Chapter 17

“I hate this part,” Cataldo said.

“What part?” Danni said as she clicked the button to e-mail a copy of the virus attacking the healthy cell to whoever was on the graveyard shift over at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

“The part where we sit around and do nothing.”

“What would you like us to do?”

“I want to go back in the interrogation room and grill your new buddy, Fish.”

“Grill him about what?”

“About what? About everything.”

“He’s had a rough night. Don’t you think we should give him a chance to catch his breath?”

“Catch--What the hell are you talking about?”

“Why are you spazing out?”

“I’m not spazing out. I’m just concerned about the possibility of a super-virus that will kill millions of people.”

“If you believe him, it’s billions of people. But if you believe him, he’s a victim. So, why do you want to grill a victim?”

“I didn’t say I believed him.”

“If you don’t believe him, then he’s just some nut. Why would you let some nut get under your skin?”

“It doesn’t look like he’s a nut,” Putnam said coming into the large office where the federal agents had their desks. “And I’m starting to believe him.”

The two younger agents looked to their superior as he set his papers on the desk Danni had taken.

“I looked into Dr. Cynthia Jones,” Putnam said. “Three weeks ago, she came back from Berhanu. It’s a country in Sub-Saharan Africa. They’re having some kind of Ebola virus outbreak. The World Health Organization isn’t sure what strain it is because, on top of the virus, a multi-faction civil war broke out. Bottom line, no one’s getting in the country. And no one from Berhanu is allowed to escape to the neighboring countries because of the outbreak.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean the rest of Fisher’s story holds up,” Cataldo said.

“No. But TSA records show when she came in, Dr. Jones came in on Miles Devlin’s private jet. Throw in the fact that her credit card records show she’s been spending money in and around Boston for the last couple of weeks and it’s more than enough for me to bring her in for questioning. And while we’re at it, we might as well bring in the head of the Genetics department at Harvard.”

Putnam was quiet for a second, then remembered something. “Also, I spoke with the fire chief and he said the fire at the building where you two found Fisher was definitely arson. The building is sealed off and we’ll have some people go in there and test the air and anything else we need to test after we’re sure the structure is safe.”

“What do we do with Fisher?” Danni asked.

“For the time being, we keep him comfortable. Danni, you and he have a rapport; can you keep an eye on him?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What do you want me to do?” Cataldo asked.

“I want you to call in every agent we’ve got. If this thing is real, we’re gonna need all the help we can get. I’m gonna call the CDC and put my foot in their ass so they get me everything they know about that thing we saw from the USB stick.”

“What do we do about the missing Saudi Arabian?” Cataldo asked.

Putnam shrugged his shoulders. “His name didn’t pop on the terror watch list. Technically, he’s a Brit so I’ll call our friends at MI-6, but if he can’t help me stop that thing I saw on the computer, he’s gonna have to take a back seat.”

He turned to Danni. “Ask Fisher if he wants something to eat.” Putnam realized something just as he was speaking. “This isn’t because you’re a woman, it’s because--”

Danni giggled. “It’s because I’m the good cop and Vincent is the bad cop as far as Fisher’s concerned and you don’t want to mess around with the dynamic right now. Understood, sir.” Danni got up from the desk.

“And Danielle, get yourself something, too.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Putnam saw Cataldo looking at him. He wasn’t sure if he was awaiting further instructions or… “You hungry?”

Cataldo didn’t want to let on that the WMD call came in before he and Danni had been able to take their lunch break so he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “I could eat.”

Putnam looked at him as a smile started to creep across the junior agent’s face. “All right, I’ll get both of us something to eat after I call the CDC. But you better eat up, because I’m telling you right now, if Harvard boy in there is right about this thing, after we’re done eating, we’re not gonna do anything else until we stop this thing.”

☣

“What do you mean you burned the lab down?” Still in bed and wearing his pajamas, at first, Miles Devlin had thought he was still asleep and having a bad dream. But as the conversation had continued, it was becoming painfully obvious that, no, he was awake. Not alert by any stretch of the imagination, just awake. “Intentionally?”

“Yes, Miles,” Radford said into the phone. He and Smith had changed positions and now he was in the back seat with Smith driving. “We have to go with plan B.”

“Of course, of course.” Devlin wracked his sleep-deprived brain trying to remember what the hell plan B was. “Something about Canada?”

“Yes, Miles. The second lab outside Montreal. We’ll be there by midmorning.”

