CHAPTER 30

Eytan had set off with a plan to get to the heliport as quickly as possible, but he now found himself wandering along pathways that meandered through the wooded and picturesque grounds. The blocky seventies-style buildings stood out conspicuously in these natural surroundings.

Eytan was taking this route not because he was interested in the scenery, but because he wanted to confirm a hunch that was growing stronger with each step. At the moment, this camp was deserted. There were certainly no children, and it appeared that the grounds and buildings were being worked on. Many of the structures had scaffolding. It was the same for the sports facilities. Two tennis and basketball courts with freshly painted lines attested to some of the changes awaiting the camp’s residents.

Eytan was sure of one thing: the person in charge of this place was going all out for the sake of the children. The whole thing just didn’t add up.

Eytan continued to head north, toward the mountain. He walked past one last structure, probably a cafeteria, and came to a row of trees. Pushing aside the branches, he was confronted with a chain-link fence that was about twelve feet high. Eytan guessed that this was the heliport site. Through the fence, Eytan saw another seventies-looking building, but this one was much more run-down. He estimated that the structure, atop concrete pillars, was about three hundred by sixty feet. A set of metal stairs led to the front door, which was chained shut.

Eytan bent down and picked a few blades of grass. He chose the largest one and placed it against one of the wires and listened for crackling. He folded the blade in half to make it shorter and once again placed it against the wire. Still no shock. Confident, Eytan hoisted himself over the barrier. Once on the other side, he unhooked the walkie-talkie and called Elena.

“I’m at the heliport.”

“You took your sweet time.”

“I wanted to make sure the camp was empty. It is.”

“Fabulous.” Eytan could hear the sarcasm in Elena’s voice. “We knocked out those two guys just so I could play gatekeeper. I love it.”

“Look, I’m sorry I had to leave you behind. But I’ll explain later. Right now I’m going to check out a building I found near the landing zone. I’m sure it’s no coincidence it wasn’t on the map.”

“Wait for me. I’m bored to death back here.”

“No, I’d rather have you as backup in case something happens. The place looks deserted, and it probably is. But it also looks like there’s some work going on, and I don’t want us to be around if any construction crews come back. Better safe than sorry.”

“Got any other clichés up your sleeve?”

“That cliché has saved my life on more than one occasion. Gotta go. Keep me posted if anything suspicious happens.”

“If anything happens,” Elena said and snorted. Eytan could almost see the snarky face she was making at the walkie-talkie.

Eytan hooked the device back onto his belt and trotted across the heliport. At the foot of the stairs, he took a quick look around. He crouched and made his way up the steps. Once at the door, he lifted the chain and examined it. The metal links were secured with a padlock. It looked new. Interesting.

A well-targeted bullet jolted the lock off the chain, and a simple shoulder shove was all that it took to open the door.

Despite the boredom, Elena remained on the lookout. She was fixating on Eytan’s words: “best for the mission and best for you.” He wasn’t the kind of guy who just said things for the hell of it. So what did he mean by “best for you”? She could have thought about it more clearly, but the throbbing in her skull was becoming a killer headache. Staying still was making her antsy. And she was definitely sick of being Officer Baldy’s personal assistant. Two more days and he’d be asking her to schedule his appointments.

A distant noise in the sky caught her attention. It was a repetitive beating, and it was getting louder by the second.

“Shit,” she cursed as she grabbed the handheld transceiver. “Morg? Can you hear me?”

All she got in return was static. She checked the device. It appeared to be working.

“Eytan, if you can hear me, get out of there fast. A helicopter is coming.”

Again, the same crackling noise. Elena cursed the device and threw it on the floor. She picked up her gun and darted into the campground.

Eytan entered a bright rectangular room with large windows. Its modest furnishings consisted of white plastic tables and chairs. To his left, a long tiled hallway leading to a metal door was lined with rooms. Eytan explored them, one by one. He discovered an inactive cold-storage chamber, a library whose shelves were devoid of books, and a large space in which six black desks were stacked haphazardly on top of one another. Then came a video surveillance room equipped with five monitors, all turned off.

Another room was filled with glass and wire cages. From there, a door led to what looked like a dissecting room. Boxes filled with scalpels, pliers, and other surgical instruments were perched on stainless-steel tables. He saw electron microscopes on workstations pushed against the wall. How charming, he thought. A wretched odor of household products—a pungent mix of disinfectant and dust—permeated the space.

He no longer doubted Elena’s findings. He was willing to bet a lot of money that this place was hiding the answers they were looking for. But he still needed to know if the lab’s exploits belonged to the past, present, or future.

