Chapter Twenty-One
When Iris and Selina entered the workspace, Delilah had Walter’s computer open on one of the high tables with a writing pad next to it. She and Cal were conferring but turned to them when they walked in.
“Hi, Delilah. Thanks for helping with this,” Iris said, hugging her friend.
“Not a problem, sweetie,” Delilah promised, patting her back. “I’ve found some interesting tidbits I was just telling Cal about, and we both think Walter had some big plans.”
“What did you find?” she asked, walking behind the table to look at the computer.
“From what I can tell, Walter had no intention of giving the virus to only the group who commissioned it.”
“Do you know who that is?” she asked, and Delilah held up her finger.
“We’ll get to that. I want you to read this and tell me if I understand it correctly.”
“Delilah, you worked for the US Government as a cybersecurity expert. You have far more experience than I do.”
“All the same,” she said, motioning for her to read through a document on the screen.
“It looks like a standard contract of goods to me, with Mr. A as the buyer and Mr. W as the seller.”
“Okay, that was my thought, too. Now—” she held up a finger and brought up another document “—read this one.”
Iris read it several times before she flipped back to the other contract. “It’s the same contract, but it just says Mr. X as the buyer.”
Delilah held up her finger and pulled up yet another one on the screen. This one had Mr. L as the buyer.
“Are you telling me that Walter planned to sell Ignis Cerebri to three different people?”
“Or countries,” Cal said.
“It could even be different viruses,” Delilah said. “According to Cal, he had four samples in his basement freezer, correct?”
“Yes, but according to Bec, some of them were the base for Ignis.”
Selina shrugged. “All that means is he had one massive bioweapon and three smaller ones.”
A word fell from Cal’s lips that described exactly how she felt. “That means we have three potential bad guys all looking for a virus promised to them by someone driven by greed.”
“And one of them has the woman I love, so we need to tear this place apart until we find their names and where they call home,” Iris said, her hands in fists at her side.
“I’d argue, but she’s not wrong,” Cal said. “Are there dollar values on these contracts?”
“No,” Delilah said with a frown. “They read that the agreed upon fee will be paid at delivery.”
“Shouldn’t that be on a contract?” Selina asked as she leaned on the desk. Iris could tell the long days were catching up to them, but they couldn’t stop until they found Bec.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s on the final contract. This is probably an early one before all the specifics were worked out. As you see, they aren’t signed.”
Iris turned to Cal. “You guys went through his house, and there was nothing there?”
“Nothing,” Cal said. “The place had been wiped clean other than the vials in that freezer. According to Bec, they had to remain in a deep freeze, which meant he couldn’t take them with him.
He probably planned to get the ransom and then return to his house long enough to get the viruses to fulfill the contracts.
Chances are, the final contracts are in a safety deposit box somewhere. ”
“How much money did this guy need?” Selina muttered.
“But wait,” Iris said, waving her hand. “There’s something here that doesn’t make sense, or should I say someone.”
“Someone?” Cal asked, and Iris nodded.
“Bec. Why bring her in to make a vaccine when Walter knew the virus would have to go to the buyer long before she could make a working one?”
The room fell silent other than Cal tapping his fingers on the table. “Hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. It doesn’t make much sense to promise a virus and working vaccine to someone and then not give the scientist time to make said vaccine.”
“Unless there’s another player,” Selina said. “A legitimate one.”
“You mean one who wanted Ignis Cerebri for evil and one who wanted it for research like Bec thought?”
Selina pointed at her with a nod. “Bec doesn’t know what happened before she arrived, only after. So if the original requestor of the research was dealing with Walter, it would be easy for him to see an opportunity to capitalize multiple different ways on it.”
Iris considered that until she remembered something. “But Walter had that video on this computer.” She held up her finger and then found it again, pressing Play for them to watch.
“Okay, but he just says to fulfill their needs,” Cal said. “That doesn’t mean he was referring to Ignis Cerebri. For all we know, he could have made other viruses. The video was uploaded a year ago, but we don’t have the actual date it was recorded. It could have been long before he uploaded it.”
“True, and if that’s the case, it’s safe to say they aren’t the ones who stormed in here and took—” Her tablet started ringing, and she jogged to her desk to grab it.
“Secure Watch, India,” she said when she saw Mina’s name on the screen.
“Secure Watch, Whiskey,” Mina answered. “Bec just activated her panic button. She’s headed toward Sinlis Park!”
* * *
BEC LEANED AGAINST the back of the couch while she waited out her captors.
They were hard at work looking for a lab to overtake so she could “do her work” with the virus.
Maybe she didn’t know who their boss was, but she knew they were afraid of him.
They’d been clear that they’d better return with the virus and vaccine, or they would be pushing up daisies.
She couldn’t figure out why Walter would promise them a virus and a vaccine when he knew that vaccine research takes years, not months.
Sure, she’d developed one over the last five months, but it was an early attempt, and the final version wouldn’t even resemble the current one by the time it was finished because that’s how it worked.
Trial and error. Tweaks and changes. Not that it mattered now.
Ignis Cerebri was dead, and it would stay six feet under if she had anything to say about it.
Thankfully, these boneheads didn’t know that, so she had the element of surprise on her side.
Maybe it was the element of deceit on her side, but either way, she would use it to get out of this jam.
First, she had to let them get good and frustrated with finding a place for her to work.
No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t make any of it make sense.
Walter was a scientist and knew how virology worked.
Since none of the other scientists Mina spoke to knew about Ignis Cerebri, she could say with certainty that he didn’t roll it out until she took the position five months ago.
Was that on purpose? Did he want as few people as possible to know about it?
