📎A/N. Hello, my lovelies, I hope you are all well and safe. Especially those of you caught up in the natural disasters that seem to be plaguing us at the moment. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

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Petra rechecked her notes and her brows furrowed together. No matter which way she looked at it, the results did not make sense. The samples from the paramedic she obtained, and the one Alice provided from Carbine Jefferson had the same genetic markers. However, the samples from O'Neill were different. What had most surprised her was that the one that had infected O'Neill was a more virulent strain, stronger and faster to replicate.

How he had survived when the others did not, was a puzzle she was determined to find out. His most recent bloodwork showed the virus was still active. However, his antibodies were fighting it off. If only she had access to tissue samples from the other victims. However, somehow their bodies had been misplaced by the hospitals. While she kept her thoughts to herself, she suspected Daniel and Parker had something to do with.

They know more than they are letting on.

She was convinced of it, and was biding her time till she worked out exactly what it was. Petra sighed and patted her pockets for her cigarettes.

"It doesn't matter how many times you check, they won't be there," said Alice.

Petra's arm dropped, and she shot an angry glare at the door as she reached for the pack of gum on the bench.

"You of all people should know smoking is bad for you," said Alice.

Petra rolled her eyes and threw the gum wrapper in the bin. Had anyone told her she would be forced to give up smoking cold turkey she might have not been so adamant she needed answers.

Alice checked the mass spectrometer and chuckled. "He's only looking out for your best interests."

"He's my designated driver, not my keeper. But he doesn't seem to appreciate the difference."

Petra pursed her lips together and held back an additional retort that was ready to fly. She wasn't born yesterday. Daniel Locke had installed a spy to watch her every move and had the audacity of calling him a driver. As if she needed someone to drive her to and from their little village each morning and night. She'd been driving just fine for the past twenty odd years, and twists and turns in the dark on a mountain road didn't faze her the least.

However, she needed answers, and if Daniel Locke thought he had the upper hand by putting in place an attractive man to spy on her, she would just have to let him live under the delusion.

She was now more than convinced that this new disease was as engineered as the last outbreak. The only problem was, she couldn't work out how it was being delivered, or what the source really was.

Over the last few days, her initial suspicions had been proven correct, Parker, Daniel and the others in this weird little village in the backblocks of Colorado, were not directly involved in the manufacture of whatever killed those people. Alice was the only medically trained person in the area, and while she had the best equipment outside of the CDC, she didn't know how to use half of it, or how to interpret a lot of the results—at least not to the extent required for this advanced level of molecular biology.

They weren't involved, but they knew who was. Petra just needed to bide her time and get to the bottom of this. Even if it meant she needed to act ignorant of Joshua's role as a spy in all of this.

When his rugged face swam into view, she cringed. How she allowed Joshua to get under her skin was disturbing, to say the least. He was planted to keep her contained and to make sure they could keep her under constant surveillance. Yet, his relaxed, attentitive manner and his ability to let her forget about work scared her.

Her spy had also made it his personal mission to reform her 'bad habits', starting with smoking. Anyone would think she was injecting the nicotine directly into his body giving him lung cancer.

She frowned. Well, there was the second-hand smoke.

But that was beside the point. She only ever smoked outside and she didn't force him to stand near her when she did. Petra grimaced when she recalled his expression when he collected her the second morning of her stay. While he said nothing, the horror plastered across his face spoke volumes.

The man must be OCD.

A few scattered clothes and empty food containers over the small table must have been a crime in his books. So, what if she was a little messy? It had nothing to do with him.

A series of high beeps signaled their latest test was complete. Alice let out a breath and said, "Finally." She reached over to the printer, pulled off a slip of paper and handed the results to her.

Petra shook her head to clear her erratic thoughts. She far too old to be daydreaming like a schoolgirl. She refocused and scanned through the figures while Alice bit her bottom lip and hovered. Petra forgot about her irritation at her spy, and her brows rose sharply. She glanced up at Alice. "Are you sure you ran it correctly?"

Alice nodded. "I did exactly as instructed."

Petra reached into her pocket and let out a deep breath. If she ever needed something to calm her nerves, it was now. The results proved her original hypothesis. This was one occasion she would have liked to be proved wrong. "Do you understand what these results mean?" she asked.

Alice gulped. "I think so."

