The First

Chapter 23

Ross answered the reporter's questions and dodged any regarding Dr. Mason, his best-kept secret, or so he thought. After he trudged back up the hill he whacked his mud packed shoes against the front tire, crawled back into the SUV and found his phone.

Duty urged him to call his boss, but others needed to be checked on first. The thought of losing the twins scared him to death. His heart ached for his girls. But he had a job to do and they'd gone to his ex-wife's, sister's farm. Trills only attacked densely populated areas. They probably couldn't have gone anywhere safer.

Doc Mason had somehow drilled her way to the front of his mind. Now he wanted to give her the news himself. Why? To make her proud? Maybe show off a little? Never hurt before when he'd tried to get with a random non-committal after his divorce. One acronym either worked or had him drying gin off with a towel. But this woman, she'd see through his F.B.I. bullshit. She wasn't out for a good time or a one night stand. This woman, she was...No way in hell. Not this obnoxious know it all. Not now. Not her. "Shit. That's all I need."

By the time he'd texted and received a smiley face from his oldest, he knew what had gripped him about the insufferable woman. One small attribute sucked at him like a magnet to a steel mill. They weren't the hypnotic, gorgeous, bedroom eyes which usually made his heart thump in the southern region of his body. He'd have to categorize them as pretty, stoic most of the time-but when she looked at him, they twinkled. That's what got him. Now he felt responsible for her as well. Once he'd confirmed her safety, he'd badger her for answers. Hopefully, she had some because the shit had hit the fan hard. Not just any fan, a wind prop from the movies, covering the entire world with little piles of crap.

His thumb fumbled across the screen of his phone, landing on the wrong number. He ended the call to Pizza House and clicked on Alexa's name.

"This is Dr. Mason."

Her quick answer startled him. "Ms. Mason, er...Dr...this is Ross." His heart sank and he smacked his forehead.

"I know who you are. How may I help you, Agent Harris?"

She sounded upset if you could call it that? He'd have to spend more time with her before the subtle tones meant anything to him. He figured he'd keep it all business.

"Sorry to call and interrupt you, Dr. Mason." Crap. Too formal.

"That's quite all right. Have you procured a specimen?"

"No, but we've got a line on the Staten Trill. Are there any results from your tests yet?"

"The tests haven't revealed anything conclusive at this time but I may be on the right track here."

"Well, that's a start. You wouldn't happen to know any way of killing one of these things?"

"There's nothing I can do at this point to put a proverbial chink in their armor. Give me some time and a live specimen and we may find a way. However, there's some good news that comes from this." She paused.

"Which is?"

"If I can break the foreign gene down, I may be able to stop the transformation in a fetus, but it's going to take some time."

"Do whatever you can." Every couple of seconds the world became more deadly for humans. The babies alone would kill millions. Now it seemed as though the adolescent Trills would ravage and kill anyone in their paths. A shiver ran down his spine.

She sighed. "Have you made contact with one of the tri-alleles yet?"

"No. But, you know what this one did?"