Kharon

by Wayne Marinovich

  Tom clenched his jaw and Woolf could see his fingers moving slightly on the grip of the Sig.

  'What guarantee do I have that you won't just shoot them after I have done everything you have asked? I should just kill you now and take my chances in getting them back. I have powerful friends in the NEG.’

  'There are no guarantees here, Tom. You are not buying a second-hand car,' Woolf said, getting to his feet. 'Go ahead and kill me. I am not afraid to die. Your family will be on a ship to America and sold to sex traffickers. God alone knows where they will end up or what will happen to them.’

  Tom blinked a few times and then slowly lowered the Sig, placing it on his lap. 'What do I have to do?'

  Woolf took a large white envelope out of his jacket pocket and placed it on the table. Smiling at Tom, he turned and walked towards the door.

  'So how is Markus these days? Tom asked.

  Woolf spun around to face Tom.

  'Yes, my German friend. I recognised you as Markus's brother, the second you walked in. He thought you were dead you know. Fancy that, having a brother who never met you and who believed that you had drowned as a baby. As you leave here, think hard about how he died at the hands of a good friend of mine. Drowned in the North Sea with a knife in his chest. Now, how is that for irony?’

  Woolf realised that he was holding his breath, his hands balled by his side.

  'None of these so-called friends will help you, Tom. Don't bother getting in touch with the NEG. Do as you are told, and your family lives. There is a time limit here. Read those instructions carefully and do not deviate from them. We will be watching.'

  Chapter 7

  Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - 2033

  Above the three by one-metre protective glass window were four highly magnified photos of strange alien-like cells and bacteria. Pehr and Ruth Anderson hugged one another in front of the large laboratory desk that was positioned in front of the window, overlooking the six long research benches of the purpose-built laboratory.

  Tears of joy flowed down both of their faces as the husband and wife team held on for dear life. The tall, thin man broke away first and removed his glasses to wipe the tears away. Looking to his left at the several lab technicians who were all kitted up in blue hazard suits and all clapping their hands, the odd one jumped up and down and punched the air.

  Pehr bent forward to a small intercom on the desk and pushed the red button, his blue eyes glistening. 'Well done, ladies and gentlemen. You have just saved the world from the H9N1 Kharon virus, one of the most contagious that we have seen to date. The Bearberry and Moss extract will serve as a formulation for a vaccine, and now we can set about synthesising the cure. Finish up what you are doing and get out here. We can all celebrate with a well-deserved drink.'

  He looked across to the shorter figure of his wife in her white lab coat, placing a hand on her cheek. Well into her sixties, she still was a striking woman with her blue eyes, and grey-blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.

  'We have done it, my love,' he said. 'Six years of research and we finally have it.'

  She nodded. 'Soon the travel ban to Europe will be lifted, and we will be able to go and see Christina.'

  Pehr smiled and then looked up at the CCTV camera high up in the corner of the office. Raising his hand, he gave it the thumbs up.

  • • •

  Alex Brun sat with his feet up on the table, looking at the bank of coloured monitors from the security cameras placed all around the frontier town of Churchill. Styx Enterprises, under his stewardship, had taken control of the town and pumped large amounts of money into its development, and that included the state-of-the-art laboratory building. Looking at the main monitor, he saw the tall, slim man giving him the thumbs up. Alex took a deep breath.

  Reaching for the telephone, he dialled the internal lab number.

  'Hello, Alex,' Pehr shouted.

  ‘Professor?’

  'We have done it.'

  'That is fantastic news. And just in the nick of time. Lord Butler will be leaving the UK soon and should be here in about seven or eight days after that. He will be very happy indeed. What are the next steps?'

  'Tonight, Alex, we get drunk. Tomorrow, we start trying to synthesise the drug for mass production.'

  'Congratulations, Professor.'

  'Get over here and have some champagne.'

  Alex burst into a coughing fit as he put down the receiver on the desk. He grabbed a tissue from a box on the desk and covered his mouth. Pain and fear gripped him as he hacked away.

