Page 109 of Storm Warning

“Not so far. In fact, they treat women like Sam Cowan, useful for one night, then they’re expendable.”

Iona sighed. “That’s a sad way to treat people.”

“It’s a sad way to live,” Noah said. “I also checked the Fortress databases. Diego is evil, just like his father. The Storm’s second-tier soldiers trained those boys well to lead Obsidian Storm. They’re known for their cruelty.”

“Did you confirm the location of Obsidian Storm?”

“After we destroyed their compound, the group moved to another part of the Chihuahua Province.”

Seth eyed his partner. “Do they have an agenda besides killing us?”

Noah’s mouth curved wryly. “Their slogan is Death to America. What does that tell you?”

“Does anyone know what their plan is?”

“Not yet. Your turn, Seth. Who did you investigate and what did you find out?”

“Teagan and I looked into Matias Aldana. He’s the head of the second-tier soldiers and responsible for training Javier and Diego. He’s also a mastermind of terror tactics and hates America. His mother came to America to visit her sister, who had married a citizen and lived in Nashville.”

“Oh, man.” Elias scowled. “This story won’t have a happy ending, will it?”

“Nope. Rosita, Matias’ aunt, and Lucia, his mother, went to a movie in the Green Hills area. They stopped at a jewelry store. While they were there, two masked gunmen pushed their wayin and robbed the store. They got away with almost $1,000,000 worth of jewelry. The robbers demanded the jewelry worn by the sisters. When they refused to give up their wedding rings, the robbers shot them. Both died at the scene.”

“And that’s what led to the Storm’s mantra,” Teagan said. “Based on what we read, the members of Obsidian Storm are very interested in weaponized viruses.”

Riley froze. “No.” That had to be wrong. If not, the US was in trouble, and that trouble could spread to the rest of the world.

“Riley?” Andre studied her. “Do you know something about that?”

“That’s the reason Berkley sent me to take out Garcia. He was the driving force behind weaponizing viruses for use against the US. After the operation was over, Berkley and Cowan told me the threat was as dead as Garcia.”

Seth scowled. “They lied. Those plans were put on hold, not scrapped.”

“What virus were they working to weaponize?” Violet asked.

“The good old flu.”

The medic’s face went pale. “Oh, no.”

Noah looked puzzled. “What’s the big deal about that? We take flu shots every year.”

“This is different. Do you know how many people died from the Spanish Flu in 1918? Fifty to one hundred million people died worldwide. In the US alone, 675,000 people died. When you weaponize the flu, you don’t have a flu shot to lessen the effect of the virus because it’s a super flu. If Obsidian Storm can weaponize the flu, we’ll see another pandemic worldwide, and millions will die. We have to stop them.”

“Slow down, baby.” Noah gathered Violet into his arms. “We understand what you’re saying.”

Elias rubbed the back of his neck. “The most important piece of information we need is the location of the lab. Obsidian Stormmust have a lab to work on the flu virus. We can’t stop them if we don’t know the location of the lab.”

Seth turned to Riley. “Can you find the lab?”

“Maybe.” Riley might speed up the search with one phone call. She set aside her computer and stood. “I’ll be back.”

She opened the French door, stepped onto the balcony, and pulled out her phone.

A moment later, a deep male voice said, “Murphy.”

“It’s Riley.”

“Riley, my friend. How’s it going?”