Pandora's Succession (27 page)

“Nita!” Marx said this louder and got Parris’s full attention. There was something about those eyes of hers that she couldn’t ignore.

“Yes, Dr. Marx.” She nodded. Marx then smiled as she put one arm around Parris and walked her back to the window as she wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

By this time, the entire laboratory had a reddish glow. The cloud on the other side of the window was so dense that nothing could be seen inside.

Hashimoto went to the console and pressed another button. There was another vibration and loud noise that sounded like a series of fans. Less than five minutes later, the cherry cloud thinned out and was sucked into three separate vents above the chamber.

When Parris looked inside the chamber, the bodies of Levickis, Dobbs, and the Boeisho agent were also gone. Only their clothes remained, in a sticky, dark pile of slime. But in the cage, the mice continued to play around. She looked at Marx. “You’ve genetically engineered Pandora to specifically target human DNA.”

Marx smiled with a chuckle. “Human protein chains derived from DNA to be precise. This is the one thing Ares couldn’t accomplish.”

Marx took her hand off Parris. “When it fell into their hands, they did a lot of research on it. With help from a former member—you should know him as Mr. Valerik—I was able to monitor their progress from a safe distance, while I kept my cover as one of the head scientists working for the CDC.

While Ares played with their samples, I covertly worked on a theoretic approach to engineer it so that it would target humans specifically. It was also important to increase its virulence so that it attacked faster. Once that was done, I needed the original Pandora back, in order to finish my work on it.”

“That’s when we raided their facility in Belarus,” said Hashimoto.

“And now they’re going to try to take it back from us.” Marx walked slowly away and then stopped.

Parris smoothened out an eyebrow and turned to Hashimoto. “If they murdered my former colleagues, then they’d have a lot of info on Pandora. That’s what my former colleagues and I were trying to steal.”

“Exactly. Now we have another crisis on our hands,” said Hashimoto.

“Calm down.” Marx rolled her eyes and turned to Hashimoto, keeping her composure. She then turned back to Parris. “Who else knew of your whereabouts?”

“Walsh knew. In fact, he was in charge of the operation, only he wasn’t on site. Levickis and Dobbs were pros. If anyone had hacked our phone calls or bugged them, they’d know. Walsh must have sold us out.”

Hashimoto walked away and then turned back, pacing back and forth. “That means they know the location of our bunker.”

Parris turned to Hashimoto. “Yes, but if Walsh set us up, then he and his group either think I’m dead or being held hostage. We can exploit that.”

“How?” Marx asked.

Parris looked at Marx. “I can meet Walsh, give him a story that I escaped. Then I put a gun to his head and threaten to blow his brains out unless he takes me to the rest of his group.”

Hashimoto stopped pacing and faced Parris. “That’s risky. You could be killed.”

“I’ve risked my life for the sake of National Security. This wouldn’t change anything.” Parris then looked at Marx. “Let me go in alone and confront Walsh. He won’t be expecting me anyways.”

Marx looked at Hashimoto. “I don’t have a problem with that. But should you be overwhelmed, I have something special for you to use that will take care of all of them once and for all.”

Marx looked her straight in the eyes. “Hopefully you won’t have to use what I’m about to give you. But should you have to, you’ll always be remembered as a martyr.”

Parris remained silent for the next few seconds. She knew what had to be done, regardless of the outcome. It was, after all, for the greater good. “I’ll do anything that’ll benefit the cause.”

Marx smiled as she backed away from Parris and stood slightly in front of Hashimoto with her arms crossed. “Excellent. Then let’s begin.”

Chapter 28

Walsh’s Hotel Room

Walsh paced up and down in front of the television, not caring that Pyotr tried to watch the Japanese game show that was on. He was on the phone with Pyotr’s boss, getting an earful, while Pyotr shifted back and forth on the bed trying to see around him.

“Hey, stop blocking television,” said Pyotr.

