drank again.
Curt wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. 'We had a thought on the way over here, ' he said.
'Maybe it would be best if we used all the anthrax for the federal building and just forget the park.' Yuri shook his head. 'No, I want to do the park.'
'What if we insisted, ' Curt said. He took a sip of his drink and eyed the Russian.
Yuri looked back and forth between the two firemen. 'It would be too late to insist, ' he said. 'The pest control truck is already loaded with the other five pounds.'
'What about unloading it? ' Curt asked.
'I can't do that, ' Yuri said. 'The anthrax is loose in the hopper. I had to take the hopper off and load it down in the laboratory in the hazmat suit.
'It's not in plastic like ours? ' Curt asked.
'No, ' Yuri said. 'The agitator action wouldn't be strong enough to break the plastic.' Curt nodded.
'Well, it was just an idea.' He put his unfinished glass down on the coffee table. 'Let's load up so we can be on our way. Tomorrow's going to be a big day.' The three men walked into the kitchen. While Yuri went over to the countertop to get the towel, Curt and Steve bent over the plastic sausages. Neither dared to touch them, knowing what was inside.
'You're sure these things are safe? ' Curt questioned.
'As long as you don't break the seal, ' Yuri said. He reached over and picked one of them up.
Curt and Steve reflexively stepped back.
'The outside has been thoroughly decontaminated, ' Yuri assured them.
'And it's been heatsealed to be completely airtight.' He extended the sausage toward Curt, but Curt pointed to Steve to take it.
Steve put out his hand. It was trembling slightly. Yuri laid the plastic sausage on his palm so that the ends hung down. It was about ten inches long.
'How many people could this amount of anthrax kill? ' Steve asked. He hefted the object to appreciate its weight.
'A couple hundred thousand, ' Yuri said, 'provided it was dispersed properly.'
'The Fed building's circulatory fans are going to disperse it fine, ' Curt said. He grabbed the canvas bag and opened the top.
'Let's get the stuff packed up.' Yuri handed Curt the towel. He used it as a lining for the bag. Once it was in place he had Steve reach in with the sausage he had in his hand.
Curt gingerly picked up another and carefully placed it next to the first.
'You don't have to be that careful, ' Yuri said. 'The plastic is surprisingly tough. There's no way you could tear it with your hands.
' Encouraged, Curt picked up the other three sausages in turn and put them in the bag. He put the envelope in on top. Then he handed the bag to Steve.
'I guess that's it, ' Curt said to Yuri.
'Good luck, ' Yuri said.
Curt started to turn, but as he did so, he drew his Glock from behind his back. In a quick smooth motion he whipped the gun around and pointed it at Yuri. Yuri's eyes opened wide and his mouth went slack.
Curt pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Yuri in the middle of the forehead just above the eyebrows. Blood and bits of gore sprayed back and splattered against the refrigerator. Yuri collapsed, as if his legs had been taken out from under him.
'Jesus Christ! ' Steve shouted in consternation. 'What the hell did you shoot him for? ' Curt thrust his gun back into his holster. He nudged Yuri with his foot. He was still technically alive, although barely.
With the gurgling noises he was making, it was apparent to Curt that Yuri's end was near.
'I thought we were going to have the troops come back here later, ' Steve cried. 'Why didn't you tell me you were going to shoot him.'
'Are you going soft on me? ' Curt demanded. He glared at Steve.
'Shit, no, ' Steve said. 'But you could have let me know you were planning on doing something like this.
It scared the hell out of me.'
'I wasn't planning on it, ' Curt snarled. 'But the bastard pissed me off with the way he was acting. Did you hear the way he said it was too late to insist when we were talking about taking the anthrax out of the duster? It was like he was giving us orders. The irony is that I was trying. to give him a chance. Hell, if he'd thrown in with us on the proper target and not this stupid, senseless terrorist stuff, I wouldn't have done him in at all.' Steve put down the canvas bag and went back to the coffee table. He picked up his glass and took a generous swallow of the cold vodka. He shuddered. 'I just wish you'd clue me in ahead of time about what you're thinking.'
'Come on, you pansy! ' Curt said. 'Get the bag! Let's get out of here.'
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20
11:50 P. M. 'Do you think they're gone? ' Jack whispered.
'I think so, ' Laurie whispered in reply. 'I believe I heard an outside screen door slam over the sound of the fan ten minutes or so ago.' Jack and Laurie were enveloped in utter darkness in the storeroom. When Yuri had gone upstairs he'd switched off the basement lights, which had also shut down the lights in the storeroom. For the entire time the People's Aryan Army had been there, the two imprisoned medical examiners had stayed frozen in their respective spots, afraid even to breathe. In the strained silence both had been violently startled by the sudden sound of the gunshot. Up until then they'd heard bits and pieces of the conversation through the thin floorboards and its linoleum covering.
'I'm afraid our favorite Russian got shot, ' Jack said in a more normal voice. He was still afraid to move or make much noise in case the People's Aryan Army's departure had been a ruse.
'I'm afraid so, too, ' Laurie said. 'I could tell he didn't trust whoever it was who was coming to visit him.'
'I think it was the same men who'd come after me, ' Jack said. 'My apologies to Paul. This whole mess is a lot bigger than Paul's being angry at me. I'm afraid I was guilty of jumping to conclusions.'
'Maybe so, ' Laurie said.
'But for the moment it doesn't much matter.
What are we going to do? '
'Try to get out, I guess, ' Jack said.
'But I don't have a lot of confidence. Did you happen to notice the door? It's three-quarter-inch plywood reinforced with steel.' Laurie shuddered in the darkness. 'I don't like being shut in here like this.
It reminds me of all the terrible things that happened in connection with that series of drug overdoses I had to handle back in 1992.'
'Come on, now! ' Jack said. 'I'm a bit claustrophobic myself, but this is nowhere near as bad as getting nailed into a coffin.'
'It's a pretty close second, ' Laurie said. 'And do you smell that fermentation odor along with the bleach? '
'I do, ' Jack said. 'There must be a fermenter down here with a sizable, active culture of anthrax. Today when I walked around this house I saw a vent and heard a large circulating fan. I could kick myself for not guessing what it meant. I thought it was from a furnace, for crissake.'
'This setup is the product of someone who knew what he was doing, ' Laurie said.
'Unfortunately, that's true, ' Jack said. 'And that's what makes this threat tomorrow so very real.
Bioterrorism briefly went through my mind with the Papparis case until a plausible source became evident.
Even then it bothered me, because it was so convenient. I could kick myself again for having been so complacent and not more suspicious.'
'You can't fault yourself, ' Laurie said. 'After all, you did call the city epidemiologist. It was his job to do the follow-up.'
'That's true, I guess, ' Jack said without much enthusiasm. 'It's also true I called the director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, but it doesn't make me feel much better.'
'What was his name? ' Laurie asked. 'He was the one who gave us the lecture on bioterrorism.'
