Black Flagged Apex

Chapter 36





10:20 PM

Interstate 81 North

Hazelton, Pennsylvania



Jackson Greely's Chevy Suburban hummed past the faint glow of Hazelton. The Chevy's cruise control was set at 70 MPH, which experience had taught him was a safe speed to avoid unwanted attention from the Pennsylvania State Police. Anything over 70 MPH was a complete crapshoot, especially on a Friday night. He hit the deceleration switch once and tucked the speed just under 70. He couldn't afford to have his whereabouts recorded in state police databanks. He'd left Harrisburg after a quiet dinner engagement with local political supporters and headed north for Lake Wallenpaupack. It was time for Greely and Harding to disappear, while events transpired that would change the course of American history.

He and Harding would be arriving at the lake house ahead of schedule, thanks to an unknown entity. Greely agreed with the rest of the council—the FBI hadn't taken custody of Miguel Estrada. They had enough contacts at the bureau and local law enforcement offices to know that Estrada hadn't surfaced in any of the New York City precincts, hospitals or federal offices. He'd simply vanished into thin air, carried away by two Arab-looking thieves in the night. None of it made any sense, but his coconspirators agreed that they needed to bump up the timeline.

Jason Carnes, head of laboratory operations at their secret facility, had protested, but reluctantly admitted that they could speed up the cultivation process. They would start injecting the virus into the bottle caps late tomorrow, with the intention of transporting the first crates of infected bottled water to the distribution hub the day after that. From there, the convoys would be loaded, assigned drivers, and sent to their destinations. Once the convoys hit the roads, the entire organization would go to ground and wait, leaving nothing for the feds to investigate.

His cell phone illuminated and started to buzz. He pressed a button on the steering wheel, which activated the Bluetooth system. "How are we doing?"

"Not good," Brown replied.

"Now what?"

"The team in Atlanta failed," Brown said.

Greely could sense the apprehension in his voice. "What do you mean they failed? What the f*ck is wrong with our people? I'm starting to wonder if you've been jerking me off with your reports of how well trained we are."

"Our people are extremely well trained, and I don't appreciate the implication."

"Then how did Young manage to slip away from…how many of your people?"

"Six. He had help. Skilled help. Two of my men were executed in Young's hotel suite. The others were gunned down in the hallway and stairwell."

"Let me guess. More Arabs?"

"No. A hotel security camera showed a man and a woman escorting Young through the lobby. The image is obscured by smoke, which wasn't caused by a fire. Police found a spent smoke grenade in the stairwell. Flashbangs were used on the eighteenth floor. The crew that extracted Young was well equipped, well informed and highly skilled. I'm worried that we've attracted the wrong kind of attention from someone unexpected."

"F*ck!" Greely yelled, pounding the steering wheel. "We need to figure this out immediately. Benjamin Young can connect some dots that we can't afford to have connected right now…or ever. We should have killed him weeks ago. Damn it! F*cking Mills didn't want to cut off a big funding deal Young was working on. The son of a bitch has more money than Bill Gates, and now we're looking at a serious security breach."

"I know. I have my eyes and ears on the ground in Atlanta. If he surfaces, I'll put a bounty on his head," Brown said.

"He won't surface. He's a ghost now, just like Estrada. How is our insurance policy shaping up?"

"We have two suitable options. The package will be in place within thirty-six hours."

"Make sure nothing goes wrong with this. If the government is somehow involved in Young's disappearance, the success of our plan will depend upon it," Greely said.

"Understood. I'll personally oversee the operation."

"Very well. Any word from the compound?"

"Nothing yet. I just got off the phone with Bishop."

"All right. Keep me posted. I'm headed north for my forced vacation," Greely said.

"Don't hurt yourself up there. I'll be in touch with any developments."

Greely hit the steering wheel again. He considered calling Jason Carnes and pressing the case for further expediting laboratory operations, but he knew that the laboratory staff had their back up against the wall on this one. Carnes had made it perfectly clear that current timeline cutbacks might ultimately impact the virus's efficacy. He needed to be patient and trust in Brown's tactics. The compound, the attack earlier today and their insurance policy would combine to create a perfect storm in their favor. Even if Young spilled everything to his government captors, there would be no way they could recover quickly enough to stop their plot. He had to focus on the big picture. At this point, small setbacks were like roadkill on the highway—squishy little bumps that had no chance of slowing down his Chevy.