“Would you like to meet him?”

She cocked her head in surprise at this, and Mars flipped a switch on his radio to speak with the crew of his helicopter.

* * *

• • •

Thirty minutes later they landed. Won had been blindfolded, for operational security, Mars had explained, but now she followed Mars, Fox, and Hines out of the aircraft and over to a small shack. Several men stood around outside; Won could see no weapons, but they all had light Windbreakers on, and she took them to be a security force.

They obviously belonged to Fox or Mars, because they made no effort to stop the new arrivals as they approached the shack.

On the top of a hill several hundred yards away Won could just make out a rectangular gothic stone church with a cemetery in front of it. From this distance the church appeared to her to be dilapidated and shuttered.

They did not head for the church; instead they walked through a field till they came upon a bright yellow crop duster parked next to a dilapidated wooden shack. Alongside the shack were drums that contained fuel, fertilizer, and engine oil, but this was no real airport property. Won saw no obvious runway, although the ground was flat here and the grass was only a few inches high.

They stepped into the shack, and although it was a cool breezy day, inside she found a small man in his fifties wearing a black tank top and shorts.

She could tell the man was Korean before he opened his mouth, and this surprised her.

No names were exchanged, but everyone shook hands. Mars said, “He doesn’t speak English. Only Korean, so you can feel free to ask him whatever you like.”

“Where are you from?” Won asked.

The man smiled a little. “Seoul. Yourself?”

Won looked to Mars, ignoring the man. “What is this?”

“This, Dr. Won, is a mercenary pilot. He will do what he says, without question. And since he’s South Korean, his presence here will not affect your nation in any way.”

She turned back to him. “You can fly a crop duster?”

“I flew big C-130s for the air force. I can definitely fly a crop duster.”

“Why are you here?”

“I was brought in for the job.”

Won was confused. She looked to Mars. “Why is he already in the area?”

Mars said, “He is establishing his cover. I have a team of men here protecting him, watching out for anyone watching him and such, and he is going out every day to spray back the bracken and heather. I have secured a contract for him to operate in the area near the eastern shores of Loch Ness. By the day of the attack, his bright yellow agricultural aircraft will be known by everyone in the area, and no one will bat an eyelash when he comes over flying low and slow.”

Won looked to the pilot now. In Korean she said, “You understand your mission?”

“Yes,” the pilot said. They all walked out to the bright yellow single-engine aircraft, and the pilot walked Won around it. “In the belly of the plane is the tank; it’s called the hopper. A wind-driven pump sends the liquid to this horizontal pipe with spray nozzles, here on the belly of the aircraft. It’s called a boom. All I have to do is flick a switch in the cockpit, and a thin spray of liquid will come out of the boom. By the time it reaches the target, it will be undetectable except for a very fine mist.”

After hearing the translation, Mars said, “How fine a mist?”

Won fielded this question directly. “We are working on the weapon itself now. Four small canisters, each the size of a home fire extinguisher, strapped together. Hoses all leading to one nozzle, although each canister also has its own shutoff capability for safety in transport. The material is atomized; it is not invisible but very nearly.”

Mars exchanged a glance with Fox but said nothing.

The pilot resumed speaking to Won. “I’ll drop herbicide from the first hopper until I get close enough to bank over the castle, make a pass overhead, open the second hopper, and distribute the material there. Then I will return here and leave the country by boat long before anyone knows any attack took place.”

Won said, “A slow pass. A very slow and careful pass.”

“As long as no one is shooting at me, I can fly as slow as forty knots.”

Won translated this for Mars, who looked to the man and replied in English. “No one will be shooting at you, old boy. We are going to create a diversion so that the last thing anyone is worrying about will be a bloody crop duster flying over the castle.”

“A diversion?” Won knew nothing about this.

Mars waved a hand and said, “Let’s see more of this aircraft.”

After another walk around the yellow Air Tractor AT-602 and more words of assurance from the pilot about his mission, the visitors to the airfield walked back to the waiting helicopter.

Won addressed Mars before they were too close to the rotors to be heard. “I checked the weather conditions for next month. It should be moderate and breezy. If the pilot is good, and if he’s able to get close enough without raising suspicions, then I believe we have a good chance for success.”

Mars nodded but did not reply.

The North Korean virologist said, “You mentioned something back there about a diversion. What does that mean?”

“Doctor, that will not concern you. By the time all this happens you will be safely out of the country, as promised.”

“But if this operation fails we have to—”

Mars interrupted. “We will all see that it doesn’t. Trust me, my diversionary tactic will take our shared adversaries by complete surprise. Now . . . shall we head on to Castle Enrick? I’d like to make it in time for dinner. I hear the restaurant is top flight.”

Janice Won boarded the helicopter, but Mars held Fox back. They turned away and spoke close into each other’s ears. “Your thoughts?” Mars asked.

“Despite what Won and the pilot say, this is far from a sure thing. What if the wind is too high, if it’s raining, if the aircraft is shot down?”

Mars had come to the same conclusion. “Nothing will be left to chance. The other option is the only option now.”

“So we don’t use the Air Tractor and the pilot?”

“Certainly we use them. Won asked me about the diversion. I wonder what she would think if she knew that she and her plan were, in fact, the diversion, and the real play will succeed when theirs fails. Now go blindfold her before takeoff.”

CHAPTER 36

PRESENT DAY

Matt Hanley gave Suzanne Brewer the morning off so she could get her affairs in order for the trip to London, but he was energized enough about the mole hunt that he connected directly with Zack Hightower via text as soon as he got to work, asking his contract agent to let him know if he found out anything.