Page 5 of Securing Jane

Storm turned to see a young man standing behind him, his face as white as a sheet, wearing a pair of coveralls that indicated he worked in the mail room.

“You work in there, right?” Storm asked, ignoring his demand that he leave.

“Yes, but there’s a code black. You have to go.”

“What happened?” Storm barked.

The young man looked around nervously, his gaze resting on the door to the stairwell longingly. Storm did his best to calm his tone. The man was obviously scared out of his mind. “Tell me what happened. Then I’ll stay until the authorities get here.”

“I’m supposed to direct them here,” the man said.

Impatient now, Storm said, “Talk to me.”

“We were sorting the mail like usual. Jane was at the table and when a bunch of mail was pushed forward, a box fell off. She grabbed it and it exploded. She told us to initiate code black and to get out.”

“Where is she?”

“Inside,” the man said, and Storm could hear the tremor in his voice. “I didn’t want to leave but knew she’d be pissed if I didn’t. We’ve had drill after drill, and she always said that if anything ever happened, the last thing we should do is help the person who’s infected. That the decon team will come in and do that. Do you think they’re here yet?”

Fuck.

Storm had to get inside to Jane. Fuck waiting for a decontamination team. She could be dying—which was unacceptable on his watch.

Intellectually, he understood the need for isolating an infected person, but he literally couldn’t stand there knowing she might be on the other side of the door suffering.

“Do you have the key?” he shouted.

The man nodded, and Storm held out his hand, wiggling his fingers in a “bring it here” motion.

Surprisingly, the man did as Storm ordered, quickly closing the gap between them and stepping up to the door. It was obvious he really hadn’t wanted to leave Jane inside, and was clearly relieved someone was going to help her.

When the door was unlocked, Storm gestured to the stairs. “Go wait for the decon team outside and tell them where she is.”

“Help her,” the man said, his face drawn with concern. “She’s not only a good boss, but she’s a good person too. She doesn’t deserve this…whatever was inside that package.”

Storm nodded and pushed open the door, confident the young kid was going to get help down here as soon as he could. But he knew more than most that it would take time. No one was going to enter the building without completely suiting up to protect themselves. He didn’t blame them, but as a SEAL, he wasn’t one to wait around or be overly cautious.

The second he opened the door, Storm was pretty sure he knew what the bomb had contained. It wasn’t an explosive, per se. It wasn’t anthrax. Wasn’t sarin. It smelled like CS gas. Chlorobenzylidene malononitrile. Tear gas. Pepper spray. It burned like hell when it got on you, but it wasn’t lethal. Storm had been through enough training exercises with the stuff to know it felt as if you were dying. It burned your eyes and nose, making those orifices leak. And it made a lot of people very sick.

But it didn’t kill. Thank God.

He slammed the door shut behind him, thankfully dimming the wailing of the fire alarm enough so he could hear himself think once more.

Coughing because of the residue in the air, Storm called out, “Jane? Where are you?”

He didn’t hear her answer, but he did hear her coughing and gagging. He made his way around a large table—and his insides froze. Jane was on her hands and knees on the floor. A small pile of vomit was in front of her, and her eyes were squeezed shut.

Hurrying over, he hated the way she flinched violently when he grabbed her shoulders.

“It’s me, Storm North,” he reassured her. “Let me help you.”

She shook her head and tried to wrench herself away from him. “Poison,” she gasped before coughing once again.

Storm’s heart lurched in his chest. She was trying to protect him.

Him. Someone she didn’t know. A SEAL who’d looked death in the face more than once and survived.

Pushing down his feelings for another time, he leaned close and said urgently into her ear, “I’m pretty sure it’s CS gas,” he told her. “Not poison. I know it burns like hell. Did it get into your eyes?”