"It's probably nothing," Stephanie said.
CHAPTER 30
The contents of Gutenberg's computer were a bombshell. Stephanie had just finished briefing everyone on what she had found and on the contents of his diary.
"People like him make you wonder if there's any hope for the human race," Ronnie said. "How can someone write a business plan for killing millions of people?"
"It's been done before," Nick said. "You ever hear of the Wannsee conference?"
"No."
"It was a meeting of high-ranking Nazis, where they planned the extermination of the Jews. A business meeting."
Ronnie shook his head.
"I think those names mentioned in Gutenberg's diary are the people running AEON," Elizabeth said.
"There's nothing that tells us exactly who they are," Selena said. "We know about Gutenberg and Krivi. Why do you think the others are part of AEON?"
"For one thing, each is wealthy and powerful and that's a requirement for membership in AEON's top tier. Take Kamarov, for example. Aside from the President Gorovsky, Kamarov is possibly the most powerful man in Russia. Nobody knows his real wealth. He has his hand in everything. Even the Russian Mafia stays clear of him."
There it is again, Stephanie thought. As soon as Elizabeth mentioned Russia, Selena looked like she'd swallowed a lemon. Something's going on there.
Elizabeth continued. "Thorvaldson is probably Aapo Thorvaldson, the shipping magnate. He's in the same money league as Gutenberg and Krivi. De Guillame could be the French Foreign Minister, although that's just an educated guess. Mitchell is a common name but it feels like he might be an American, judging from what Gutenberg wrote."
"Lots of Mitchells out there," Ronnie said.
"How many of them have the kind of money and clout the others carry?" Nick asked.
"I can think of one," Selena said. "Senator Randolph Mitchell. He's rich and powerful and his political philosophy fits right in with AEON's goals."
"I hope you're wrong," Elizabeth said.
"What about the other one, Halifax?"
"I'm not sure," Elizabeth said. "It could be the British Secretary of the Exchequer."
"Oh, that's great," Lamont said. "We're up against three powerful government officials, a Nazi banker, a legal drug lord and two of the wealthiest men in the world. How about a partridge in a pear tree, just for fun?"
"We don't know that Gutenberg is a Nazi," Elizabeth said.
"If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…"
Nick said, "Clichés aside, what's our next move? We can't go after these men publicly."
"We have one advantage," Elizabeth said. "They don't know that we know who they are."
"The Russians have the same information we do, if Steph is right," Nick said. "That means they know Kamarov is an enemy of the regime. They might take care of him for us."
"It's possible, but that still leaves the others. We might be able to work with Vysotsky on this. It's just like before, we have a mutual enemy."
"The Russians are our enemy."
Selena's voice was hard and flat. Everyone looked at her.
"The only reason we were able to work with them before was because Korov proved himself our friend and we trusted him. He's dead. We can't trust Vysotsky or any of his people."
"We don't have to trust them," Elizabeth said, "but if the devil himself was useful I'd make an agreement with him to stop Gutenberg and AEON."
Selena sniffed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Elizabeth was annoyed. "Let me worry about Vysotsky."
"So what do you want us to do, Director?" Nick said.
"Gutenberg's diary says they're going to release the plague to test it out. Until we know where, all we can do is monitor Gutenberg's computer and hope he reveals the location."
"And when we know it?
"Then you go in and stop them."
CHAPTER 31
The village of Sao Bendito was gripped with fear. Candles burned day and night in the church. There was always someone kneeling and beseeching God to remove the affliction He had sent upon them. If the villagers had known who was really responsible, they would have stopped praying and headed for the clinic with their machetes instead of their rosaries.
The clinic was overwhelmed. Bodies lay everywhere, wherever there was space on the floor, or outside under an improvised shelter. By the time they got to the clinic they were already in the latter stages of the disease. No one lay there for long. A day, perhaps two, spent in the illusion of a possible cure and then they were carried off in a makeshift shroud and buried in a mass grave. Funerals were no longer held at the church. The priest had been an early victim. An ancient backhoe that had been the village pride and joy worked overtime digging pits to bury the bodies.
Karl Schmidt looked out over the chaos and tried not to breathe the stench through the surgical mask hooked over his face. A woman lay coughing and moaning in pain on a makeshift bed on the floor of the clinic. He looked down at her and made a few notes in a small notebook he carried. He knew she would be dead before the day was out.
The woman was nineteen years old and had been beautiful, only a week before. She lay in a pool of urine and blood, a ghastly shell of her former self. Cracked, black blotches that looked like poisonous flowers had spread over her body.
Schmidt's scientific curiosity had gotten the better of him and he'd stayed longer than he'd planned. Besides, he had faith in the vaccine he'd developed. Even so, there was no need to push his luck. Sao Bendito was isolated but it was only a question of time before word got out and the area was quarantined by the government. He'd give it another day and then he was going back to Europe and civilization.
Doctor Silva was away from the clinic, out on the Indian reservation where the plague had already killed hundreds. By the time he returned, Schmidt would be gone.
There was nothing more to do here. He stepped out of the foul-smelling shack and into the clean, humid air of a sub-tropical morning and stripped off his mask. Schmidt took a deep breath and dropped the mask in a trashcan by the door. Somewhere a chorus of monkeys chattered. A flock of brilliantly colored parrots rose from the tops of the trees, the sun lighting up the vibrant red and gold and blue of their feathers. He watched them take flight.
Schmidt took another deep breath and smiled. Yes, it was a beautiful day.
CHAPTER 32
"It's Brazil," Stephanie said. "They released the plague in a village called Sao Bendito. It's in a very remote area."
"How did you find out?" Selena asked.
"Krivi's scientist, Schmidt. He's in charge of the test. He emailed Gutenberg with a progress report and my program captured it. According to the email, everyone who didn't receive the vaccine is dying like flies. Schmidt used a free vaccination program in a clinic as a cover while he infected everyone."
"I screwed up," Nick said. "We didn't get all the samples."
"Don't blame yourself," Elizabeth said. "It figures they'd have them in more than one place in case something went wrong."
"These people need to be put down," Stephanie said.
"That's not like you, Steph."
"If you read that email, you'll feel the same way," Stephanie said. "Schmidt talks about the suffering of these people as if they were lab rats."
"For him, they are," Nick said.
"Do we have any satellite shots of the area?" Elizabeth asked Stephanie.
"We do, but they aren't very good. That area of the world isn't on the list for priority surveillance. I thought you might want to see the photos, so I got them ready."
She touched a key on her laptop. The wall monitor across from Harker's desk came to life with a photograph of a small cluster of buildings in a vast sea of foliage. An unpaved road leading to the town ended in a square in front of the village church. To the north lay a vast area of rivers and grasslands dotted with scattered clusters of huts.