Chapter 2

The next morning, Bianca took the Range Rover to a used car lot, sold the truck, and used the money to buy a used Skoda, registering it under an Alias. 

7 hours later, Bianca and the Kral family arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, to Bianca's safe house.

Once she had all of her things inside, as well as Dominic’s, she set up a security system.

As she got it online, the satellite phone rang. 

"507.."

"507. Did you find Kral?"

"Yeah, Edwards, he's safe. He's here beside me."

"Good. Keep him there. Someone will be there soon."

"Edwards, I...what the F**k!!!"

Bianca swore as the connection went down. 

She looked over at Kral.

"Well, that was weird.."

"How so?"

"He never just 'checks in'"

"Do you suspect he's up to something?"

"I always suspect that. I've been wrong every time though. I've learned not to trust anyone. Not even family."

"So what do we do now?"

"First thing I'm going to do is to get rid of the car. I want to eliminate all chance of being followed." 

She went outside for about 3 minutes, and came back in. 

"Ok. That's taken care of. The next problem is..."

"What did you do?"

"What?"

"When you were outside, you said you were going to dispose of the car...it's still there."

"I put remote-activated incendiary devices in it. It'll burn up in an "accidental" car fire when I trigger it remotely."

"Oh...."

"I know what I'm doing."

"So you were saying?"

"Right. The next problem is a big one." 

She walked over to her bags, first checking her makeup bag. 

"We need to alter your appearance. I'm sure Interpol has sent our photo to every agency in Eurasia by now."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sure your family saw me put the gun to your head. I'm also sure your wife called the police on me, telling them I kidnapped you."

"Should I call her?"

"No. They've probably put a trace on your phone. If you want to call, we need to grab a pre-paid phone. a cheap one from a Petrol Station. Every time you make a call, It should be on a different phone, just to be safe."

"Why do I need to.."

"Look. You are one of 2 people who know how to develop the Antidote for the Virus, right?"

"Yes..."

"Ok. We need to get to your lab as soon as possible. If what I suspect to be the truth is in fact the truth, we're going to have a MASSIVE problem on our hands. If this virus is properly paired with another, potent disease, and done properly, and it's released into the general public....there will be little to no chance of us replicating any Antidote to it in time. We need to get any information on who took the samples, and where the samples are now."

"There's the problem. If it was taken before you picked me up, it was not on the records. That would have been classified as "Suspicious" activity. Nothing was to be removed from the inventory without proper documentation and duplicate supervision."

"While that may be the case, we still need to check." 

She took a mold of Dominics face, and, over the period of 18 hours, had a prosthetic mask for him, making him look vastly different. She also took one of her pre-made masks out of a case in the bag. 

on Day 4, they packed up their things, cleaned up the room to remove any fingerprints, and called a cab. 

The Cab took them to the Train depot, where they boarded for Copenhagen. 

On the train, she got an encoded Email on her phone.

She opened it. 

                "507. You are being watched. Kral and Family are in Danger. 
                Watch your back. If I don't see you again, it's been a pleasure.

                 -E"

"F**k... I told you they were watching us."

"Now what?"

"Just act normally. Don't attract attention to yourself. I’m going to send your family with another agent. We don’t want to put them in danger by being here with you, do we?”

“I suppose you’re right.” 

Bianca picked up her mobile phone and called in a fellow agent to pick up Kral’s wife and son in Copenhagen.

Bianca and Dominic went up to the diner car, and had a meeting.

“Ok. So this next leg, we’ll be portraying a married couple. Or at least, a man and his girlfriend. Nothing sexual though. Just for appearances. We’re going to be heading from Copenhagen to my house in Stelvio. We need to learn all we can while we can.” 

As the train pulled into the station, Bianca received a text:

                “I see the train. Will meet you on platform. I’ll find you.” 

After Dominic said his goodbyes, and watched his wife and son exit the train, Bianca spoke. 

“Remember. You're my husband. Make it convincing."

"Right..." 

He slid over closer to her and put her arm around her. She snuggled in closer to him. They walked out of the train, both with their eyes on the wife and son. When they saw them get into the agents car, they retrieved their luggage and hailed a cab. 

Once the cab dropped them off at their hotel, and helped them get their things to the lobby, Bianca called a number she programmed into her phone, sending a signal to the detonator on the car in Stockholm, igniting the incendiary charges inside the car, engulfing it in fire. 

She called the agent who had Dominics wife and son, requesting a location. After getting the information, she gave orders to take them back to their home in Prague, and stay there to protect them.  

Bianca and Dominic stayed in the hotel room for most of the day, going over details, documenting everything and making arrangements for equipment drops along their way back to Stelvio.  Bianca arranged for a car to be dropped off as well. 

