The Anthrax Protocol

by James Thompson

  Mason’s shoulders slumped as he looked around the small area on top of the hill where they were surrounded. “Well, we just might not have much time, Grant.” He hesitated, another idea popping into his head. “Did O’Donnell tell you who the spy in the Wildfire Team was?”

  “No, he just said he got a tip from someone calling themselves Janus, and the phone had a voice distorter on it so he couldn’t even tell if it was a male or female.”

  “Okay, never mind, I’ll try and figure it out. Now, get out your cell phone, I’m going to send you some pictures of the plants we think might be a cure for the plague. Get someone on the horticultural team at the CDC to try to identify them and if they grow anywhere else get some samples and begin work on them on your end just in case our samples don’t make it back.”

  Battersee gulped, knowing that Mason meant in case he didn’t survive the mission. “Mason,” he said, his voice choking, “I’m . . . I’m sorry I messed up so terribly.”

  Mason chuckled grimly. It wouldn’t be the first time a deskbound bureaucrat had messed up his life, but it might well be the last. “That’s okay, Grant. You take care, and God willing we’ll see you soon. Oh, by the way, I’ll also text you the coordinates of the village in southern Mexico that’s filled with Indians immune to the plague. They might be useful to formulate a vaccine in case our blood samples also don’t make it.”

  Mason turned and saw that Lauren had already pulled the plant samples out of their bags and laid them out on a small blanket in the sunlight so the colors of the blossoms would show up the best. He snapped several pictures of them and forwarded them to Battersee’s cell number along with a text of the coordinates of Motzi’s village.

  “I’m guessing by the tone of your conversation that it didn’t go exactly as you expected it to?” Lauren asked, a grin on her lips.

  Mason turned to her as they packed the specimens back into their bags. “I don’t know what you find so funny,” he growled. “It seems we’ve been hung out to dry and to fend for ourselves. We can’t expect any help from the United States to get here in time to make a difference.”

  “Hey,” she said, punching him lightly on the shoulder. “You’re superdoc, boss man. Just do what Indiana Jones would do and we’ll be all right.”

  He glared at her for a moment, and then he gave a crooked smile. “Yeah, but I left my bullwhip and fedora back at home, and pretending to be Indiana Jones might just get us killed.”

  She shook her head and leaned over a fallen log, her Armalite at the ready. “Don’t count your chickens, Mason. We’re not dead yet. You may not be Indiana Jones, but I’m as good with a rifle as Annie Oakley. I’ll bet I can part that bastard’s hair down there at a hundred yards with this scope.”

  He shook his head. This woman never ceased to amaze him with her grit, determination, and courage. She was very special. Then, shaking off such thoughts, he grabbed his rifle and peeked around a boulder on his side of the small flat area on top of the hillock. “What’ve we got, Motzi?” he called softly.

  Motzi, who had been watching the jungle below from the middle of a thick bush next to a boulder, said, “I think three, maybe four men below. Two moving around to other side of hill behind us.”

  “So, what’s the plan, boss man, since it seems from your phone call the cavalry isn’t going to be riding to the rescue any time soon?”

  His face was serious as he answered, “I think we have only one shot, Lauren. If we can hold out until dark, then we can send Motzi with the samples down the hill and into the jungle. From there he can hopefully make it to our lab at the excavation site. At least then the cure and possibly the vaccine will get out to the world.”

  “You think Motzi can sneak through four armed men who have us surrounded?” Lauren asked over her shoulder.

  Mason grinned, glancing at the small boy almost hidden in the bush nearby. “I think the jungle is Motzi’s home, and no matter how good those mercenaries are down there, it is not their home. Yes, I think he has a fair chance to make it through them.”

  She stared at him for a moment. “From what I could hear of your conversation, there is a spy in the Wildfire Team? What makes you think they’ll let the samples get tested and sent back to the CDC?”

  He shrugged. “I just don’t think someone who’s worked on the team for several years could simply kill the rest of the team in cold blood just to steal some plant samples. I don’t know of anyone on the team who could be that cold-blooded.”

  She marveled at his naiveté and faith in others’ innate goodness, but then she realized that was probably one of the things that drew her to him like a bee to nectar. “And us?” she asked.

