Encrypted (11 page)

When her assistant
was right, he was right
.
Even though she had them memorized, Ronnie surveyed the agent’s every feature
.
Brown, close
-
cut hair
.
Not that G-man buzz cut, but a little longer on top
,
which made the bangs fall ever so perfectly over his forehead without a hint of product
.
If he had any mousse in there at all, he was a master at hiding it
.
Then that strong forehead, with just enough lines to know
that
he wasn’t a youngster, but not enough to make
a woman
worry
that
he might need Viagra
.
And his eyes
.
What could she say about those
?
Green, piercing, perfect
.
Full cheekbones and a square jaw were a given
.

Oh, but those lips
.
What would they feel like
?
Or better, what would they taste like
?
Even though the image was a headshot, Ronnie knew the contour
s
of his body
.
Broad shoulders, six-pack abs, and thighs that made her blush
.
Guess that’s what two hours a day at the gym
brought
you
.
Could
she
get a more perfect fantasy boyfriend?

Sure, some days she worried that she obsessed about a man she could never meet, but hey, what was the alternative
?
What real
-
life man could she have
?
She lived outside
—
way, way, outside
—
the law, living a life on the run
.
And any other hacker of her stature was either gay
,
or should have been
.
That lot was pretty pasty and anemic from years in front of the computer
.

No, the Zach fantasy was the far superior option
.
Otherwise
,
she would have no love life
.
And women with no hope
and
no dreams usually ended up in a smelly house with a bunch of cats while they themselves gave up on personal hygiene
.
She was
not
going to become that woman
.
Not with that hunk’s picture to keep her company
.
That and another two hundred million bucks in the bank made her a pretty happy, well-adjusted chick.

* * *

Life was not good
, Zach thought as he parked the car in front of the field office
.
Another three cars pulled in behind him
.
Even though he had known it was fruitless, they had still done their due diligence and combed the area for any evidence
of
the
Robin Hood hacker
.

Of course, there was none
.
And the one piece of equipment that might have held any clue
s
he had thrown across the roof in a moment of rage
.
He was sure there
would be
a write-up on that incident in his future
.
And did he mention
that
his shins still hurt like a “
mo
” from that high
-
jump stunt?

Before the other agents cast him a curious eye, he exited the car and walked
toward
the entrance
.
Walked
.
He didn’t charge
toward
it
,
or even stride in that direction
.
Nope, walking without a limp was about the best he could muster at this point.

As he opened the door, Zach realized
that
his night was about to get even worse
.
Grant
sat
on top of his desk
,
grin
ning
from
ear to ear
.
The cat that ate the canary
.

“I got
my
man…” Grant said
,
point
ing
his thumb
toward
the sole occupant of the holding cell, an older man with even more haunted eyes than Zach
.
Only Fifer could be proud of bringing in an obviously demented senior citizen who had chosen to torch a painting while security was in the room.

“And you?” Grant asked with that syrupy
-
sweet tone of someone who already knew the answer to
his
question.

Zach didn’t indulge
his partner
.
Grant might have been away from the crime scene when everything went down, but
,
no doubt
,
his partner was filled in on the drama over the radio.

Biting back the pain from his shins, Zach headed for the coffee machine. He had never needed caffeine so much in his life. As he passed the holding cell, the old man lunged, grabbing Zach by the lapel.

“You must release me!”

Zach struggled, but the geezer had a grip
like steel
.
During the struggle, the old man’s sleeves fell back to reveal a mass of old scars
.
What in the hell was this guy into?

“We must burn the false effigy to find the true symbol!”

There was no breaking the arsonist’s hold.

“The Hidden Hand must
—
”

Pulling back, Zach thought he was almost free,
but
then the old guy jerked him forward, banging Zach’s forehead against the bars
.
Add that to the list of bruises to both his body and ego
that he
had to endure today. Zach wasn’t surprised when his fist flew back reflexively to punch the
perp
and end this struggle right here and now, but something in the old man’s eyes stopped him
.

