Brodie recalled how sure Trent Chilcott and Howard Fensterman had been that Odin—whoever he was—had no affiliation with NordFaust, and that the threat NordFaust posed had nothing to do with biological or chemical weapons.
This thing was siloed. NordFaust on the one side, a conventional armed extremist group posing a conventional threat. And on the other side, the unconventional threat. Titan Genetics. Or at least, select members of that firm, along with select members of NordFaust to provide the muscle. Using engineering wizardry to concoct some sort of genocidal plague. The unexpected threat. The real threat. A threat so well hidden that even the CIA and NSA superspies were clueless.
And if Steve was to be believed, then whatever intelligence today’s raids were able to net would reveal nothing about what was actually coming today. In a couple of hours.
Brodie looked at the canister and asked, “What has David been exposed to?”
“You already know, Scott.” Steve gestured to the surveillance camera. “We heard Mr. Kim explain it all to you. Smart guy. Right on the money. It’s an engineering marvel. Or so they tell me. I failed high school bio. But I know we’re all mostly made of the same stuff, so precise targeting was tricky. Just a couple different genes here and there separate the races. But those small differences matter, and they always have, right? They determine slaves and masters.” He turned and looked at David Kim. “He’s lasting longer than that piece of garbage Qasim, who was old and fat, and on some level wanted to die.”
Well, that answered one mystery. Tariq Qasim had met his death here, maybe in this very room, as a guinea pig for a biowarfare experiment—which was a fitting end for him, considering his former line of work.
Steve, who really liked the sound of his own voice, walked to the metal canister, picked it up, and tipped it toward them so they could see the empty bottom. “See that? Well, I guess you can’t. But that’s the end of the world right there. The end ofthisworld, anyway. They call their new plague Götterdämmerung. You know, Wagner. Twilight of the Gods. The destruction and renewal of the world. Real kraut shit.” Steve tossed the metal canister aside and it clattered across the floor. He stepped toward Brodie and Taylor and crouched again. “So. Here’s your one and only chance to not die today. Who else knows about Reinhard Dorn and Charles Granger, and who knows that Titan Genetics is involved in any kind of association or conspiracy with NordFaust?”
“We don’t know anything about that,” said Brodie.
Steve looked at him. “Listen, Scott. I’m the good cop. Well, the best you’re gonna get, anyway. You’ll tell me voluntarily, or you’ll tell someone else another way.” He looked at Taylor. “And you won’t like what happens to her.”
Brodie nodded. “All right. Full disclosure. Everyone knows, Steve. The FBI, the BKA, the German military. They even know our current location. Luftwaffe’s probably gearing up to drop a bunker buster on our ass any minute.”
Steve looked pissed off. He stood again. “The Feds don’t know shit. They showed up at Titan looking for you three. I guess they had a net on you. But not a very tight one. Dorn’s people told them he gave you a tour of the lab and you left. No one knows you’re here. You are up shit creek. And you just sank your only life raft.”
Brodie became aware that David Kim was speaking softly, almost inaudibly. His words were muttered, raspy, and Brodie couldn’t quite make them out. Then he realized that Kim was speaking Arabic.
Steve turned around to face Kim. “What the hell’s this guy saying?”
Suddenly Taylor lurched forward and grabbed Steve’s right ankle.
“Hey!”
Steve tried to yank his leg away from her, but Taylor shoved her hand under his pantleg, pulled out a small pistol from his ankle holster, and put a round through his mouth and out the back of his head, sending a splatter of blood, bone, and brains across the small room. Steve fell dead.
Before the guard could react, Taylor took aim and fired a round through his head, splattering brains and skull fragments across the door. The man crumpled to the floor.
Brodie dove forward and grabbed the guard’s automatic rifle, put the selector switch on full auto, and aimed the rifle at the closed door.
For a moment, they were all still.
Brodie glanced at David Kim, who must have spotted the ankle holster when Steve was crouched with his back to him. Brodie looked Kim in the eyes and said, “Well done.”
Taylor said, “They’re coming.”
Brodie heard heavy footfalls on the other side of the door.
Taylor raised the pistol toward the door.
Brodie said, “Agent Kim. Agent Taylor. It’s been an honor.”
Taylor kept her eyes on the door. “Same.”
The footfalls stopped. The door swung open.
CHAPTER 50
The door swung outward, and Brodie fired a burst of rounds at the two guards, who reeled backward and crumpled to the floor.
Taylor rushed through the doorway and pulled an automatic rifle from the hands of one of the dying guards while Brodie retrieved a half dozen mags and shoved them in his pockets.
Taylor called back into the room, “David! We have to leave you. We’ll get help.”
