84
With its aroma of fresh pine and sage, and richly stained and glazed hardwood paneling, the interior of the yacht was nothing less than opulent. Dark, shiny, exotic panels alternated with artwork hand-etched in smoked glass. Beneath the glass floor was a series of round gray rocks, illuminated perfectly to bring out their dark beauty.
Jaco walked beside her while two men carried the crate Quinn was in behind them. The hall opened up to an expansive great room, almost all glass windows, with incredible views of the pier and Lake Michigan. On the foredeck landing area was a large helipad. A soft white circular couch with enough seating for 20 people surrounded the centerpiece of the room, a 3-foot-tall round fish tank that seemed to have a depth below the surface of the floor of at least a couple of feet. The exotic fish and coral were lit with interior lighting of an unnatural lavender hue. Lily pads with several blooming pink and white lotus flowers floated on top of the water. They were like nothing Gracie had ever seen. Each lotus had its own light pointed directly at it, bringing out every bit of its delicate beauty like sparkling diamonds in a jewelry store case.
The Asian man sitting on the couch, very relaxed, waited until Gracie entered the room and had a chance to fully absorb her surroundings. Then he stood with a comfortable smile. Dressed in a bespoke tailored three-piece suit and expensive Italian leather shoes, his dark hair combed to the side and held tight in place by product, he looked as dapper and fashionable as the yacht’s interior.
“Welcome. I am Mr. Zhou,” he said. He motioned to the couch. “Please sit.”
Gracie stood. She looked at Zhou, then awkwardly at the box Quinn was inside.
Zhou snapped his fingers. Then projected his voice in a commanding way and said, “Xiǎoxīn dǎkāi”.
Two men put the crate on the floor, the one retrieved the tools necessary, and opened the crate. They pulled Quinn out of the box and stood him straight up. As soon as the men let go of him, he lost his balance.
“Untie him,” Mr. Zhou said.
Jaco’s eyes narrowed and his face contorted as he prepared to bark out an objection, but then thought better of it.
The two men freed Quinn.
Mr. Zhou once again motioned for them to sit.
Gracie knew she shouldn’t show any emotion toward Quinn, but she couldn’t help herself. She gave him a big hug and whispered into his ear. “Hang in there.”
“I missed your smile,” he whispered back.
Gracie and Quinn sat on the white couch. It felt like she was engulfed in some type of goose down, so soft and comfortable, with a cool feeling to it. Upon further inspection, she realized there was actual cool air being pumped through the fabric of the couch.
Mr. Zhou sat at their three o’clock. He hit a button on a remote and a projector screen dropped down from the ceiling.
“I know this is not ideal,” said Zhou, “but as you know, the most powerful people in the US framed you as a terrorist, blew up your lab, and now are trying to wipe you and your formulas off the face of this earth. They are not trying to steal your formulas, they are trying to destroy them, selfishly keeping them from the world. China would like to offer you the hand of friendship, Ms. Green.”
The screen fully down, the projector illuminated it with a video of a research lab.
“As you can see, the lab you will be working in has the most sophisticated equipment in the world. Anything you need, including other brilliant minds, will be at your disposal, and there will be no expenses spared.”
Gracie had to stop herself from being excited at what she was seeing, it was everything she’d dreamed of and more at her disposal.
Zhou hit another button and a house that looked more like a penthouse appeared on the screen.
“You will live a life of luxury—”
“As a prisoner,” Gracie interrupted.
“That’s not how we like to look at it. Miss Green, you’ve been compromised. Mr. Ivanov was hired to kill you and wipe your research off the face of the earth, until I hired him away from his last employer. I’d like you to think of it more as a witness protection program. New life, new identity; a total fresh start.” He looked over at Quinn. “I understand you are quite fond of the FBI agent, so in giving you a companion we were hoping to be a nice perk.”
“To breed me.”
“No Ms. Green, to give you the opportunity to have a family, if you choose.”
Jaco cleared his throat.
