Black Rose (The Project Book 9)

by Alex Lukeman

  "Tomorrow is soon enough," Elizabeth said.

  CHAPTER 51

  Gutenberg was on the phone with Jaques de Guillame, the French Foreign Minister, one of his allies on the board of AEON. Krivi, Thorvaldson and Kamarov were the others. He hadn't heard from Kamarov in days and he seemed to have vanished. In Russia that meant only one thing.

  Gutenberg could feel the reins of power shifting. First the laboratory had been destroyed in Zürich. Then Valentina had betrayed him. And now his carefully planned trap had turned into a disaster. The failures were giving Senator Mitchell the opportunity he sought to ease Gutenberg from the leadership position. Mitchell didn't understand what Gutenberg would do to prevent that.

  "Who was it? I want to know who it was," Gutenberg said.

  "There is no positive identification," de Guillame replied. "However, I believe it was the Americans. A group of four Americans with diplomatic passports landed at Caen on the afternoon of the day your house was attacked. They left quite early the next morning. The customs official on-duty said one of the men appeared injured. The others had to help him onto the plane. The van they rented shows mileage consistent with a trip from the airport to your vineyard."

  "Which Americans?"

  "Who knows?" Gutenberg could almost feel the Frenchman shrug over the phone. "CIA, perhaps."

  "Too risky for them," Gutenberg said. "You're sure it wasn't someone else? The Russians, for example?"

  "Definitely not the Russians," de Guillame said.

  "That is what I needed to know. Perhaps the American president's covert unit."

  "I know about them. But it seems unlikely Rice would risk the embarrassment of failure."

  "He would simply deny knowledge."

  "What are you going to do, Johannes?"

  "We continue with the plan but with a change in priority. Washington is more of a threat to us than the Chinese. I want to target America first. There's always time for Beijing."

  "Mitchell isn't going to like that. You know he wants to hit the Chinese first."

  "By the time he realizes what's happened, it will be too late. The disease will be well established and out of control."

  "I thought we'd left these internal struggles behind. You know how destructive they've been in the past."

  "It doesn't have to be that way this time," Gutenberg said. "It's up to Mitchell. He shouldn't have tried to undermine my leadership."

  "You have my support. Just keep that damn stuff away from France," de Guillame said.

  "Don't worry, Jaques. I see no advantage in targeting Europe. Some places have to be preserved. Besides, we live here. Krivi has already produced a large stockpile of vaccine. If by some mischance the disease reaches the continent, you will be well prepared and in position to use the situation to your advantage."

  De Guillame chuckled. "You really should have been a politician, Johannes. You would have done quite well."

  "I prefer the shadows," Gutenberg said. "I'll leave it to you to claim the spotlight."

  "Please keep me informed," de Guillame said.

  "Of course."

  "Goodbye, Johannes."

  In France, de Guillame set his phone down and thought about the conversation he'd just had. Johannes had sounded strained over the phone. Things had not gone well in the past weeks. Perhaps it was time to consider shifting his allegiance. A confrontation between Johannes and Mitchell was coming soon, he was sure of it. In the past, these struggles for power within the organization had caused many deaths and great disruption. It was important that he picked the right side.

  He looked out the windows of his study at the verdant gardens and lawns surrounding his château. It was coming on dark, the light rapidly fading. Soft lights showed in the careful landscaping.

  De Guillame's mansion was in the Paris suburb of Versailles. He'd inherited the estate from his father, but if that had not been the case he would have chosen to live here anyway. Versailles had always been a seat of power in France. It was fitting that he lived there.

  The Versailles Palace was not far away and De Guillame was fond of visiting the magnificent building. He looked out the study windows at his garden and let himself imagine what it must have been like to be king, before the revolution. He would have enjoyed being king.

  Absorbed in his fantasy, de Guillame failed to notice a dark figure slip into the study. It wasn't until the thin wire of a garrotte slipped over his head and bit into his throat that he realized anyone else was there.

  He choked and gasped and scrabbled with his fingers at the wire, trying to reach the hands that were killing him. Blood ran down under the collar of his tailored blue shirt.

  "Dos'vedanya," a soft voice whispered in his ear.

  Valentina waited until de Guillame's feet stopped kicking. She unwrapped the wire from his neck, wiped it clean on his jacket sleeve and replaced the garrotte in a pouch at her belt. She went to the doors leading into the garden and slipped away into the dark.

  CHAPTER 52

  Selena and Nick stood in the empty loft that was soon to be their home. They'd signed the contract and were waiting for the escrow to close. The agent had been ecstatic at the sale. She'd given them a key, even though ownership wasn't yet official.

  The view across the Potomac to Virginia was better today than it had been the first time they'd seen it. Everything had turned green across the river. Nick walked over and opened a window. A fresh, spring breeze brought the scent of blossoms into the space. Selena joined him. He put his arm around her.

  "This is great," he said. "I didn't realize how much I missed looking at something besides apartment buildings."

  "I really like the river view. It's wonderful."

  "I've got someone lined up to take over my lease as soon as I'm out of there," he said.

