Dimitri held out his gun and aimed it at the center of Josh’s bowed head. He gripped the gun firmly and pulled the hammer back, which made a loud click.
Abbie’s tears flowed, but she kept the pain inside because that’s what Josh wanted. He said, stay strong. I will, and I promise you, Josh Richards.
Abbie was going to be strong, but she was not going to watch Dimitri execute Josh. She closed her eyes tight and covered her ears.
Petrov took one last sight down the barrel of the pistol. He positioned his index finger on the trigger. It was time.
BANG!
Chapter 49
The bullet ripped through the side of his head, spraying his ear, blood, bone, and muscle everywhere.
Abbie heard the shot and felt a thump on the floor that she would expect from a body going limp from a fatal gunshot. But Josh was too far away for her to feel it. She turned to the direction from where she heard the loud thump. She peeked through the small slits of her eyelids. She saw the outline of someone on the floor. It was too blurry to make out. She had to open her lids further, but she was afraid of her last memory of Josh being of him dead on the floor. He said, be strong.
Abbie worked up the courage to follow Josh’s last request. She opened her eyes. There, she saw the motionless body of Dimitri Petrov on the floor. Blood drained on the floor where a good portion of his head was missing. Josh!
Abbie snapped her attention toward Josh, who continued to stand perfectly still with his eyes closed and his head bowed. She jumped to her feet and rushed to Josh. She hugged him with all her weight, which barely rocked his stoic stance.
“Are you okay,” she asked in his ear as she nearly hung from his neck due to the height difference.
“If I’m not dead, I might need some new pants.”
Josh peeked one eye open and observed his surroundings. His eyeball looked to the floor where he saw Petrov’s body. A few feet from that, about half the distance between him and the body, was Petrov’s pistol. He opened the other eye, which saw the top of Abbie’s brown hair. The scent of the hotel shampoo filled his senses. Usually, cheap hotel shampoo smelled like crap, but at that very moment, it was the best smell in the world. Josh gently wrapped his arms around Abbie and returned a friendly hug.
The two of them separated when Josh asked. “What happened?”
Abbie looked to where she and Dimitri stood. There was another man. A different man holding a gun that still shows small swirls of smoke from the barrel.
Abbie’s patience with the whole ordeal had reached her limits. Another idiot with a gun, great.
The gray-haired man holstered his weapon as he yelled out. “Clear.”
Soon, two other men dressed in khakis and webbed tactical gear entered from the rear of the cafe. The men’s arrival was also accompanied by the quiet sound of sirens that gradually grew louder.
“Abigail Talbot,” called out the gray-haired man who wore black, with his own matching tactical gear. “Abigail Talbot?” He asked again.
“Yes,” answered Abbie. “That’s me.”
“Retired Colonel Thomas Daniels, ma’am.” The gray-haired man introduced the other members of his team. “We need to get out of here.”
“Where?”
The elderly man replied, “Anywhere but jail.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Josh.
“This way,” said one of Daniels’ men.
Josh gestured Abbie to follow the men. “I’ll be right behind you.”
“You better.”
Abbie followed Daniels out the rear exit of the cafe. Josh followed behind her but tripped on his shoelace. “I’ll catch up,” he told the men and gestured them to move forward. Daniel’s men followed Abbie.
Daniels’ men unnerved Josh. He gave the men the benefit of the doubt because they saved him from a bullet, but they gave him an edgy, apprehensive feeling in the pit of his stomach. He scooped up Petrov’s pistol, tucked it into the small of his back under his shirt. In less than a minute, he caught up to the group and was right behind Abbie.
Daniels led Abbie and Josh through several turns and straightaways in the alley behind the shops and restaurants where they stopped by a big black SUV. Their position was surrounded by sirens that grew loud but softened as they passed by.
Daniels and the men circled to the rear of the SUV. They lifted the door and, in an orderly fashion, removed their gear and placed it in the vehicle.
“Rest here for a few minutes,” said Daniels. “We’ll vacate the area using the vehicle.”
“Who are you,” asked Abbie.
“We represent a private military firm hired to prevent Armageddon from falling into the wrong hands.”
Finally, Abbie thought. Someone with some common sense?
“Ms. Talbot, where is Armageddon?”
“It’s—”
“It’s right here,” interrupted Josh. He reached into Abbie's bag and pulled out Dr. Talbot’s dead laptop. He handed it to the Colonel. Josh returned to Abbie’s side. He held her hand affectionately.
Abbie realized Josh was nearly executed less than fifteen minutes ago, but she was sure it was extremely premature for them to be holding hands this early in their friendship. Then she felt him slip a small object into the palm of her hand. She heard Josh whisper in her ear, “Put this somewhere safe.”
Abbie realized that Josh put the flash drive that contained a copy of Armageddon.
Josh followed with. “I don’t trust them.”
Abbie countered in a whisper. “They did save your life.”
“Your dad. Your call,” said Josh as he let go of her hand.
Abbie only had seconds before Daniels and his men would not be distracted by loading their equipment into the vehicle. She had to decide. Either she shared the information with Daniels or keep it from them… for now.