  'Are you okay, Alex?'

  Alex looked into the tissue and frowned.

  'Are you coughing up blood?' Pehr asked.

  'Yes, quite a lot.'

  'Okay then, seems you are into the second phase of Kharon. Let's get some bloodwork from you to make sure. You might very well be the first sufferer we try the new cure on.'

  'Yes, and if I am the first one in Churchill to display symptoms I am sure that I will have infected others.'

  'Let's just get the bloodwork done first.'

  Chapter 8

  Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - 2033

  A fresh snow blizzard tore through the town, backing snowdrifts up into the doorways of the empty shops and buildings. Visibility was down to a few metres, tinged with a gold hue from the old yellow streetlights. A slim figure stepped around the front of the fusion truck and then slipped on a patch of ice in the main street. Steadying himself on the front of the truck, he wiped away the snow from his silver goggles.

  Lord Butler squinted to find his bearings in the white-out. Pain throbbed up his arm and into his shoulder, and he reached down to his forearm stump and gently rubbed the fabric that had been wrapped over the sutures. Grabbing his fob watch from inside his down jacket, he flicked it open. Two hours to the next painkillers.

  'Francis, wait!' Alex Brun shouted as he followed his employer into the snow flurries. 'There are polar bears around town scavenging on our refuse bins.'

  Lord Butler opened up the front of the blue down jacket he was wearing. 'So much has changed, my friend.'

  Alex nodded at the shotgun and Beretta. 'It is good to see that you have finally taken your safety seriously, Francis. You will need it here. It is not like back in the UK.'

  'I am touched by your concern, Alex, but tell me what is happening in these shiny laboratories that cost me millions to build.'

  'I believe it best that the professor and Dr Anderson explain all the progress they have made to date.'

  'It better be good news. You know how I hate disappointment,' Lord Butler said. 'I have had enough of this bloody Anderson family to last me a lifetime.

  Alex smiled and reached for the door handle to the large corrugated, iron-clad building.

  Lord Butler strode through into the enveloping heat of the atmospherically controlled building. His spectacles fogged up with condensation, and he looked down at the several snow boots that had been left on the floor, snow and ice melting into small puddles.

  Alex started to take his boots off. 'We all leave the boots here so as not to wet the carpeted floors and drag contaminates into the change rooms.'

  Lord Butler raised his eyebrows then walked straight down the long white corridor that went off to the left. The first door he came to, had a small white sign with red lettering - Changing room.

  'The Andersons are in the main control office, right at the end of the corridor, Francis,' Alex said from behind him.

  Lord Butler nodded and walked off, straightening his long black coat with his right hand. The door with the sign Control Room was closed, so turning the handle, he walked in. More damp heat suffocated him as he entered. To the left of him were three filing cabinets and four large metal cupboards. On the opposite wall was a single white door. Scribbled-on whiteboards hung on either side of it, yellow and red hazmat safety stickers adorning the upper half of the door.

  'Can I help you?' asked a voice to the right of him. A short man of Asian descent, dres
sed in a white coat and black pants, spun around on his swivel chair, moving away from a large control table.

  'No, you cannot. Get me the Andersons,' Lord Butler said

  'And you are?'

  'The man who owns all of this,' he said, taking a step closer and staring down at the scientist. 'Now fetch me the Andersons or get another job.'

  The man turned back and picked up the phone and spoke to another scientist. Lord Butler walked up to him and tapped him on the back. 'Get out of the chair.' The man jumped up and stood to the side of the desk. Lord Butler sighed as he took a seat, ecstasy flooding through him as the weight was lifted from his weary feet.

  'They will be here in ten minutes, sir. They are coming from a level five laboratory so need to decontaminate.’

  Lord Butler nodded. His eyes felt heavy.

  • • •

  Lord Butler snapped awake in the chair, his heart pounding in his chest and a mouth dry from fear. The incessant dream of the beatings still made him sweat and tremble. The memory of a smiling Kyle Gibbs, pressing a pistol to his perspiring forehead, was still as vivid as the day it had happened.

