Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“What does Adam joining the team have to do with bioweapons?” Aidan asked. Having Adam on the team meant someone might have half a chance of reining in Tris’s reckless streak.
He wasn’t sure what had happened with Tris’s parents, but Tris seemed more like Tris than he had in years.
Tasha’s brows rose in obvious surprise. “Wow. We’re doing the whole talk about classified intel around Zach now? I thought we usually left him out of those fun chats so he has plausible deniability.”
Zach shrugged. “I’m going with the Taggart flow. If we’re bringing in civilians, they deserve to know what’s at stake and in plain terms. Telling them Huisman is probably a supervillain isn’t going to cut it, and if they have doubts, it could cost them their lives. So I thought Dare would take this one. They asked about Tandy.”
Dare sighed, a weary sound. “Tandy Medical was part of my father’s company. The Nash Investment Group used to fund medical research, and we owned stakes in a bunch of research companies. They did cutting-edge stuff.”
“Like the Huisman Foundation,” Aidan pointed out.
“Yes, though Huisman is bigger than we ever were, and I would say we were pretty big,” Dare replied. “Tandy Medical was doing research into emerging viruses and bacteria. Funguses sound funny, but they pose a real threat to humanity as we move through climate change. Tandy was supposed to research ways to combat those threats.”
One of the worst things a surgeon had to worry about was infection. A surgeon could do miraculous work, and it could all fall apart because of a tiny bit of bacteria. Staphylococcus, streptococcus, pseudomonas were simply the most common. There were always new threats to deal with.
They didn’t have to go looking for them or figure out a way to make one do its deadly work better.
Of course he could come up with a couple of reasons… “So they were planning on selling the research?”
“I’m sure my father would have at some point,” Dare agreed. “He’s in prison right now awaiting trial. He wasn’t a good man. Money was my father’s god, and he didn’t care how he got it.”
“This is one of the things we learned while we were in Sydney. Tandy was potentially developing a stronger version of anthrax,” Tasha explained. “A stronger version, one that could be dropped on a large population for maximum effect.”
“Why would anyone want to make anthrax more deadly?” Carys asked. “I don’t mean to sound naïve, but I’m expected to believe a world-famous doctor, who’s known for his philanthropy, is behind a plot to murder hundreds of people?”
“Oh, if my intel is correct, we’re talking thousands. Maybe hundreds of thousands,” Tris said quietly. “Murder, though, isn’t the principal motive. What we believe is happening is disruption. We believe Huisman is the head of a connected network of groups called Disrupt.”
“I’ve heard of them, but they’re not some terrorist group.” Aidan was confused. “Disrupt America is about dismantling systems that no longer work in the modern age. They press for things like health care reform.”
“Our hospital recently got a grant from DA to buy high-tech crash carts built specifically for maternity patients.” Carys leaned forward. “I wrote the proposal myself. Texas has one of the First World’s worst maternity outcomes. Disrupt is trying to help us change that.”
“The surface organization does excellent work,” Tris explained. “But we believe there’s a smaller, more elite group within the group.”
“Like a star chamber or an illuminati society,” Zach continued. “They use all the resources the public face has to push their own agenda. Which is chaos. We have reason to believe the inner membership has targeted a couple of large cities in Southeast Asia as test runs. Especially looking to disrupt trade routes.”
“Canadian intelligence took out the Tandy Group and found the research Huisman told us would be there.” Tris sat back. “But I looked into their systems, and I found a hack roughly two hours before the raid. They pulled down most of the research files, including the anthrax project. It took me a while, but I managed to trace the hack back to Montreal, where the Huisman Foundation now resides.”
“And the arms dealer who kidnapped TJ verified it was Huisman he was working with,” Tasha agreed.
Aidan had been the one to check TJ out after he’d come home from his adventures with a German cattle prod. He’d been physically all right, but it proved how dangerous the job was.
Tristan sighed and took a sip of the water he’d selected over beer. “So that’s what we’re working with. Oddly, no one is listening to the criminal over the doctor. Not that we’ve pushed it. For now we’re in this odd place with Huisman. He knows we’re a CIA team investigating things that happen around him. How much more he knows is a mystery.”