From the shadows several dozen meters away, Ryan and Jill stood watching the whole thing in silence.
Ryan held a steaming cup of coffee, and his X-ray vision activated without a sound, his gaze cutting instantly through the heavy-duty refrigerated trucks parked in the middle of the quarantine zone.
Through the X-ray perception, the front truck did contain a few crates of the so-called vaccine, but the two enormous refrigerated cargo holds behind it were packed entirely with empty foam boxes. And tucked into a false compartment at the bottom of those empty boxes, a cluster of electronic components was blinking faster and faster, the countdown already down to its final seconds.
High-purity C4 plastic explosive.
"Ryan, something wrong?" Jill picked up on the shift in his expression right away.
"WilPharma's people really are cheap to the bone." Ryan shook his head, a trace of amusement in his voice. "A few truckloads of empty boxes and some C4, and they think they can stage a tragedy to lock in a government contract."
He didn't call out a warning, didn't betray anything unusual. He just leaned against the car and watched.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Ryan counted down in his head. The instant he hit zero...
A thunderous roar tore through the night sky above Harvardville.
A massive fireball shot up from the center of the quarantine zone, and the violent shockwave flipped the refrigerated trucks loaded with empty crates clean over.
The blast site was a safe distance from the crowd, but the tremor still knocked a wide swath of people to the ground. Claire instinctively shielded her head, the pressure wave shoving her back several steps before she caught her balance.
"No. My vaccine. God. What have you done."
The refined, soft-spoken Downing from moments ago now looked like a man whose father had just died. He stumbled a few steps toward the flames, then collapsed to his knees, head in his hands, letting out a shrill, hopeless wail.
Ryan leaned against the car and watched the performance. Every move Downing made was pitch-perfect. First the disbelieving freeze, then the staggering rush forward, then the anguished drop to his knees. If you didn't know better, you'd take him for a scientist in genuine agony over the destruction of his life's work.
"Not bad acting," Ryan murmured, just loud enough for Jill to hear. "Shame he picked the wrong line of work."
Senator Davis, meanwhile, had dived under a car, screaming frantically for his bodyguards.
The entire quarantine camp spiraled back into panic and chaos.
Claire stared up at the tower of flame, sinking into a vast blankness and a deep, crushing self-reproach. She had no way of knowing the trucks had been empty. She thought Curtis, or those extremist terrorists, had destroyed Harvardville's last sliver of hope for revenge.
She stood rooted in place, fists clenched, knuckles white. Ryan watched her but didn't move in. Some guilt a person had to work through on their own.
"Will Claire be okay?" Jill asked quietly.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "She's not the kind who breaks."
A few minutes later, the secure comm unit in Jill's hand chimed.
She answered, listened for a couple of sentences, then passed the device to Ryan, voice dropping. It was someone from the government. WilPharma's board had just put pressure on the White House, using the destruction of the vaccine as leverage to demand the government immediately sign an astronomically priced exclusive procurement contract, or else they'd pull all further technical support.
Ryan took the call. Before he could even speak, a slightly aged and agitated voice came through the receiver.
"Ryan, this is Stewart. I know Star Fire has a batch of higher-grade broad-spectrum neutralizer on hand, maybe even targeted enhancement serum." The man on the other end was breathing heavily. "The situation at Harvardville airport has gone completely off the rails. The whole country's watching us now. WilPharma's people are useless, all they want to do at a time like this is haggle."
Ryan's expression didn't change, his tone flat as if discussing tomorrow's weather. "Secretary Stewart, Star Fire is also in business to make money. And our research costs aren't any lower than WilPharma's."
"I know! I'll grant you privileges!" Secretary Stewart was almost roaring. "As long as you can neutralize the potential threat at Harvardville and deliver thirty thousand doses of serum within the next four hours, enough to cover the core urban districts, I guarantee Starfire Pharma gets a permanent green light on operational approvals across North America. And the federal government will sign a ten-year long-term strategic cooperation agreement. Ryan, that's my bottom line."
Ryan tapped the back of the phone, his peripheral vision catching Leon across the way.
"Deal. Star Fire's in," Ryan said, and hung up.
He straightened the collar of his trench coat and, with Jill beside him, walked straight toward Claire and Downing at the center of the crowd.
Leon had already made his own call. He clapped Claire on the shoulder and said in a low voice that, whether Curtis did this or not, he and Angela had to go investigate now. He was leaving things here to her.
Leon hurried off with Angela to track down Curtis's trail.
Ryan quietly sent Leon a message: Take one loop, then get over to WilPharma's headquarters. There's going to be a show worth watching.
Then he walked up to Claire and, looking at the defeated slump of her shoulders, let out a soft sigh.
"Stop torturing yourself over there, Claire. It's not as hopeless as you think." His words pulled her back to herself, just a little.
Downing, kneeling on the ground, let his bodyguards help him up. He wiped the dust from his face, crossed to Claire, and produced a smile uglier than crying.
"Miss Claire, although the vaccines here have been destroyed, we have another R&D center on the outskirts of Harvardville. The last of our clinical data and backup samples are preserved there. To prove WilPharma's innocence, and to put TerraSave's doubts to rest, I sincerely invite you, as a representative of the humanitarian community, to tour our facility."
Claire hesitated. Something about the invitation felt off to her instincts, thick with the scent of a setup. But the obsessive pull to know the truth kept her from refusing outright. Just as she was about to agree, Ryan cut in from the side.
"Mr. Downing, your generosity is admirable." Ryan looked straight into the eyes hidden behind Downing's lenses, his smile not quite a smile. "As it happens, Jill and I are colleagues of Claire's. We'll accompany Miss Claire on the tour as well. I trust Mr. Downing has no objection?"
At Ryan's words, the corner of Downing's eye twitched violently. But he covered it beautifully, immediately mustering a warm smile.
"Of course. It would be our honor. This way, please."
Ryan watched Downing turn and head for the cars. He tilted his head and murmured, just loud enough for Jill and Claire to hear.
"Let's go. Let's find out how much valuable garbage he's been hoarding in that den of his."