  She turned and looked at the open space and saw a blank slate begging to be filled. The brick walls were clean, the wood floors glowing with rich, warm color. The room was filled with sunlight streaming through the windows facing the river. Four peaked skylights let more light in through the ceiling.

  "That wall is perfect to hang the paintings I had shipped from San Francisco," she said. "I'd like to get the security installed before anything else. Then we can decide about movers and furniture and all that."

  "I was thinking the same thing about the security."

  "I wish it wasn't necessary," Selena said.

  "It's the nature of things. It's always been that way."

  "Did you talk with Elizabeth this morning?"

  "Yes. Lamont's pretty messed up," Nick said. "The round shattered one of the bones. They put the pieces back together but it's uncertain how it's going to turn out."

  "Will he be able to walk?"

  "Oh yeah, that's not the problem. The question is how well."

  "Let's go see him later."

  "I thought we'd go this morning. Harker wants us to come in this afternoon. Someone assassinated the French Foreign Minister last night. He was one of the men named in Gutenberg's diary."

  "Who killed him?"

  "Nobody knows. It was a professional hit. Someone got into his house and took him out."

  "I suppose I should be shocked," she said, "but I'm not. I'm just glad we didn't have to go after him."

  "Things aren't going too well for AEON right now. It makes me nervous."

  "Why?"

  "AEON is like a wounded animal and that makes it unpredictable. What's Gutenberg going to do? What's happening with the rest of the leadership? How does de Guillame's death change things?"

  "We've never known what they're going to do."

  "Yes, but there was a kind of predictability in their thinking. Now we don't even have that."

  "We know one thing," Selena said. "There's another player in the game. The Russians. Maybe they assassinated de Guillame. They're good at assassinating people."

  There was a hard note in Selena's voice. Nick chose to overlook it. He looked at his watch.

  "We ought to
get going if we want to see Lamont before we meet with Harker."

  As he locked the door behind him he wondered what would happen if Selena ever met her half sister. He hoped he never had to find out.

  CHAPTER 53

  Elizabeth had decided not to tell Selena that General Vysotsky was the man who had killed her father. She and Stephanie were the only two people who knew. And Vysotsky, but it was certain he wouldn't be talking to Selena about it.

  Ronnie, Nick and Selena sat across from Elizabeth on the couch. Stephanie sat to the side of Elizabeth's desk with her laptop open.

  "Another one of AEON's directors is dead. Aapo Thorvaldson's body was found this morning."

  "How did he die?" Nick asked.

  "It looks like a heart attack but I think he was murdered. First de Guillame, now Thorvaldson. Two of AEON's leaders dying within a day of each other is too much of a coincidence."

  "Somebody is saving us a lot of trouble," Ronnie said.

  "It has to be the Russians," Nick said. "They're getting even."

  "That's my guess," Elizabeth said.

  "Who's left?" Selena asked.

  "Gutenberg of course, and Krivi Dass. As far as we know both of them are still fine. The other names we have are Halifax, Mitchell and Kamarov. Kamarov has disappeared. The Russians probably picked him up."

  "Then there are only four left," Nick said.

  "It's going to be harder to go after them now that they know someone is targeting them," Elizabeth said

  "They knew that after we hit the Zürich lab."

  "That wasn't the same as going after them on a personal level," Elizabeth said.

  "Why not wait and let the Russians or whoever kill the rest of them?" Ronnie said.

  "We can't count on that." Elizabeth brushed a speck of lint from her sleeve. "Another problem is that we don't know for sure that Halifax and Mitchell are who we think they are. We can't go after the British Chancellor of the Exchequer or an American senator based on a suspicion."

  "What about Krivi?" Nick said. "We know he's one of them. Or Gutenberg."

  "Of the two, Krivi is a better choice."

  "Why not Gutenberg?"

  "Krivi knows everything about the disease. If we grab him we might find out how to stop it."

  "I haven't seen much about it on the news," Ronnie said.

  "You won't. The media have been told to stay away from it."

  "Unofficial reports say twelve thousand people have died in Brazil and that the disease is out of control," Stephanie said.

  "I've seen a couple of television interviews with those slick doctors the government trots out every time people wonder if there's going to be an epidemic," Nick said. "They always say the same thing. It's not coming here, we're prepared if it does, and you have nothing to worry about anyway. All those confident statements make me nervous."

  "Is it coming here?" Selena asked.

  "Yes, if Gutenberg has his way," Elizabeth said. "America and China are the prime targets."

  Selena said, "It's crazy. What do they hope to gain? Money? What's their goal?"

  "Money is only part of it. They want to reduce the world population to something they can control more easily. AEON thinks there are too many people in the world, especially from what they call inferior races."

  "They don't consider Krivi to be part of an inferior race?" Ronnie asked. "He's got brown skin."

  "By definition, he has to be superior or he wouldn't be part of AEON's leadership," Elizabeth said.

  Ronnie snorted. "That's convenient. Kind of like Hitler making the Japanese honorary Aryans."

  "You can't expect them to be rational," Elizabeth said. "They're sociopaths."

  "Let's get back to the mission," Nick said.

  "There's a good reason for us to go after Krivi next," Elizabeth said. "He developed a vaccine or they wouldn't have let it loose. He knows how to make it. You have to try and take him alive."

