Medusa (NUMA Files 8)

There was only empty space by the time Austin and Zavala crashed into the table, overturning it. They climbed to their feet and saw Phelps standing under the spotlight where they had been sitting a moment before. He had the Bowen pointed in their direction.

“The boss isn’t going to like that,” he said in his lazy way.

“No, I suppose she won’t,” Austin said. “And that’s too damned bad.”

The corner of Phelps’s mouth turned up slightly.

“What were you saying about the lab vaccine and the virus?” he asked.

“The American and Chinese governments have been secretly working to develop the vaccine to head off a deadly virus, but your boss’s outfit stole the lab.”

“I know all about the lab,” Phelps said. “I’m the one who hijacked the damned thing.”

“If that’s true,” Austin said, “then you know where the lab is. Work with us to take it back from these clowns.”

“You weren’t kidding about the bug spreading to the States, were you?”

Austin looked him straight in the eye.

“What do you think, Phelps? What do you really think?”

“It’s not what I think but what I know,” he said. “I’ve got family in the States,” he added after a pause.

“There’s nothing to prevent them from getting sick,” Austin said. “You can’t let that happen.”

“I’m not going t

o let it. But I’ve got to do it my own way, and I work alone.”

He turned his head at the sound of more shots and shouting in the distance.

He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out the keys to the handcuffs, which he set on the floor. Then he unclipped the holster from his belt, slipped the Bowen back in it, and, bending low to the floor, sent it skittering across the floor and out of sight. A second later, he disappeared into the shadows.

When the warehouse lights snapped on a moment later, he was gone. Cate Lyons had one hand on the light switch, the other on a pistol. When she saw Austin and Zavala, she came running over to them.

“Are you guys okay? God, Joe, you look like hell. Sorry I’m late. I was waiting for backup. They’re searching the building, but I think everybody got away. Will one of you tell me what’s going on?”

Austin picked the key off the floor, unlocked his handcuffs, and did the same for Zavala. He stood up and retrieved his Bowen.

“We’ll tell you what we know on the way back to Washington,” he said. Austin clipped the holster to his belt. “Then we want to talk to a certain Agent Yoo.”

CHAPTER 29

AFTER LEADING ZAVALA TO FALLS CHURCH, CHARLIE YOO had headed back to FBI headquarters. He chatted with an agent from the Asian Crime Unit, looking for tidbits of information to pass along to his employers. As a member of one of the world’s largest crime organizations, Yoo got a perverse thrill wandering the halls of the world’s largest law-enforcement agency. He was still at the Hoover Building when Caitlin Lyons called and asked if they could get together for a drink at a Georgetown bar. Yoo jumped at the invitation. Caitlin was a good source of FBI gossip, and she was attractive as well.

He took the elevator down to the garage and was walking to his car when Lyons stepped out from behind a concrete pillar.

“Hello, Charlie,” she said.

Yoo gave her his widest grin.

“Did I misunderstand?” he asked. “I thought we were meeting at the bar.”

“I decided to save you the trip. You must be tired after setting up my friends Joe and Kurt for a hit.”

Yoo maintained his grin with some effort, and his hand reached inside his jacket.

“Hi, Charlie. How’s by Yoo?”