2 days later, they left the hotel, and took a cab to the car pickup location. After double checking the car for bugs, they set off for stelvio, stopping at pre-determined points to pick up gear, switch cars, eat, use the lavatory and stretch. 

Late that day, they arrived in stelvio at Biancas house.

After unloading the gear, and locking down, the two of them slept until well into the next day. 

The following day… 

Bianca called into headquarters. 

“Agent 507 checking in.”

“Director Edwards, Please.”

“When will he be in?”

“I see. Will you have him call me when you do see him?”

“Thank you.” 

Dominic walked over at that point. 

“Not there?”

“No one has seen him in the last 5 days.”

“That can’t be good.”

“No, it’s not. Ok, we may have an even bigger problem on our hands than we thought. This goes so much deeper than I expected.”

“Explain…”

“We first thought it would end once we found you, Boruschev and your company’s CEO… but we now know that Oberlin is cleared, as are you. We also know that Boruschev is not who he seemed at all.” 

Just then, an email notification popped up.

She clicked it, and opened the email.

It contained directions to a website, which she followed.

Using the provided login information, she entered the site. Right there, on the screen, was Boruschevs file. 

“Speak of the devil…what do we have here?” she said as she browsed through the data.

“That seems like a lot of alias’s…”

“No s**t. I see at least 10. Looks like ABR isn’t the only place he’s infiltrated. He’s been at labs in the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Switzerland…Russia even.”

“How does this all…..oh, f**k..that’s not good..”

“What?”

“See down there, the item just before ABR?”

“Yes…Grenich Research…what is that?”

“Remember the outbreak back in 92 in south London?”

“Yeah. Accidental release of an unknown substance. 300 people died.”

“Well…Grenich was working on bio-viral weaponry. It’s been suspected that the lab developed the earlier strains of H2N1, but it’s never been confirmed officially.”

“So, you think he was trying to learn the formula?”

“I’m almost positive.”

“S**t…well, we know who and what we’re looking for.” 

She pulled up her TOR browser, and typed in the address for a not-too-well-known online black market.

She typed in a keyword, hit search and waited for the list to populate. Soon, she had a long list of various viruses, diseased cells and such.

She placed a bid, and waited for the auction to end.

After 10 hours and 13 more bids, she won the auction, and set up a place to meet the seller. She had a crew set up to go with her and keep an eye on the situation. 

2 days later, she was en route to Turin, where the transaction was to take place.

“Ok, so we need eyes on the situation. Snipers on the rooftops, people in the crowd. The meet will be in one of the public piazzas, in view of everyone.” 

She arrived in Turin, found the specified location and parked in the center of the piazza, beside a large fountain.

She got out, grabbed her binoculars and checked the area, scanning the rooftops for snipers.

She got back into the car and waited.

Soon, a pair of Range Rovers pulled into the piazza and stopped. One flashed it’s lights, and Bianca flashed back.

The front RangeRover approached, while the other one hung back. She watched as the rear near-side window rolled down and a rifle barrel came through. She quickly sent a text to alert her guys that the target was there. 

She got out, and walked to the trunk, grabbing the case with the money. The first Range rover stopped at the fountain, the driver got out and opened the rear drivers door, allowing a man to get out. 

“Darkangel005, I presume?” the man said.

“Yes. You must be overdueanarchy33.”

“Indeed.” 

The man walked to the back of the truck, where the door was already open.

He pulled a case from the back, placed it on the open tailgate and opened the case.

Inside were 4 vials. 2 were labeled “H2N1”, the other 2 were labeled “O. Unilateralis”. 

“So this is it?”

“Yes. 2 vials with the disease, 2 with a….special additive.”

“I see. I like it.”

“Do you have the money?”

“I do.”

She presented the case with the money, opening it to show it off. 

The man spoke in Russian to his driver, seeming to ask him to count it.

While he was counting it, Bianca sent a text to Kral, asking him how many vials were missing.

HE responded soon after.. 

“3” 

“F**k…” Bianca swore under her breath. One was missing. 

Another text came in.. 

“Why? How many did he have?” Kral asked.

“2 vials of H2N1, and 2 vials of Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis.” Bianca replied.

“…that is not good…” Kral responded. 

Bianca looked up at the man. 

“Do you have any more of this? My boss was wondering.”

“Sorry, this was the last of it.”

“Thanks.” 

The man soon walked over to her. 

“Looks like it’s all there. Here’s your case. Feel free to check it out.” 

She took it from him, unlatched the case and opened it, verifying the 4 vials were still there. She lifted the foam out to make sure there wasn’t an explosive charge hidden in the bottom, or a tracker hidden elsewhere. 

