"That wall is perfect to hang the paintings I had shipped from San Francisco," she said. "I'd like to get the security installed before anything else. Then we can decide about movers and furniture and all that."
"I was thinking the same thing about the security."
"I wish it wasn't necessary," Selena said.
"It's the nature of things. It's always been that way."
"Did you talk with Elizabeth this morning?"
"Yes. Lamont's pretty messed up," Nick said. "The round shattered one of the bones. They put the pieces back together but it's uncertain how it's going to turn out."
"Will he be able to walk?"
"Oh yeah, that's not the problem. The question is how well."
"Let's go see him later."
"I thought we'd go this morning. Harker wants us to come in this afternoon. Someone assassinated the French Foreign Minister last night. He was one of the men named in Gutenberg's diary."
"Who killed him?"
"Nobody knows. It was a professional hit. Someone got into his house and took him out."
"I suppose I should be shocked," she said, "but I'm not. I'm just glad we didn't have to go after him."
"Things aren't going too well for AEON right now. It makes me nervous."
"Why?"
"AEON is like a wounded animal and that makes it unpredictable. What's Gutenberg going to do? What's happening with the rest of the leadership? How does de Guillame's death change things?"
"We've never known what they're going to do."
"Yes, but there was a kind of predictability in their thinking. Now we don't even have that."
"We know one thing," Selena said. "There's another player in the game. The Russians. Maybe they assassinated de Guillame. They're good at assassinating people."
There was a hard note in Selena's voice. Nick chose to overlook it. He looked at his watch.
"We ought to get going if we want to see Lamont before we meet with Harker."
As he locked the door behind him he wondered what would happen if Selena ever met her half sister. He hoped he never had to find out.
CHAPTER 53
Elizabeth had decided not to tell Selena that General Vysotsky was the man who had killed her father. She and Stephanie were the only two people who knew. And Vysotsky, but it was certain he wouldn't be talking to Selena about it.
Ronnie, Nick and Selena sat across from Elizabeth on the couch. Stephanie sat to the side of Elizabeth's desk with her laptop open.
"Another one of AEON's directors is dead. Aapo Thorvaldson's body was found this morning."
"How did he die?" Nick asked.
"It looks like a heart attack but I think he was murdered. First de Guillame, now Thorvaldson. Two of AEON's leaders dying within a day of each other is too much of a coincidence."
"Somebody is saving us a lot of trouble," Ronnie said.
"It has to be the Russians," Nick said. "They're getting even."
"That's my guess," Elizabeth said.
"Who's left?" Selena asked.
"Gutenberg of course, and Krivi Dass. As far as we know both of them are still fine. The other names we have are Halifax, Mitchell and Kamarov. Kamarov has disappeared. The Russians probably picked him up."
"Then there are only four left," Nick said.
"It's going to be harder to go after them now that they know someone is targeting them," Elizabeth said
"They knew that after we hit the Zürich lab."
"That wasn't the same as going after them on a personal level," Elizabeth said.
"Why not wait and let the Russians or whoever kill the rest of them?" Ronnie said.
"We can't count on that." Elizabeth brushed a speck of lint from her sleeve. "Another problem is that we don't know for sure that Halifax and Mitchell are who we think they are. We can't go after the British Chancellor of the Exchequer or an American senator based on a suspicion."
"What about Krivi?" Nick said. "We know he's one of them. Or Gutenberg."
"Of the two, Krivi is a better choice."
"Why not Gutenberg?"
"Krivi knows everything about the disease. If we grab him we might find out how to stop it."
"I haven't seen much about it on the news," Ronnie said.
"You won't. The media have been told to stay away from it."
"Unofficial reports say twelve thousand people have died in Brazil and that the disease is out of control," Stephanie said.
"I've seen a couple of television interviews with those slick doctors the government trots out every time people wonder if there's going to be an epidemic," Nick said. "They always say the same thing. It's not coming here, we're prepared if it does, and you have nothing to worry about anyway. All those confident statements make me nervous."
"Is it coming here?" Selena asked.
"Yes, if Gutenberg has his way," Elizabeth said. "America and China are the prime targets."
Selena said, "It's crazy. What do they hope to gain? Money? What's their goal?"
"Money is only part of it. They want to reduce the world population to something they can control more easily. AEON thinks there are too many people in the world, especially from what they call inferior races."
"They don't consider Krivi to be part of an inferior race?" Ronnie asked. "He's got brown skin."
"By definition, he has to be superior or he wouldn't be part of AEON's leadership," Elizabeth said.
Ronnie snorted. "That's convenient. Kind of like Hitler making the Japanese honorary Aryans."
"You can't expect them to be rational," Elizabeth said. "They're sociopaths."
"Let's get back to the mission," Nick said.
"There's a good reason for us to go after Krivi next," Elizabeth said. "He developed a vaccine or they wouldn't have let it loose. He knows how to make it. You have to try and take him alive."
"That might be easier said than done," Nick said. "Where is he now?"
"India," Stephanie said. "He lives in Mumbai. That's where his drug factories are and that's where the vaccine will be."
She typed in a command on her keyboard. Pictures of Krivi's home appeared on the monitor.
"This is his house," she said.
The building was long and low, stepping down to a second level on the side of a landscaped hill. The roof was covered in red tile. The walls were whitewashed, the grounds green and shaded. It looked inviting, expensive and peaceful. A colonnade of arches paraded across the front of the building. The view from the back of the house looked out over the polluted waters of the Back Bay.
"Krivi lives on Malabar Hill. It's one of the most expensive places to live in the world. An apartment there will run you eight or nine thousand dollars a square foot."
Ronnie let out a low whistle.
"Everyone who's powerful or famous or rich wants to live there," Stephanie said. "Bollywood film stars, the high government officials, the captains of industry. The super rich. Mumbai is the wealthiest city in India."
"And the poorest," Selena said. "There are over nine million people living in slums."
"I don't think Krivi cares about that," Stephanie said.
Nick pointed at the picture on the monitor. "It's going to be hard to approach the house across those lawns. He's got security cameras everywhere. That low building on the right looks like it could be guard quarters."
"I'll bet he's got laser sensors and motion detectors too," Ronnie said.
"We'll decide how to go after him once we're there," Nick said
"I think we are running out of time. Brazil was just a test," Elizabeth said. "Now that they know it works, they'll move on to the next part of their plan."
"Which is?" Nick asked.
"Release it here or in China."
"Then I guess we'd better go talk to Krivi," Nick said.
CHAPTER 54
Alexei Vysotsky's new position as deputy director of SVR put him under close scrutiny by the Kremlin. That was nothing unusual. He hadn't survived this long without understanding how the game was played. What the Kremlin wanted was results, and Alexei intended to give them what they wanted. So far, things had gone well. Along with Kamarov, two of AEON's leaders had been eliminated. The others would be more difficult. If for Vysotsky, difficulties were only obstacles to be overcome.