2022

by Ken Kroes

  Fumbling for a few minutes with her gloved hand, Diane was able to change the setting of the phone so that it would stay unlocked. “Is there some way we can disinfect this so that we can use it before the vaccine kicks in?”

  “Sure, no problem. We use ozone at the main lab all of the time for just that. There is an ozone generator still in a crate back at the lab. We could hook that up easily and disinfect it.”

  Hope’s breathing remained shallow, but she appeared to be in less pain. They decided to leave and check on her in a few hours. Olivia placed a makeshift sign on the door. Quarantined - Do Not Enter. They then went back to the lab to disinfect the phone and to prepare for the morning vaccination program.

  *******************

  “Damn it, Sue, I’m not making this up.” Richard said. Immediately after leaving the Research lab, he left Percipience and headed home. During the helicopter flight he made several calls, and by the time he landed his staff had used banking records to find the probable location of the lab that Mikhail was using to make the vaccine for Virtuesh-B. “I’m telling you one of my managers has gone rogue and is now in control of a lethal virus”

  “Are you referring to Virtuesh?” she asked. “Because we’ve known about it for a while—and that the foundation is behind it. We’re taking action right now.”

  “What kind of action? How’d you find out?”

  “Like I’m going to tell you! For all I know, you’re behind the whole thing and are just trying to find out what we know. Sorry, Richard, the information flow can go only one way here. You can send me what you have if you want.”

  “You’re being foolish. I’m on your side for God’s sake. I can help you.”

  “I think you and your foundation have done enough already. Unless you have something else to say, or happen to be in the middle of a national park and need to be rescued like your employees, this conversation is over.”

  He threw down his phone and wondered how much Sue and her team knew and what they were going to do next. Thinking that it couldn’t hurt anything, he sent the lab address to the DIR.

  Richard also called his friend who was leading the Mars mission program and said he’d be sending a box of vaccine for a strain of flu bug one of his researchers thought may soon become widespread. He suggested giving the vaccine to the crew and others essential to the lift-off, and his friend agreed.

  Then he divided the remaining vaccine from Olivia and had an assistant ship it to the other two operating villages as well as to the director of the Mars mission.

  20 - Final Preparation

  The pointer hovered over the “Purchase” button on the screen before Mikhail finally clicked it, completing the acquisition of a one-way ticket back to his home country in the Middle East. The flight would leave in three days, slightly earlier than he originally had planned, but after Richard’s call threatening to remove him, he knew he had to speed up his whole timetable.

  He updated the description of a sale item on an online auction site and pulled the end date in one week so that it was only two weeks away. The description was a short, encrypted message telling the people who were to release the Virtuesh-B virus that everything was going according to plan and the auction’s end date was the day of release. Failure to update the description every two days would signal his comrades that they should release the virus immediately. They should all have received the vaccine the same time he did, a little over a week ago, so in a few more days their immune systems would make them safe from the virus. Finally, after years of hard work, I’ll be the leader of a new beginning. There’s nothing that can stop this now.

  He picked up his phone and called Hope. “How are things going in Percipience? Anything on Olivia and Diane? You’ve found them I assume?”

  There was a slight hesitation in the reply, “I haven’t seen them. If they do show up, what do you want me to do?”

  “Kill them.”

  “Like brother, like sister.”

  “Right—I’ll call as soon as I know when I’m coming your way with your payment.”

  Diane found Olivia in the research lab. Her hand shook as she put the phone down on the counter. “I just got a call from Mikhail on Hope’s phone. The voice disguise feature obviously works because he thought I was Hope, and I was just ordered to kill us. He also openly admitted to ordering the murder of my brother.”

  “Maybe we should go to the police after all,” Olivia said. “This is getting beyond our control. I’ll probably go to jail for my part in Virtuesh, but we need to put an end to this. We haven’t heard anything from Richard this past week either.”

  “I’m not sure about going to the police, but I do think we should get out of here. How about Spencer and the DIR? Surely he must have some connections.”

  When Olivia called Spencer to disclose the latest events, he told her that the DIR had been watching Mikhail and they just found out that he had booked a one-way plane ticket that would leave in about two days. They were coordinating a raid on his office to coincide with his departure.

  “I wonder what leverage they have, or how they’ll convince Mikhail to call off his plans.” Olivia said.

  “It’ll have to be something big,” Diane said, “and I don’t want to miss him getting busted. I want to see him pay for my brother’s death. We should take my RV and drive up there—that way he won’t know that we're coming.”

  “I like that idea. I think we should call Richard and update him on the plan, but we can make that call while we’re on the road.”

  ********************

  Richard sat in his office feeling pleased with the week’s progress. He was uncertain about near-future happenings and decided to play it safe. A large staff had been brought in to hasten deliveries of equipment, books, raw materials, and food to the villages. He authorized overtime for finishing key construction activities. It was both an exhausting and expensive exercise, but now all of the critical items were in place at all the village sites.

