House of Acerbi

“I’m over here.”

Leo watched as she rose up on her toes in a ballerina-like move to sidestep the thorny cactus plants at the base of the rock and climbed up beside him. Shading her eyes with one hand, she squinted at him in the bright sunlight. “What’s this … the start of a forty-day vigil in the desert?”

Leo laughed. “No … just thinking.”

“They sent me to find you. Sounds like more bad news.”

Leo looked out over the desert one more time and sighed before sliding down the side of the boulder and holding out his hand as Evita slid down behind him.

“Let me guess. They found another secret weapon or something at Acerbi’s ranch.”

“I’m not sure. The military guys seem really upset about something. They wanted me to find you and bring you back.”

By the looks on the faces in the room, Leo knew as soon as he entered the trailer that something bad had happened. Lev, Moshe, and Alon were present, as were Ben Zamir and Ed Wilson.

“What’s going on?”

Lev raised his head and looked straight at Leo with eyes that had taken on a cold edge. “The two scouts.”

“What about them?”

“They’re dead.”

“What!”

“Killed by Acerbi’s men. Their heads are on spikes in front of his ranch.”

“What! I thought they were on their way back here!”

“They were,” Wilson said. “They were driving back through Sonora. They were almost to the Arizona border when they called to say they were stopping at a police roadblock. We never heard from them again. The police were either Acerbi’s men disguised as Mexican Federales, or real federal police that were on his payroll. There’s kind of a blurry line down there between the good guys and the bad guys. We figure they never gave them a chance. They probably just opened up on them as soon as they stopped.”

Ben slammed his fist into his open palm. “I knew we should have flown them out after they had been spotted.”

“They were following operational procedure, Ben,” Alon said. “They were protecting the security of the mission.”

“Well, security is shot now, and I get to write letters of condolence to the families of those men. I should have ordered them to blow the truck and sent in an extraction team to fly them out. Now Acerbi’s men know some major players are in the area.”

Leo sat on the edge of a worn couch and looked around the room. So much for the element of surprise.

Ed Wilson reached into his backpack and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels. Uncapping it, he took a long swig and slammed the bottle down on the table. “I say we nuke the ranch and be done with it. I’m asking my boss to call the President. If he gives the go-ahead, Acerbi’s hacienda will be nothing but a smoking, glowing, radioactive hole in the ground a few hours from now.”

“I’m beginning to agree,” Lev said. He eyed the black label on the whiskey bottle and poured some of the golden liquid into his coffee.

“Go easy on that stuff, Professor,” Wilson said. “It’s not some of that kosher wine you guys drink.”

Lev took a sip and looked him right in the eye. “And I’m not a Jew anymore, but even when I was I could hold my liquor.”

Wilson clapped him on the back as the door to the trailer opened and Jack Beck poked his head in. “I just heard what happened to your boys. Sounds like payback time, but first I think you guys need to turn on the TV.”

Alon was the first to find the remote and switched it on. It felt like the air had been sucked through the door when they all gasped. Sitting at a glass-topped table with a swimming pool in the background, Rene Acerbi was peering into the camera, and despite the pleasant ambiance of the setting, he wasn’t smiling.

CHAPTER 56

Acerbi’s dark eyes seemed to reach beyond the camera and look right into the room. A red banner scrolled across the bottom of the screen announcing that local programming had been interrupted for a special news bulletin. The entire scene was eerie. Against a vacation-like background, the expression on Rene’s face had a chilling effect on those in the trailer, for they were aware that they were looking into the eyes of a mass murderer, and whatever he was about to say would be either a threat or a lie.

Good Evening. My name is Rene Acerbi. Many of you probably recognize my name because of the much publicized fact that I happen to be one of the wealthiest men in the world, but there is much about me that you don’t know. Let me begin by saying that great wealth comes with its own special obligations, especially to those less fortunate, and I have always considered it my greatest obligation to use my wealth to make the world a better place for future generations. Tonight, with the help of a dedicated group of individuals, I am addressing you from a secure location because the world is in danger, and if we don’t take action soon, our time as a species on this planet will soon come to an end.

Acerbi paused to let his words sink in before he continued.

Several days ago, scientists employed by the Acerbi Pharmaceutical Corporation, working in a secret location, discovered a vaccine for the new and deadly virus that is now spreading throughout the world. Without it, millions will die. My goal is, and always has been, the welfare of those who have been struck down by this horrible disease. However, because of circumstances beyond my control, I have been stopped from producing this vaccine or distributing it to you and your family.

In the last twenty-four hours, we have uncovered a sinister plot hatched by a group of powerful individuals who want to increase their fortunes by taking over the governments of the world. To this end, they want to eliminate at least half the people on the planet to make it easier to control those who remain. These evil men and women are responsible for developing the virulent pathogen that has been released into the world, and they plan to hold its deadly power as a weapon over your heads if you do not comply with their wishes.

The vaccine I possess is the only thing that stands between you and a viral Armageddon, so I now beseech you to rise up and come to my aid. The governments who do not support me are under the control of the group who is spreading the virus. They must be eliminated. We are with you, and as soon as we are able, we will begin disseminating the vaccine around the world to save as many of you as we can. It is time for the people of the world to join with me and come together so that we can stop these evil people and abolish the corrupt governments they control.

Together, we will defeat them, and I will stand with you at the forefront of a new beginning. I will begin by releasing a list of names of those who belong to this group to the press so that they will be exposed for what they are. Once we have succeeded in eliminating them, a new dawn will rise over a global community led by fair and wise leaders. I only hope that we are not too late, so I remind you that time is of the essence if the human race is to be saved.

Without so much as a “good night” from Acerbi, the screen faded to black before control of the satellite signal was passed back to the TV network. Acerbi was now gone, replaced instead with the shocked expression on the face of the television anchorman. Within seconds, the producer’s voice in his earpiece cued him to the fact that he was back on live TV.

“Uh … you’ll have to excuse me folks. I … I don’t really know what to say at this point except that our network appears to have been hijacked somehow for that broadcast. We here in the newsroom cannot verify its authenticity or where it came from, so until we learn more, please stay tuned and we’ll try to get to the bottom of this.”

“What the hell?” Wilson said.