think twice about revealing anything your father may have sent you to others, Jane. You know he’s done some…creative tampering before.”
“I will. Goodbye, Raul.” Jane hung up the phone and went to the door. It was Angie Tanner, her secretary, lab assistant and research guru.
The short, dark-haired woman wouldn’t enter the actual lab even dressed as she was in a full-body space suit. Jane thought it was kind of funny. Angie had spent the last twenty-five years working for the CDC and had in fact been her father’s assistant in the early days. Her smile was friendly and she loved her job. And she was completely paranoid about germs.
“I’ve finalized all the arrangements for you. The area you want to go into is only accessible by air.”
Angie was ultraefficient and a real wizard when it came to bringing together the details of an operation. She was a top-notch researcher and interviewer and Jane trusted her implicitly. “I know. That’s why I asked you to hire a small plane. Why don’t you come in my office and join me for a cup of tea?”
“Because I happen to like being healthy. I tried to get you a flight to La Paz, but they didn’t have anything leaving tomorrow, and Meredith wouldn’t approve using the CDC plane.”
Angie’s phobia about her health was something of a joke amongst those who worked with her. She kept a huge bottle of vitamin C tablets on her desk and popped them like candy throughout the day. “Meredith doesn’t really want me to go,” Jane said. Angie probably was risking her position by helping Jane out.
“She has to answer to her own conscience,” Angie said, handing Jane a plastic wallet portfolio. “Here are the rest of your papers. You’re going to be parachuting into the jungle. I called in a favor from a buddy of mine in the military.”
“Okay,” Jane said. She loved parachuting and had a lot of experience. The jungles of the Amazon basin would be perfect for skydiving. If it weren’t for the fact that her father was in jeopardy she might actually enjoy this trip.
“I told him you know your stuff when it comes to parachuting.”
“Thanks. I’m not so sure about the virologist who’ll be joining me.”
“I only made travel arrangements for you,” Angie said in a surly voice.
“Can you add one to the parachute jump?” Jane asked, knowing that once Angie made her plans or finished her research she didn’t like to have to go back and change it.
“I’ll try.”
“Thanks. Did you get the guide I requested?” Jane asked. Going into the jungle alone was asking for trouble.
“Yes. He’ll meet you at the private airstrip on the morning of your sky dive.”
“Thanks, Angie. Can I ask you to do one more thing for me?” Jane asked.
“What?”
“Will you check into the research the Peruvian government has done on this disease? According to everyone I talked to, it’s not lethal.”
“What do you want to know?” Angie asked.
“Who did the testing and interviews and when they were conducted.”
“Is that it?”
“For now.”
“Be careful, Jane, even virus hunters aren’t immune to death.”
It was almost two in the afternoon by the time Jane arrived in Lima two days later. Tired, hungry and anxious to get to work, she made her way toward her hotel. The air was hot, humid and blanketed the city in the kind of haze that often covered Los Angeles. She closed her eyes and tried to breath. But the air was hot. It burned her lungs.
In a way it was invigorating. The one thing that she liked, though she hated to admit it, about South America was that you still had the feeling of having to fight to survive. That life was brought in on its most simplistic terms. Here it really was survival of the fittest.
But she had no time to enjoy it. She was here on a mission and every second she delayed she risked losing another life.
Now she was here in Lima—the clock was officially starting to tick. Meredith was giving her one week. One measly week after eight years of always doing what she was told. Fear of failure weighed heavily on her. It was an odd feeling and not one she liked to admit she experienced.
The treatment and the vaccine were loaded into a galvanized-steel reinforced trunk with wheels and a handle. She towed it behind her through the hotel lobby. She had a meeting with Rebel Virology in a little over an hour in the lobby of her hotel.
She needed to switch the glass vials and their protective packaging into bags that would make it easier to carry them through the jungle. And she desperately wanted a cool shower.
The lobby was full of artifacts from Macchu Pichu. The site, north of the city, was accessible by a multi-day hike or a train or bus ride. Jane paused in front of a lighted alcove displaying an artist’s rendering of the Temple of the Sun. She felt small in relation to her place in time.
Working in virology and making case studies gave her a link to realizing how short time was. And how little things had changed. Modern developments in science made the epidemics of yesterday obsolete in some parts of the world, but viruses and germs always found a way to mutate in order to survive.
Not on my watch.
“Hola, Jane.”
She tensed and glanced up from the artwork. Raul Veracruz stood behind her. She could see him reflected in the glass. He held a white hat in one hand and a cigar in the other. His dark hair was trimmed close to his head. He had a mustache now and when she turned toward him, he smiled at her.
“I didn’t think to see you so soon,” he said in his accented English. His voice was meant to seduce and despite that knowledge she had to admit she still liked the warm sound of it.
“I’m surprised you’re here. How did you know where I was staying?” she asked. He hadn’t exactly sounded as if he wanted to see her down here. She wasn’t sure what kind of reception she’d get from him.
“It wasn’t that hard to find you. I have friends in government.”
“Why were you looking for me?” she asked, a little unnerved that the government knew where she was. She needed to stop being so freaking jumpy about everything. She gave Raul a bland smile.
“I’m hoping to convince you to change your mind about going to the Amazon basin. Can you join me for a drink?”
She glanced at her watch. She didn’t want to have this conversation but saw no graceful way out of it. “I can give you five minutes.”
“Only five minutes for an old…friend?”
If he was only an old friend and not a former lover she wouldn’t feel so awkward. And she might have given in. But she didn’t know what Raul wanted, and for a man who hadn’t talked to her in years, he was suddenly very interested in her.
“Come