Eytan walked into a spacious room that felt less industrial than the others. The closed window blinds let only thin beams of light filter into the space. What must have been an office contained boxes marked with the letters S and W. The gray walls had lighter areas. Eytan figured pictures had hung in these spots. And, indeed, there was one still hanging on the wall. It was a yellowing photograph of a nice-looking woman in a white lab coat. Her blond hair was tied back in a bun, and her arms were crossed. In the background, Eytan could make out a sign with the American eagle and a partially covered inscription with the letters FO and CK.

He lingered on the image for a moment. He was convinced that the man or woman who owned this property was preparing to relocate. Therefore, the lab had served its purpose. All he needed to find now was the nerve center. Eytan left the office and headed toward the heavy metal door at the end of the hallway.

He peeked through the small window in the door. He was getting closer. He pulled on the handle and entered the rectangular space, which appeared to take up all the square footage on this side of the building. The door shut behind him. There was a phone on each wall and a camera in every corner. Taking up much of the area was a large rectangular unit planted in the middle of the floor. It was so big, the remainder of the space served as a corridor around all four sides.

Each side of the unit had a large observation window. The unit was divided into smaller rooms, most of which contained biosafety cabinets, incubators, motorized centrifuges, and other lab equipment. Eytan saw the yellow biohazard symbol. Now he knew for sure—this was a P4 laboratory. White protective suits hanging in a cloakroom underscored his conclusion.

Just as he was beginning to inspect the setup, the ceiling lights went on. He heard a dull click coming from the door he had just gone through. Eytan’s hand went for his gun. Hugging the wall, he started edging toward a corner where he could crane his neck and get a better look at the door.

A man was watching him through the glass window. Eytan could make out only his piercing blue eyes. There was no use in playing cat-and-mouse. He stepped away from his hiding place.

Eytan could now see that the man was holding a phone up to the window. Eytan responded by picking up the receiver of a nearby wall phone.

“You’re not Japanese,” the man said in perfect English.

“Good call,” Eytan responded, trying to get a better look at his phone partner.

“SVR? NATO?”

“Nope and nope.”

“Ah! So you must be working for the lab we stole the viral strains from. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but they aren’t here.” Above him, Eytan heard fans coming on. He knew they were extraction fans. “Sorry, I don’t have time to chat,” the man said. “If it’s any consolation, it’ll be a quick death.”

The man hung up and left. Eytan was already finding it hard to breathe. Relying on his above-average lung capacity, he drew a deep breath, filling his body with as much oxygen as possible before a vacuum was created in the corridor.

Crouched against the fence separating her from the building Eytan had described, Elena watched the helicopter as its blades spun. Two Asian men, fighting the blast of air from the blades, were doing something to the concrete supports. After a few minutes, they rushed toward the heliport, as two other guys, one of whom was Caucasian and carried a briefcase, came hurtling down the stairs. All of them hopped on the aircraft and took off immediately.

She waited for the helicopter to drift far enough away before jumping the fence and sprinting toward the entrance to the building.

Holding his breath, Eytan emptied his supply of bullets against the window in the door, which was beginning to crack. He banged the butt of his gun against it as hard as he could. His lungs were burning. His vision was starting to blur, and his arms were cramping. Each new assault on the door had a little less force. The glass wouldn’t budge. If only he had his trusty shoe explosives.

Elena rushed up the steps, driven even faster by the newly discovered threat to the building’s supports. The room she found herself in was empty and showed no signs of struggle. There wasn’t any time to go exploring. A loud, repetitive pounding caught her attention, and without thinking, she dashed toward the dark corridor to her left. She ran down the hall and stopped cold in front of the obstacle separating her from Eytan. She was transfixed by the scene before her. Behind the glass window filled with spidery cracks, her partner was staring back at her with a contorted face.

She snapped out of her trance and furiously pulled on the door handle. It refused to budge. She looked around and spotted a boxlike fixture on the wall. It had two lights, one red and the other green. Naturally, the red light was blinking. She kickboxed it until it broke off the wall, revealing a weave of cables. She grabbed hold of them and ripped them out in a bundle of sparks. The door made a loud click, and she opened it immediately.

Eytan fell into her arms. It took all her strength not to topple backward under the weight of the massive man. She lowered him gently to the floor. The giant inhaled such a huge breath, she couldn’t imagine where he could put all the air. His face flushed with color as he regained his senses.

“Come on. We have to get out of here, and fast!” she said, helping him to his feet. “They attached explosives to the pillars under the building. Hurry!”

“You go first!”

Elena ran through the hall, with Eytan hot on her heels. The first explosion went off behind them, followed by another. The building began caving in. Elena started running even faster, taking the Kidon agent by surprise. He doubled his efforts to catch up and escape the collapsing roof.

