The Z Contingency

Chapter 70

After five minutes, Gary suddenly grew concerned. "Something's wrong. She should have been back by now," Gary thought out loud. "Amanda, stay close by me." After seeing her nod, Gary headed down the closest aisle toward the back, calling Natalie's name, but getting no response. "Everybody come help me look for Natalie!" he yelled over his shoulder.

Within two minutes, the group had covered every aisle of the store. Natalie was not there. "Maybe she went in back, looking for a restroom or something," suggested Tyler.

"I don't think so." Gary pointed to the stack of sanitary napkin products on the floor. They had been knocked off one of the back shelves next to the double doors with the "Employees Only" sign. One package was lying immediately in front of the doors. "Someone grabbed her. She must have dropped that as she was taken out the back. We've got to go find her." Gary sounded frantic as he pushed his way through the doors and into the storage area, trying to see where Natalie may have been taken. He thought he heard the sound of squealing tires, and immediately spotted a tall narrow rectangle of light framed by the darkness of the dimly lit storage area. It was a door at the back that had not been shut completely. Calling back to the others to follow, Gary ran to the door and pulled it open. He dashed outside and looked around, trying to spot Natalie or the vehicle that made the sounds, but he saw nothing. The others soon joined him, and together they searched the immediate area, but there was no sign of Natalie. Other than a pair of tire tracks left on the pavement and the lingering smell of burnt rubber, there was no sign of the vehicle either.

With a sinking feeling, Gary realized that Natalie was gone. Someone had taken her, and he had not been able to prevent it. He should have gone with his instincts to accompany her to the back of the pharmacy. Why had he let her go alone? He looked over to Simon, and saw him exchanging glances with that Sanchez woman. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled; he could sense that Simon knew something about this. "Simon!" he shouted. "You know who took Natalie, don't you?"

Simon looked truly uncomfortable for once, but did not speak.

"Tell me," Gary demanded. He then turned to Agent Sanchez. "You know too, don't you? You've got to help me get her back," he implored. "I can't lose her."

"We have to tell him." This was the first time Agent Sanchez had spoken to Simon in such a confrontational manner, and he wasn't sure how to react; whether he should be angry that she was bordering on insubordination, or proud that she was taking initiative. He finally decided to ignore it and simply address Gary.

"You're right, and I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner. Come with me." Simon led Gary away from the others in order to have a more private conversation. "You too," he gestured to Sanchez. When they were out of earshot he spoke. "Alright Gary. I'm going to level with you. These outbreaks, the release of the virus into the public, they're being caused by Norman Harris...."

Gary's brow furrowed as Simon's words sank in. "Norman... What do you mean? Our lab tech? From the CDC?" Gary asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"How is that possible? It doesn't make sense. It couldn't be him. He's not the type." Gary didn't want to believe that someone he knew could be the perpetrator of this; that someone working for an organization whose mission was to help study and prevent epidemics, was deliberately starting one.

"Our evidence is strong."

"What evidence?" Gary asked, but before Simon could answer, he interjected, "Never mind. We have to get Natalie back. Did he take her? Why would he take her?"

"We believe he probably did, but it was clearly just by chance. This was an unexpected stop for us and there's no way he could have known we'd be here. He must have been collecting supplies himself when we wandered in. We believe that he is quite paranoid now, and possibly delusional. We were arranging to meet him in Hamilton. If he saw someone he recognized from CDC, he might have thought she was in on it and working with us. He probably abducted her to get more information."

"So he might hurt her if she can't tell him anything?"

"We'll find her, and we'll get her back." Agent Sanchez tried to assure Gary, but he could feel his face getting hot with anger.

He needed someone to blame for this. Simon. He and his people had brought the kidnapper here. And now Natalie was in serious trouble. Simon should have known better. Gary would deal with that later. Now, he had to concentrate all his energies on what mattered most: finding Natalie.

"Why are we all just standing around? We have to go find her," he demanded.