Page 79 of When the Silence Breaks

“They know we’ve already found a vial in the cabin and handled it, don’t they?” she asked.

“Someone knows. Not sure if that information was passed on to Reid, but they had to have been planning this for a while, just waiting for this moment.”

What had Ryder done with that vial anyway? Maybe she and Ryder had made a foolish mistake, and something was inside their systems working havoc on them even now, ticking away like a silent time bomb. That could mean everyone here was doomed. Or someone here actually understood the bioweapon enough to make a judgment call.

She’d need to get checked out before she held her son.

Oh ... Jeremy.No tears. Not now. No more of those until she held him again. Drawing in a deep breath, she assisted Ryder in unpacking the crate.

She lifted one of the suits. The material crinkled in her hands,thick and rubbery. Inside, it was lined with what looked like thermal protection. This thing was massive. “Uh ... Ryder?”

“The gloves and boots seal at the cuffs and ankles. The hooded top goes over the full-face respirator.”

Still ... serious.

I can’t do this.She swallowed hard.Her pulse quickened.

“You can’t wear your coat, but keep on the rest of the layers,” Ryder said. “Here.” He tossed her socks and gloves. “These are thermal and will help keep you warm beneath the boots and gloves.”

Sarah couldn’t think of anything she hated more than this moment of donning a hazmat suit to walk out into the cold.

“At least the tent is heated,” she said.

“But out there isn’t,” Ryder said. “So move fast. This is an SCBA—a self-contained breathing apparatus—a tank and harness worn on your back. It feeds air to the full-face mask beneath the hood.”

“To keep airborne particles out.”

“Not the most comfortable thing, but it works.”

She pulled off her gloves and unzipped her coat. Ryder stepped up and helped slide it from her shoulders.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said in that reassuring tone she’d come to appreciate, and she lifted her gaze to meet his.

For a second, everything inside wanted to crack wide open.

No more cracking. No more tears.She pressed her lips into a firm line and nodded. He gave her shoulder a squeeze and turned to gear up.

Together ... they could do this.

As she stepped into the suit, clumsy and unfamiliar, the fear hit her all over again. Her hands trembled. Her legs felt like they might give way.

Ryder appeared at her side again, already zipped and clipped into his suit.

“Here,” he said, lifting the SCBA harness onto her back.

Her heart pounded. The weight startled her, but she steadied as he guided her arms through the straps and buckled the waist.

“Tilt your chin.” He pulled the face mask gently into place. The mask sealed with a click, snug against her face.

Ryder reached over and opened the valve. The hiss of compressed air filled her ears—and her lungs. Her breath echoed inside the respirator.

Not fully enclosed, but claustrophobic all the same.

Never before had she participated in an operation that struck her with so much dread, and that terror coursed through her veins. This all felt completely surreal. She exhaled hard and tried to ignore the knot tightening in her stomach, her shaking legs that might collapse beneath her.

Her breath was too loud in her ears. She hated heights, she’d discovered, and now she hated enclosed spaces.

Just. Calm. Down.