Turning his back to the window, he looked around the cabin once more while his thoughts dashed with unthinkable possibilities. Maybe she’d been captured. Maybe she ran away.

Or maybe she just went for a walk to clear her head. Rome smacked himself upside the head for letting himself think the worst. That was it. The exasperating woman loved being outside. No doubt she was just taking some time alone to focus on her part in their plan to shut down Jeff’s scheme.

Appeased, he headed for the shower to ward off the chill that had seized his bare body. Turning on the water, he couldn’t help but remember the fun he and Harper had the other night as they stood under the spray. He smiled, hoping against hope that this would all be over soon and they could move forward. Together. Harper was more than a handful, but he was very sure he wanted many more showers with her in the future.

Rome finished his hot shower and pulled on his clothes, not wanting to miss a moment with her when she returned from her outing.

Striding into the kitchen, he began to boil some water for hot chocolate for the two of them, guessing she’d want something to warm up her insides. He’d take care of warming her body.

Rome figured that they had plenty of time to get ready for the afternoon. He had set the rendezvous with his handpicked special forces team for thirteen hundred hours. It was currently nine fifteen. He stole another look outside and then almost slapped himself again for being so anxious.

Removing the steaming boiling water, he fixed himself a cup of hot chocolate and headed toward the island and the laptop. Perching on a stool, he decided his mind could be put to better use other than worrying by the door like a father on prom night.

Rome sipped his hot drink while the computer booted. He chuckled at the complex log-on procedure Harper had orchestrated while he went through the methodical steps. She was really something else.

He’d admired her inner strength from the moment he’d decided to help her. He saw that strength mirrored in himself. In his instincts. He’d been right about her. And being able to trust himself was a gift from her that he could never repay. But he’d try.

Finally he got to the files they had combed through meticulously. But he knew it wouldn’t hurt to browse one more time before they jumped in and did something about the information. He couldn’t help thinking there was something in there that could give them an edge that would make a big difference. Countless times, the smallest detail had proven the largest advantage in his covert line of work.

He went through file after file. He and Harper had color coded the folders to delineate which one of them had been gone through so they didn’t duplicate any work. Hers were green, his were blue, but all of the sudden, he came across one generic yellow folder. Had they missed one?

Damn it all, they couldn’t afford to have missed anything. But it was entirely possible. Rome’s mouth quirked into a grin, knowing exactly what reason made it entirely possible. Last night, their eyes had been prickly, tired of looking at all the data, but their bodies held plenty of sizzling energy. And they’d used every last fiery ounce.

Damn. Damn. They really couldn’t afford any mistakes or faulty information. Maybe they’d just forgotten to color code it.

Ten forty-five. Harper still wasn’t back.

Rome clicked the lone folder to open it. Definitely not something he’d seen. It was one of the files from Jeff’s experiments that Bobby must have had time to go through. Bobby had inserted his own notes into the text. He scanned the words, though not as familiar with the tone as Harper would have been.

The more he read, the more he gathered he was reading an analysis of the men Jeff had injected with the replicated serum. The big question repeated throughout the data was why they had died from it. Rome shivered. That was the exact question he and Harper had tried not to face. But they sure the hell wanted to know the answer, too.

“Holy shit.” He rubbed his head in shock. “Bobby figured it out.” A smile broke across his face, chasing the chill away with vehemence.

Continuing to read Bobby’s notes on the serum Jeff had used for the subjects, Rome’s smile grew.

Harper’s brother had examined Jeff’s reports on the trials. Because the faction stole the infused plants, they had only derivatives of Bobby’s formula. “Offshoots,” Bobby called them. Rome remembered Harper saying that her brother was possessive to the point of paranoia when it came to his plant experiments. There was no way the faction would ever have gotten ahold of the true serum unless Bobby had let them, which the notes in the file showed he distinctly had not.

Bobby had examined the formula the faction used. Because that applied formula was from the dissected plants and not the authentic formula, the effects were diluted. Bobby included notes on his own experiments with his own plants that had obviously been conducted months before he’d discovered the faction.

The test plants that had been given the original formula had flourished. The plants that had been given a diluted serum had deteriorated and eventually died in less than a week. They did age, even though they were able to repair themselves throughout their lifetime. The only things that killed them was their natural life span or if they were intentionally uprooted. Those were the limitations. The natural order of things remained untouched.

The serum had to be administered to the seeds, and then the seeds had to be planted. And it would stay with them as long as they lived their healthy green lives. Or until someone cut them down. Like the faction was trying to do to Harper.

But Harper had the pure genuine serum inside of her. Not the offshoot.

Rome’s heart soared. Harper wasn’t going to die like the others.

He quickly reread the data to be sure he was interpreting it correctly. There was no mistake in Bobby’s findings. The formula that flowed through Harper was pure. And therefore, she’d survive its effects.

Hopping off the stool in an ecstatic frenzy, Rome dashed to the door of the cabin and ran outside, practically bursting to tell her the good-no, great-news.

But Harper wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

His buoyant mood began to deflate rapidly. Eleven seventeen. Well, she’d survive if he didn’t kill her first. Where the hell was she? They had to leave soon. Very soon.

Damn it all. She had a watch. A fancy Ironman watch she used when she swam. She knew they were supposed to leave at noon. Was he going to have to find her again like yesterday? They didn’t have time for that.

He let out a ragged sigh, watching his breath plume in the cool fall air. Excitement drained to anger as he stomped back inside to drag on his coat. Shoving his hands into the coat pockets, he trudged back outside, nearly growling with each harsh step.

And stopped still.

His fingers jammed against something cold and hard inside the left pocket. An eerie sensation shivered through his hand and settled uneasily in his gut.

Before pulling it out, he knew exactly what it was.

Harper’s first gold medal. The medal she’d said she treasured over all others. The medal they’d found at Bobby’s. The medal he’d returned to her.

And now she’d given it back to him.

Rome sank to his knees in the wet gravel, the grainy mist shrouding his slumped form.

Harper was gone.

Clutching the medal against his bowed forehead, he knew.

She’d gone to bring Jeff down herself. She thought she was going to die anyway. It was a sacrifice she wanted to make. He thought he’d convinced her that they could do this together. That whatever was between them could keep her safe and alive until they found an antidote. She didn’t need to surrender her life to take Jeff’s.