Without slowing, Elena grabbed her gun and emptied her bullets into the window at the end of the hall. The glass shattered. As she prepared to leap through the opening, she felt an arm wrap around her waist and a huge hand shield her head. Then a brusque shove lifted her off the ground and propelled her forward like a torpedo. As two more blasts finished off the building, Elena soared through the air, securely strapped to Eytan’s chest. She had no idea how long they stayed suspended. The landing wasn’t as bad as she anticipated. When she opened her eyes, she realized why.

Eytan lay sprawled under her. He had cushioned her fall and absorbed almost all of the shock of the landing. She glanced over her shoulder at the spot where the laboratory had stood. In its place was a heap of rubble. A cloud of gray dust was drifting into the air. She looked back at the giant and saw that he was wincing and holding his ribs. She rolled over to take her weight off him.

“You disobeyed my orders,” Eytan grumbled.

“I’m the only one who’s allowed to kill you.”

Eytan laughed so hard, he was soon moaning and coughing. With great effort, he sat up and examined his jacket. The flying glass and metal had shredded the right side.

“Shit,” he said.

Elena stood up and extended a hand to Eytan, who took it. She had to use all her strength to avoid toppling over as she helped him rise to his feet. Upright again, he rubbed his ribs under his T-shirt.

“You’re not banged up too badly are you?” she asked.

“Nothing that won’t heal,” he replied.

“I tried to warn you about the chopper, but my message wasn’t getting through.”

“What did you see?”

“There was a light-haired dude in a suit with three men who looked like bodyguards. They got into the helicopter and took off.

Breathing heavily, Eytan was walking a few steps behind her. “You should have kept them from leaving,” he said.

“Need I remind you of my limited intel? How could I make that kind of decision? To be safe, I stuck with my partner. I may be a bitch, but I’m loyal.”

“Thanks for getting me get out of there,” he said. “But we’re in a bad position. Our opponents know they’re being followed, and we’ve lost their trail.”

“I don’t agree. By now they’re assuming you’re dead, and that’s a huge plus for us.”

“I think we might actually have another clue.”

“Which is?”

“In one of the offices, I found boxes that had the letters S and W written on them. There was also a photograph of a Caucasian woman.”

“Okay, a new lead. The S and W might be initials. We’ll have to see if there’s a Western-sounding name with those initials somewhere in the Shinje archives.”

“It’s a long shot, but I’ll take anything at this point.”

They crossed the campground at a slower pace than Elena would have liked. Eytan was breathing with difficulty, and he was keeping his right arm close to his chest. The landing outside the destroyed lab had taken a toll. Elena offered to inspect Eytan’s wounds, but he waved her off.

They left the campground and returned to their car. Wheezing, Eytan rested against the passenger-side door before getting in. Elena headed toward the driver’s side, ready to slide behind the wheel.

“One second,” he said. “I need to tell you something.”

“Can’t it wait until we’re on the road?”

“No, it can’t.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“When you came out of the cat café, I wasn’t mad that you had taken your time. I was preoccupied. I had just found out why you lost consciousness in Tel Aviv.”

“Yeah, I was wondering why that happened. But why are you bringing it up now?”

“Because before I didn’t know how to tell you. You have a brain tumor. According to Avi Lafner, it’s because of your mutation. It’s a side effect that’s specific to the mutagen they gave you.”

Elena felt like she had just been sucker punched. She turned around and leaned against the door with her eyes closed. The random blindness she had experienced in the Czech Republic, the headaches… Suddenly she was a child again, in that hospital bed. She replayed the conversation between her father and Professor Bleiberg and remembered how it had filled her with hope.

Then came the injection and nearly intolerable pain that had her practically knocking at death’s door before finally offering her a new life. All these years she had believed that she was free of the physical constraints that bound everyone else to a normal life span and relatively limited capabilities. She had assumed she was above the laws of nature. Like Patient 302, she represented a turning point in human evolution. All that to learn that she would be spewing her guts after endless hours of chemotherapy and spending the rest of her days in a palliative care unit.

“That’s why I wanted you to stay back earlier.”

Fighting tears, she opened her eyes.

“You didn’t want to be dragging a dead weight, is that it?”

“No. Even if you were half as good as you are now, I’d still want you to be my partner. I didn’t want to… I mean… I’m sorry.”

“How long do I have?”

“Not long.”

Elena took a deep breath and wiped her cheeks.

“We’d better get to Tokyo, then. We shouldn’t be wasting any time. You take the backseat. You’ll be more comfortable.”

Eytan started to get into the car, but Elena, who had come over to his side, stopped him.

“I don’t want any pep talks, Morg. And no endless negotiating or banishing me to the sidelines. I’m finishing this mission with you. If I have to go down…”

Eytan didn’t say anything. For people like them, this was the only way to go.

The only acceptable way.