He took a deep breath as if to calm himself down at the memory. “And what do you think happened to the man who fucked up and got them killed? Nothing!”
Mason shook his head. “And punching out the officer is how you honored the memories of your dead comrades? I guess your family’s really proud of you now, huh?”
Bear had a brief vision of the disappointment in little Victor’s eyes when he’d turned and walked away from him at his brother’s funeral.
“My family’s none of your fucking business!”
Mason raised his eyebrows. “No? Have you ever seen anyone die from anthrax, Marine?”
Bear opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Mason added, “Be sure to think about your family while you’re doing this, ’cause you’re subjecting them to a one-in-three chance of dying a very miserable death from the very disease I’m trying to cure.”
“Bullshit!” Bear almost shouted. “The man I’m getting this for is trying to do the same thing you are and that’s to develop a cure for the plague.”
Mason laughed contemptuously. “You mean that asshole Colonel Blackman? Sure he is. And after he has the cure I’m sure he’s going to make sure everyone in the world has access to it, right?”
Bear nodded, surprised that the doctor knew his boss was Blackman. He wondered briefly how much else he knew about their mission. “At least, he’ll get it to everyone in the United States.”
“You don’t look that dumb, Marine. Once he gives anyone else access to the cure he’s lost control of it, so what good would all this intrigue do him then? No, Blackman’s gonna use this for his own purposes and the rest of the world, including the United States, be damned.”
“Quit calling me Marine! I told you I was busted out.”
Mason shrugged. “My friends in the Corps always told me ‘once a Marine, always a Marine.’”
“Well they were wrong. Now let’s cut the bullshit. Are you going to give us what we came for or are we going to have to take it?”
Mason looked over his shoulder at the hilltop and was pleased to see a plume of smoke rising from behind the boulders and brush.
“Oh, I think not, Mr. Bear.”
Bear shook his head, “Not Mr. Bear, just Bear. You know you’re just delaying the inevitable? Come nightfall we’ll sneak up the hill in the dark, kill you all, and still wind up with the goods.”
“I don’t think it’ll be that easy for you, Bear. Take a look at the sky.”
Bear glanced up and saw a clear, blue sky with a huge faint full moon visible just above the horizon.
“The hill will be lit up like a parking lot with that moon,” Mason said calmly, and then he shrugged. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll eventually overwhelm us and kill us, but it will do you no good, and you’ll lose at least some of your men trying.”
Bear looked puzzled. “So? At least we’ll have accomplished our mission.”
Mason shook his head again. “Oh dear, I thought all Marines were good tacticians. Why do you suppose my companions are building a large fire in the heat of the day?”
Bear glanced up the hill with a sinking feeling in his chest. Goddamn, this was one clever son of a bitch. “So, if we attack you’ll burn all the plants and the blood specimens?”
Mason nodded. “’Fraid so.”
“But then no one will have them.”
Mason shrugged again. “Oh, that’s not true. The plants and the blood donors are all still out there and our people know who and where they are,” and he held up his sat-phone and scrolled through the pictures he’d sent Battersee. “But just to make sure, I sent pictures of the plants back to the CDC in Atlanta along with the coordinates to the village where we got the blood samples. Experts are even now working to identify them. It might delay their acquisition a few days, but right now other teams are headed to the region we just left to gather the same specimens we did. Of course, it’ll mean a few million more dead due to the delay, but at least the world will eventually get the cure and your man won’t.”
Bear put his hands on his hips and stared around at the surrounding jungle. There was simply no way he could get back to the chopper and back to the village where the plants were gathered before the teams Mason had summoned could get there. And if they had pictures of the plants at the CDC they were truly fucked.
Finally, after working it back and forth in his mind, he glanced up at Mason and grinned. “Man, I knew you had some gigantic stones, but I never thought you’d be this good. You’ve thought this all out really well.”
“Someone, I forget who, once said that nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of imminent death. Whoever he was, he was correct.”
“So, I guess I have no reason to follow this through and kill you.”
“Not unless it’s for spite.”
“I told you I was in this for the bucks, not for spite.”
“Let me ask you something, Bear.”
Bear shrugged. “Sure, go ahead.”
“Would you really have let a billion or more people die just for money?”
Bear laughed. “Hell no, Doc. I know you have no reason to believe me, but the plan all along was to give Blackman his plants and specimens, just not the entire batch. As soon as he’d paid me and my team, I was going to make a side trip to the CDC and make an anonymous donation of the rest of the specimens to your lab. So,” he spread his arms again, “the world would still get the cure it needs, me and my men would get amply rewarded, and Blackman would get royally fucked, as he so richly deserves.”
Mason grinned and stuck out his hand. “Bear, now I’ll shake your hand.”
As they shook, Mason whispered, “You know, Bear, as far as I know, Blackman has no idea what the plants look like, and all blood looks the same. Since it’s going to take me a while longer to get back to my team than it does for you to get to Mexico City, why not give the asshole what he wants: a basketful of pretty plants and some tubes of blood?”
“And we’ll get paid and that asshole will still get fucked! Damn, Doc, you are not only smart, you’re a devious bastard, too.”
“Now, Bear,” Mason added, putting his arm around Bear’s shoulders. “As one old sailor to another, the feds are onto Blackman, so don’t take too long to make your deal or you’ll have to do your negotiating through iron bars in Leavenworth.” He hesitated, “And I wouldn’t let the money sit in one place too long after tomorrow, ’cause the feds have a long reach and I have a feeling Blackman’s gonna be giving up anybody he can to save his skin.”
Bear looked into Mason’s eyes. “Thanks for the heads-up, Doc. I’ll make sure not to let any grass grow under our feet when we make the deal.” He took a couple of steps and then he asked, “Do you guys need a lift back to your lab?”
Mason shook his head, knowing as nice as his talk with Bear had been, he still couldn’t trust him with the samples. “I talked to my boss and he’s sending in the Marines, literally. They’re gonna pick us up at Tehuantepec… probably tomorrow.” He smiled. “That should give you time to get your samples to Blackman, get his money transferred, and to disappear.”
Bear laughed and pointed his finger at Mason, “Once that money’s been wired, we’re gonna be like smoke in the wind… poof.”
Mason edged closer and lowered his voice, “Bear, there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about…” He talked quietly for several moments, and Bear nodded his head once and they shook hands again.
As Bear turned to go back down the hill and give the news to his men, he wondered briefly if Victor would be proud of what his uncle had done today.
“Yeah, I think he would,” he said to himself, grabbing Jinx by the shoulder.
“Change in plans, Jinx, an’ I think you’re gonna like it ’cause it means your skinny ass won’t get shot at and we’ll all still end up rich as hell.”