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Chapter 134
Amonth and ten minutes later
‘My name’s Washington Poe, Frederick,’ Poe said, rubbing his eyes. ‘I think we may have spoken on the phone.’
Beck stared, horrified. ‘So itwasa trap,’ he said.
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘Then it seems I underestimated you. I thought the protein breakthrough seemed a little too convenient, but none of my background checks raised any flags.’
‘This was a team effort.’
Beck sighed. ‘Do you know how much a human body is worth, Sergeant Poe?’ he asked. ‘Not a humanlife, I’m talking about the physical body. Specifically, the combined value of the elemental components that make up the most advanced organism in the history of the universe. The oxygen, the carbon, the hydrogen and the nitrogen. The iron and the zinc. The trace amounts of gold, uranium and radium we all have inside us.’
‘I have no idea,’ Poe said.
‘One hundred and twenty-two pounds, depending on how the futures markets are trading.’
‘Fascinating.’
‘I only mention this in case you thought a person like me, a person who knows exactly how much a humantoothis worth, wouldn’t have a contingency for this exact type of situation?’
‘You have no more cards left to play, Frederick,’ Poe said. ‘The facility is surrounded. Even if you somehow get past me, you won’t get past the armed cops outside. Not without taking a few to the torso. By the way, how much value would bullets add to the human body?’
Beck didn’t answer. Instead he reached into his coat pocket and removed a red aerosol can. ‘I assume you know what this is?’ he said. ‘I left the blueprints for you to find.’
‘It’s a repurposed, total-release bug fogger. You press the nozzle and whatever you’ve put in there is released in one continuous blast.’
‘And you thought I didn’t have any cards left to play. Because from what I can see, I’m holding all the aces.’
‘What do you want, Frederick?’
‘I want to know how you managed to get me into this room.’
‘And then you’ll put down the aerosol can?’
‘I will.’
