Crusher frowned. “Why didn’t you just tell us about Cate?”
Marsh raised his head and met Crusher’s gaze. “They said they’d kill her if I told anyone about Cate. I was to keep this a mission about freeing Dr. Hale. They’d take over at the handoff and deliver me to Cate as soon as they had Dr. Hale.” He looked over his shoulder. “Now they’re gone, and I have no way of knowing where to look for either one of them.”
“God damn it, Marsh,” Crusher growled. “You should’ve told us. We would’ve figured it out. You know we have resources.”
Marsh lifted his chin. “And risk my daughter’s life?” He shook his head. “She’s all the family I have left since Sue died. I can’t lose her as well.”
“Damn right,” Draco pulled out his cell phone. “I’m calling Royce.”
“We need to bring Swede and Hank into the picture,” Crusher said. “Whoever took Dr. Hale knew SOS had been engaged to get her out of Colombia, or he wouldn’t have targeted Marsh and his daughter.”
“Royce,” Draco said into his cell phone. “Shit went sideways. We have a situation we need help on. Putting you on speaker.”
“I take it the handoff didn’t go as expected,” Royce said. “What happened?”
“Patch in Hank Patterson and Swede,” Phantom said. “No use repeating ourselves.”
Moments later, another voice came over the speaker. “Hank here with Swede. Give us the SITREP.”
Crusher filled them in on what had happened, ending with, “We have Marsh with us, but he doesn’t know much more than that they have Cate as well as Dr. Hale.”
“Devon,” Royce’s voice came across, “Did they contact you on your personal phone or your work phone?”
“Personal,” Marsh said. “Cate must’ve given them the number.”
“Swede,” Royce said. “I’m sending you the number.”
“Got it,” Swede replied. “What was the date and time of the call as close as you can remember it?”
Marsh gave him the date and approximate time.
“I’ll work on locating the calling number, though I suspect it’s a burner phone. Since Cate was taken in London, I assume they made the call from somewhere other than the US. If it’s a burner phone, I might get the country and city, but don’t hold your breath.”
“Hank here,” the head of the Brotherhood Protectors said. “We’ll find your daughter and Dr. Hale.”
“Timing is everything,” Crusher said.
“Exactly,” Swede said. “If Vasquez plans to release the virus at the Global Health Security Summit in Vienna, we only have a few days to find Dr. Hale.”
Crusher blinked. “Is that the target you think Vasquez has in mind?” It always amazed him how quickly Swede came up with answers.
“Makes sense,” Swede said. “Again, you don’t have much time to locate Dr. Hale.”
“Right,” Crusher said. “And Dr. Hale needs time to create the antiviral to keep the virus from spreading. She’ll need access to a lab and the virus to make that happen.”
“I can get her access to the lab at the CDC,” Marsh said. “It’ll take some doing and possibly some false IDs to work around the new administration there.”
“Then work it and make it fast,” Crusher said, still fuming over Marsh’s duplicity. “As soon as we find Dr. Hale, she has to have everything she needs. And still, there’s no guarantee she can create it in such a short period of time. Folks, we’re talking about a pandemic that could wipe out the human race.”
“On it,” Hank said.
“Oh, and Crusher,” Swede said, “I did get some information on Helvetic BioSolutions and Global Conservancy Initiative.”
Crusher bunched his fists. “I could give a rat’s ass about them. I’m more concerned about Marta—Dr. Hale and the virus Vasquez plans to release.” With so much pent-up energy and no set plan of attack, all he could do was pace the sidewalk a few steps away and back.
“Then you might find it interesting that Helvetic BioSolutions is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and they’ve done research on similar viruses that could spawn pandemics. Not sure of a connection to Dr. Hale’s virus but thought she might have found it useful. And, after digging through various layers of corporations, I discovered that Global Conservancy Initiative is a non-profit founded by billionaire Pieter Teuling.”
“I’ve heard of Teuling,” Crusher said. “Isn’t he the guy who proposed that all foreign governments pull out of the Middle East and let the people that have been fighting each other for so many centuries finish each other off?”
