Novo Cetus

Chapter 11

Early the next morning, while Hank parked his car, he noticed two security guards leading a hysterical Sharon away from the Nash building. The police officer that stood sentry at the entrance alerted security of Hank's arrival. The lobby bustled with police. Brasco grabbed Hank as he entered and walked him through and out of the lobby – into the lab areas.

"Did you know that Clair Harding is dead?" Brasco hissed. Hank stared at him, speechless. Brasco continued, "Her car went off the road last night after feeding Buck's Iguana or something."

"It's a chameleon," Hank said.

"We've still got to go in there and remove Buck and Ted from this project," Brasco snapped, and stormed to the bunk room.

Hank stopped him. "Do you think they know about Clair?" he asked.

"Probably. It's been all over the news. Security just hauled some distraught woman away because of it. Let's get this done. You better hope you haven't screwed everything up."

They went directly to the bunk room and found the two researchers. Buck smoked a cigarette while Ted paced. The room was filled with smoke. A makeshift ashtray sat on the table. It was full. Empty coffee cups and crumpled snack wrappers littered the table.

"Isn't this place supposed to be smoke free?" asked Brasco. Both researchers ignored him.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Ted. "Buck and I had no way to contact you. As far as we knew, you were dead in a ditch too. We've been here since yesterday. Somebody better tell us what is going on." Ted was terrified. Early in his career, he'd dismissed working for the military and decided to work in the private sector. The money was good and, except for the random eco-terrorist, a relatively safe gig.

"Do you think Clair's death had anything to do with what's in the deep freeze?" asked Buck. He and Ted had theorized several nefarious scenarios in the last few hours. If this project involved advanced weaponry – bio-weaponry – they knew bad guys wouldn't be far behind. He didn't wait for an answer. "I know I indicated I wanted to stay with the project, but it's taken a real ugly turn. I want out."

Without hesitation Ted agreed. "Me, too. This is too much drama for me. What do we have to sign to get out of this mess?"

Brasco had each man sign the same standard government confidentiality agreement signed by the other members of the team yesterday.

"This is what I recommend," Brasco said. "Bury Clair and then leave town. I don't care why – go on vacation, take a leave of absence. But disappear until things calm down; any questions?"

They both had a million, but knew better than to ask.

"You've been unusually quiet," Buck said to Hank. "You were technically her boss – our boss; I would'a thought you'd have something to say." It was a bold statement but Clair had been Buck's friend, and Hank had treated her badly.

Hank looked directly into Ted's eyes. "Ted, I have some advice for you. Sometimes what you're thinking up here," he tapped his forehead, "should never come out here," he tapped his lips.

Without losing eye contact, Ted uttered, "Asshole," and walked out.

Hank and Brasco waited a few minutes in silence, and then headed to the parking lot. "I've got to assemble a team and find James," Brasco told Hank. "You head to the lab in Colorado. I don't know how much time this will take and I don't want to waste what time we have."

"Am I supposed to get the pieces of Titan to Colorado?" Hank asked. He had no idea how to make that happen covertly.

"I'm already on it," replied Brasco. "As the original client, I contacted Nash Laboratories' board of directors before you arrived and told them they would receive the entire monetary amount they expected after my crew cleaned the place."

This is a swanky private lab. They're not used to researchers being killed." He added, " –accidently – and they were just as eager as Ted and Buck to get out of the contract."

The men reached their cars. Brasco turned to Hank. "You stick to research from now on. Do what you do best, and I'll handle the spy stuff. No more surprises. Clear?"

Hank flipped him off as he opened his car door and said, "Thanks for permission to just be me."

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