The Boss Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 3) Victoria Paige (top 100 novels of all time TXT) 📖

the report on Ariana, I was impressed at Tio’s good taste in women,” Nico said.

“Not always,” Ida said dryly.

Nico cackled.

And as they discussed Antonio’s womanizing ways, Charly felt her heartburn getting worse.

13

He should have chained Charly to his side, Antonio thought as he stepped out of the elevator in the basement. Despite an early start, the drive to the main Anriotech lab in São Paolo was marred with traffic accidents, causing hour-long delays. He had to conduct his business on his laptop while Renata went to the police station to give a statement.

Antonio’s mouth curved as he wondered what transpired in that interview. Martinez said another BOPE officer would process Renata’s statement citing conflict of interest. Antonio was surprised Martinez didn’t recuse himself from the case since he was so close to the investigation.

It was already three in the afternoon and he wasn’t surprised that Charly defied him about working in pairs.

Nico looked away from the five computer screens in front of him and winced. Did his face look that forbidding? “I told her you wouldn’t like her working in there alone.”

“Then I’m going to remind her,” he muttered under his breath and stalked into the ante chamber with his haul from the São Paolo lab. He passed that through the decontamination system and started to suit up. He double checked the settings for the lab and it was at full BSL-4. Dr. Bennett was a quick study, and Antonio found that reassuring. Some doctors were only good at analyzing diseases, but Charly had the aptitude for technology as well. And she already had the virus simulator software. Antonio was eager to see what it could do.

He entered the main lab and saw her looking through the microscope.

She turned her head briefly and said, “Oh, hey.” Then went back to work.

Should Antonio feel insulted that she found a bug more fascinating than him? That was his ego talking. He found that amusing and irritating.

“I’ve acquired the cell lines you requested.”

She turned and gave him her full attention now. “You have the Zaire bat cells?”

He nodded, trying not grin at the excitement in her voice. That would defeat his next words. “I specifically told you not to go into this lab by yourself.”

“I’m not working on any of the Z-9 series. I’m making sure the antiviral and candidate vaccine I developed are still viable.”

To avoid confusion, and since they’d established that the creators of this bioweapon were intent on creating mutations, everyone, including the BOPE agreed to call them collectively as the Z-9 series virus.

“And are they?”

“Yes. I’ve tested it on a recombinant virus, a hybrid that mimicked the attachment proteins of the Z-9 series without its lethal Ebola payload,” Charly said.

“And?” Antonio prompted.

“And it’s working so far, the antiviral is interfering with the way the virus attaches to the host cell and dies before it can replicate.”

“That’s promising.”

“It is!”

“And you said you’ve tested this outside cell cultures, right?”

“Mice and primates. Ariana was supposed to be the human test case.”

Caught off guard with the mention of the woman who was supposed to be his wife, he was reminded of his initial loathing of the virologist. It took him a moment to frame his words, and he was aware with how Charly was staring at him with open scrutiny. “I’m glad you didn’t actually inject her with the virus.”

“Oh, why?”

He gritted his teeth. “Then you wouldn’t be here in front of me. I also might have killed you then.”

She looked at him for a long time. “Fair enough. But I think her husband would have beaten you to it.”

“He couldn’t protect his wife,” he scoffed.

“Oh? And you would have done better?”

“I would have brought her straight to Brazil and protected her with an army.”

“Sorry you got stuck with me instead,” Charly replied then turned away from him and returned to the microscope.

She’d summarily dismissed him like he’d done to her the night before when Antonio thought he was ready to talk about Dante. That his friend had died needlessly. Antonio would have gladly spent years in prison if it meant Renata’s brother would have lived, but he understood Dante’s fear. The corrupt cop would have killed Antonio to set an example.

Seeing Martinez yesterday had opened old wounds, and he was sure Renata was feeling the same. Charly was about to see him at his most vulnerable and he wasn’t ready, so he cut her off, sent her to her room as though she hadn’t just shared a piece of her own pain. Things were probably better that way.

He was a selfish asshole.

“I feel you staring a hole in the back of my head,” Charly’s voice came through his earbuds that were their communication devices. “Maybe take care of those cell lines, hmm? Make yourself useful.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he drawled, relieved that she wasn’t going to make things awkward. And yet, he wanted her to press him about Ariana.

But why the fuck did he want that?

His conflicting intentions about Charly had kept him awake all fucking night. Sure, he pushed her away, but he couldn’t wait this morning to please her. Yet he was a coward for wanting to sweep aside what transpired between them the night before.

Cursing himself for how this woman was twisting him up inside, he walked over to the receptacle of the cell-cultures he’d obtained from the São Paolo lab. “Where do you want these?”

“Put them in bio-containment,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Stop being sarcastic.” She was still looking into the microscope.

Her voice stopped him in his tracks, and she probably couldn’t see his brows shoot to his hairline, so he asked, “Why are you so prickly today? Is this about last night?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Still. Not. Looking. At. Him.

“Can you look at me for a second?” he growled.

She gave an exaggerated sigh and awarded him with condescending attention. “What?”

“Talking about Dante is hard for me.”

“Noted.”

He gritted his teeth. “It’s not something I can just blurt out.”

“I understand. You haven’t known me that long, and I’ll probably be out of here