Page 75 of Devil
Devil nodded.
“What do we do?” he asked, clearly shaken by not having seen the depth of his agent’s treachery.
“You need to leave,” Li Wei said. “We will handle it.”
Devil shook her head. “We need all of us. I understand the constraints you have, but leave two of your agents to search with Darius, Chad, and Agent Highborn. I’ll go with you and whatever agents you want to the president’s quarters.” He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off. “This is no time for a pissing contest, Li Wei. No one here wants that virus to get out. I’ve seen what it does to people, and I’m not going to let that happen. Not to any Chinese and not to any American. We do this together.”
After a beat, he nodded and started issuing orders to his people. Several joined Darius and Chad, and Darius started relaying what intel they had that was pertinent to finding the virus. She cast one last look at Darius before she turned and headed toward the front of the plane. Separating from him was harder than it should have been, but Li Wei would never allow him in the presidential quarters.
“Follow me,” she said. As they walked, she updated her cousin and his team. She hadn’t a clue how the virus was packaged, perhaps a bottle, or maybe a test tube, but she did her best to lay out the options. At least she was sure Crawford hadn’t put it into the ventilation system yet. If she had, it would have circulated through before the president even climbed aboard.
That thought gave her pause.
“Here,” her cousin said, handing her a mask. It wasn’t a full respirator mask, but it was better than nothing. “And yes, before you ask, they have them in the back, too.”
She didn’t stop the smile at his begrudging tone. He might not care for her or the fact that she was not only dating an American, but a Black man at that, but he was still doing the right thing. Duty did have a place, she supposed.
“Wait,” she said, putting a hand on his arm as he started to move past her. He turned. “I think there has to be some sort of time-release device,” she said. “The virus is highly unstable in a way that benefits us, so we likely won’t find it in any liquids other than maybe water. Might be a good idea to drain the tanks, all of them, and we can get that tested. Throw out all the water bottles, too, if you have any.”
Li Wei nodded and barked the orders. A couple of agents disappeared to take care of it. “A timed device?” he asked.
She nodded. “It’s most contagious when inhaled directly. Since things like aerosol sprays are out of the picture, that leaves the ventilation system. But she would have wanted to ensure the president was on board, which means—”
“A timed device in the system set to go off sometime after takeoff,” he finished.
She nodded. “You had eyes on them. Did they go anywhere that would have access to that system?”
Li Wei looked off to some spot over her shoulder, no doubt running through the mechanics of the plane. Details he probably knew better than the back of his hand.
“They hadn’t made it past the staff area. The only location that they would have had access to any ventilation system is in the back utility area.”
She nodded and spun on her heels. “To the back then,” she said. “But leave a few folks here to look, just in case,” she added.
Without waiting to see if he’d follow her advice—okay, fine, order—she strode back into the main cabin but continued through toward the press area. Chad and the few Chinese agents in the staff area looked up at her, but she said nothing as she passed through.
“Lily,” Darius said when she entered the press area.
“Utility area,” she said. “And the main ventilation system.” He followed her, but they had to stop and wait for Li Wei. Placing his palm on a pad and leaning forward for a retinal scan, he unlocked the door.
“How would they have gotten into this space?” Darius asked.
“It’s opened during the joint check, but otherwise it’s locked as you saw,” Li Wei answered.
The door swung open, revealing a small space filled with metal cabinets. The compact size of the room would have been an advantage for Crawford. It wouldn’t have taken her long to find a place for a device.
Stepping inside, Devil opened a cabinet. A complex set of wires and what looked like a piece of bulletproof tech equipment stared back at her. What it did, she hadn’t a clue. What she did know, though, was that it wasn’t linked to the ventilation system.
“Lily, let me look,” Darius said, from behind her. She ignored him. If the virus was back here, she wasn’t going to let him step into its path.
“Those three, Lily,” her cousin said. She turned to see him pointing at three cabinets slightly to her right. Both men remained outside for the simple reason that there wasn’t enough room for all of them. Or for anyone other than just her.
She focused her attention on the first one and opened it up. The lower half was a device, but the upper half was filled with filters. Wanting to see inside all three at the same time, she opened the other two. Then stepping back as far as she could, she scanned the spaces for something out of place.
The third cabinet was similar to the first, with an appliance of some sort on the bottom and filters on top. But the middle cabinet was completely different. Stepping closer to that one, she eyed the black carbon plating. It was divided into four sections, but the top and bottom were sealed shut with several screws.
She lifted her hands and pressed against one of the middle plates, testing to see what would happen. Nothing shifted, and the plate remained fixed in place.
“Lily, you should be wearing more than a mask,” Darius said.
