“It’s a little tricky, since they obviously don’t want a rogue agent or disgruntled scientist destroying the program,” Reznikov said, pausing for a laugh that never came. “No sense of humor, huh?”
“I’m a little pressed for time here,” Berg said.
“Very well. You’ll need two codes, which I will provide. One is entered into a terminal within the lab, the other at a secure terminal within the main security station. I assume your plan involves taking down that station?”
“It does.”
“Excellent. You’ll find the secure terminal inside a vault within the station. I recommend taking care of the laboratory first, so your team can put as much distance between that building and themselves as possible. I have no idea where the laboratory vents exit the ground, but I know for a fact that you don’t want to be anywhere near one of them when the propane system activates.”
“Covering your bases?”
“I’m not familiar with that saying,” Reznikov said.
“Covering your ass?”
“Ah, yes. I don’t want you to deny my retirement to this beautiful resort because of something I omitted.”
“Please continue.”
“All right. Your team will find the lab terminal in the southeast corner. It’s a standalone computer system built into the wall. The screen will remain blank until the code is typed correctly and you press enter. The screen will then activate and prompt you for the code again. Once the code has been entered for the second time, your team can leave the laboratory. This side of the activation process was designed so anyone working in the lab could be used to trigger the system.
“The second terminal is a bit trickier. It is fingerprint coded and can only be accessed by one of the scientists assigned to the bioweapons program or the P4 Containment Lab’s director. There is a key slot, so I assume members of certain special response teams could override the system, but for your purposes, you’ll need to grab one these people.”
“Luckily for you, we haven’t killed them yet,” Berg said.
“It wouldn’t matter. The biometric sensor on this terminal does not read temperatures. You could chop off one of their hands and use it,” Reznikov said.
“As it happens, we’ll have one of the scientists with us. You neglected to mention that a fingerprint scanner protected the lab. Heat sensitive,” Berg said.
“Biometric security is standard procedure for sensitive areas of an infectious disease laboratory. I just assumed that would be understood,” Reznikov said.
“Be careful what you assume,” Berg said. “It could mean the difference between lobster Benedict for breakfast and moldy bread.”
“Do I need to remind you that there might be armed security patrolling the grounds?” Reznikov spat.
“Which finger do we need for the secure terminal?”
“Right index finger. You’ll have to enter the code twice and confirm that you want to activate the system. Once confirmed, it cannot be stopped. Thirty seconds later, mission accomplished. Here are the codes,” he said.
Once the codes were transferred and confirmed, Berg abruptly hung up, which suited Reznikov just fine. He despised the man, despite the fact that the unsuspecting CIA agent had helped realize one of his longstanding dreams. He might pay Karl Berg a visit in the future, accompanied by some of his new friends.
Reznikov reviewed the deciphered code in his mind and smiled, staring off into the clear blue skies. He’d have to enjoy his last sunset on the hill with drink service from the lodge. A nice dry martini would cap off the evening perfectly, especially when it was paid for by the U.S. government.
Chapter 45
Tatyana Belyakov gently kissed her two children goodnight and tiptoed out of their shared room, closing the door behind her. The kids were tired from a long Sunday running through Sovetsky Park, near the State University, where her husband taught molecular biology. Days spent at the park reminded her of meeting Arkady in Moscow during her undergraduate university studies. Fifteen years later, memories of those carefree years with her future husband were buried, brought briefly to the surface by the sight of students lounging around her husband’s campus.
He didn’t take them to the university very often, and he’d never brought them to his office, which he claimed was crammed into an unsafe industrial basement area of the Biology and Chemistry building. They lived outside of university-supplied housing and rarely socialized with other members of the faculty; a necessity he stated was necessary to maintain some semblance of work-life balance.
She couldn’t complain too much about their situation. His salary and housing allowance gave them the luxury of a small home, which was twice the size of the university-supplied apartments and included a tidy yard and garden. The neighborhood left a little to be desired, but the area was generally safe, something that couldn’t be said about many of Novosibirsk’s suburbs. They had been here for eight years, never once experiencing a breakin, which was why Tatyana couldn’t immediately process the scene that unfolded in front of her as she entered their family room.
Four men with black ski masks and guns blocked all of the exits to the room. One of them held his index finger to his lips and shook his head slowly, aiming a suppressed pistol at her head.
“Sssshhhhh. We wouldn’t want to wake up the children,” he whispered.
Her legs nearly buckled at the mention of her kids. She held it together and looked at her husband, who looked confused and frightened.
“Andrei and Milena will be fine as long as you don’t wake them. They must be tired from a long day playing in the park,” he said, a little louder this time.
She felt her world spinning. They knew the children’s names and had been following them all day. This wasn’t happening to them. Why was her husband just standing there, doing nothing? Saying nothing?
“You can have anything you want here. Please, leave our children alone. We won’t say a word of this to anyone,” she said.
“The only thing I came to take is your husband. We need to borrow him for a few hours. I’m going to leave a few of my friends to watch over you. Their orders are to kill your children if you try anything stupid, like try to call the police. In about an hour and twenty minutes, my friends will leave and you are free to do whatever you please. Can you manage to behave for eighty minutes?”
“Yes. I promise. Please don’t hurt them. Please don’t hurt my husband.”
“The safety of your children lies solely with you,” he said, pointing at her. Don’t fuck with me on this. I specifically didn’t give them instructions for what to do with you. I’ll leave that to their imagination. Dr. Belyakov, it’s time to go. You’ll need your security card.”
Her husband froze in place. “Where are we going?”
“Where’s the card?” the man barked, shifting his pistol back to Tatyana.
“Just give him your badge,” she said, putting her hands up in a useless gesture.
The man glanced at her husband and started walking toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
“Maybe it’s in the children’s room,” the man said.
She reacted instinctively and moved to block him, but one of the other men stepped in and pinned her against the wall, placing the cold barrel of a sawed-off shotgun under her chin.
“No. It’s in my car. Don’t hurt her,” Arkady whispered.
“Arkady, don’t mess around with them! Your university badge is in the kitchen,” she said.
“You have no idea, do you?” the man said to her, turning to Arkady.
“Start walking, or I’ll just fucking kill them and save my men the hassle. I’m sure they have better things to do right now than guard your wife.”