Firestorm: Book III of the Wildfire Saga (40 page)

"No…" she said, then sighed.
 
"Although Hans, my chief of security, has advised me many times the old
landgut
is not so easily defended."
 
The porcelain face turned away for a moment and she ran a well-manicured hand through her honey-blond hair.
 
"It's just that…this has been my family home for generations.
 
We lived in seclusion on the country estate.
 
But here in the city…"

Reginald held up his hand.
 
"You need say no more, Madame.
 
I totally understand—it was to my family's estate I retreated when my chalet in the Alps came under attack.
 
There's nothing like the safety of home."

Lady Brunner offered a weak smile, but it never reached her eyes.
 
She was worried.
 
He cleared his throat.
 
"Perhaps it would be best if you…were to travel somewhere safer…"

Lady Brunner regarded him like a cat watching a mouse.
 
"Did you have somewhere particular in mind, Earl Dunkeith?"

Reginald cleared his throat again and adjusted his shirt.
 
"Why not my family estate here in Scotland?
 
It's a proper castle, built for defense.
 
This structure," he said with a sweep of his arm, indicating the communications room around him, "is built on a peninsula and surrounded by solid stone walls.
 
I control the nearest town and my men patrol the forest surrounding the loch as well.
 
At the moment, it's just me and my security forces."
 
He looked down.
 
"I've no family left—the castle is empty."
 
He lifted his chin, affecting a formal air.
 
"I would be most honored, if you would relocate to this facility…for your own safety."

She smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind one ear.
 
"You are so considerate."
 
The smile faded from her face.
 
"I am hesitant to leave my family's ancestral home, however."
 
She looked around the room in which she sat.
 

Behind her, Reginald saw gilded picture frames and oil portraits hung on silk damask papered walls.
 
Lady Brunner lived in the lap of luxury.
 
He glanced at his communications room and distastefully observed the largely unadorned plastered walls.
 
It would be quite the change of scenery, but there was no mistaking the strength and security a medieval castle provided over a Victorian manor whose walls were likely more glass than stone.

"I shall take your offer under advisement—it is most generous, my lord," she said, staring into him.
 
The corner of her blood-red lips ticked up for a split second.
 
"Significant arrangements might need to be made."

Reginald nodded.
 
"I understand.
 
Please know that while I hold sway over a large swath of Western Scotland, and though this offer shall remain open indefinitely, I cannot guarantee your safe arrival much longer.
 
Things are going poorly in Britain, now that the royal family has been infected.
 
Should you need me, however, I shall remain your most humble and obedient servant, madame," he said with a bow.

This time the smile on her face reached her eyes.
 
Reginald's heart ached.
 
My God, she's radiant.
 

"I thank you, Earl Dunkeith.
 
I shall be in touch."

"I hope so, Lady Brunner," Reginald said as he reluctantly ended the transmission.
 

Reginald stepped away from the computer and sighed.
 
He looked at the map on the wall again, checking the daily updates of flu infections and deaths.
 
The red global infection rates had skyrocketed in the past 24 hours.
 
New worries had surfaced in Europe that the flu was mutating again.
   

The mortality rates were slightly more frightening.
 
The shadow of death had fallen across much of the United States.
 
In Europe, the west was more red with infection than black with death, but the tide was turning as the flu burned through dense population centers.
 
China had only a few black dots, but they were spreading fast inside the red swath that seemed ready to consume the entire country.
 

"My lord?"
buzzed Stefan.

Reginald rolled his eyes.
 
"Yes, what is it?"

"You wished me to inform you when Mistress Svea awakened."

"Yes, of course.
 
I take it she's ready to start the day?"

"She wishes to go for a run, sir."

Reginald laughed.
 
Old habits die hard.
 
He trained his operatives well—they never slacked off, never relaxed, never slipped out of training mode.
 
To them, spare time was for honing skills and keeping bodies in top physical shape.
 

"That's fine, Stefan—she's family, remember?
 
Let her do what she will and make sure the guards know not to follow her.
 
She has free rein of the estate—let's see what she does with it."

"Shall I have her watched?"

Reginald paused for a moment.
 
If she was up to something, tailing her with anyone less than a well-seasoned veteran operative would be futile and likely tip her off to his suspicions.
 
"No, not just yet.
 
Make sure she's not left unattended inside the castle, but under no circumstances is anyone to follow her outside.
 
For now."

"
Very good, sir,
" replied Stefan without emotion.
 
Not surprising—Stefan had always preferred Jayne.

Reginald stared at the intercom for a moment.
 

Even without the guards, I have enough hidden cameras on the grounds to know her every move.
 
I'll know soon if she's truly loyal or not…

C
HAPTER
32

Washington, D.C.

USMC Forward Operations Center.

C
OOPER
TRACED
B
RENDA
'
S
PICTURE
with his finger.
 
He closed his eyes and remembered what it felt like to run his hands through her auburn hair, to feel the silky smoothness slip over his rough fingers.
 
