Swordfish

by Andrea Bramhall

  “Please excuse the invasion of privacy, Daniela. Security is very important to me.”

  She’d been warned to expect the frisk. Oz had even demonstrated what to expect, as she was certain it would be much more intrusive than the standard police frisk. She was right. This was more like being groped. And just because she was expecting it didn’t mean she had to like it. “I think I’m offended, Masood. Perhaps we won’t be doing business after all.”

  “Oh, I think we can come to some arrangement.” He turned to stand directly in front of her. “However, there is one thing we need to remedy before we discuss such matters.”

  “What’s that?” Finn placed her hands on her hips and adopted a scowl. She hoped the flush of fear she could feel burning her cheeks and neck would be read as anger.

  “I gave you permission to board, but not your associate.” He nodded toward Oz. Finn turned around fast enough to see Hakim bring the butt of his gun down on the back of Oz’s head. She hit the deck. Finn cried out and watched in horror as Oz was dragged through the doors and her body was tossed over the side rail.

  Splash.

  She wanted to run after her, dive overboard. Something, anything, to try to save her, but her feet wouldn’t move. She could hear her heart beating in her ears, racing, pumping blood and adrenaline through her body, but her muscles wouldn’t cooperate. No, no, no. This cannot be happening. It can’t be real. Her breathing quickened, and she tried to fight the wave of dizziness that engulfed her. All she could see was Oz’s body floating face down in the water. She couldn’t think of anything else.

  “Seems you were correct, my friend. She was rather attached to her blond Amazon.” Mehalik’s smug tone penetrated the fog clouding her brain, and she turned to see him sitting at the table, his arms resting along the back of the built-in seat. Next to him, Andrew Whittaker held a gun loosely in his hand, and Stephen Knight was gagged, bound to a chair, and staring at her with wild eyes.

  I’m going to die. The realization crashed through her head, but she couldn’t muster any of the sadness the thought should have filled her with. She didn’t want to live in a world without Oz. She didn’t want to know what that would be like. The knowledge of Balor would die with her, and by the time anyone else could re-create it, the vaccine would have spread globally. It was her one consolation. She would have succeeded in stopping his plan as soon as he killed her. It was little consolation, but right now she’d take all she could get.

  Whittaker tapped the barrel of his gun against a large metal case. Steel and the size of a briefcase, it sat ominously in the middle of the table. No. Please, God, don’t let that be what I think it is.

  “You know Mr. Knight, and of course, my friend Mr. Whittaker.”

  “Hello, Finn. Didn’t expect to see me here, did ya?” Whittaker smiled.

  Finn couldn’t drag her eyes from the case. “Why?”

  “Simple. Mr. Mehalik pays very well.”

  Finn sniffed and tried to get her brain to work again. She knew Billy and Charlie were listening. Maybe they could pick up Oz. Maybe they already had. She ignored the logical part of her brain that told her the chances were slim and convinced herself that Oz was okay, and everyone was listening. They needed to know what was happening. They needed to be prepared as much as possible because she knew they were coming for her.

  “So you sold us all out and gave him the case full of the toxin. How the hell did you get it anyway?” She knew Billy and Charlie would be running around trying to find out if the toxin was no longer aboard the Whirlwind.

  Whittaker smiled. “I’m not as useless an investigator as you and your band of merry men seemed to think. Don’t forget I know how you’ve been spending all your time in America, Miss Sterling. A boat hired out that quickly, as a private dive boat, wasn’t hard to track down.” He motioned his hand in her direction and she tried not to flinch as the barrel of the gun wavered in front of her chest. “Do you think you’re the only person in the world who knows how to scuba dive? That your Navy friends are the only ones capable of infiltrating a boat and securing a target?” He tapped his chest. “One of the true perks of being underestimated is always having the element of surprise on your side.” He stepped closer to her. “I could’ve slit your throat if I’d wanted to.” He dragged the cold metal of the gun’s muzzle across her neck. “That’s how close I was last night.”

