"That's evil," Nick said.
"Yes, it is."
"What's to keep them from getting sick themselves, once they let this stuff loose?" Nick asked. "Our understanding is that there's no cure."
"They're looking for ways to cure and prevent it," Adam said. "They haven't got it yet but my information is that they're close to a breakthrough on a vaccine. When they have something that works, they'll release the plague."
"What are you asking me to do?"
"Your group has to destroy the labs and samples before they can release it. The labs are in Switzerland and India, part of the Dass pharmaceutical complex. There are a lot of separate facilities. I don't know which ones have the samples."
"Dass. Krivi Dass?" Nick said. "He was part of that attempt to launch a missile at China. We couldn't prove his involvement."
"That's him," Adam said. "He's part of AEON's leadership."
The car stopped, started up again. The ride was quiet, comfortable. It was a strange conversation, surreal. He was riding in total luxury and talking about madmen who wanted to unleash death upon the world.
"I don't think there's much time to stop this," Adam said. "There's something else."
The drawer between the two sides of the rear compartment slid open. Inside was a gold coin.
"Please take the coin, Nick."
Nick picked it up. It felt heavy in his hand. The coin was a little larger than a quarter. One side bore the image of two knights riding a single horse. The other side depicted a domelike structure with a cross imposed upon it.
The seal of the Knights Templar.
The drawer closed and Adam's electronic voice came through the speaker. "If anyone approaches you in the future and gives you one of these coins, you will know they come from my organization."
The car came to a stop. Nick's door clicked open.
"Good hunting, Nick. I'll be in touch."
Nick got out and found himself back in front of his building. He watched Adam's limo ease out into the street. From somewhere in the heavy traffic, a powerful red motorcycle with two riders wearing black leathers and helmets with smoked face shields came up fast behind the Cadillac. The passenger tossed a dark object onto the roof. It stuck to the top of the car with a metallic clang. The bike accelerated away.
Nick opened his mouth to shout a warning when an explosion ripped the car apart and knocked him to the sidewalk. Windows shattered all along the street.
The burning, twisted remains of Adam's armored car drifted to the curb and stopped. Nick got to his feet and looked at the wreckage. There was no chance anyone inside the car had survived.
I could have been riding in that.
He took out his phone and called Harker.
CHAPTER 12
Harker brought the team in for an emergency meeting.
Ronnie was back and looked a lot better than the last time Nick had seen him. Ronnie was Navajo and he'd gone home to be healed in the old ways, after wounds he'd taken in the Philippines almost killed him. His uncle was a Navajo singer, one of a few left who still knew the healing songs and ceremonies that formed the traditional heart of Navajo culture.
"Man, am I glad to see your ugly face," Nick said. "How are you feeling?"
"Good."
Ronnie was broad, stocky and muscular, with the kind of classic features seen in pictures of the Old West. He looked like he belonged on the back of a horse with a lever action Winchester in his hand and war paint on his face.
"I don't know what you did but it worked," Nick said.
"A sweat. Some singing, that's all. We have a ceremony for just about everything."
"Well, I'm glad you're back." Nick didn't push him for details. He figured Ronnie would tell him about it or he wouldn't. The healing ceremonies were sacred in Navajo tradition, private.
They went into Harker's office. It wasn't often Ronnie got embarrassed or ill at ease but when Selena and Stephanie hugged him, he managed it. Lamont just shook his hand.
"Welcome back, Ronnie," Elizabeth said.
"Thanks, Director." They all sat down.
"You ready for the field again?" she said.
"Yeah, I'm ready."
"All right, then. We have a lot to talk about. First, it was the Russians who took the plague samples."
"The Russians?" Selena said. "Who?"
"General Vysotsky's group."
The Russians, Selena thought. The ones who killed my father.
"It turns out that the Russians are only part of the problem." Elizabeth turned to Nick. "Tell them about Adam."
No one had ever met Adam except Nick, but they all knew about him. It was Adam who'd first warned them about AEON. Nick repeated what Adam had told him and described the attack on the car. When he finished, there was silence in the room.
"These guys never quit, do they?" Lamont said.
"If it wasn't them it would be someone else," Elizabeth said.
"Adam said the leader is a banker named Gutenberg," Nick said. "That's a place to start."
"Does he have a first name?" Stephanie asked.
"Johannes."
Stephanie entered the name on her laptop keyboard, linked to the enormous power of the Crays downstairs. The response was instant. A picture came up on the wall monitor. Gutenberg looked like what he was, a Swiss banker. He wore designer glasses with thin black rims. His face was unsmiling in the photograph, his lips pulled primly together. He was wearing an expensive suit and perfectly knotted tie. He looked to be about sixty years old. His eyes were watery green, cold and indifferent.
"Johannes Gutenberg," she said. "Owns and operates an old line European bank based in Geneva. He lives in an eighteenth century château that's a favorite in the picture postcard industry, right on the Rhône."
"Big bucks," Lamont said.
"The biggest. Gutenberg is listed in the top 50 richest men in the world." Her fingers flew over the keys. "His bank has investments in everything from agriculture to arms manufacture."
"Pharmaceuticals? Bio research?" Nick asked.
"Those too." She entered another command. "Through his bank he owns shell corporations and companies all over the world. He's everywhere. He's protected by Swiss banking laws from most of the regulatory issues of other governments. His personal fortune is stashed in Andorra, where it can't be touched."
"Where's Andorra?" Lamont asked. "I never heard of it."
"It's in the Eastern Pyrenees, bordered by Spain and France," Elizabeth said.
"I went skiing there once," Selena said. "It's tiny, a principality. It's famous for being a tax haven. If you want to hide money or avoid taxes, it's a good bet. But you need quite a bit of money to open accounts there. It's old Europe, a remnant from the days of princes and kings. The scenery is beautiful and it's very popular with tourists."
"What about Krivi?" Nick asked. "Adam said he's part of AEON's leadership, along with Gutenberg. What can you find out about him?"
Stephanie entered another search. "Krivi Dass. He's almost as wealthy as Gutenberg. Runs Dass Pharmaceuticals, which is huge. Krivi is one of the big boys in drugs. He has research labs and manufacturing facilities in Zurich and Mumbai."
"Adam thought the plague samples were in one of those labs," Nick said. "We need to find and destroy them."
"That's easier said than done," Elizabeth said. "We don't know where they are. They could be in Switzerland or India."
"Then that's the next step, get into the labs and look for them. We could start in Switzerland. That's Gutenberg's home base. If we don't find anything there, the samples will be in India."
"We can't just go barging in. The Swiss are touchy about things like that. It would create a huge problem for the president if you got caught. He's not going to authorize it without hard evidence."