  'Hello, Francis,' Pehr Anderson said as he walked into the control room, ahead of the small frame of his wife.

  'Hello, Pehr. Hello, Ruth. It's so glad to see you again after all these years.'

  'Let's not waste time with all these niceties, Francis,' Pehr said, folding his arms. ‘We want to get this done and then get as far away from the likes of you and Styx Enterprises as we can.’

  'Clearly your daughter has been sobbing her eyes out to you,' Lord Butler said, the darkness stirring within him.

  'She told me of your treachery, Francis,' Ruth said. 'You were supposed to be Christina’s guardian and mentor.'

  Lord Butler swallowed the anger back. He needed answers from them. 'She betrayed me, Ruth, not the other way around. And that was after all I had done for her.'

  Pehr was about to add something when Lord Butler raised his hand.

  'So I have spent millions on you, and this place. You had better have some good news for me,' he said.

  Pehr looked across at Ruth, then back at Lord Butler. A forced smile appeared. 'Well, we have done it. We have a cure for all the infected out there and will have a viable vaccine in a few months.'

  'That is fabulous news. Alex hinted that you had been making significant strides.'

  'It is a huge breakthrough, Francis, but we are not complete until all the testing issues have been resolved,' Pehr said.

  Lord Butler's eyes narrowed. 'Either it cures Kharon, or it doesn't. Which is it? If it does what you have just told me, then we need to start manufacturing it and immunising all of my employees.'

  'Slow down, Francis, the natural product that we have been using was extremely difficult to source. It’s scarce because the sea-level rise hampered the search for it. We have only just started to synthesise it and have had fair results so far.'

  'So when can we start mass manufacturing it, Pehr?'

  'I believe that we are days away from completing our documentation and then we will need extensive time to test.'

  'The standard test period for this type of vaccine is eighteen months to two years, Francis.' Ruth said.

  'Ruth, I am not going to wait that long for it to be tested. As soon as you have completed your last tests here and are certain it works, I want this whole operation shipped down to the Styx Pharmaceutical Company in Minneapolis. There we will continue production.'

  'You cannot mass produce this vaccine without extensive testing, Francis. We have to have a lengthy test period to make sure that it is safe for use with all the different populations on the planet.'

  'I don't care!' Lord Butler said. 'There are other plans in motion, and soon all new governments and warlords will be clambering at my door for this cure. We will make a fortune, and I want substantial product stockpiled so we can make the most of the demand.'

  'What? You cannot charge for this treatment, Francis. This virus has the potential to wipe the remaining population off this planet,' Pehr shouted.

  'Exactly, my dear fellow,’ Lord Butler, smiling as he leant back in the chair. ‘As I’ve already said, demand.'

  'Think of all the people that would die.'

  'And would that be such a bad thing, Pehr? A social cleanse of the planet would leave the strong and resourceful standing, with all the old and weak falling to Kharon.'

  'You’re bloody are mad, Francis. We will not be part of this global genocide unless you agree to test this properly and give it to those who need it without charging for it. We will just walk away from this. Those are our terms.'

  Lord Butler folded his arms, grimacing at the pain from his stump. The darkness rose within him, and he tightened his fist.

  'Okay then, you can have six months to do the testing trials, Pehr,' Lord Butler said. 'That should be a good enough compromise.'

  'We will not compromise at all on the testing,' Ruth said.

  Lord Butler opened the front of his jacket and placed his palm on the ivory handle of the dagger in its scabbard on his right hip. 'You will give Alex copies of your work and procedures by the end of the day as you were paid to do.'

  Pehr glanced down at the dagger. 'Or what, Francis? You will stab us with that bloody thing?'

  'This bloody thing is a family heirloom. Something that has been in the Butler family for generations,' he said, taking it out and holding it in front of him, the slightly curved blade glinting under the fluorescent lighting. 'My mother slit my father's throat while he was sleeping after she found out he was molesting me. It is no stranger to blood.'

  Pehr looked across at Ruth, his eyebrows raised.