It wasn’t insanity
.

It was clarity
.
A level of clarity that Zach didn’t know existed.

“Armageddon comes, child,” the man said as he released his coat
.
“You must prepare.”

Like breaking from a trance, the arsonist stumbled backward. Zach lunged to catch him, but the old man crumpled to the floor.

“Dude, I got him into the car without resorting to violence,” Grant said, obviously mistaking the action as a punch
.
“That’s going on your record.”

Zach ignored his partner and watc
hed as the man rose
,
mumbl
ed
to himself
,
and
then
finally slumped
on
the cot
.
Before Zach could get out his keys to open the cell and ask the old man what he meant, his boss’ door flew open.

“Hunt!”

Everyone else melted away as Zach sighed
.

“In my office,
now
!”

This night was never going to end.

* * *

The room’s energy had shifted from angry grumbling to fran
tic confirmation as Amanda
sat quietly
.
What else could she do
?
The sound of typing filled the room as the only lay
person
in the room continued to study the map.

“This may not be as bad as it seems,” the CIA
liaison
said.

Henderson cocked an eyebrow. “The first plague ravaged Europe and brought on the Dark Ages.”

“Okay, probably that bad for Europe, but the EU
has been very cooperative about placing travel restrictions on international flights, even instigating body temperature checks before passengers board.” Seeming not quite as
self-assured
,
Devlin
scanned the room
.
“I mean, we might be able to keep this from crossing the pond.” He paused and looked
at Amanda.
“Right?”

Am
anda kept her eyes averted as
Henderson picked up the argument.

“
He is right.
If these fanatics are looking to re
-
create the Black Death, this continent might be spared.”

“I doubt it,” Amanda
said before she thought
.
The spotlight was
away from
her
.
Why did she swing it back on herself?

Henderson was on his feet again
.
“But we weren’t involved in the last epidemic.”

His logic might feel sound, but Amanda knew in her gut
that
it was flawed
.
“The plague claimed a quarter of the world’s ‘known’ population
.
I don’t think
anywhere
is safe this time.” She looked
at
Devlin.
He
,
of all people
,
knew the resentment
that
the rest of the world felt
toward
America. If someone
were
willing to throw down the gauntlet of bioweapons onto the world stage, the United States wasn’t going to get a free pass.

“Especially not
this
country…
not
this time.”

*
*
*

Lino
stood in line, exhibiting patience far beyond his years
.
While others grumbled about the long delays created by the new ear
-
temperature check, he was content to wait
. T
he Hidden Hand had anticipated this precaution
.
Anticipated it
,
and used it to their advantage
.

Just before it was his turn to have the
flight attendant
insert the cone into his ear,
Lino
used a cough to cover spraying his ear
lobe
with the contagion
.
Apologizing in Italian for the wait, the weary attendant placed the cone into his ear
,
and
then waited for the beep.

Thirty-two degrees Celsius
.
Perfectly normal
.
Lino
watched as she pulled off the plastic sleeve from the digital thermometer
.
His intent was not
to
contaminate the thermometer
.
That was impossible
,
since they were using
the
sterile technique
.
But the
flight attendant?
A small bead of contaminated liquid touched the attendant’s gloved finger
.
That was all it took
.

He moved forward to make room for the next passenger
,
but stayed close enough to quench his curiosity
.
Perfectly executed, the
flight attendant
gently pulled down on the man’s earlobe before she inserted the thermometer
.
Once it beeped and the cone was free of his ear, the man rubbed it to shake that strange feeling of being somehow violated,
and
then walked off
.

The
contagion should last for at least another
hundred
passengers
.
Another hundred
who would become ill
, spreading
it to their families and friends
.
Then
, they would
die
.
Then
all
of them would die.

With a grin on his lips,
Lino
boarded his plane
.
The
n
onstop
flight
from Venice to New York, New York.