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"I know," Bryn said She kept her hands on the table "I could do that right now, if I wanted"

It was a warning, but a gentle one, and she saw the recognition of it in Johannsen’s face For a long heartbeat, the wohed and crossed the small room to open the front door She leaned out and said, "You, by the car It’s cold out here Co what you want"

Patrick came in with all due caution, sidear at the table She nodded to him, and he relaxed But he didn’t put the sidearm away, either "Ma’am," he said to Johannsen, as she shut the door behind hiet a little worried"

"I needed to make sure Sit down, please Hands flat on the table, just like your friend I’ll get what you want"

The shotgun was at port ar the move He finally said, "No, o with you Just in case of unfriendlies"

"Well, coet this over with," she said, and led the way into the back room Bryn rose and followed after Patrick

Inside was an entirely different environ area; it hummed with coe refrigerators took up nations didn’t ists collected a lot of those, didn’t they?

Johannsen passed those by and went to a se, one that in another household would have held beer, ame room This one held small vials and samples, neatly racked

From two-thirds of the way back, on the second shelf, she picked out a single vial that looked just like the others It had a handwritten label on it that read CT INACTIVE SAMPLE DND

"Do not destroy--that’s what he told me," she explained, and handed the cool bottle over to Bryn "That’s all he gaveabout it; I just kept it for hierous?"

"No," Bryn said "It’s the exact opposite of dangerous It’s a cure we need, very badly Thank you"

Johannsen nodded She still didn’t seeood "You said others will coe thing? Hoorried should I be?"

"Hoorried was Dr Thorpe?" Patrick asked her She met his eyes, and frowned "You know the answer to that, and the fact is, he wasn’t worried enough So judge by that I’, and trust me, they won’t be so nice or so talkative as we are You need to get the hell out of here, and don’t cohter to Russia--that’s pretty safe, and it’s a shorter trip from here But, Doctor--don’t colanced over at Bryn "Is that everything you need?"

"I think so," she said, and carefully wrapped the vial in a sht for that purpose, then folded it up and zipped it into an inner pocket of her parka "Ready to go"

"Doctor," Patrick nodded, and backed toward the door He still didn’t have his gun raised, but he atching hers with unnerving intensity He covered Bryn as she left first, then stepped out the door and jerked his head to let her know she should precede him to the outer exit, which she did

Johannsen followed, shotgun still coht ar only the floor

"Thank you, Doctor," Bryn said "Please get out of here I really don’t want anything to happen to you Dr Thorpe wouldn’t have, either"

The woman inclined her head, just a tiny bit, and that was all the reassurance that Bryn thought she’d get Then she and Patrick were heading with all due speed to the SUV, starting it up, and driving down the bumpy trail toward the mailbox

Patrick keyed the small radio that he’d clipped to the collar of his parka "Joe, you ready? On our way out"

"Bring coffee, it’s freaking freezing out here," Joe said "If I had to take a piss it’d probably be ice halfway down" He paused, and his voice changed Utterly It went flat and cold and nothing like Joe at all "Pat, we’re boned Get--" He cut off Dead air