The airless sensation returned. “What?”

“There’s a plane on the runway across the fjord, an Airbus A380 freighter. It will take off within fifteen minutes, flying first to Paris, then on to Washington. While it is in flight, it will disperse the Trident virus into the air over Europe, then into the North Atlantic jetstream, and finally over the eastern seaboard of the United States. Our projections show that within a month, the virus will have been carried to every populated part of the planet. Everybody who does not carry the Atlantean genome will be infected.”

“And then what?” Nina whispered.

“And then…” Frost went over to the chamber, operating a control panel. The black windows depolarized, turning transparent. “This happens.”

Barely daring to look, Nina slowly stepped forward. The interior of the chamber came into view. An antiseptic white cell, bare except for a stainless-steel toilet bowl and a low bunk, on which lay…

She clapped her hands over her mouth in horror. “Jonathan…”

Philby stared sightlessly up at the ceiling, the whites of his eyes stained a bloody red by ruptured blood vessels. His skin was clammy, a deathly gray, chest barely moving with each labored breath.

“He was infected yesterday,” Frost said in a chillingly matter-of-fact tone. “The Trident virus attacks the autonomic nervous system, shutting down the organs. If it runs its course as the simulations predicted, he’ll be dead within six hours.”

“Oh my God…” Nina turned away, sickened. “You can’t let him die like that. Please, you made your point-give him the antidote, the vaccine, whatever he needs.”

“There is no vaccine,” Frost said. “That would defeat its purpose. Once the virus is released, it will do what it was created to do. The only cure is death.”

“Nina,” said Kari softly, “he got exactly what he deserved. He betrayed us-he betrayed you. He sold out your parents to Qobras. And he was going to do the same thing to you. He wasn’t your friend-the only reason he looked out for you was out of guilt.”

“Nobody deserves that,” Nina replied. Kari reached up to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off angrily. “Don’t touch me.”

“Nina…”

She whirled to face them, filled with a sudden rage. “Did you think I’d go along with this… this genocide? My God! This is insane! This would be the biggest act of… of evil in human history! What kind of person do you think I am?”

“You’re one of us,” Kari insisted.

“No! I’m nothing like you! I’m not going to be a part of this!”

“That’s unfortunate,” Frost stated coldly. “Because this is a situation where either you are with us… or you are opposed to us.”

“You’re goddamn right I’m opposed to you!”

“Then you’ll die.” Frost reached into his jacket.

Time dropped into slow motion as Nina watched him pull out a sleek silver gun. The glinting barrel came around, the black hole of its muzzle pointing at her chest. She wanted to turn and run, but shock and disbelief conspired to stop her, paralyzing her legs. She saw the tendons in the back of his hand tighten, finger about to pull the trigger-

“Far! No!”

Kari shoved Frost’s arm just as he fired. The bullet whipped past Nina, hitting the wall behind her. She tried to scream, but only a choked gasp emerged.

Frost’s expression was one of barely contained fury as Kari desperately pleaded with him in Norwegian. Then his anger subsided. Slightly. “My daughter just saved your life, Dr. Wilde,” he said. “For now.”

“Nina, please,” Kari said, talking quickly, “I know you’re overwhelmed by all this, but please listen to me. I know you, I know that you’re one of us, that you think like we do. Don’t you see? You can have anything, everything if you join us. Please, just think about it rationally.”

“Rationally?” Nina gasped. “You’re planning to exterminate most of the human race, and you’re asking me to be rational about it?”

“This is useless,” said Frost. “I knew she would respond this way when she refused to kill Qobras. She’s been too indoctrinated by her society. She’ll never come around.”

“She will,” Kari insisted, a hint of desperation entering her voice. “I know she will!”

“Very well,” he said at last. “She has until the first release of the virus. If she still refuses to change her mind… then you will kill her.”

Kari gasped. “No, Far, I can’t…”

“Yes.” Frost’s face was stern. “You will. Do you understand me, Kari?”

She bowed her head. “Yes, Far.”

“Good. Then take her to the plane.”

Kari looked up in confusion. “The plane?”

“The pilot can give you a countdown to the first release of the virus. I assume you want to allow her every possible second to make the right choice?” Kari nodded. “Then you’ll both know exactly how long she has. If she refuses to change her mind, kill her and dispose of the body over the sea.”

Still keeping his gun trained on Nina, he went to a telephone and punched in a number. “Security, this is Frost. Have two men come to the Trident lab and accompany my daughter and Dr. Wilde to the airfield. Dr. Wilde is under arrest-I want her handcuffed. If she attempts to escape, kill her.” He glanced over at Kari. “Even if my daughter tells you not to. You have your orders.” He replaced the receiver.

“Am I supposed to be grateful to you for that?” Nina snarled.

“Be grateful to Kari. Be very grateful. She’s the only reason you’re still alive.”

The door slid open, two uniformed guards entering, hands on their guns. Nina offered no resistance beyond a hate-filled glare as her wrists were fastened behind her back.

“Get off in Paris and use one of the company jets to come home,” Frost told Kari as they left. “Dr. Wilde?”

“What?” she snapped.

“I hope you have enough sense to be on that return flight with Kari.”

Nina said nothing as the door clanged shut behind her.

Chase looked out of the cockpit window. Ravnsfjord lay ahead.

He hurried to the hold. “One last thing!” he said to Starkman as he hooked his parachute release line onto the ceiling rail. “Some of these people are civvies. Just ’cause they work for Frost doesn’t automatically make them targets-only shoot at anyone who’s shooting at you!”

“Always were a do-gooder, weren’t you, Eddie?” Starkman replied.

“I just don’t like killing anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“What if we run into the company lawyers?”

“That’s tempting… but still no! Okay, everyone hook up!”

Chase pushed the button to lower the Provider’s rear ramp. The plane was descending rapidly. Freezing wind blasted in with the near-deafening rasp of the plane’s engines. The office buildings passed below; coming up fast was the Frosts’ house, overlooking everything from the top of the crag, and beyond it the biolab.

The plane roared barely a hundred feet over the house, then the ground dropped away. The minimum altitude at which the parachutes would work was 250 feet, and the terrain between the house and the biolab was just far enough below…

“Jump!”

Chase threw himself out. The parachute exploded from its pack as the release line ripped free. At such a low altitude, if the chute didn’t deploy perfectly he would smash into the ground before having a chance to do anything about it.

Grass and snow and rock rushed towards him, a car heading towards the bridge over the fjord-

Sudden deceleration hit him, the chute snapping open and yanking the harness tight around his chest.

He braced himself-

Whump!

It was a bruising landing, the parachute barely having enough time to slow him to a survivable speed. He ignored the shock of impact, shrugging off the parachute as he checked his surroundings. The other parachutists were dropping around him, hitting the ground hard. Chase hoped Starkman’s men knew what they were doing. Anyone who was hurt in the landing was screwed-they didn’t have the time or the manpower to carry wounded with them.