Valmir shrugged as Sutsoff’s computer printer came to life.
“There was miscommunication,” Valmir said. “Our team was advised that you only needed his tissue. Whether he was dead or alive was no concern. But we grabbed him. He lived and we brought him to you as instructed. The mother and father died, so there is no problem.”
Sutsoff handed him a news article.
“The father died, but the mother lived, Valmir. You made a dangerous error, risking everything. Fortunately, everyone assumes the baby died.”
Valmir sucked air through his teeth. “So? It’s a win-win. Pay us our fucking money if you want us to continue.”
Sutsoff could barely contain her loathing of these two. She’d come to employ them through her international networks: Valmir, the onetime security agent turned human trafficker from Albania and Elena, the prostitute. Dr. Sutsoff hated them but needed them, as she needed the others like them. They were essential to the overall operation. But there was little reason for them to live beyond that. She would happily erase them later. For now, she pulled a thick envelope from her desk and tapped it in her hands.
“You are supposed to be convincing as proud parents. Valmir, you reek of cigarettes. Drink some mouthwash, shave, bathe and lose your tasteless jewelry. Elena, lose the gum, wear clothing that covers your tattoos and suggests you have a brain and are a good mother, not a moronic whore.”
Sutsoff tossed the envelope to Valmir, who fanned the American bills, seventy-five thousand dollars in all.
“We’re going to the casino now.”
“Listen to me,” Sutsoff said. “Stay sober. We have new passports for you and your son. Pick up the boy in five hours. We’ve arranged for you to join a cruise ship tonight. You are to conduct yourselves as a family on a Caribbean cruise. When your cruise ends, you will fly back to Nassau and stay in this resort. All your tickets and expenses are taken care of.”
“That’s it?” Valmir asked.
“You have one assignment on the ship.”
“What is it?”
“A man and woman from Indianapolis will be staying in the cabin across the hall from yours. All you have to do is ensure that at some point the boy innocently touches the man’s skin.”
Valmir looked at Elena then back at Dr. Sutsoff.
“That’s it?” Valmir asked.
“That’s it.”
27
As Lucy Walsh watched the Leekas leave Dr. Auden’s office, her breathing quickened. The parts of their conversation with the doctor that she’d overheard confirmed her fears.
For the past several weeks, she’d grown increasingly suspicious that the child-care center was a cover for something illegal.
Something sinister.
Lucy had arrived in the Bahamas from Ireland a year ago after answering an online advertisement for nannies. At the time she thought the center to be a world-class service with humanitarian leanings, secretly aiding families facing difficult adoptions and custody matters.
But she became troubled by Dr. Auden’s payments and calls to medical labs and law firms around the world, by her odd dealings with mysterious and scary people, by the cryptic behavior of some of the staff. It led Lucy to believe that the center was involved in illegal adoptions or child smuggling.
Or, Lord above, something worse.
On a recent trip home to Dublin, Lucy confided her worries to a man at her church who worked with a human rights organization. He advised her to covertly gather evidence. When she returned to the Bahamas, she started keeping a journal, collecting files and sending them to her friend in Dublin, who promised to pass them along “through the appropriate channels.”
Lucy was typing new notes on the Leekas in her confidential online e-mail account when Dr. Auden suddenly appeared at her desk.
“I need you to arrange an additional flight for me.”
“Of course, Doctor. First class and both seats, as usual?”
“Yes, here are the details.”
The doctor left her a slip of paper.
After she returned to her office, Dr. Sutsoff closed her door and reread the e-mail she’d just received from her team’s African field station.
Our tests confirm we have what is needed. We have a small window to harvest and will make arrangements for your arrival.
Pleased with the information, she picked up a novelty float pen and turned it playfully in her fingers. It was custom-made to her specifications. The barrel showed a sailboat on an azure sea. It floated from one end to the other when the pen was tipped. She unscrewed the cap and slowly emptied the barrel of the liquid, then sterilized it with an antiseptic. She then refilled the barrel with the liquid from the brown bottle in her medical bag, the same liquid she’d tapped into Alek Leeka’s juice.
Her latest formula.
She resealed the cap and held the pen up to the light.
It would pass through any security system. She would give it to Elena and Valmir and advise them on how to administer the solution to Alek.
Now it was time to run her test.
Her confidential phone line rang.
“Yes,” she said.
“Dr. Auden, this is security.”
Upon recognizing Drake Stinson’s voice she grew angry.
“I told you to never to call me here.”
“Our risks are mounting. Vulnerabilities are emerging out of Dar es Salaam, the U.S. and elsewhere.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you aware that aspects of the operation were infiltrated in Brazil? Files were stolen. Countermeasures were taken under the pretense of a drug war but an American wire service reporter is digging deep into our actions. I diverted his attention but take nothing for granted. We must remove him now.”
“No. Not yet. You’ve already removed two journalists. Remove another one and a hundred more will follow. Monitor him but take no action without my authority.”
“But think of the risks-”
“Risks? Look at what the Leekas risked in Wyoming for our best specimen. My God, where did you find these people? We needed the best for this operation-now it’s too late to replace them.”
“I’d warned you that with the large number of operatives you’d demanded we would face a quality issue. And what about the risk you took with your apocalyptic video?”
“We needed to get our message out at a critical time. We did it through the guise of a cult. My identity was masked and the video is untraceable.”
“I don’t think you understand that our investors are furious at not seeing any tangible results yet. This will be raised at your meeting with the inner group. They want to know how much longer before we launch.”
“I’ve told you, a prototype will be released any day now. I will review the results. Then I will go out in the field to seek the final component. I assure you we will launch the operation on schedule. I will deal with the inner group’s worries at our upcoming meeting. Now, I must go.”
Sutsoff returned to her computers and her work.
She downloaded an array of data relating to Alek. At the same time Sutsoff watched a large screen linked to a camera monitoring the dimly lit room where Alek had joined some twenty other children watching cartoons.
Everyone was in good health. No indication of any illness.
For the moment.
Dr. Sutsoff adjusted some switches on a control panel and the light in the room faded. Children giggled. Some worried. She put on special glasses and using electromagnetic radiation technology was able to see everything and everyone that Alek Leeka had touched. It was because of the liquid she’d administered. Blue hand prints, smears and smudges radiated as if something had run rampant in the darkness.
Even on the skin of the other children.
Good.
She began manipulating the computer, entering commands and passwords. As the computer screens displayed a response with color bar levels and digitized monitoring, Sutsoff watched Alek.
Within thirty seconds of Sutsoff’s commands, Alek released a small tickle cough. Sutsoff’s keyboard clicked as the camera zoomed in on Alek.