Michael Prescott - Next Victim

"Subsequent investigation identified the likely suspect as Amanda Pierce." A photo of Pierce, possibly from her driver’s license or an ID card, appeared on the video wall. "Pierce was an officer in the Defense Intelligence Agency before entering the private sector as a security consultant. She was hired by the Hermiston lab as chief security officer for the manufacture and transfer of VX. She was the only person possessing both detailed knowledge of the security procedures and the necessary sophistication to contact arms brokers working abroad. Pierce tested normal on psychological evaluations at the time of her DIA service, but through interviews with former friends and associates we discovered a more complex personality profile with pronounced sociopathic elements. She was evidently one of those people who can fake normal on standardized tests.

"Two days ago, on Thursday evening, Pierce drove out of the Hermiston area, heading south. Because she had scheduled Friday as a vacation day, we’d anticipated that she would take advantage of the holiday weekend to make her move. We also knew from our foreign intel sources that the liaison with her unknown contact was to take place in Los Angeles. Thus we were in position to follow her as she drove into California. She stopped for the night at a motel in Salem, Oregon, then continued her drive the next day, arriving in the Los Angeles metro area on Friday night.

"Unfortunately, after entering LA, Pierce executed a variety of countersurveillance maneuvers. It was at this point that she broke containment. In simpler language, we lost her."

" You lost her?" one of the city councilmen said from his seat next to the mayor.

"Yes, sir. I did. It was my fault exclusively. I take full responsibility." He added, "I fucked up."

Tess almost had to admire him for that. He had not survived three decades in the bureau by playing cover-your-ass politics, at any rate.

There was silence for a moment, and then Tennant went on.

"Pierce was not reacquired until early this morning, by which time she was dead. Evidently she had some very bad luck. She appears to have allowed herself to be picked up by a locally active serial killer who previously operated in Denver, killing four people there. He uses the name Mobius. He took her to his hotel room, which he’d charged to a phony credit card. He had sex with her, and he killed her-his usual MO. Then he left, and now he’s in the wind.

"So Pierce is dead, another notch in Mobius’s knife. Which we might say was just as well-even that he did the world a favor this time-except for one thing.

"In order for Pierce to establish her bona fides and seal the deal, she was supposed to hand over a sample of the VX produced at the Oregon lab. The lab had earlier confirmed to us that seven hundred and ten ccs, or twenty-four ounces, of the nerve agent were unaccounted for. It’s a safe assumption that Pierce smuggled out this quantity of VX, probably in its original packaging-a metal canister approximately ten inches long and two inches in diameter. The total package-cylinder and contents-would weigh two pounds. When she traveled to LA, she would have brought it with her, most likely in her suitcase."

"You could have intercepted this woman at any time," the mayor interrupted to ask, "isn’t that correct?"

"Yes, sir. We were holding off until she met with her contact. We wanted to collar them both."

"But you didn’t, and now she’s dead, and the VX…?"

"Is gone."

"Taken by this man Mobius?"

"We think so, yes."

"A serial killer."

"Yes."

"A serial killer who’s now armed with a weapon of mass destruction. A weapon that can kill ten thousand people."

"That’s it in a nutshell, sir."

The county sheriff put in a word. "Have you considered the possibility that her contact killed her and made it look like the work of this Mobius just to throw us off?"

Tennant hesitated. For the first time he was stumped.

"It was Mobius," Tess said from the back of the room. Heads turned. "I’ve worked the case for years. The signature of the crime scene is distinctive. There are details that couldn’t be copycatted, because they were never made public."

"Details like what?" a councilman challenged.

She could have answered: Like the fact that the carotid arteries were not cut…that the victim’s wrists were taped to the headboard…that duct tape was applied to her mouth…

But she said only, "Details that have to remain undisclosed for the sake of the investigation."

"That’s not an answer."

"It’s as much of one as you’re going to get."

Suddenly everybody was talking at once. The room seemed hotter and more crowded than it had been a moment earlier. People were talking back now, unwilling to yield the floor any longer. Tess had seen this behavior in every briefing she’d attended. Powerful people would not stay quiet for long.

"Folks," Tennant yelled over the clamor, "we need some order here. Chief Florez has to discuss the details of the counterterror procedures that are already under way."

The room quieted down as Sylvia Florez outlined the emergency plans.

"In the event of a mass-casualty situation, an emergency broadcasting system alert will notify area hospitals storing antidotes to biochemical weapons. Additional meds are being flown in from federal stockpiles. Medical strike teams will be mobilized to set up decontamination showers and other mobile facilities. We estimate that one hundred twenty nurses and fifteen doctors can process and decontaminate up to one thousand victims per hour.

"The efforts of the forty-nine thousand first responders in LA County will be coordinated with those of the Department of Public Services, the Departmental Operations Center, and Emergency Network Los Angeles.

"The LAPD’s antiterrorism division has been mobilized. The department’s response plans for a terrorist threat, available on the LAPD intranet, call for heavy deployment of LAPD undercover and uniformed units, concentrating on likely targets-sports venues, federal buildings, amusement parks, and so on.

"In compliance with Presidential Decision Directive Thirty-nine, federal assistance has been requested. National Guard units trained in WMD crisis management and U.S. Army chemical defense units are now on alert. Another available resource is the U.S. Marine Corps Chemical-Biological Incident Response Force-three hundred seventy-five men trained in NBC incident containment.

"Health and Human Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the EPA have been notified. As you’ve seen, the FBI is on the case."

Someone muttered audibly, "And doing a bang-up job."

Tess sucked in a hard breath. She didn’t like having the bureau dumped on. But the fact remained that the FBI had lost Amanda Pierce-and now the FBI had to find Mobius and stop him before it was too late.

When the presentation was over, Florez asked for questions. Tess raised her hand, but Florez wasn’t looking toward the back of the room and Tennant ignored her. Finally she stood without being recognized.

"When do we go public with this?"

"Never," Tennant said.

Tess wouldn’t accept that answer. "It’s Saturday. People will be going out to ball games, concerts, all sorts of crowded places. You already said that sports arenas are possible targets. So are theaters and shopping malls. People need to know."

"So they can panic?"

"So they can take precautions."

"What precautions, exactly, can the general public take against a psychopathic serial killer with a terrorist weapon?"

"Maybe we need a curfew."

The mayor waved off the idea. "There will be no curfew. We’re not throwing this city into chaos."

"I don’t think there’ll be chaos," Tess persisted. "We’ve had government alerts periodically since the World Trade Center attack."