Petra sighed again and scratched her forehead. "The Necrotizing fasciitis bacteria is being delivered through the RABV virus." She looked directly at Alice. "Both the genetic bomb that carried the Ebola outbreak and the delivery method of the bacteria that releases the flesh-eating toxin, are common to canines. CDV-1 and RABV."

Alice broke eye contact. "But the results aren't conclusive that it's the rabies virus."

"Tests in human subjects for the virus are often non-conclusive." Petra's shoulders dropped, and she leaned against the bench. "The only real confirmation is if we test the infected animal. However, those results show us there are enough RNA markers to conclude the presence of the virus."

Petra headed across to her laptop and brought up some of her other findings. Something wasn't quite adding up. "So how does the rabies virus deliver a bacteria that releases a flesh-eating toxin?" She flicked through her data and frowned. "That doesn't make sense. The paramedic wasn't bitten. It was by direct contact with a patient. That should not be possible with the RABV virus." She paused. "The victims in Iowa were attacked. We can pretty much confirm they were bitten by some animal. What I don't understand is that O'Neill insisted he wasn't bitten, only scratched, and a tiny one at that." She tapped her fingers on the bench. "The RABV virus is spread through a bite, where some form of saliva is transferred. Are you sure he was telling us the truth?"

"Yes," said Alice without hesitation.

What Petra was failing to now understand was how had it gone from a scratch to the extent of the damage she had seen in the photos. Not to mention...how did he survive when the others did not, and with a more virulent strain?

And how did he fight it?

What's more, what did the Wildfire virus, as Alice referred to it, and this one have to do with each other?

Petra's jaw tightened. This sealed it. These people knew a lot more than they were letting on and they were deliberately keeping it from her.

She turned back to Alice and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you going to tell me what upset you this morning?"

Alice's eyes flew wide but very quickly recovered. "N-nothing. It was nothing, Dominic and I had a fight that's all."

Petra stared at her. The woman was lying.

When Alice had turned up that morning, eyes red-rimmed and puffy, her curiosity was on high alert. It then went into overdrive mode when Alice avoided her concerned questions. There was something these people were hiding, and she was going to get to the bottom of it. If she couldn't get anything out of Alice, she would make sure Joshua, her designated spy, would spill the beans before the day was through. Two could play the detective game.

Something had most definitely spooked them. Yesterday, all the inhabitants of this bizarre eco-friendly village went about their daily routines. Today something had spooked them. There weren't rushing around like bees in a bonnet, and more than one had Alice's sorrowful expression.

Alice looked relieved when there was a tap on the door, and Joshua poked his head in. "Hey, Alice, there's a delivery here for you. Where do you want it?" He pushed the door the rest of the way opened and walked in with two large cardboard boxes.

Alice pointed to a shelf on the far side of the room. "You know you didn't need to bring it down. I could have collected it when I went up to the compound later."

Joshua shrugged and carried the parcels to where Alice had pointed. "It wasn't a problem. I was coming down anyway." He turned around and winked at Petra. "As much as I hate to break up your mojo, it's getting late, and you both should call it a day."

Alice glanced up at the clock and groaned. "But it was morning just a few minutes ago."

Petra had to agree. The day had gotten away from them, and it was now early evening.

Joshua passed by Petra and smiled. "Meet you outside in five."

She couldn't help the frisson of energy that spread through her body when his hand gently rested on the small of her back.

When he left Alice began to pack up their samples. "You heard the man, better not keep in waiting, you never know what he's going to take off you next."

Petra rolled her eyes. "He can wait."

Alice shook her head and let out a small giggle. "Is that's why you're so eager to comply with his orders?"

Petra slowed her movements. "I am doing no such thing."

"It's clear you are attracted to the man. I just don't know why you are fighting it."

Petra pursed her lips and stiffened. "I don't know what you are talking about."

"You don't?" Alice grinned. "So, your heart doesn't race a little when he's around."

Petra felt a flush of heat fan her face, and she turned away so as not to allow Alice to see her blush. While the village doctor seemed to have gaps in some of the standard knowledge she would have expected of a physician in her position, she could pick up on her moods with amazing clarity. Something that quite unnerved her. It was as if Alice were able to read her mind.