“We’re good.”

“Then it was a pleasure, miss.” 

They shook hands, and walked to their cars. Bianca waited until the range rovers left the piazza before she got into her car.

Before she started it, her phone rang.

She answered it on speaker.

“Hello?”

“Don’t start the car. It’s been compromised. Get away from the car now.”

“Who is this?” 

The line went dead….. 

She hurriedly got out of the car, grabbed her handbag, the case and her bag from the trunk. She closed the doors and trunk lid, and walked away from the car. She ducked into an alleyway, slid the case into her backpack and pulled out her phone.

 

She called Alex. 

“Hello?”

“510, it’s 507.”

“What’s going on?”

“ need a ride. Now.”

“Give me a second……ok. What’s your location?”

“Sending you the coordinates.”

.a few seconds pass…

“Ok, got them. Head west until you find a main street. From there, get to a bus stop. There should be one within a kilometer of you.”

“Thanks.” 

She hung up and jogged through the alley until she found a main road, and continued until she found a bus stop.

She sent her coordinates in, and, within 20 minutes, a Range Rover pulled up.

She stood and walked up to the vehicle. A window rolled down.

“F**k, why did you leave me like that?” Bianca said as she saw one of her crewmates.

“Didn’t mean to. We had to have eyes on the seller.” 

5 hours later, they were back at Biancas house. After the debriefing, and Krals inspection of the viral cells, She called her contact in Prague to check on Dominic’s family.  

“660, it’s 507.”

“Where is 334?”

“F**k…what happened?”

“S**t…what about the family?”

“Oh, f**k me…Are you sure…”

“What about the son?”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“F**k, F**k, F**k, F**k!!” 

She hung up and slowly approached Dominic. 

"Dominic...I'm afraid I have bad news..."

"What...please, don't tell me it's..."

"I'm afraid your wife was found murdered in your house."

"No....Oh God, No!!....."

“They got the agent I ordered to protect them, too.” 

He stood up and walked to the bathroom. She heard him weeping loudly...

several minutes later, he came out. 

"You said my Wife only? What of my son?"

"He said there was only one body. There was no sign of him in the house."

"Do you think they took him?"

"That's a possibility. Though, he may have escaped. Do you have his mobile number?"

"I think...yes, here it is." he said, tears still streaming down his face. 

As she was about to dial the number, her primary phone rang.

"507 Speaking."

"No."

"I figured as much."

"Not yet. I'm headed there tomorrow."

"Copy that."

"Out." 

She called Dex.

“Hey, Dex, it’s B.”

“Could be better.”

“I need you to find someone for me.”

“Fine, name your price.”

“I’m not going to do that..”

“F**k it, fine. I’ll pay you a visit when we crack this. We’ll talk about it more then.”

“Ok, I’ll send you the information.”

“Thanks, Dex.”

She hung up, and looked over at Dominic. 

"Pack your things right now. We're leaving."

"Now?"

"We need to leave. Don't question me." 

They packed up their things as fast as they could, and were out of the room and had their keys turned in within 15 minutes. They walked through the parking lot until Bianca found a car she liked. 

They passed a Renault, 3 Citroens, several Fords, a few BMW's...they stopped at a 2 year old Porsche 911.

"This will do."

She pulled out an electronic device from her pocket, and found the transmitter frequency.

She hit the button and unlocked the car. 

They put their bags in the storage compartment in the front, got into the car, and drove away. 

As they boarded the ferry to Puttgarden, her sat-phone rang.

"Agent 507."

"Edwards...didn't think I'd hear from you again."

"I have reason to believe that someone else with access to the samples has stolen the missing items. Find them, dispose of them and recover the samples."

“I’ve already recovered 2 Vials.”

“Good. I’m sure Kral told you there were 3 missing.”

“He did.”

“So the final vial must be found.”

"What do I do with the guys who have it?”

"The individuals will be considered Terrorists, and enemies of humanity. As far as the samples go, guard them with your life. Keep them in a secure location."

"So, does that mean..."

"You have permission to Kill them."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. I'll take full responsibility."

"Very well."

"I expect you to report in with anything you find."

""I will."

"Good Luck, agent."

"Thank you, Edwards."

 

The line went dead. 

"Well, Dominic. I need to ask you a few more questions."

Bianca asked him about his co-worker.

She learned that Mikhail Boruschev had booked a flight to Johannesburg that evening.  

She called Edwards back, and relayed the information. He then gave her some additional information. She learned that the company president, Victor DeMariano, while never appearing on record for entering the storage vault, had been in there many times, with either Mikhail or Dominic, according to the security guard. They had to extract the information out of him in a most unpleasant way though. 

...curious...