Chapter 19
Marta woke as the plane landed in Vienna. First thing she checked...was that Crusher still held her hand. The second was that she still clutched the pouch with the container of antiviral.
Crusher leaned close and pressed his lips to her temple. “You okay?”
She nodded, her body warming at his intimate touch.
Before the door opened and the steps lowered, Hammer’s cell phone chirped.
“Hammer,” he answered and listened. “Hold one.” The leader of the Brotherhood Protectors International office put his cell phone on speaker. “Striker, could you say that again so the others can hear?”
“Teuling arrived with his security detail around midnight and went straight to his room in the conference center’s hotel.
Ramsey is staking out his room. Vasquez hasn’t left his suite since arriving.
His bodyguards are staying close. Three are in the suite with him, and one is on duty outside the door at all times.
Only room service is coming in and out.”
“What do we know about the conference center?” Hammer asked. “I know Dmytro got hold of the blueprints.”
“Right,” Striker said. “Dmytro and Swede went over the center's blueprints and traced the ventilation shafts serving the primary conference room for the Summit. There are several points at which someone could introduce the aerosolized virus into the vents that would deliver it to the main conference room.”
“We need people at those locations,” Marta said.
“Swede tapped into the conference center’s surveillance cameras to include the areas that could be used to introduce the virus into the shafts.
So far, no one has come near enough to plant the virus.
Between Swede in Montana, Kyla in West Yellowstone, and Dmytro and Lucy in Europe, they’re monitoring the cameras and running facial recognition software on anyone entering or exiting the facility, including the loading docks and employee entrances. ”
“If Vasquez goes through with his plan to release the virus, he’d have to time it for when the Summit is in session to be most effective,” Marta said. “Are any of the ventilation accesses in hallways where the attendees will pass through on their way to the Summit?”
“Fortunately, no,” Striker said. “They’re on the hidden hallways, where staff members move between main event rooms.”
“What’s the plan for now?” Crusher asked Hammer.
“We monitor the ventilation locations, follow Teuling and Vasquez—and Krauss, when he makes his appearance,” Hammer said.
Crusher’s lips pressed into a tight line. “If he makes an appearance.”
Marta’s fingers squeezed his. “Vasquez won’t trust anyone but the scientist to handle the virus,” she said. “He wouldn’t bring it this far and have someone bumble the delivery.”
“I don’t understand why he’s here in the first place,” Crusher said. “Why would he come to the very place he plans to infect?”
“From what Swede told me about Vasquez, he likes to make a statement,” Hammer said. “He’ll want the delegates to know he’s there, watching what they’re doing. He’ll want them to know he won’t let them shut down his business without a fight.”
“What about Krauss?” Crusher asked. “Any sign of him?”
“None so far,” Striker said.
Fearghas frowned. “There are only so many of us. We can’t be everywhere, especially when all the delegates and their entourages arrive at once.”
“Is it time to call in the local police?” Hammer asked. “Or should we notify Interpol and let them handle it?”
Marta frowned. “The problem is we can’t let the people calling the shots—Vasquez and Teuling—get away with what they’re planning. If the Summit is postponed, they could choose another time to use this virus to kill people.”
“Don’t we have enough evidence to put them away by now?” Crusher asked.
“Dr. Hale has a point.” Hammer’s jaw hardened.
“Teuling will only claim ignorance. He’s got high-powered lawyers and government officials in his pocket.
He won’t spend any time in jail, and Vasquez could claim ignorance as well and slip out of the country.
He’d go back to Colombia and find other ways to terrorize anyone who tries to put a kink in his drug-trade routes. ”
“They need to be called out in front of witnesses.” Marta met Crusher’s gaze. “They need to be held accountable. There are too many lives at stake and too many already lost.”
Hammer frowned. “I’ll see if Dmytro has some contacts with Interpol who can help while keeping their participation under wraps. If we can get a confession, we’ll want Interpol there to take them into custody.”
“Already on it,” Dmytro called out from the cockpit.
Hammer smiled briefly. “I swear that man can do anything and has radar instead of ears.”
“Teuling has to know by now that I’ve escaped,” Marta said.
“Then we don’t let him know you or Cate are here,” Crusher said.
