Since the day he'd come to that realization, he'd never looked back. All that mattered was the game of wealth and power, the heady addiction of control over the destiny of millions. With the others in AEON he was about to claim power that would make any of the great conquerors of history envious.
The phone on his desk rang, with a peculiar, old-world sound that had vanished from modern instruments. This particular phone had once graced the study of Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia. Krivi enjoyed using the antique. It seemed fitting.
"Yes."
"Krivi, my friend. How are you?"
The phone was old, but the quality of voice was quite good. Gutenberg's voice was clear and sharp.
"Well, Johannes. And you?"
"Excellent, especially today. One of the obstacles to our success has been removed."
"Oh?"
"We will no longer be troubled by the annoying Adam."
"That's good news. Tell me what happened," Krivi said.
"He had a car accident," Gutenberg said. "I had hoped to eliminate one of the Project people also, but the timing didn't quite work out. It doesn't matter, there's plenty of time to take care of them."
"You're certain Adam is out of the way?"
"Oh, yes, there's no way he could have survived. His organization will be in disarray. Tell me, how are you progressing? Will we be ready soon?"
"We're about to begin field testing." Krivi told him about Brazil. "The test will give us good data on how fast the disease spreads in a human population and the effectiveness of the vaccine. After that, the only thing is to find the right combination of drugs to combat it."
"As long as the vaccine works and can be produced in enough quantity to protect our personnel, a cure is not essential at this point."
"Schmidt seems confident it will work," Krivi said.
"Herr Schmidt is one of our greatest assets. We are lucky to have him."
"Have you decided on the initial target for wider dispersal yet?"
"I'm leaning toward Brazil. Now that the Russians are busy wrecking their own economy, eliminating Brazil might be enough to accomplish our goal."
"There's still China to deal with. And New Delhi."
"Yes. Well. Let's see what happens in Brazil. If successful, we'll move on to China. Depending on results there, we'll let Beijing know it could easily happen to them."
"They might not believe it."
"That would be a mistake," Gutenberg said.
CHAPTER 14
The team gathered in Harker's office. It was Sunday. Days off were no longer on the schedule.
"What have you found, Steph?" Elizabeth said.
"Krivi has biohazard labs in Zurich and Mumbai. I can't say with certainty which one we should target."
"We could go after the guy who runs things," Ronnie said. "What's his name, Gutenberg. Grab him and make him tell us where those samples are."
"We can't, not yet," Elizabeth said. "Same with Krivi."
"The Koreans didn't have a vaccine or a cure, is that right?" Selena asked.
"That's right."
"Then Krivi must have a team of people working on it. Whatever AEON has in mind for that bug, they'll want to protect themselves. Who's Krivi's best medical researcher? Maybe we could find out where the samples are by watching him. See where he goes to work in the morning."
Elizabeth looked at her. "That's so simple, it's brilliant. I should have thought of that."
"It should be easy to find out who it is," Stephanie said.
She tapped on the keyboard of the laptop she always seemed to have with her.
"Krivi's company has a corporate website with all the typical blurbs. It's got photos of top personnel."
They waited. Stephanie entered a command and the monitor on the wall lit with a picture of a blond man in a white lab coat. He was smiling for the camera but the smile failed to reach his eyes.
"Guy looks like he needs a fancy black uniform and a few flags," Lamont said.
"He does have that look, doesn't he," Stephanie said. "This is Karl Schmidt, the chief research scientist for Krivi's company. He's got quite a list of credentials. The man's a genius. He'd be the one Krivi would use."
"Where does he live?" Nick asked.
"It doesn't say. It does say that the main research lab is in Zurich. I imagine he lives there."
"I like Selena's idea," Nick said. "We find out where he lives, go to Zurich, stake out his house and see where he goes. He has to be working on the samples."
"Then what?" Elizabeth asked.
"If we think we know where they've got the samples, we break in and steal them back."
"That's not a good idea," Selena said.
"Why not?"
"If this thing is as bad as it's made out to be, we can't handle it. What are we going to do, put on hazmat suits and raid the facility? Put the samples in a baggie?"
"I hadn't thought about it. We'll think of something."
"We don't have to steal the samples," Ronnie said. "We just have to destroy them, along with the research. It's probably in the same building."
"Typical Jarhead thinking," Lamont said. "When in doubt, blow it up."
"So?" Ronnie said. "Your point?"
"Seems like a good idea to me," Nick said.
"Hold on," Elizabeth said. "You can't just blow up a Swiss research lab."
"Why not?" Nick asked.
"Well, because you can't. It's Swiss. They're neutral."
"They may be, but Krivi isn't," Nick said. "We can't take the samples with us. We can't leave them behind. What else are we going to do?"
"He's right, Director," Selena said. "We have to destroy it."
Elizabeth looked at her pen and forced herself not to pick it up.
"I hope I don't regret this," she said. "Steph, find out where Schmidt lives. Nick, you'd better make damn sure you've picked the right building before you push the button. Take the Gulfstream and leave tomorrow."
"What about weapons? We need more than pistols for this in case we run into opposition. MP5s, C-4, detonators. Not so easy to take those through Swiss customs."
"Take them on the plane. You'll have diplomatic passports, they won't search you."
"While you're arranging things, how about a safe house? We could be there a while."
"I'll see what I can do."
"I always wanted to see Switzerland in the winter," Lamont said.
"Lots of snow," Ronnie said. "And mountains."
"Do you ski, Nick?" Selena asked.
CHAPTER 15
Zurich in winter was everything the tourist magazines said it was, a picture-perfect example of old world Europe. Six inches of fresh snow lay over everything, turning the city into a calendar shot for the travel agents.
The safe house was a five story building in the Aussersihl, a district of residential buildings and shops lying between the Sihl river and the train station. Lamont sat down on a low couch and surveyed the room.
"Beats the place we got in India," he said.
"Harker borrowed it from Langley."
"I wonder if she sees Hood outside of work," Lamont said.
"Like a couple, you mean?"
"Why not?"
Nick shook his head. "I can't picture that."
"What's the plan?" Ronnie asked.
"Pick rooms and get settled in. Check the gear and contact Harker. See if there's anything to eat in the kitchen."
"We passed a market on the corner," Selena said.
"I want to stay in as much as possible. The locals might assume we're tourists but we stand out. No need to call more attention to ourselves than we have to. Selena, you speak the language. If we need something, you'll have to get it."
"No problem. I can pass for German, they won't think anything of that."
"I'll set up the comm," Lamont said.
"Let's unpack the weapons," Nick said.