CHAPTER 52

           If only allowed to flex its muscle, the bond of family would prove stronger than allegiance to any government.

        —LANCASTER R. HILL, Climb the Mountain, SAWYER RIVER BOOKS, 1941, P. 33

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

Committed to avoiding hesitation at all costs, Lou’s finger was tightening on the trigger when Vaill reached over and grabbed his wrist.

“Jesus, you almost killed him, Lou. Next time you decide you’re not going to hesitate, stop and check with me. Dr. Lou Welcome, Dr. Ahmed Kazimi.”

The men, would-be killer and would-be victim, shook hands.

“Please speak softly,” Kazimi said. “There is a surveillance camera in the room behind us. We will meet you by the elevator shaft where we cannot be heard or seen by them.”

The scientist vanished back into the castle, while Lou risked a quick peek into the space beyond the wall. Instead of the storage area he had expected, the room was a microbiology laboratory, with a stainless-steel autopsy table, a sink, and several large refrigeration units, along with a rack of hazmat suits and a portable chemical shower. Craning his neck sideways, Lou could see clear plastic cages lining the pivoting wall. White mice scurried about, disturbed by the sudden movement of their habitats.

Lou stepped back to make room for Kazimi in the space overlooking the elevator shaft. Humphrey, whose motorized wheelchair barely fit through the opening, followed. Kazimi applied pressure to a spot, and the wall glided shut, enclosing them. A nearly concealed switch turned on a trio of corroded sconces.

“You were the last person I expected to be knocking on the wall, Agent Vaill,” Kazimi said as the two men shook hands. “I saw what happened that night to Agent Rodriguez. I am terribly, terribly sorry.”

“I’m here to rescue you and to avenge her,” Vaill said without emotion.

“Well, I am glad you are alive to do so,” Kazimi replied. “Dr. Welcome, Mr. Miller has had many fine things to say about you.”

“I’m glad we’ve found you both. Humphrey, I confess I feared the worse for you. It’s very good to see you again.”

“Good to be found,” Humphrey said.

“I’m saddened about your aide. These are very bad people we are dealing with.”

“Especially that Burke.”

“No time for happy reunions,” Vaill said. “How long do we have before whoever is monitoring those cameras notices you’re gone?”

“No idea,” Kazimi said, “but I would think not long.”

“How many guards?”

“Again, I do not know. But Burke is here. I know that much.”

Lou expected Vaill to react to the news, but his face looked blank. It was the expression Lou had seen in the Arbor General parking lot and before that, in the interrogation room. Hopefully, if a headache was developing, it would either be minimal or short-lived. Lou feared otherwise.

“That’s important information,” he said. “Anything else you can tell us?”

“You should know that it is my fault that Mr. Miller is here. Burke forced me into giving up his name by showing me proof they were ready to harm or murder my friends and family.”

Vaill suddenly brightened, and seemed to connect with what was being said.

“Do you mean you told Burke about Humphrey? I thought there was an informant in the FBI.”

“Burke is the only informant I know of,” Kazimi said, “but he is enough—a violent, violent man.”

Lou and Vaill exchanged understanding looks. There was no additional mole in the FBI. Under great duress, Lou had disclosed Humphrey’s identity to Vaill and his partner, while Kazimi, imprisoned fifteen hundred miles away, had given up the same information to Alexander Burke.

“You did what you had to do, Dr. Kazimi,” Lou said. He glanced at Vaill. “We both did.”

“It appears summoning Mr. Miller may well be the key to solving this crisis. Mr. Miller and I connected online many years ago. I had never met him in person, so I was unaware of his disability while he was part of my team. But I did appreciate his brilliance. My decision to ignore his good council was predicated on my arrogance alone and nothing more.”

“You’ve made up for that now,” Humphrey said.

“Thank you for saying that. I believed in my approach to eradicating this germ. I was wrong. Thankfully, I have since seen the light, as it were. I now believe Mr. Miller’s theory about a combination of bacteriophage may well be the correct one. If his well-thought-out approach is proven in our trials, it will destroy the Janus germ, as it is referred to here, without harming the host.”

Instead of looking terrorized or weakened by his ordeal, Humphrey seemed aglow with pride.

“Very sad about Cassie,” he said, “but getting recognition I deserve means a lot.”

“What did he say?” Vaill asked, clearly impatient.

“He said he’s glad things are working out.”

