OWEN: OK. Keep me posted.
HUGH: what are you doing with the code?
OWEN: I can’t tell you the answer to that, Hugh.
HUGH: You need to!
OWEN: It’s for your safety. No one can know.
HUGH: Hey man it’s alright for you on the other side of the world, we’re the ones in the line of fire.
HUGH: Speaking of fire,
HUGH: what the fuck was tt4grsu78bgv c
[HUGH DISCONNECTED]
MAY: Um.
TERI: fuck
MAY: well that doesn’t sound good
TERI: let’s hope he just fell over and banged his knee on the power switch
MAY: or something
OWEN: How much longer, Teri?
TERI: packaged
TERI: hey may are you seeing this
MAY: interference
MAY: weird
OWEN: Keep reporting guys.
MAY: received the package looks good
TERI: hope those cables under the pacific can handle this
NAVEEM: DIE UNSTERBLICHEN
MAY: yep totally FUCKING CREEPED OUT NOW
OWEN: Never mind the glitch. Are you sending?
MAY: in the dead drop now posting
TERI: great now im hearing sirens
MAY: its brooklyn isnt that normal?
TERI: maybe
TERI: they got naveem didnt they
MAY: it took you that long to figure it out
TERI: shut up
OWEN: Don’t think about it now. We need to finish this.
MAY: still posting to the board and holy shit this virus is big ive never shunted this much code before
TERI: you know denton was trained by james bond right
MAY: yeah right
OWEN: He was trained by the man on whom James Bond was based. Not quite the same thing.
MAY: youre actually serious
TERI: told you
MAY: sending the whole damn Phoenix virus 50 seconds to go
OWEN: Patience.
MAY: oh no
MAY: This is not good
TERI:???????
OWEN: What’s happening, May?
MAY: theyre here
MAY: blue berets they shouldnt be here
MAY: fuck it
MAY: weve locked ourselves in
MAY: emergency seal why not right
TERI: can they get in
MAY: not yet
MAY: 35 secs
MAY: SHIT THeyre everywhere
NAVEEM: DIE UNSTERBLICHEN
OWEN: Cancel it.
OWEN: Wipe the computer. You can deny everything and live.
TERI: oh my god
OWEN: I don’t want you to die for us. We can extract you.
MAY: valentina says goodbye
TERI: send it
TERI: FUCK THE FIFTH COLUMN
TERI: FUCKING SEND IT
MAY: they have Naveem its too late to turn back
MAY: im seeing this through
MAY: lets break the devils dishes
TERI: im crying
MAY: 10 secs
TERI: this cant be happening
MAY: 5
OWEN: You did good, May.
TERI: are you there
TERI: anyone
[MAY DISCONNECTED]
OWEN: It’s just us now, Teri.
TERI: what happened
OWEN: My guess is they’re waiting for the Blue Berets to take them now.
TERI: ok
TERI: i dont know what to think
OWEN: I have the virus. She got it out just in time.
TERI: guess it was worth it
TERI: was it worth it
OWEN: Teri, this is worse than I thought.
TERI: is there another phoenix virus
OWEN: If I’m reading this right, there are three. And the Fifth Column already has the second one.
TERI: what?? where?
OWEN: They’re collecting them right under Denton’s nose.
TERI: he doesnt know
OWEN: Not yet, anyway. But that’s not the worst of it.
TERI: what the hell is then?
OWEN: We have a live one.
OWEN: A child from Czechoslovakia. Blood work. Zophia Novotný. Three years old. Denton has her on some sort of list.
TERI: what a psych out
TERI: knock on the door
OWEN: Denton has been waiting for this.
TERI: which denton
OWEN: That doesn’t really matter anymore.
OWEN: But he’s been waiting for a long time.
TERI: knock knock
TERI:
[TERI DISCONNECTED]
[TERI CONNECTED]
TERI: Owen Freeman. Hello.
OWEN: You’re too late.
TERI: Teri really is quite the screamer, you know.
OWEN: Goodbye, Denton.
TERI: You can’t take this.
TERI: Not from me.
OWEN: I just did, mate.
TERI: I will track you down.
TERI: And I will pry it from your dead hands.
OWEN: Good luck with that.
[OWEN DISCONNECTED]
Chapter 5
The last time Denton had set foot in this bar it was a private function at the opulent office of an American financier. While the other attendees listened to a recital, he was invited to the balcony. It was here that a five-star US Navy Fleet Admiral offered to recruit him to an agency he’d never heard of. An agency that would remain nameless until 1963. That same admiral was awarded a sixth silver star, promoting him to the rank of Supreme General. The General had coined the agency’s unofficial name: the Fifth Column.
The bar was mostly wood and mahogany, and mostly empty. A woman sat alone at a table. She was in her late sixties, with curled gray hair, pearls and a flash of gold. There was one other customer, sitting at the bar, a man in his mid-fifties with slicked hair and square glasses that pinched his nose. He wore a dull gray suit that pulled across his swelling midsection. Both hands clasped a glass of mostly ice.
Denton found the balcony occupied by a single person — Gabriel Denton. His son. Denton indicated for his bodyguard, a young former Navy SEAL, to wait below the stairs.
‘Father,’ Gabriel said. ‘I was expecting—’
‘I used a false name,’ Denton said. ‘Sorry to mislead you, but I need to be careful.’
‘You’ve been missing a week now,’ Gabriel said. ‘They think you’re one of the traitors. The Akhana.’
Denton shrugged. ‘The Akhana want me dead, so I doubt that. Why do you think I’ve been in hiding?’
A shadow fell over his son’s face. ‘You’ve used the Nazi serum,’ he said. ‘To rejuvenate your aged muscle stem cells.’
‘Yes, I have,’ Denton said, removing his overcoat and hood. ‘Not too shabby, sixty years off and I couldn’t feel better.’
‘You’re—’
‘Not an old man?’ Denton said. ‘Yes, that’s quite apparent now, one would hope.’ He flashed a grin. ‘I could pass for your brother.’
His son stared at him for a long moment. ‘You could pass for me.’
‘That could work,’ Denton said. ‘Unfortunately it’s not quite permanent.’ He sat down in a plush armchair and inspected the menu. ‘Well, things have certainly gone up in price since the forties.’
‘What are you doing?’ Gabriel said. ‘That’s unauthorized use of the serum.’
‘Trust me when I tell you it was necessary.’
‘Why?’ Gabriel said.
Denton paused as a bow-tied bartender entered, scooping nuts from a silver bucket. ‘Fresh nuts?’
Denton glared at him. ‘We are in abundance, thank you.’
‘A Gibson please,’ Gabriel said.
‘Cancel that,’ Denton said. ‘Two Old Fashioneds.’
‘Certainly,’ the bartender said. ‘Are you brothers?’ He grinned. ‘You look almost alike. Except only one of you has hair.’
Denton gave him a curt nod. ‘You’re very observant.’
The bartender, pleased with himself, left them in their privacy on the balcony. His son glared at him.
‘If you put vodka in a martini I will shoot you,’ Denton said, running a hand over his shaved head.