“How many different ways are you going to kill me, Michael?”
“You’re not going to die, Molly. Not yet, anyway.”
I took off my mask and held it down by my side. James Doll came through the door.
“What the hell happened?”
“I was about to tell Molly the stuff I sprayed in here will irritate the lining of her lungs and give her a headache. Nothing more.” I nodded toward her piece. “She shot Stoddard. Guess you can add it to her tab.”
Molly sat down again on the cot. “It needed to be done, Michael. All of it.”
“Keep talking and I won’t half mind shooting you myself.”
“I don’t think so.” Molly’s eyes reached over my shoulder. I heard Rodriguez’s warning in my head and knew what was coming next.
“Lay it down.”
I turned. James Doll had his service weapon out and pointed my way. “I can let you scare them. But I can’t let you kill them. At least not both of them.”
“Why?”
“The gun.”
I slid my piece across the floor. Doll put it in his pocket along with Molly’s.
“You ever heard of something called the Dweller, Kelly?”
“Does it have anything to do with Robert Crane?”
Doll pointed to a chair. “Sit.”
I did. Doll took a chair across from me.
“I didn’t understand why they sent Crane after you either. Then they told me about the Dweller.” Doll nodded toward the cot. “You want to explain the rest?”
Molly took her time getting up. I could hear the wheeze in her breathing as she walked over to a workstation and typed in a command. One of the monitors came to life with an annotated map of northern California. A second filled up with colored strings of DNA code. The word DWELLER was displayed at the top of the screen.
“Jon and I realized our company might need additional protection someday. Maybe not this soon, but someday. So four months ago, we infected almost a quarter million people in the Bay Area with a biological weapon. We call it the Dweller.”
I glanced at Doll, whose gun stared a hole right through me. Molly’s voice staggered on.
“It’s a stealth virus. No one gets sick unless and until it’s activated. Then the host dies within two days.”
“I don’t believe it,” I said.
“We’ve given Washington a piece of the Dweller’s genetic code. They’ve examined it, and they believe. They can’t afford not to.”
I turned to Doll. “So she’s blackmailing you?”
“Stoddard approached my boss when you started getting close. Told him CDA was responsible for the Chicago outbreak and why. Then he told my boss about the Dweller. And insisted you be taken care of.”
Molly hit a few more keys, and the two screens went blank. “I love my country, Michael.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means I could sell my toys to the highest bidder. And there’d be plenty. But I don’t.”
“You’re a real patriot.” I took a step.
“That’s enough.” Doll moved to the middle of the room, where he could cover both of us with his gun.“We need to get you out of here, Ms. Carrolton.” He began to herd Molly toward the door.
“You won’t get her back,” I said.
Molly stopped. “Won’t get who back?”
“Ellen’s gonna know the truth about her sister.”
Molly’s features froze. For a moment, I thought they might crack and crumble right off her face. Then she turned to Doll. “What happens to him?”
“That’s not your concern, ma’am.” Doll nodded toward the door. “We need to get you out of here. Now.”
Molly looked like she might fight it. Then she erupted in a fit of coughing. Doll led her out, the door locking behind them. Five minutes later, the man from Homeland returned. He still had his gun out.
“Now what the fuck am I going to do with you?”
CHAPTER 64
I stood at the back of Holy Name Cathedral and watched the great people sort themselves out for the morning service. Pecking order was everything. No one knew that better than Mayor John Julius Wilson. If the president had shown up, Wilson would have given up pole position in the first pew. As it was, Wilson parked himself on the aisle, the vice president directly to his left. Cameras were lined up just to the right of the altar. Far enough back so they didn’t ruin the networks’ wide shot but close enough to catch the mayor beating his breast, fingering his rosary, and squeezing out another tear.
I pulled the Trib from under my arm. If sorrow was its morning coat, the city’s feet remained firmly planted in the muck and mire of rumor and suspicion. Some recent headlines:
ANOTHER ATTACK IMMINENT: MUTANT FORM OF PATHOGEN SEEN IN CITY’S HOSPITALS COOK COUNTY PUTS IN EMERGENCY ORDER FOR 100,000 NBC SUITS REPUBLICANS BEHIND RELEASE; SEEK TO ELECT A NEW PRESIDENT
And then there was today’s missive-a page one article on stealth viruses. How they worked. What they could do. Why we should be concerned. I didn’t know how many people knew about Molly Carrolton. Or her threats. But it only took one to light the fuse.
“How many lives you think you got?”
I turned. Vince Rodriguez stood just inside Holy Name’s main doors, fresh sunlight spilling around his shoulders.
“Me? Enemies?”
Rodriguez pulled close and tapped me on the chest. “I told you not to trust that prick.”
The detective was right. James Doll had been adamant that I needed to join Jon Stoddard, stretched and cold on the floor of CDA Labs. Then I showed him the cell phone pictures I’d taken inside the quarantine zone. Red paint, nailed-up windows, and dead bodies. Doll wasn’t impressed, so I took out the flash drive Ellen Brazile had given me. The one with a covert recording of the meeting where Doll and his pals in Washington had laid out various alternatives for controlling an infected population-including four different ways to burn down K Town. Doll might have been able to explain away my pictures, but there was no escaping his own words, played back in stereo. A few phone calls later, I was deemed an “acceptable risk.” At least for now.
“How did it go with Theresa’s family?” I said.
Theresa Jackson’s remains had been cremated along with the rest.
“All she had was a sister,” Rodriguez said. “Didn’t seem much interested.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’ll keep her ashes.”
My friend’s eyes smoldered for a moment, then dulled. Above us, an organ swelled with music and a choir began to sing. When they were finished, the cardinal took the pulpit and started blessing things. Rodriguez nudged me. We walked through the massive bronze doors and into a blast of morning sunshine.
“Where’s Rita?” I said.
“Where’s Rita? Pissed off is where Rita is. She knows everything and can report none of it.”
“At least she’s alive.”
“I’ll make sure to pass that along.” Rodriguez slipped on a pair of shades and took a seat on the cathedral steps. I joined him.
“I’ll make it up to her,” I said.
“How you gonna make it up to me?”
There had never been any ballistics match from Rodriguez. Rita Alvarez had never uncovered a “money
