Page 189 of The Grey Wolf
“I’ll come down.”
Manon Lagacé appeared minutes later, impossibly young in jeans and a sweatshirt that saidÉcole Polytechnique. There was a tiny white rose pin on it.
“Give me your phone.” Gamache held out his hand.
“No. And I’m not getting into a car with you until I see your IDs and you tell me more.”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” snapped Beauvoir. “The attack is going to happen in”—he checked his phone—“thirty-seven minutes.”
“Then you’d better hurry.”
Both Gamache and Beauvoir did, digging out their IDs. She took them, quickly compared the plastic to the real thing, then handed them back.
“Okay. Tell me.”
“Can we at least walk toward the car?” Beauvoir asked.
“No. You’re wasting your precious time. Tell me.”
“In”—Gamache checked his phone—“thirty-six minutes, Montréal’s water will be poisoned, from your treatment plant.”
Both officers watched her closely. She seemed completely taken by surprise. “Why do you think that?”
It was a legitimate question, but he didn’t have time to give a full answer.
“Charles Langlois told us.” It was the shorthand and would have to do.
“The maintenance worker?”
“You knew him?”
“We talked. I’d heard he was killed in a hit-and-run.” She studied Gamache. “You were there. It wasn’t an accident?”
“Non.The poison is botulinum.”
She quickly absorbed this information. “But that would kill…”
“Thousands,” said Beauvoir. “Tens of thousands.Patron, we have to go, with or without her.”
“He’s right. Please, come with us.” Gamache stared at her, and when there was no reaction, he turned and walked quickly to the car. When he heard footsteps running to catch up, he almost wept.
While Beauvoir sped through the suburb, Gamache asked, “Can the plant be shut down?”
“Yes, there’s an emergency shutoff. It’s in the command center on the top floor. This would be sabotage, obviously. A terrorist attack.”
“Yes.”
She looked around. “Then why aren’t there more of you? The RCMP. A SWAT team. We must have an anti-terrorist unit. Why don’t you have your Sûreté people all over it? Where are they?” Then she sat back, her face going slack. “Oh, shit. This’s domestic terrorism. You don’t know who to trust, do you?” When Gamache was silent, she said, “We’re alone.”
“We’re enough,” said Gamache. “Thanks to you.”
“Yeah, well…”
Beauvoir pulled over half a block from the plant.
“If you were going to put poison into the system, how would you do it?” Gamache asked.
“I’d use one of the two main points of entry, on the lowest level and level two. I’d also place someone in the command center, to shut offthe treatments and make sure no one sounded an alarm or powered down the plant. Overnight there’s a smaller staff. The shift change happens at midnight, then eight a.m., and so on. Christ. That means the senior engineer on duty must be involved. I know him.” She stared at Gamache, the full impact hitting home. “I need to reach my family, warn them.” She grabbed for her phone, but Gamache leaned over and took it from her.