  'You have six months to do the testing, and then we move onto mass production. That is the new timeline. Mess with that timeline and I will have you tortured and shot. Try and escape before that timeline is complete and I will have you tortured and shot. Do you get the picture?'

  Chapter 9

  Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - 2033

  'Get out of here now!' Lord Butler snapped at a small, slim laboratory assistant. She let off a little squeal before she gathered up her laptop and hurried out the control room. He took out his satphone and used the speed dial as he hooked out a chair from under the control table with his black boot.

  'Hello?'

  'Yes thanks, I have arrived safely,' he said. 'The trip was uneventful. Have you finished your mission in London?'

  'I am glad to hear that he will comply,' Lord Butler said, taking the dagger out and tapping the blade on the table. 'He is just a glorified gangbanger after all.'

  Lord Butler sat on the uncomfortable office chair and stretched out his legs. Ahead of him were the three layers of glass that overlooked the vacant laboratory. It has been worth all my investment.

  'Woolf, old friend. They have finally made the breakthrough that I planned for, but I have run into a possible issue that I need to address right away. I need you to activate the Gibbs phase immediately. It is a little early in our overall plan, but the cure has been confirmed, and the bloody scientists are going to try and delay it to do more human testing. I need you to get me that leverage we discussed to get them back in line.'

  Euphoria swept through his body as he hung up and leant back in the chair. Swivelling around he looked at the muscular figure of Alex Brun, who was guarding the door. Lord Butler slipped the dagger back into the scabbard. 'Revenge will be sweet, Alex. All of those people who’ve betrayed me over the past few years are going to start feeling a lot of hurt in their pathetic little lives.'

  'Will the plan not force them to come to the US to seek you out?' Alex asked.

  'Yes, Alex dear boy. That is the whole bloody point. Have you not being paying attention?'

  Alex nodded then started coughing into a tissue.

  Lord Butler looked at the strong chiselled face of his ex-lover as he wiped his mouth, and the loathing he felt for his former valet softened a little. 'What is wrong with you, A
lex? Is that blood you are coughing up?'

  Alex nodded again. 'I have been trying to tell you that I am in stage two of the virus.'

  'What?' Lord Butler shouted and pushed his chair backwards, away from the infected man.

  'Professor Anderson did some tests a few days ago, and we are awaiting the results.'

  'You bloody idiot. You have endangered this whole operation by contaminating this place,' Lord Butler said and stood up and walked towards the door, feeling the dark anger starting to rise. Brushing the black coat to one side, he lifted the shotgun and pointed it at the coughing man.

  'You stupid bastard,' he shouted.

  'Kill me if you must, sir,' Alex said, standing upright. 'The professor believes that many of the people here in Churchill have already been infected.'

  ‘What? And he’s done nothing to prevent further spread?’ Lord Butler said, staring at Alex. 'Look, I know I have treated you badly since you betrayed me, but let's be honest, you deserve what you are getting.'

  'Yes, sir.'

  'Go back to the professor and tell him to put you on the best medication he can. Also, tell him to start making a large enough batch to vaccinate all my employees here in Churchill.'

  ‘And if he refuses?’ Alex said

  ‘Tell him he’ll never see his family again.’

  'What about the rest of the people in Churchill?'

  'They are not in my employ, so will have to fend for themselves. Everyone else can serve as lab rats before we locate to Minneapolis. Now leave me.'

  Alex stared at him for a second, then left the control room. Lord Butler watched him leave. This is all a bit of an inconvenience. I might be infected too.

  The satphone in his pocket began ringing.

  'Yes!'

  'Lord Butler. It is Simon Merkel here.'

  'Hello, Simon. How are things in Hamburg?'

  'Fine thanks. The New European Government has had an emergency meeting, and it has been confirmed by the ministers of health. The first fatalities of H9N1 have been found in the old Netherlands and Belgium region. A pre-eminent scientist here has also received the documentation you sent via our New York friend and has verified the cases. Kharon has struck fear into everyone.'