“Nothing. It’s like a gigantic black hole. The pope’s been in contact with scientists from all over the world, and they’re totally stumped.”
“The way this thing is behaving, it’s got to be DNA based,” Lev said.
“Have the Spanish scientists come up with anything new?”
“For now we’re all staying with the DNA angle while we look for a source. So far, it looks like both our immunity and our vulnerability to the pathogen are somehow linked to our genes.”
“Sounds like a workable hypothesis, Professor, but if it is DNA based there doesn’t appear to be any commonality to the way it’s spreading. It’s crossing all ethnic lines equally.”
“We’re starting to lose our satellite connection, Anthony. We’ll stay in contact and let you know how things are progressing. I’ll call you back later today. Take care, old friend.”
Lev pushed the
Alon stopped what he was doing and stared at him with his mouth hanging open.
Ariella nodded her head. “Alon’s right, Daddy. Besides, the Spanish authorities won’t let us go ashore.”
Lev held up his hands in the face of the rising protests. “Everyone, just hear me out. No one knows how long this will go on. Our ability to remain mobile and independent is determined by the amount of fuel we carry, and due to the fact that we were unable to refuel the yacht in Monaco or here in Spain, we don’t have enough diesel fuel left to return to Israel. Also, because of the quarantine, we can’t resupply the vessel with fresh food or water here, so at best we only have a few weeks of supplies left before we run out.”
The room grew quiet with the realization that Lev was right. They were prevented from going ashore or returning home, and soon, they would be on a floating steel island with no food or water.
“What about Italy?” Leo asked. “I’ll notify …”
A buzz indicating an incoming call on the secure line prompted Lev to reach for the red phone on the console. After listening briefly to the caller, he replaced the receiver and looked around the room.
“I believe the question of where we must go has just been answered. I’ve just received word from Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv that Sarah is in France … at Acerbi’s Chateau in the Loire Valley.”
Without being asked, the communications officer brought a map of France up on the main screen.
“Are you sure she’s there?” Leo asked.
“Yes. My contact in Israeli intelligence wouldn’t divulge his source, but he assured me the information is solid. He said Sarah was flown to France on a private jet leased by a dummy corporation belonging to an attorney who works for Acerbi. Evidently, this guy Acerbi has several fictitious shell companies spread around the world to cover his tracks.”
“Just where in France are we headed?”
“Do you remember that compound I told you about earlier … the one in the French countryside near Carcassonne?”
“The hippies?”
Lev smiled. “They just look like hippies. It’s about two-hundred miles south of the Loire Valley. It will make a perfect staging area for a rescue attempt.”
“We still have to take into account the fact that the French authorities have also closed their borders, and that we’ll be faced with the same greeting we received here, or worse.”
“There are ways around these things.”
“Even so, I don’t think a survivalist-minded group of people who’ve taken the time to build a self-sufficient compound will be too excited about letting a bunch of strangers just walk onto their farm and potentially expose all of them to a lethal pathogen.”
Lev’s eyes telegraphed the fact that he had already formed a plan in his mind. “I guess I forgot to mention something to you about the compound in France … I own it.”
Leo was becoming exasperated by Lev Wasserman’s tendency to reveal things at the last moment. He had to keep reminding himself that Lev had spent a large portion of his life working with the Israeli intelligence community, so it was natural that he would tend to withhold operational details of things he was planning until the last minute.
“Go ahead, Lev. Let’s hear the rest of it.”
“That land once belonged to my family before they were uprooted by the Holocaust. After the war, my mother and father fled to Palestine to build a new life for themselves in Israel. Before he died, I promised my father that I would buy the land back one day and rebuild the farm for future generations of our family. A few years ago the opportunity presented itself, so I purchased the property and brought the old farm back to life, but I also had another motive. We needed another home base like the one we have in Israel in case things got out of hand in the Middle East.”
“Amazing. You guys always seem to have a backup plan.”
“Unfortunately, Cardinal, we are a people surrounded by enemies, and the need for defensive planning has become intertwined with our whole way of life. Now that the jihadists have decided to export their hatred to the rest of the world, people everywhere will be forced to start thinking the way we do in Israel.”
“That’s a good point. I really hadn’t thought of it like that, but it’s true. The terrorists are forcing the rest of us to change the way we live.”
“Yeah … a few crazies have made the world a different place, but they’re only sowing the seeds of their own destruction. I have several close Muslim friends, and their community is growing weary of the radicals within their midst. There are rumblings that many are preparing to clean their own houses. I hope they succeed, because if they don’t, I fear a lot of innocent people will die in a bloodletting the likes of which mankind has never seen before.”
Lev grew silent as his eyes took on a vacant look, as though an unseen vision was playing in his head. It was a look Leo had seen before … in the Negev desert.
“Lev.”
The professor’s mind slowly returned from wherever it had taken him. “Oh … what were we talking about … the farm … yes, of course. I make visits there on a regular basis. There’s plenty of room for all of us, and as far as food is concerned, they have enough to last for years.”
“Sounds perfect, but we still have to get there.”
“We’re leaving tonight, Leo. After we clear the harbor, we’ll make a short run and drop anchor off the southern coast of France before the sun comes up. We’ll have to use the helicopter to ferry people ashore.”
“But the chopper holds only three passengers. Why not use the speedboats?”
“Because the compound is located several miles inland and we don’t have the means to travel overland. Nava will be forced to make several trips flying in total darkness under French radar, but she’s a good pilot, and if everything goes according to plan the French authorities won’t even know there’s a foreign yacht in the area until we’re all safely inside the compound.”
“Then what?” Leo asked.
Lev looked up at the multi-colored display on the large screen above their heads.
“We make a plan.”
CHAPTER 29
A nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach told Sarah Adams that something was wrong. The chateau and the grounds surrounding it were beautiful, the food was fantastic, and the staff seemed friendly enough, but for some reason she felt more like a prisoner.
Rene Acerbi had left on an overnight trip for a meeting at the World Health Organization, but before he left, he had warned Sarah not to try to contact her family back in Texas for fear that the CDC would find out where she was and send the French authorities after her.
