“It’s me, Joe.”
“It’s good to hear your voice, Alex,” he said.
“Yours too,” she replied.
“How’s life in Fort Belvoir Community Hospital?”
“Sucks.”
“Thought it might.”
A long pause.
“Dad just left a few minutes ago.”
“And how many people get visited in hospital by the President of the United States?”
“President-elect, if you don’t mind. He’s not the Commander-in-Chief until he’s sworn in on Inauguration Day.”
“I think it’s a bit late for denial, Agent Nightingale.”
“You may have a point,” she said, and he heard a gentle, sad laugh. “And on that…”
He waited but there were no words. “What is it?”
“Dad wants me to stay here in DC now. It’s confirmed.”
“And what do you think?”
“I don’t know. There were some pretty serious-looking faces behind him when he asked me.”
Hawke nodded gently in the dim light of the Gulfstream, even though she was over three thousand miles away and couldn’t see him. To his right, a sleeping Lea turned on her side and rested her head on his shoulder.
“So am I going to get a tour of the White House or not?” he said. He knew by her tone she had already made up her mind about DC.
“Sure. Well, everyone except Scarlet. No way is she getting through vetting.”
He laughed, and almost woke Lea. “You might have a point there. She’s not exactly Oval Office material. She spent half of today chewing coca leaves.”
“Huh?”
“Long story — listen do you have the information I need?”
“Sure — according to the port authority there’s a Navetta moored in the Rio docks and it’s registered to Kruger Mining Corps. It’s been in the port for over a week so I’m guessing he had his men sail it from Cape Town to Rio in advance with a view to bringing the treasure home after he’d discovered it.”
“He’s a cocky little bastard then, isn’t he?”
“So it would appear.”
“And what about Saqqal?”
“Apart form his Hezbollah stuff there’s nothing on him that could help us here at all. They’re travelling together, if that’s any use, but other than that I got nothing.”
“Great.”
“But Dad greased some wheels in the US Embassy in Brasilia so I think the Brazilians are sorting some back-up for you.”
“All right — thanks, Alex. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
She paused before replying. “Sure.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“All right… Joe, listen…”
He was interrupted by Lea. “I have to go, Alex.”
He cut the call as Lea approached. She had her phone in her hand too and was ending a call. “That was the American ambassador in Brasília. Alex worked her magic with her father I guess because he just told me he’s spoken with the Minister of Justice and they’ve sanctioned the use of a BOPE squad in response to the threat posed by Saqqal.”
“BOPE?” Lexi asked.
“Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especias,” Scarlet replied without hesitation. She looked at them. “What?”
“You speak Portuguese?” Hawke asked.
“Oh, God no,” she replied. “Only a couple of phrases.”
“I bet,” Lea said. “Don’t tell me — are there many sailors here? and I’ve never seen this gun before in all my life.”
“I’m going to ignore that slur,” she replied coolly. “BOPE are a counter-terrorism force, sort of a Brazilian SWAT. They’ll be less use than an SAS squad but more use than an SBS one.”
“Piss off.”
“With pleasure.”
“They’re meeting us at the docks, anyway,” Lea said.
“What about Alex?”
“She’s staying in DC for the foreseeable future,” Hawke said with a sigh.
“Lazy cow’s just trying to get out of rebuilding Elysium,” Scarlet said.
Ziad Saqqal pushed back into the jet’s leather seat and closed his eyes as his mind raked over the last few hours of his life. The lethal monster currently squirming around in Jawad’s carry case would bring devastation to the United States and any other country he desired, but first he knew he had to test it — and before he crossed the ocean and went to Africa. He had the perfect place in mind.
“Just make sure it’s nowhere near me,” Kruger said with a grim look at the case.
Saqqal agreed it would be a bad thing to anywhere near it when it was released. Jawad had patiently explained with the quiet blandness of the expert that sixty percent of Londoners were killed by the Black Death in the six months from the autumn of 1348 into the start of 1349. It was total devastation, and without a single sword unsheathed the population of whole nations was decimated. Thanks to old research, most people believed the plague was transmitted from person to person by filthy fleas or rats, when the truth was far darker.
New research of the disease’s vector from the British military science facility at Porton Down in England was pointing to something extremely grim… the plague was passed from person to person by airborne transmission. Yes… a simple sneeze or cough would be enough to pass the plague from you to the next man or woman and so two infected people became four, and four became eight. He smiled at the thought of the Utopia bacteria dividing to grow stronger, and how they used people in the same way, like marionettes to further their own agenda.
Millions of people dying a slow, agonizing death from shock and respiratory failure would be more than enough revenge for him, and the people of Rio de Janeiro would be the first to sample the delights locked away in Dr Jawad’s sweaty grasp. The NBC suits were all they needed to ensure their survival when the horror unfolded, and then they would flee the country on Kruger’s boat.
“Just make sure your boat is ready,” Saqqal said. “Something tells me Rio de Janeiro isn’t going to be a very pleasant place for the next few years.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Scarlet Sloane knew she had it in her heart to care when she saw the sun setting over Guanabara Bay on the final approach to Rio. She had been here before, but not for many years, and it wasn’t business either. Instead, she had met with an old lover and spent some time reliving the old days. It was a turbocharged week fuelled by cachaça and Derby cigarettes. They’d got wasted and lost a lot of money gambling illegally on jogo de bucho, but it was a week to remember. She smiled at the memory because times like those were the only thing that kept her sane.
Now, their jet descended over the bay and landed on the small island of Galeão where the city’s main international airport was located. She watched without emotion as the plane trundled to the apron and the pilot activated the airstair. Moments later the humid Brazilian air was flooding into the air-conditioned cabin and she was in yet another country but with no time to enjoy it.
Kruger had barely more than an hour’s lead on them but his plane was slower and they had almost caught up with him. With luck he would still be at the airport, and the same went for the Syrian madmen with the Utopia bioweapon. She looked outside and saw the day was nearly over. The twilight in Rio vanished fast, but that would be to their advantage. If Kruger was occupied loading the Lost Treasure onto a truck to take to his boat he would be distracted enough, but whatever guard he’d set up would be easier to approach and attack under cover of night.
Customs seemed to take longer than usual, a chore Scarlet Sloane was rarely able to tolerate with anything resembling good grace, but at least it was taking place on board their private jet and not in the airport.