Encrypted (70 page)

Plum Island, New York

4:07
p
.
m
.,
EST

Amanda ran straight into a tray as she crashed into the infirmary. She had to choke back the smell. There were at least three dead and bloating corpses. No
o
ne to help her
,
and no help she could offer them.

She checked both cell phones again. Not only did they not have any bars, they didn’t even have service. Amanda picked up the nearest landline. It
,
too
,
was dead. Henderson must have sabotaged all the communication channels.

Maybe she should have just stayed in the conference room
and t
aken a bullet along with Devlin. Perhaps
she would have
been there when Jennifer was put out of her misery. Amanda squeezed her eyes shut against the guilt. She had fled for one singular purpose. Someone had to survive to explain the truth. Amanda couldn’t let Henderson get away with it. Not if she could help it.

To think
—
the entire time he had been watching her
like a snake might a mouse. Slith
ering in the background
—
waiting until the right moment to strike. Amanda pushed aside the thought and dug through the medicine cabinet. The t
hing was in disarray. How many Code B
lues had the medical staff gone through until they realized it was a moot point?

Which didn’t leave many supplies. Amanda checked one label
, and
then tossed the vial aside. She checked another
,
and another
,
until she found the one she was looking for. Stilling
her trembl
ing hands, she drew up the full vial into a syringe.

“I thought you’d come here,” Henderson said as he walked through the swinging door of the infirmary. “Always the victim, aren’t you, Amanda
?
Always taking on the weight of the world.”

Yep. That was
she
. Except
that
she was
done with the whole victim thing. Or at least
,
that’s what she hoped.

“They got the vaccine,” Amanda said
,
taking a step closer. “You know that
,
right?”

Henderson glared at her. “I cut off the cell phone tower.”

“Before that,” Amanda tried to sound confident as she took another step forward. “They texted me
that
they are on their way.”

She held out Jennifer’s phone with the old texts on it
,
hoping that Henderson
’s
eyesight matched his age.

“You are lying.”

“Why would I?” Amanda said as she inched closer. “I just want to die seeing the look on your face that you lost.”

Henderson snatched for the phone, which she gladly gave him. It kept him distracted while she jammed the hypodermic needle into his gun arm. The phone clattered to the floor as Henderson tried to bring the gun up, but his arm wouldn’t obey. As a matter of fact, his hand contracted down.

“Epinephrine,” she said as Henderson’s eyes dilated to near
-
black saucers. “It’s constricting your blood vessels as we speak.” The director gasped. “And making your heart beat a hundred times harder and faster than it should.”

He grabbed hold of a bed
,
trying to right himself as blood
-
tinged tears sprang
to
his eyes.

Amanda leaned in close, taking the gun from his spasming hand. “And you might be vaccinate
d
, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the plague.”

Henderson looked down at his fingernails turning black.

“That’s right
—
all of your antibodies are binding to the bacteria, clogging your capillaries
,
and now
,
with your blood pressure?” Amanda explained. “It is trashing those weakened blood vessels.”

Doubling over
,
Henderson hacked and hacked, spitting out blood.

“Oh
,
yeah, and your lungs are a little fragile as well,” Amanda said as she got out of range.

The man who thought he would be king of Plum Island gasped. His next breath sounded like scuba gear. His
last
breath sounded like a flood.

He fell onto a cot, his dead eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

Amanda would have thought she would have felt a twinge of something. Sadness. Remorse. But all she felt was relief.

Grabbing as many drugs as she could, she stacked them on the crash cart and wheeled it toward the stairs. Since she had no idea if Ronnie had obtained the vaccine or if they were in fact on their way, she needed to stabilize Jennifer’s condition for as long as she could.

Her own legs trembling, Amanda realized she might need to save some of the medication for herself.

* * *

Zach stopped his mad rush to the security hub as a brilliant beam of light streaked across the courtyard. Men yelled and scattered. Horses spooked and stampeded away. A section of the castle crashed down not a dozen yards from him.

Panic filled the air of the Hidden Hand’s stronghold.

All this, Ronnie had done. Zach wasn’t even sure how, but he knew it was her hand
i
work. But as much as he wished to stay and watch the guards lose their mind
s
, he had his own work to accomplish.

Breaking into a run
,
Zach hauled ass to the turret. The guards lowered their spears as Zach waved the parchment with the angelic seal at them. Without question
,
they let him pass. Yep, it was great to be a page.

He took the stone steps two at a time, mainly because there was no way in hell he could take them three at a time. The staircase ended at a stout
,
wooden door. Two guards turned from the window, seeming startled that anyone approached. Zach again showed the parchment. One of the guards tried to take it from him.

“No,” Zach said
,
pulling the scroll back. “I was told to deliver it directly to the…” Crap
—
what would the head of security have been called in medieval days? “Commander of the Watch.” Yah, that was it. Thank you
,
George R
.
R
.
Martin.