The guy was going to take a bullet for me, she thought, but another thought countered it. It’s not exactly like he had a choice. Josh earned her trust. Abbie quickly reached her hand down the top of her shirt. She stretched her bra forward, just enough to tuck the small flash drive in the cup below her left breast.
“Where’s the rest of it?”
Daniel’s question startled Abbie as she turned around and faced him.
“You okay, ma’am.”
Abbie quickly needed a plausible response. “Yes. Yes. The guns and stuff. They scare me.”
“Understood, ma’am. An unfortunate tool of the trade. Where’s the rest of Armageddon?”
“What do you mean the rest of it,” asked Abbie.
Our intel tells us there’s more data—treatment schedules, lab results, and of course, the vials.
Abbie was alarmed by the question. She opened her eyes wide. “Vials?”
“You mean he actually made the damn thing?” said Josh.
“Yes.” answered Daniels. “We need to move. Load up.”
They all loaded in the SUV. Daniels took the front passenger seat while one of the men drove. Abbie sat in the middle of the back seat. Josh sat behind the driver while the other man sat behind Daniels.
The SUV sped down the road, further and further away from the cafe. Within fifteen minutes, they were cruising at sixty miles-per-hour and miles away from the cafe incident.
Daniel turned in his seat. “Ms. Talbot, I can’t stress how important it is for us to locate and destroy those vials.”
Abbie had a good idea where the vials were located. But that meant sharing information. The same information that Josh suggested against sharing. Abbie did not like the position it put her in. She had to come to terms with the fact that her dad not only designed but created a biological weapon. The Colonel was right. The vials must be destroyed.
“Most likely, they are in the briefcase,” answered Abbie.
Josh gave her a subtle looked. She shrugged apologetically.
“What briefcase?” Daniels questioned.
“The one my father left me. That’s how all this shit started.”
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“Where is it.”
“My apartment,” Abbie gave the driver the address. The driver immediately pulled a U-turn on the freeway, which caused traffic on both sides of the highway to slam on their breaks to avoid colliding with others.
Chapter 50
The sun was setting by the time the SUV neared Abbie’s apartment complex. The vehicle passed the gas station, took a right at the traffic light, and then sped up the road another one hundred feet before it turned into her complex.
Daniels ordered the driver to park on the backside of the complex, where it was isolated and away from the residence. This section of the complex backed up to an alley and the gas station they passed on the way in.
“Ms. Talbot, you and your friend should stay here while we survey the perimeter,” said Daniels.
“Why?”
“It’s highly probable that others could be watching your apartment—waiting for you to come home. They would acquire you there and seek out Armageddon.”
“You mean more Russians?” Abbie inquired.
“Unlikely, ma’am,” said Daniels, “Petrov was the leader. With him dead, what’s left of his men are on their way out of the country. But there’s no telling who knows about Armageddon or how many. You sit tight. We’ll return in ten minutes.”
Daniels and his men geared up in less than five minutes and moved throughout the complex, each heading in a different direction.
Josh whispered. “Do these guys give you a bad feeling?”
Abbie nodded.
“Then why are you leading them to the briefcase?
“Because they want to destroy the abomination my father created that’s inside it.”
“That’s what they want you to think.”
Abbie decided to put Josh on the spot. “What do you think?”
“Honestly, I’d like my decisions to go back to things like what cereal I’ll have for breakfast or what do I want on my hot dog. These life-or-death dilemmas are getting a bit much.”
Abbie agreed with Josh. It seemed like every decision forced on her had dire consequences. Like Josh, she relished the idea of going back to deciding what to wear or if she should buy that new pair of jeans that were on sale.
It reached the twilight of dusk. The sky remained bright, but there was enough darkness to obscure shadows and movement. Josh saw three figures converging on his and Abbie's position. He hoped it was the Colonel’s men. When they came into view, two of the Colonel’s men carried something substantial over their shoulders. They were a few feet away when it was clear they were carrying human beings.
The Colonel and his men rendezvoused with Abbie and Josh. Daniel’s men dropped the motionless men from their shoulders onto the ground behind a large shrub.
“Did you kill them?” asked Abbie.
One of the men replied, “No, ma’am. There was no imminent threat. We neutralized them with an injection of a strong sedative. They’ll be awake and groggy without any memory of what happened in about two hours.”
Josh asked. “Who are they?”
Daniels spoke up. “FBI.” He looked up. Daniels pointed to the security lights that were over their position. “Take those lights out,” he ordered.
One of his men pulled out a small handgun that looked like a toy. He followed by removing a small container from his vest. He opened the box and emptied several rounds of metal balls—BBs—into the hole in the side of the firearm.
“A B-B gun?” Josh said.
Daniel’s man replied. “I don’t need a forty-five round to take out a light bulb.” The man pointed and pulled the trigger of the nearly silent BB gun.
Josh and Abbie heard the glass from the light break. It was perfectly timed too as night was upon them, and the security and parking lights turned on. They quietly approached Abbie’s apartment and entered.
Abbie turned on the lights, revealing a cluttered mess throughout her apartment. The entire apartment was in shambles.
“Someone was looking for something,” Josh announced.
Daniels added. “Same thing we are. We should split up.”
