Next Jill dialed Sam's satellite and left a message.
Chapter 24
If the wolverine chooses the fight, it will defeat the bear.
Sam turned on the sat phone every thirty minutes on the half hour when he could. This time he got an immediate incoming call.
"What's happening?"
"We got her. She's alive and awake. The vector is to be delivered in cement trucks and helicopters. The FBI found more helicopters painted like state police choppers and fitted with atomizers. A lot more. They've arrested some pilots. Now they're going after the cement trucks."
"Good."
"Benoit also gave us a way into Gaudet's server. Grogg's working on it. He's gotta get around the government guys."
"I'm gonna cover us the best I can. Tell him to call me when he gets it figured. If I'm unavailable, then release the antivirus."
"The government has forbidden us."
"I've cleared it with the vice president and the head of the FBI."
"Is that true?"
"For you it's true. Do what I say."
Thankfully, Jill didn't argue.
Next Sam did call the office of the director of the FBI and spoke to an assistant director with connections to Homeland Security.
"I need something."
"Go ahead."
"If I do something brilliant that works, I want you to say that the director gave his approval. Likewise, Homeland Security."
"Take credit for something brilliant that's already worked? What are we talking about?"
"Saving the free markets."
"This is the antivirus for the Internet, isn't it?"
Sam said nothing.
"We'll look into it. You got that?"
"Got it."
That meant they would more than likely do it. They wouldn't call him back or discuss it further.
With that business done, he turned his attention to the mountain. It was nearly dark and snowing hard. Fortunately, the wind had picked up and it was creating a blizzard. The hunters would try to bed down or get under cover, probably under the big trees. Now was the time to start back up the hill. Without a light he crept along, weaving back and forth across the ridge. Most of them would be just below the ridge on the leeward side-all but Gaudet, who would see the mistake in doing the obvious. Sam was certain they had n't made it to the chasm; they would still believe that the task was to climb and to catch the group high on the moun tain.
Sam kept low to the ground and moved at a snail's pace. In the dark and these conditions he would have to feel whoever was ahead. Then he saw the first fire. It surprised him. Yes, it was bitter cold on the mountain and these men weren't up to the elements. But to lose the advantage of surprise? He could smell the overconfidence.
As Sam crept to within thirty feet, he tried to figure how he might take out all five men around it without being shot. They sat close to their guns and looked jumpy.
Sam settled down and waited, the cold penetrating his clothes, making him miserable. First his ears started to ache; then things started tingling like they were going to sleep. A bit of a snowbank began building next to a log and he tried crawling into it and under the log for some insulation. Under the log he found moss and leaves and packed it in his cloth ing. It helped to insulate and cut the cold further. The part of him that was in the snowbank was 32 degrees Fahrenheit outside of his clothing. Inside his clothing, with the leaves and moss, it was considerably warmer. The part of him that was outside the snow was subject to windchill and below-freezing temperatures, so he did all he could to get himself covered in the white powder. After an hour the men near the fire were nodding off, but they frequently stirred because of the bitter cold and the need to throw on more wood. One man had his back near the fire and he appeared to be in a deep sleep.
Shooting all five didn't appeal to Sam. Carefully he searched the ground beneath him, digging down with his fingers and a large skinning knife. The ground was very hard, frozen, and without the heavy knife it would have been nearly impossible. After twenty minutes he had located ten small stones. Waiting until they all appeared asleep, he came out from his shelter and belly-crawled near the fire. He went to the man farthest from the fire, whose gun leaned against a log. Reaching carefully, he slowly picked it up. Moving back into the shadows, he pushed the barrel into the icy snow and plugged it. For certainty he poked in a rock. Then he returned it to the log, just as it had been. After waiting a moment and satisfying himself that they all still slept, he crawled to a sec ond man whose gun was leaning against his leg. This was more tricky. He removed three small stones from his pocket and put them quietly down the barrel. With the third man, who had his hand wrapped around his gun, he did the same. Getting to the other two men was too dangerous, but perhaps the problem would solve itself.
On his hip he had the large skinning knife, which he once again removed from its sheath. Its blade was still razor sharp. Two of the men lay with their feet within a foot of one another. Very quickly he lifted the first boot and sliced clean through the leather and into the Achilles tendon. There was a split-second reaction time and, with the first scream, he had cut the second man as well and then leaped back behind the log.
Three guns literally exploded in rapid succession. The men farthest up the hill hadn't fired. The other three were wounded from metal fragments. The men who were cut were yelling and so were the wounded. It was pandemonium.
"Stand with your hands up," Sam shouted.
The two men with unfired guns hesitated but didn't seem interested in testing their weapons.
"I can't stand," one of the men said. He had been cut.
"You can stand if you wanna live," Sam said. "Step away from the fire. Hands behind your head and kneel."
They did as they were told, even the men with the bleed ing heels.
Sam kicked snow over the fire.
"Take off your coats."
"We can't survive without coats."
"You won't survive with them because I'll shoot you."
"We are French diplomats. We have diplomatic immu nity." The man had a Spanish accent.
"Take off your coats, run down the mountain, and call your embassy."
Sam collected the two functional weapons, the coats, and all the radios.
Suddenly there was a huge roar down the river canyon and Sam knew the upper dam was gone, with the lower dam soon to follow.
"Take off. If you hurry, you might make it to the landing where the cabins were and start a fire and stave off frostbite. If you don't get a fire going down there, you'll lose body parts from the cold. Don't forget matches." One of the men fumbled through a pack. "Now go!"
Without waiting they hurried down the mountain, the un injured helping the injured.
Sam got on the radio.
"Mr. Gaudet. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you. What do you want?"
"Same thing you do, only it's you I want to kill and not me. But I'll make you a deal. If you want to live in a prison, you can surrender yourself. Call off Cordyceps. It's failed anyway. I'll turn you in to a country that doesn't allow capital punishment."