all the fieldwork are often left in the dark.”

Halverson sneered. “Don’t try to create a false sense of camaraderie with me. You’re not even a CDC employee, just another gun-toting government flunky.” He turned back to Carmen. “I won’t stand by while my reputation is torn apart by lies and accusations made by fools and idiots.”

Movement behind Halverson turned into two uniformed security guards, who paused to take in the entire room before they moved to stand on either side of the intruder.

“Sir,” one of them said. “You don’t have the credentials to be here.”

Oh boy, that was going to set Halverson off.

“How dare you,” the angry doctor shouted at the guard. “I have two doctorates in medicine and virology. I’ve worked for the CDC for more than ten years. I have more than just the credentials to be here—I’ve earned the right to be here.”

The guard didn’t look impressed. “Sir, either you come with us willingly or we’ll handcuff you, charge you with trespassing, then walk you off the property into the custody of the police.”

Ouch. Carmen winced and glanced at John.

He was watching Halverson, his hands hanging loosely at his sides, his weight balanced over his feet. He looked ready to leap onto the man if he made any aggressive moves.

Halverson’s face turned a sudden dark purplish red. If he didn’t calm down, he was going to have a heart attack.

The phone on her desk rang.

“Go through proper channels,” she told the other doctor. “Coming here and yelling at me isn’t going to help your situation.”

Halverson glared at her, then spun on his heel and stalked out of the room. The two security guards followed.

John went to the door and shut it while her phone continued to ring.

She answered it, then focused on the lab tech’s update on the samples from the first hospital.

She spent the next ten minutes collating lab reports so she could make her own report to the CDC director, but raised male voices came through the door to distract her. Again. Angry voices. Again.

Carmen got up to open the door.

Four men were standing close together, inside one another’s personal space.

DS stood with his back to her office, his hands on his hips. She’d seen him stand that way in the past, usually right before he verbally stripped someone down to their bones.

She had to lean around the former drill sergeant to see the other three men.

Dozer stood in profile, his feet braced shoulder-width apart, his arms crossed over his chest. Directly in front of him was another man she recognized as Agent Rawley from Homeland Security. A few feet away was FBI Agent Ketner. She’d never met either man in person, but she had seen them attend a video conference five or six weeks ago.

Both men made trouble for her people. Back for more of the same?

“…nuts?” Rawley asked, his tone incredulous and volume loud enough to attract attention from other offices down the hallway. Several people had stuck their heads out to see what was going on. “You should be in bed resting, not hanging out here or whatever it is you think you’re doing.” He leaned forward a couple of inches, the move deliberate. He did not, however, lower his volume as he continued with, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t call an ambulance for you right now.”

Free entertainment. How nice. Not.

“I,” Carmen said before John could speak, “can give you several.”

All four men turned sharply and looked at her.

“In my office.” She had no time for male posturing. “All of you. Now.”

They filed past her. She shut the door and walked around the men to sit behind her desk. Since they were all standing, she would have preferred to remain on her feet, but by taking a seat, she hoped she showed them she wasn’t threatened in any way by them.

“My apologies, Dr. Rodrigues,” Rawley said before she’d even pulled her chair up closer to her desk.

“What are you apologizing for? Engaging in verbal conflict inside my office while I’m trying to coordinate the CDC’s response to an active outbreak? Or distracting my staff from their work?”

Rawley clenched his jaw and speared a quick glance at Dozer, then said, “It takes two to tango.”

She looked at Dozer, who gazed steadily back at her, then she looked at DS, who lifted one corner of his mouth in a brief sardonic smile.

Ketner also said nothing. He stood quietly, watching everyone with an amused expression.

“Did you participate in the verbal conflict, Drill Sergeant?”

“No, ma’am.”

“What did you observe?”

“Agent Rawley came through the door, saw Dozer, and became extremely agitated.”

“He isn’t supposed to be here,” Rawley said, his teeth clenched tight again.

“Did John Dozer participate in the conflict?”

“He didn’t get a chance to say much.” DS turned his disapproving gaze on Rawley. “Agent Rawley seemed to take exception to Dozer just being alive and in the building.”

She glanced at Dozer. “What did you say to him?”

“I tried to tell him I’m not back to work yet, but I’m not sure how much he actually heard.”

“You’re here, in this office,” Rawley said, frustration making every word out of his mouth a punch.

That brought up an interesting question.

“Why are you in my office, Agent Rawley?” she asked him. She looked at Ketner as well. “And why is there an FBI agent following you around?”

