The Devil's Vial

by Brumbaugh,Byron

  “Okay, Emily, on your right side should be a pocket containing some paper lists, possibly embedded in plastic. See if you can find them. There should also be a book with a title like ‘Pilot’s Operating Handbook.’ See if you can find that too.” Alex went over the panel gauge by gauge, button by button, light by light until he had a good idea of where things were. He found, too, the little wheel on his left Daniel mentioned.

  “Is this what you’re looking for?” asked Emily as she held out plasticized pieces of paper.

  Alex glanced at them and recognized them immediately. “Yeah, that’s them. Find the page that starts with ‘Before Start’ or something similar.”

  Emily shuffled the pages and stopped on one. “Okay. I’ve got it.”

  “Start at the top and read the list so I can find everything. Go item by item, I’ll tell you when to go to the next item.”

  “Parking brake, set.”

  Alex looked around until he found it on the right side of the console. “Check.”

  “Preflight inspection complete.”

  Later. “Go on.”

  “Covers, pins and plugs.”

  What? “We’ll come back to that. Go on.”

  “Manuals and documents.”

  “Check.”

  “Circuit breakers.”

  Where had he seen those? Oh yeah, behind the right seat. “Check.”

  And so it went, through what seemed to be an unending list. Some switches and gauges, he had to look for a while to find. Who’d have thought of looking on the overhead for navigation and landing light switches? In his small plane, everything was right in front of him in the control panel. Of course, there was a lot less “everything” to his plane. A couple of things puzzled him for a bit until he figured them out. At first, “APU” threw him for a loop until he figured out by context it must stand for “Auxiliary Power Unit.” But what the hell are N1 and N2? He gave up trying to figure that out and just hoped the thing was going to work the way it was supposed to.

  After less than half an hour, they had been through the checklists once. Alex took a deep breath and reviewed what was necessary on the walk around. “Wait here,” he told Emily. “I’m going to do the external preflight. Back in a couple of minutes.”

  This was somewhat reassuring to him. The plane was a little bigger than what he was used to, but it had all the same parts; two wings, a tail, ailerons, elevators, a rudder, three wheels. There was the matter of those two tubes in the tail that had many small propellers instead of the usual two or three blades he was used to having in the nose. But they worked on the same basic principle - thrust produces motion. What was the big deal?

  And what was it about these wonderful machines that appealed so much? They were a thing of beauty, a work of art, for sure. But they also had functional appeal. They looked like an airplane should look. To look at one, truly look at it, forced you to imagine yourself at the controls, wheeling and soaring, climbing and diving, enjoying, the act of flying.

  As he walked around the plane, inspecting its condition, Alex removed several small fabric covers left behind by the other pilots. These are placed at vulnerable places on all planes when they are left for any significant period of time and bear red banners, hard to ignore, having the message, “REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT.” Once removed, they would be stowed on the plane until they would be needed again at its next place of rest. By removing them, Alex made sure nothing with a hole - pitot tubes, air intakes, fuel breather tubes, and so on, was plugged. All was well and she looked not only ready, but eager to go.

  On returning to the cockpit, he sat again in the left seat and went through the ‘Recurrent Training Manual’ to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. He then took the ‘Pilot’s Operating Manual’ and thumbed through it to make sure there was nothing there he had somehow missed. Finally, he looked up at Emily. “What time you got?”

  “Eleven ten.”

  “Todd should be here in less than an hour. Let’s go back inside. I need to file an IFR flight plan.” He looked around and found where they kept the approach plates and charts. He grabbed the ones he would need and led Emily back into the FBO.

  “Is everything okay? Are you ready for this?” she asked. “You seemed a little… lost in the plane.”

