“Bill!” she gasped, darting past him to run down the hall, her kitten heelsclick-clackingon the cold tiles.
Stepping into the elevator, he covertly peeked at the camera in the corner. He knew the fish-eyed lens would see a short man with orange hair and a prominent brow ridge. His nose prosthesis made a large bulge in the mask over his face. But it would be a completelydifferent-looking man who exited the hospital. And by the time the big, silver box hit the ground floor, his next moves were planned out precisely.
Stay in the security camera blind spot.Check. He’d already determined one of the cameras by the front desk was malfunctioning.
Dispose of lab coat and nose.Check, check. He dropped the stolen coat, mask, and fake nose into a steel trash can on his way toward the automatic doors.
Put on baseball cap.Triple check.
He was on the wet street and heading toward the lake when he pulled his disposable cell phone from his pocket. As he waited for Bishop to answer, he ducked from awning to awning to avoid the worst of the rain. But truly, it was of little use. The deluge was such that all it took was a couple seconds of exposure and he was soaked.
The hairs on the back of his neck lifted a heartbeat before a bolt of lightning zigzagged across the sky and connected to the rod atop the tall, trapezoidal building known as the John Hancock. A split second later, thunder clapped so loudly his ears popped.
Electricity was such an awe-inspiring force. It had the ability to kill in an instant. And yet, it was also used to sustain life. Think defibrillators and pacemakers.
Wait a minute. That gives me an idea.
“Well?” Bishop was never one for niceties. Yang could appreciate a man who got right down to business.
“One down,” he reported into the phone. “One to go.”
“You know how you’ll do it?”
“I know how itshouldbe done. But I will need a computer hacker. Do you have someone I can use?”
For awhile there was silence on the other end of the call. Then, “You killed my hacker six months ago.”
Yang thought back to their last job together, taking down the power grid in Texas. Not only had they failed to reach their objective—thanks to Black Knights Inc. and a nosy dark web surfer who worked for the Department of Defense. But also Yang had been forced to get rid of the hacker he and Bishop had hired for the job.
Yang had finished off poor Vincent Romano in a similar fashion to how he had just finished off the good professor. After sneaking into Romano’s hospital room, he had injected potassium chloride into the man’s IV.
“Not to worry,” he assured Bishop now. “I will make contact with my handler. He will find someone for the job.”
After all, half the population of my country are hackers.
“Very good.” Bishop sounded relieved.
Before Bishop could cut the call, Yang informed him, “I overhead Senator Chastain talking on the phone to Eliza Meadows.”
There was a brief pause followed by a full-throated, “Fuck!” Then, “Did you hear what she had to say? Was it about John McClean’s suspicions?”
“I could not wait around to listen in. I had to use the opportunity to visit the professor’s room. But I thought you should know.”
“Fuck, fuck,fuck.” Bishop rarely lost his composure. But when he did, the F-word was his favorite expletive. “I guess that forces our hand then. We have to assume anyone who was at McClean’s party might be privy to his information.”
“But surely Eliza would have told your source who is following the case if that were true. And surely your source would have informed the president. Has she received any phone calls? Read any emails? Been pulled aside by the Secret Service?”
“No. She went to bed with a headache an hour ago.”
“So it is safe to say that if Senator Chastainwasprivy to John McClean’s suspicions and then passed those suspicions on to Eliza, that Eliza has yet to share that information with anyone else.”
“Why would she hold off?”
Bishop used his favorite curse word. “Fuck if I know. But I’ll feel better once she’s dead. Just like the others. Just in case. And in the meantime I have work to do moving money from our patsy’s account into the offshore account set up in Mrs. Sullivan’s name.” A growl of annoyance sounded over the connection. “Jesus, this night has been a pain in my balls.”
Yang agreed. Not about the night being a pain in his balls—it was actually more like par for the course for him. But about needing Eliza Meadows to stop drawing breath. The original plan had been to get rid of everyone at the party. And he was a big believer in sticking with the plan. “Thoughts on how you would like me to end her?”
Bishop hissed impatiently, “Not yet. Take care of the senator. And in the meantime I’ll work on a way to take out Eliza.”
