Lethal Profit

by Alex Blackmore

  Speaking seemed to take all Leon’s energy out of him. He stood up and walked to the other side of the cell, where he sank down to the floor with his back against the wall and just stared into space. Eva didn’t ask any more questions. She felt torn between sympathy for him and anger that he might have saved her brother’s life. But she was weary; and he was only a flawed human being just like everyone else. The conversation had at least been informative. Now she understood his connection to Valerie, his violent, erratic behaviour and the strange, unstable air that surrounded him. Perhaps he’d had an ‘episode’ in the time she had known him – it would fit with the way he swung so quickly from crazy to sane.

  But that didn’t change anything for her right now.

  She laid her head against the cold metal of the bed and shut her eyes. She thought of the virus that occupied her body. She felt like clawing her skin off to try and get to the poison. She was living on borrowed time and she had no idea how much.

  THIRTY-TWO

  ‘WAKEY, WAKEY, RISE AND SHINE!’

  Suddenly Daniel was at the door to their cell and it was being unlocked by one of his men. ‘Time for your starring role, Eva,’ he said, laughter dancing in his cold, blue eyes.

  Leon jumped up straight away, but maintained his distance when Daniel produced another tranquilliser gun.

  ‘Bind her hands again,’ Daniel said to the man nearest to him who proceeded to carry out the orders, leaving Eva once again immobilised.

  ‘And him.’ Daniel pointed to Leon and then kept the tranquilliser aimed at him until he was completely tied up. Then they were taken into another grey room with rough-edged walls, high ceilings and an enormous skylight, under which a large screen had been set up, as well as a table supporting several computers. In the middle of the room was a single chair with the video camera in front of it.

  ‘If you’d like to take a seat there,’ Daniel said to Eva, indicating the chair as if she had a choice. Eva’s heart began to sink. Slowly she sat down on the chair in front of the camera and tried to compose herself. She wondered how she should be feeling in this situation. She felt oddly calm.

  Daniel gave an instruction and the screen in front of them flipped to life revealing four conservatively dressed men, three white, one of African origin. All were in the grip of middle age, but they were well-preserved, expensively suited and two had recent tans. They were sitting around a curved conference table and all four wore the same acorn pin that Eva had seen on Daniel’s jacket in Paris. Two of them flinched when they saw the set-up.

  ‘This was meant to be a private discussion,’ said the man sitting on the far right, a standard white male of average height with brown hair and a large pale face. ‘We’ve warned you before about this.’

  ‘Are you talking about her?’ Daniel laughed. ‘Oh don’t worry about her, she won’t be a threat to you. Have you seen the news?’

  ‘Yes.’ This time one of the tanned men in the centre answered. ‘Congratulations. Four years of development have certainly paid off.’

  ‘But we have seen no evidence of the virus,’ said the first man again. ‘You know that was the main purpose of this exercise.’

  Exercise? Eva was trying to work out who these people were and what they were talking about. She couldn’t place them and now she couldn’t understand how they were involved or what the aims of an ‘exercise’ might be.

  ‘Who are they?’ she asked, figuring she had little to lose by speaking up.

  He spun around to face her. ‘Be quiet,’ he hissed right in her face. ‘This is my moment.’

  The four on the screen stared implacably at the camera, waiting for him to continue. They seemed to view Daniel in the same way as one might a petulant grandson with a science experiment.

  Eva felt incredibly confused.

  ‘Ah yes, the virus, the final piece of the puzzle – the pièce de résistance, if you like,’ Daniel said theatrically. ‘Will you tell them about it or shall I?’ Daniel was looking at Eva as he spoke. She stared back at him.

  ‘Oh very well then,’ he said holding up a syringe.

  Eva gave a start. She looked quickly down at the two marks in her arm. If she had already been injected with the virus then what was in that syringe?

