The Cleaner (36 page)

up and heaved him over his left shoulder. Nate let out a grunt of pain. 'Are you all right?' he asked.

'Just get us out of here.'

As they reached the guest room door, they heard something clatter near the apartment entrance. Quinn moved against the wall to protect them from another explosion. But none came. This time there was only a loud pop.

'Hold on tight,' he said.

Quinn rushed through the doorway into the living room. A cloud of gas was hissing out of a soda can-sized canister near the door. Quinn was certain it was more than mere tear gas.

Holding his breath, he raced for the dining room at the back of the apartment. When they reached the dining table, he put Nate down and went over to the window. He hadn't opened that particular window since the summer two years before with Sophie, when it represented a time of pleasure. Now it represented his and Nate's only way out.

He undid the latch and pushed the window open. 'Come on,' he said. 'You first.'

He helped Nate climb through the window and out onto the roof area. Once he was through, Quinn followed him, closing the window behind them.

'That way,' he said, pointing to the right.

The building next door was butted directly against Sophie's building. There was a seven-foot height difference between the two structures, Sophie's building being the lower of the two.

'I don't think I can make it,' Nate said.

'I'll help,' Quinn told him.

At the wall, he created a cradle with his hands. 'Give me your foot. I'll boost you up.' Nate looked unsure, but did what he asked. 'Okay. On three,' Quinn said. 'One. Two.'

Quinn lifted him upward, pushing Nate until his apprentice was able to get a leg over the top of the wall. When he was out of the way, Quinn jumped up, grabbed the top edge of the wall, and pulled himself over.

Nate was sitting on the roof, arms wrapped around his chest, a grimace of pain on his face. 'Are you okay?' Quinn asked.

Nate nodded. 'We need to keep moving then,' Quinn said, indicating the next building on the block.

He held out his hand and helped Nate back to his feet. Nate leaned heavily against him as they made their way across to the next building. It was only a couple of feet higher than the one they were on, so the transition was less of an effort. Off to the side was a doorway that undoubtedly accessed a set of stairs into the building. Quinn kicked at the latch until the door opened. He motioned for Nate to go inside.

'I'll be right back,' he said.

'Where are you going?' Nate asked.

'I need to take a look.'

Crouching low, he crept to the front edge of the building. There was no raised edge, so he had to lie flat to keep from being seen. He eased forward until he could view the street. There were three cars parked in front of Sophie's place. Standing outside one of the cars was a familiar figure.

Borko.

Chapter 36

They took the U-Bahn, sitting as far away from the other passengers as possible. Quinn had given Nate his coat, but even with the collar flipped up, it couldn't hide the abrasions on Nate's face. Within moments Nate's breathing slowed as he fell asleep.

'We're here,' Quinn said thirty minutes later, gently nudging his apprentice as the train pulled into the station.

The walk from Neukölln bahnhoff to their makeshift headquarters was not far, but they had to stop twice so Nate could rest. The second time, Quinn steered them into the sandwich shop, where he purchased several sandwiches and a large coffee for Nate.

'Here,' he said, handing him the cup.

'I don't want anything.'

'It'll keep you warm.'

They sat at one of the tables until Nate had downed nearly half of the coffee. 'No more,' he said as he set the cup down. Quinn picked up the container and threw it in the trash. 'Come on.'

** *

They reached the store ten minutes later. Orlando wasn't around, but Quinn hadn't expected her to be. The list of items she had to obtain was not an easy order to fill.

'Very cozy,' Nate said from the doorway of the back room.

There were two air mattresses with sleeping bags on the floor of the room. Nate looked at them, then back at Quinn. 'You weren't expecting me?'

'Not this soon,' Quinn said. 'We'll go out for another mattress and sleeping bag after Orlando gets back. You can use mine for now. It's the blue one.'

'I'm not tired.'

Quinn snorted. 'Right. You're going to fall asleep standing there. Lie down.' Nate smiled. 'Maybe for a few minutes.' He shuffled over to the sleeping bag and climbed in.

'You warm enough?' Quinn asked.