  “There’s no need for threats, Mr. Whittaker. Daniela is here as a friend. We’re here to do business. Aren’t we?”

  Finn nodded slowly.

  “Well, that’s good. Because this case doesn’t have any vaccine in it.” Whittaker smirked. “Of course it doesn’t have any toxin in it either.”

  Finn let out a sigh, the relief so strong it made her dizzy.

  “We’ve already given it to several people to distribute,” Whittaker whispered in her ear.

  Fuck, no. No, no, no, no, no. It’s too soon. Distribution at this point would ravage a population. “Where?” Her lungs didn’t seem to be functioning correctly, and every breath seemed to do nothing toward supplying oxygen to her brain. Think, dammit. It’s your one tool. Think your way out of this.

  “None of your concern,” Mehalik said.

  Come on. Frustration and disbelief warred inside her. This can’t be happening. Please let it be a bloody nightmare. She stared at Whittaker. “He’s a madman, but you?” She looked him up and down. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

  He shrugged, clearly not at all bothered about the people he was killing. “Like I said, he pays well.” He turned to Mehalik. “Speaking of which, we had an agreement. As soon as she was on board you said you’d make the final transfer.”

  “Indeed. I shall see you receive everything you are owed, my friend.” He turned back to Finn. “As Mr. Whittaker said, Daniela, the vaccine you created was not with the toxin. Where is it?”

  It was her only chance to dissuade him. “There isn’t one.” She swallowed thickly. “I couldn’t make it work. If you release Balor you’ll die from it too.”

  “Fuck.” Whittaker slammed his fist on the table. “You said it was ready. You said you’d improved on Lyell’s vaccine so that it was at eighty-five percent.”

  She stared at him. “I lied.”

  “Goddamn bitch.” He stepped toward her only to have Hakim block his path.

  “Daniela, I think it is now you who is lying.” Mehalik stood and placed a chair behind her. “Sit.” He grabbed her arm and pushed her into the chair when she didn’t immediately follow his orders. “I believe you do have a quantity of the vaccine, and the formula for it is stored in that pretty little head of yours. I think you are far too cautious a scientist to have approached this any other way.” He sat down again. “I have several recordings of you working in your laboratory saying exactly that.”

  Shit. The situation went from bad to worse. “Mr. Whittaker was supposed to bring me enough of the vaccine for me to use.” He looked at Whittaker. “You failed.”

  “I made sure you have her. She can get it for you.”

  “Hmmm.” Mehalik stroked his chin. “I’m thinking that is not good enough.” He waved his hand and Hakim raised his gun to Whittaker’s head.

  “No, wait. I have more information that will help.”

  Mehalik held up his hand to halt Hakim. “Quickly.”

  “I can give you the leverage you need to get her to cooperate. I know where her mother is.”

  Finn didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not. Did he know where her mother was? If so, how? Even her father hadn’t been able to find her, and she had all but convinced herself that she really was dead. Either way, she knew she had to deny the possibility of it. She couldn’t risk someone else’s life in Mehalik’s hands. “My mother’s dead, you idiot. My father saw to that.”

  “No, she isn’t. I’ve got a picture to prove it.” He nodded toward his chest. “It’s in my jacket pocket. Two pictures.”

  “Show me,” Mehalik ordered.

&
nbsp; Whittaker pulled the small pictures from his pocket and handed them over with shaking hands. From her position it was difficult to make them out clearly, but she could see one was a picture of her and her mother when she was a small child. She couldn’t see the other at all.

  “When was this taken?” Mehalik waved the second picture at Whittaker.

  “Less than a week ago.”

  “How did you find her?”

  Whittaker sneered at Stephen. “That idiot led me straight to her.”

  Finn gasped. He knows my mother. How the fuck does he know my mother? Stephen pulled against his restraints and tried to speak through the gag. His incoherent words were silenced by Hakim’s gun cracking across the back of his skull.

  “Perhaps a little more restraint, Hakim. It might have been nice to get some corroboration from our Mr. Knight.”

