ankles and swept him off the ground. Using the momentum from the kick, Fox sprang up just as the guard hit the ground. He quickly lunged towards the other guard, whose first instinct was to reach for his AK-108 Assault Rifle. Fox struck him in the forearm, making him lose his grip on the rifle. He followed with a palm-heel strike to his nose-breaking the cartilage. The blow snapped the guard’s head backwards and left his neck exposed. Fox followed through with an edge hand blow and shattered his trachea. As though his skeleton had lost its density, the guard folded over like a wet towel and dropped to the floor.
Fox didn’t have to hear the other guard’s movements to know that he should re-engage him. The guard didn’t have a moment to get up before Fox slammed the heel of his boot onto his solar plexus. He then turned to Stechina who stared at him wide eyed while she took two steps back. A few weeks ago he would’ve killed her too, and the bitch would’ve deserved it. He saw the fear in her eyes and the paleness of her face. Woman, you better not slow me down.
Fox brushed a lock of his auburn-colored hair that has fallen over his left eyebrow. “That’s two down. Four more to go.”
Sveta was still at a loss for words as she looked down at what Fox had done. Goddamn you, woman. He snapped his fingers in front of her face to redirect her attention. “Listen, we’re going to get through this together. But I’m going to need you to stay focused, or else you’re going to get us both killed. You understand me?”
She gave a set of short, quick nods.
“Good. I’m going to change into his clothes. I just hope they fit.”
Fox looked at both guards and visually measured each of their heights. The one with the shattered nose appeared to be close to his height of six foot two. His clothes should fit. Fox knelt down in front of him and pulled off his boots. “I need to know something.”
“What?”
“Why are you doing this? Why now?”
Sveta cupped her hands over her mouth and her nose before she let out a huge breath. It was as though she was trying to hold back more tears. “My husband, Gregor, was killed two days ago in an accident with the bio- weapon that we’re working on. I never wanted any part of this, but he was greedy and easy to corrupt. The organization we belong to-the Arms of Ares-paid us a lot of money for our skills as microbiologists. I never imagined so many deaths would result from the weapons we’ve built and sold to terrorist groups and rogue nations. But I want no part of it anymore.”
“Let me get this straight. You’re helping a criminal organization develop weapons strictly to market them illicitly, and it never occurred to you that innocent people would be killed? You’re something else, lady, and you took a huge risk contacting me. Why me, anyway? Why not MI-5 or the FSB?”
“The Arms of Ares has infiltrated many top-level organizations and agencies, including the British and Russian intelligence agencies you just named.”
Fox was unbuttoning the guard’s shirt when she suddenly grabbed onto his hands. What the hell are you doing?
“I lost my husband to Ares, and you lost your fiancee. I wanted to have ordinary life too, with children and even grandchildren. Ares stole that life from you-that’s why you joined CIA. Am I right?”
Fox stared at her, incapable of ignoring the comment. Jessica, not again. She knew one hell of a way of tapping into my soft side. No. Remember what I’m here for. Just focus.
“That’s why I trust you,” Sveta continued. “I know you cannot be led astray by these people like me and my husband were.”
She let go of his hands and allowed him to finish unbuttoning the guard’s shirt, remove it and put it on. It was a tight fit, but it would pass. Fox soon had on the guard’s pants. “When you first contacted me, you said there were other labs. Why didn’t you want the CIA to focus on those?”
“Those are sleeper laboratories. If there’s a problem in one, they can easily drop everything here and set up shop in another lab where the facilities are already established.”
Fox tucked his hair under the guard’s cap. “Then it ends here. This is where we’ll bury everything.”
“It won’t stop them. They’ll go elsewhere. Continue their research and development without problem.”
“Yeah, but it’ll take a while for them to recruit more scientists. Taking out everyone in this lab could cripple their production.”
“True, but not for long. Ares has many resources.”
“Yeah, no doubt,” said Fox. “So what kind of R and D are we talking about? Weaponized Ebola? Anthrax?”
“Something far worse. It’s a microbe called Pandora. All I can say is that small amounts of it introduced into a populated area can produce a death toll similar to that of a nuclear bomb. Ares has set new standard in biological warfare.”
“If there’s more of it out there then we’ll have to find it, starting with you telling me where to locate those sleeper labs, the biology behind Pandora, and any means of immunizing ourselves against this thing.”
“I’ve forwarded some of that information to the secure email you gave me. If you get me out of here alive, I’ll forward you the list of all the active members of Ares and their clients. As for a defense against Pandora-there is none.”
“None? Or none that Ares wants to find?”
Sveta shook her head. “There’s no known protection against Pandora unless you want to outfit six billion of the world’s inhabitants with anti-contamination suits.”
“You’re funny.”
“I’m not trying to be.” Sveta paused as though she was in thought. “One more thing, Ares is ready to sell Pandora on the black market. A demonstration is supposed to take place in Darfur sometime tomorrow afternoon. That’s about twelve hours from now.”
“One done against innocent villagers, no doubt. They’re going to try to sell it to those who are against the peace process.”
“With this weapon, they could strengthen terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda in their attacks against the US. They’ll be unstoppable.”
Fox removed the ammunition clip from one of the rifles and picked up the other. “Everyone’s stoppable. We strike them fast and we’ll strike them hard.”
“What you need to know is included in the email I sent you, as well as the location of the demonstration.”
“Good. I’m going for my ammo. Now get the hell out of here.”
“Oh yes, before I forget. You should also know that this laboratory doubles as a containment unit to prevent any contagions from getting out. In other words, if there’s any type of disruption in the confines in which Pandora is stored, the place will go on lockdown. There are sensors throughout the facility that are sensitive to the slightest change in the atmosphere. Setting off an explosive close to Pandora can cause the lockdown very quickly.”
“Then that’s where I’ll place the explosives. Are you sure there isn’t anything else you need to tell me before we leave this room?”
She stood silent for a moment, as if deep in thought, and then nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Go wait for me outside.” Fox opened the door and let her pass first. The hallway was clear when she walked out. He closed the door behind him and walked in the opposite direction.
Fox found the storage room easily and collected the two C-4 flat explosives, the cigarette-box-shaped detonator, and his Heckler and Koch USP Compact Tactical handgun. He unscrewed the noise suppressor and dropped it on the shelf, knowing that using it now was pointless. He tucked the handgun behind him, in the waist of his pants, where he could easily reach it. He then immediately stuck an explosive to the back of the storage rack and activated it. He would later detonate this with the remote. Maximum damage could only be achieved if the explosives were placed in the same room as Pandora. He walked back to the hallway, not making eye contact with those who passed him.
Fox came to a window where he could see into the main research room. There was a huge contrast between the cleanliness and brightness of the laboratory versus the hallway where he was. There were several men and women in white coats who seemed to be assembling several objects he couldn’t describe, but he knew they had something to do with the large set of metal canisters along the back wall with the N2(l) label affixed to each of them. He counted four of them and they were all about two feet wide and over eight feet tall. From his limited
