Safe Passage Read Online Free PDF

vigilant required energy. Concentration. Sometimes she just got tired.
    Very tired.
    Maybe that’s why she was marrying Jozsef. She could be with him, play the part of a regular woman, without opening up. He was like that. And marrying him would help seal her cover. Help her hide.
    “What’re you doing here, Skye? Working right up until the day of the wedding? You should be pampering yourself at the spa, hon. Not poking at beetles and grubs.”
    Skye made a face, motioned with her eyes to the ceiling. “Marshall wanted to meet with me this morning, discuss the project. Besides, I need to check on their progress.”
    “The critters are doing just fine. You’ve worked magic again, Doctor. There’s nothing more for you to do but wait for the first shipments to mature.”
    “Let’s hope they can stand the cooler temperatures.”
    “That little gene seems to have done the trick. The control group is still thriving.”
    The phone on the wall rang. “Yeah,” said Skye, reaching for the receiver, “but the ultimate test will be in the field. Dr. Van Rijn,” she said crisply into the receiver.
    “Marshall, here. You ready to meet?”
    “I’ll be right up.”
    She hung up, rolled her eyes heavenward. “God has spoken.”
    Charly grinned. “Have fun…oh, I almost forgot, Jozsef was here earlier.”
    Skye stopped dead in her tracks. “Jozsef?”
    Again?
    “Why?”
    “Looking for you.”
    Skye frowned. “He knew I was home.”
    “He probably forgot. The guy’s excited. Give the poor man a break. Tomorrow he gets a wife.”
    Skye turned, started to push the lab door open but stopped midway, her mind racing. “What time was he here?”
    “Jozsef?”
    “Yes. Jozsef. Who else?” She heard the snip in her voice. So did Charly, from the look on her face.
    “I don’t know. He was already in the lab when I arrived. Security let him in like always.” Charly stood. “What’s eating you?”
    Skye shoved the door fully open. “Nothing. Wedding nerves.” But that little niggle was back, biting, probing deeper into the dark depths of her subconscious. She forced it down. She had work to do. An agricultural epidemic to halt. She strode down the corridor to the elevator.
    The director of Kepplar Biological Control Systems was waiting.

Chapter 3
    M arshall Kane stood at his office window, heavy brow crumpled down low over small dark eyes. Skye noticed the lines on the sides of his mouth were etched deeper than usual.
    “Dr. Van Rijn, come in. Take a seat.”
    Skye sat, noting the formal use of her title.
    Marshall remained standing, a hulking silhouette in front of the gray morning light. “Thanks for coming. I know this is a busy time for you what with the wedding and all.”
    Skye nodded. “What’s up?”
    He rubbed his jaw. “Last year this was a purely Canadian problem. Now it’s a bloody international one. I got word last night that the whitefly epidemic has found its way into southern Washington greenhouses. And this morning, I’m told it’s been detected in Northern Oregon. Inside and outside the greenhouses. It’s like a goddamn army marching south. It’s like nothing I’ve seen.”
    “It’s nothing any of us has seen, Marshall.”
    “It’ll be hitting the U.S. produce basket before we know it. If California takes a hit, the whole damn nation will take a hit.” Marshall moved from the window, seated himself behind his massive glass desk. “Think a minute about the financial implications, Dr. Van Rijn. A Japanese-only embargo of California fruits and vegetables could cost more than 6,000 jobs and over $700 million in lost output. An international embargo of California fruits would cost the state maybe 35,000 jobs and more than $3.8 billion in revenues.”
    Marshall leaned forward, elbows on his desk, hands spread flat out in front of him on the glass. “But a total quarantine of California fruits, in which shipments and sales within the United States are embargoed, would result in hundreds of