The Human Syndrome: A John Logan Action and Adventure Mystery Thriller Novel (Logan's Mysteries Book 1)

by AJ Newman

  “You didn’t say anything about wanting to be near me.”

  “I’m having difficulty with that myself. I have strict rules about dating students or employees. Still, I honestly have never been attracted to any woman as much as I am to you. I’m not good at the mushy romantic stuff, but I want you in my life and want to …”

  “What do you want?”

  “Damn it. You’re too young for me. It’s not fair to you.”

  “John, I’m thirty-one, and you’re forty-two. Let me decide if you’re too old for me. You scared me at first because I thought you just wanted to replace Meagan with another friend with benefits.”

  “That’s what I wanted from Meagan; however, she didn’t have a brain, and I couldn’t talk about anything with her. She was a thief to boot.”

  “But you can talk with me?”

  “Yes, I love to hear what you think and like how you take such good care of Jere. You’re smart, witty, and gorgeous.”

  Jane smiled. “So, I’m back and not in a hurry for a relationship. Jere is much more important to me than any man ever will be. John, I lied about Jere’s dad. His real dad was a horrible person and took advantage of me. I don’t trust men.”

  I thought about how to proceed and then extended my hand. “I’ll never hurt you or let you down. Friends?”

  She took my hand and shook hands. “Yes, but don’t expect much, and don’t rush me.”

  “I won’t. Your friendship means everything to me.”

  We were still holding hands when Cindy walked through the kitchen door. She started to speak but stopped and then went up to Jane and gave her a hug. I knew the brat wanted to kid us, but even she realized it wasn’t the time or place.

  We sat on the deck until Mike drove up with Beth in the Suburban. Mike honked, and we joined them. Cindy quickly called ‘shotgun’ on the passenger side, causing Jane to sit between us. Her playing cupid right now wasn’t a good thing for the situation.

  Mike stayed quiet until we were all in the car. “Beth has been with her contacts at the Department of Defense finishing negotiations for outsourcing the production of FXA2. Her contacts have contacts that don’t want anyone else to produce FXA2. They were pissed about Brunner and the Russians fiddling around with this top-secret explosive. They think FXA1 will deliver significant improvements in light to heavy munitions, not to mention high explosives. Remember, this stuff is four times as powerful as our military’s most powerful explosive.”

  I heard all Mike said but didn’t hear a word about helping us. “Mike, all of that is nice, but what are they going to do to help?”

  Beth looked peeved at me. “John, there isn’t any crime that we can pin on Brunner. The illegal FXA2 production is a civil court problem. Remember, our entire process for making FXA1 is considered explosive, and FXA2 is a potential byproduct. They could claim they did nothing wrong and planned to dispose of the FAX2 properly. After all, the polymer FXA1 batch is only about a kilo a day from a two-shift operation.

  “I know. That’s enough to manufacture billions of Nanobots, but remember, two kilos of FXA2 would blow the entire building to bits.”

  Jane tapped on the back of the seat. “How sure are we that these people are a threat to the world?”

  The questions surprised me since I’d been shot and beaten to pieces in two wrecks. Frowning, I turned to Jane. “I’m damned sure they’re bad people. What are you driving at?”

  “We all agree something needs to happen. One of my drones could take some FXA2 into the lab and land on the stockpile of FXA2 and boom. The key would be to assure that all of the bad guys are in the building when the explosion takes place.”

  Mike chuckled. “I don’t know if we’re up to that point yet, but the million dollars will clear my bank in two days. That’s assuming John qualifies the operation tomorrow. A boom after that could be chalked up to a lab accident.”

  Beth was appalled. “We can’t kill people. We’re the good guys. “

  I was shaking my head, as I thought. Mike saw my head moving. “John, what’s in that tiny pea picking brain?”

  “Jane may not have the best way to deal with them, but I have no problem killing all of them in one big explosion. Look! My police friend thinks there might be something worth looking at but is so undermanned he only put it on his to-do list. We put all the evidence together, and we all think they’re gearing up to kill massive amounts of people. If we don’t do anything, no one else will, and they’ll kill thousands to tens of thousands of innocent people. Probably black people.”

