I wondered how much this information had cost Kantsos — well, the taxpayers, that is.
He explained that ICE wanted to be involved, and he was trying to navigate through the convoluted maze of overlapping jurisdictions.
“Talk to FBI Director Wellington,” I told him. “I have a feeling she’ll do everything she can to help move things along.”
“Because of Corey.”
“Yes.”
I remembered the red-haired woman in the photo of Tyree. “Any chance those workers in Kadapa can remember if a couple had visited the plant? I’m guessing that a red-haired Caucasian woman would be memorable.”
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
I gave him Margaret’s cell number and a few moments after I ended the call, a car cruised up the driveway and Tony shouted to his mother that Eric and his mom were here.
After Brin had given him a few motherly instructions about how late he was allowed to stay up and how he needed to listen to Eric’s mom just like he would listen to her, he grabbed his sleeping bag and duffel bag and was out the door.
He left the video game paused mid-alien-explosion from a rather nice shot across an expansive crater.
Tessa and Lien-hua were a little later getting back from the dress shop than we’d expected and they entered the basement through the lower-level entryway before I could greet them or take a look at their purchase.
Ralph arrived home, and with Tony gone and Lien-hua and Brineesha downstairs helping Tessa get ready for prom, he and I had the living room to ourselves.
He was eyeing the television screen and looked like he was ready to pick up the game where his son had left off.
“That was a good shot,” he muttered.
“How’s that scratch on your arm?” I asked, pointing to the bandages covering the pit bull bite.
“It’s fine. I can hardly feel it.”
“You’re as bad a liar as I am.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. I think.”
He bypassed the video game, and at five we watched the press conference with Margaret and the FDA commissioner.
They announced that the two agencies, by working in close conjunction with each other, had identified a potential national health threat and were calling for the recall of Calydrole, after “tainted samples of the drug were found in the national pharmaceutical supply chain.”
Ralph shook his head. “PTPharmaceuticals isn’t going to be too happy about that.”
“Neither is someone else.”
“Whoever designed this drug.”
“And smuggled it in from India. That’s right.”
When the press conference was over, Ralph shifted topics. “So that boy is picking Tessa up at six?”
“Six thirty.”
“That gives us just about an hour. Let’s see if we can dig up anything else on whether or not Valkyrie is behind this by the time that kid arrives.”
I took a moment to evaluate things. “Earlier, I was looking into flight manifests, but let’s try a different angle and check to see if the airports in Chennai and Hyderabad have any security cameras that might have recorded Tyree checking in or boarding a flight. And also, look more closely at his military record, see if we can find anything that might connect him to Valkyrie.”
“Good call. I’ll take his military background, you look into the surveillance footage.”
We pulled out our computers, but as we got to work I couldn’t help but think of Aiden and how Officer Young had nothing but good things to say about him. Calling in for the information still didn’t sit right with me. I’d done the very thing Tessa asked me not to do, even though I’d done it because I loved her.
I felt trapped. Had I not made the call to Young, and Aiden had turned out to be a bad kid, I never would have forgiven myself, but now that I’d checked up on him, I felt guilty about it. A catch-22.
I wondered once again if I should say anything to my daughter about it.
And I decided I would not.
As Vanessa brushed her hand across the table, she let the paper clip she’d brought with her slide out from under her fingers. It passed across the table and Richard covered it with his own hand.
“The rest is up to you,” she said.
“Yes.”
“We’re on the level below the FBI Headquarters’ underground parking garage. It’s not going to be easy getting out of here.”
“What can you tell me about the number of agents out there?”
She informed him where agents were stationed, which hallways would take him to the parking garage, and the best route to the elevator.
“That’s pretty specific. Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m a rather observant woman.”
“I’m glad to hear that. And you said earlier that your employer would like to meet me?”
“He would.”
“How about later tonight? At ten?”
“Will that be enough time?”
“If what you just told me is accurate, I believe it will.”
“It was accurate.”
“Then tell him I’ll see him at ten.”
She gave Richard an address and a phone number to call to confirm things if he really was able to get out, then she left him alone with his paper clip.
66
Less than fifteen minutes ago on the television in his hotel suite, Valkyrie had watched the press conference finish up.
Since then he’d been considering his options.
Seventy thousand counterfeit Calydrole pills were about to arrive at the distribution warehouse across town. If the drug was recalled, those pills wouldn’t be shipped out from there at all.
The FBI and FDA must have gotten their hands on some of the initial samples, the ones Keith and Vanessa had been using on the test subjects.
How, Valkyrie wasn’t sure. But that wasn’t what mattered most right now.
Yes, PTPharmaceuticals’ stock prices would still drop when the markets opened on Monday, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to sell his options for anywhere near the profit he’d been expecting.
Vanessa and Keith had just become loose ends.
Valkyrie called her and told her that he wanted to chat with the two of them. He caught her right after she’d left her consultation with Basque.
“How did that go?”
“It went well. He’s planning on meeting you tonight at ten. I told him where you’d be.”
“Tonight? He’s that confident?”
“It appears that he is.”
Valkyrie explained that he wanted to see her and Keith at the distribution warehouse at eight thirty.
He would take care of them right after connecting with the Chechens at seven thirty on the yacht.
A busy night.
“Is there a problem?” Vanessa asked him.
“There’s a state of affairs I would like to discuss with you.” He decided that if she hadn’t already heard about what was going on with the drug recall, the odds were pretty good she would hear about it by the time of their meeting, so he summarized the press conference to her.
“I’m not sure how that could have happened,” she muttered. “How they could have gotten samples, found out about them.”
“We’ll discuss it at eight thirty. Park behind the warehouse, by the freight loading docks.”
“Alright. We’ll be there.”
When Vanessa informed Keith that Valkyrie was here in the city, and that he wanted to see them tonight, he knew something was wrong, very wrong.
“A state of affairs,” Vanessa told him, that’s how Valkyrie had put it. She didn’t elaborate, but Keith got the sense that she knew more than she was telling him.