Plague by Gregg Luke

Author:Gregg Luke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epidemics;environmental;outbreaks;climate change;research;hostage;global devastation;abduction;plague.
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2018-12-14T20:49:59+00:00

Chapter 31

Long Island, New York

At ten o’clock Friday morning, JFK International was thronged with passengers, airline personnel, and TSA agents. Mitch and Kiana selected a corner table at a pastry shop called La Brea Bakery. Mitch felt haggard and disconnected. He’d grabbed barely an hour of sleep crossing the Atlantic. Kiana, on the other hand, looked fresh and on her game. Mitch was equally impressed and angered by her ability to acclimate to time zones without missing a beat. Where Mitch was already on his second cup of house blend, Kiana had barely touched her foamy latté.

Nibbling at a humus-filled croissant, Kiana wiped her fingers on a napkin and then interlaced them. “I want to ask you something, but I don’t want you to be offended, okay?”

He raised an eyebrow. “I’ll try not to be.”

“You seem perturbed—perhaps even angry—over the information we’ve uncovered the past three days.”

“Has it only been three? It feels a lot longer,” he said, sighing in fatigue.

“I agree,” she said. “But . . . well, I thought you’d be more pleased about the information we’ve found and how well it supports your report.”

Mitch felt himself frown. He turned away and glared at the passersby. “You say ‘we’ like this is your report too.”

“I feel I have a vested interest,” she stated boldly. “Like I said, I’ve never spent this much time on a single assignment before. We’re in this together, Mitch.”

“Well, thank you for that,” he said without ire.

“For what?”

“For not calling me a ‘mark.’”

She smiled and took a sip of latté. “Remember when I said I can read people pretty well? The more I get to know them, the better the read. I’m not bringing this up to make you feel uncomfortable. I just sense there’s something about this new information that frustrates rather than pleases you.”

He pushed his cup aside and closed his eyes. She was right. Arguing the fact was pointless. He then felt her hand rest gently on his arm. He simultaneously loved it and hated it when she did that. It made it hard to stay angry. And that bothered him even more.

“You’re right,” he said, looking back up. “I’m infuriated I didn’t think of researching ice-core samples or British legends myself.”

“It’s not like those are obvious clues,” she offered.

He forced a scoff. There was no way to hide his emotions from this seasoned handler. “I’m frustrated Edgar seems to know more about my conclusions than I do. He’s sending us to places I never thought to go, and each one has been a goldmine of information. He’s filling in blank spots I didn’t know existed.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No. Not really.”

She smiled. “So is it an ego thing?”

Mitch couldn’t help but smile back. “I’d be lying if I said that’s not partly true. I don’t know a single researcher who doesn’t want his or her name in lights as the one who discovered something earth-shattering.” He huffed and toyed with the uneaten portion of his bear claw. “No, the thing that upsets me is that Edgar does seem to know everything.

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