  I remembered something. “Ken said the Russians sleep in the other half of the building until after day shift leaves. Now, we only need to find a way to get the real leaders of the group in the building at the same time.”

  Jane added, “They could be planning to start a race war or perhaps take South Africa back. The Nanobots could kill millions and make it look like some kind of virus or weapon of mass destruction. The microdrones could give them an impressive military capability. A small cloud could defeat an F-22 or Apache helicopter. A large cloud could destroy anything made by man. They have to be stopped.”

  I gave it some thought. “That’s all correct and damned scary. We’d have to plan this out and distribute a few ounces of the explosive around the …”

  Mike’s head slumped. “Are we really planning to destroy the entire building and kill a dozen people? If we do, then we’d better get it right and make it look like an accident. Our plan has to ensure no collateral damage or injuries in the complex. Maybe on a Saturday or Sunday?”

  Cindy had been quiet. “Where do we get the extra FXA2? I’m sure it’s not lying around the building unguarded.”

  “FXA2 is formed when we run the reaction at too high a temperature. What if we convince New Wave that the delay on qualifying their operation is we’ve found a way to double the batch size and cut the processing time down by half?” I proposed.

  Mike’s pursed lips shifted from side to side as he usually did when he mulled over something. “Mike FXA2, our explosive, is always produced two to three times faster than the FXA1 because of the higher heat. Are you thinking that you could intentionally make FXA2 explosive right under their noses?”

  I was getting excited about our plan. “Damned Skippy, I can. We do exactly what we do to make the FXA2 and pass it off as the polymer FXA1. When we’re finished, we take the product to our workstation and hide it in our laptop bags. We bring the armed drones back in our laptop bags.”

  Mike asked, “Is everyone in?”

  Everyone answered yes except Beth. “Beth, are you in?”

  “Yes, I’ll keep my mouth shut but won’t contribute to murdering those people. I think it must be done, but I’m a pacifist and can’t even think about killing people.”

  We had breakfast at Joe’s and then drove back to my house. “Mike, we’ll work on the plans to manufacture the FXA2 and how to arm the drones. Can you work on where to place the explosives and how to get their leaders in the building at the time we need them? It would also be nice to know where they keep their stock of the explosive.”

  Chapter 28

  Mike’s Home – Dauphin Island

  My part of the plan was the hardest. I had to develop chemical formulas and a presentation that would fool an accomplished scientist of Nanotechnology who had a master’s degree in chemistry and physics. I figured the best way was to keep it simple and tell them the proof will be in the results. Of course, we didn’t care about the results as long as I produced the FXA2. I just had to fake the results the day I produced our explosive and then use the explosives to blow them to hell the day they gathered to see the process improvement.

  I left the secure room to go to the bathroom and passed Jane in the hallway. “Let’s go eat in a few minutes. I’m starving.”

  Jane smiled, “I can eat a horse. I skipped breakfast to get Jere ready for day school. I’m having some of Tally’s gumbo and shrimp etouffee.”

  “Sounds good to me.
Grab Cindy while I catch Mike.”

  Mike was in his study, which was down the hall to the left of the secure room where we worked. One of Mike’s security guards regularly swept the place for bugs and drones even though Mike’s study had also been made into a safe room from spying.

  “Hey buddy, I’ve made the changes in the formula, and they should fool anyone not directly involved with the project. I’m adding an overhead slide to the presentation that clearly states the only downside is that if the temperature increase isn’t kept to no more than five degrees, we run the risk of accidentally making the FXA2.”

  Mike was pleased. “Brilliant! They won’t be hanging over your shoulder while you perform the mandatory chemical tests to verify the purity of the less explosive FXA1. I’m a bit peckish. Let’s eat.”

  “I came over to invite you to join us.”

