Black Rose

CHAPTER 20

"What? Destroyed?"

Krivi had been called out of a sound sleep to answer the phone. He held it close to his ear and pulled his silk bathrobe around him as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line. The green numerals on the clock by his bedside read 3:21. The voice repeated what it had said. Krivi rubbed his chest and took a deep breath.

"All right. We'll put it out that it was a terrorist attack. That always satisfies everyone's need to know who was behind something. There must be plenty of evidence to support the idea. Look for anything that might tell us who did it. Anything at all."

More noise on the telephone.

"No. Stall the police. Access has to be controlled. Get our people there now. I'll talk to the commissioner and get his cooperation. Call me if there are problems."

He hung up and thought for a moment. It was a secured line, no one would have intercepted the conversation. He picked up the phone and dialed a number known only to six others.

"Yes." Gutenberg's voice was alert, though Krivi knew he'd been asleep. A call on this line at night meant trouble.

"We have a problem."

"Go on."

"Someone raided the lab where we had the Korean samples. It was a professional operation. They eliminated my security team and blew up the building."

"A military op?"

"Possibly. My team was the best. The Russians, perhaps."

"I would have been warned. It couldn't have been them," Gutenberg said.

"Then we'd better find out who it was."

"What about the vaccine? The test?"

"I'm going to talk with Schmidt after we're done here," Krivi said. "He has backups of his research and more samples of the bacteria stored in another location. This is a setback, nothing more. It will delay implementation, but in the end it won't make any difference."

"What about the police?"

"They won't be a problem."

"Let me know if you find anything to tell us who did it."

"Of course."

After a few more words, Krivi broke the connection. He leaned back in his chair and knew he'd never get back to sleep. He was offended that someone would dare to attack him. Eventually he'd discover who had done it and when he found out who they were, they were going to regret the day they were born.