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to think that way. Trust nothing or no one. Only believe what you observe yourself. Tanner nodded at Jasmijn to respond.
    “They gave me seven days and said they could pay me a visit anywhere. Rather than stick around after what they did to my lab assistant to see if I might fare any better, I decided to flee.”
Into Tanner’s arms
, was the unspoken rest of the sentence that she was sure Danielle was thinking.
    “Is there any way you can work on the antidote in Maryland? What equipment and supplies do you need?” Danielle asked. Tanner looked at Jasmijn, awaiting her response. When she hesitated, Danielle pressed on.
    “Because if we had an antidote, and could mass produce and distribute it, Hofstad’s threats become impotent.”
    Stephen Shah’s accented voice came over the line. “We know from what they told Jasmijn in her lab that the terrorists want an antidote for the STX. We have to assume this is to exert further control over the situation. They would then be able to essentially sell the antidote to their own victims. To me this is even more reason to come up with an antidote before they do.”
    Jasmijn nodded. “It just occurred to me that they might even have other people working on an STX antidote. I’m not the only scientist in the world, or even in Europe, capable of doing it.”
    Tanner looked across the table. “Jasmijn, make sure you call the CDC as soon as this call ends to let them know definitively that STX is the bio-agent used in last night’s attack. That way they might be able to get other scientists working on the antidote. You have a big head start, but with the CDC’s resources, they might be able to crowdsource a solution faster than what you could do independently.”
    “Agreed.” Jasmijn said.
    Tanner went on. “But we can’t sit around waiting for some government agency to fix things. Our collective decades of government service have taught us that, if nothing else.” Hearty guffaws from the team broke out over the line before Tanner got back to business.
    “What do you think, Jasmijn? If I could set you up in a discreet, secure lab around here, could you continue working on that antidote?”
    “Unfortunately, it’s not simply a matter of equipment and a space to work. The samples I have already developed that I believe are the key to creating an antidote are in my Netherlands lab. I suppose I could request they be air-freighted to me here under special refrigerated conditions, but —”
    Dante Alvarez broke in for the first time. “Why don’t we just provide you a security detail at your Netherlands lab and you can do the work there under escort and 24/7 guard detail?” As ex-Secret Service, he was an expert at providing guard detail and so naturally would prefer that solution.
    Tanner looked impressed. Jasmijn appeared doubtful. He addressed her concern.
    “You’d be safe. Trust me. If Hofstad does return to your lab, we might be able to end this that way, too, because we’ll be waiting for them.”
    “So we all fly to my lab?”
    “Half of us. Dante, Stephen and Nay: you three will escort Jasmijn to her lab and guard her while she develops the antidote. Danielle, Liam and myself will remain in country to track Hofstad from here and respond to any related domestic threats that may arise. “
    The three of them indicated their assent.
    “So I came all this way only to turn around and go back home.”
    “To go back home safely,” Tanner corrected.

SEVEN
    Netherlands airspace
    The Gulfstream G650 banked into a turn high over the Dutch coast. On board, the trio of OUTCAST operatives and Jasmijn returned to their seats from the conference table where they’d been seated for most of the flight from Maryland. She had answered all of the questions Dante, Stephen and Naomi had asked regarding the layout of her lab, university security protocols, storage locations, methods for the key antidote components, and more. She had furnished them with photos of the lab and