'I'm fine.' Nate's voice now a soft whisper. After only a moment, his eyelids drooped, then closed. Orlando returned an hour later. 'Get everything?' Quinn asked. She nodded. 'Of course.' He smiled, then told her about his fun-filled after

noon.

'I'm sorry,' she said after he told her about Sophie. She put a hand on his arm. 'Thank God you got Nate out, though.'

'Yeah,' he said, his voice hollow. 'Thank God.'

'It's not your fault,' she said.

'Isn't it?'

She looked up at him, her eyes soft, supportive. After a moment, she said, 'Why don't you show me the video?'

'Okay,' Quinn said. He knew she was trying to get him to refocus and take his mind off Sophie's death. And he was glad for it.

He picked the monitor up off the floor and handed it to her. Stuck in the side port was his memory stick.

'Just hit Play,' he said. 'I've already seen it.'

Orlando cocked her head, apparently expecting him to say something else, but he remained silent. As she looked back at the monitor and pressed Play, Quinn moved so he could look over her shoulder.

The screen was blank for a moment, then up came an image of a man.

'Who is he?' Orlando asked.

'Taggert,' Quinn said. 'Well, Jansen, I guess.'

The shot was tight, from just below Henry Jansen's shoulders to just above his head. The lighting wasn't great. Jansen was only a few shades lighter than the dark background behind him. From the acoustics, Quinn guessed it had been shot in a small room, but there was no way to tell for sure.

Jansen stared at the camera for a moment, then began. 'My name is Dr. Henry Jansen. I'm a research virologist. I have worked around the world for numerous groups, including the World Health Organization and the CDC. I only say this so that you will pay attention to what I have to say. Who I am really isn't important. But the fact that you are watching this means I am not able to give you the following information in person.

'For the past six months, I have been working undercover. This operation I have undertaken on my own. I was contacted by an organization that calls itself HFA. As far as I can tell, they are an extremist Serbian group. I will assume you have already read the document that will be uploaded with this video and know what the HFA plan is. Here are a few more details.

'An American named Dahl was hired to oversee the distribution operation. To be sure it all goes as planned, HFA also enlisted the help of a group run by a fellow Serb named Borko. His primary task, as far as I can figure out, is security.

'HFA is made up of Slobodan Milosevic loyalists. I think the fact that he died in prison in the middle of his war crimes trial gave them new energy. They talk of him having been murdered. To them, he has become a martyr to the cause. Milosevic believed Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to a greater Serbia. So what better way to honor him than to finish what he started? HFA feels the removal of the Bosniaks will allow this to happen. They also are now feeling the pressure to move rapidly because of the growing reconciliation movement in Serbia, highlighted by the election of a new, moderate president who has been advocating making amends for past atrocities.

'Because of this, the project has been accelerated. Pressure to produce results has been intense. The HFA leadership is fanatical, and will hear nothing except what they want. The scientific team here tried at first to explain the difficulties of their request. Then one of the researchers turned up dead in his room, and within two days the families of the others received visits from men associated with HFA. No one else was hurt. They didn't need to be. After that, the members of the team only said yes. It didn't matter if the requests were impossible. So the document which you already have represents what HFA has hoped to achieve rather than what the people they've hired have actually achieved. Of course, no one has told HFA that.

'The bracelet in your possession contains a sample of nerve tissue destroyed by the virus in one of the links. I have learned that this virus is to be contained within a small, nonporous pouch that will then be embedded in whatever the final delivery device is. Inside the pouch is a chemical mix that mimics the virus's natural habitat both in composition and temperature. It is designed to keep the virus alive for weeks.'

Jansen paused, his eyes seeming to look directly at Quinn and Orlando. 'This is not polio as we have known it. This virus has been engineered to be far more malignant and destructive.

'What that final delivery device is I have not been told. As I have said, that is a part of the operation Dahl controls. I do know there is little time to waste. I have also not been told when the distribution of the virus is to occur, but my sense is that it will happen sometime in the next month.

