The Judas Strain - James Rollins [105]
One sat on a chair, the other straightened from where he was leaning against the wall.
“Go,” Monk said crisply into his radio’s microphone.
It was his signal.
A muffled gunshot rang out from behind the suite’s door as Ryder took out the man posted inside.
Startled, the guard who’d been standing by the wall swung to the door.
Monk was on him immediately. He swung up both arms, a pistol in each hand, one tucked into a pillow, the other bundled in the blanket. He shoved the pillow against the man’s back and pulled the trigger, taking out his spine. As the guard dropped, he fired a second round into the man’s head.
Before the body even hit the ground, Monk turned to the seated man, lifting the blanket-wrapped pistol.
He pulled the trigger…twice.
8:19 P.M.
LISA ENTERED THE bedroom.
“Dr. Patanjali, I’m glad you’re here,” she said, swallowing the gall that came with the lie. She needed Devesh out of here. She had told Monk only two orderlies would be here.
Devesh turned to her.
Lisa swiped some loose hair over her ear, feigning exhaustion as her heart pounded. “I had come to get some test results on a CSF tap I performed earlier. But…” She waved to the computer. “The power surge knocked out the CPU. I was hoping to review the results before I went to bed.”
“Why didn’t you order one of the men to fetch them from Dr. Pollum’s lab?”
“No one’s there. I was hoping you might expedite matters.”
Devesh sighed. “Certainly. I was just heading over to my room for the night. I’ll call down and have Pollum send you a hard copy.”
“Thank you.”
Devesh headed away, but he stopped at the threshold and turned back to her.
Lisa tensed.
“You looked quite handsome at the cocktail party. Truly radiant.”
Lisa kept her face impassive by sheer force of will. “Th-thank you.”
Then he was gone.
Shaken a bit, Lisa hurried over to Susan. Leaning down, Lisa whispered in her ear. “I’m going to begin unhooking you from everything. We’re getting out of here.”
Susan nodded. Her lips moved, exhaling a soft “thank you.”
As Lisa set to work on the IV catheter, she noted the tear tracks leaking from the outer corner of Susan’s eyes to her pillow. Earlier, Lisa had quietly explained about the fate of the woman’s husband. Lisa had read his autopsy reports, courtesy of Devesh.
Lisa squeezed the woman’s shoulder.
Luckily, Devesh had not noted her glowing tears.
8:25 P.M.
MONK HURRIED ACROSS the outside starboard deck, hunched against the wind-lashed rain. Only a few pools of light spilled to the darkened deck. Black clouds whipped and roiled above the giant net woven across the top of the island. Flashes of lightning glowed like a distant war zone. The rumble of thunder was almost constant.
After his first talk with Lisa, Monk had scouted the proper section of deck and prepared everything he needed. But he hadn’t had time to ready a second sling. He’d simply have to haul the women up one at a time.
To accomplish that quickly, Monk needed more muscle.
Ryder pounded behind him, dressed in local rags like Monk.
Gassing up the billionaire’s boat would have to wait.
“This way!” Monk yelled above the drench of rain and gusts of wind.
A deck chair skittered past him. The winds were picking up. They needed to be out of here in the next hour to escape the worst brunt of the coming typhoon.
Overhead, the island’s woven roof shook and rattled.
Monk reached the section of deck where he had rigged a rope and fireman’s sling, stolen from out of the ship’s emergency rescue gear.
Monk pointed. “Haul it to the rail!” he hollered as he leaned over the edge.
He searched below. The curve of the ship’s hull made it hard to be certain, but two levels below him should be the balcony to the cabin where Lisa had been tending her patient. It was the point of egress for this op.
Farther below, the dark lagoon reflected the ship’s few lights, rippling gently, sheltered from the worst of the wind by the high volcanic walls. As Monk turned to Ryder, he noted some flashes of light in the water. Not reflections, something deeper. Bright