Surprise loosened Rawley’s jaw. “I’ve been assigned as your new liaison with Homeland Security while Agent Dozer is on medical leave. You were notified through regular channels.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve been out of my office for the past two weeks. I landed about eighteen hours ago, and things have been somewhat chaotic.” Memories of making love with John crowded her head, and she had to clear her throat. “There’s an emerging outbreak in Florida we’re dealing with. That’s beside the point, however, since John Dozer isn’t here in his capacity as a Homeland Security agent. Consider his presence here as a sort of protective custody.”

“He’s protecting you?” With John’s current list of injuries, she could understand Rawley’s disbelief.

“The other way around, actually.” She smiled at him. “You are aware an attempt on his life was made yesterday at the VA hospital where he was recovering?”

Rawley rocked back on his feet. “No.” He turned and looked at John. “When did this happen?”

“Yesterday, a man entered my room armed with a handgun. Another man threw a smoke bomb into the room. Had I been alone…” He let the sentence fall away.

Ketner cleared his throat and spoke for the first time. “That’s why I’m here. I’d like to interview Agent Dozer and anyone who was with him at the time of the attack.”

“How did you know about it?” Rawley asked with a surprised expression.

One corner of his mouth slanted upward. “It came through on normal channels.”

“I was there,” Carmen said. “As was DS, but we don’t have time for interviews right now.”

“Sure, I can wait. Long enough for whoever tried to grab or assassinate agent Dozer to try again.” Ketner made a show of glancing around. “How many people work here? It would be a shame if there was more collateral damage this time.”

Oh, you ass.

The three other men stared at the FBI agent like he’d tossed the pin of a live grenade and had dropped it at their feet.

“You get ten minutes of my time, as soon as I’m done with these gentlemen.” She turned and met Rawley’s gaze. “Your chain of command agreed to let me hide Agent Dozer for the moment.”

“Then why is he—?”

She gestured at her office with one hand. “This is a safe place, wouldn’t you say?”

Rawley gave the office a quick once-over and paused for a moment at the couch along the far wall. It had a pillow and a quilt. “Ah,” he said. “I see.”

“Rest assured that as soon as I have a few minutes, I’ll acknowledge your change in status in regards to the CDC. I’ll contact you with any pertinent information, concerns, or needs. As you can see, I’m quite busy at the moment.” She gestured toward the door. “Please, show yourself out.”

He blinked. “Oh, huh, of course.” He hesitated, then gathered himself, nodded briefly at John and DS, a little longer at Ketner, and left the room.

She didn’t have time to deal with this. Throughout the conversation, her phone had been pinging.

“DS,” she said. “Could you contact Homeland and talk to that gentleman’s boss? Confirm his assignment here and find out why he wasn’t brought up to speed? I don’t mind Homeland assigning us a new liaison—we can use all the hands we can get—but if they can’t get a hold of me, they should be at least notifying you.”

“They don’t want to talk to anyone but the person in charge.”

“If I’m not here, you’re in charge of these kinds of personnel changes.”

DS laughed. “I’ll convey that message.” He pulled out his phone, then left, leaving the office door open.

She looked at Dozer. He hadn’t said a thing beyond answering her question. That wasn’t like him. “You’re quiet.”

One of his eyebrows rose. “I know when to keep my mouth shut.”

Except when talking to her. She managed to keep that thought to herself. Barely. “Will Rawley tell people you’re here?”

“I think he’ll check out what you told him. Beyond that, I doubt it. Someone tried to kidnap or kill me yesterday. We might not like each other personally, but we both work for the same side.”

“The FBI director is pissed,” Ketner said. “One guy with a gun, and a second with a smoke bomb, right?” He didn’t wait for a response, just moved on to his next question. “Did you get a good look at either man?”

Her phone beeped again, reminding her there were messages waiting and phone calls to return.

“I’m sorry, I have a great deal to do right now. Can we continue this at another time?”

“Of course.” Ketner turned to John and asked, “How about you? Available to answer a few questions?”

“Yeah, sure,” John said with a shrug. He glanced at her. “After that, I’m going to get us some coffee and something to eat. Then I’m going to park my butt in this chair for a while.” He pointed at one that he’d moved into a corner at the foot of the couch. He’d also moved the small table she kept for more casual conversations over so he could use it as a desk.

“If you have a job you’d like done, maybe watching social media for any hints of the outbreak, I wouldn’t mind. I know I’m here to stay out of sight of whoever doesn’t like me this week, but I’d like to be useful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Funny how accommodating you can be when you get what you want.”

He shrugged. “Yup, hilarious.”