Harrogate, England
Staff members seemed to sense something was critically wrong. Their boss sat secluded in his office for hours, rarely emerging. And when he did, Richard yelled and snarled to those around him. After he exhausted himself, he would slam his door shut and remain inside after barking out clear orders not to be disturbed.
Richard had every right to be upset. Collette called four hours ago to let him know what happened at the lab. Security breached. Gerrit and his troublemakers made it inside and toyed with the system before blowing a hole in the door and eluding SWAT with the help of a helicopter gunship.
If Gerrit escaped with the plans to Project Megiddo, Richard would personally shoot everyone in the lab who let those intruders escape. Including Collette. She seemed aware of the depth of his anger and tried to keep her report short and to the point. She was on her way to England.
He knew her flight would be filled with trepidation and fear. Let her suffer!
Joe O’Rourke’s interrogation did not go well. There had been an overdose of medication and the target had slipped into unconsciousness-again. So far, he remained unresponsive. The medical adviser told him the guy might croak if they pushed too hard. Only time would tell. Richard had been amazed at how the man held up. This was not the same man his people dangled in the air in Chicago.
Again. Major frustration.
He needed to know what Joe could tell him about Gerrit and the others. About who in government aided them in their fight against Richard’s people. Unfortunately, Joe kept this information from Hank Schneider.
His phone continued to ring but he ignored it. Just more bad news.
A timid knock on the door caused him to curse once again. “I told you I wanted to be left alone. Get outta here!”
Again the knock. Was this person insane?
He sprang up and hurled open the door. A twenty-something woman with frightened eyes and pale skin stood before him, her hands shaking.
“Sir, you have a call holding. I really think you might want to take it.”
The look in her eyes made Richard withhold his fury. The call must be important enough for this young thing to ignore his orders. Her eyes drifted toward the desk and the blinking call-holding light. “He’s waiting.”
Richard stormed over to the desk and yanked the receiver up to his ear. “Kane here, who is this?”
“Richard. I think you know who this is.”
Stuart. Just the sound of the man’s voice made Richard cringe. Uh-oh. Word was getting out. “What can I help you with, sir?”
“I hear disturbing reports about acts of terror down in our lab in Albuquerque. Are these reports true?”
Richard clutched the phone. “We had an attack, but the intruders have been repulsed. There is extensive property damage. I am waiting for a situation report right now.”
“And our…project. Has it been compromised?”
“I assure you we have not been compromised. They tried to get to our computer system, but our people and Albuquerque’s SWAT unit got there first. They had to pull back.”
“And our guest. Has he cooperated with you?”
“Not yet. He needs a period of rest before we continue.”
“This performance is less than I would expect, Richard. Maybe we picked the wrong man after all.”
Stuart’s haughty tone-as if each word he spoke came down from on high-grated on Richard’s ears. He would like nothing better that to screw a. 9mm barrel into this guy’s ear and force him to eat those words. Instead, he spoke with deference. His life depended upon it.
“Give me a couple days to contain this. Once I get our guest to open up, then I can move on to those causing us these problems.”
“You have twenty-four hours. Then we bring in someone else who will get the job done.”
“Yes, sir,” Richard said, gritting his teeth.
“We are committed to the timetable for this operation. Time is ticking.”
And you’re ticking me off. “ I’ll get on it right away, sir. You can depend upon it.”
Stuart coughed before speaking. “I used to think I could depend upon you. But after everything that has happened this last month, I have my doubts. We have our doubts.”
“I’ll keep in touch. You will know something in the next twelve hours.”
The line cut off.
Richard knew his time was short.