  “Of course. My apologies, General.” The big man bowed his head in a show of submission, but his shoulders didn’t drop, and something in Finn’s memory nagged at her. Something she couldn’t put her finger on, but there was too much else bothering her to try to focus on it. Oz, Balor, Knight, her mother. It was too much. She felt like she was being pulled apart. Everything was out of her control, and she felt helpless in a way she never had before.

  “Where is she?” Mehalik pointed at Whittaker. “And how did you get these?”

  “I followed him to her apartment when he went to see her.” He scrawled an address across the back of the picture. “I didn’t know who she was, but given the mission I figured she had to be important. I thought she might be his wife, which could give me a little leverage and get him off my back. I suspected he knew I was working for you. I broke in and saw the pictures, and I think she’ll be of more use to you than to me, General.”

  “You may be correct, Andrew. But it doesn’t help me now. I need this vaccine quickly.” He nodded and Hakim’s bullet ripped through the back of Whittaker’s skull. The force drove him forward, his face flat to the table.

  Finn screamed as blood, bone fragments, and brain matter splattered across the dark wood surface, and she finally understood the reason for the dark material. It would hide a multitude of sins from anything less than a forensic examination and she added her own contribution as she bent at the waist and vomited.

  When her stomach was empty, she slowly stood and found herself unable to look away from the gory sight. She tried to find some pity or compassion at his fate. She failed. He had colluded and condemned so many others to a painful death that she felt his was entirely justified. The sentiment scared and shocked her far more than the gunshot had. What was she becoming?

  “Where is the vaccine?”

  “I told you, I failed. I ran out of time to make it work.”

  Mehalik sighed. “You may have been wondering why I have Mr. Knight here. I plan to have him help us convince you to tell me where it is.” He waved his hand. “I should have thought that through a little better and kept your blond friend on board, shouldn’t I? She would have been much more motivating for you, I think.”

  Finn swallowed, and for the first time, she was glad Oz wasn’t there. “I failed to make it work.” She looked at Stephen and hoped he could see how sorry she was for the pain they both knew was about to be inflicted upon him.

  “I didn’t expect you to make it easy, Daniela.” He nodded to Hakim. “I think we’ll start at the bottom and work our way up.”

  Hakim grabbed Stephen’s left leg and pulled it forward. He ripped the material open and pulled away his shoes and socks. Finn couldn’t figure out why he was doing it. What difference did it make? Why take the time and the care to clear—

  She hadn’t seen Hakim retrieve the hammer that smashed down on Stephen’s ankle, dead center, and crushed it against a block of wood. Stephen’s eyes were wild, pain and fear mixed heavily with rage. He screamed his agony through the gag stuffed in his mouth and struggled against the ropes wrapped around him. Finn realized that the exposure was so she could see every gory detail of pain he suffered by her refusal. His foot hung at an ugly angle, swelling and bruising already visible, blood running from broken skin.

  “I believe you are a compassionate woman, Daniela. You can end his suffering at any moment.”

  “I don’t have a vaccine to give you, Masood.”

  Hakim exposed the right foot and calf.

  “Let her hear Mr. Knight’s reaction a little clearer, Hakim.”

  Hakim yanked the cloth away from Knight’s mouth and placed the block beneath his heel. He brought the hammer down before Stephen could react. His resulting scream made her weep for his agony.

  “Please stop this.” She would beg if that’s what it took to end the violence. She would offer her life without hesitation. But she wouldn’t give him the vaccine he wanted. It was the only chance she had to stop him from releasing Balor before her vaccine had a chance to spread.

  “It is in your power to stop this, Daniela.” He crouched beside her on one knee and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “You can stop his torment any time. Just tell me where the vaccine is.”

  “Don’t tell him anything. He’s going to kill us anyway.” Stephen gasped the words out through the pain.

  She knew he was right. The moment she gave in she was condemning them both to death, as well as those not yet vaccinated by Lugh. She had no choice. “I don’t have a vaccine to give you,” she whispered.