  Lunch was excellent as usual, and the shrimp etouffee was scrumptious. We were enjoying a cup of coffee before I suddenly saw Dr. Brunner walk in the door. We were speechless, but I extended my hand and said, “Welcome to Long John’s, Doctor.”

  Brunner passed a note to me when he shook my hand. I asked him to sit and then took a quick glance at the note. I was shocked at what I saw. “Mike, could you take Doctor Brunner and me up to Mobile? Ladies, we need to meet with the administrator of the Brookley compound. This is an emergency.”

  The ladies looked at me as if I’d just farted. “We’ll be back in a couple of hours. Take my car back to Mike’s. Get back to work and make me proud.”

  I sat in the back with Brunner upfront with Mike. “This vehicle is safe from being bugged. Tell us what’s on your mind.”

  Dr. Brunner was nervous and very controlled when he spoke. “I thought I could take Mr. Bates’ money to do my life’s work and not let him taint it or get me involved with his project. It appears that he planned all along to use his micro drones to spread my Nanobots. His scientists just showed up to take over the final leg of my work. They want me gone in a week.”

  Mike asked, “It’s your work. Why would you walk away?”

  Brunner reached into his pocket. “This is a check for three million dollars. He also gave me a warning. Keep my mouth shut, or Carl would come and visit my wife and children. Carl is a vicious killer. Bates and his henchmen will be at the lab three days from now to see a small demonstration.”

  I wondered where this was going. “What does Bates ...? Hey! That’s not James Bates of billionaire fame, is it?”

  “Yes.”

  “A dozen conspiracy stories are floating around about how he funds anarchist and protest groups around the country. I don’t like this.”

  Brunner’s head dropped. “You should be worried. The man has been secretly sterilizing women of color all over the world at his so-called help clinics. Yes, he’s helped reduce Aids, Ebola, and several Coronaviruses, but his hidden agenda is to reduce the world’s population and enact a one-world government.”

  “So, what’s he going to do with the Nanobots that you planned to program to deliver medicine or cut out cancer?”

  Brunner squirmed in his seat. “I don’t know his entire plan, but Carl, the leader of his Russian thugs and scientists, talks a bit too much when drinking. He’s arming tiny drones with the FXA2. I mentioned that it was crucial to operate totally within the operation guidelines, or the lab could be blown to smithereens. Carl probed and then reported the info to Bates. My lifesaving Nanobots have also been re-engineered to kill instead of cure. They’ll attack the subject's immune system, and the death will be attributed to an unknown virus.”

  Something didn’t track. “I thought Bates only wanted to kill people of color.”

  “The Nanobots can be programmed to be attracted to skin color, odors, and a host of other detectable attributes. I swear, I didn’t know his plans.”

  Mike asked, “What made you change your mind, and why come to us? Do they know you’re meeting with us?”

  “They know that I told them we had urgent business with the codes department of Mobile. I heard Carl mentioning that he planned to use Bates’ attacks on humanity to totally kill the population of a large island and make his own country. Carl still works for the Russian mob. Apparently, they have already infiltrated their target and have the ability to hold the island once they finish their attacks. Bates’ humanitarian group will swoop in after the people die and proclaim they stopped the virus too late to save the population. They also plan to send bogus samples with a new deadly virus into the World Health Organization to fool them. They made the virus in China at their lab. I can’t be a part of this.”

  I slid my sunglasses off and rubbed my eyes. “So, Bates wants to rule the world, but Carl only wants a piece of it to become a Russian mob ruled country.”

  “Yes, that sums it up.”

  “What do you know about the Russians who followed us and almost killed my daughter and me?”

  “That was a rogue operation. Apparently, one of Carl’s men thought you stole his wife’s dog. He had his brother search for you and attack you before Carl knew anything about it. Then the Russian wanted you all dead, but our boss told him to lay low and kill you after we were done in Mobile. The dumbass broke into your place to prove you should be killed immediately. Carl killed the rest of the Russian’s relatives that you didn’t kill.”

