A/N: I do not own Twilight
Reposted to fix a major mistake. With appologies.
Chapter 4
Dr. Alice Whitlock had not been able to sleep for the past two nights. Snippets of half forgotten dreams haunted her when she slammed back into reality from her mini naps as she liked to think of them. Usually her husband would be there with her to help sooth her back into slumber however, she knew he was working. Alice had received a couple of phone calls from him in the last couple of days. What exactly he was working on, she was oblivious to but she suspected it had something to do with the reason why she was ordered by her father to put Bella on paid leave until further notice.
Yeah that was strange. Alice could not get in touch with her brother either. Although she would bet that he was bumping her calls on purpose. All she wanted to know is that her best friend was safe. Was that too much to ask? Alice didn't think so. And to add to all that was weird in her world right now, she couldn't get in contact with Bella's father either. Alice sincerely hoped that wherever Bella was, that Charlie and Edward were close.
She glanced at the clock one more time, five in the morning. Well, if you can't sleep, you might as well go into work. And with those thoughts, Alice got up and started her morning routine.
An hour and a coffee run later, Alice let herself into her office to start going over the notes from Bella and Emmett's project. She knew they were supposed to be doing more testing this week to try to synthesize a vaccine for the TW32 virus. This was a particularly scary level 4 virus that had been discovered in West Africa and while similar to Lassa Fever, this strain was not responsive to treatment with Ribavirin or any other protocol for that matter. The virus was also had an incubation period of 72 hours and a hundred percent mortality rate. This was a perfect weapon of mass destruction. However, no one would survive if this little bug was accidentally released into the population.
Bella had been working on this project from the moment that Carlisle had received the samples and limited information of their origins from the FBI. Alice had put Emmett on the project two weeks prior as Bella was ready to move into the actual testing phase of the vaccine. Project Twilight as Alice had deemed this latest viral monster, seemed to be going rather smoothly and from everything that Alice had read in Bella's reports, it looked like they were on track to start clinical trials in lab rats to determine if they had actually managed to find the magic bullet to cure this potential annihilation of the human race.
Alice continued to read through all of Bella's notes. She wanted to be sure that everything was in place to continue the testing phase until her best virologist/microbioligist came back to work.
*CA*
Charlie sighed in regret that his daughter would be worried about his dissappearance. Truth be told, he was kind of worried about himself as he entered the absolute dive of a bar. He easily spotted his target sitting in a booth in the back.
"You haven't changed at all in the last twenty years." Charlie slid into the booth opposite of the dark haired man.
"And you look like you spend too much time behind a desk, old man. You should still keep in shape even if you are just an administrator now," Demetri smirked.
"I hope you have some good news for me." Charlie lowered his voice and looked around to make sure that they weren't being watched.
"Not really. No."
"Well what can you tell me?" Charlie practically demanded, his voice a low growl.
"I can tell you that Seattle will probably be a hot zone within the next three months and there is really nothing you or even your genius daughter can do about that fact."
"So, the Volturi have this thing as well."
"They have a version of it, yes."
"And what the hell does that mean?"
"It means that all of the work your team has been doing since the break in at the warehouse six months ago is for nothing. It means that your Itallian friends have engineered an even more deadly strain of the TW 32 virus but they also have a vaccine-a vaccine that they will sell to those that can pay. There is nothing you can do to stop this Director. Why don't you go back to your protective little bubble and wait for the proverbial bomb to drop."
"Look, Demetri, I need you to tell me where they are. I need to stop this. Come on, you owe me this. Give me something to go on here. Are you telling me that I sent a team to that warehouse for nothing? I almost lost one of my agents that night."
"I know this. I also know that you sent young Agent Cullen to run survellience on the Big Three for several months afterward.- Don't look so angry Director you boy's good. They never actually spotted him. They knew he had to be around simply because he wasn't in Seattle keeping an eye on your daughter like he usually was. A word of advice, don't send your more well known agents next time. They keep tabs on them. You are doing the right thing by the way."
Charlie arched an eyebrow at him in question.
"Keeping her in hiding right now. If she wasn't so well protected, well let's just say that the Itallians would love to pick her brain on this one."
