“Thank you. I trimmed it by hand. The secret, though, is in the wax. That’s what gives it the satiny appearance under the lights. My compliments on making your servant’s compulsions seem so real.”
“No, she’s really like that. You have no idea how many ways a silverware drawer can be arranged.”
Cyrah smiled sadly and he reached over, tapping the thing on her stomach.
“What’s in here?”
She lifted her head and saw the syringe that had been destined for Claudia. “E. coli bacteria along with a heavy dose of the toxin they produce.”
“Isn’t that what was on the lettuce?”
“No. Too unpredictable. That was a non-lethal synthetic poison I mixed with the wax so it couldn’t be washed off. Undetectable by normal methods and it tends to act within a very narrow time frame. We did put bacteria on various other heads of lettuce from that supplier, though. You’ll start to see people in the area fall ill over the next few days, but not fatally. It would have covered Claudia’s death.”
“Very thorough.”
“Thank you. May I ask how you knew?”
“We don’t eat anything Bebe buys from the store. Our food came in on one of the early construction supply trucks.” He pointed and she managed to crane her neck far enough to see a set of mouse cages.
“We’ve been testing everything she brings in. None of the mice would touch that lettuce. The food poisoning angle seemed obvious at that point.”
“Yes,” Cyrah responded quietly. “I suppose so. Obvious.”
“But you didn’t do all this yourself.”
“No.”
“How many more?”
“Two.”
“Names?”
“Nasrin Pour and Yasmin Housseini.”
“Where are they?”
“I have no idea.”
He took the syringe from her abdomen and turned it thoughtfully in his hands. “That’s the wrong answer.”
“But you know it’s the truth. Our operation is built entirely on secrecy. I never know where they are. And now that I haven’t checked in, they’ve run.”
“But you have a way of reconnecting with them.”
“Of course. But again, they’d never reveal their locations to me. In any event, they’re no threat to you. Even if they were to decide that they want revenge—which they have no reason to—they aren’t operators. They’re analysts. If you have contacts in Iranian intelligence, you can confirm this.”
He started playing with the syringe again and she knew what he was thinking. That she would have a way to warn them if he forced her to initiate contact. And, of course, he was right.
Finally, he twisted around and looked at the woman by the workbench again. “Brunch?”
Rapp exited through the kitchen door with both a nice meal and some time to think under his belt. The thrill of the operation, combined with having Cyrah Jafari taped naked to a weight bench, had been enough to drag Sadie back into reality. He’d thought his problems with her were more or less solved until the act of preparing food kicked her right back into Claudia mode. Her desire to go medieval on the Iranian had now been overpowered by her desire to create a celebratory meal fit for a French king. Bebe, who was back from returning the ambulance, had closed herself up in her room again. Probably sitting on the edge of her bed with bags packed.
Rapp opened the door to the shed and snapped on the lights again. The woman didn’t react at all and he stopped at the base of the weight bench, looking down at her. She stared defiantly into the bright light, teeth chattering and skin covered in goose bumps. He couldn’t help being intrigued by what he saw. She was tough, well trained, and extraordinarily creative. But the main thing he got from her was drive. This was a woman who knew what she wanted out of life and was either going to get it or die trying.
“What happened to the guy who taught you that last lesson and put you in the typing pool?”
“I cut off his genitals and choked him to death with them.”
“Harsh.”
“We had history.”
He grabbed a paint-spattered drop cloth and threw it over her before sitting again.
“So, what now, Cyrah?”
“I’d be grateful if you just killed me. Everything I’ve told you is the truth and I don’t know any more.”
“You wouldn’t rather I just let you go?”
“That’s not possible. You suspect that I’d just try to finish what I started. Legion is built on success. A single failure would cause it to collapse.”