Encrypted (15 page)

“It has long been a subject of debate on how these isolated population pockets survived the plague, virtually unscathed.”

MacVetti
’s
cheeks billowed
.
He was beyond pissed
.
“Not so much debate as a conclusion that they carried a gene that conferred natural resistance.”

Jennifer didn’t need prompting
.
H
er assistant was already bringing up a second map that showed a slightly different spread of the plague
.
The isolated pockets weren’t as crisp
,
and there
,
many more small enclaves of survivors
.

Amanda used a laser pointer to highlight the new clusters of survivors
.
“These other pockets are areas of residence of direct, full-blooded relatives of those
who
survived.”
Devlin
tried to interrupt
,
but she talked right over him
.
“Which was determined through tracking of church records, inheritance documents, and lordship titles.”

She nodded to her assistant
,
who brought up a wholly different map
.
This one showed a schematic of an area in Southeast Asia
.
Quickly
,
an unidentified disease coursed over the continent
,
leaving behind small pockets of survivors, much like the plague map.

“Out of all the documented epidemics, this cholera outbreak is the only one whose pattern is at all similar to the Black Plague ‘islands’ of survival.”

MacVetti
sighed
.
“Like I said, genetic resistance.”

Amanda shook her head with authority
.
“This isn’t the fourteenth
-
century outbreak
of influenza.
I
t’s the
1970
pandemic.” She zoomed in on the pockets of survival
.
“These ‘islands’ represent areas with heavy Western influence
s—
and medical workers who were
vaccinated
.”

Now
MacVetti
’s
bluster wasn’t anger
.
I
t was confusion
.
“But for the plague…
There’s no way…Vaccination theory didn’t even come into play for another…
Another…”

“Four hundred years,” Henderson finished for him.

Shrugging, Amanda switched to the plague map
.
“Nevertheless, my theory is that a terrorist organization that far predates the Islamic extremists has vaccinated carriers spreading the disease across the world.”

The entire room quieted as a new map showed the potential spread of the disease with the planet’s current population
.
Soon
,
the screen just glowed a bright red
.

* * *

Lino
pretended to stumble and right himself on the overhead compartment
. The pilot had
turned off the
“Fasten S
eat
B
elt
”
sign, and
Lino
had taken the opportunity to make sure
that
his mission was successful
.
Certainly
,
seeding the railing and passengers behind him in line had gone according to plan, but he had not gotten this assignment at such a young and tender age because he only did an
adequate
job
.

His superiors knew
that
he would go to any length
s
to see that this disease spread
among
the heathens
.
The unworthy
.
So he dragged his slightly moist hand along the overhead compartment
.
Anyone he missed earlier would certainly need to touch the lever to get
his or her
bags out at the end of the flight
. The people would
unwittingly contaminat
e
themselves
.

That was the simple beauty of their plan
.
The unenlightened masses were such sheep
.
They grazed the same pasture
.
They followed along in a single line
.
They could so easily be
led
to the slaughterhouse
.

Finally
,
the
e
arth would be cleansed of the undeserving.

Lino
finished his journey to the forward bathroom and entered
, b
eing particularly careful to lock the door
.
No one
needed
to see what he did next
.
With skill approaching art,
Lino
meticulously took a hidden blade from his metal belt buckle and carved into his skin his most recent success
.
He let the blood drain into the sink
,
as he made absolutely certain the symbols were perfect in all ways
.

That was the way of the Hidden Hand
,
after all.

CHAPTER
6

Special Agent Zachary Hunt’s Home

10:32
p
.
m
.,
MST

Zach pulled into his driveway, still talking on his cell
.
He might have left work physically, but mentally
?
Mentally
,
he was still all over the case.

“That’s what you said last time, Warp.”

“But we’re super
-
sure
that
we can locate her
the
next time she calls.”

Entering the house, Zach turned on the hallway light and started sorting the mail
.
“We’ll see.”

