CHAPTER 3
MAXIM
An eerie silence presides over my office for a few seconds when the screen goes dark. I allow the full weight and peril of the situation to crowd in on me, and then I approach this challenge the way I have every other one. Focused, methodical, and only considering a favorable outcome.
“You still there, Mr. Hunter?” I ask.
“Yes.” He clears his throat, but fear is stubborn and lingers in his voice. “I’m here.”
“When did they send this video?”
“Um…a little under an hour ago. Fifty-seven minutes. I set the timer on my watch.”
I do the same, my heart racing in time with the rapid seconds once I press the button to count down.
“What did CamTech tell you?” I glance up at Jin Lei, standing in the door and mouth, Vale’s next.
“They said they have a negotiator dealing with the kidnappers,” Mr. Hunter says. “And that he has no demands for Lennix separate from the vaccine.”
“What does that mean?” Kimba asks.
“It’s what he meant by her being disposable,” I say grimly. “They’ll use her to impose additional pressure on CamTech to get what they want, but there’s nothing they’re asking for Lennix’s release. Just the ten million and the vaccine in exchange for Wallace.”
“So what do we do?” Mr. Hunter asks, panic threading his words.
“Let me work on this, sir.” I nod to Jin Lei, indicating that I’m ready for the CamTech CEO. “In the meantime, I’d like to fly you out here to DC. I can have a plane there in a few hours.”
“Fly out there?” he asks. “Why?”
“Because I’m taking the lead on this. I need you to trust me. We can’t leave Lennix’s safety to CamTech. They have no vested interest in saving her. We need to establish our own line of communication with the kidnappers. You understand?”
“I think I do understand, Mr. Cade,” Lennix’s father says softly. “And I think you’re more than just Lennix’s friend.”
I’m tempted to assert exactly what and who I am to his daughter, but if she hasn’t told him, that’s not my place.
“My assistant, Jin Lei, will get your information and send you details,” I answer instead.
“Will she…” His voice breaks, and tears thicken his voice. “That’s my little girl, Mr. Cade. You understand? I can’t… I can’t lose her.”
I can’t lose her either!
I want to shout it. Scream that it’s taking all my discipline to remain focused and keep forging ahead when my brain just wants to spiral with every awful possibility.
“I swear I’ll find a way to get her back.” It’s a promise I make to him and to myself.
“Thank you.” He sniffs and clears his throat. “Sorry. I—I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
When he hangs up, Kimba and I stare at one another for a handful of tense seconds.
“Maxim,” she says, pressing her lips together and blinking rapidly. “I know you’ll try your best, but what if—”
“Don’t say it.” I pick up the phone with the flashing light on my desk. “Don’t even think it.”
Her tearful gaze holds mine for a moment before she nods, releases a long breath and leans back in her seat. Pressing the handset to my ear, I touch the button and bring the CamTech CEO who’s been waiting on the line.
“Mr. Vale, thank you for holding. Sorry it took so long.”
“Mr. Cade.” A cultured voice comes across the line. I know Ivy League when I hear it. “I’m surprised by your call but pleased, obviously.”
Obviously. “I’m calling about your hostage situation in Costa Rica.”
His pause on the other line telegraphs surprise and caution. “How…um, what do you know about our situation?”
“I know your employee, Dr. Murrow, is being held hostage along with Lennix Hunter. I know one hostage has already been executed and that the kidnappers are threatening to kill Ms. Hunter in forty-eight hours unless your company meets their demands.”
“Only family and significant others are supposed to have that information.”
“I am significant,” I say, struggling to keep the rough demand out of my voice. “Tell me what we’re dealing with.”
“I’m sure that you, as a CEO like me, understand the confidential nature of a sensitive operation such as this.”
“I’m not a CEO like you. I could buy you out several times over, and you know it, which is the only reason you took my call. I asked for the status of these negotiations, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop bullshitting me.”
“Look, Cade,” he says, his tone hardening into cement. “This is a confidential company matter and none of your concern.”
“Ms. Hunter is my concern. Do you want to tell me what the hell is so special about this vaccine they’re demanding? Or would you like for my team to start digging? Because if we start digging, there’s no telling what we’ll find, and I won’t hesitate to turn it over to the FBI and the CDC, which I suspect you should have done by now.”
He’s quiet on the other line, silently confirming that my instincts are not misleading me.
“Am I right, Vale? This vaccine must be awfully special, and if you haven’t brought the CDC in yet, which it appears you haven’t, then you’re still trying to keep it off their radar. I promise if you don’t tell me everything, I will blow the whistle so hard on your shit, the FBI will be at your door in the next hour. Am I clear?”
He ahems. “Yes, I hear you.”
“Then talk.”
“There’s an international humanitarian organization that has created certain…incentives for pharmaceutical companies who find ways to increase the effectiveness of vaccines in developing nations,” he says. “And, before you ask, I cannot disclose the name of this organization.”
“Go on.”
“Dr. Murrow leads the CamTech team that has spent the last eighteen months focused on the efficacy of a strain of the TB vaccine.”
“And?”
“And he made incredible progress. I urge you that what I’m about to say must stay between us.”
“I have a security specialist who may become involved with the negotiation process for Ms. Hunter’s extraction. He may need to know, but I can guarantee his silence and trustworthiness.”
Vale’s frustrated exhale comes across the line. “If this gets out—”
“Every minute you waste is a minute Ms. Hunter is losing. Tell me what I need to know. Now, and no bullshit.”
“Dr. Murrow developed a super vaccine of sorts. Of course, you know how vaccines work. They contain enough of the disease to trigger our bodies’ defensive process. When we first encounter infection, we have cells that learn how to fight it.” He clears his throat, a sound of hesitation and discomfort. “In trying to create a vaccine for TB that would be stronger and more effective in developing nations, Dr. Murrow inadvertently created something so strong it essentially ‘tricks’ the body’s defensive mechanism into believing it has learned how to counter the infection but then actually increases the symptoms until you die.”