“Yes, Mr. Ivanov?” Zhou’s tone showed he didn’t like being interrupted.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m loving movie night here and your terrific speech to boot. But if you don’t mind, I’d like my money, please. Oh, and a glass of your most expensive scotch while I waited would be nice.”
“Mr. Ivanov, do you have the formulas?”
Jaco pulled out the flash drive.
Zhou nodded to one of the two men, who walked to Jaco and grabbed the drive. A waiter entered the room with a glass of brown liquor on a sterling silver tray.
Jaco took the drink. “That’s more like it.”
A young Asian man entered. His attire was super hip, baggy trousers, a graphic t-shirt that said Midnight Occult Civil Servants, his black hair sporting frosted tips. He carried a laptop covered with stickers almost as if he had sponsorship from skateboard brands and energy drinks.
The man grabbed the flash drive and sat next to Mr. Zhou. He plugged the drive into his laptop. As the drive was loading, he plugged ear buds into his ears.
He looked at the screen for a moment, then said something to Mr. Zhou in Chinese.
“Do you know the password?” Mr. Zhou asked.
Gracie shook her head no.
Zhou nodded to the two men—Gracie hadn’t realized it, but they were standing directly behind her and Quinn. Without warning, they snatched Quinn out of his seat and pulled him over the back of the couch.
As they dragged Quinn, he didn’t put up much of a fight. “Do you know anything about the box jellyfish?” Mr. Zhou asked.
Gracie took another look at the beautiful fish tank and spotted several of the clear bodies, shaped like boxes with glowing white tentacles hanging from their bodies.
“It is considered the most venomous creature on earth, even more so than a pufferfish,” Zhou continued. “They say the body screams in pain even while unconscious from shock.”
She opened her mouth and Zhou held up his hand.
“Please, Miss Green, what you’ll learn about our relationship is; I will only accept your first answer. You should always be prepared to live with the consequences of it. Gentlemen?”
85
The two men had Quinn locked down from each side with viselike grips. Jaco stood and watched, sipping his scotch, one hand in his pocket, a wry smile on his face. Finally, he was getting to see the good stuff. He’d been itching to hurt someone all morning.
Gracie pleaded, “I shouldn’t have lied to you. It won’t happen again.”
“Miss Green, please, I hate to see you like this. What I can promise you is I will never lie to you, but I don’t want you to be misled by my hospitality. I am as disappointed as you are about this, but I know it is what is best for our partnership long term. Just know I have a wonderful dinner waiting for us once we set sail.”
“I’ll be fine, Gracie,” Quinn yelled out, his face hovering over the water.
Mr. Zhou motioned to the young man with the laptop. “Mr. Feng here is one of our greatest hackers. Your friend will be submerged into the water for as long as it takes him to break the password code.”
“Please don’t.”
“I’m a man who enjoys sport,” said Zhou, and nodded his head.
Quinn’s head was plunged into the water.
The hacker’s hands came to life, dancing on the keyboard like a virtuoso pianist.
Air bubbles escaped from Quinn’s mouth. Three jellyfish were within a foot of his face.
After seconds had
passed, Gracie looked at Zhou, relaxed as could be. His dark brown eyes had the depth of dark, deep caves, and right there at that moment she realized there was nothing she could say to this man.
“Come on,” Gracie yelled at the hacker.
It didn’t seem as if it were possible for his fingers to move faster, but after the encouragement, they did.
“Sting him in the face,” Jaco said, laughing.
Gracie looked on in absolute horror.
Quinn fought with all of his might, shaking his body, the remaining air bubbling fast from his mouth.
She turned to the hacker, who’d suddenly stopped typing. She sucked in a breath, held it, ready for him to say he was finished, but it was a cramp in his hand that had stopped him.
Enough games, Gracie hopped up and soccer kicked one of the men between the legs from behind. He fell to the ground.
Jaco put down his glass and grabbed her by the throat in a crushing grip.
