Page 29 of The Team

Jesus Christ.

King continued as if this was not the first time he had relayed the entire case. “Kowalski and Myles were sent to Albania after information for possible evidence, and nothing else. But then Askarov turns up, we start digging into what they could possibly be discussing. Kowalski and Myles get close, we get direct audio of a confirmed clinical trial and a deal brokered, and our focus shifted to BioMed, and that’s where shit went sideways. Because a week ago, two hundred kilograms of methylphosphonyl dichloride went missing in Iran.”

“Fuck,” Jay whispered, eyes wide.

Before Rhett could ask, King continued. “Kowalski and Myles were to rendezvous in Baku. Contact was not made, as you know. They were seen being escorted into vehicles near your current location with canisters we first assumed were oxygen. What you don’t know is that we believe the canisters may contain a new bioweapon.”

Rhett felt the colour drain from his face. “What the... a bioweapon?”

“We’ve been trying to join the dots, involving experts and scientists who know a lot more about any of this than me,” King went on. “These are technically a type of trichothecene mycotoxin?—”

Rhett shook his head. “Dumb it down for me, Director. Like really fucking dumb.”

King sighed. “It’s bad. It’s like they put every bioweapon known to man into a petri dish and let it spawn. It’s a mycotoxin on super steroids, similar to anthrax, which reacts like sarin, presents like Ebola. Think of the worst death imaginable and multiply it by ten.”

The air left Rhett’s lungs in a rush. “So it’s really fucking bad.” Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. “And Kowalski and Myles have been subjected to it?”

King answered quietly. “We cannot say with certainty because we do not know.”

“But it’s not airborne,” Jay said, clearly confused. “When you swabbed Rhett, you were looking for contact, not ingestion?”

King was quiet for a second. “Correct. That doesn’t mean our two men were contaminated with this particular agent. They could be trialling something else entirely. We have every available person on this. Our Alpha Two has been reeled in and will be available in approximately two hours.”

What?

The other Milvus team? Weren’t they in South America?

“What for?” Rhett snapped. “If you’d give us something to do, we could get it done. We wouldn’t need the second team.”

“This is bigger than you,” King said. “This is... bigger than all of us.”

Fuck.

Rhett looked up then, at the faces of his team. They watched him, faces serious and silent.

“What’s the deal, Director King?” Rhett asked. “And spare me the bullshit. What is BioMed doing? Thispathogen—bio fucking chemical warfare agent, whatever—they’re making, who the hell is buying it? Is it Gordian? Or is he a middleman for a bigger player?”

Director King was quiet for a moment. “We believe he’s a middleman.”

“And who hired him?”

“We’re looking into that.”

That was bullshit, and Rhett knew it. King knew. The powers that be fuckingknewbut weren’t ready to say.

Fine.

Rhett had more pressing concerns. “Kowalski and Myles,” he asked flatly, “where are they?”

“We believe they were taken into Iran. There’s a laboratory compound outside Tehran.”

Rhett held his breath, eyes darting to Jay. Sid scrubbed a hand over his face, Coyote sighed, and Azrael clenched her jaw. Chen looked at Yin, and Yin’s eyes never left Rhett’s.

Rhett remained outwardly calm, focused now, and serious. “When do we leave?”

“Two hours. Get cleaned up and fed, ready to roll out. Just so you know, we’re working with the Iranian government on this and will have the full cooperation of their police and military. You will be escorted over the border by their Armed Forces, and you will be briefed when you arrive at the base in Tehran. I will meet you there.”

Rhett couldn’t believe what he was hearing, and he knew... he knew then, this was bad.