  She must have sensed he was tense. “Everything’s fine. I just had to make sure I knew where everything was. You know, get familiar with her. Other than that, I’m always a little on edge before flying in a new plane.” I usually do it with a qualified instructor, though! He didn’t like doing it this way. It went against everything he had been taught since his first flight lesson. When it came to flying, he always believed in being cautious. But he had little choice here. Despite the fact sweat was running down his collar in seventy degree weather, he did feel he would be able to fly the thing without difficulty. What bothered him was he knew he was not adequately prepared if the unexpected happened. If the shit hits the fan, God forbid, I’ll just have to rely on Air Traffic Control. That thought made him feel a little better. He always had a backup plan, as undesirable as it may be. It would save their bacon if they got in trouble.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Four men bearing a stretcher walked into the room with Doo-rag, Martin. Using it, they carried Oscar out into a hallway; Richard was allowed to follow. Doo-rag scowled, but was silent.

  Earlier, Richard managed to gather up the vial and pen under the pretense of caring for Oscar. He didn’t think he was seen. He reasoned that now they were out of the room, a thorough search of the room would follow and he couldn’t afford for the vial to be found. The pen, he placed in a fold at the waist of his scrubs; the vial, he carried in his hand. Risky, but he needed to dispose of the thing on a moment’s notice as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

  The group went down a carpeted, windowless hall and Richard looked around for some place to hide the vial as they went. Closed doors along their route gave evidence of rooms on each side of the hall, but there was no clue of what was behind them. The hallway was bare. He had no idea what kind of place they were in.

  After turning two corners, they approached an elevator. Oscar groaned and shifted on the stretcher. His moving bulk made it difficult for the bearers to keep him level and they almost dropped him. They rapidly lowered him to the floor to keep him from rolling off. Richard moved up and bent down beside Oscar. With his right hand, he felt for Oscar’s pulse. With his left, he placed the vial under the carpet as he had in the room. This will have to do, he thought. “He’s still alive, but we have to get him to the hospital quick.” Richard looked around for landmarks that would allow him to retrace his steps and find the vial quickly if he needed to. They were close to the elevator, but there was little else that distinguished the hall. Richard could only hope there was just the one elevator. Doo-rag stood with arms crossed and glared at him. Richard was sure he hadn’t been seen or there would have been more of a reaction.

  Doors opened and the bearers lifted Oscar, who was again still, and carried him into the elevator. It was large and appeared to have been used for freight. The doors closed and they began moving upwards. Richard noticed the lights above the door. There was a G followed by A, B, C, and D. They started on B and didn’t stop going up until they got to G.

  When the doors again opened, Richard saw what appeared to be a garage loading dock. Beyond the dock was a room big enough to hold two cars or trucks. On the opposite wall from where they stood was a large closed door. On the sides of the room were old cages, pieces of equipment, and stacked boxes lying under several small windows in brick walls.

  Doo-rag grabbed Richard’s arm and shoved him to the left. “This way,” he said. They went into a small room just off the dock and Oscar was moved onto a couch. The litter bearers left. Besides the door, the room had one small window and a tiled floor. Doo-rag bent down and shook Oscar violently.

  “Hey!” objected Richard.

  Doo-rag gave Richard a withering look and shook Oscar again. Osc
ar groaned and opened his eyes. “You want your friend here to live?” said Doo-rag, nodding toward Richard.

  “Yeah,” whispered Oscar.

  “Then keep your mouth shut while you’re in the hospital, understand?”

  “Sure,” said Oscar. He closed his eyes.

  “There’ll be a uniformed police officer with you at all times who’ll hear anything you say, understand?” said Doo-rag.

  “Yeah, sure…” Oscar fell back into unconsciousness.

  Richard turned to Doo-rag. “I want to call the Emergency Room and talk to them about Oscar before he gets there,” said Richard. “It’ll expedite his care and I’m worried he’s deteriorating.”

  “And I should care about this because?” said Doo-rag.

  “You want the pen, don’t you?”

  Doo-rag thought about it for a moment. “Okay. I’m listening and if I don’t like what you’re saying, the deal’s off.” He reached into a pocket and brought out a cell phone. Dialing a number, he handed the phone to Richard. “Make it brief.”

  Richard put the phone to his ear and heard ringing. There was a click and then, “Marlborough Hospital. How can I direct your call?”

