The Enigma Strain (Harvey Bennett #1)

by Nick Thacker

He checked two more tents, finding the same horrifying faces staring up at him in each. All of his men—all twenty-seven of them—were dead. He was the sole survivor on an expedition that was now thousands of miles away from home, in one of the remotest places known to man.

OMG hy is he still alive?? But for now long and why

“It is a truly a shame to lose a mind such as yours, my friend. But you are wrong. I will get away with it. America is not united enough to save itself.” Josh tried to raise his arm, to do something to fend off the attack he knew was coming— But he could not. He could only stare with unseeing eyes as Valère bought the driver down and smashed it into his skull.

OMG he just murdered his former partner/friend with a driver

She glanced back at him. “Oh, uh, I guess I should ask you first.” Ben waited. “You have plans? I could use your help back at the office.” Ben couldn’t hide his surprise. “Back in Billings? That’s two hours away.” She shrugged. “Just over two-and-a-half, actually. I assumed you didn’t have anything going on, what with the park needing to be closed for a while.” “I do have a life outside of the park.” “Really?” Ben couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not. “Theoretically,” he said.

She's saying he has no life outsude of work LOL

Ben? She hadn’t heard from Ben in over a decade. She knew he’d become a park ranger and had little to no access to the outside world most of the time. Still, she was stunned.

Ben reached out to old friend

The man cut him off as he drew a pistol from a hip holster and aimed it squarely at Dr. Fischer’s face. “Let me rephrase the question, professor, so that it doesn’t seem so… optional.”

Not good

Valère nodded and finally spoke. “Oui, everything was accomplished. I do apologize, gentlemen, I seem to have lost my appetite.” Emilio smiled. “It is nothing, Francis. I remember the first time I, well, had to remove a piece from the chessboard. It is never an easy task.”

So the partners know what Valère did

What to do? He couldn’t start switching off the machines, either. They were obviously going to be tracking the data, if the machines suddenly went offline one after another, they’d be in here in seconds.

Poor guy has questions and no way to leave captivity...yet

“Need a lift?” The voice from inside was that of a middle-aged woman, raspy from a lifetime of smoking. Her hair was tousled, but she wore a huge grin and unlocked the passenger door. “P—please.” He didn’t know what else to say. “I… I don’t know where to go.” The woman smiled larger. “I’d guess that. I’d say we get you some clothes, first.” Humiliation surged through Malcolm as he looked down at his body. He was utterly naked.

OMG he didn't notice he was naked...

“Very well, Monsieur Valère. Mr. Jefferson, your scheduled stasis prep will begin in exactly fifteen minutes. I have alerted security and they are en route for escort. Please follow the green arrows…”

They raided & drained his holdings so now they are sending him into stasis

“Randy, thank you. I owe you one. Her name is Diana Torres. We need to track down anyone this person was working for, or with. I’ll send you an email with her name, email address, and the company she was with. She’s the only person we know who was studying the virus, and she might know what it is. Anything she found out will be on her computer, at that company.” Randy thought about the next question he was about to ask. Did he really want to know the answer? “Why can’t you just ask her yourself?” Julie anticipated the question and responded immediately. “We tried. She died a few hours ago, and we think her company was behind it. They sent someone to find us, too. Randy—I need this information, and I need it now.”

Randy being asked to hack Diana Torres' computer after her death

Ben looked up sharply. He thought he could see Julie’s eyes welling up. He didn’t know what to say. Didn’t want to say anything. Hell, what am I doing here? he thought.

Julie needs to lighten up...his mom just died after doing a favour for Julie.

“You got a crush on me, ranger? Stop freaking out. This isn’t your middle school dance. Lift me up.” She cocked her head to the side, waiting. He swallowed hard. “That gown doesn’t cover much. I’m going to get a real good look.”

Julie going to flash Ben LOL

Ben looked up to see Julie standing over the third gunman’s body, her jaw clenched in rage, holding a gun. “You okay, ranger?” she asked.

Julie a crack shot!

“Didn’t you see who they were?” “No. I didn’t. Let’s go.” “Ben,” Julie snapped, enraged. “It was Livingston. And Stephens.”

Baddies identified

The man loaded the bullet into the chamber and Livingston heard a succession of clicks. “This has been a long time coming, Livingston. Sorry it had to be this way, but like I said—you’re predictable.” Livingston didn’t hear the explosion of the bullet as it raced out of the barrel and found its target.

Karma!!! I thought the intruder wanted Livingston's prints on gun so it looked like he shot Julie down the road

“You can’t save them. Couldn’t save them. Diana Torres, Charlie Furmann, David Livingston. And the others. You can’t save them now.” Ben took a step back. Stephens. It was him—the man who had killed them all. Including his mother.

Stephens the killer???

“I would leave, if I were you,” he continued. “This is a highly concentrated specimen of the strain, and I estimate there is less than a minute before I’m contagious.” Julie winced as the virus visibly tore through the man’s body, ripping it apart at the cellular level.

Suicide??? OMG

Ben didn’t care. He stepped over Malcolm’s body and gently reached for Julie, pulling her close. He wrapped a hand around the back of her head and slowly pressed her to his shoulder. He stroked her hair while she sobbed.

OMG thank you Malcolm