Then why mention it in that interview? She thought about the date of the interview, and it hit her.
That interview was long before Ignis existed.
Why would he say that if he hadn’t even created Ignis yet?
Her breath caught in her chest. This wasn’t the first time he’d made and sold deadly weapons to people!
That would explain why he went from deep debt to debt-free almost overnight.
He hadn’t used a prepayment—he’d used payment from selling a different virus to a different organization.
Most likely, one who planned to use it for warfare.
Fury rose in her chest at the man who had duped her, and at herself for being so gullible.
Iris had said Bec couldn’t look at it that way because she acted in good faith.
That was true. She had interviewed with Walter, and the board had accepted her application and credentials, though she had never met anyone on the board.
She didn’t think that was unusual since they were spread around the country on each coast. That was why they had Walter in charge of the facility.
Bec realized it didn’t take him long to figure out how that benefited him.
He could do just about anything he wanted as long as he made it look to the board like everything was on the up and up.
When no one was checking on the facility regularly, it was easy to alter paperwork and make it say one thing while you did something else entirely.
That was how he had pulled all of this off.
She had to give him credit if that was true.
It wasn’t easy to fool people in their community, but he’d done it many times over to multiple scientists.
That also made her feel slightly less bad about her part in it.
What buoyed her spirit was knowing that she could do something about it now to end his reign of terror and prevent deadly viruses from falling into the hands of the wrong people.
It was frightening that she even had to think that, but in the day and age of cyberwarfare and bioweapons, it was a realized fear.
She shuddered to think what would have happened if she hadn’t called in Secure Watch.
The thought gave her pause. Why had he let her call in Secure Watch if he was behind what was happening?
Why would he demand ransom from the board when he was making millions or even billions selling viruses to terrorists?
She replayed the scene that morning where Walter was “kidnapped,” and it hit her.
The bullet that had broken the glass in Walter’s office wasn’t meant to scare her off.
It was meant to kill her. Calling Secure Watch didn’t matter because he planned for her to be dead by the time they arrived.
Secure Watch would walk in and find her on the ground, dead from a bullet, while Walter escaped scot-free.
Red-hot fury filled her, and she leaned forward, ready to make her move.
“I know of a lab where I can do this work,” she said, breaking into the conversation the guys were having.
RL turned to her. “Why didn’t you say something before?” His tone was accusatory, but she simply smiled and shrugged.
“You’ll have to forgive me, but being forcibly kidnapped and held hostage has slowed my thought processes.
Listening to you just now, I remembered that the place where the viruses are also has a functional lab.
It’s rudimentary but more than suitable for my purposes.
” She leaned back smugly, though she kept her expression neutral for their benefit.
“You’re bluffing,” RL said. “How could you possibly know that?”
“I worked with the guy who owns the lab, that’s how. I’ve been there. Call your boss. He knows.”
All four guys glanced at each other until RL shook his head slightly. “We can’t call our boss. If he finds out we don’t have the virus, we’ll be dead by morning, and so will you.”
“Well, I, for one, want to get out of this situation alive, so I guess you’re going to have to trust me with yours.”
Another round of stares happened before the ringleader responded. “How far away is this lab?”
“Since I have no idea where we are, all I can say is in relation to the research center, it’s about ten miles. It’s in Sinlis Park.”
“There ain’t nothing in Sinlis Park, boss, much less another lab,” one of the other guys said.
“Sometimes, sleepy little towns hide bigger secrets than you know, gentleman,” she said.
“Will it hurt anything to check it out?” one of the black-clad ninja wannabes asked his leader.
“Only if it’s a trap,” RL answered.
“It’s not,” she answered immediately. “Only one other guy knows about it, and he’s been kidnapped, so I assure you he’s not there.”
The guy turned to her slowly. “Walter Hoerman?”
“You guessed it. He has a full lab in the basement of his house. If you can get me in there, I can have your virus in a matter of hours.” Man, she was rolling out the lies left and right.
“I can have a tentative vaccine in twenty-four hours.” Bec struggled to keep a straight face saying that bald-faced lie, but she did it. In her opinion, she deserved an Oscar.
“I know you’re lying,” RL said as he stalked toward her, striking fear through her. Was this it? Had she gone too far? “We searched Dr. Hoerman’s house days ago.”
“There was that one room we couldn’t get into, boss.” The goon’s words made RL turn back to him. “Remember, no matter what we tried, we couldn’t open that door?”
“A lead-lined door,” she explained. “They’re used to protect other areas of the lab, or in this case, the home, from radiation and viral escape.
Very common.” If she didn’t stop all this lying, she would surely go to hell.
It did make her wonder how Cal got into the room, but knowing Secure One, they had their ways.
“How are you going to get in, then?” he asked as if it was a “gotcha” question she wouldn’t have an answer for.
“I know where the key is.” At least, she suspected she did. “Listen, we can sit here all night and debate this, but the clock is ticking, according to you, and your boss wants his virus. So, what’s it going to be?”
The ringleader turned back to the other three, who were all nodding, shaking their heads and shrugging as though they didn’t know the correct answer, but doing nothing meant certain death. When he turned back to her, he smiled, the whites of his teeth jarring against the blackness of his mask.
“We’ll do it your way, but one trick, and you’re dead. Understood?”
“Completely,” she agreed, saving her smile until he turned away.
She had them right where she wanted them.
She patted her chest to check on her panic button.
It was ready and waiting. She’d click it as soon as they were ready to leave, leading Secure Inc.
right to Walter’s door. Of the five in the room, only she knew that once inside, they weren’t getting back out.