  “Emergency Room, please,” said Richard.

  More ringing and then, “Emergency Room. How can help you?”

  “This is Dr. Gregg. I’d like to speak to the ER attending.”

  “Just a minute, please.”

  A minute or two passed and then, “Dr. Wilson. Can I help you?”

  “Hi. This is Dr. Gregg. I have a patient I’m sending to you and I want to give you a heads-up. He’s a man in his thirties who’s been assaulted. He has multiple contusions and minor lacerations, but I’m particularly worried about his spleen. He’s quite tender over the left upper abdomen and has an eggplant-sized contusion there. Over the past half-hour, he’s become more somnolent and his pulse has become more rapid and thready.” Richard looked up at Doo-rag. “Unfortunately, I’m not in a position to be able to get a set of vitals. I am concerned he may be hemorrhaging. He needs a stat CT of the belly and probably a head injury work-up as well.”

  “How far out are you?”

  “The ambulance should be here momentarily, and then it’s about a-” Richard raised his eyebrows at Doo-rag. He had no idea where they were.

  “Ten minutes,” said Doo-rag.

  “-ten minute ride to the hospital.” They must be very close to Marlborough. He wondered just where they were.

  “Any past medical history or co-morbidities I should know about?”

  “Nope, he’s otherwise healthy.”

  “Any IV’s running?”

  “I’ll have EMS start a couple of lines and run in some normal saline.”

  “Got it. We’ll alert surgery and see him when he gets here. Thanks for the call.”

  “Take good care of him.”

  “We will.”

  The line went dead. Richard lowered the phone and looked at it. He handed it back to Doo-rag, Martin. “Thanks,” he said.

  Doo-rag grunted.

  In a few minutes, two men dressed in white uniforms came through the door, pushing a gurney. Richard gave them a cursory report and helped them put Oscar on the gurney. In a few more minutes, they had two IV lines in Oscar’s arms and fluid was running rapidly into his veins. Throughout all this, Oscar only groaned. The paramedics rolled Oscar out the door toward the ambulance waiting at the loading dock. A large muscular arm was placed across Richard’s stomach as he reflexively tried to follow. He stopped and watched them through the open door as they disappeared into the back of the ambulance.

  After a few moments, Doo-rag grabbed Richard’s arm and tugged him toward the loading dock and elevator. “Follow me,” he commanded.

  . . .

  Doo-rag knocked on a dark wooden door and waited for a response. After leaving the loading dock, they went down the same elevator, but continued down to C, passing B where Richard had been before. Whatever this place was, it was entirely underground; the deepest level being level D. That explains why there are no windows, thought Richard. Walking down a lush carpeted floor, they came to a blank door. “Come in,” called a voice from within. Doo-rag turned the knob and they walked into a large walnut-paneled office. On one wall hung a flat-screen TV between floor-to-ceiling bookshelves holding neatly placed rows of books. Opposite, behind a large wooden desk, sat a man in a business suit, typing on a keyboard. Text appeared on the TV screen as he typed. The man looked up and motioned toward a soft leather chair beside the desk. “Have a seat, please.”

  “You must be Dr. Griffin Todd,” said Richard.

  The man’s head rose and he looked directly at Richard with raised eyebrows. “Okay, I’m impressed. I don’t know how you know that, but please sit down, Dr. Gregg.” He waved an arm toward the TV screen. “Here’s the show you asked for.” Todd hit the return key and the text was replaced by an image of city streets as seen through a windshield. Richard could see that the camera creating the image was inside an ambulance, siren wailing, as it wound its way through town. After a couple of minutes, a building appeared that bore a sign saying “Marlborough Hospital”.

  Richard sat down in the chair and watched. The scene changed, the camera apparently entering the hospital. There was a momentary pause at a receptionist’s desk, words were exchanged, and the view moved down a hall. There was audio coming through as well, so Richard could hear what was said and the familiar sounds of hospital routine. Sometimes, the scene on the screen shifted with a jerk that was uncomfortable to watch. Richard assumed the camera was disguised as something else and was being used surreptitiously. “Who’s carrying the camera?” he asked.

