"That"s not possible."
"It"s real, and I think you knew about it. Who told you? Stedler?"
"He told me something, not enough. He never mentioned the Pegasus Project. You"re positive you"re not mistaken?"
"I"m sure we"re on the right track. I won"t be positive about anything until you tell me what we"re dealing with here, Jamerson. Stop tying my hands. Talk to me."
Jamerson hesitated. "Stedler said he had a confidential source who tipped him off about a lethal project under way. He was extremely protective of this source, and he refused to give his-or her-name even to me. He said it might be a job for Homeland Security."
"Then how did you become involved?"
"Well, I suppose he trusted me. At the time, he didn"t know what the project was. He speculated it might even be materials for some kind of explosive device. He said he was working with this source to get a sample of whatever it was that they were producing."
"Well, he got it," Lynch said. "It somehow ended up all over the floor of his apartment when they grabbed him." He added grimly, "And he hasn"t been seen since."
"s.h.i.t. He was in way over his head. If this is truly the Pegasus Project, then it"s more dangerous than Stedler could have imagined."
"I"m still waiting for you to tell me what it is."
Jamerson was silent.
"Oh, for G.o.d"s sake, Jamerson. Maybe you"d rather sit on your a.s.s and let that nasty brew be shipped out of the country? We just may be able to stop it."
"I think it"s time we brought in Griffin and the FBI."
"So that you don"t get stung and brought up before Congress for mishandling a national emergency? I"ve every intention of bringing Griffin into this, but not before I know what I"m doing. Tell me about the Pegasus Project."
Jamerson hesitated, then started to speak quickly and concisely. "It was a highly speculative project, one of those pie-in-the-sky things that no one thought had a real chance of succeeding. The idea is that a population center could be infected with an airborne contaminant that, on its own, would be harmless. Those infected could live for the rest of their lives with no ill effects. Then, at any time, be it days or even years later, a second airborne formula could be dropped, and it would kill those people instantly. But anyone who had not been exposed to the first substance would be unharmed."
Lynch nodded. "So a whole town could be wiped out in minutes, but invading troops on the ground would still be fine."
Kendra shook her head. "That"s monstrous."
"A large portion of the population would agree with you," Jamerson said. "But aside from the obvious public-relations problems, the formulas never worked properly. The two formulas, Pegasus 1 and Pegasus 2 as they were called, were tested extensively on animals. Pegasus 2 was supposed to be harmless to anyone who hadn"t already been exposed to Pegasus 1, but it always made a certain portion of the test population seriously ill, and even killed some."
"What does Panama City have to do with it?" Kendra asked.
"That"s where the lab was set up during those first years between 2003 and 2005."
"And Denton was in charge?"
"No, they set up a complete dummy operation. Denton was the big cheese, the creative mind, and they didn"t want anyone to know he was connected with the project. He worked off by himself and was brought into town at crucial points in the experiment."
"How was Thatcher Pharmaceuticals involved?"
"It wasn"t. It was purely a military project."
"And what was Denton"s reaction when the military canceled his project?"
"Rage. Accusations. He"s pretty much of an egomaniac. He liked being the fair-haired boy, the genius behind the scenes. Only according to Hal Spander at Homeland Security, it was pretty obvious that he would have preferred to be center stage."
"So how did they control him?"
"He quieted down after a while. He had some other pulmonary scuba meds on the fire that were bringing him favorable attention. He got a lot of public ego stroking and finally stopped brooding and dropped his protests."
"He might have dropped the protests, but I think the brooding continued," Lynch said. "Homeland Security wasn"t keeping an eye on him?"
"Of course, they were. But as I said, Pegasus was extremely sensitive and complex to create even if you had the formulas. It took years of skilled, knowledgeable scientists to produce the supply we had at the lab in Panama City. After it was destroyed, we didn"t have much to worry about. We just checked on Denton occasionally to make sure he wasn"t doing anything questionable."
"It didn"t occur to you that when he teamed up with Thatcher Pharmaceuticals, that might be questionable?" Lynch asked sarcastically.
"I wasn"t involved. It was a Homeland Security problem." He paused. "Until I got the call from Jeff Stedler. He said there was something ugly going on down there in San Diego that I should look into. I didn"t know until this moment that it was the Pegasus Project."
