containers. We had a strain of Xylella Fastidiosa and he was attempting to apply another strain of staph—” She halted and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Our equipment failed. The arm broke, dropped a large quantity of one strain onto the virus plate then the arm fell to the bottom of the container. Sam sealed off the arm, then went back to sterilize the plate. The virus had multiplied so fast you could see it with the naked eye. It scared us.”
“Why?”
Kopack was playing dumb. He knew exactly why.
Sassa’s sigh sounded frustrated. “It was a pathogen. A virus that kills plants. It had multiplied with nothing to feed on.” Kopack’s blank look frustrated her more. “Don’t you understand? The virus was growing, even without a host or a carrier. That meant it could attach to any plant, any crop and destroy it in hours or days. Airborne, it could travel the world and kill every living plant in its path. Sam tried to eradicate it. Nothing worked. Finally, he was forced to fry the equipment, everything in the container, with a blowtorch. It frightened him so much, he ordered me to wipe out all of our files so it couldn’t be repeated. We hadn’t recorded much, but I personally wiped most of what was there off the computer systems in the lab.”
She leveled her gaze on Kopack. “I know there’s no formula because it was an accident. We couldn’t repeat it because we shredded what info we wrote down and what was online, we deleted. I did it myself.”
Kopack shook his head. “Oh, there’s a formula...and the Black Knights knew your mentor had found it. That’s what they were after when they killed him. They stole his computer bag. Didn’t you wonder why, Ms. Nilsson? By the way, what is your real name? Up until a year ago you were known as Sassa Larsen.”
Her jaw stiffened and Jared winced.
Don’t lose your cool now, Sassa. Don’t you see he’s baiting you?
“I’m divorced. I preferred to go back to my maiden name.”
“Where is Mr. Larsen?”
“I haven’t a clue. Probably at the closest casino. He’s not my problem anymore.”
“On the contrary, he might be your biggest problem. As you noted, your ex is always looking for money. Is it possible he offered to get the formula for the Black Knights for a price?”
Her lips parted. “I haven’t seen Erik in over a year. He has yet to lay eyes on his own daughter.”
“Then how did the Black Knights discover the formula?”
She closed her eyes. “There...is...no...formula.”
Slowly, Kopack turned in his seat and leveled his gaze on Jared.
“What do you say, Officer De Luca? Is there a formula?”
Thanks, man. Way to put me on the spot.
Jared sighed, hooked his thumbs on his gun belt and met Sassa’s wide-eyed stare. “Yes. There is.”
Sassa stared at the tall stranger in the corner. Black hair, slightly wavy. High cheekbones and dark eyes. A chin that looked carved from granite and a perfectly trimmed goatee with a little five-o’clock shadow behind it. Maybe he’d had a rough night, too, as rough as hers. But those wide shoulders looked like they could handle anything that came his way, and he was handsome. Too handsome. She’d learned all about handsome men and their oh-so-charming ways from her ex.
“Excuse me. Exactly who are you?” The you came out with all the scorn she had for his type and her gaze scoured down the green uniform to the gun belt wrapped around his waist.
Green uniform. “Wait...are you Sam’s young man? The border patrol agent he was watching for?”
“Yes, I am.”
She was exhausted, worn to a frazzle, and now she was angry. Ready to lash out.
“You were late...too late.”
He winced as if in pain.
Good. At least one of these cold, brusque men with their blank faces had the decency to feel something for Sam...kind, gentle Sam. Tears pricked her eyes and she looked down, refusing to cry again, especially in front of the man who had failed Sam in so many ways.
“You’re the ‘official’ he contacted regarding the Black Knights. You’ve been talking to him since all this started. Why didn’t you stop that man from killing him? And why on earth did he contact the border patrol in the first place?”
That verbal dart seemed to strike a chord. He straightened his broad shoulders. “I head up the border patrol’s bio-terrorism section in Riverside. Sam and I had a previous connection regarding a species of plant coming in from Mexico. I’m a biologist. He knew I’d understand the pathogen’s danger.”
His words didn’t mollify Sassa. Sam was dead. No amount of credentials, connections or degrees would change that. Besides...
“There is no formula.” She grated it out, determined to make her point.
“Yes, there is, Sassa. You were right. The pathogen’s potential terrified Sam. He wanted to develop a cure. We provided him with the equipment to work from a secret lab in his home.”
Sassa wanted to snipe and argue, but what he said struck deep. His words made sense and rang with truth. Sam had been distracted, preoccupied for months, like he behaved when working on a project. She’d thought he was spending more time with his wife. June deserved the attention, so Sassa never questioned the time off or the extra hours.
A thought hit her like a blow. “He had no resources. He had to access the internet. These people could have hacked the computer in his home and discovered he was working on a formula.”
De Luca shook his head. “He wasn’t hacked. We supplied him with a private server connected directly to ours. He had the best computer protection our government could provide. And...he wasn’t working on the formula. He completed it.”
“The virus is real. And now they have it,” she whispered. Cold swept over her, so deep and chilling, her hands trembled.
“How...how could you let this happen?” Her tone was harsh. The dam holding her emotions in check had burst. “Why didn’t you stop him from developing it? Why weren’t you on time?”
Her words seemed to reach their target. De Luca winced as if she’d actually struck him.
“Don’t be so hard on Officer De Luca, Ms. Nilsson.” She turned toward the lead agent, ready to lash out at him, too. “The Black Knights created a very complicated diversion—a bomb scare in the airport precisely at the right moment. Besides, we didn’t leave Dr. Kruger unprotected. We had a man following you both throughout the trip. We found his body in a bathroom stall on the upper floor, not far from where you exited the plane.”
Sassa stared at Kopack. The hot flames inside her died out. A man had been following them, watching them everywhere they’d gone on the trip, and she had no clue? She should have known. Should have been more aware, more cautious. Paid more attention to Sam. Instead she’d
