Da Silva looked sincere and seemed to believe the words coming out of his mouth. I would’ve taken him for his word if I hadn’t already known their true intentions—to profit from the diminishing population and fully control the people who survive. “The thing is, we know why you’re really doing all this and that your long-term plan is going to fail.” I made sure to look into Schmidt’s and Da Silva’s eyes. “You can’t pollute the land, the flora, and the fauna to the point it won’t be able to recover for thousands of years, and that’s what you’re doing. You’re actually destroying the food system forever, to the point that no one, not even your children, will survive. If you truly wanted to help heal the planet, you’d focus on rebuilding the soil and environment. That’s the only way we’ll ever fix things.”
Schmidt scoffed.
Da Silva looked at me as if having sympathy for my simple mind. “And how can that be achieved when the population is growing at such a rate, wiping out the resources like locusts? We must deal with that issue first.”
“We have to cleanse the planet,” Schmidt said.
“With your toxic food?” Sue spoke up. “Are you as fucking stupid as you look? Do you not get that you’re going about it the wrong way?”
“You can’t cull the population.” I almost stood. “You need to shift your strategy a hundred and eighty degrees.”
I could see Schmidt’s eyes light up when I said the word cull. He liked it.
“You have to work with the amount of people we have and place your focus on making the world a better, cleaner, and more efficient place.” In case they were actually listening and we were getting through to them, I wanted to throw in a compliment to help. “Men of your stature and ability do have the means to change the direction of the whole planet. Why don’t you use your power to change the direction of industry to be sustainable? There may still be time.”
Schmidt looked over at Otto, and he came up between Sue and me.
“What would you simpletons know?” Schmidt sounded like his father. “Over decades of analysis, we’ve determined that this is the best way to deal with the situation.”
“Well, you’re wrong,” Sue said.
“How would you know, you little slut?” Schmidt’s face had turned red and his voice rose. “All you’ve done is attempt to sabotage us in your naive ways, trying to scare people. You’re tiny fleas. You must accept our decisions and live your meaningless lives … for however long we allow you to.”
That little fucker had a real God complex.
I barely noticed a thin hunched-over man leaning on a cane come into the room. He looked old and frail, his skin a sickly gray. Oh my god, it’s Lovemark.
“We have been going about it the wrong way, Hendrick,” Lovemark said.
“Nonsense.” Schmidt glared at Lovemark. “Yours was a freak occurrence. You weren’t cautious enough … reckless.”
I was watching Da Silva, who seemed to be in the middle of a widening crack, one leg straddling each side. I wasn’t sure he really believed what he and Schmidt had been saying to us.
“Why not tell them the truth?” Lovemark’s left arm was over his abdomen. “They’re going to die anyway. Give them some comfort of knowing the truth and that their work was accurate.”
I could feel Sue, Enrique, Lorraine, as well as myself stiffen when Lovemark made the two points—dying anyway and we’d been right.
“They deserve no comfort,” Schmidt said. “And your medication is making you delusional.”
“I’m making peace before I die,” Lovemark said. “And I blame you, your father, your grandfather, and your great-grandfather for doing this to me. You were all reckless and stupid enough to think you could control everything.”
Wow, Lovemark is dying. Does he have colon cancer? Talk about karma.
“You were supposed to protect us from the diseases you created,” Lovemark continued. “Now everyone’s at risk, and it’s a crapshoot as to who survives. You might be next, Hendrick, or you, Carlo.”
Schmidt crossed his arms. “Nonsense, old man.”
Da Silva, who’d been quiet since Lovemark entered, spoke up, “All is not lost, Davis. Dr. Smith, as you know, has made great strides as of late, and your physician is one of the best in the world.”
That meant Dr. Smith was still alive and had set us up willingly.
“However, this is not the time for that discussion,” Da Silva continued. “I would like some information from our guests.”
Sue gasped and bent forward, clutching her stomach. More blood had soaked her pants.
