target for intruders who might be lurking amidst the trees. He was not going to make matters worse by venturing into the darkness.
He turned and took off for the guardhouse, grabbing his radio as he sprinted back across the complex. “Ramon?”
“What have you found?”
“Nothing,” he reported into the mouthpiece as he continued to run. “Alert them at the main house.”
————
Sandor was faced with several problems and little time to solve them. His principal dilemma was how he should respond to what he had discovered in the lab.
Anthrax was frequently threatened as a mode of terrorist attacks, and Sandor had spent time studying its production as well as its lethal effect. It is composed of three proteins, none of them independently dangerous until the ingredients are combined. It is relatively easy to manufacture once you have the components—specific instructions on how to synthesize anthrax are even available on a jihadi website—and once they are mixed the resulting exotoxin becomes deadly to the handler as well as the target. Sandor had no way of knowing whatstage of fabrication had been achieved in the sealed-off room below, or how much of the noxious powder might be stockpiled there.
Some of the substances used to refine cocaine can be inflammatory—kerosene, ammonia, other chemicals commonly found in cleaning agents, and different forms of ethyl ether—but if Sandor found a way to destroy the lab by igniting these substances, they could launch a deadly anthrax cloud that would be a catastrophe for the surrounding area and suicide for Sandor.
As if that concern was not enough, Sandor realized that sabotaging the facility would be unlikely to derail Adina’s plans. The operation would quickly be relocated and the trail of narcotics—and, more important, the anthrax—would grow cold.
Sandor reluctantly felt his priorities shifting under the weight of what he had discovered belowground. He had come here to assassinate Adina, but now he had a responsibility to determine where they were taking the toxin and what they were intending to do with it when it got there. And time was running out.
He had already left behind one dead guard and two unconscious men, all of whom were about to be discovered. The man who just ran the length of the complex was evidence of that. To add to his predicament, the sun would be rising soon, increasing the degree of difficulty for his escape.
It was time for him to move out.
————
Sandor’s thoughts were interrupted by the blare of a loud siren that cut through the night like a shrill announcement of danger. That noise was followed by the sudden glare of spotlights from atop the roof of the main house. Through the snakelike vines and branches of the banyan trees, the glare cast long and eerie shadows.
By the time a series of halogen lights outside the laboratory glowed to life, Sandor had already replaced the domed top on the vent and was on the run. He found shelter behind a kapok tree, where he knelt down and took the MAC-10 in hand. The time for silencers was over.
Even after the lights on the main house and laboratory wereswitched on, most of the compound remained dark. Adina was obviously taking no chance of illuminating the entire area—it would then be vulnerable to a night sighting by air or satellite. From the looks of things, Adina was relying on his security forces to track him down.
From what the lab technician had described, those security forces were assigned to protect Adina first and the laboratory second. It was a limited contingent of guards according to Carlos, and Sandor had already taken two of them out of play.
As the rest of Adina’s sleeping men were roused into action in the predawn hour, Sandor circled away from the laboratory and the main house. If these were the areas that would receive the most attention, he wanted to get to a safe distance where he still had a line of sight for both.
Sandor took cover behind a huge
He turned and took off for the guardhouse, grabbing his radio as he sprinted back across the complex. “Ramon?”
“What have you found?”
“Nothing,” he reported into the mouthpiece as he continued to run. “Alert them at the main house.”
————
Sandor was faced with several problems and little time to solve them. His principal dilemma was how he should respond to what he had discovered in the lab.
Anthrax was frequently threatened as a mode of terrorist attacks, and Sandor had spent time studying its production as well as its lethal effect. It is composed of three proteins, none of them independently dangerous until the ingredients are combined. It is relatively easy to manufacture once you have the components—specific instructions on how to synthesize anthrax are even available on a jihadi website—and once they are mixed the resulting exotoxin becomes deadly to the handler as well as the target. Sandor had no way of knowing whatstage of fabrication had been achieved in the sealed-off room below, or how much of the noxious powder might be stockpiled there.
Some of the substances used to refine cocaine can be inflammatory—kerosene, ammonia, other chemicals commonly found in cleaning agents, and different forms of ethyl ether—but if Sandor found a way to destroy the lab by igniting these substances, they could launch a deadly anthrax cloud that would be a catastrophe for the surrounding area and suicide for Sandor.
As if that concern was not enough, Sandor realized that sabotaging the facility would be unlikely to derail Adina’s plans. The operation would quickly be relocated and the trail of narcotics—and, more important, the anthrax—would grow cold.
Sandor reluctantly felt his priorities shifting under the weight of what he had discovered belowground. He had come here to assassinate Adina, but now he had a responsibility to determine where they were taking the toxin and what they were intending to do with it when it got there. And time was running out.
He had already left behind one dead guard and two unconscious men, all of whom were about to be discovered. The man who just ran the length of the complex was evidence of that. To add to his predicament, the sun would be rising soon, increasing the degree of difficulty for his escape.
It was time for him to move out.
————
Sandor’s thoughts were interrupted by the blare of a loud siren that cut through the night like a shrill announcement of danger. That noise was followed by the sudden glare of spotlights from atop the roof of the main house. Through the snakelike vines and branches of the banyan trees, the glare cast long and eerie shadows.
By the time a series of halogen lights outside the laboratory glowed to life, Sandor had already replaced the domed top on the vent and was on the run. He found shelter behind a kapok tree, where he knelt down and took the MAC-10 in hand. The time for silencers was over.
Even after the lights on the main house and laboratory wereswitched on, most of the compound remained dark. Adina was obviously taking no chance of illuminating the entire area—it would then be vulnerable to a night sighting by air or satellite. From the looks of things, Adina was relying on his security forces to track him down.
From what the lab technician had described, those security forces were assigned to protect Adina first and the laboratory second. It was a limited contingent of guards according to Carlos, and Sandor had already taken two of them out of play.
As the rest of Adina’s sleeping men were roused into action in the predawn hour, Sandor circled away from the laboratory and the main house. If these were the areas that would receive the most attention, he wanted to get to a safe distance where he still had a line of sight for both.
Sandor took cover behind a huge
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