In truth, he didn’t want his son ordering a clear beverage.
‘Shaken or stirred,’ his son said, ‘you’ve done it for less.’
The shoulders of his son’s suit were bunched and ill fitting. Another off-the-shelf Denton tried to ignore.
‘Listen to me carefully,’ Denton said. ‘Someone inside the Fifth Column has the Phoenix virus. From the Nazis.’
‘It was destroyed,’ Gabriel said. ‘We recovered it first, but it was destroyed from the inside. Owen Freeman and the Akhana.’
‘I’m not talking about the Phoenix virus we lost in the castle. I know he destroyed it; the prick did it right under my nose. Destroyed the sample and stole our analysis.’
‘So why are you asking me?’
Denton’s bodyguard arrived with both drinks, handing his son one first. Denton took his and noticed the slight difference in color between them.
His son sniffed it and pushed the glass across the table. Denton’s bodyguard returned to his position downstairs, leaving them alone.
‘Sugar crushed with bitters,’ Denton said. ‘And three fingers of rye. Try it.’
His son’s nostrils flared as he raised it to his mouth.
‘Not just yet.’ Denton leaned in and took the glass from him. ‘There’s a second virus that no one knows about. Someone inside the Fifth Column is in possession of a second Phoenix virus.’
‘And how did you come to this conclusion?’ Gabriel said.
‘The Nazis recovered a total of seven samples. All seven were the same particular class of meteorite.’ Denton placed his son’s glass back on the table. ‘My father — your grandfather — only tested six. We never saw the seventh. It never made it to the castle.’
‘The castle was overrun before it arrived,’ Gabriel said.
‘The seventh sample,’ Denton said. ‘It wasn’t lost. Where did it go?’
‘What makes you think I know?’ His son reached for his glass. ‘And what makes you think it contains another Phoenix virus?’
‘Because I think you have it,’ Denton said.
Gabriel drew the glass to his lips. ‘How did you draw that conclusion?’
‘Because you’re a terrible liar.’
He grimaced, lowered the glass. ‘I’m good,’ he said. ‘Some say better than you. I’m in charge of a project now.’
Denton laughed. ‘And what project is that?’
Gabriel’s lips pursed together. A vein flickered across his forehead. ‘Something more important than your toy soldier program.’
Denton almost took the bait, but thought better of it. ‘I don’t care what you’re doing with the second Phoenix virus. What I care about is the Akhana getting their hands on it. They already got to one. They’re inside the Fifth Column. They’re everywhere.’
The younger man shook his head. ‘Is this more Cold War paranoia?’
‘You’re my son,’ Denton said. ‘And you’re the only person I can trust right now.’
‘Now you trust me?’
‘I trust you to do the right thing.’
‘And what’s that?’ Gabriel asked. ‘Move it? Even if I could, I would be discharged.’
‘And if you don’t you will be killed. And so will I. The clock’s ticking. The Akhana cannot be allowed anywhere near this. And they certainly cannot possess all three.’
‘That’s not possible: they don’t have one, let alone three.’
Denton raised an eyebrow. ‘They have our analysis. They’ve had it for years. It’s possible they can rebuild the virus. And if they take this one, they will have two. It’s a shame you haven’t read the silk manuscripts.’
‘I have read them,’ Gabriel said.
Interesting, Denton thought.
‘They can’t get the third,’ his son said. ‘It doesn’t even exist.’
‘Yet,’ Denton said. ‘Once they do, they have the world. And they’ll do a lot worse to this planet than the Nazis ever could.’
‘Weren’t you helping the Nazis?’
‘No, they were helping us,’ Denton said quickly. ‘That’s a big distinction.’
‘How many … Akhana are in the Fifth Column? Are there any moles in my project?’
Denton looked thoughtful. ‘Depends. Which project?’
Gabriel brought his glass to his lips. ‘Phoenix.’
Denton didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. His son would draw his own conclusions.
‘This is bad,’ Gabriel said. ‘This is worse than I thought.’
Denton leaned in closer and watched his son drink. He didn’t just take a sip, he drank the entire glass, leaving only the large ice cube.
‘Where is the sample?’ Denton said.
His son gathered his breath. ‘I can’t tell you that.’
‘Gabriel, I need your help.’
‘Father, I can’t—’
‘The Akhana are too dangerous now,’ Denton said. ‘We need to destroy them.’
‘Their value outweighs—’
‘We’re running out of time,’ Denton said.
Gabriel slumped in the armchair. ‘The project’s cancelled.’
‘What happened?’ Denton said. ‘You just told me you’re running Project Phoenix.’
His son’s fingers tightened across his empty glass. ‘I’m off the project now. I don’t know what’s happening but the orders came from high up.’
‘The General?’ Denton said.
His son shook his head. ‘I don’t know. But they’re locking it down. Research has been suspended. I’m taking over another project — Seraphim. They’re entering the human testing phase.’ His gaze flickered to the stairwell. ‘You don’t know this but your bodyguard downstairs, he’s one of the test subjects.’
‘Seraphim was supposed to be mine,’ Denton said.
‘Project GATE was supposed to be yours,’ Gabriel said. ‘If you don’t want GATE I’ll gladly take it,’ he said. ‘We can swap.’
‘It’s doing quite well, actually.’ Denton’s hand tightened around his glass. He should have both projects. And if he couldn’t have both, he wanted influence over both. ‘Do you still have access to Phoenix?’
His son coughed, then shook his head. ‘No. Not anymore.’
‘Where are the samples? Gone?’ Denton said. ‘Did the Akhana get to them?’
‘Grand Central,’ Gabriel said finally. ‘There’s one sample in Grand Central.’
‘Still?’ Denton said. ‘The base was decommissioned last month. Everything else is at Desecheo Island now.’
‘There’s a lower level,’ Gabriel said. ‘Storage only. No one goes in, no one goes out. It’s only for the Defense Sciences Division.’ He leaned in to whisper. ‘I mislabeled one of the samples on purpose. No one knows it’s the Phoenix virus. I don’t know where the General sent the other samples, but the mislabeled sample is still in Grand Central.’
‘What’s on the label?’ Denton said.
‘Violet plague,’ Gabriel said. ‘Dated November 22 1998.’
Denton sank into his armchair and filed the date away for later. ‘Good,’ he said, finishing his drink.
Gabriel nodded and coughed some more. It quickly turned into a coughing fit.
Denton placed his empty glass on the table and reached over, taking the wallet from inside Gabriel’s untailored suit. While Gabriel continued coughing, Denton found his ID and badge and slipped it into his own pocket. Blood stained Gabriel’s collar.
‘Gabriel Denton,’ he said, leaving a fifty on the table. ‘You’ve been reassigned.’
On cue, Denton’s bodyguard reached the top of the stairs. He’d heard Gabriel coughing.
‘DC,’ Denton said. ‘Take care of him.’
Denton took his overcoat and left DC to deal with his son.
The second Phoenix virus will have to wait for now, Denton thought. He needed to do a few things first. He needed a better position. As he left the bar, he thought of his test subjects in Project GATE. Their programming had been a success. He thought of one test subject in particular: Yiri’s granddaughter, Zofia.