The next day, Dean, Thalia and Pierre left the beach house and drove to a small town two hours north of the coast to pick up identification papers for Thalia. The men's contact had shipped the documents to a UPS office that seemed out of place in the town of Calina. Now, Dean opened the envelope and studied its contents, he couldn't help but be impressed. "Fernan did good," he remarked before extending the American passport, Boston driver's license and birth certificate in Thalia's direction. Their fingers brushed, and his groin instantly tightened at the feel of her warm, delicate fingers. He didn't look her in the eyes all morning, and when there were times when their eyes accidentally met, he would immediately look away from her. Because the kiss that happened between them last night was always in his mind. He couldn't remember the last time his body had burned so hot, the last time his heart had pounded that hard. In that moment, he'd needed Thalia Ricafort more than he'd neede

There was clearly a lot more to the story, but Thalia didn't continue and he didn't push. However, he regretted his change of topic the moment his next question flew out of his mouth. "Didn't you get a boyfriend again after you broke up with that cowboy?"She raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a girlfriend yet?""Neither, we're just being fair." Dean smirked. "Just go first."Thalia stretched out her legs and leaned her head on the wall behind her. "I've dated two men over the past two years, and both of them didn't work out because they didn't want to be in a long distance relationship. Even me, I don't want to be far from the one I love.""You could always find a man who wants to travel with you," he pointed out. "True.""Maybe a colleagues? Or maybe a relief worker you meet abroad?""I don't date my co-workers. Ever. That's my number one rule. I've seen a lot of my co-workers who have gotten better, and they just broke up. So far, I haven't met anyone abroad who sparked my interest."

They didn't reach Boston until two o'clock in the morning. Thalia was really tired when she climbed into bed at the hotel they were staying at, while Dean immediately fell asleep when his head hit the pillow, but she couldn't even fall asleep no matter how hard she tried. Because that day was full of action, her brain refused to shut down. Just now they landed at a small airport where some cargo planes land there, then they took a taxi to the car rental agency. They rented a car there under her new name - Nathalia Preston - which is also the name on her driver's license. Three hours later, she and Dean had checked into this hotel, and now here she was, wide awake, staring up at the ceiling and wondering what horrors tomorrow would bring. The bad things that happened always kept going back and forth in her mind like a bad nightmare. The clinic they founded is now ashes. As well as her close friends. What's worse is that her life is also in danger. And in between those gruesome images

Franco stared intently at the vial. "What's this?""That's what we were hoping you'd tell us," Thalia said flatly."I'm confused here, Tali. I thought you weren't coming here for another six months. Why aren't you at the clinic?""First, I need to know, has anyone come around asking about me?" she asked, shooting him a grave look. "Like cops, military, government officials?""What? No." Amazement trickled from his voice. "Should I be expecting someone?""Maybe," she admitted. "People might be looking for me, sir Franco. And if anyone comes by, you can't tell them I was here.""All right. Now I'm worried. What's going on, Tali?"With a heavy breath, she gave him the short version of the story. He interrupted more than once, and several times his eyes widened or his mouth fell open. She knew how farfetched it all sounded, yet to Franco's credit, he kept his skepticism to a minimum."Are you sure those people died from a virus, Tali? You said so yourself, you never saw the bodies."Dean

Thalia also panicked while they were on their way to Harvard. She was really nervous because Franco didn't even mention a little detail about the water sample. Whatever he discovers, it doesn't look good. Sure enough, when they got to the lab after twenty minutes, the frantic look in her former professor's eyes was impossible to miss. That afternoon he was wearing a white coat, and Thalia noticed the stain of blood on his right breast pocket. Where does the blood come from? "Thanks for getting here so fast," Franco said and the professor led them to the back of his laboratory. Thalia felt the color drain from her face as they approached a table with half a dozen cages on it. The cages were small and covered with protective plastic wrap, and each one contained wood chips, a plastic wheel, and a dead mouse. But maybe the mouse is not dead and it is just sleeping. Maybe she thinks it in advance. But Franco's forbidding expression said otherwise. "It's bad, isn't it?" She immediatel