  "That might be easier said than done," Nick said. "Where is he now?"

  "India," Stephanie said. "He lives in Mumbai. That's where his drug factories are and that's where the vaccine will be."

  She typed in a command on her keyboard. Pictures of Krivi's home appeared on the monitor.

  "This is his house," she said.

  The building was long and low, stepping down to a second level on the side of a landscaped hill. The roof was covered in red tile. The walls were whitewashed, the grounds green and shaded. It looked inviting, expensive and peaceful. A colonnade of arches paraded across the front of the building. The view from the back of the house looked out over the polluted waters of the Back Bay.

  "Krivi lives on Malabar Hill. It's one of the most expensive places to live in the world. An apartment there will run you eight or nine thousand dollars a square foot."

  Ronnie let out a low whistle.

  "Everyone who's powerful or famous or rich wants to live there," Stephanie said. "Bollywood film stars, the high government officials, the captains of industry. The super rich. Mumbai is the wealthiest city in India."

  "And the poorest," Selena said. "There are over nine million people living in slums."

  "I don't think Krivi cares about that," Stephanie said.

  Nick pointed at the picture on the monitor. "It's going to be hard to approach the house across those lawns. He's got security cameras everywhere. That low building on the right looks like it could be guard quarters."

  "I'll bet he's got laser sensors and motion detectors too," Ronnie said.

  "We'll decide how to go after him once we're there," Nick said

  "I think we are running out of time. Brazil was just a test," Elizabeth said. "Now that they know it works, they'll move on to the next part of their plan."

  "Which is?" Nick asked.

  "Release it here or in China."

  "Then I guess we'd better go talk to Krivi," Nick said.

  CHAPTER 54

  Alexei Vysotsky's new position as deputy director of SVR put him under close scrutiny by the Kremlin. That was nothing unusual. He hadn't survived this long without understanding how the game was played. What the Kremlin wanted was results, and Alexei intended to give them what they wanted. So far, things had gone well. Along with Kamarov, two of AEON's leaders had been eliminated. The others would be more difficult. If for Vysotsky, difficulties were only obstacles to be overcome.

  He took a pad of paper and wrote down the names of the remaining four men who ran AEON.

  Mitchell

  Halifax

  Gutenberg

  Dass

  The logistics of these things could become complicated, but Vysotsky believed in keeping it simple. The best way was to get close to the target, one on one. It was an effective tactic and required only careful planning by the agent. A prick with the tip of a poisoned umbrella as the target walked by. A tasteless drug slipped into a cocktail. A quick, silenced bullet to the back of the head. A slim stiletto between the ribs. The garrotte. Alexei had personal experience with all of them.

  He thought about Valentina. She'd done well in France, first by compromising Gutenberg's computer and then eliminating the French Foreign Minister. He decided she would be the best choice to go after the American senator. Senator Mitchell had a reputation as a philanderer, though his adoring constituents knew nothing of his liaisons. It should be easy for Valentina to catch his eye. The rest would follow as night followed day.

  He wrote her name next to Mitchell's.

  With Mitchell disposed of in his thinking, Vysotsky turned his attention to Halifax, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. After the Prime Minister, Halifax was the most important government official in England. He had strong security around him at all times. He would not be a simple target, but Vysotsky knew that a determined assassin could not be stopped.

  Halifax was a public man and his death would create a storm of suspicion. The deaths of several prominent billionaires within days of one another meant there was a risk someone could make a connection between
them. The deaths formed a pattern. Patterns meant vulnerability.

  Alexei made a note to wait on Halifax.

  That left Gutenberg and the Indian, Dass. The two men lived in virtual fortresses but both commuted, Gutenberg to his bank in Geneva and Dass to his factories in Mumbai. It would be possible for a team to get them as they traveled to work.

  Mumbai was one of the most crowded cities in the world, filled with impossible traffic, confusion and countless opportunities for an ambush. Geneva was a city with excellent police, surveillance everywhere and little in the way of significant cover.

  It wasn't a difficult choice. Vysotsky decided to delay going after Gutenberg.

  Dass would be the next target. An operation out on the open road required a different kind of approach, using a team with a skilled driver and at least one shooter. There were several in Zaslon who were ruthless and efficient enough to organize and lead the operation.

  Alexei picked up his phone.

  CHAPTER 55

  "There he is," Nick said.

  He handed the binoculars to Ronnie. Krivi Dass had just come out of his house. He walked down a short flight of steps flanked by three bodyguards and got into the back seat of a white Rolls-Royce. The driver closed the door behind him, got into the front and pulled away.

  "Nice ride," Ronnie said.

  "He can afford it," Nick said.

  They'd rented a silver Mercedes at the airport, something that wouldn't look out of place in the high-end neighborhood where Krivi lived. The air-conditioning struggled against the merciless heat outside. At 10 o'clock in the morning, it was already 107° and climbing. The humidity of Southern India clung to them inside the confines of the car.

  They'd decided it was easier to go after Krivi away from his home. Nick was behind the wheel. Selena sat next to him in front. Ronnie was in the back. Nick waited until the Rolls was almost out of sight before pulling out after him.