In fact, the people in this place were all strange. Not only was the village stuck in la-la land, but they also communed as one with nature. While she was city born and bred, she was sure that country folk generally did not live like this. They didn't have roads to their houses. Instead, they had meandering paths up to the top compound and walked everywhere. Sure, they had a few golf carts to carry their larger bulky items they couldn't. But these freaks walked everywhere.

In the past four days, she had walked more than she had in the previous two years.

Stop complaining. You quite enjoy the walk with Joshua to and back each morning.

When she exited the infirmary ten minutes later, Joshua was leaning against the railings. While the man irritated her, she couldn't help the light flurry of butterflies that swarmed around her stomach each time she laid eyes on him. She was a grown woman who shouldn't be having this sort of reaction to a virtual stranger. Not only that, she needed to remind herself Daniel had planted him to get her defenses down and make sure she was kept tabs on at all time. He was a spy, and she was playing along so she could find out what they were up to. Nothing more.

Joshua whipped her briefcase and laptop bag out of her hands, and they began the long walk back to the carpark.

"Any breakthroughs today?"

"One or two," she said non-committaly.

"I'm sure you'll solve it soon enough."

Petra stole a glance at Joshua as she trailed behind him. The man was an enigma. She knew very little about him, apart from the face he was a nicotine Nazi and possibly a clean freak.

However, there didn't appear to be any part of her life he didn't now know. His years of being a detective had certainly paid off. Joshua had the innate ability to ask questions that she felt compelled to answer. It was ridiculous how much information she had given up on herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, Petra spotted two villagers deep in discussion. One looked as upset as Alice had been that morning. An uneasy feeling pinched at the back of her neck, and her hairs rose on end.

Something is going on here, and I am going to get to the bottom of it.

"So, are you going to tell me what's got everyone so distraught?"

Joshua flinched. "I don't know what you're talking about. Everyone looks okay to me."

Petra stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips. "I wasn't born yesterday or even last week for that matter. Has there been some more deaths?"

Petra froze and glanced around more carefully. The sun had settled low on the horizon, and the valley was basked in an early evening glow. Every other day at this time families would be outside, chatting with each other or playing with their children. She turned back and scanned the area as far as her eye could see. It was eerily quiet, and the few people that were around were scurrying from place to place.

"Where is everybody?"

Joshua continued up the valley. "In their homes, I expect."

Petra narrowed her eyes and rushed to catch up with him. "Why don't you give me a straight answer?"

"There's a nice Steakhouse not far from where you are staying."

Petra's head jolted around to face him. "What's a restaurant got to do with what's going on here?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't. I just think you need to have something more substantial to eat than those takeout meals you've been having."

Petra blinked rapidly trying to keep up with the odd conversation. "What I eat is not your concern."

Joshua stopped and swung round to face her. "Everything about you is my concern."

She frowned and tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

He shuffled uncomfortably on the spot and looked to the ground. "Nothing, just forget I said anything."

Petra narrowed her eyes at him. He'd practically just admitted to being Daniel's spy. She knew she couldn't trust him. Everything out of his mouth was a lie, just to get information from her.

"I'm hungry. We're going to dinner," Joshua said as he readjusted the strap of her laptop case over his shoulder.

"And do I have a say in the matter."

Joshua grinned at her and winked. "Not really." He turned and resumed walking.

Petra trudged up the path and remained deep in thought. Perhaps this could work to her advantage? If she loosened him up with alcohol at dinner, she might finally get some information out of him. The corners of her mouth tugged upwards. She would be turning the tables on Parker and Daniel's little spy.

You might have dangled eye-candy in front of me, but that doesn't mean I'm stupid enough to fall for it.

Her stomach chose that moment to grumble. She had to admit, she would kill for a decent meal. They had gotten back so late each night she only had time for fast food while analyzing data, followed by collapsing into bed in the small hours of the morning.

Now more confident in her plan, her shoulders straightened and her chin rose. Game on.

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📎A/N. Well, it appears that Petra thinks Joshua is a spy sent to keep her in line.... that should make things interesting.

And it sounds like our CDC doctor may be a little messy... or do you think Joshua is a little bit of clean freak?? Which ever way it goes, methinks Petra protests too much... what do you think??

I wonder how much information, if any, she gets out of him at dinner... and does it sound a little bit like a 'date' to you?? ;-)

Part 2 of the chapter will be posted next weekend. Till then...

Take care,

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