moment, then beckoned the pair to follow, leading them out of the barn and to another shed next door. He undid the lock, taking the wooden bar off the front and placing it to one side, then pulled open the doors.
He had six thick canisters of the pesticide stored inside. Each barrel was about the size of a beer keg, a yellow toxic sign on the side of each one.
'There you are,' he said, turning. ‘Now let’s talk about the price.’
The blond man grinned.
‘OK. How about we take it all off your hands for free?’
The farmer looked at him, to see if he was joking.
He wasn’t.
‘Are you crazy?’
He suddenly realised the woman had her hand behind her back.
She whipped it round and the farmer found himself looking down the end of a silenced pistol.
She pulled the trigger. The back of the farmer's head blew apart, spraying blood and brains into the air in a mist and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, sinking slightly into the mud. Drexler gave him two more rounds for good measure as Wicks stepped past the body and grabbed a wheeled dolly placed beside the canisters.
Stepping past the dead man, Drexler walked up to the first tank of pesticide. She tipped it onto its side and Wicks slid the dolly underneath, loading it up.
TWENTY ONE
In the bedroom at the house off Ditmars, silence had followed Josh’s revelation that despite finding the third bomber the last vial was still missing. A race that had been looking set to close was now wide open again.
Shepherd had sent him out to call Rach with fresh orders, to find out who went into that café with the dead bomber and broke his neck. Inside the bedroom the medic applied a final butterfly stitch to the cut on Dr Kruger’s right cheekbone, then clicked her case shut.
She rose and turned to Shepherd. ‘All done. He should be fine. Maybe a mild concussion, but no lasting damage.’
She passed Kruger a small capsule full of paracetamol.
‘Take two of these every four hours for the headache and keep your heart-rate down.’
‘Easier said than done today,’ Jorgensen said, as Kruger took the capsule.
The woman turned and left the room, leaving them alone.
‘Why did they do this?’ Marquez asked Kruger, pointing to the damage to his face. ‘Did you talk back to them?’
Kruger shrugged. ‘Guess they didn’t like me. The leader struck me as a bully. Literally.’
‘So what went on this morning?’ Shepherd asked.
‘The door was shut,’ Kruger said. ‘But they all left pretty early. I heard them arguing in the kitchen last night after they’d given me a beating. Something had happened.’
‘What was that?’
‘I think one of their guys jumped ship. They kept saying where the hell is he? Then two of them got into a big argument.’
‘You catch a name?’
Kruger shook his head. ‘Afraid not. But like I said, I heard them step out early this morning. Two of them got back about an hour ago, the fat boy and the kid. They were about to kill me just before you showed up.’
He suddenly paused.
‘Wait. Did you locate the other vials?’
‘We got one,’ Shepherd said. ‘But we missed another. It was released in a clothing store by the Seaport. We’re still trying to locate the fifth.’
‘How many dead?’
Pause.
’Fifty nine.’
Kruger stared at him for a moment. Then he rose to his feet, wincing as blood started circulating through his lower body for the first time in eighteen hours.
‘We need to talk to Peter right away. Where is he?’
Shepherd licked his lips.
‘I’m afraid I have some more bad news. Dr Flood is dead.’
Pause. Kruger looked stunned.
‘When he found the virus was gone this morning he committed suicide,’ Shepherd continued. ‘He stepped off the roof of your lab building.’
‘You were there?’
Across the room, Archer nodded. Kruger saw this.
‘Did he say anything?’ he asked.
‘You need to get out of New York,’ Archer recited. ‘Thousands of people are going to die.’
Kruger bowed his head. The team gave him a moment. All things considered, this guy was having a pretty bad day.
They’d wait until later to tell him about Dr Tibbs.
‘We’re sorry,’ Shepherd said.
‘Peter was a great friend of mine. He was the one who brought me here from Cape Town.’
Behind them, Josh suddenly ducked his head in through the door again. He looked straight at Shepherd.
‘Sir, you need to come take a look at this.’
Shepherd turned and moved to the doorway. Archer followed him out as Marquez and Jorgensen stayed with the South African doctor to