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Including Sasha.
The girl stood with her arms folded atop the lip of the stone wall. One shoe swung rhythmically to strike the cement. But it was slowing down.
As he had hoped.
Yuri had brought the girl to the National Zoological Park after her performance with Mapplethorpe. From long experience, he knew the calming effect animals had on his charges. Especially Sasha. Yuri had no need to test the BDNF levels in the girl's spinal fluid. After such an intense episode, the hormone levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factors had surely spiked to dangerous levels. He had not been prepared. Caught off guard by her performance, he knew he had to calm her down quickly. Away from her home environment, she would be especially agitated, vulnerable. There was a risk of lasting neural damage. He had seen it before. It had taken them decades to discover the i
So while Mapplethorpe executed a search of the natural history museum, Yuri had transported Sasha to the city's famous zoological park. It was as close a facsimile to the Menagerie as he would find here in the foreign city.
Sasha's kicking slowed even further. She was ramping down. Still, the toe of her patent leather shoes had become badly scuffed. But better her shoes than her mind.
Yuri felt a knot between his shoulder blades ease. He would get her on the next flight back to Russia. Once returned to the Warren, he would schedule her for a complete physical exam: blood chemistries, urinalysis, a full cranial CT scan.
He had to be sure there was no damage.
But more important, he needed an answer as to how she had induced an episode on her own. That shouldn't have happened. The cortical implant maintained a steady-state level of stimulation, tailored to each child's ability. Sasha's display back at Mapplethorpe's office should not have happened unless her implant was remotely triggered to provoke such a response.
So what had happened? Had there been a malfunction in her implant? Had someone else triggered it? Or even more disturbing, was Sasha growing beyond the yoke of their control?
Despite the day's heat and his relief, he still felt cold.
Something was wrong.
A flurry of noise erupted ahead of him. It came from the crowd lining the panda exhibit. Excited murmurs swelled. A flurry of camera flashes sparkled among the crowd. More people were drawn by the commotion. Yuri heard a named called out and repeated.
Tai Shan Tai Shan
He sat up straighter with a wince of protest from his back. He recognized the name from the zoo's brochure. Tai Shan was the panda cub born to Mei Xiang a few summers back. The youngster must have wandered into sight.
The crowd jostled for a better view. More people gathered. Children were lifted to parents' shoulders. Cameras flashed furiously. Frowning at the tourists' manic response, Yuri stood up. He had lost sight of Sasha in the crush of the crowd. He knew she didn't like to be touched.
He stepped across the walkway and pushed into the pack of people. The park would be closing in the next few minutes. It was time to go.
He reached the wall where Sasha had been standing.
She wasn't there.
With his heart thudding, he searched the stretch of walls to either side. No sign of her ebony hair and red ribbons. He stumbled outward again, shouldering and pawing his way through the crowd. Grunted protests met his rude passage. A camera tumbled from someone's hands and cracked against the pavement.
Someone grabbed his shoulder. He was yanked around.
Mister, you'd better have a goddamn good reason
Yuri shook free. His eyes, bright with true panic, met the larger man. My my granddaughter. I've lost my granddaughter.
Anger melted to concern.
With mostly parents in attendance, word spread quickly. It was every mother and father's worst fear. Questions peppered him. What does she look like? What was she wearing? Others offered words of support, promising that she'd be found.
Yuri barely heard them, deafened by his own pounding heart. He should have never left her side, never sat down.
The crowd thi
Yuri turned a full circle. He searched, but he knew the truth.
Sasha was gone.
4
September 5, 8:12 P. M.
Washington, D. C.
Door! Kowalski yelled from the rear.
Gray skidded to a stop and glanced behind him. Elizabeth Polk held out her lighter and revealed a small doorway, hidden two steps off the dark tu
Behind them, calls echoed from the searchers. A single harsh bark rang out as the trackers found their trail again. Gray had crisscrossed among tu
Kowalski reached to the door and fought the handle. Locked. He punched the metal surface in frustration.
Coming up to his side, Gray noted an electronic key-lock below the handle. The lighter's flame flickered across a small steel sign stenciled in Art Deco letters:
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The door was a subterranean entrance to another of the Smithsonian Institution's museums. Closest to the door, Elizabeth swiped her museum security card, but the lock remained dark. To make sure, Kowalski tugged the handle and shook his head.
My card's only good for the natural history museum, Elizabeth said. But I hoped
A fierce bark drew their attention around. The bobbling glow of flashlights lit up the far end of the tu
Better move it, Kowalski said and stepped away from the door.
A shotgun blast erupted. Something sparked off the metal surface, striking where
Kowalski had stood a second before. The round ricocheted off the door and spun across the cement floor, spitting blue sparks of electricity.
Kowalski danced away from it, like an elephant from a mouse.
Gray recognized the payload: a Taser XREP. Fired from a standard twelve-gauge, the weapon shot out a self-contained, wireless dart that packed a shocking neuromuscular jolt. It could drop a mountain gorilla.
HOMELAND SECURITY! HALT OR WE'LL FIRE AGAIN!
Now they warn us, Kowalski said and lifted his arms above his head.
Half hidden behind his partner's bulk, Gray twisted around and swiped his black
Sigma identification card through the key-lock. A small green light flicked into existence alongside the lock.
Thank God.
HANDS ON YOUR HEADS. GET ON YOUR KNEES!
Gray shoved the handle, and the door cracked open. It was dark beyond. Reaching behind him, he grabbed Elizabeth's elbow. She flinched, then saw the half-open door. She, in turn, reached out and grabbed the back of Kowalski's belt. He had his hands on his head and had been bending down to kneel.
He glanced back to them.
Gray shouldered the door open and pulled Elizabeth with him. Yanked off balance,
Kowalski stumbled to one knee then pushed off the floor and dove after them through the doorway.
Gray heard another blast of a shotgun.
Kowalski knocked into them and sent them sprawling across the dark stairs beyond the threshold. His other leg kicked the door shut and kept kicking.
oddamnmotherfu ! he wailed between clenched teeth.
Gray spotted the sparking projectile impaled through the shoe of the man's spasming leg. Elizabeth did, too. She climbed over him, pi
Kowalski's leg continued to twitch for another breath, then stopped.
His cursing did not.
Gray stood and held out an arm to help him up. You're lucky it hit your shoe.
The leather blunted the barbs from penetrating deeply.