"You tell your boss to stay the hell away from my daughter." Charlie seethed.
"Can't really do that now, can I? Not without telling him about out little meeting this afternoon. I will tell you that she's nailed the vaccine for the TW32 virus. She managed to accomplish in six months what it took our guys two years to finish. And because I do owe you I'll give you this – you should have your people check out Didyme Industries, you will find what you're looking for there. Oh, and you might want to tell your buddy Carlisle that he should take a look at his staff. A second background check never hurt anyone."
"Make sure they stay away from her Demetri."
"This little meeting makes us even Director. Don't contact me again." Demetri slid from the booth lighting a cigar as he went.
Charlie pulled a burn phone from his jacket pocket and sent two text messages. The first went to Agent Cullen, letting him know that he should double security on Bella. The second went to Whitlock telling him that he needed to run background on everyone at The Cullen Institute. Charlie sat there thinking for a long time before made a crucial phone call. He knew that he was going to need help with this one.
"Yeah, Liam, it's me. I need your help and it needs to be today."
FBI Headquarters
Seattle
Garrett sat at the small conference table that sat in Assistant Director William Black's office. He had just finished sharing his and Edward's theory on Charlie's dissappearance. Billy currently had his back turned away from him, gazing out of the window seemingly in deep thought.
" Son, what I am about to tell you does not leave this office."
Garrett bristled at being called son. "I don't need details, however, I do need to know that what is currently happening will not affect the future of my team or this agency."
"Charlie has powerful enemies. He also has powerful allies. It remains to be seen which side will become victorious in this particular situation, but my money will always be on the Director. He is a very shrewed operator."
"So he hasn't been kidnapped. You know this." Not a question.
"He needs to operate outside of normal channels right now. I want you and Hale on alert though. The second he needs to come back, I want you ready and available to after him if need be."
"You expect trouble."
"I always expect trouble. Just make sure that Whitlock and Cullen keep her safe."
Safe House
Edward grinned as she climbed into the shower with him.
"I thought you had already showered this morning, doctor."
"Yes, well, I was thinking about you all alone in here and I got to thinking about how much I appreciate your support last night and how you helped me to see things clearly and how you have helped me to be less stressed with the situation. Then I was thinking how I could be all kinds of helpful to you. You know, I can help you wash your back and – other things." She took the wash cloth from him and began to run it over his back.
"And what other things would those be?"
"Well," she pulled him around to face her. "Sometimes you could miss a spot like, here for instance." She ran the cloth over the front of his chest and then dropped an open mouthed kiss over his heart. "Sometimes you might need help, you know, lower." She dropped her small hand down to caress his growing erection. "And sometimes, you might just need your friendly neighborhood virologist to help you out with those things." Before he knew what was happening she was on her knees with her sweet mouth taking him in.
"Oh God, Bella..." rational thought left him as she licked, sucked and hummed around him. Edward was a happy happy man. And of course it was his turn to make her feel good.
Edward stumbled into the bedroom, his mouth devouring Bella's as she gripped his hair and returned the desperate kiss. If he had thoughts of taking his time with her, she discouraged them quickly. She knew what she was doing and she wanted him with a desperation that never changed, no matter how long they had been together. She wanted to lose herself in him and he wanted the same.
With every kiss he was promising to never leave her. With every touch he was promising to find her father. With every thrust, he was promising to keep her safe.
They had both fallen into a light doze when Edward's cell phone started chirping. Two messages showed up within a minute of each other. The first was a missed call from his father. The second was from the director ordering him to double Bella's security. He knew from the message that there had been a direct threat made against her. Edward cursed under his breath and dialed his father .
"Edward," he could hear the stress in Carlisle's voice.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
"I need you to come to the lab. There has been a security breach and one of our interns was found murdered."
"Where are Alice and Emmett?" He demanded.
"Alice was feeling ill after lunch and I sent her home to rest so she wasn't in the building when the body was discovered. Emmett is the one that found the intern. He's with the police right now answering what questions he can for them."
"Is he okay?"
"He seems to be, however, I would feel better if you could come. Please Son."
"I'm on my way."
.