  “So, that part was just a coincidence?”

  “Yes.”

  I wondered if he could deliver more than just complaints. “Have you talked with the police or our government?”

  Brunner reacted strongly, wringing his hands. “Oh, dear no. Bates has strong connections around the world, and I’d be laughed at and then killed along with my family.”

  I felt his pain on that one. “What can we do to stop him?”

  Brunner grinned, “I’ve been thinking about that for two weeks. I can reprogram the Nanobots, but the small drones are only controlled by Carl’s group. We must hurry because they plan to ship the drones, Nanobots, and all of my operations and your machinery to a secure place next week.”

  Mike was surprised. “You mean all of the FXA2, drones, and those Nanobot things are all stored in your building?”

  “Yes, they keep them on their side of the building. One office sized room can contain billions of the Nanobots. The explosive is in a room between the Nanobots and drones.”

  I tapped Brunner on the shoulder. “Can you draw us a map of the building with the exact locations of the explosives, drones, and bots?”

  Brunner reached under his jacket and handed a set of blueprints to me. I unrolled them and examined the pages. Brunner had made notes in red ink to indicate the positions of our targets and where the Russians slept and worked. I asked Mike to pull off the road.

  Mike looked at the prints and smiled. “Doctor Brunner, we have some friends in the government who might be able to handle this. If so, I’ll contact you and make sure you’re out of the building when they raid it.”

  Brunner asked, “What can I do to help?”

  Mike replied, “Pass us an update with any changes before we leave the building tomorrow. We have also come up with a change to the operation that will more than double the output. We’d like to give you a presentation on it tomorrow morning and then run a batch with the changes. We’ll examine the product to assure it isn’t contaminated by the explosive FXA2 and then give you the operational changes. This will help us stall a few days while we get something going on stopping these bastards.”

  Jane and Cindy swarmed on us when we arrived at Mike’s home. We fetched four beers from the fridge and took them back to the safe room.

  I rapped my beer bottle on the folding table I’d been using as my desk. “The short story is Brunner finally figured out that the Russians and Bates, his money backer, were out to kill thousands and set up a new country. All of their stock of explosives, drones, and Nanobots are stored on the other side of the wall in Brunner’s building. Everyone who needs to meet with God will be in the building in three days.
We have to do this ourselves because no one else can stop them.”

  There were no smiles around the room as the seriousness of the situation sank into us. The world depended on us to kill a couple dozen people and blow up their weapons of mass destruction. At that moment, I almost backed out and became that professor who just graded papers.

  I said the only thing I could think of to break the tension. “Don’t everyone speak at once.

  Mike spoke. “I have an idea to get us some help.”

  Chapter 29

  The beach by the old schoolhouse – Dauphin Island

  There wasn’t much conversation over supper at Long Johns. Even my usually over-talkative daughter was quiet as she twirled her spaghetti. She was in a daze as she played with her food. Mike had been texting and doing something on his phone most of the time we ate. I really didn’t miss her but had to ask.

  “Mike, where’s Beth? I know she didn’t want to have anything to do with our operation, but she totally disappeared.”

  “She flew to Arizona to visit with her parents and to get as far away from us as possible. I’ve been silent but have to tell you I’m going to buy her shares and fire her sorry ass. I won’t go into it now, but I have other problems with her, personal and business. Anyone not loyal to the company and me ain’t worth a hoot.”

  “Mike, I can’t really blame her for backing away from our operation. I’m a bit skittish myself, but doing nothing is something I can’t live with.”

  “Same here. Beth didn’t even want to support us from our lab in complete safety.”

  Jane tapped me on my thigh. “When did she leave?”

  “Yesterday, an hour after she declined to help us. Why do you ask?”

  “I swear I saw her this morning at the gas station. She was meeting someone. I couldn’t see the woman, but they were thick as thieves.”

  Mike placed his palm on the left side of his face and groaned. “Maybe it was a friend or something. Still, I don’t like liars. Another good reason to fire her when this mess is over.”