"And he never called you back," Kendra said quietly. "So you sent in Lynch."
"Blind," Lynch added bitterly.
"I told you, I didn"t realize that Stedler was investigating Denton. He just said there was something ugly going on."
"Well, I told you I"d find out what the dirty little secrets were all about," Lynch said bitterly. "You could have helped more, dammit."
"I"m telling you now, aren"t I?"
"Because that Pegasus Project scared you s.h.i.tless."
"This could all be a false alarm," Jamerson said. "I don"t see how Denton could have reproduced those formulas. He did the basic work, but there were several scientists who had input in the finished product. Remember, he could never get them to work correctly."
"Maybe, with the resources of a multinational corporation, he was able to lick it."
"Still, it would be a logistical nightmare to develop it in secret and perform the clinical trials with all the trial and error that entails."
"But it sounds like he already has the first formula," Kendra said. "Briggs said the containers he saw looked old, and the boxes were from Panama City, Florida. The most logical scenario would be that Dr. Denton found a way to prevent the finished product of Pegasus 1 from being destroyed. Or at least a good portion of it. He kept it hidden away until he had found a partner to help him continue refining the second formula."
"Pegasus 2, which they could never get to work correctly during the official project," Lynch added.
"So Schuyler with Thatcher Pharmaceuticals showed up on the scene and they became a team." She made a face. "Or should I say a Deadly Duo? They obviously found a buyer for their weapon of ma.s.s destruction. The only thing I"m wondering is how those murder victims were infected with the substance."
"They still needed to run tests as they developed it," Lynch said. "It would have been relatively easy to pick random victims and expose them to an airborne mist. In fact, it would have been safer for them if the victims were chosen at random."
Random, in the same way they had planned to unleash that contaminant on millions of unsuspecting people. Kendra shuddered. "Hideous."
"And they realized that some of their subjects were infected with a version of the formula that still didn"t work," Lynch said suddenly. "At least not the way it was supposed to. Remember, the goal was for the second formula, Pegasus 2, to be harmless by itself. But Denton, Schuyler, and company realized that those unknowing test subjects were going to get sick. So those people were murdered before they could manifest symptoms."
Kendra nodded. "Unusual symptoms, like premature aging of the organs and who knows what else that might be recognized by a savvy medical examining team."
"Or it could have been an accidental exposure like what happened to Leon Sanders," Lynch said. "And Stephanie Marsh might not have been random since she worked for Denton. I"m leaning toward a combination of both motivations."
"This conjecture is all very well," Jamerson said coldly. "But it"s not stopping the situation from becoming critical. When I hang up, I"m calling Homeland Security and Griffin myself and telling them everything. I"d suggest you get moving and try to stop Denton in his tracks. That Pegasus mutagen mustn"t leave the country."
"From your description, I wouldn"t say Dr. Denton is the princ.i.p.al problem," Lynch said. "He may have started the ball rolling, but Schuyler is the heavy hitter. He"s the one who hires the big guns."
"Stop them. Both of them." Jamerson hung up.
"You heard him," Lynch said sarcastically. "The great man said that we should take care of them. Too bad he didn"t give us a hint how to do that."
"Rancho Bernardo," Kendra said. "Nothing"s changed except we know more about what"s going on. Let"s go see Schuyler."
He glanced at her as he started the car and drove out of the parking lot. "You look ... charged. I didn"t expect that reaction."
"Charged? Are you crazy? Do you think I"m enjoying this? How could I? It"s too serious. It scares me. The idea of that horrible substance killing people without them even knowing they"re targeted. And the sheer callousness of selling that stuff to a country that wants only to kill us." She shivered. "I can"t understand it. I can"t understand them. Do you wonder that I want to stay as far away as I can from men like Denton and Schuyler?"
"No, but someone has to deal with them," he said quietly. "Stedler knew that." He paused. "And you know it, too. You may hate it, but it won"t stop you. I don"t see you backing away."
Her lips tightened. "I can"t. Not now. I"m caught."
"And maybe a little charged?"
"Maybe." She was feeling a zinging, an excitement that a challenge always brought her but it was mixed with a heavy heart and a sense of impending-what? The depression and urgency that she"d begun to experience earlier was back and growing stronger every moment. But she didn"t want to think about that strange emotional cloud hovering over her now. "This isn"t the time to a.n.a.lyze. It doesn"t matter what I"m feeling. Let"s just get moving."