  “Yes, you do.” Mehalik clicked his fingers and the left leg of Stephen’s pants was ripped to the knee. “Last chance to save his kneecap, my darling Daniela.”

  She shook her head. She locked her gaze with Stephen and let the tears fall again as he smiled and mouthed the words “good girl” at her. His tiny smile was short-lived as the third strike of the hammer shattered his kneecap and his scream exploded through the night.

  “I’m sorry.” It was all she could think to say, but she knew it would never be enough. She was sorry she had distrusted him and right now she couldn’t remember why. She was sorry she hadn’t given him the chance to prove himself to them all. Now he was taking the brunt of every refusal she made.

  “No need to be sorry, just tell me where it is and his suffering will be over.”

  Mehalik stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. A shudder ran down her spine and she remembered the last time a man had stood behind her that way. Jack had wrapped his hands around her throat and tried to choke the life out of her while Oz had watched helplessly from across the room. She could still feel Jack’s fingers on her neck and the forced intimacy of Mehalik’s hands on her skin made her flesh crawl.

  “Where is the vaccine?”

  It occurred to her that her very presence in the room had vaccinated Mehalik. She wanted him to contract the plague he wanted to let loose on the world. She pictured him writhing in agony as Balor painfully stripped away control of every muscle in his body. She pictured him lying on the floor, slowly choking and drowning on his own drool. She could imagine the fear in his eyes when he knew death was coming for him. She’d asked herself earlier what she was becoming. Right now she didn’t care. Rage filled her to overflowing. “I don’t have any.”

  *

  Oz flexed her fingers to get the blood flowing again or she was going to lose her grip of the gunwale. The speed the boat was travelling made it difficult for her to haul her body weight back onto the deck, but she had to. She knew she did. The boat was still going too fast for Junior, AJ, and Ari to get on board. She was still amazed at the risk Hakim had taken by passing her the tiny square of paper when they shook hands. The simple message, play along, was her only clue that everything was far from what it seemed. She’d done as instructed and played along, and rather than finding herself tossed unconscious into the Red Sea, she was clinging to the edge of the Ataba and Zarief E-ttool and trying to make her muscles function enough to keep her from falling into the water. She just wished Finn knew she was okay. The heavy bag Hakim had dropped into the water sounded very much like a body, and
Finn must surely think it had been her. After he dropped it, Hakim had lifted her over, but waited until she got a grip on the rail before letting her go and walking away. There weren’t any words, but he clearly meant for her to stay out of the way. For what reason, she couldn’t fathom. Her head ached from where he’d hit her hard enough to make it seem like he’d actually knocked her out.

  The unmistakable sound of a gunshot, followed by Finn’s scream, propelled her into action. The adrenaline pumped through her body and made the near impossible feat child’s play. She peeked around the deck to make sure it was clear. She hadn’t seen as many enforcers as she’d expected earlier, but she figured they were still out there, watching the water, making sure there was nothing close by. When she was sure the coast was clear, she rounded the corner and glanced quickly through the large sliding glass doors. What was left of Whittaker was slumped over the table, and Finn stood with her back to the windows, blocking out most of the view. It was enough for Oz to get a sense of what was happening inside.

  She heard Mehalik demand to know where the vaccine was. It was his singular focus. Oz looked again and saw the steel case on the table. The case Finn had used to carry the miniscule samples of Balor from New York. Shit. She needed help and she needed it fast. Time for plan B. Or is it C?

  She took a moment to glance at Stephen Knight. His eyes widened as he saw her, but he nodded quickly as she darted her eyes toward the upper deck where the cockpit and the throttle were. Hakim was working at Stephen’s foot as she turned away, but she didn’t have time to hang around. She gripped the edge of the upper deck and lifted herself up enough to see who was where. One guard stood sentry with a seemingly unarmed captain. She dropped silently back to the deck and lifted the leg of her pants. Her dive knife was strapped to her calf. A garbled scream rang out in the darkness. She hoped Knight was okay, but something told her he would be walking with a limp for the rest of his life.