“Tell him that if his theory works, he’ll be a national hero.”

“Tim, he can hear and understand you,” Lou said, suppressing most of a grin. “It’s just his speech that’s off.”

“Very confident will work,” Humphrey said. “Don’t need lab at Arbor, Lou. We’re about to get cure!”

His eyes were sparkling.

“He says—”

“I got it. I got it,” Vaill said, cutting Lou off. “Now, we need to get going. Let me ask you both one last time: Do you know of anyone else here besides Burke?”

“And that man, Ron, handling the radio from the security office,” Lou reminded him.

“I know of two other guards besides Burke,” Kazimi said. “One is a big, blond man named Collins and the other is an even bigger fellow named Drake. They seem very dangerous.”

Again, Vaill and Lou exchanged looks.

Not anymore …

“Anybody else?”

“Doug Bacon is here. Another bad man. I think he runs the entire organization. He limps and walks with a cane, and I think he has a drinking problem. But he is very smart and not to be underestimated.”

“Okay, last chance. Anyone else?”

“There’s a butler—an older man named Harris. Nobody else I know of. We have been told the microbiologist who first identified the Janus strain has arrived at the castle with tissue cultures growing the three strains of bacteriophage Mr. Miller believes will be the key, but we haven’t been introduced yet. That’s all.”

Vaill’s eyes were smoldering.

“Where is Burke?” he asked.

Good, Lou thought. False alarm. He’s back.

“I don’t know where he is right now,” Kazimi said again. “He comes back here a lot.”

Vaill removed the Red Cliff plans from his backpack and laid them out on the cement floor.

“Show me the way to Bacon,” he said. “If Burke is here, he’ll be guarding the head of the dragon.”

Kazimi used his finger to trace the best route from the laboratory to Bacon’s videoconference study on the north side of the castle.

“The details of the map are small and blurry, but I believe this route will get you to Bacon’s study.”

“You two stay in the lab. We’ll be back to get you.”

Vaill retrieved the extra pistol he had brought—a Glock like the one he’d given Lou from his backpack—and tried to hand the weapon to Kazimi.

“Ever fire one of these?” Vaill asked.

Kazimi held up his hands in refusal.

“I study microbes and the Koran, Agent Vaill. You know that.”

“As you wish.”

“Keep low and to the wall as you go through the mouse room and the main lab. There are two cameras in the Great Room, but I don’t know how you might avoid them.”

Vaill nodded, replaced the gun, and Lou retrieved the listening device that had fallen onto the elevator platform. Kazimi reopened the secret door. Moving forward on their knees, careful to hug the wall, Vaill and Lou followed Kazimi into the adjacent, main lab—an impressive facility that spoke volumes of the resourcefulness and resources of the Neighbors.

Leaving the two scientists behind, Vaill and Lou crossed into the opulent Great Room. Each pointed to the mounted security cameras, and together, they elected to stand up. The message was clear: the time for stealth is over. Come and get us!

Vaill took the lead. Lou’s stomach felt knotted and raw but the Glock in his hand was actually somewhat reassuring. With Kazimi and Humphrey back in the lab, anyone else they encountered would be the enemy.

This time, there would be no hesitation.

Lou was mindful of his breathing—slow in, slow out—as he fought to quell his rumbling anxiety. He and Vaill entered the Great Room side by side. Lou paused momentarily to observe the spectacular bank of floor-to-ceiling windows lining the east-facing wall. Like the trappings of the Great Room, without a doubt the daytime view through those windows was spectacular.

They were halfway across the room when they heard a radio transmission echoing from the passageway to their right—the central passageway through the castle.

Burke.

“I just left Jessup. He called me down because he just discovered he has them on camera,” he was saying. “Two of them, using what looks like C-4 to take the guardhouse door off. Can’t make them out in the dark. Looks like professional work. Probably FBI. Any word from Drake or Collins? If the intruders who did the guardhouse are FBI, they’re both dead.”

Vaill did not react.

“He’s right over there, in the passageway,” Lou whispered urgently. He gave a hard tug on Vaill’s sleeve, asking him to pull back and find a hiding place for an ambush. As if under a spell, Vaill remained rooted where he stood, out in the open. He was squinting. Tears of pain had formed at the corners of his eyes.

This was no false alarm.

“Tim, take cover,” Lou said more urgently now.

The agent stood rigidly upright, his pistol dangling at his side. His eyes were nearly closed.

