The Boss Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 3) by Victoria Paige (red scrolls of magic txt) 📗

He opened a panel and punched the buttons. “I’ll walk you through it again, but what I just did was disable the BSL-4 settings.”

“BS …” her voice faltered. “You have a Biosafety Level 4 lab?” There were not many of those in the world. Biosafety Level four was the CDC standard for a facility that could effectively study and handle the deadliest pathogens on the planet with no vaccine—Marburg, Lassa virus and, yes, Ebola, although recent years have brought on more treatments and successful vaccines.

“I’m not leaving anything to chance. This lab was built in the last eight months.” They entered the ante chamber, an eerie replica to where she worked in the CDC. “You suit up here.” He showed her the familiar hose that would attach to their suits and would feed a continuous supply of air to their protective gear.

“I take it you’ve worked in one of these?” Antonio said.

Charly nodded. “Yes, my first day at the CDC, they oriented us on how to use them.”

Antonio twisted the lever on the air-locked door, and they moved further into the lab. Workstations with plexiglass shielding known as biological safety cabinets, were located on both sides. Microscopes, sample trays, and several monitors were mounted on each side.

There were two doors at the end of the lab.

“One of those leads to the cryogenic storage. That’s where I put your samples,” Antonio said. “The other one leads to the decontamination chamber. This whole room works on negative air pressure passing it through required filtration.” He paused. “So, Dr. Bennett, what do you think?”

“I’m impressed.” She gave an incredulous shrug. “I wasn’t expecting this. What I had with Carillo was something more archaic.”

“You worked with the virus without protection?” Andrade exclaimed incredulously.

“I didn’t work with the live one. I duplicated its delivery system. Are you familiar with that?”

“Of course,” Antonio said. “Its attachment proteins. You used the RNA of a less virulent pathogen.”

Charly smiled. The billionaire understood his business after all.

“We were one of the first to deliver an Ebola vaccine,” Antonio reminded her.

Charly walked over to the microscope. Top of the line. Even if Antonio stuck her in a basement, having this lab to herself would be a dream job. She turned to him. “My laptop?”

“I’ll give it to you,” he said. “After you answer a few questions.”

“What questions?”

“Like how come you’ve been under Benito Carillo’s control for nine months and no one ever looked for you? You have a father …”

“I haven’t spoken to my father in years.”

“You have relatives. On your mother’s side. They’re old money from Boston.”

“I’m not close to them either.”

Antonio sat on one of the stools, his gaze never wavering and it was unnerving. “You worked for August Leigh.”

Charly puffed a brief disbelieving laugh. “You’ve been busy.”

“There’s a Dr. Sandra Evans who started before you.” He also named the microbiologist and the biochemist that made up their research crew. “All of them started working there before you, but after the emails between Charles Bennett and Doctor Z began.”

She didn’t say anything.

“After Raul Ortega disappeared, your colleagues were reassigned to the Atlanta facility.”

“You have this all committed to memory?” she asked.

Antonio shrugged. “I like making logical deductions. Apparently, it’s good for business.”

“So, tell me where your logic is leading you?”

“What’s strange is, you don’t have a record of having worked in the CDC. There’s a Charles Bennett and his status says ‘Job abandonment’.”

“Huh,” she said and crossed her arms.

“I assume that’s a cover-up by the CIA. And yet this August Leigh hasn’t surfaced yet. The only thing Nico did find was that the doctor had gone on an aid mission to the Congo to further study the Ebola virus.” His gaze grew piercing. “This is dated around the time Ortega disappeared.”

Again, Charly said nothing. She pretended to be looking around the lab, it had many interesting gizmos after all. With what she had at hand in her virus case and the software on her computer with all the technology at her fingertips, she had her best chance of finding the cures against this bioweapon.

Charly couldn’t avoid the elongated silence between them and glanced back at Antonio and shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Obviously, someone in the government was covering their tracks.”

He erased the distance that separated them. “Is Dr. Leigh still alive? Or did Carillo kill him? How did they end up with you?”

“He’s probably dead,” Charly admitted. “I don’t know what happened to him.” That was partially the truth. Benito Carillo and her CDC boss erupted into a heated argument. They went away somewhere, and August Leigh never returned.

Antonio gave a grim smile. “They found out he was useless if not troublesome, and the one with the knowledge for what they needed was you?”

She tried not to squirm under his scrutiny and held his gaze. She was beginning to realize how this man won in boardrooms. He stared his opposition down until they gave in. He made good use of that scar on his brow against his tanned skin. That angular jaw showed a stubbornness and he had eyes that wouldn’t waver.

“Stop that,” she gritted out.

An arrogant brow hitched.

“Stop staring me into submission. I don’t know what they were thinking and I don’t want to speculate that I was the cause of another person’s death.”

“He created a bioweapon. Kidnapped you. Forced you into the clutches of a brutal cartel,” he said in measured tones. “He deserved to burn in hell for the first crime alone.” His nostrils flared. “But I won’t burden you with the demise of this August Leigh. He doesn’t deserve another second in your thoughts. But I think we solved half of our puzzle. You see, Nico also tracked your application to the CDC, the date it reached Dr. Leigh’s office. It was around the time the Charles Bennett email was created.”

“What?” she whispered.

“I’m not saying he planned on framing you from the very beginning,” he said. There was a light in his eyes as if he’d found a