The main cabin had been converted into a conference room. Laptops and whiteboards covered in chemical formulas and deployment timelines. Maps of major cities—Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur—dotted with red pins like pushpins in a war room.
And sitting at the head of the table, reviewing papers with the confident air of a CEO at a board meeting, was a man she’d never seen before.
Mid-forties, dark hair, a hint of dangerous handsomeness in his face. Expensive suit but not flashy.
“Miss Silver.” His voice carried the flat accent of the American Midwest, polite as a banker discussing loan terms. “Please, sit. You too, Dr. Thanakit. I’m James Cooper.”
James Cooper.Such an innocuous name. It felt wrong somehow.
But Chloe kept her expression neutral as Volkov’s men guided them to chairs facing the table.
Remember everything.
“I apologize for the dramatic circumstances,” Cooper continued, getting up. “But you’ve become rather inconvenient, Miss Silver. Getting in the way of work that’s taken years to develop.”
Rain pelted the cabin windows. Outside, lightning cracked the dark sky. Thunder rolled.
“Volkov tells me Dr. Radic was quite thorough in his documentation.” Cooper’s blue eyes fixed on Elena, who shrank farther into her chair. “Chemical formulas, test results, audio recordings.”
Elena’s voice came out as barely a whisper. “Marko was protecting his work.”
“Marko was protectingourwork,” Cooper said. “Work that belongs to us. Work that we need access to.”
He gestured to a laptop. “Unfortunately, the hard drive in your late husband’s computer had a self-destruct. The wrong password triggered a complete deletion of the files.” He sighed. “As it turns out, you’re useless in this exchange.”
Useless?Chloe looked at the woman, whose jaw rose.
“So you’d better hope that Miss Silver’s friend Skeet brings the jump drive. Otherwise...” He shrugged. “If all goes right, we won’t kill you. Or your children.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
He folded his arms, but Chloe noticed the tiniest tic of his mouth when he said it.
Something... maybe... He was lying. Or at least a part of it was a lie.
“Unless you have some sort of miracle...” Cooper raised a dark eyebrow.
“My husband has a cloud,” Elena said quietly.
He smiled. “See. I knew you could help us find this.” He turned the laptop around. Elena leaned forward, her wrists still tied, and pulled up the cloud, put in the password.
The yacht rocked in the river current. Outside, thunder rumbled in the distance.
The screen opened to files and Chloe’s heart sank.
Cooper turned it back around. “You see, Miss Silver, what Dr. Radic and your friend Mr. Blackwood fail to understand is scope. They think in terms of individual lives, single operations, limited objectives.” Cooper gestured to one of the men, who came over, probably to download the information.
“I think in terms of geopolitical transformation.”
Remember everything. Stay calm.
“The compounds Radic was developing—yes, they can kill. But death isn’t the primary objective. Destabilization is.” Cooper sighed. Smiled. “This is long past your ability to stop, Miss Silver.”
Rain hammered harder against the windows. The yacht’s anchor chain creaked with each swell.
“Of course, rural testing has limitations.” Cooper returned to his seat, fingers steepled as if he were delivering a corporate presentation. “Urban deployment—Bangkok, Manila, major population centers—we had a plan.”
“Children,” Elena whispered. “You’re talking about killing children.”