“Then next time, don’t chase a big scary man into my path.”

“No next time. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said, smiling. She didn’t dare laugh; she had the feeling it would hurt like hell. “When do I get to go home?”

“Doc says a day or two. They want to make sure you don’t leak anywhere by surprise,” Xander said, grimacing as he tasted the coffee.

“What an elegant concept.” Her head went back onto the pillow, the crackling barrenness of it hard under her neck. “So we saved the day. That’s good.”

Her nurse came in, clucked over her a bit, then shot something wonderful into her IV, and admonished her to hit the red button if she needed anything.

Sam recognized the strange softening of the edges that came from the pain medication. She started to float and didn’t fight it.

Fletcher’s phone rang. “Jesus, it’s like Grand Central around here. I’m going to throw this thing in the trash.” But he put his ear to the phone, and a moment later, a grin erupted on his face. The effect of the medicine made it seem like the edges of his lips were exceptionally wide, and Sam stifled a giggle.

He thanked whoever it was and hung up. He patted her on the knee.

“Our luck’s changing, Doc. Not only did we save the world, that was Dr. Bayer up in ICU. He has good news. Thomas Cattafi just woke up.”

Chapter 55

FLETCHER LEFT TO talk to Cattafi’s family, and Sam drifted for a bit until Xander told her he was going to grab some food, and left her to sleep it off. Sam was comfortably numb from the drugs, but dreamed for what seemed like hours, of dark caves and monsters with huge, gnashing teeth that pinned her down and shoved sharp sticks in her side.

She awakened to full daylight. She squinted at the sun coming in from the blinds, then realized a familiar face was sitting in the chair previously occupied by Xander. It took her a minute to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The chair’s occupant was tall, blonde, with one gray eye darker than the other.

“Taylor!” she shouted, jerking her best friend’s attention from the novel in her lap.

Taylor Jackson jumped up from her chair and started to throw her arms around Sam, but stopped when Sam hissed in a breath.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. I hit your bullet wound.”

“Words I never thought to hear coming out of your mouth. Getting shot is your job.”

Taylor grinned, and Sam felt immediately better. “No kidding. Hurts, doesn’t it?”

Sam nodded. “Like hell.”

Taylor contented herself with sitting on the side of the bed, holding Sam’s good hand tight in hers, a huge grin on her lovely face.

“I came as soon as I heard. Baldwin called me when he landed. He showed up to your house, found two dead men in the kitchen and was just in time to hear the radio call that you’d been hit.” The smile faded, and she touched Sam’s cheek. “You scared me, Sammy. Don’t do that again.”

Sam laughed, shakily. “Scared myself, too. I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too, sugar.” Sam could see Taylor was wrestling with her emotions. Never one to cry over spilled milk, her best friend, but she wasn’t good when it came to her people getting hurt.

But there was something else there, too, and Sam knew Taylor well enough to know when she was holding something back.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

The gray eyes crinkled in amusement. “Never could put one past you, could I?”

Sam shook her head. “No, you can’t. Spill.”

Taylor took a small breath. “Okay. It’s about the Hometown Killer.”

It took Sam’s muzzy head a moment to place the name. “Right. The serial killer who isn’t a serial killer, except Baldwin and I think he is. Baldwin told me there was DNA at the crime scene in Denver. That’s great news, right?”

“Absolutely. There’s only one problem. Remember the man Lieutenant Fletcher was investigating, the one who drove the gray Honda near the Cattafi crime scene?”

Sam felt her stomach start to sink, a pit forming that made her breath come faster. “Yes. It all happened really quickly, but if I remember correctly, one of Fletcher’s guys found the real owner dead, and we thought he was a part of the plot to contaminate the water system. When we went into the aquifer, they were doing a sketch of him to release to the public, find out who he was.”

“That’s right. Metro’s crime scene collected foreign DNA from Toliver Pryce’s house. There was a match in CODIS to the DNA at the crime scene in Denver.”

Sam felt the alarm begin to build in her system. “Wait. What are you saying? The Hometown Killer was a part of this?”

Taylor shook her head, her blond hair shurring past her shoulders and getting in her face. She tucked a strand behind her ear. “He wasn’t involved in the terror plot.”

“Then why...” She broke off. It was a stupid question. Why else would a serial killer be circling her block? “He knows who I am,” she said flatly.

Taylor nodded. “We’re afraid he might, honey. Don’t worry, though. Nothing is going to happen to you. We’re going to find this son of a bitch and put him behind bars where he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

Taylor brushed a hand across Sam’s cheek, and she realized her best friend had just lied to her.

Chapter 56

BEFORE SHE WAS discharged from the hospital, Sam went to visit Thomas Cattafi.

He was on the third floor, in a private room, still hooked into the ventilator, but improving daily. She’d visited before, slowly wheeling herself down to the elevator and onto his ward, but he’d been asleep, and she hadn’t the heart to wake him.

But today, his mother was in the room with him, and spied Sam out in the hall. She was small and blonde and compact, and incredibly cheerful. She came out and shook Sam’s hand. “We’ve seen you on the news, Dr. Owens. Thank you for finding the horrible woman who did this to our Tommy.”

Maureen Heedles had been paraded all over the local and national news, and it was up for debate who was actually going to prosecute, the US government or the British. Sam bet they’d both get a turn—the woman wouldn’t see freedom again. The same for Riley Dixon, though his story was more difficult to discern. He was in federal custody at an undisclosed location, and Sam had a feeling he’d be disappeared from his world completely soon enough.

“I didn’t do much, ma’am, but thank you. Is Tommy up for a visitor? I’d like to talk to him.”

Mrs. Cattafi nodded. “He’s been writing down everything he can to help the police. Did you know, he’s discovered a real vaccine for this terrible virus he and Dr. Bromley were working on, one that will work on other hemorrhagic fevers? I always thought he’d cure cancer, and here he goes and saves a continent.”

Sam smiled at the woman. “He’s a brilliant boy. I’m just so glad we were able to save him.”

And I wish to hell we could have saved Amanda.

Cattafi’s face lit up when he saw her. So he recognized her from the news, too. She didn’t know what they’d been saying. She was avoiding the television like the plague, instead catching up with Taylor and Xander and getting reports from Fletcher, who, along with Lonnie Hart, had been put back on active duty with no stain on their records.

Fletcher had filled her in on Cattafi’s research. In trying to find a cure for the engineered superbug, he and Bromley had found the key to a comprehensive broad-spectrum vaccine that could inoculate people against the disease. Cattafi had found that decaying stem cells, from people already deceased, mixed with the blood of those who’d survived, could be manipulated to kill the mutated superbug. He was able to use this to engineer a therapeutic, killing the bug from within.

It was groundbreaking work. It was too early to know if they could use the therapeutic vaccine to create a prophylactic to vaccinate against all hemorrhagic fevers, but their vaccine could halt the spread of the superbug if it were released into the world, removing the dire threat from the terrorist organization known as the Pyramid.