  He hesitated. “I think we need to stay here and keep the men at bay for as long as possible so that Motzi can get a good head start.”

  She gave a low, sad laugh. “Like I said, boss man, this is a helluva first date. First we traipse through miles and miles of tropical jungle, and then we get to be sacrificial lambs in order to save the world.”

  “Ummm, maybe I can make a bargain with them to let you go . . . plead that you’re a woman who has nothing to do with all this.”

  “Not on your life, Mason,” she said, raising her rifle and snapping a shell into the firing chamber. “I’m in this for the long haul.”

  She aimed and fired, eliciting a shout of “Shit!” from below as her bullet clipped a tree trunk inches from a man’s face.

  “Whoo-hoo!” Lauren hollered. “Why don’t you come on up here and get us, tough guy?

  * * *

  Jinx put his hand to his cheek and it came away streaked with blood. “Goddamn, the bitch almost blew a hole in my fuckin’ head,” he exclaimed.

  Bear chuckled to himself. It was a good lesson to his men not to underestimate their enemy as he had done.

  He took out his radio and keyed the mike, “Hoss, come in,” he said in a low voice.

  “Yeah, boss?”

  “We’ve got the group surrounded so you can bring the boat back to this side of the river and join us. Just follow the trail and you’ll find us.”

  “Roger that, boss.”

  Bear cupped his hands and put them to his mouth. “Ahoy, the hill!” he shouted. Time to do some bargaining. Maybe they’d be able to get out of this without losing any more men or having to kill any more innocent people.

  Mason kept his eyes glued to the jungle at the base of the hill in case the shout was a distraction for an attack. “Yeah, whattaya want?”

  Bear smiled. As if they didn’t know what he wanted. “You know what we want. Give us the plant samples and the blood specimens and we’ll be on our way and let you go free.”

  “Yeah, right,” Mason yelled back sarcastically. “And I suppose you’ll even give us a ride back to Mexico City in your helicopter and maybe buy us a couple of beers?”

  Bear had to laugh. This guy had stones the size of basketballs. In any other situation he felt he would probably like the doc. “Yeah, I guess you have a right not to trust us.”

  “Ya think?” Mason called back, chuckling himself now.

  “I’m getting tired of yelling. How about meeting me halfway up the hill under a flag of truce? Your people can keep me covered and mine will keep their sights on you.”

  Mason glanced over at Lauren. “What do you think? Do we trust him?”

  She shrugged. “Sure, ’cause he’s seen me shoot. If he so much as blinks I’ll put one right through his eye.”

  “Okay, I’m coming down. You come up without a weapon,” Mason hollered, and then he bent down and gave Lauren some instructions, which caused her to smile widely.

  Jinx whispered hoarsely from behind a nearby tree. “Are you crazy, boss? That broad almost took my ear off at a hundred yards. She might just take you out to even up the odds.”

  Bear put his MP5 down and stepped out from his cover. “Naw, Jinx. These guys are civilians. They’d never kill anyone in cold blood, especially under a truce agreement.”

  “
You want me to take him out when he steps out?” Jinx asked. “That would cut them down to just the woman and the boy.”

  Bear glanced at Jinx. “Yeah, and what about me?”

  Jinx scoffed, “You could be ready and duck down into the grass when you hear me shoot.”

  Bear glanced at the grass and realized even lying flat parts of his body would be exposed. “How far did she miss you, Jinx?”

  “Uh . . . I see what you mean.”

  “No, stand down for now. Let’s see what they’ve got to offer to keep us from just rushing them and killing them and taking the samples.”

  But in spite of his brave words, he knew a tactic like that would be suicide and that two experienced shooters with rifles that they obviously knew how to use could hold that hill against many more men than he had. No, it’d be much better if he could let them know how hopeless their situation was and try to get them to trust him to let them go if they gave him what he wanted. Right now, his greatest ally was the scorching tropical sun overhead. They’d be lucky to last until dark in this temperature.

  He held his hands above his head and began to climb up the hill through the knee-deep grass as the doctor did the same thing and headed down toward him.

  They met halfway down the hill and Bear stuck his hand out. “Hello, Dr. Williams. My name’s Bear.”