Walsh ripped off his tie, threw it at Pyotr, and missed.
Don’t you start with me too, asshole.
“No, I haven’t heard anything from him yet. He’s been like this ever since we left Uganda. I bugged his watch, what more do you want?”

“It’s no longer transmitting,” said the October Man. “Why is it that you don’t know where your own partner is? May I remind you of the other things we’re paying you for?”

“Hey, if he wants to go rogue, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Walsh shot back. “But if you want me to get more agents over here to haul him in, hence drawing more attention to us, I’ll do it. Is that what you want?”

“Don’t get smart with me. We’re one step closer to getting back what’s ours. Our reinforcements are scheduled to arrive shortly and I won’t have this operation compromised—”

There were two beeps that interrupted him.

“Hold on a sec. I’ve got someone on the other line.” Walsh pressed the button, cutting off the October Man. “What?”

“Tsukiji Fish Market in half an hour.”

“What? Who is this?”

“Your Canadian connection cannot speak to you directly. Stop asking questions and meet him in a half hour.” The line went dead.

Canadian connection? It was Fox, no doubt. And he got someone to speak on his behalf in order to trick Japan’s own Echelon system. Clever. He pressed the swap button and all he heard was a dial done.
Fuckin’ A
.

He threw the phone on the bed. It bounced once and missed Pyotr, who was about to say something but Walsh cut him off by pointing a huge fat finger at him. “Don’t start with me, you and your goddamn reality shows. I’ve done enough for you people. And take your damn shoes off while you’re on the bed. Jesus Christ, you must be the only assassin on the face of the earth too damn cheap to get a decent pair of shoes.”

At least it was only Pyotr that tagged along with him back here. He couldn’t remember what he had said to convince Demyan not to come back with him, but was glad he did.
Demyan’s too much of a wack job
. Walsh felt safer playing tennis with a grenade than having him around. A few more days, that was all Walsh could think of. With twenty million dollars waiting for him in an offshore bank account, he could finally take the early retirement he had dreamt of and disappear to some remote island. He didn’t know where he would go yet, but it would be sunny and hot all year round. He’d watch football via satellite and drink booze all day long.

“Ain’t there anything else on TV?”

Pyotr sighed. “Poshyel k chyertu.”

“Whatever, jackass,” Walsh muttered as he waved him off without knowing that Pyotr had called a loser.
Why couldn’t he watch good old American Football, like real men do?
Just then there was a knock on the door. “Were you expecting someone?” Walsh whispered to Pyotr, who shrugged his shoulders as though he were telling him that he didn’t know. The knocking turned to banging. Walsh then rushed to the door. “All right, keep your shirt on. Who is it?”

“It’s me, Nita.”

Walsh paused.
What the hell is she doing here?
He turned to Pyotr, who gave him the,
I don’t know, don’t look at me
, look. Walsh quietly motioned for him to go hide in the coat closet.

“Quit stalling and hurry up,” Walsh whispered through gritted teeth. The Russian rushed past him into the coat closet, and Walsh slid the door shut. He then opened the door for Parris, who, with tears in her eyes, rushed past him so fast that he felt a slight breeze. “Jesus, Parris. Thank God you’re all right.” Walsh closed the door quickly behind her.

***

“Levickis and Dobbs, they’ve—”

“I know, we lost contact. I figured something happened to them. And I thought that you were a goner too when I couldn’t reach you.”

“They’re both dead, I just know it. I managed to get by one of the guards before more of them rushed downstairs to the Safe.”

Walsh moved past her so that her back faced the doorway the way he wanted. “Okay, you can calm down now. It’s all right.” Walsh steadied her by placing both hands on her forearms. She instantly pushed him away. Walsh stumbled backwards but caught his balance on the edge of the dresser. As he looked up, he stared down the barrel of a HK USP Tactical, complete with a noise suppressor. “Are you crazy? What the fuck are you doing?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know.” Parris approached Walsh. “You set us up. And now Levickis and Dobbs are dead. You didn’t expect me to make it out, did you?”

