“That’s exactly what it is,” Yuri said. “Now, what I want you two to do to help is merely to make sure I get the credit for what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Yuri waited for a response. Instead he heard Jack and Laurie whispering.

“Did you hear me?” Yuri asked.

“We were wondering if you produced botulinum toxin as well as anthrax?” Jack asked.

“I tried to,” Yuri admitted. “But the culture grew too slowly to make enough toxin quickly enough for a bioweapon.”

“What happened to the culture?” Jack asked. “Did it just go down the drain?”

“What happened to the clostridial culture is not important,” Yuri said. “What is going to happen with the anthrax tomorrow is.”

“We agree fully,” Jack said. “And we’ll make certain you get all the credit you deserve.”

“Just to be absolutely sure, I want to tell you in detail what is planned for tomorrow,” Yuri said. “That will make you extraordinarily credible witnesses for me.”

“We’re all ears,” Jack said.

“If the People’s Aryan Army arrives I will have to interrupt,” Yuri said.

“We’ll try to deal with the suspense,” Jack said. “Let’s hear it.”

Yuri told Jack and Laurie the details of both laydowns, including the timing and the exact way Curt and Steve planned on getting the powder into the air-conditioning system of the Jacob Javits building. He told them how the firemen intended to shut down the annunciator panel for the entire building after they’d planted the material so that the powder would not set off the smoke detectors. He then went on to tell about how he was going to drive around Central Park at the same time in the stolen pest control truck. He finished by giving an estimate of the casualties from his plan, which he thought would be a million dead, give or take a couple hundred thousand. He said he expected the anthrax to spread out in an expanding arc at least fifty miles over Long Island. The only thing he didn’t explain was his plans after the laydown.

“Where did you get this expertise?” Jack asked after a moment of awed silence.

“Are you really interested?” Yuri asked. He was flattered.

“As I said, we’re all ears,” Jack commented.

TWENTY-TWO

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TWENTY-TWO

Wednesday, October 20

11:15 P.M.

Curt nosed the Dodge Ram into Oceanview Lane and navigated past the inevitable trash barrels.

“Why the hell don’t these people take these cans inside?” Curt complained.

“I wish I knew,” Steve said. “Hell, I’m not going to miss coming over here. What a shithole.”

Curt pulled to a stop in front of Yuri’s garage, where he’d parked on the previous visits. He turned off the lights and the engine.