“You think they’ll just own up to what they’ve been doing in front of the Summit attendees and the world?” Crusher shook his head.
“I do,” she said, “given the right incentive.”
“What incentive?” Hammer asked, his brow dipping as low as Crusher’s.
“If Vasquez is in that room, he’ll know the virus is going to be released into the ventilation shafts. He’ll try to leave the room before that happens.” She looked around the room. “That’s where I’ll need a little help. We can’t let Vasquez leave the room. Then we’ll inform him and Pieter Teuling that the virus they were so intent on releasing—Vasquez at the Summit and Teuling with his clean water initiative—has been released into the ventilation shafts. The virus is 99.9% fatal. If they want to live, I have the only vial of antiviral available. All they have to do is confess their sins.”
“They’ll be cornered,” Swede said. “We have enough data to substantiate the accusations and to display on the screens—the charts and dates we’ve received from the World Health Organization.”
Crusher continued to shake his head. “What if we don’t catch whoever Vasquez tasked with releasing the virus into the ventilation system?”
“We will,” Marta said. “We have to. Everyone in that room will be depending on it.”
“What if we don’t?” Crusher asked.
“Then we deal with the fallout. There won’t be enough antiviral to go around, but we can work with what we have until we can make more.” She held his gaze. “We can’t let people like Vasquez and Teuling dictate who lives and who dies. They aren’t gods. I’ll be in that room. You don’t have to come with me. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t.”
Crusher held her gaze for a long moment before saying, “I’m going with you.”
“I’ll hack into their video feed,” Swede said, “and have all the charts and data ready to post as soon as you give me the word.”
Hammer clapped his hands together. “We have work to do to get ready. Dr. Hale and Crusher need to be in the Summit room early and stay out of sight of our two targets.”
“How will you know when to confront them?” Cate asked.
“If Vasquez has a specific time in mind, he’ll be looking at his watch,” Marta said. “When he gets up to leave, that’s when we keep that from happening.”
“You’re banking on Vasquez actually going through with his plan to release a virus on the delegates at the Summit,” Hank said. “What if he doesn’t go through with it? What if Krauss didn’t complete the project in time and Vasquez decided not to use the virus as a bargaining tool? What if the delegates he threatened cave under the pressure and decide not to implement the Pacific Corridor and the Central American Interdiction Framework? How will you expose Vasquez and Teuling?”
Marta’s brow furrowed. “Vasquez might not get away with his plans by denying everything, but, with the evidence the WHO has collected, we can nail Teuling during his speech. He’s already murdered people with the additives in his clean water initiative. The delegates, eager to get clean water for their people, need to know what it will cost in lives.” She looked from Hank on the laptop screen to Hammer and everyone in the room, her gaze finally landing on Crusher. “No matter how it plays out, people have to know what Teuling has done and what he plans to do.”
Hammer nodded, his jaw firm. “You’ll need passes to get into the Summit.”
Even before Hammer finished his sentence, Dmytro was already at work. He hacked into the database listing delegates approved to attend the Summit and added two names to the attendees’ list. He used the fake passports Crusher had handed him. Rose Richards and Truman Getty would be admitted to the room after showing their passports.
Within minutes, Dmytro declared, “Done.”
“Krauss still hasn’t shown up,” Crusher said. “Vasquez might’ve picked up the virus from him and plans on having one of his guys deploy it.”
“I truly believe he’d have Krauss handle it,” Marta reiterated.
“Either way, our people are watching Vasquez and his men closely,” Striker said. “We’ll follow them wherever they go and catch them before they can release the virus.”
“I don’t like it.” Crusher took Marta’s hands and stared into her eyes. “You don’t need to be in that room. There are too many unknowns. You might be the only one who could save all those people with your knowledge of the virus. If you contract it, and your antiviral doesn’t work, you’re screwed, and the rest of those delegates are, too. I can go in without you and achieve the same outcome.”
Marta shook her head. “I have to go in. Vasquez and Teuling know me and what I’m capable of, including the knowledge I possess.” She laughed. “They both kidnapped me for that knowledge. If I tell them they’re going to die, they’ll believe me.” She squeezed Crusher’s hands. “I’m going in. I’d feel better if you didn’t go in with me.”
Crusher’s jaw hardened. “Where you go, I go.”
Marta gave him a weak smile. “I guess we’re going to the Summit.”
An hour before the Summit sessions were set to begin, Marta and Crusher geared up with hidden radio headsets and performed a comm check with the other members of the combined Stealth Operations Specialists and the Brotherhood Protectors International. When they were satisfied they could hear everyone, Marta and Crusher made their way through the back corridors to the convention hall where the delegates would gather. They weren’t the first to arrive. Some delegates were setting up their tables at the front with their own communications equipment for their translators.
Crusher and Marta chose seats in the back. Crusher took the aisle seat, allowing him to get up quickly and move forward to confront Vasquez and Teuling.
Marta had the pouch containing the antiviral tucked into a leather briefcase Dmytro had brought with him.
Everyone who wasn’t stalking Vasquez, his men or Teuling would be standing guard at the entrances to the conference hall, ready to keep Vasquez and Teuling from leaving before they confessed.