I reached for her, but Schilling pulled my arm back to my side. “She needs medical attention.”
Schmidt gave a nod to Schilling. I couldn’t see Schilling’s reaction, because he was behind me.
Lorraine stood and took a step toward Sue.
Schilling moved in front of her with one stride and grabbed her arm. “Sit.”
I leaned over and touched Sue’s shoulder. “Hang in there.”
Sue nodded and grimaced.
“If you answer our questions truthfully, Mr. Barnes, we will get Ms. Clark medical attention,” said Schmidt.
I knew he was lying.
CHAPTER 37
There was a sudden, intense violent shudder of the building and the deafening sound of an explosion. We were all knocked to the ground.
Dust and smoke poured in from the hallway.
An instant of shock stopped everyone, making us disoriented.
My ears were ringing. I saw a large crack form on the interior wall.
Sue was trying to get up, and I went to help. Her breaths were short.
Da Silva pulled Günter out of the room, and they were gone.
Lovemark was down and looked unconscious. Enrique lay next to him on the floor.
Peoples’ movements around us looked to be in slow motion due to the dusty haze but were actually fast.
Schilling was going for the doorway but was caught from behind by Lorraine. She flung her arm around his neck and held hard until he came down.
Schmidt Junior was directly in front of Sue and me. He had blood running down his cheek from a cut above his eye.
Automatic gunfire erupted in the hallway. Running could be heard.
“Jorge,” I said in Sue’s ear.
I helped her up onto one knee, squeezing her clenched body.
Schmidt faced us, looking disoriented. Sue went low and I went high, tackling him before he could get his bearings. As he was falling back, I landed an elbow hard on his face. The bone on the bridge of his nose gave way.
Schmidt screamed when he hit the concrete floor on his back, and blood came gushing from his nostrils.
A guttural grunt came from Schilling as he threw Lorraine off him. He rose to his feet, pulling a revolver from a holster around his ankle.
I was on Schmidt but hesitated.
Schilling leveled his gun at me.
Lorraine had bounced off the wall when Schilling threw her off, and rebounded at him. Her arms ahead of her, she hit his hand with the revolver pushing it down to the right, just as he pulled the trigger.
I didn’t have time to duck or even blink.
Schmidt’s head snapped to the side and convulsed once.
Sue or I weren’t hit, but looking down, Schmidt had gotten the bullet right in the temple.
Schilling screamed in high-pitched, uncontrollable anger and backhanded Lorraine in the face.
Enrique had come to and was trying to get up.
Schilling swung his arm around again to point the gun at me. In that instant his nose and mouth exploded at the same time he pulled the trigger. His eyes were wide, the only features left on his face, as he collapsed to the ground.
Mike was in the doorway, right arm extended, with a smoking gun in his hand. His expression was of both aggression and shock.
I looked over at Sue beside me—she wasn’t shot. I hadn’t been hit either. At the same time, we turned our heads to the wall. Concrete dust was comi
ng out from the hole where Schilling’s bullet had entered. It was right between us, missing us both by inches.
There was movement behind us. I could now see that it was Stenson with Furyk sitting at the back of the room, the whole time doing nothing.
Jorge and Ivan, followed by Lee, came into the room from the hall and pointed their guns at the two CIA agents.
Furyk and Stenson stood up from the edge of the desk and brushed the dust off their matching khaki pants.
“Just observing, ladies and gentlemen,” Furyk said. “You don’t have to worry about us. We’re not going to say anything to anyone.”
They casually walked past all of us, sidestepping Schilling’s body, and exited the room.
Everyone looked to me to see if I would give the order to stop them. I didn’t see the point. Somehow I knew they wouldn’t come after us later. I suspected they had some kind of tie to Chief Inspector Plante, and Plante was the connection to Lovemark, Schmidt, and Da Silva.
Lovemark groaned and squirmed but didn’t get up.