  The serenity of the moment was shattered by the ring of his cell phone. He was reassured to hear the voice of an old acquaintance whose position in the Australian government had served his philanthropic interests well and who now greeted him warmly.

  “It’s been a while since you’ve been in my neck of the woods. I thought I’d call after hearing certain things mentioned around the parliament buildings that you should know about. That is if you don’t already know.”

  Richard immediately knew this couldn’t be good news. “What are you referring to?”

  “I heard this morning that there’s a push to have your wilderness retreat in our outback shut down.”

  “What on earth for?”

  “We’re getting a lot of pressure from the American government. They’re saying this is part of a big terrorist plot, and that word alone makes people here edgy.”

  Sue and the DIR came into Richard’s mind. “I hadn’t heard this, but I have a good idea who’s behind it. There’s absolutely nothing on the site related to terrorism. You can go over anytime you want, inspect everything. You’ll find nothing.”

  “You don’t have to convince me, but this isn’t my department, and I have no control over it.”

  “Have you heard of any kind of timetable?”

  “Soon. As little time as a week.”

  “I appreciate the heads-up, and I’ll do what I can to stop it.”

  He put his head back on his chair. After years of hard work and a great deal of money his dream was close to realization; now, it was about to be taken away from him. If the villages were shut down, the effects would be disastrous. The same actions were likely being taken at the other village sites as well, and he knew something had to be done in a very short time to protect his plans.

  He was contemplating his options when he was interrupted by a phone call from Olivia. She explained to him the news about Mikhail and the timetable that the DIR had for stopping him. This news left Richard with only one possible course of actio
n that he could take to try and salvage his plans. With apprehension, he picked up his phone and punched in a code.

  “I need you to execute the plan we discussed, and it must be done within the next twenty-four hours,” he said.

  “That doesn’t give us much time. All fifty?”

  “As many as possible, but concentrate on the critical ones.”

  “It’ll be done.”

  “Good. It’ll take me a day or so to get to where I need to be. Make sure the equipment I’ve requested is set up. I’ll courier your final payment along with twenty doses, as promised.”

  21 - Confrontation

  Mikhail admired the ocean view from his office window and was grateful for the rare sunny day. Probably the last time I’ll see this. Another twenty-four hours and I’ll be home with my family. He had packed personal mementos from the office into one of the suitcases that sat by the door. A limousine would arrive in an hour to take him to the airport.

  He told his receptionist he would be at Richards’s mansion for the next few days; in a moment of generosity, he suggested that she take a few days off in his absence.

  He checked once more to make sure the flight was on time. As he scanned flight schedules, the door to his office flew open and several soldiers in full battle gear burst in with weapons drawn. They were followed by Sue and Spencer, also carrying guns.

  He jumped to his feet. “What’s going on?”

  “It’s over, Mikhail,” Sue said.

  “If we’re talking about the same thing, I hardly think so.”

  “This is no time for games.” She raised her gun to his face. “We know about your virus and we’re going to stop you.”

  He sat down slowly and smiled at her. “There’s nothing you can do. Torture or kill me, whatever you wish. It’s too late now.”

  “Would it change your mind to know that all the vaccine you shipped—all two million doses—were intercepted and replaced with a placebo?”

  He didn’t respond or move in his chair.

  “Actually, better than a placebo—we threw in a low radioactive substance just so we could identify who took it and is part of your operation.” She reached into her pack and pulled out a device. She passed the device over his arm and it created a series of small beeps.

  “Works great,” she said, “Now, not even you would design a scheme to destroy the world’s population without including a failsafe. Stop this now or everyone, including your friends and family, will be killed.”

  He remained silent.

  “When is the virus supposed to be released?” Spencer asked.

  “At the same time around the globe,” Mikhail said calmly. “Two days from now if I don’t send out a specific Internet signal. But I’m not going to stop it.”

  Sue looked at him uncomprehendingly. “You’re willing to kill everyone on this planet? Including your friends and family?”

  He managed a smile. “That won’t happen. While you may have sabotaged part of my plan, I still have a few last cards to play. My family and friends are already vaccinated from a small batch of vaccine I had made when the virus was first produced. One of Richard’s precious little villages is not that far away from them. They can start again there. It’ll take longer, but the end result will be the same.”

  “Take him away!” Sue said. “Spencer, go with them and make sure he is put in the same room they used to interrogate you. We’re not done with him yet.”

  ********************

  Diane and Olivia arrived at headquarters directly after lunch. Instead of the usual guards at the front gate, they were stopped by two fully armed soldiers. One approached the RV while the other trained his rifle on Diane.

  She told the soldier who they were and that they were there to meet with Spencer. Following a brief radio exchange, the soldier allowed them to proceed to the front entrance. Spencer met them and filled them in on what had happened with Mikhail.

  “What’re you doing with the real vaccine that you intercepted?” Diane asked.

  “That’s just it,” he said. “Everything is going to crap. We’ve started testing it to make sure it’s the real deal, and if it checked out, we were going to distribute it to a group of people that have already been selected. We thought we had more time, but the virus is being released in a couple of days. We’re screwed if we can’t get Mikhail to call it off.”