'This must not be allowed to happen. The calculated destruction of the Bosniaks is revolting in and of itself. But the task to create such a targeted biological agent is beyond the capacity of those working here. Maybe beyond the capacity of anyone. What I'm saying is the virus they've tailored to attack their intended victims is flawed. Don't misunderstand, it
will
devastate the Bosniaks.

'But what they have really accomplished is to unintentionally engineer a supervirus that won't care which ethnic group a person is in. It could infect anyone, possibly everyone. If released, it
will
create a pandemic unlike any we have ever seen before.

'They must be stopped.' Jansen reached forward, then suddenly the picture stopped.

It was several seconds before Orlando began breathing again. Quinn's reaction the first time he'd watched the video had been almost the same.

'Do you want to watch it again?' Quinn asked.

'No,' Orlando replied. She sat in the chair Quinn had been in. 'I guess we can assume the mints are the unknown device.'

Quinn nodded. 'The virus packet must be embedded in the middle. Like those mints with the liquid centers.'

She looked up at him. 'It still doesn't matter. Getting Garrett back is still our main goal.' 'Of course,' he said. 'But we can't let them get the virus.' Orlando looked away. When she spoke, it was so low he almost couldn't hear her. 'I know.'

It was nearly midnight, and Quinn was back inside the water plant. He knew he was pressing his luck by returning, but the job had to be done. Besides, this time he wasn't completely alone.

Orlando was back at their hideout watching the monitor, filling Quinn in. Since they didn't have access to Orlando's communication gear anymore, they improvised by using their cell phones. Quinn's was taped to his arm, the hands-free cable running under his jacket to his ear.

On his back, Quinn carried his backpack. It contained his gun and a few more of Orlando's purchases. The gun was only to be used as a last resort. This mission had to be completed without anyone even suspecting he'd been there.

Orlando talked him through the two basement rooms and into the stairwell that led to the base of the sphere. 'You're clear,' she said.

Quinn climbed the stairs, then opened the hatch that covered the top of the staircase. He stepped into the round room and shut the door. 'I'm going into the air lock now,' Quinn said.

'You should be okay,' Orlando told him. 'The only activity's in the containment room.'

Quinn crossed over to the vertical air-lock tube that led up and into the sphere itself. He pushed the button and waited for the light to turn green. When it did, he entered the tube and shut the door. He then climbed the ladder and reached up to open the hatch above him. 'Wait,' Orlando said. 'Someone just came in from the main air lock.'

Quinn held still. 'Okay,' she said. 'He's gone inside the containment room. Go ahead.' Quinn opened the hatch. Air from inside the

tube rushed past him into the sphere. Dressed as he was in a black sweater and black pants but no biohazard suit, the artificial wind reminded him how vulnerable he was.

He pulled himself into the sphere, then began scaling the scaffolding. When he reached the top, he positioned himself below the containment room and removed his backpack. Using a pair of Velcro strips, he attached the bag to a pole, then opened it.

The Czech-made Semtex explosive was overkill for the job, but Quinn had to make sure everything in the room above him was destroyed. The bad part was that he'd have to wait to set it off. Several of the boxes of mints had already been carried away. It was possible they weren't even in the building. If Quinn detonated the Semtex now, he might miss those other cases, and, in the process, tip off Dahl and Borko that he was onto them. The destruction of the virus had to be coordinated.

Quinn placed the Semtex at several points along the bottom of the laboratory. He then set a radio-activated detonator at each point. After that, he extracted a small box from the backpack. It was a relay. All they had to do now was trigger the relay with one of the remotes Orlando had obtained, and a signal would be sent out to the detonators. Then
boom.

Quinn attached the relay to one of the poles, then gave everything a final inspection. Satisfied, he unfastened the strips holding the backpack to the pole and pulled the pack over his shoulders. Now it was only a matter of time.

Chapter 37

Though Quinn's sleep was short, it was the best he'd had in days. It didn't matter that he and his team were holed up in the cold back room of an abandoned store, or that they had to sleep in sleeping bags on blow-up mattresses. It always happened this way. The night before any big operation, Quinn would sleep like the dead.