  ‘This, my friends, is the virus we have developed at your request. It delivers a blow to the body that none have yet survived – a combination of two diseases of old age, one of which weakens every muscle in the body, including heart and diaphragm, until they just give up. And the other which rapidly fills the lungs with fibrosis, or bodily tissue, until there is no longer any space in the victim’s lungs for her to breathe.’ He turned to Eva, jabbed the needle into her arm and drove the plunger of the syringe down to the hilt. She closed her eyes as she felt the liquid disperse under her skin.

  ‘Eva here has already been injected with a fatal dose of this clever little virus, but until two seconds ago she had, oh around,’ he checked his watch, ‘four hours to live.’

  Eva met Daniel’s gaze. He was almost salivating with anticipation. ‘Now, however, with this additional shot of concentrated PX 3 – and this is just for your benefit, gentlemen – she has around four minutes.’

  He dropped his hand to his side and smiled down at Eva in satisfaction. ‘I’ve never seen this live before,’ he whispered, ‘I’m looking forward to the show.’

  Then he winked at her.

  Eva was overcome by nausea. She opened and closed her bound fists. Four minutes…

  ‘This virus you are about to see in action is being carried by the algae that is currently populating the UK’s water systems. As soon as the plant dies, it releases spores and once the spore is inhaled, the victim begins their journey towards death. It can take an hour, it can take several days, depending on the number of spores inhaled. There are just a few cases in the UK at the moment but we anticipate a flood by tomorrow night.’

  ‘And clearly you overcame the issue of plant virus transfer to humans.’

  ‘This isn’t a plant virus, it’s a human virus. The plant spores have simply been genetically engineered to be the carrier.’

  ‘Impressive.’

  Daniel walked around to the other side of the table and pulled out a small case with an acorn symbol on the side. ‘Now there is an antidote to this virus, my friends – as you requested – and I have that right here,’ he said, flipping the side of the case open to reveal around 20 syringes. ‘And this is where I have deviated slightly from the plan.’

  Eva watched the faces on the screen.

  ‘I’ve never understood why ACORN wanted to stop this epidemic when it was just getting going and… well I’m not really minded to help you do it. I know you wanted this,’ he held up the case, ‘as a bargaining chip for yourselves, but first of all it’s going to be mine. In order to get your hands on it you’re going to have to give me what I want.’

  There was a pause. The faces of the four men gave nothing away; in fact they didn’t look shocked at all, almost as if they had been expecting this. Seconds later, the man with the pale face spoke once again. ‘What is it that you want?’

  ‘I want your oil interests,’ said Daniel triumphantly. ‘All of them.’

  The four men exchanged glances.

  ‘I have a list here of the oil fields I’m interested in,’ he waved a document at the screen, ‘and this is being emailed to you now. The transfer will be all legal and above board. The prices are not quite market value but you’re really not in a position to argue. Everything is prepared, all you have to do is sign on the dotted line. You have until she dies to think about it,’ he said, indicating the chair Eva was strapped into.

  Eva could feel her eyelids becoming uncontrollably heavy.

  ‘Shouldn’t take too long,’ continued Daniel, ‘probably just under two minutes now,’ he said, looking at his watch. ‘So gentlemen, what do you say?’

  Eva could feel changes in her body exactly along the lines that Daniel had described. A sudden tightness gripped h
er chest. She tried to draw in a breath and began to choke. The muscles in her throat seemed so relaxed that she was unable to speak. Then she realised she could no longer hold her head upright. Her body began to slump forward.

  Somewhere in the distance Eva heard one of the men speak.

  ‘And you’re certain this is the direction that you want to take, Daniel?’

  ‘One hundred per cent.’

  ‘You have no interest in being part of our ongoing organisation?’

  ‘No, I don’t have the patience to play the long game – not for Kolychak or the rest – I want out.’

  ‘We thought you might say that.’

  Suddenly a brief burst of gunfire echoed around the enormous concrete room. All Eva could see through her half shut eyelids was her own legs and she was shocked when a scuffle broke out next to her that resulted in her being toppled in her chair and landing face down on the floor. She determinedly instructed her legs to kick out but, try as she might to move her lifeless body, she couldn’t. She could no longer even shout, she just stared mutely at the ground in front of her face, struggling for air as her lungs filled up with scar tissue. Suddenly there was a sharp jab in her right thigh. Had she been shot? Eva felt her eyes roll upwards. Her entire body was numb but her brain was alert and in panic overdrive. She was trapped in a corpse.