"GET MOVING," SCHUYLER SAID, as soon as Denton picked up the call. "I just heard from Laird that he had a call that the FBI has picked up Briggs. I don"t know how much he"s already told them or if he"ll spill his guts before we can stop him. I told Laird to get that last batch of Project Pegasus loaded on the plane. I"m heading for the airport right now."
"You"ve ruined everything." Denton"s voice was a shrill squeal. "You kept telling me that you"d take care of everything, and all I had to worry about was making sure that the project would work. Now you"re telling me that the FBI may know everything?"
"I didn"t say that. I said that we should cut our losses and head for Tehran. The FBI is close on the trail."
"And you couldn"t even get rid of that woman who was causing all the trouble. What good are you?" he said. "I may not go anywhere. Why should I? You"re the one they"ll blame for everything. The government values my brain and my skill. You"re just a crooked pill pusher." He added with malice, "And when they find out your fine company is nearly bankrupt and going down the tubes, and you bought that palace in Tehran, they"ll be sure that you have terrorist leanings. They may even send one of those drones after you."
Schuyler controlled his anger. It would only be for a little while longer. "And you think that I"m the only one who is in trouble? What about that disc you stole from Homeland Security files at Panama City? How are you going to talk yourself out of that?"
Denton was silent. "You haven"t found the disc yet. They won"t know about it."
"Unless we leave a loose end who can tell them about it. I"m through with protecting you. You can go with me on that plane to Tehran or stay here. I don"t care which you do." He paused. "I"m leaving for the airport in the next three minutes. I"ll take off within the hour."
"I have to have that disc. It"s evidence against me."
"Then go to the warehouse and make a last try at getting it." He added deliberately, "Or tie up that loose end."
"Have Laird do it."
"No, you"re going to get your hands dirty. I"m not going to let you weasel your way out of this and leave me in the lurch. I"ll see you at the airport." He hung up.
CHAPTER.
16.
Rancho Bernardo
Thatcher Pharmaceuticals
"SCHUYLER"S NOT HERE," LYNCH said as he came back to the car after going to the executive suite. "His secretary said he had an emergency appointment and wouldn"t be back for the rest of the day."
"Did you believe her?"
"No, but I went to the executive garage, and the CEO parking spot was empty. The word "emergency" struck me, though. She might have used it because Schuyler"s demeanor was tense or hurried."
"Because he might know that Briggs has been picked up?" Kendra said. "It just happened."
"It could be that he was being watched. At any rate, Schuyler has flown the coop. Did you locate any nearby warehouses?"
She shook her head. "I Googled it and didn"t find anything. Then I walked around the immediate area and didn"t see anything but plush office complexes. It"s a very well-to-do little town. I can"t see Briggs or Sanders making deliveries here without attracting attention. The local police would definitely be interested in someone who looked like a h.e.l.ls Angel." She frowned thoughtfully. "Let"s try Ocotillo Wells. It"s out of the way. There"s a small airport nearby. It would have been convenient for Sanders and Briggs to make their deliveries. I don"t remember seeing a warehouse, but it"s worth a shot to see if there"s one there."
He nodded as he started the car. "Ocotillo Wells it is. From here, it will probably take us over an hour."
His phone rang after they"d been on the road about forty-five minutes. He made a face. "Griffin. He"s probably going to give me h.e.l.l for not calling him personally instead of leaving it up to Jamerson." He accessed the call. "Jamerson told you everything Kendra and I know, Griffin. Maybe you"ll be able to get more out of Briggs than we-"
"Briggs is dead."
He stiffened. "What?"
"You heard me. He collapsed in the interrogation room while we were questioning him. One minute, he was sitting there spitting out curses and swearing that he was going to sue us all, the next minute his eyes glazed over, and he stopped breathing."
Kendra"s eyes were wide with shock. "Did you try to revive him?"
"Of course," he said curtly. "Though none of us were eager to get close to that sc.u.mbag. Particularly after Agent Deevers diagnosed him as having the same substance in his body as Sanders. He couldn"t be saved."
"What happened?"