  “One of our men dressed in a police uniform is carrying a computer with a camera,” said Todd. “It’s linked to us, here, by wi-fi. Our cover story is that Oscar is under arrest. We’ve made certain-” he paused “-arrangements.”

  The camera passed through a door marked Emergency Room and the scene shifted to another desk where the person carrying the camera asked to enter into the back to keep an eye on Oscar. He was led into a hall filled with gurneys and people dressed in scrubs hurrying purposefully. Off the hall were many curtained rooms and a few with closed doors. He was told to wait a few minutes outside one of the rooms while the staff got Oscar settled.

  As the time passed, Richard looked around Todd’s office more carefully. This guy liked to live comfortably. What wasn’t wood or leather was polished metal - chrome and bronze. “Where are we?” he asked.

  Todd looked up at Doo-rag. “Martin, you may go. I don’t see any reason you need to stay.”

  Martin hesitated as if in protest.

  “It’s okay, Martin, I’m certain I’m quite safe,” said Todd. “I know you have more pressing duties.”

  “Yessir, Dr. Todd.” Martin nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

  Todd looked at Richard. “Martin is a little protective,” he said. “But then, that’s what he’s paid for.” Todd leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, fingers interlaced. “This is a level four viral research lab. It’s designed to safely deal with highly infectious air-born viruses, like ebola, small pox, hunta virus, and the like.” He looked around his office. “There aren’t many labs like this in existence. I’m quite proud of it.”

  “I’d like to see it,” said Richard.

  Todd looked over at Richard as if sizing him up. “Yes, I don’t see why not. In fact, I think it would be a good idea.” He nodded decisively. “I’ll arrange it soon.”

  There was motion on the screen. A nurse walked up to the camera and told its bearer he could go in now, but only for a few moments. They went through a closed door and into a room where a large mass under a sheet rested without movement. Richard knew instinctively it was Oscar, though he couldn’t see his face, and caught a glimpse of a monitor just off screen. “Can you get him to point the camera at the monitor?” Richard asked.

  Todd pushed a button on the keyboard an
d passed along the request.

  Reading the blips and numbers on the monitor, Richard surmised that Oscar’s condition was stable, but still guarded. The camera guy asked how he was doing and the ER staff told him Oscar was very sick and needed to go to surgery soon. He was then asked to leave so they could get him ready for the OR.

  “Seen enough?” asked Todd.

  Richard took a deep breath, let it out slowly and said, “Yeah, I guess so.” If this was staged, they were good.

  “Then I think you have something to give me. Where’s the pen?”

  Richard unrolled the waist of his scrubs and pulled out the pen. He held it out to Todd.

  “Mmm…” said Todd. “Body searches do not seem to be Martin’s forte. I’ll have to talk to him about that.” He reached out and took the pen. Opening the barrel, he dropped out the vial hidden within it. “Ahhh… At last!” The vial turned over and over in eager fingers as he examined it. “You’ve made us work awfully hard for this.” Todd gave Richard a thoughtful look. “You and the others have shown remarkable ingenuity and resourcefulness. I think we should get you on our team. You all would prove to be useful.”

  “Why would we want to join you?” asked Richard in surprise. “You’ve been trying to kill us to get that back.”

  “True,” admitted Todd. “An unfortunate choice, I assure you. Had we known of your talents, we would have, and should have, taken a different tack.” Todd put the vial in a box he took out of a drawer in his desk and set it in front of him. He stared at it for a moment and seemed to come to a decision. “When I tell you what we’re trying to do and why, I think you’ll want to be a part of it. However, I have an engagement and I have to leave soon. I don’t have time to talk to you now. Please reserve judgment until you’ve heard me out. I’ll tell all as soon as I return, and then you can decide.” Todd stood and grabbed the box and vial. “I have to get the team working on this before I go. Follow me and I’ll give you a short tour.”