Mr. Zhou yelled something in Chinese.
Like programmed robots, the remaining men holding Quinn let go as they simultaneously drew their handguns.
Almost like an illusionist with sleight of hand, Jaco’s free hand somehow had drawn his weapon.
Two guns were pointed at Jaco’s head, and his was pointed right between Zhou’s eyes.
Quinn, on the floor, head soaked, gasped for air.
“Mr. Ivanov, you’re being a rude guest,” Zhou said.
“My money, and I’ll kindly leave this party,” Jaco said, cocking the hammer on his hand cannon.
“Done,” the hacker said. “It’s all here.”
“If you kill her, our deal is off,” Zhou said.
Jaco released Gracie, who fell to the floor, gasping for breath right next to Quinn. She looked at him. No stings.
“Our business is done, Mr. Ivanov.” Zhou pointed to a large duffel bag in the corner of the room, “There is another ten million in cash, and the rest is in the account listed. The drive atop the cash has the decryption key which will open the account, and prove your ownership within twenty-four hours. Now if you’d be so kind, we’re about to set sail.”
Jaco continued to aim at Zhou. “All of it, Zhou.”
“Eleven billion dollars doesn’t fit in a briefcase, Mr. Ivanov.”
Jaco hit a button on his watch. “Look at that, my heart rate is over 94.” He made his way back to his scotch all the time tracing his weapon on Zhou.
“Not taking my word is the highest insult.” Zhou’s tone reflected a stern warning.
“This isn’t personal, it’s business. I’ve already been stiffed once.”
“Then you’ll have to come with us. Delaying our departure puts everything in jeopardy. Rains is surely going to be coming soon.”
“If I know Peter Rains, right now he’s putting together half a battalion.” Jaco laughed to himself. “He’s going to be super pissed. Oh, and just so you know? My guy is within 100 yards of here with a Russian Verba aimed right at this boat.”
“You shouldn’t bluff like this, Mr. Ivanov. Kindly disembark or come with us. Your money isn’t going to be any good if you are dead.”
Jaco pointed at the red laser dot shining bright on the wall. “That’s a guidance system for the rocket, accurate enough to hit a moving chopper. It’s not going to miss a stationary boat.”
Mr. Zhou stared at Jaco, “I don’t have time for games.” He picked up the remote, turned back on the projection monitor, and turned it to Channel 23. A lady, sitting on the floor in a small room, every inch of everything in the room—including her clothing—was gray as ash.
“You scum sucking pig of the earth,” Jaco growled as he recognized his sister.
“I told you in our first meeting, there would be consequences.”
Jaco clicked his tongue, showing that same relaxation Zhou did earlier. “If this boat leaves this dock without me walking off it with my money in my account or if I don’t check in every 10 minutes, there will be a hole blown in the side of this ship the size of a bus.”
“Being difficult is not good for your or your sister’s health, Mr. Ivanov.”
Jaco harnessed his weapon. “Moral hazards of 11 billion, I guess. I’ll just have to buy another sister.”
Mr. Zhou got up to exit the room, “Please clean our guest up for lunch,” he ordered to his men.
86
The late afternoon sun glistened off the small waves of Lake Michigan. Mack looked down at his watch—4:19 PM. Bic had decided for them to go south. They’d hit every Chicago harbor down from the Jackson Park Yacht Club right to the Hyde Park neighborhood. They were now about 15 minutes from the Indiana border.
“There’s nothing here big enough to be what we’re looking for,” said Bic. “My contact was sure they’d be south.”
“There’s a good chance they’re gone and are now floating somewhere in this effin’ massive lake-ocean,” said Mack.
Bic didn’t show any emotion. He had the same feeling, but they couldn’t give up. Gracie was the only family he had, and everything he’d done had been centered around her for the last twenty-five years. He didn’t want to panic, but if they got in this lake, he was sure they would take Gracie by helicopter from the yacht to a private air strip, then put her on a jet to China.