“For that matter,” Draco said, “his people could’ve shown him the video surveillance, which included Crusher and me. He might recognize us as well.”
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t back out of his speaking commitment tomorrow,” Marta said. “We can’t let that happen.”
“We have people watching him,” Hammer said. “We’ll make sure he gets to his session.”
Marta’s eyes narrowed. “While you’re at it, could you make sure Vasquez is there as well? I have an idea.”
Crusher’s brow dipped low. “You want to clue us in?”
“I will,” Marta said. “We just need to make sure both Teuling and Vasquez are in the Summit meeting room. Once there, we need to keep them there long enough to make a point.”
“Sounds like you’re planning something,” Striker said. “Let’s meet at the convention center hotel. We have several hours before the Summit begins. I arranged for a suite. Let’s reconvene there.”
“Roger,” Hammer said. “See you there.”
A large van pulled up beside the plane.
Dmytro emerged from the cockpit. “That would be my friend, Sergei, here to take us to the convention center.” He waved a hand toward the door.
Crusher exited first and held out a hand to help Marta down the steps onto the tarmac. Everyone climbed into the van.
Sergei drove them through the sleeping city to the convention center.
Dmytro handed Marta his hooded jacket and gave Cate a fedora.
Marta put on the jacket and pulled the hood up over her hair. The hem almost reached her knees.
Cate tucked her sandy-blond hair into the fedora and settled it on her head.
Striker met them in the parking lot. He led the way through a side door into the lobby.
Crusher looped his arm around Marta.
She held the pouch with the antiviral clutched to her chest beneath the jacket.
Draco and Devon Marsh stood on either side of Cate as they made their way to the elevators. Fearghas and Catya brought up the rear.
Once in the suite, they brought Royce, Hank and Swede up on a video call from Dmytro’s laptop and gathered around Hammer’s laptop to study the layout of the convention center, the door to the room where the Summit would take place and the ventilation ducts feeding air into the large room.
“I need to be in the room where the Summit will take place,” Marta announced.
Crusher shot her a frown. “Are you kidding? This is your plan?”
She nodded. “Because of the nature of the Summit, it will be televised. Anything that happens or is said will be recorded.”
“And what will you be doing in that room?” Crusher demanded.
“Extracting a confession,” Marta said with a lift of her chin.
“You think they’ll just own up to what they’ve been doing in front of the Summit attendees and the world?” Crusher shook his head.
“I do,” she said, “given the right incentive.”
“What incentive?” Hammer asked, his brow dipping as low as Crusher’s.
“If Vasquez is in that room, he’ll know the virus is going to be released into the ventilation shafts.
He’ll try to leave the room before that happens.
” She looked around the room. “That’s where I’ll need a little help.
We can’t let Vasquez leave the room. Then we’ll inform him and Pieter Teuling that the virus they were so intent on releasing—Vasquez at the Summit and Teuling with his clean water initiative—has been released into the ventilation shafts.
The virus is 99.9% fatal. If they want to live, I have the only vial of antiviral available.
All they have to do is confess their sins. ”
“They’ll be cornered,” Swede said. “We have enough data to substantiate the accusations and to display on the screens—the charts and dates we’ve received from the World Health Organization.”
Crusher continued to shake his head. “What if we don’t catch whoever Vasquez tasked with releasing the virus into the ventilation system?”
“We will,” Marta said. “We have to. Everyone in that room will be depending on it.”
“What if we don’t?” Crusher asked.
“Then we deal with the fallout. There won’t be enough antiviral to go around, but we can work with what we have until we can make more.
” She held his gaze. “We can’t let people like Vasquez and Teuling dictate who lives and who dies.
They aren’t gods. I’ll be in that room. You don’t have to come with me. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.”
Crusher held her gaze for a long moment before saying, “I’m going with you.”
“I’ll hack into their video feed,” Swede said, “and have all the charts and data ready to post as soon as you give me the word.”
Hammer clapped his hands together. “We have work to do to get ready. Dr. Hale and Crusher need to be in the Summit room early and stay out of sight of our two targets.”
“How will you know when to confront them?” Cate asked.
“If Vasquez has a specific time in mind, he’ll be looking at his watch,” Marta said. “When he gets up to leave, that’s when we keep that from happening.”