The guards opened the ancient door into a very modern room. Even Ronnie would
have been impressed. Of course
,
she had already hacked her way into their mainframe. She had the keys to the kingdom with the exception of one very important function.

The auto-destruct. That one had to be done by hand, in person.

Now
,
if Zach could just remember how in the hell to do it.

* * *

It took the laser making its way back for Ronnie to snap out of her shock. She had done it. Well
,
maybe
not
done all of it, but if their luck held
at
all,
Quirk
should be securing the vaccine on the helicopter.

Now to rendezvous with Zach and get to that helicopter herself. Ronnie stumbled as she headed to the stairs. Francois’ body lay so still on the cold
,
stone roof. One of them would not be heading anywhere ever again.

Ronnie dropped to her knees to check his pulse
,
even though it was way clear he was gone. Blood pooled so thickly around the body that even the storm couldn’t wash it away fast enough. She had barely known him
,
and for the most part he had been a pain in her ass, but she couldn’t help but feel her throat constrict as she closed his eyes.

Francois had spent the greater part of his life trying to prevent this tragedy. He had died to protect her. To protect the world. And who would know of it? Who would know that the name Francois
Loubom
should be ranked right up there with Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill? No, not up there with them. Above them.

That
is,
if they could actually get the vaccine the hell out of Maine and into the hands of the CDC.

With a silent promise to remember Francois always, Ronnie rose and ran for the stairs. Zach should be in position at any moment.

* * *

Zach was not in position. Not by a long shot. He couldn’t remember much about the full plan
.
H
owever
,
he did know that he was going to come in here guns blazing. Not decked out in a page’s outfit with only the Khan’s short blade.

He should have already triggered the auto-destruct sequence and hightailing it to the rendezvous point by now. Or, in his condition, figuring out where he rendezvous point was. Of course that meant he had to subdue the room.

Besides the commander, there were four other tech support officers in the room. Zach had only lasted this long in the room because he murmured something about waiting for a response to run back to the Captain of the Guard. Thank
G
od they didn’t ask him what the guy’s name was. Zach’s time was running out.

“Look!” one of the techies said pointing to a screen mainly filled with static. The only thing clear on the monitor was a bright red beam…heading straight for them. The loud cracking hum filled the air.

Which
,
on
the
one hand was great
,
as the men ran, fleeing the room. On the other hand, Zach was pretty damn sure the beam wasn’t supposed to come anywhere near this room. They needed the self-destruct to blow to make sure no one followed them to Plum Island.

Yes! That was where they were supposed to
be
heading. Plum Island. He couldn’t head there if he didn’t get the damned self-destruct online.

“Did you really think it would be that easy
?
” a voice said from the back of the room.

“Nothing’s been easy, Grant.”

Zach might be a little punch
-
drunk, but he could never forget the voice of the man who’d betrayed not just his partner or his agency
,
but his country as well.

Grant stepped from behind the bank of monitors, that shit-eating grin on his face. “What can I say? I land on my feet.”

Sure
,
he did. Zach really shouldn’t be surprised that Grant was here. “The Hidden Hand must have made a lucrative offer.”

Grant shrugged. “Actually
,
it was I who propositioned them.”

“Of course you did,” Zach said as he inched the Khan’s blade from his belt.

“Right about when I tracked you to Graceland, I thought,
why
? I mean
,
why track you down when it was pretty clear who was going to win? Sometimes you’ve just got to pick a side.”

“Actually,” Zach said. “You kind of pick a side
ahead
of time, then stick with it.”

Grant snorted. “That’s your problem
,
Zach
,
always thinking so linearly.” Zach loosened the knife, but
the
ex-FB
I
and
ex-CIA agent brought up his gun. “Like I said. Linearly.” Grant cocked his head to the side. “Did you know that after the Black Death
,
because of
the smaller work force, wages actually rose? That the plague helped spur economic prosperity and helped solidify the middle class?”

Walking to the center of the room, Grant smiled. “The Hidden Hand has got some amazing room for
career
upward mobility. And
,
did I mention excellent health benefits?” Grant rubbed his upper arm. “A plague vaccine with each new hire. You really should read their pamphlet. It’s pretty impressive.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Zach answered
,
praying
that
his ruse worked as the high
-
energy beam cut its way through the room. Smoke filled the air.

“Oh
,
well,” Grant said as he leveled the gun. “I guess I won’t be getting that ‘refer a friend’ bonus.”

Zach menaced with his knife, but threw a sweeping low kick. Grant awkwardly avoided the kick, but that was all the distraction Zach needed. Rushing forward, he knocked Grant’s gun arm to the side and sliced with the Khan’s knife. Grant screamed like the little girl he was, grabbing his side. He brought the gun around
,
as if that could help him.