I helped Sue to her feet.
“What do we do with him?” Lorraine asked.
With effort, Sue walked up to Lovemark, wound up and kicked him in the stomach. “Leave the fucker to die alone. He deserves it.”
You could hear Lovemark’s breath leave him, and the shell of the merciless man shriveled into the fetal position.
I took Sue’s arm and wrapped it around my shoulder for support. “Ivan, can you look at Sue?”
He focused on the blood all over her upper pants. “Were you shot, my dear?”
“No, I was hit by the butt of that Nazi-looking fucker’s rifle.”
Ivan went to Sue and lifted the front of her shirt, exposing her stomach, revealing a large black, red, and blue bruise on her skin. His eyes went wide, and his face showed concern. “We need to get you to a hospital. It looks serious. You are bleeding from the inside.”
Lee was checking the cut on Lorraine’s face. He must have gotten here by sheer will power.
As I helped Sue toward the door, I asked Enrique, “Are you okay?”
“Si, just a headache.”
Mike pointed his revolver into the hall in case there was still anyone out there. As we passed, I placed my free hand on his shoulder. He was trembling, eyes blinking rapidly.
“Thanks, Mike,” I said. “You saved us.”
“Thank you for coming through,” Sue said.
He gave a slow nod, up and down with his head.
Ivan took Sue’s other arm.
Jorge, Enrique, and Mike led the way. Lee and Lorraine helped each other. The hallway was filled with smoke. Farther down to the left, flames came out of a doorway. We had to go to the right.
“You used my C4,” Enrique said.
“Worked like beans go with rice,” Jorge replied.
At the end of the hallway, we found an exit.
Outside, floodlights lit the whole compound. People were everywhere, pouring out of the dorms and either escaping through a hole in the fence or through the front gate. Guards were abandoning the site as well—no one stopped anyone from leaving.
The Mercedes-Benz ML that we’d seen pass by the cameras so many times raced by. The man who looked almost like me was driving, and Da Silva and Günter were in the backseat.
Jorge and Lee aimed their automatic rifles at the SUV, but people crowded behind it after it passed, so they couldn’t get a clean shot at it.
Through the chaos, Dr. Smith approached us with his hands over his head. “I’m so sorry this had to happen. They forced me.” The skin around his right eye was black, and he had a bandage on his swollen cheek.
“We thought that may have been the case,” Ivan said. “You can put your arms down.”
“I want to dedicate the rest of my life to work on fixing what they made me create,” Dr. Smith said.
“We can work together,” Ivan said.
Even if Dr. Smith’s conscience made him come to his senses, I wasn’t sure he should go unpunished. He’d still spent all that time twisting Dr. Elles’s research for negative consequences.
A slim, professional-looking man with gray hair walked up to us with an unarmed guard. “Have any of you seen Davis?”
“This is Davis Lovemark’s personal physician,” Dr. Smith said.
“He’s inside, unconscious,” I said.
“And you didn’t bring him out?” The doctor seemed flustered.
I shrugged. “He deserves worse.”
The doctor, with the guard in tow, ran into the building.
“We really need to get Sue to a hospital.” I propped her up as she began to slouch.
Dr. Smith pointed to a row of vehicles. “Take one of those. They leave the keys in the ignitions.”
“Enrique, can you drive us?” I asked him. He was standing only a few feet away.
“We need to get the sick out of the infirmary and to the hospital,” Dr. Smith said.
We agreed that Enrique would take Sue to the hospital with Ivan and me. The rest would stay and help load the people unable to move on their own onto trucks.
CHAPTER 38
May 31, 2003
As Enrique rushed us to the hospital, three police cars and two fire trucks passed going toward the Naintosa compound and Pharmalin lab.
I held Sue and placed her head against my chest as she complained about the pain becoming more severe.
Being early in the morning, it was quiet at the hospital emergency entrance. I found Sue a wheelchair, while Ivan went to talk to someone in admissions.