Walsh didn’t answer.

He doesn’t look too scared having a gun pointed at him. Did he just briefly look past me?
That’s when she heard a slight creak in the floor behind her. Parris shot her left leg out in a back kick and struck Pyotr in the groin with the heel of her pumps. He cried out and curled over as she spun around and landed the handle of the HK to the back of his head, flooring him. She heard movement behind her. That’s when she feinted left, dodging Walsh, and then kicked him in the right kneecap. Had she contacted him a few more inches more to the outside of his knee, she could have easily shattered it. But she only wanted to floor him like his Russian counterpart, which she did.

“Damn it, Parris. You and those shoes.”

“Shut up.” She dashed around him so she had both Walsh and the Russian in her sight. “Get up, both of you, and get on the bed. And keep your hands where I can see them.”

Pyotr was slower than Walsh at obeying her instructions.

“Now!” Parris yelled.

The Russian limped his way to the bed, and Walsh sat down next to him.

“Sit on your hands and face me with your feet apart.” It was then that she noticed Pyotr’s blackened running shoes, they were damp and the stains looked recent. “So it was you, wasn’t it? You set off the alarm at Hexagon.”

Pyotr remained silent.

“Don’t bother answering. Your shoes told me everything.”

Pyotr grimaced as he looked at Parris. “I’ll say nothing to you, you worthless, black—”

The HK coughed out a single shot to his throat, and Pyotr flipped over backwards and onto the floor. She then pointed the gun to Walsh. “You want to make a redneck comment too?”

Walsh had his eyes shut when the shot rang out, but now opened them slowly and turned around. He looked at the hole in the wall where the bullet struck—there was blood spatter around it. Pyotr had been thrown back and he hung off the bed from the waist up.

“Jesus Christ, that was dumb! That was a real dumb thing to do.” Walsh looked back at Parris.

“Shut up!” yelled Parris with a hard Bajan accent. “You can shoot off you mout’ too and you’ll get exactly the same t’ing. But I ain’t done wit’ you yet.”

Walsh looked at her with a blank stare as though he would’ve said something had he understood what she just said.

“Up you get. Don’t try anything on me because I’m armed with enough Pandora to wipe out the city, so you best not try anything stupid.”

Walsh seemed to understand her that time, since she’d dropped the accent. “What? Are you insane? And where are we going anyway?”

“We’re going to pay the rest of your group a visit. Where are they?”

Walsh got up with both hands held high. “We were supposed to meet at the Tsukiji Fish Market.”

“When?”

“In half an hour.”

“Get dressed, ‘cause that’s where you’re taking me.”

Chapter 29

Tsukiji Fish Market, Chuo Ward, Tokyo

Raindrops dotted the windshield as Fox and his prisoner waited in the car, alone in a deserted parking lot in one of the world’s largest fish markets. Fox sat diagonally in the backseat where he could keep an eye on him at all times. He was relieved that Sato’s imposter had a cell phone—one with a digital voice recorder. The rest was easy. He forced him to record himself with the phrases Fox gave him. Then he called Walsh from a payphone in a discreet location and played back the recorded message into the phone. He did this while he made the imposter face a wall with both arms and feet apart. It was clean and efficient, with the absence of his voice and his and Walsh’s names—the Boeisho’s own Echelon system would never pick anything up.

Fox couldn’t recall the last time he had seen a parking lot that was so clean. Not a shred of paper was seen blowing about. He saw a car approach from the opposite direction, moments after, the imposter turned off the car engine. The other car stopped about fifty meters away.
Why did Walsh stop so far away?
Fox looked past the driver into Walsh’s car hoping he could gather a clue. He wasn’t able to.

He tapped the back of the car seat with the barrel of the gun. “Get out—and slowly. Remember your hands.” Obediently, the imposter stepped out, left the door open and kept both hands held up high as he walked forward. Fox got out too, leaving the Micro Uzi inside, and he closed both his and the driver’s doors.