The room was a microcosm of what would happen to the world if Niclas were permitted to unleash this unimaginable chaos. They had little time to pull their shattered realities together if they had any hope of stopping him.
For all they knew, it may already be too late.
Chapter 31
And not a Drop to Drink
BUSTLING WITH ACTIVITY the city of Madison hummed with life. Among the multitude of glinting vehicles, an unremarkable green utility van signaled its intention to merge into late morning traffic. Brahms echoed softly through tinny-sounding speakers. Walter, sitting watchfully in the passenger seat, held a blue plastic cooler securely in his lap while craning his neck with child-like interest to see into passing cars. Niclas smiled and gazed fondly upon his trusted companion while he waited patiently for an opening in the lengthy line of cars passing on his left. Methodic clicking from the turn signal kept remarkable time with the music. He carefully merged as a momentary gap allowed them to slip into the steady metallic flow.
Always analytical, Niclas was acutely aware that his anxiety at the prospect of encountering an unforeseen driving mishap was beginning to grow. Beads of sweat coalesced on his wrinkled brow as the thought of random variables, otherwise known as teenaged drivers, began to assert themselves into complex equations in his mind.
“It’s a nice day today, Walter, even if still a bit warm for my thin blood.” Wiping sweat from his forehead, he attempted to distract himself from further irrational considerations.
Diverting his attention away from watching an amorous couple passing by in a red convertible, Walter nodded to his friend. “It sure is sir,” he agreed matter-of-factly. Turning to again peer out the window, he discovered that the affectionate couple had made a turn and disappeared from sight. Sighing, he shrugged in obvious disappointment. Undaunted, he searched for something else that might pique his interest. “Are we there yet?” Craning his neck, he smiled as a small, shaggy dog poked its head through a car window to eagerly sniff the pungent air.
Grinning, Niclas wished that Walter could have had a pet of his own, but an animal could have drawn unwanted attention to their isolated headquarters. If anyone had deserved a proper childhood, it was the affable young man beside him. Patting him on the shoulder, he assured him of their imminent arrival. “We’ve taken this ride many times, my boy. You know it doesn’t take very long.” He eased onto the brake as the traffic light in front of him turned red, bringing traffic to a temporary halt.
Niclas looked intently at the people around him. They traversed busy sidewalks, rode past on bicycles, or sat in their cars waiting for the light to turn green. With few exceptions, he observed white people with white people, black people with black people, and so on. Although he understood the dynamics of why most people ordered themselves in homogeneous groups, he saw no reason to accept it as necessary or unchangeable. “Tolerance is such a distance from acceptance,” he whispered audibly to himself.
Growing up in Annaburg, exposure to people outside of his own ethnic group was exceedingly rare. Niclas remembered a kindly Italian man who delivered various meats to the local market from time to time. With white, but noticeably darker skin tones than the locals, he was often the subject of gossip and generalization. Even during the war, when Italy allied itself with Germany, this man was still treated with mistrust by many. Shaking his head, he wondered what his former townsfolk would have said if someone from Japan or Zimbabwe had strolled into their sheltered little burg.
Walter turned to look out the window where Niclas’s gaze was transfixed. “What are you looking at?” he asked, his voice rising with sudden interest.
Frowning slightly, Niclas’s thoughts returned to the here and now. “No, my boy. Nothing unusual I’m afraid,” he said. He took a deep breath and pondered a way to explain himself in terms that Walter could relate to.
“I was just thinking that—” His sentence was cut off by the sounds of impatiently beeping car horns behind him. Apparently, the light had been green for a few precious seconds already. Niclas stepped on the gas with more pressure than intended, squealing the tires slightly, pressing himself and Walter against their seats. His knuckles turned pearl white as he put a death grip on the steering wheel. “Whoops!” he said nervously, his wide eyes immediately beginning to scan the rearview mirror for any sign of trouble.
Cheering as if he had just hit the first loop-de-loop on his favorite roller coaster, Walter smiled happily. “Yahoo! Do it again!”
Relieved that his expressive comrade resisted the urge to raise his arms in the air to simulate the entire theme park experience, Niclas glanced at the small cooler.
“That was as good as when Alice does wheelies in the parking garage!” shouted Walter excitedly as the van caught back up with traffic.
“Good Lord, I hope not,” said Niclas, shaking his head and glancing again in his rearview mirror. “We can’t afford to be pulled over right now. We need every remaining moment.” His voice was low with concern, and he redoubled his focus on driving without further incident.
***
Captain John Fillion had seen too much in his life to stay shocked for long. Having had his fill of staring blankly at the tiles of Professor Shukla’s office ceiling, he put his hands on his knees and leveraged himself up out of the chair he had slumped into just minutes before. The first of the group to find his voice, he posed the only logical question left. “How do we stop him?” he asked, taking a deep breath in an attempt to reclaim focus.
