She shook her head. “You first.”
Vasquez strode toward Marta. As he eased past Crusher, he picked up speed until he was running toward Marta.
Crusher shoved the man he was holding to the ground and raced after Vasquez.
Though she stood firm, appearing calm, Marta’s eyes widened slightly, and her jaw clenched as if she braced herself for Vasquez to launch himself at her and the podium.
Hammer appeared beside Marta as Crusher tackled Vasquez, three feet short of the podium.
Some of the delegates screamed and leaped from their seats.
Crusher pulled Vasquez to his feet. “Tell them,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Give me the antiviral,” Vasquez said. “Now! Before it’s too late.”
“Why would you need an antiviral?” Marta held the briefcase behind her.
“Because the virus is spreading through the ventilation system as we speak,” Vasquez said. “Everyone in this room will be infected and die!”
A collective gasp rose from the audience.
Vasquez lunged toward Marta.
Crusher held him in place.
“Give me the antiviral!” Vasquez cried, reaching for Marta.
“What have you done?” Pieter Teuling demanded, stepping forward. “What virus have you released into this room?”
Hammer stood close to Marta while Crusher held Vasquez back.
“He’s unleashed the same virus you wanted me to alter. The same one you wanted to insert into the clean water additives you presented just minutes ago. A virus similar to the one you inserted into the additives you gifted to remote locations in Uganda, Bangladesh and Paraguay.”
Teuling’s eyebrows formed a V over his nose. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Marta lifted a single eyebrow. “You can’t claim ignorance anymore.” She turned toward the audience. “This fine, upstanding philanthropist, out of the goodness of his deep pockets, had me kidnapped and held me hostage at the Helvetic BioSolutions laboratory in Zurich to alter the DNA of the binding proteins to slow a virus’s spread, making deaths harder to trace to the source. He’s not trying to help the people; he’s attacking overpopulation by thinning the herds.”
“You’re insane. I’m helping people, not killing them.” Teuling’s eyes narrowed, and he stared down. “And what is this about a kidnapping? I’ve never seen you before in my life.” He turned toward the delegates. “This woman is delusional. The purpose of the clean water initiative is to help people access safe drinking water in places that lack water treatment facilities, not to poison them. You’ve seen the data.”
“They’ve seen your data. Not the data the World Health Organization has collected from those remote locations in Uganda, Bangladesh and Paraguay.” Marta waved a hand toward the large projection screens, where the information Teuling had presented had been replaced by WHO reports.
“What is this?” Teuling demanded. “This is not our information.”
“No,” Marta said. “This is the data WHO discovered when people in those three areas started dying from a virus specific to those areas. None of the people there had contact with any of the other locations. When they dug deeper, they found the common thread was the additives your process uses. The timeframe of the deaths coincided with the deployment of the additives. WHO agents in those areas collected samples of the additives, found the virus in them, and tested it. It’s a genetically altered virus.”
“You have no proof the virus was placed intentionally,” Teuling said.
“What’s it matter now?” Marta said. “You stole all the data and samples of the virus from Vasquez. Did you know he was developing it to deploy here? Now that he has, you’re going to die of the very virus you wanted me to build for you to use to decrease the population of the world. You wanted to play God. How does it feel when someone else beats you to it? When someone else decides who will live and who will die?”
Teuling’s face blanched, and his gaze shot to Vasquez, where Crusher held him from lunging toward Marta. “Is this true?”
Vasquez glared at Teuling. “So what if it is? We’re all going to die. The doctor can’t have enough antiviral in that small briefcase for everyone in this room.”
Teuling’s eyes rounded, and his attention returned to Marta. He took one step toward her. “Give me the antiviral. It should be mine. I’m the only one who can save the world from the plague of overpopulation. The only one who can save the human race.” Teuling lunged for Marta.
Crusher shoved Vasquez aside and leaped between Teuling and Marta.
Hammer blocked Teuling’s bodyguards.