“You’ll see
!
We’ve got taps on your home phone, your cell,
and
all three phones at the Starbucks…”

While Warp rambled on, Zach carefully removed any item of mail with Julia
Levie’s
name on it and set it inside a box
.
A box filled with the remains of their relationship
.
A rose lamp
and
some designer plates
.
Oh
,
sorry,
flatware
.
Did he feel a twinge of sadness as he surveyed the small box that contained the fragments of an old life
?

Nah.

“All the lines at your gym,” Warp babbled on. “The grocery store near work and
…”

Only half listening to Warp’s mind-numbingly thorough list of possible contact points, Zach climbed down the stairs to the basement
.
After a night like tonight, he definitely needed to hit the stationary bike
.
Quickly
,
he pulled off his work clothes and changed into shorts and running shoes as Warp tried to break the
record for the
longest sentence
uttered
without taking a breath.

“Oh, oh, and the Blockbuster around the corner
.
Even that little video store where you get
—
”

“I got it
,
” Zach interrupted
.
Where did Warp find all his information
?
“You’ve got all the bases covered.”

Warp sounded ever so confident
.
“She can’t get in contact with you without us knowing about it.”

Zach climbed onto his exercise bike
.
“Good to know.”

Before Warp could launch into another diatribe about the reams of code he had written to track her down, Zach turned off his cell phone
.
Not just hung up the call, but physically turned
off
the phone
.
He didn’t want to think about work anymore
.
He was home, and months ago
,
he had taken a vow to lead a more balanced life
,
which meant leaving work at work
—
at least while he was down here.

As he warmed up his legs in first gear, Zach put in his iPod earbuds
.
Van Halen
cued
up
.
Perfect.

“Hey, sexy,” a voice purred in his earbuds.

“Hey
there,
yourself,
”
Zach responded.

* * *

Sinking lower in
the bubbles, Ronnie leaned
against the porcelain tub
.
C
landestine phone calls with Zach
.
So secret that not even Quirk knew about them.

“I was afraid you were going to miss our time window,” she said to cover her almost teenage awkwardness
.
They weren’t even in the same room
,
and still she felt so very flustered
.

“Yeah, sorry I
’m
late,
”
Zach
said. “
I had a tough day at work
.
But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

She chuckled
.
“Tell me about it.”

“So what was
with
the hang
-
up
?
Got tired of waiting for me?”

Even though the iPod was voice only, Ronnie could almost see the corners of his eyes crinkle as he gave a sly grin
.
Or at least that’s what she imagined he was doing, and it worked for her
.
“Nah
.
Quirk caught me.”

The statement wasn’t exactly a lie
.
Quirk had hung up on her. It just wasn’t exactly the truth regarding the near
-
critical meltdown they’d had
.
Could he tell the difference yet?

“So
,
were we as close as Warp thought
to shutting you down
,
or were you just throwing him a bone?”

Guess not
.
Which gave her leeway to embellish even more
.
“I’m generous that way.”

She took a tip of her merlot
.
Could the night end any more perfect
ly
?

“You realize, of course, that you can’t run forever?” Zach asked.

Oh, how she wished she had a video feed
.
“It’s so cute
,
the way you try to talk me into turning myself in.”

“I’m serious,” he said, and he sounded it
.
“How can you live like this?”

“What?” I’m in a penthouse suite.” Another embellishment
.
Who would pay bucko bucks for an overpriced room when you had a country of your very own to buy
?
Besides
,
this room wasn’t half bad
.
It was clean and had a standalone bathtub
.
What more could a girl on a budget ask for?

“Yeah
,
but you’re paying for it with someone else’s money,” Zach shot back.

“Hey!” That hurt
.
Who was he to get up into her grill like that
?
“I didn’t spend tens of millions of dollars to develop a point
-
to
-
point ultra-low frequency communications device that also serves as a bug detector
and
plays music, to have you proselytize.”

“Then maybe you should explain to me why you
did
spend the money.”