Within minutes a doctor who spoke English was there, and they wheeled Sue away to examine her.
As the sun began to rise, buses showed up with the rest of our group and the ill from the compound. Jorge was on the last bus and said the police hadn’t detained anyone, just focused on getting everyone out.
I was worried sick about Sue yet wanted to help, so I assisted by finding more wheelchairs and helping people into the emergency staging area.
Enrique had called Monica, and she was on her way.
When I saw the doctor who had been examining Sue approach Ivan, I went over to them.
“She’s lost a lot of blood,” the doctor said. “She’s been taken to surgery to stop the internal bleeding.”
“Is she going to be all right?” I asked.
Ivan placed his hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll let you know.” The doctor turned and went back down the corridor from where he’d come.
Ivan guided me to a chair and then sat down next to me.
“I was hoping they would operate to stop the bleeding right away,” he said. “Sue is strong …”
All the people from the compound had been triaged, and now there was nothing to do but wait. I sat facing the window in a room that contained three rows of eight orange molded-plastic chairs held in place by metal bars. There were two couples at the opposite end, one elderly and one with a child who was quietly coloring over the lines of a book with a pink crayon.
Lorraine walked into the room and sat down next to me. “Any word about Sue yet?”
“I was told the surgery was successful and we’ll get more details when she regains consciousness.”
“That’s good news, right?”
“I think so. Yes.” I shrugged. “How are you?”
Lorraine had a bandage over her left eyebrow and the skin around it was a dark purple, almost black. “Just needed a few stitches. Nothing to worry about; I have a hard head.”
Monica and her daughters entered and sat down across from us.
“Everyone seems to be in the process of being looked after,” Monica said. “Ivan informed me that Sue has been moved from ICU into recovery.”
“Yes,” I responded.
Olga and Esmeralda gave me encouraging smiles.
“You two don’t need to be here,” I said to them. “Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“It’s Saturday,” Olga said.
“And we want
to be here for Sue,” Esmeralda added. “She’s a role model for us. Sue’s strong, really intelligent, and doesn’t hold back her opinions.”
“We want to be more like her,” Olga said. “And you too, Lorraine; you’re amazing. You’re beautiful, smart, caring, tactical, and you don’t give up ground to any man who’s undeserving.”
Lorraine blushed. “Thank you.”
Monica patted the bare knees of the girl on either side of her.
“I agree.” I managed a smile. “Sue and Lorraine are great women to want to be like.”
It had taken Sue three hours to regain consciousness after her two-and-a-half-hour surgery. Ivan and I were led by a nurse to her private room.
Sue was bleary-eyed and quiet. “How are you feeling?” I went to her and kissed her on the forehead.
“Tired,” Sue said. “I think they have me on painkillers.” “That is expected,” Ivan said.
A slim man with black hair graying at the temples and a goatee entered the room. “I am Dr. Jose Rodriguez, the surgeon who performed the operation on Ms. Clark.” His accent was strong, but he spoke English well.
“Am I going to be okay?” Sue asked.
“You lost a significant amount of blood, but a transfusion wasn’t needed. We’ve repaired the tears and there’s bruising, but within a few days you should be strong enough to leave.”
I let out a relieving breath, not noticing until then that I’d been holding it.
“Thank you, doctor.” Sue looked consoled.
Dr. Rodriguez took a step closer and stood at the foot of Sue’s bed. “Did you know that you were pregnant?”
Sue’s facial expression turned to concern. “I was late for my period, and my body was acting a little strange. I thought it was stress.”
I took Sue’s hand. She’s pregnant. That means she conceived when we were together in Burford. I was the father.
Ivan looked down at the floor and nodded as if knowing that was the case.
“It was only a month, maybe less,” the surgeon said. “You miscarried when you were struck. I’m sorry, there was nothing that could be done. It was too late when we operated and all we could do was repair the area.”
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