No one said a word, and so Burke continued, “But you aren’t the top of the food chain, and your superiors started asking questions about what exactly you were doing in Johannesburg. Knowing that you were about to be terminated or exposed, you hatched a plan with a two-fold objective. Stop me if I’m wrong.”

“Have you told your friends at the FBI all this?” Yoshida said.

“No, I’ve been piecing it all together as we went along. But I haven’t shared my full analysis until now.”

Burke saw Loria talking into a radio, probably confirming with the perimeter guards that a throng of federal agents weren’t waiting in the wings.

“So, Mr. Yoshida, you wanted to set up a fall guy to take the blame for the screw up,” he said. “And who better than Dr. Raskin, whom you likely blinded with the promise of untold riches. She enlisted the aid of the mercenary she worked with previously, who had likely been having problems dealing with the incident, his own form of PTSD.”

Kruger looked at him like a piece of meat ready to be devoured, but Burke ignored the giant. “So, objective number one is to release the same biological agent on US citizens, proving that Dr. Raskin was responsible for the massacre. Then objective number two was to steal the revolutionary battery technology being developed by the CIA to power its own drone program.”

Burke paused for comments. He felt a bit like a professor giving a lecture, and the looks of hatred and confusion of his adversaries added to his confidence. He should have been scared to death at that moment, but oddly, he felt no fear at all. No anxiety. No worries about hurting the feelings of the other people in the room. He hoped he did hurt their feelings. And the longer they allowed him to talk, the odds of success for his plan increased.

“Now, here’s where it gets a bit hairy for all of you. Because you see, none of you are on the same team. You’re a group of wild dogs all thrown into a pit. When that happens, the dogs don’t band together. They devour one another.”

Yoshida raised a pistol to Burke’s head and said, “I think we’ve heard enough.”

But from behind him, Loria said, “I’d like to catch the rest of what he has to say.”

“He’s trying to turn us against one another. And Kruger’s right. We’re wasting time.”

Loria, in a commanding voice that held an edge of a threat, said, “Let him speak.”

With a large grin, Burke said, “Okay, so let’s start with Mr. Kruger. He plans to kill all of you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kruger shouted.

“Allow me to explain. Kruger had been employed by a crime boss called Mobius. That man was upset that Kruger had breached some of his contracts, and so he sent Constable Price and a trained assassin to America to hunt and eliminate Mr. Kruger. However, as they were closing in on their prey, Mobius rescinded the kill order on Mr. Kruger. Now, class, why might he do that?”