“I appreciate the concern, Kyle. But these men are mercenaries. Ex-military. Their loyalty is absolute. They don’t care about lofty ideals. They just know I’ve paid them very well. And that if they do everything I ask of them for the next six months, they’ll get a bonus that will enable them to retire three times over.”

Drake turned to Gibb and Zalinsky. “And speaking of doing everything I ask of you,” he said. “It’s time to strip Erin Palmer of her electronics,” he said.

Gibb nodded and faced Erin. “Okay,” he said. “My partner is going to remove a bug and two homing devices from you. He’s wearing body armor, so if you try something cute, I’ll just shoot you. If you’re able to block the shot with his body, he’ll be just fine, and I’ll shoot again.”

The muscular mercenary approached her and shoved her head down roughly. He picked through her hair to her scalp, like a gibbon grooming a mate. Finally he stopped. Keeping a finger pressed down on an exact spot on her skull, he removed a pair of tweezers from his pocket, obviously having been forewarned as to what the removal would require. He brought the tips of the tweezers to Erin’s head, gripped a small growth like one might grip a greedy tick, and pulled.

Erin cursed as a tiny piece of her head was ripped out along with Zalinsky’s target, and a fissure of blood appeared. Less than a minute later, Zalinsky had removed two additional small devices he found pinned to the inside of her clothing.

Zalinsky placed all three in his hand and held it open for all to see. The electronic devices were so small they were dwarfed by his palm.

“You know what these are, Kyle?” said Drake.

Hansen frowned deeply. “Gibb said he was removing a bug and two homing devices. So I assume that’s what they are.”

“Glad to see you were paying attention,” said Drake dryly.

“I’ve never seen any of these in my life,” said Erin. “Somebody must have planted them. Maybe while I was sleeping.”

“Why don’t I believe you, Erin?” said Drake, shaking his head sadly. “Imbedding the legs of an electronic bug like this in someone’s skull, deep under the hairline, is Steve Fuller’s signature move. I worked with him for years. Believe me, I know.”

Erin turned to Hansen in surprise. “He worked with Steve Fuller?”

“I’m afraid so,” replied Hansen, looking guilty.

“I thought you said he only knew Fuller because he’d put him on some kind of list?”

Hansen winced. He had planned to tell her the parts of the story he had omitted. He had no idea it would come out like this.

But more importantly, how could they have found these devices on Erin Palmer? Had she been playing him for a fool the entire time? He refused to believe it. It just wasn’t possible.

“We discovered these electronics yesterday during a routine scan,” explained Drake. “Imagine my surprise.” His voice darkened. “And my disappointment.”

“I’m being framed,” said Erin softly.

“Save your breath,” said Drake. “I’m not buying it. You were wearing a bug that I’m sure was broadcasting straight to Fuller. And a homing beacon as well. And as soon as you met me in person, I have no doubt you were planning to plant the second beacon on me.”

Erin just shook her head helplessly, her eyes filled with horror.

“But now your plan has completely backfired. Because the bug has transmitted the false information I gave you. The bit about coming to San Francisco to meet me. Fuller is nearby, I’m sure, but he won’t move in. He has no idea I’m here. He thinks I’m in California right now.”

He walked over to Zalinsky and several tendrils snaked out from under his shirt and swept up the two homing beacons in the mercenary’s hand. He quickly transferred them to his human hand and the tendrils disappeared under his shirt once again. He carried the homing beacons over to the driver of the van, who had remained still and silent since he had arrived, as had Burghardt. The driver lowered the window even farther and Drake handed him the small electronic devices, which the man put in his shirt pocket.

“Watch this,” said Drake. He nodded to the driver, and the van exited the garage and was soon out of sight.

“You get what’s happening here?” the alien said to his two prisoners. “He’s going to San Francisco. With Erin’s homing devices. Her bug is no longer working, but fortunately, both of her homing devices are working fine. So given that Fuller overheard you were going on a long journey, when the homing devices start moving in the direction of San Francisco, he’ll be following that van every single mile of the way. I could walk from here to the border of Colorado right now with a giant neon sign that said, ‘Attention Steve Fuller, Drake Here,’ and I wouldn’t be touched. Nice plan, huh?”

Hansen couldn’t help but admit that if what he said was true about Erin, it was a nice plan. Using her electronics against her to lead whoever she might be working with on a wild-goose chase was inspired.

Drake turned to Burghardt for the first time, and gestured toward the metal canister under his arm. “The aerosolized virus, I presume?”

Burghardt smiled. “That it is.”

“Great.” Drake walked over to Burghardt and held out a human hand, and the molecular biologist passed him the canister.

“Let’s get out of here, Max,” said Drake.

They both walked to the door to the main residence. Drake gripped the handle on the door and then turned back to his two prisoners, still being held at gunpoint. “As much as I’d like to get to the bottom of this immediately, I have things to do. Conditions to cure. So I have to go now.” He glared at Erin. “But I’ll be back in about two hours. To interrogate the two of you properly.”

“Drake, you have to believe me,” said Hansen. “I had no idea about any of this. And I’m positive Erin has been framed somehow. She wouldn’t do this.”

“That’s very sweet,” said Drake. “And maybe you’re telling the truth about your own involvement, as deluded as you are about hers. But maybe not.” He shrugged. “I guess we’ll all find out in about two hours.”

40

ONCE THE ALIEN and the short genetic engineer left the garage, Gibb had the two prisoners move a good ten feet apart, after which Zalinsky approached Erin cautiously, giving her the respect she deserved. He ratcheted a single plastic bracelet around one of her wrists and then used a longer strip to connect this bracelet to a steel strut on the home gym, on the side facing the entrance to the main residence. This gave her a fair amount of freedom of motion, but ensured she wasn’t going anywhere.

This completed, Zalinsky repeated this process with Hansen, strapping him on the same side of the home gym as Erin, but about six feet apart from each other.

Hansen considered pleading his case with these men, but decided it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

When they were both chained by plastic to the immovable gym, Zalinsky returned to his partner’s side. “Feel free to get in a good workout if you’d like,” said the muscular mercenary with a sneer. “I recommend the leg press.”

Hansen considered a caustic reply but decided against it. “You do realize that this is a big mistake,” he said instead. “And it will get cleared up. And when it does, we’ll all be on the same side again. So please keep that in mind.”

“Could be,” said Gibb. “But for right now, our orders are very clear. In any case, we’ll be leaving you alone until Drake returns. But rest assured, we’ll be very close by.”

The two mercenaries walked to the door back into the mansion. Gibb paused to pocket the .45 Zalinsky had placed on top of the trophy case, and then they both exited, leaving Hansen alone in the room with Erin Palmer.

Hansen lowered his head, signaling to Erin he didn’t want to engage in conversation for the time being. He needed to organize his thoughts. To analyze all that was going on in an attempt to understand how any of it could possibly make sense.