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Although John Garrett desperately wanted to send the scientific consultants who had insisted that one of those glowing green stones had to be "Earth Kryptonite" straight to hell, he ultimately had no choice but to swallow the consequences of his own recklessness.
Compared to Garrett's already deteriorating body, the most obvious result of the radiation exposure was that his left hand—the one that had directly handled the uranium—had been amputated.
The young agent Kaminski entered with the latest medical reports.
His face revealed neither joy nor sorrow.
Garrett got straight to the point.
"How bad is it?"
"There are two pieces of good news," Kaminski replied. "No bad news."
"Cut the crap and tell me!"
Recalling the doctors' explanations and consulting the report, Kaminski carefully chose his words.
"The first piece of good news is that your condition was already terrible to begin with. The rejection symptoms from the Deathlok Project implants were being controlled entirely through medication.
"But after receiving a massive dose of radiation, the rejection response has actually slowed down due to the proliferation of cancer cells.
"That doesn't mean your organs have returned to normal function. It just means they're slightly better than before.
"The biggest difference is that the treatment plan has shifted from preventing organ failure to fighting cancer.
"From the doctors' perspective, that's actually easier."
Garrett cursed.
"So now I'm supposed to thank the damn radiation?
"What, if I take a trip to that hellhole at Three Mile Island, I'll come back healthy?"
"I didn't say that."
Kaminski's tone wasn't exactly gloating, but neither did it contain much sympathy.
"Fuck! What's the other piece of news?"
"It concerns the recovery of the enriched uranium."
Handing over another report, Kaminski continued:
"Because the target, Henry Brown, used a submachine gun inside the theater, theater staff called the police.
"The final police conclusion was that the Uzi that scared everyone away was actually just a movie prop that produced sound effects.
"It had no destructive capability and couldn't be modified into a functional weapon.
"So after issuing a warning and a fine, they released him."
He tapped the report.
"The enriched uranium and the other minerals were placed back into the lead box and subsequently recovered by a nuclear-biological-chemical response team.
"You just need to write a report, endure a few rounds of criticism, and the troublesome material can be returned to its original department.
"That counts as good news, doesn't it?"
"That damn son of a—!"
Garrett launched into a stream of profanity.
English alone wasn't enough.
He switched languages repeatedly, drawing upon every curse word he'd learned throughout his life.
Only after his throat became dry did he finally reach for a glass of water.
Out of habit, he instinctively tried using his missing left hand.
Naturally, he grabbed nothing.
After another curse, he switched to his right hand.
His right hand had escaped injury simply because it had been reserved for drawing a gun.
That habit had inadvertently saved it.
Watching the man who had personally recruited him pause long enough to breathe, Kaminski seized the opportunity to ask:
"Do we have any follow-up plans for dealing with that alien?"
Garrett's intelligence-officer instincts immediately kicked in.
"Besides the twenty-three people we extracted from Russia, there were five others, if I remember correctly.
"What's their status?"
"Actually," Kaminski said, "we only have one survivor left.
"The four targets who remained inside Russia—including the two imprisoned in Siberia—have all been assassinated.
"Nikolai Semyonov at Oscorp is the only one still alive."
"What?!"
Garrett stared.
"All four are dead?
"When did that happen?"
"Because it happened inside Russia, information traveled slowly.
"We only received confirmation a few days ago.
"Based on the timeline, the deaths occurred before the first of the extracted personnel suffered an accident."
Garrett narrowed his eyes.
"So before he started targeting the group in America, he first eliminated the ones who remained in Russia?
"Through assassination?
"Just that directly?"
Kaminski nodded.
"Two died from gunshot wounds. The weapon was a PSM compact pistol—the standard sidearm of the KGB.
"Two others died suddenly without external injuries.
"Autopsies revealed severe cardiac damage. Clearly unnatural deaths.
"It's an unfamiliar method.
"Do you still think Henry acted personally?
"Or did he have accomplices?
"With the money in his accounts and his connections to the Continental Hotel, hiring elite assassins wouldn't be difficult.
"The twelve Russians who died in accidents—could that have been the work of the rumored assassin known as the Mechanic?
"From what I hear, that person specializes in disguising murders as accidents and leaving no evidence behind."
Garrett shook his head.
"First, let me correct you.
'The Mechanic' isn't one specific person.
"Anyone skilled in that style of assassination can be called a mechanic.
"And they aren't perfect.
"Every so often someone makes a mistake and leaves traces behind.
"The common factor is that jobs like that are expensive.
"None of them cost less than a million dollars."
He waved the matter aside.
"But those dead men don't matter anymore.
"The important one is the survivor.
"And another thing.
"How was information about those four leaked?
"Does the remaining one know?"
Kaminski immediately caught the implication.
"We have a mole?"
It was an answer nobody wanted to believe.
After considering all possibilities, Garrett shook his head.
"Unlikely.
"He has no channels through which to contact our people.
"And any intelligence we can obtain, the Continental can probably obtain as well.
"We didn't go out of our way to conceal that information.
"If he was willing to pay the price, getting it through the Continental wouldn't be difficult."
The explanation was reasonable and eased Kaminski's concerns somewhat.
"So what do we do next?"
Garrett thought for a moment.
"Arrange a meeting for me with Norman Osborn, chairman of Oscorp.
"We'll work together and prepare a trap for our guest."
Kaminski looked curious.
"You think that businessman will agree?"
"If you knew Norman Osborn," Garrett replied, "you'd know he's exactly the sort of bastard who would.
"If he doesn't want one of his employees—one of his company's assets—to be casually murdered, then cooperating with us is his best option."
"Understood. I'll arrange the meeting with Norman Osborn.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
Garrett's expression darkened.
"Have Cybertek prioritize a prosthetic hand for me.
"Top priority.
"The moment it's finished, send someone to New York to install it."
Kaminski stopped taking notes.
"I should mention that Cybertek personnel have become increasingly dissatisfied with being ordered around by you.
"First we dumped twenty-three researchers on them.
"Before they produced any value, some died and others disappeared.
"Now you're demanding a custom prosthetic.
"Do you want me to apply some pressure and make them cooperate?"
Garrett snorted.
"Do whatever you think is necessary."
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