  Then unexpectedly some feeling began to flow back into her limbs. A hotness burned around her mouth and ears, travelling around the back of her skull and down her body to her toes. She was flipped over, released from the chair and she was on the move in Leon’s arms.

  He deposited her behind a metal desk at the side of the room that had been pushed over to create a cover and pulled out a gun.

  ‘What the hell is going on, Leon?’ Eva said croakily.

  ‘I just saved your life,’ he said, indicating the box of antidote vaccines, from which one was missing.

  THIRTY-THREE

  FROM BEHIND THE METAL DESK EVA had a clear view of the man she knew as Joseph Smith – the man who had injected her at John Mansfield’s flat – holding a gun to Daniel’s head in front of the large video monitors. Around the room all of Daniel’s men lay dead or dying and others – presumably Smith’s men – had taken their places. Tremors of shock travelled through her as she looked uncomprehendingly at the scene. She waited to see what would happen but for several seconds nothing did. Had Joseph Smith not been working for Daniel? How had he got here from London?

  Eva sat up and rocked forward on her haunches, forcing the feeling to flow back into her body.

  Suddenly Leon pulled her around to face him. He began to speak quietly, urgently, his words tumbling over each other. ‘Eva, listen to me. Everything I’ve told you is the truth. I am who you think I am. Remember, I just saved your life.’ He shoved something into the pocket of her jeans and Eva realised it was her phone.

  ‘What?’ Eva didn’t understand what he was saying and started to back away from him but he grabbed the front of her jumper and pulled her to her feet.

  ‘She’s here,’ he said and started dragging her out from behind the table and towards Joseph Smith.

  ‘Leon, what are you doing!’ She kicked out at him and he slapped her hard around the face.

  ‘Don’t struggle, you will only make this worse.’

  He pulled her across the room with him until she was standing next to Daniel. She looked over at him; he was deathly pale, sweating and shaking almost uncontrollably. Suddenly his eyes widened as without warning Joseph Smith fired the gun into the top of his head.

  Eva stopped breathing. She was covered with Daniel’s blood. She screamed and fell backwards; Leon caught her and she pushed him away, stumbling and trying to right herself. Her breathing accelerated, hyperventilating.

  ‘Why is she still alive?’ She heard one of the men on the screen muttering. ‘Take care of her – not there. Take her to the Falls. This station must be destroyed. Get that vaccine distributed – and the algaecide. That fool has nearly ruined everything.’

  Eva was confused and utterly terrified. One side of her brain tried to make sense of who was doing what, why they were doing it and why no one seemed to be on the side that they should be. She caught a nod between Leon and Joseph Smith and the two men began pulling her back out of the room once again. Smith was also dragging Daniel’s corpse, a bright red smear marking the floor behind them. Eva looked the other way. She tried to make eye contact with Leon but he refused to meet her gaze.

  She was confused by what he had said to her behind the table – was he going to try and help her? He’s a mercenary, she reminded herself. He told you that himself. He is his number one priority and he will always side with the winning team. Eva stopped struggling.

  She allowed the two men to carry her back to the surface and followed them mutely to a huge jeep, an open-roofed vehicle with sleek, black slides. The night had become cool, there was virtually no sound other than the thud of boots on the dusty ground. Eva could smell sewage. She wasn’t sure whether the air was permeated with it or whether Daniel had soiled himself before he died. Leon took Daniel’s body from Smith and began strapping it into one of the back seats. Smith pushed her flat against the side of the car and bound her hands. Then he dragged her around to the other side of the car and shoved her into the front passenger seat. He pulled a metal bar across her that fastened like a fairground ride, pinning her to the seat. She pushed against it with her arms but it didn’t budge. Smith’s dancing black eyes smiled back at her. ‘I think this time your luck has run out.’