“… The situation certainly looks dangerous,” Burke went on, his voice getting louder as he approached. “I think we should keep Miller and Kazimi in the lab. I’m going there to check on them now. I’ll bring them to your study to meet the new arrival once I clean up this mess.”

Burke, radio to his ear, strode into the Great Room and immediately spotted first Vaill, then Lou, both out in the open. Vaill was a step in front, partially blocking Lou’s line of sight. Burke wasted no time reaching for his weapon. Vaill, holding his at his side, was clearly too distracted by the pain in his head to move.

Lou leveled his Glock, but with Vaill out in front, could not get off a clean shot.

“That’s Burke!” he shouted. “Dammit, Tim, shoot!”

The delay was an eternity. Not even bothering to seek cover, Burke calmly raised his gun and fired, hitting Vaill squarely in the chest once, then again. It was as if he assumed Vaill was wearing Kevlar, and was purposely firing to stun, not to kill. The impact knocked Vaill off of his feet and onto his butt. Lou dove to his right, ducking behind an oversized armchair, wondering how much protection the cushions might afford. Twenty feet toward the massive windows, Burke stood erect, scanning the scene in front of him. It was then Lou realized the man was smiling.

Lou poked up from behind the chair just long enough to fire off several shots, all misses.

The bright flashes made his eyes tear; the acrid stench of gunpowder assaulted his nostrils; and the shots were temporarily deafening. He was a neophyte in a gun battle with a highly trained killer. Not good. Keeping his head down, he shot almost blindly toward where he thought the man was standing. He hit a window, shattering one of the panes, and at least forcing Burke to take some cover beside a leather sofa.

To Lou’s left, he saw that Vaill had clumsily retrieved his gun and stumbled to his feet. The vagueness in his eyes persisted. Lou could see the holes where at least two bullets had torn through his shirt and slammed into his bulletproof vest.

Thank God for Kevlar, Lou was thinking. But he knew it was just a matter of time—and not much time at that. In his condition, Vaill was even more of a mismatch for Burke than he was.

“Tim, get down!” he cried.

He fired another burst, this time, it seemed, with more patience and control. In fact, his third shot struck Burke somewhere in the upper leg. The killer swore and immediately fired back an angry volley, striking the sturdy easy chair inches from Lou’s ear. The way Burke lurched backward but did not fall, Lou felt certain that the wound was muscle or merely flesh, not bone.

Ignoring his leg, which was already bleeding through his khakis, Burke inserted a new ammo clip, hobbled to his right, and stopped in front of the massive windows, not fifteen feet from Vaill, who was still raising his weapon. Burke, his expression nearly serene, leveled his gun at the man he had not long ago failed to kill.

Lou, twenty-five feet away, and almost directly behind Vaill, watched the terrible scene unfold as if it were in slow motion.

“Maria,” he heard Vaill whisper, once and then again. “Maria.”

Lou stood and quickly moved to his left to open up a line of fire. He was Vaill’s backup. They were partners now. He trained his Glock in Burke’s direction and fired.

The click from his empty chamber was as loud as any gunshot.

An instant later, the Great Room erupted. More noise, more flashes, and more stench of gunpowder. One of the bullets from Burke’s gun struck Vaill in the neck. Another slammed into his shoulder, where the Kevlar offered no protection. A geyser of blood erupted from the neck wound spraying in all directions, bathing his face and clothes, and turning the floor at his feet crimson.

Lou stood helplessly as Vaill dropped his gun and stumbled back a step. But somehow, he refused to go down.

“Maria,” he said, louder than before. “I … love … you.”

Then, to Lou’s astonishment, the wounded agent, more dead than alive, charged forward, blood spraying from the grotesque holes in his neck and shoulder. The killer fired once more from no more than ten feet. Then again. The first shot shattered Vaill’s forearm. The second went through his mouth and out his cheek. Legs still pumping furiously, Vaill cleared the last five feet.

Burke was wide-eyed, raising his gun for a center forehead killshot, when the bloody apparition lowered his shoulder and hit him with intense force. In that same motion, Vaill locked his arms around Burke’s midsection, and drove him backward like a linebacker tackling in the open field.

The two enemies, one essentially dead, one about to be, slammed against one of the massive windows, and then continued through it into the ebony night.

Amid the sound of glass raining down onto the stone floor, Lou swore he heard Vaill cry out his wife’s name one final time.