“I can’t let Sam and Caroline down,” Mack said.
“We won’t.” Bic waved to their driver of the black car, waiting idly like he had at the last several ports.
Mack and Bic hurried into the back seat. “Go north, fast,” Bic instructed.
Heading on side streets, the driver cut in and out, navigating potholes, streets under construction, and pedestrians who seemed to think they always had the right of way, walking in front of traffic almost as if they were daring drivers to hit them.
From the back seat they watched impatiently. The heavy traffic made it seem like everything was working against them. What possible chance would they have? It had been almost 10 hours since Jaco had taken Gracie away in the Suburban.
“Can I use your phone? I want to reach out to my connection at Langley,” Mack asked.
Bic handed it to him and he dialed.
With the phone to his ear, waiting for an answer, he said, “First thing I’m going to do when this is over is get a new phone.”
“Put it on speaker,” Bic requested.
“Tom, it’s Mack. We’re looking for a big yacht at one of the Chicago harbors. I’m guessing it would not be a regular, so it would have needed to register or something like that recently to be able to dock somewhere. Also, this might be a long shot that they registered in their own name and not some type of shell company, but the actual owner of the boat is Chinese.”
“Okay,” said Tom, “I’m on it. Also, by the way, I looked at all the possible companies that have huge reasons to never want a drug with a cure to come on the market. There’s one company in particular, Vintigen. Almost all their revenue is derived from cancer drugs. They spent about seven billion a year in R&D over the last five years and they’ve never found a cure, only expensive long-term treatments.”
“Good to know, but right now we need to find that yacht. It has the scientist and all her formulas on board.”
“Got it,” Tom said, and disconnected the call.
“You a fan of conspiracy theories, Bic?”
Bic stared straight ahead. “Not really.”
87
Gracie and Quinn had been placed in a small cabin room with the instructions to get dressed for dinner. The closet had ample high-end designer dress choices for Gracie, all with matching shoes and a single tailored black suit, white shirt and thin black tie for Quinn.
The waiter who had been delivering drinks had given them a little advice about Chinese customs in perfect English, delivered with an exquisite Received Pronunciation British accent, instructing that it would be wise to not insult Mr. Zhou at dinner. Neither Quinn nor Gracie thought it was worth getting dunked in th
e fish tank over their formal wear, so they both complied.
Gracie sat on the bed, waiting. She was dolled up in a red Vera Wang sleeveless cocktail dress that hugged her nicely. She didn’t usually wear dresses that were so revealing, but all the dresses were fitted to her exact measurements, so she just went with it. The makeup at the sink looked like it could have come directly from her own home.
Quinn, in a black tuxedo with black satin peak lapels over a wing collar white shirt and silver cuff links and tuxedo buttons, looked more dapper than ever. In so many other circumstances, a bow tie seems ridiculous, but it gave Quinn a very distinguished look. He’d been restlessly inspecting the cabin for a way out for the last hour. “This porthole is two inches thick, probably stronger than steel.”
“Can I ask you a crazy question?” Gracie finally asked nervously.
Quinn sat down next to her on the bed. “Sure anything.” Quinn rested his hand on her thigh.
Gracie gazed into his eyes, waiting, gauging not only what his response would be but also if she was nuts to even be thinking this.
“Maybe Zhou’s right. Going with him is what’s best for me and the cure.”
“That’s because he’s a cunning snake. Did you see what he did to me when he didn’t get what he wanted?”
“I just want the cure to be available in the world; Zhou might be my best option to finish my work. And those facilities had everything I would need.”
“Gracie, those facilities are prisons. And when you don’t give them what they want, they have ways to make you.”
“But we both want the same thing. And with what people here think about me and sending people like Jaco to kill me, it might not be such a bad thing to be tucked away somewhere extra safe.”
Quinn, frustrated, took a deep breath, then spoke, “I know it sounds logical, but are you going to give them what they want if they decide you need to help develop an airborne version of some deadly virus.”
The Cure Page 22