Black Rose

CHAPTER 12

Harker brought the team in for an emergency meeting.

Ronnie was back and looked a lot better than the last time Nick had seen him. Ronnie was Navajo and he'd gone home to be healed in the old ways, after wounds he'd taken in the Philippines almost killed him. His uncle was a Navajo singer, one of a few left who still knew the healing songs and ceremonies that formed the traditional heart of Navajo culture.

"Man, am I glad to see your ugly face," Nick said. "How are you feeling?"

"Good."

Ronnie was broad, stocky and muscular, with the kind of classic features seen in pictures of the Old West. He looked like he belonged on the back of a horse with a lever action Winchester in his hand and war paint on his face.

"I don't know what you did but it worked," Nick said.

"A sweat. Some singing, that's all. We have a ceremony for just about everything."

"Well, I'm glad you're back." Nick didn't push him for details. He figured Ronnie would tell him about it or he wouldn't. The healing ceremonies were sacred in Navajo tradition, private.

They went into Harker's office. It wasn't often Ronnie got embarrassed or ill at ease but when Selena and Stephanie hugged him, he managed it. Lamont just shook his hand.

"Welcome back, Ronnie," Elizabeth said.

"Thanks, Director." They all sat down.

"You ready for the field again?" she said.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"All right, then. We have a lot to talk about. First, it was the Russians who took the plague samples."

"The Russians?" Selena said. "Who?"

"General Vysotsky's group."

The Russians, Selena thought. The ones who killed my father.

"It turns out that the Russians are only part of the problem." Elizabeth turned to Nick. "Tell them about Adam."

No one had ever met Adam except Nick, but they all knew about him. It was Adam who'd first warned them about AEON. Nick repeated what Adam had told him and described the attack on the car. When he finished, there was silence in the room.

"These guys never quit, do they?" Lamont said.

"If it wasn't them it would be someone else," Elizabeth said.

"Adam said the leader is a banker named Gutenberg," Nick said. "That's a place to start."

"Does he have a first name?" Stephanie asked.

"Johannes."

Stephanie entered the name on her laptop keyboard, linked to the enormous power of the Crays downstairs. The response was instant. A picture came up on the wall monitor. Gutenberg looked like what he was, a Swiss banker. He wore designer glasses with thin black rims. His face was unsmiling in the photograph, his lips pulled primly together. He was wearing an expensive suit and perfectly knotted tie. He looked to be about sixty years old. His eyes were watery green, cold and indifferent.

"Johannes Gutenberg," she said. "Owns and operates an old line European bank based in Geneva. He lives in an eighteenth century château that's a favorite in the picture postcard industry, right on the Rhône."

"Big bucks," Lamont said.

"The biggest. Gutenberg is listed in the top 50 richest men in the world." Her fingers flew over the keys. "His bank has investments in everything from agriculture to arms manufacture."

"Pharmaceuticals? Bio research?" Nick asked.

"Those too." She entered another command. "Through his bank he owns shell corporations and companies all over the world. He's everywhere. He's protected by Swiss banking laws from most of the regulatory issues of other governments. His personal fortune is stashed in Andorra, where it can't be touched."

"Where's Andorra?" Lamont asked. "I never heard of it."

"It's in the Eastern Pyrenees, bordered by Spain and France," Elizabeth said.

"I went skiing there once," Selena said. "It's tiny, a principality. It's famous for being a tax haven. If you want to hide money or avoid taxes, it's a good bet. But you need quite a bit of money to open accounts there. It's old Europe, a remnant from the days of princes and kings. The scenery is beautiful and it's very popular with tourists."

"What about Krivi?" Nick asked. "Adam said he's part of AEON's leadership, along with Gutenberg. What can you find out about him?"

Stephanie entered another search. "Krivi Dass. He's almost as wealthy as Gutenberg. Runs Dass Pharmaceuticals, which is huge. Krivi is one of the big boys in drugs. He has research labs and manufacturing facilities in Zurich and Mumbai."

"Adam thought the plague samples were in one of those labs," Nick said. "We need to find and destroy them."

"That's easier said than done," Elizabeth said. "We don't know where they are. They could be in Switzerland or India."

"Then that's the next step, get into the labs and look for them. We could start in Switzerland. That's Gutenberg's home base. If we don't find anything there, the samples will be in India."

"We can't just go barging in. The Swiss are touchy about things like that. It would create a huge problem for the president if you got caught. He's not going to authorize it without hard evidence."

"He doesn't have to know about it," Nick said. "How many times has he turned a blind eye to what we do? Isn't this what he pays us for?"

"Adam never steered us wrong in the past," Selena said. "If AEON killed him, they're getting ready to act."

Nick said, "Adam didn't think there was much time left before they let the plague loose. Director, send us in. We have to recover those samples."

"I can pin down the lab locations," Stephanie said.

They waited in silence while Elizabeth made up her mind. "All right," she said. "If we have a reasonable certainty of the location, you go in. Just don't get caught."