Across town, Crusher lay awake, staring at the ceiling of his hotel room, counting the hours and minutes until he could finally take action and do something to free Marta.
Dmytro had left Lucy in charge of gathering internet information. He’d flown Striker and Alex to Vienna in his private plane, armed with photos of Vasquez and Krauss. If they saw either of them, they were to call Hammer immediately. Not all the participants had arrived at the conference center. They would trickle in over the next thirty-six hours.
After dropping his passengers at the airport in Vienna, armed with communications devices and weapons, Dmytro had turned around and flown back to Zurich. He was on standby, ready to whisk Crusher and Marta to Vienna with the antiviral.
Crusher had met with Thomas, the janitor, earlier, anxious to know if the man had delivered his message.
Not only had he delivered it, but he’d also brought back a piece of the notebook paper torn into the shape of a heart.
Marta had received the message and had returned one of her own. He figured she hadn’t had anything to write with. Since she was a prisoner, the people guarding her wouldn’t likely let her have anything that could be used as a weapon. Tearing the paper into the shape of a heart had been all the message she’d been able to send.
Crusher had accepted the message as a sign that she understood and was happy to know they had a plan to rescue her. He couldn’t let himself read more into the tiny heart-shaped response. As he counted the minutes until he saw her again, he reminded himself that she was way out of his league and deserved someone who could match her intelligence and speak her language, the language of science.
Yeah, he had to keep telling himself that or he’d be tempted to keep her once he freed her from Teuling’s lab.
In his meeting with Thomas, they’d laid out a plan to get Crusher inside the facility on extraction day in less than thirty-six hours. Crusher would go in alone. Phantom, Draco, Marsh, Fearghas and Catya would be his backup should shit go sideways. They’d be in position to pick off guards, ram the gates or run interference while Crusher got away with Marta and Cate.
Crusher would spend the day studying the facility floor plan until he committed it to memory. He’d gather the weapons and radio equipment he’d need to communicate with the team.
Thomas had shared Marta and Cate’s routine and explained that a guard escorted them everywhere, even to the shower. The only time a guard wasn’t standing over them was when they were in the BSL-3 lab.
Crusher closed his eyes, willing himself to relax and let sleep take him. He needed to be rested and ready to go when he entered Helvetic BioSolutions’ facility the day after tomorrow.
His cell phone chirped with an incoming call.
Instantly awake and alert, he answered the burner phone, “Crusher.”
“It’s Striker,” a voice said. “Vasquez has arrived at the conference center.”
Crusher’s hand tightened around his cell phone. The shit was getting real. “Roger. Any sign of Kraus?”
“Negative,” Striker said. “Vasquez came in with a security detail of four. Alex and I will keep an eye on them and watch for Krauss. The event doesn’t kick off for another day and a half. Swede says the US and Colombian delegates aren’t scheduled to arrive until late tomorrow night.”
“If Vasquez follows through with his plan to release the virus on the summit attendees, you can bet he’ll leave before he’s infected.”
“We’re keeping that in mind,” Striker said. “I’d feel better if we had the antiviral here already.”
“Can’t bank on it. We really need to stop the release before it happens and nail him with the evidence.”
“Roger,” Striker said. “Working it. Let us know your ETA when you have it.”
“Will do. Out here.”
Now that things were happening, the people they’d expected to appear at the Summit had started arriving, and sleep was the furthest thing from Crusher’s mind. He lay in his bed for another half hour before giving up, then rose and knocked out fifty push-ups and twice as many sit-ups. That little bit of exercise did little to tire or make him sleepy. He pulled on a T-shirt and sweatpants Hammer had loaned him, and his running shoes, and headed out into the night and the streets of Zurich for a run. Marking time was murder. He wanted to make the move now, not burn through another day trying to keep busy.
He ran through the streets with no goal in mind but to expend energy and pass the time. Eventually, he realized he was on the outskirts of the city near the Helvetic BioSolutions facility. He slowed and moved closer, clinging to the shadows of nearby buildings until he could see the structure within the chain link fence topped with barbed wire.
Marta was in there. He had the sudden urge to scale the fence, break down the door, find the pretty scientist and take her away. He fought that urge, knowing she was in the best place for now to complete the antiviral they might be forced to use should Vasquez slip through their hands and follow through on his threat.
“So close,” he murmured from the deepest shadow. He hated waiting, especially not knowing whether they were treating her right. His jaw tightened as he remembered finding her bound to the desk in Vasquez’s compound. If anyone had hurt her here, he would find that person and pound him into the ground.
He stood for the next thirty minutes staring at the building, running various scenarios through his head of how he’d get inside the building, find her and bring her out.
Every scenario ended with her in his arms, him kissing her until they both ran out of air.
And how was that part of his mission?
Oh, fuck it. Who was he trying to kid?
