“I can’t disobey my father. I won’t.” Kari tried to reach for Nina’s hands, but she pulled them away. “Just one word, that’s all I ask. Lie! Please, I don’t care!”

“Not a chance,” Nina told her.

The low noise of the engines rose in pitch. The lights flickered, then the A380 shook itself from its torpor, starting to move.

“The first batch of the virus will be released about fifteen minutes after takeoff,” said Kari, going back to the sofa. “That’s how long you have to change your mind. Nina, please. Don’t make me kill you.”

Nina turned away to stare through the starboard portholes at the landscape across the fjord, feeling lost.

Chase could hear intermittent gunfire from outside as he, Starkman and his companions ran for the exit. His gun was in his hands, but he wouldn’t have time to aim it at anybody when he emerged. All that mattered now was getting as far from the biolab as possible.

They sprinted into the open. Chase saw the last of the civilians running away across open ground, a pair of white Jeep Grand Cherokees parked to block the road two hundred feet away. Taking cover behind them were a number of uniformed guards, a couple of bodies lying on the ground nearby. They were shooting at the two other surviving members of Starkman’s team.

And across the fjord, he saw an aircraft slowly moving towards the runway, a gleaming A380 freighter.

The virus was on board-maybe there was still a chance to stop Frost’s plan.

Nina was on board as well.

He didn’t have time to think about it. The guards behind the Jeeps had seen them, and were shooting at the men running from the biolab. Chase fired back one-handed, knowing that the chances of hitting them while running were almost zero-but he only needed to keep them off-balance long enough to get clear of the building.

Lime crashed to the ground as a bullet ripped into his hip. Every ounce of Chase’s training told him to go back and drag him to safety, but in this case there was no safety.

The CL-20 would detonate any second now-

One moment, Nina was looking numbly at the distant biolab buildings. The next, she jumped in her seat as the complex disintegrated, multiple explosions pulverizing it and sending tons of debris spinning hundreds of feet into the air. A torus of dust swept outwards like the shockwave of a nuclear bomb. “Jesus!”

Kari leapt up and ran to the portholes. “Oh my God!”

“That’s one hell of a last stand,” Nina said triumphantly. Qobras’s men had succeeded!

Then it hit her. It didn’t make any difference.

The virus was already out of the lab, on the plane. In fifteen minutes, it would be released. The Brotherhood had destroyed the wrong target!

Ears ringing, Chase staggered upright. He raised a hand to shield his eyes from the hailstone-sized pieces of debris still dropping from the sky and looked around.

Nobody was shooting at him anymore. Both Jeeps had been caught sidelong by the blast and flipped over, crushing the men behind them.

The biolab had been almost completely obliterated. What few sections remained were smashed beyond recognition, walls jagged and tilting like broken teeth. Bent and twisted steel girders protruded from the rubble.

Chase squinted through the drifting cloud of shattered concrete, trying to see how much damage had been caused to the underground containment area. Its entrance was blocked by debris.

But that wouldn’t take long to clear-and to his dismay, he saw that the exposed part of Frost’s office farther up the hill was more or less intact. While the facade was cratered and cracked, it was still all in one piece-and even the windows had survived the blast, apparently made from the same transparent armor as the airlock doors.

That meant Frost and the virus had also survived.

The virus…

“Shit!” He looked across the fjord. The A380 was still trundling towards the eastern end of the runway. Once there, it would turn and accelerate down the long concrete strip, taking off and heading along the coast to release its deadly cargo.

Starkman groaned nearby. Aristides was several yards behind him, eyes wide in death. Chase rushed over and grabbed the American, hauling him up. “Come on! The virus is on the plane-we can still stop it!”

Starkman wiped dirt off his face. “It’s heading for takeoff, Eddie.” He indicated the bridge spanning the fjord. “We’ll never get there in time.”

Chase jerked a thumb in the direction of the house. “I know where to find a very fast car…”

The monitor on the desk came to life, casting a glow onto Kari’s worried face. “Ms. Frost,” said a woman’s voice, “I have your father on videolink.”

“Oh, thank God!” Kari exclaimed. “I thought you were dead!”

Frost’s voice emerged from the cabin speakers. “I’m fine. The containment area survived almost totally intact.”

“Was it Qobras’s people? I saw men parachuting into the grounds.”

“It was Starkman-and Edward Chase.”

Kari looked stunned. “What? But you said Qobras had-”

“Eddie!” Nina jumped up and ran to the desk. “You mean he’s alive? What happened, is he okay?”

“You might want to remind Dr. Wilde that she isn’t helping her case by sounding so pleased about that,” Frost said, voice acidic. “Chase was working with Starkman against us.”

Kari frowned at the screen. “You lied to me! If you knew he wasn’t dead-”

“None of this matters,” Frost cut in. “All that does matter is that they’ve failed. We still have the virus cultures in the containment area, and Schenk is moving our security teams to make sure they can’t get across the bridge to attack your plane. I thought Chase and Starkman were already dead-they soon will be for sure.”

“Nice wheels,” said Starkman, impressed. He and Chase stood in the garage beneath the house, before Kari’s collection of cars and motorcycles. “What’s the fastest one? Lamborghini? McLaren?”

Chase shot open the cabinet containing the keys to the vehicles. “No, we need a convertible-the Ferrari.” He pointed at the bright scarlet F430 Spider, noticing that Kari’s racing bike was no longer in its neighboring parking spot, then hunted for the right key. It was easy to find-the black and yellow prancing horse logo was instantly recognizable from his schoolboy fantasies.

“A convertible? Why?”

“Because I’m going to need to shoot from it. There’ll be more guards on the way-they’re not just going to let us drive straight across the bridge!” He tossed the keys to Starkman. “Come on! You’re driving!”

“What the hell are you planning?” Starkman demanded as Chase jumped into the Ferrari’s passenger seat.

“I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go!”

“Always the wise-ass, weren’t you?” Starkman climbed into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. The Ferrari’s engine crackled to life with an almost animalistic growl. “You think you can bring down the plane with just a UMP?”

“I don’t want to bring it down-Nina’s still aboard! Okay, go!”

The Ferrari peeled out of its bay with a shriek of tires as Starkman overrevved the engine. “Whoa! Little touchy!” He eased off and turned for the main door, which started opening automatically as they approached. “You’re going to try to save her? What’re you gonna do, jump onto the plane while it’s taking off?”