  Eva didn’t respond. What could she say? It felt like he was right.

  In the front seat, Leon climbed in, tucked a huge rifle in beside him and started the car. Smith climbed into the back seat beside Daniel’s body and the car took off at speed.

  Once they were out of the barbed wire surrounds of the ranch, the landscape was flat and heavily wooded and Eva looked around at what she imagined might be her last moments. In the distance the sun was beginning to rise and spectacular streams of pink and orange were spreading across the sky.

  Eva kept her gaze focused on the rising sun. Then she shut her eyes and listened to the sound of the wind, the sound of her breath and the sound of her heartbeat. It was steady and slow.

  When she opened her eyes again the sun was now rising at speed and awe-inspiring countryside was flying past them on either side of the car. Suddenly they pulled into a skid. She looked over at Leon. He was shaking hands with Joseph Smith who had jumped out of the car when it stopped and run around to Leon’s window. ‘Seventeen minutes,’ the other man said before turning away. By the side of the road on which they had stopped was a sign that said Iguaçu Falls. Eva vaguely recognised the name as somewhere in South America. She watched as Smith crossed the empty road and climbed into a waiting vehicle.

  Slowly, Leon drove their car down the track to the Falls, before turning off onto a maintenance road which was strewn with rocks and rubble. Eva could see what looked like a sheer drop on the other side of a row of trees and a flimsy barbed wire fence. They were not right at the edge of the Falls, but from the noise they could not be far away.

  At the end of the road they came to a halt. To their right, Eva could see in the distance one of the Iguaçu waterfalls car parks. In front of them a rocky slope that led down to the water below, with a sheer drop at the end. The thundering noise from the nearest part of the Falls was loud now and the water was fast moving. Strapped into her seat like this the drop did not look survivable.

  Eva turned and stared at Leon, her eyes burning a hole in the side of his head. She said nothing; she wasn’t going to beg or plead with him. But inside she felt robbed of her judgement – had she trusted this man? She had never really known him but now it seemed that the real Leon was even further from who she thought he was. But had she really ever known he was trustworthy? Eva realised that no, she hadn’t known that, she’d never been in a position to do anything other than go along with him, whether she trusted him or
not. But she certainly hadn’t seen this coming.

  She laughed softly to herself and Leon glanced up, surprised. He quickly looked away.

  She watched as he parked the car at the front of the ramp then took the keys from the ignition and threw them out of the window.

  That was when she struck. Eva had managed to flip her body sideways in her seat as Leon threw the keys and now lashed out suddenly, kicking him in the side of the face with her left leg and then kicking down hard on the handbrake release and then the brake itself with her right so that the car began to roll down the hill with both of them in it. Leon recovered quickly and tried to fight her off but she had entangled his seatbelt in her legs and he couldn’t free himself and reach past her for the handbrake at the same time.

  ‘Move your foot from the handbrake, EVA!’ He screamed at her, but she continued blocking him, the handbrake fast down as the car began to pick up speed.

  ‘EVA, MOVE YOUR FUCKING FOOT,’ he sounded utterly terrified.

  ‘EVA!’

  ‘Unlock this bar, Leon,’ she shouted back, indicating the device keeping her in her seat. He looked at her.

  ‘Unlock this bar or I swear we both go over that fucking cliff.’

  Without a second thought Leon reached forward and pressed a button on the dashboard and the bar sprung from Eva’s chest. The car was metres from the edge of the drop, when Eva released her door handle and threw herself out. At the same instant she felt the car jerk slightly as Leon pulled up the handbrake but the forward momentum continued. She landed hard and continued rolling down the slope until she managed to pull herself to a halt.

  Ahead of her the car had reached the edge of the incline just as the handbrake finally brought it to a skidding stop. Slowly the car turned so that it was side on to the drop. It teetered for several seconds on the brink. Eva looked for Leon but she could no longer see the driver’s side of the car as it was so far over the cliff. Thick foliage held the vehicle suspended for several seconds before the weight of the machine drove it over the side of the drop.