He remembered the way she had smiled at him, exhausted after they had trashed her lab.
 
He sighed and opened his eyes.

Brenda's dead.

He glanced at the screen in front of him.
 
There was no sense in putting it off any longer.
 
He hit the connect button and waited for the computer to cycle through the security protocols and establish a connection with the medical facility in the Underground.

A man's face appeared on the screen.
 
He looked tired and old—though Cooper knew he was only 35; he looked ten years older.
 
Sunken cheeks, bags under his eyes, dull hair—clearly a man who'd beaten death, but was worn out by the battle.

Cooper clenched his hands into fists when he met the man's eyes.
 
Despite his haggard looks, Derek Alston bore a striking resemblance to his sister.
 
He saw Brenda in the man's face staring back at him on the screen.
 
The shape of Derek's nose was a larger, more masculine version of his sister's.
 
His chest tightened, and he felt every thud of his heart.
 

"So you're the SEAL that rescued my sister?" the Ranger asked.
 
His voice sounded strong and healthy despite his appearance.
 
Those eyes bored straight into Cooper's.

"And you're the big brother she fought to save."

The Ranger clenched his jaw. Cooper watched the muscles working underneath the tightly stretched skin.
 

"How are you doing?" Cooper asked.

Derek Alston sighed.
 
"I feel like shit."
 
He glanced over his shoulder at a passing technician and leaned conspiratorially into the computer.
 
"They all treat me like I'm going to relapse any second… They won't let me do anything on my own."
 
He leaned back in his chair.
 
"Not like I'm strong enough to do much yet anyway—I feel weak as a kitten."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," said Cooper, "not many people have been through what you have and survived.
 
If you guys hadn't rescued the Source…there'd be no vaccine.
 
And one of my men would be in the ground right now.
 
Thank you."

Derek causally waved a hand.
 
"I was just doing my job.
 
You would've done the same thing."

Cooper cracked a crooked grin.
 
He immediately liked Brenda's brother.
 
"You know…I see a lot of her in you.
 
I'm really glad you made it," Cooper said.

Derek's face softened, and he looked down at his hands.
 
"I never got a chance to tell her goodbye."

"She checked in on you every day," Cooper said.
 
"She worried about you constantly."
 
Cooper laughed.
 
"You should hear some of the stories the nurses told me—she oversaw every detail of your treatment and God forbid her orders weren't followed to the letter."

Derek smiled.
 
"Yeah," he said sadly, "I've heard that.
 
They were trying to cheer me up when I first woke…it didn't do any good then, but now…I really appreciate it."

"Look…" Cooper began.
 
"I know this is awkward for both of us.
 
This isn't exactly how I'd planned to meet you…"

Derek smiled.
 
"At least you wanted to meet me.
 
I wanted to
kill
you."

Cooper blinked.

"Yeah—it's not exactly how I planned to meet you either," the Ranger continued, not missing a beat, a grin plastered on his face.
 
"I didn't get the chance to beat the shit out of you for dating my little sister."

Cooper cocked his head at the screen.
 
"The way you look, I don't think you could take down my lunch order."

The two men shared a laugh across a thousand miles of fiber optic cable.
 
"Yeah, well, give me a week or two," Derek allowed.

Cooper laughed.

Derek shook his head as he spoke.
 
"Brenda would've tried to kick my ass if I'd hurt you form what I hear!"

It was Copper's turn to grin.
 
"Yeah, she probably would have tried."
 
He remembered how strong Brenda had been, how she'd fought to come up with a solution to the flu.
 
She was never one to be intimidated easily.
 
Her indomitable spirit was what he'd admired so much about her.
 
Cooper blinked and looked away.

"You really loved her, didn't you?" asked Derek.

Cooper cleared his throat and looked back at the screen, clenching his fists to distract himself from the pain.
 
"Yes."
 
There.
 
I said it out loud.
 
Now it's real.

The emotion between he and Brenda was no longer a secret.
 
Saying that one word suddenly made it all real.
 
A sense of peace washed over him as if Brenda herself had suddenly touched the back of his neck.
 
Cooper resisted the urge to turn and look.

"Thank you."

Cooper arched an eyebrow.
 
"For what?"

Derek sighed.
 
"Brenda and I have had a pretty rough time since…for the past ten years."

Cooper nodded.
 
"She told me about your family.
 
I know it's not much, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Derek waved off the sentiment again.
 
"It was long time ago—I'm just upset than Brenda had to go through it alone.
 
I wasn't there to help—I was too sick to help.
 
But she's tough."
 
Derek looked down again.
 
"She was tough.
 
She went through a lot to save as many people as she could.
 
That was her way—always looking for a way to help someone.
 
She never gave up on anybody."

Cooper thought back to their argument in the corridor outside the ICU where Mike had been in a coma.
 
He thought back to how she wanted him to stay, how she never gave up on Mike.
 
He smiled.
 
"She was a wonderful person."