Josh quickly interrupted. “Abbie and I will search upstairs.”
Daniels acknowledged with a nod and then proceeded to bark out orders to his men.
Josh and Abbie climb the stairs, “Abbie, I really have a bad feeling about this. Something does not jive.”
“What is it, Josh. The guy killed Dimitri, saved our asses, and wants to destroy Armageddon. Sounds like a winner to me.”
“Maybe. But there’s something about Daniels. How’d he find us? How’d he know about Armageddon? For something that your father said was a secret—a lot of freaking people know about it. And, let me throw in there—they’re willing to kill for it.”
They reached the top of the stairs. Abbie climbed over the broken furniture, glass, and broken knick-knacks as she headed toward the laundry room. Josh followed her thinking out loud.
“There’s gotta be something more going on here. There’s a shit-ton of diseases already out there that mess people up that are easy to get. Why go through the trouble and expense to create another one?”
Abbie smiles and shakes off Josh’s theory. She wondered where he developed such an imagination, and then it hit her. “TV again,” she asked.
Josh smiled and nodded.
Abbie continued with her mission. Whoever searched the laundry decorated it with clothes and towels—they were everywhere along with bottles knocked over and varying detergents and fabric softeners spilled.
“What idiot thinks you can hide a briefcase in a bottle that small?” joked Josh.
Abbie opened the large front load dryer, she pulled out towels, sheets, and clothes, and one briefcase.
“You hid it in there?”
“How else would I be able to remove it from the dryer?” answered Abbie.
“That’s the first place I would have looked.”
Abbie smiled. “That’s because you do your own laundry. Highly doubtful anyone looking for this,” she held up the briefcase, “does. Come on.”
Josh followed Abbie, thinking about the logic she used to find a hiding spot for the briefcase. It was profoundly simple.
Chapter 51
Abbie joined Daniels and his men downstairs, where she reluctantly handed him the briefcase. Some of Josh’s questions started to concern her as well, but if there was some vial of a catastrophic disease in that case, she would be in favor of destroying it. The last thing she wanted was all the excellent work her father did overshadowed because he was momentarily angry with the world because it lived while his wife died.
Daniels cleared room on the kitchen table. He clicked open the panel where the screen awaited the password. “What’s the password to open it?” he asked.
Daniel’s question shocked Abbie. “You’re going to open it… here?”
“My mission is to destroy everything.”
Now Abbie was seriously concerned. “Don’t you think that’s a bit dangerous? What if it gets airborne?”
It was Colonel Daniels turn to give Abbie a confused look. He wrinkled his brow. “Airborne?” he questioned. “It’s only effective when injected.”
Why make a biological weapon that requires an injection. The whole point is to release it and let it do its damage, thought Abbie.
Abbie’s confusion was apparent… at least to Josh. He saw the wheels spinning in her head, and the confused wrinkle of her brow was all he needed to know something was not sitting well with her. He had no clue what. But he knew something was not right.
Daniels checked the durability of the case. It was solid. As he looked for flaws or openings, he asked, “Can you open it?”
This was Josh’s opportunity to buy Abbie some time while she figured out what was bothering her. He answered before Abbie knew she was asked a question. “We don’t know the password. He left some math puzzle, but we haven’t figured it out yet.”
“No problem. Let's take it outside. We’ll meet under the
broken light. Daniels turned to one of his men. “Bring the LN2.” and then to everyone else, “Let’s go.”
Daniel’s men gestured for Abbie and Josh to leave the apartment. Josh guided Abbie as her brain was still contemplating the Colonel’s comments regarding the case. Josh repeatedly asked her a question she did not hear until they were once again outside under the broken light in the dark. “What’s LN2?” asked Josh.
Josh’s question finally penetrated her thoughts. “What?
“What’s LN2?”
“Liquid nitrogen. Why?”
“That’s what Daniel’s is going to use on the case. He’s going to blow it up?”
Abbie let out a small laugh, “Nitrogen is non-flammable.”
“Correct,” added Colonel Daniels. “We’ll freeze the hinges off and pop that sucker wide open.”
Josh pointed at the case. “You see any external hinges on that thing?”
Daniels glanced at the case. To his dismay, Josh was correct. The entire enclosure was solid. “No matter,” he said confidently, “we’ll go through the shell.”
“Guys, I’ll admit I’m not the brightest light bulb in the box, but I’m not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling about using liquid nitrogen on a briefcase that contains a biological weapon.”
Daniel’s face wrinkled into perplexing bewilderment. “What biological weapon?”
Abbie and Josh pointed at the briefcase.
In the short amount of time Abbie and Josh were in the company of Colonel Daniels, he never once broke character of a disciplined military leader…until now. He bellowed out a loud laugh that came deep from his diaphragm. “Your father did not make a biological weapon.” Daniels blurted out.
“What the hell is it then?” asked Abbie.
Daniels’ man arrived with what looked like an over-sized gas tank for a BBQ grill along with a small crate of various hoses, nozzles, and tools, and protective gear, and gloves for one.
Daniel’s answered. “Armageddon is an intravenous infusion.”
Josh politely interrupted. “In English for us simple folk?”
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