Slowly, the plan was starting to come back to Devlin. “That’s where you’ll manufacture multiple doses of the vaccine before you test the virus on people. How bad does this screw up our schedule?”

“Honestly, it’s hard to say.”

“You just say the word and I’ll get you a third lab. Or even a fourth if you need it.”

“It may come to that. But for now we need to handle my graduate students.”

“The only person I trust with something like that would be Mr. Smith. Do you want him protecting you or do you want him going after your students?”

Radford thought it over. He wasn’t overly impressed with the man driving with a hole in his arm but Cynthia thought very well of him and Miles obviously did too. The truth was, the stunt Xavier and Abdul had pulled was so far out of left field, no one would have been able to predict it. “Probably with me until I set things up, after that… the other thing.” He paused for a second, then said, “And Miles, you might want to leave the country.”

Devlin chuckled. “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, but I will take care to make myself impossible to find.”

“All right, have it your way. Just make sure we have enough resources to get the job done.”

“Everything has been arranged. I’m confident this is merely a bump in the road, nothing more.”

“Fine.” Radford cupped his mouth leaned back, and lowered his voice so he couldn’t be overheard. “And what about Mr. Smith?”

“I agree with your plan, he’ll get you safe and situated in Montreal, then go back to Boston and handle the elimination of your students.”

“Yes, but afterwards?”

“He doesn’t know what we’re doing but he will be getting vaccinated, if that’s what you mean.”

“You’re sure he won’t be a problem?”

“Well, I’m not positive, of course; if I were, he would already know what we’re doing. But after news of the virus starts a panic, he’ll want to stay alive. We’ll give him an opportunity to save himself and anyone he may want to help and then he’ll be indebted to us. Let’s face it; by then, he’s not going to have a lot of options left. None of the people we choose will. They can either be with us or die.”

“I’m sure you’re right. It’s just… with everything that’s happened tonight, I don’t want any more surprises. Honestly, I’m a bit out of sorts.”

“Michael, you couldn’t have foreseen this. Think about everything we’ve already done. All of the obstacles we’ve managed to overcome, both individually and as a group. It’s remarkable. We are remarkable. This part at the end, all things considered, isn’t it the easiest part of the whole operation?”

“After the vaccine is created, I would say so.”

“And no one knows more about this than you do. Listen, I didn’t want to say anything because of the compartmentalization of the project but I have people who are well placed inside the government. I didn’t want to have to risk exposing them this soon but why don’t I have one of them take care of your little grad students. That way, you can keep Smith with you and not worry about anything except finishing up.”

Dr. Michael Radford, head of the Genetics program at Harvard, sat there in the back seat of the car and thought it over. Ordering the execution of his two best students in the heat of the moment was one thing. But now, here he was with enough time to think it over. Could he do it again? “Yes, I think that would be best.”

“All right, I’ll see to it before I disappear. Goodbye.” Devlin beeped off the phone. “Right after I get another couple hours of sleep.” The multibillionaire laid back on his mattress and pulled the blanket over his shoulder.

“Everything all right?” Cynthia Jones was looking right at the man she’d been having sex with only a few hours earlier.

“Yes,” Radford said putting the phone away. “I just wanted to touch base with Miles and let him know about our little hiccup.”

“And what did he say?”

“He said it was fine, we’ve come a long way and overcome a lot to get here, and he’ll see to my students so we don’t have to worry about them.”

Jones looked him over. She was content with the amount of concern he was showing. Of course, he had taken the threat of exposure seriously, but he hadn’t panicked. Not when he’d found out. Not when he’d driven them over to the lab. And not when he’d started the fire. Yes, the new world they were all making together would be well taken care of by men like Dr. Michael Radford.

“Did you want to speak with him?” Radford asked

“Me? No. I can speak with him later.” She paused for a moment, then turned her body toward him as she said, “I’d like to speak with you.” She gave him a flirty smile as she unbuttoned the second button to the top of her blouse.

He wasn’t sure what she was doing at first, then it became clear. He looked at Mr. Smith driving them and nodded in his direction.

She rolled her eyes, then turned her body to face the front of the car.

Ed Lawrence had seen the whole thing play out in about a half dozen stolen glances in the rear view mirror. Great, he thought to himself, I’ve got to sneak the three of us into a foreign country with a hole in my arm and those two are playing grab-ass in the back seat.