Silent Night - By Tom Barber Page 0,63
them out now?’
‘Relax. One of the doctors showed me how to filter the air before I shot him. I push a button, it’ll be clean in less than a minute.’
Finn nodded. ‘OK. We’re halfway there.’
‘No, we’re all the way there. The doctor cooked up six canisters for us and Bleeker’s dead.’
‘Yeah, but his contact isn’t.’
‘Wait. You still want to go through with that?’
‘Yeah. I do.’
‘Do you have his number?’
Sway nodded. Rourke turned to him.
‘Think for a moment. We need to be careful. You and Bleeker set this up to con the money out of the Brit. That was before Bleeker screwed us. What he did this morning will have alerted every cop and Federal agent in New York.’
‘Relax. It doesn’t affect our plan. It just means we’ll do it with an early two million in our back pockets.’
‘You sure he’ll pay?’
‘Bleeker said the Brit’s in seven figures with a Triad gang. He’s been given one week to front the money or his kid dies. He won’t back out.’
‘Could be a set up.’
‘Look at it this way. Bleeker served his purpose by making introductions at the rally. Now he’s dead, which saves us the trouble. And we get another $2 mil added to the pot.’
‘I still don’t like it.’
‘But I do. There’s two million on the table. I’m not walking away from that.’ He pulled his cell phone. ‘I’ll set this thing up.’
He pointed at the sealed-off lab.
‘Do me a favour and clean that shit out of there.’
Back at the Counter Terrorism Bureau, Archer and Shepherd had re-joined Josh and Jorgensen in the observation room of the interrogation cell. Marquez was upstairs working with Rach. The four men were standing in silence, watching through the glass as Jacobs talked with his lawyer inside the other room.
‘Shit,’ Jorgensen said. ‘He’s not going to be talking any time soon.’
‘We had him, sir,’ Archer said to Shepherd. ‘He had no idea what Bleeker was up to this morning.’
‘Your comment about needing the money rattled him,’ Shepherd said. ‘And the photo of the dead man shook him further. He’s not in this for terrorism.’
‘He’s in it for money,’ Josh finished.
‘He said something strange in there,’ Archer said.
‘What was that?’
‘Bleeker already had the virus?’
‘So?’ Jorgensen said. ‘Why’s that strange, genius?’
‘Because he was surprised. I think he and Bleeker were planning to buy it from someone else.’
‘But Bleeker already had the virus.’
‘Only because he stole it.’
‘You think he was double-crossing Jacobs?’ Shepherd asked.
‘I think he was planning to.’
As the men thought about this, Marquez stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Shepherd turned to her.
‘Any updates?’
She nodded. ‘CSU found a pay-as-you-go cell phone in a drawer at Dr Tibbs’ apartment. It has a very interesting call history.’
‘Interesting how?’
‘There’s only one number on there. Paul Bleeker’.
‘Oh shit,’ Jorgensen said. ‘So Tibbs is the missing link?’
‘He has to be,’ Marquez said. ‘Apparently the calls stretch back for the last couple of weeks.’
‘Get the two doctors,’ Shepherd asked.
Marquez ducked out. Moments later, she reappeared with Kruger and Maddy, the pair joining the team in the observation room for the interrogation cell.
‘What’s going on?’ Kruger asked.
‘A cell phone was found at Dr Tibbs’ apartment. He’s been in touch with Paul Bleeker for the past fortnight.’
‘What?’
‘He was the leak in your team,’ Shepherd said. ‘That’s how Bleeker knew about the virus. Tibbs must have told him.’
Kruger and Maddy both looked shocked. Shepherd gave them a moment. In the silence, a cell phone in the room started ringing but the room ignored it. Kruger looked surprised and took a seat while he thought the revelation through. Archer glanced at Maddy and saw her frowning, shaking her head. Marquez had noticed it too.
‘Will was such a quiet, gentle guy,’ Maddy said. ‘I can’t believe he’d do something like this.’
‘Never underestimate the appeal of money,’ Jorgensen replied insensitively.
The phone kept ringing.
‘Jesus Christ, will someone answer that?’ Shepherd said.
They looked at each other; it didn’t belong to any of them. Then they all turned in the direction of the ringing cell.
It was rattling and vibrating across the desk behind them, the screen flashing.
It was Jacobs’ phone.
Jacobs and his lawyer were mid-conversation when the door to the interrogation room burst open. Shepherd’s whole team moved swiftly inside, followed by Rach carrying her laptop. A wire was hooked up to Jacobs’ Blackberry, which was still ringing. Rach placed the laptop on the table quickly whilst Shepherd slid the phone in front of Jacobs. It sat there, purring and shifting on the table as the call continued.
Private