Blinking repeatedly, Joshua snapped his head toward John as if startled by his voice. Feeling out of control was not a sensation the young agent was accustomed to. Having grown up with aristocratic parents more concerned with the appearance of control than the actual thing, granted him outward discipline over his emotions. “The search teams have all reported in. Kappel and his buddy got out somehow,” he reported flatly. Though he struggled inwardly to reassert mastery over his emotions, he remained an expert in hiding his uncertainty from those around him. “We should’ve had them dead to rights, but there were service exits no one seemed to know about,” he admitted, glancing at his feet.
Acknowledging that Joshua was, in his own way, was admitting that he was not perfect, Leo felt oddly compelled to console him. “Don’t let it get you down,” he said with a dismissive shrug. Frustration at the situation was clear in his voice. “The old gringo’s been one step ahead of us from the start.”
Looking up from the data for the first time in several minutes, Manisha reacted to Leo’s assertion. “Are you kidding? He’s more like a million steps ahead,” she said, her eyes darting from side to side as she toiled to comprehend the scope of what Niclas had accomplished to this point.
“What do you mean?” asked Seth, tilting his head at the professor curiously.
Rubbing her temples, she contemplated the best way to explain her hypothesis. “Although I don’t know exactly how he managed to actually do it, I understand the basic principles behind targeting specific genes,” she said, picking up one of the files from the desk. “The idea is to first identify which genetic sequences control what characteristics, and then change, replace or eliminate those sequences without disrupting the entire makeup of the subject. It’s a solid premise, but the genetic science as a whole is at least two decades away from anything this advanced.” Waving one of the birth certificates in front of her, it appeared as a white flag of surrender.
Reaching out, Seth took the document from her hand and placed it on the desk. He had no intention of giving up just yet. “From what you’ve told us, Professor, Kappel probably had access to information obtained through illegal experimentation on human subjects.” Grimacing, he chose his next words carefully. “As horrible as it was, the research he had access to progressed far more quickly than it would have if governed by ethical restrictions,” he concluded, shaking his head somberly.
Holding his hands out in exasperation, Leo didn’t like the insinuation. “So the bad guys win becaus
e the good guys play by the rules?”
Concern overtook John as he turned toward Manisha. “Is that a fact, Professor? Is there no stopping him at this point?” he asked, unwilling to concede defeat without confirmation by someone who understood the science behind it all.
Before meeting Niclas, Manisha was confident in her place near the top echelon of genetic scientists in the world. Now uncertain, her eyes lifted toward a large round clock mounted to the wall above the office door. “I doubt he’s had time to release the virus yet. Theoretically, it should take some time to create the right conditions for such a virus to spread, but for all I know he might have developed a more advanced delivery system too.”
Clapping his hands together once loudly, Seth cleared his throat. “That means there is still a chance to stop him,” he said, forcing an optimistic tone.
Doubtful, Joshua shook his head. “I don’t see how we’re better off than before.” He turned to Seth. “We don’t even know where the man is headed. We need to have the police start canvassing the city and get his picture out on the local news. Getting lucky is about the only shot we’ve got here,” he said, pounding a fist into his open palm decisively.
Leaning forward in her chair, Manisha’s eyes darted back and forth as something about Niclas’s methods occurred to her. “That’s not necessarily true, Agent Toth,” she said. Her head tilted to one side in recollection of her earlier conversation with her captor. “He showed me simple test tubes filled with liquid, so I doubt he plans to release it into the air.” She chewed the inside of her cheek, hypothesizing around the available facts.
Pounding the desk forcefully with his right hand, Seth seemed to be trumping Joshua’s earlier gesture. “He’s heading for a water supply!” he suggested with gusto. The excitement of narrowing in on their quarry began to inject life back into his blood.
Grinning, Manisha nodded in agreement. “I believe you’re right, Agent Alexander. That would be more efficient than trying to infect food or people directly.”
Placing one hand on his forehead in aggravation, Joshua didn’t feel as though the situation had improved given the new information. “If that’s the case, he probably just stopped by Lake Mendota and is done with it by now,” he surmised, shaking his head pessimistically.
Moving to the edge of her seat, Manisha appeared poised to stand, but decided not to test her equilibrium just yet. “We’re talking about an engineered virus here. Assuming Kappel hasn’t developed a more advanced delivery system, we know can assume that a fairly controlled set of conditions must first be met,” she said, brushing dark hair away from her eyes.
“Like a public swimming pool?” suggested Leo, beginning the brainstorm.
Letting his profiling skills taking control, Seth had trouble envisioning someone as obsessed as Kappel doing anything on such a small scale. “Think bigger, partner. The man’s been planning this for the better part of forty years. A swimming pool would be anticlimactic.”
“That much chlorine would kill the virus anyway,” Manisha assured them as the only viable solution became certain. “He must be intending to infect the city’s drinking water.” Thinking more clearly, she realized that her headache had subsided slightly. But now she discovered yet another reason to have a splitting headache. “He needs to introduce it into the drinking water if he plans to have the greatest impact, which could be global if the virus remains viable throughout the evaporation process.”
Still struggling to get the hang of the professor’s institutional vocabulary, Leo hoped he had interpreted her wrong this time. “You mean this crazy shit could go airborne?”
She nodded in grim silence.
Making a conscious decision to leave scientific speculation to the professor, Joshua raised an eyebrow and went to his go-to pitch, citing regulations. “This just became a matter of national security. As federal agents, we need to make a call, quickly.”
