“Delilah, you worked for the US Government as a cybersecurity expert. You have far more experience than I do.”
“All the same,” she said, motioning for her to read through a document on the screen.
“It looks like a standard contract of goods to me, with Mr. A as the buyer and Mr. W as the seller.”
“Okay, that was my thought, too. Now—” she held up a finger and brought up another document “—read this one.”
Iris read it several times before she flipped back to the other contract. “It’s the same contract, but it just says Mr. X as the buyer.”
Delilah held up her finger and pulled up yet another one on the screen. This one had Mr. L as the buyer.
“Are you telling me that Walter planned to sell Ignis Cerebri to three different people?”
“Or countries,” Cal said.
“It could even be different viruses,” Delilah said. “According to Cal, he had four samples in his basement freezer, correct?”
“Yes, but according to Bec, some of them were the base for Ignis.”
Selina shrugged. “All that means is he had one massive bioweapon and three smaller ones.”
A word fell from Cal’s lips that described exactly how she felt. “That means we have three potential bad guys all looking for a virus promised to them by someone driven by greed.”
“And one of them has the woman I love, so we need to tear this place apart until we find their names and where they call home,” Iris said, her hands in fists at her side.
“I’d argue, but she’s not wrong,” Cal said. “Are there dollar values on these contracts?”
“No,” Delilah said with a frown. “They read that the agreed upon fee will be paid at delivery.”
“Shouldn’t that be on a contract?” Selina asked asshe leaned on the desk. Iris could tell the long days were catching up to them, but they couldn’t stop until they found Bec.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s on the final contract. This is probably an early one before all the specifics were worked out. As you see, they aren’t signed.”
Iris turned to Cal. “You guys went through his house, and there was nothing there?”
“Nothing,” Cal said. “The place had been wiped clean other than the vials in that freezer. According to Bec, they had to remain in a deep freeze, which meant he couldn’t take them with him. He probably planned to get the ransom and then return to his house long enough to get the viruses to fulfill the contracts. Chances are, the final contracts are in a safety deposit box somewhere.”
“How much money did this guy need?” Selina muttered.
“But wait,” Iris said, waving her hand. “There’s something here that doesn’t make sense, or should I say someone.”
“Someone?” Cal asked, and Iris nodded.
“Bec. Why bring her in to make a vaccine when Walter knew the virus would have to go to the buyer long before she could make a working one?”
The room fell silent other than Cal tapping his fingers on the table. “Hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. It doesn’t make much sense to promise a virus and working vaccine to someone and then not give the scientist time to make said vaccine.”
“Unless there’s another player,” Selina said. “A legitimate one.”
“You mean one who wanted Ignis Cerebri for evil and one who wanted it for research like Bec thought?”
Selina pointed at her with a nod. “Bec doesn’t know what happened before she arrived, only after. So if the original requestor of the research was dealing with Walter, it would be easy for him to see an opportunity to capitalize multiple different ways on it.”
Iris considered that until she remembered something. “But Walter had that video on this computer.” She held up her finger and then found it again, pressing Play for them to watch.
“Okay, but he just says to fulfill their needs,” Cal said. “That doesn’t mean he was referring to Ignis Cerebri. For all we know, he could have made other viruses. The video was uploaded a year ago, but we don’t have the actual date it was recorded. It could have been long before he uploaded it.”
“True, and if that’s the case, it’s safe to say they aren’t the ones who stormed in here and took—” Her tablet started ringing, and she jogged to her desk to grab it.
