Unknown Location
Present Day
R
ichter ended the call and slammed the phone on his desk as Gerhard entered the room, his face grim. Richter held up a finger before his butler could speak, then leaned over and grabbed his garbage can, heaving his dinner.
What have I done?
Gerhard rushed to his side, a handkerchief in his hand. Richter took it and wiped his mouth as Gerhard removed the garbage can from the room, returning a few minutes later with a new one, this time lined with a plastic bag.
“Are you feeling better?”
Richter nodded. “Yeah, it was just the shock. Any word?”
“It’s been confirmed. There was a detonation. It will be hitting the news any moment now.”
Richter glanced at the displays lining the wall with every major news network, one of them now showing a fireball erupting from the front of the Guggenheim. “Any word on the number of dead?”
“It’s too soon. It’s only been a couple of minutes. What do you think happened? Accidental detonation?”
Richter shook his head then dialed Peeters. He cursed, tossing the phone back on his desk. “Straight to voicemail.” Peeters was dead, he was certain of it. When Acton had confronted him on the explosion, he wasn’t sure what to believe. But he had compartmentalized his emotions and took advantage. What Peeters had done was an atrocity, though it had presented an opportunity.
Leverage. New leverage.
His leverage had been the hostages. As long as the professors thought those lives were at risk, they would do as they were told. The moment that explosion occurred, that leverage was gone.
But now he had it back, thanks to his quick thinking.
“What are you going to do?”
Richter regarded his trusted man, the closest thing he had to a friend in the world. “What do you
think we should do?”
“I think we should walk away from this, sir. If you become implicated, you’ll be going to prison for the rest of your life.”
“But I didn’t do it.”
“Forgive me, sir, but I heard what you said before I could close the door. You just implied to two well-respected professors that you did.”
Richter frowned as he leaned back. “Yeah, in retrospect that might not have been the wisest thing to say. I was thinking on my feet. I just didn’t expect that explosion to happen so soon. I was hoping to leverage the fear of the explosion, and with them isolated, they might not discover the truth.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I can’t abandon this now. All those people are dead because of this. Some good might come of it if I get my hands on that Bible. I can sell it to the buyer, and we’ll be able to save so many innocent animals from the proceeds, some good might come from this tragedy.”
“Then we’re proceeding?”
Richter drew a breath, steeling himself. He exhaled. “Yes, we are. Arrange everything as we discussed. Please tell me our people got the footage.”
“They did, sir. Hacking the Guggenheim’s system was child’s play.”
“Then post it. Make sure everybody sees what our fanatic professors did.”