Pointing a thumb in the young agent’s direction, Leo agreed. “I have to go with the whiz kid on this one. The captain can send the boys in blue to the water treatment plant and they can just arrest the ol’ coot before he can do the deed,” he suggested, holding his hands palms up to emphasize the simplicity of the plan.
Joshua chose not to take exception with Leo’s informality this time, instead smiling smugly at finally offering a suggestion that was not immediately contradicted.
Frowning, John turned to Leo and shook his head. “It’s not as if there’s just one central water supply for the city,” he said, calling up a map of the city in his mind like only a cop or cab driver could. “I think there’s at least a dozen reservoirs with pumping stations in the greater Madison area, but I’ll make a call and get the exact info.” He pulled a cell phone from his pants pocket and flipped it open as he moved into the hallway.
Seeing the cell phone pulled the rug out from under Joshua’s short-lived feeling of satisfaction. He realized that the last agreed upon check-in time with Bob had been missed. “We need to call the home office!” he declared hastily, grabbing purposefully for his phone.
Finding himself agreeing with Joshua for a second time in so many minutes made Leo uneasy. He was beginning to wonder if Bob actually knew what he was doing when he sent the annoyingly proper agent to check up on things. “We could have fifty agents here in an hour,” he nodded, looking at Seth.
As she squeezed the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger, Manisha closed her eyes and calculated their chances if they waited for help to arrive. “It would be all over by then,” she whispered with dead certainty.
The plan and timeline to accomplish their task became clear. In response, Seth adeptly rallied the troops. “Then it’s up to us, and whatever John can pull together, to start searching pump stations.” He looked briefly at each person in the room as all eyes fell upon him. “We need to get moving. As soon as we know where it is we’re going, that is,” he added, just as the office door opened.
Captain Fillion walked back into the room wagging a piece of paper like a winning lotto ticket. “I have addresses for three pumping stations,” he said with a smile and handed the sheet of notepaper to Seth.
Flashing a skeptical look, Joshua questioned John’s palpable enthusiasm. “You said there are at least a dozen stations. That’s a pretty big difference, Captain,” he said, looking down his nose incredulously at the apparent oversight.
Demonstrating the determination and efficiency of a veteran law enforcement officer, John coolly met the indictment without missing a beat. “There’s actually about twenty of them, Agent, but I have all available units in the area searching the ones not listed there,” he said, a sideways grin creasing his lips as he pointed to the paper in Seth’s hand.
Releasing a long sigh, Joshua broke away from the officer’s stony gaze. For reasons that escaped him, he was not finding the success he had envisioned for himself on his first field assignment. “You might have mentioned that right away.”
Scanning the list quickly, Seth divvied things up. “It looks like we’ll be checking out reservoirs nine, sixteen, and seventeen,” he said, pointing to Leo and Joshua.
“Count me in!” said Manisha, her voice rising. She attempted to stand, only to see the room start to spin and distort. The professor blinked repeatedly as if everything had suddenly gone dark.
Rushing to her side, Leo held her arm. “Oh, no you don’t!” he said, his shoulders tensing with worry. Feeling nauseous, Manisha leaned into Leo’s grasp while he guided her back into the relative safety of her office chair.
Although he admired the professor’s tenacity, John saw no reason for her to face any more danger this day. “I’m having the department fax over any information they can get on the pumps we’ll be searching,” he said, glossing over her appeal to physically join the search. “Be sure to call us if you get a clue as to which pump Kappel might be at,” he requested, scribbling down his number and quickly handing it to her.
Taking the paper from his hand, Manisha took a deep
breath and gave the group a disappointed look. “I know when I’m being sidelined, fellas,” she said, biting the inside of her cheek once again.
“We won’t put you at further risk,” said Leo firmly, still holding her arm despite no longer needing to steady her.
“I believe it would be against FBI policy anyway, right Agent Toth?” grinned Seth. He handed Manisha a business card with his own cell number scrawled across it.
Unsure if he was being asked a serious question, being given a chance to join in on the facade, or simply being made sport of, Joshua squinted in thought before answering. “It is, in fact, against regulation to put a civilian in harm’s way,” he confirmed with a nod. After a short, awkward pause, he decided that more than a simple statement of fact was warranted if he hoped to foster any collegiality for himself within the group. Even if he really had no interest in making friends, he was beginning to see how it could be beneficial to play along now and then. “However, it’s fair to say that we wouldn’t be this far without the professor’s assistance,” he added appreciatively, albeit a bit mechanically.
Acutely aware of Leo’s persistent grasp on her arm, Manisha turned to look at him and smiled comfortably as their eyes met. “You’d better get going if you want any chance of stopping this in time,” she urged, despite the distinct feeling of safety she felt with her rescuer nearby.
Placing the pump station addresses on the desk with one hand, Seth pointed to each hastily written address with the other. “Leo, you and Agent Toth take reservoir seventeen,” he determined, avoiding Leo’s look of annoyance at the order, which was immediately perceived as babysitting the new guy.
Sequence 77 Page 29