  A limousine pulled up to the front entrance of the building, and they looked to see who would emerge.

  22 - The Deal

  The limousine door opened and Richard stepped out, shielding his eyes from the sunlight. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He walked up to Spencer, Diane, and Olivia.

  “I assume Sue is here—where is she?” he said abruptly to the group.

  “Who are you?” Spencer asked.

  “I’m the head of this foundation. Take me to her now. We have no time to waste.”

  Spencer hesitated then decided to let Sue take over. They led Richard inside to one of the main-floor conference rooms where a temporary command center had been set up. Sue immediately recognized him.

  “What’s he doing here? Guard, arrest this man!”

  “Wait! I’m here to help!”

  The guard came up behind him and handcuffed his wrists. He then did a quick pat down and discovered that Richard was carrying a small revolver in his jacket pocket.

  “For my personal protection,” Richard said to the unasked question.

  “If you’re here to help, then call off this virus attack,” Sue said.

  “I’ve told you already that I had nothing to do with what Mikhail had planned. I just found out about it a few weeks ago myself, and I tried to warn you then.”

  “Don’t feed me any crap,” she said. “We found out about it months ago, so you must have known.”

  “All right—I’ll admit that I started all of this virus stuff, but it was set up purely as a defense for the villages. That bastard went behind my back and built a destroy-the-world scenario. I’m not even sure why or what his motive might be.”

  “It’s true,” Olivia said.

  “Who are you?” Sue asked.

  “She’s the microbiologist I told you about,” Spencer said. “One of the people Mikhail tried to make disappear.”

  Olivia interrupted. “Look, I wasn’t sure what part Richard has in this whole scheme. But we interrogated him and I’m pretty sure that he is not involved in Mikhail’s plan.”

  Sue shook her head, “I guess things can’t get any worse. Guard, release him.”

  “Thanks,” Richard said as he took back his handgun. “Tell me what’s happened here so far.”

  Sue and Spencer told him what had occurred when they captured Mikhail. They said he was currently downstairs in the interrogation room.

  “I may be able to persuade him,” Richard said to Sue. “Can you and I chat for second, alone?”

  Sue raised her eyebrows, but got up and the two went into the hall.

  When they returned, she said, “Spencer, take Richard to Mikhail. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “Can we come too?” Diane asked. “We may be able to help since we have some knowledge of the virus and vaccines.”

  “The interrogation room has a two-way mirror. They could watch from the other side,” Spencer added.

  Sue agreed, and Spencer led them to where they could observe Mikhail. He was strapped to a wooden chair in the center of the dimly lit room.

  “We need a table in there with a laptop that connects to the public Internet,” Richard said.

  “Right away,” Spencer said

  Olivia, Sue, and Diane watched through the mirror as the table and laptop were set up. Spencer returned to the observation room and Richard entered the interrogation room.

  “Mikhail,” he said as he walked in.

  Mikhail smiled, “Well…Richard. Since you’re not tied up beside me, I must assume that you were the one that gave me up.”

 
“It wasn’t me, oddly enough. Though I did try a while ago, but they didn’t believe me and thought I was in on all of this with you.”

  “It doesn’t really matter. As I told the others, it’s too late. I would like to have been with my family and lived to a ripe old age, but I’m ready to die for this cause. My kids and grandchildren will have a much brighter future, the same future that you envisioned for your villages.”

  “This is nothing like what I’ve been working for. There are core issues I’m addressing that you’ve ignored, like the environment, economics, and government. Things may be better off for a while under your plan, but the same cycle will happen again.”

  “In maybe a thousand years. I’m sure that future generations will work things out.”

  “You’re full of surprises Mikhail. But I have a few of my own. I want you to watch something.” Richard typed a web address into the computer and opened several programs. He took out his cell phone and dialed a number. “I have the feed. Pan the camera slowly, and make sure to capture everything.”

  The image on the screen displayed a group of people tied to chairs placed in a circle. The cameraman stood in the center and the video showed each person, stopped for a moment, and went on to the next in a circular fashion.

  “I can do what governments and law enforcement can’t do, or would at least take a while to get approval for,” Richard said. “I’ve gathered your closest friends and your family too, as you can see in this video.”

  Mikhail pulled against his restraints. “What are you up to?”

  “You may have control over the world, but if this virus is released, I’ll make damn sure the last few days of your life will be watching all of these people die a horrible death. You’re not the only one with a lethal virus, and I’ll make sure they get no medication to relieve the pain they’ll suffer.”

  “You don’t have the guts to do that. Remember, you hired me to do your dirty work.”

  “Who came up with the idea of the virus to begin with? All I need to do is say the word to the person on the other end of this call, and it’ll be done. Just like I did with you several times. I assure you I’ll have no problem issuing that order. One last thing—your wife, knows you’re in control of her future. I’ll see to it when I give the order that I turn on the audio feed so that you can hear her.”