  Mason just stared into his eyes. “Forgive me if I don’t shake hands with the devil.”

  Bear laughed and spread his arms. “Devil? Me? I’m not the devil, Doc, just a man trying to make a buck.”

  Mason noted Bear’s high and tight haircut and glanced at a tattoo of a globe and anchor on Bear’s right forearm with the words Semper Fi on a banner underneath. It was the symbol of the Marine Corps.

  He inclined his head at Bear’s arm. “Marines?”

  Bear’s eyes narrowed and he held his arm out to stare for a moment at the tat. “Yeah. You?”

  “No, I was a Navy doc. The Marines used our doctors and corpsmen, as you know.”

  Bear nodded. He’d always been impressed with the medical care the Navy docs provided to the Marines. While the Marines and Navy had a fierce rivalry among themselves, it’d never extended to the Navy doctors or corpsmen who provided both services with excellent care.

  “So I guess you’ve forgotten what that means?” he asked, again inclining his head at Bear’s tattoo.

  Bear sneered as he looked at the words. “Naw, I know what Semper Fi means . . . always faithful.” He gave a short laugh. “But I don’t believe in that shit anymore. I was dishonorably discharged for striking an asshole officer who got a bunch of my friends killed.”

  He took a deep breath as if to calm himself down at the memory. “And what do you think happened to the man who fucked up and got them killed? Nothing!”

  Mason shook his head. “And punching out the officer is how you honored the memories of your dead comrades? I guess your family’s really proud of you now, huh?”

  Bear had a brief vision of the disappointment in little Victor’s eyes when he’d turned and walked away from him at his brother’s funeral.

  “My family’s none of your fucking business!”

  Mason raised his eyebrows. “No? Have you ever seen anyone die from anthrax, Marine?”

  Bear opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Mason added, “Be sure to think about your family while you’re doing this, ’cause you’re subjecting them to a one-in-three chance of dying a very miserable death from the very disease I’m trying to cure.”

  “Bullshit!” Bear almost shouted. “The man I’m getting this for is trying to do the same thing you are and that’s to develop a cure for the plague.”

  Mason laughed contemptuously. “You mean that asshole Colonel Blackman? Sure he is. And after he has the cure I’m sure he’s going to make sure everyone in the world has access to it, right?”

  Bear nodded, surprised that the doctor knew his boss was Blackman. He wondered briefly how much else he knew about their mission. “At least, he’ll get it to everyone in the United States.”

  “You don’t look that dumb, Marine. Once he gives anyone else access to the cure he’s lost control of it, so what good would all this intrigue do him then? No, Blackman’s gonna use this for his own purposes and the rest of the world, including the United States, be damned.”

  “Quit calling me Marine! I told you I was busted out.”

  Mason shrugged. “My friends in the Corps always told me ‘once a Marine, always a Marine.’”

  “Well they were wrong. Now let’s cut the bullshit. Are you going to give us what we came for or are we going to have to take it?”

  Mason looked over his shoulder at the hilltop and was pleased to see a plume of smoke rising from behind the boulders and brush.

  “Oh, I think not, Mr. Bear.”

  Bear shook his head, “Not Mr. Bear, just Bear. You know you’re just delaying the inevitable? Come nightfall we’ll sneak up the hill in the dark, kill you all, and still wind up with the goods.”

  “I don’t think it’ll be that easy for you, Bear. Take a look at the sky.”

  Bear glanced up and saw a clear, blue sky with a huge faint full moon visible just above the horizon.

  “The hill will be lit up like a parking lot with that moon,” Mason said calmly, and then he shrugged. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll eventually overwhelm us and kill us, but it will do you no good, and you’ll lose at least some of your men trying.”

  Bear looked puzzled. “So? At least we’ll have accomplished our mission.”

  Mason shook his head again. “Oh dear, I thought all Marines were good tacticians. Why do you suppose my companions are building a large fire in the heat of the day?”

  Bear glanced up the hill with a sinking feeling in his chest. Goddamn, this was one clever son of a bitch. “So, if we attack you’ll burn all the plants and the blood specimens?”

  Mason nodded. “’Fraid so.”

  “But then no one will have them.”

  Mason shrugged again. “Oh, that’s not true. The plants and the blood donors are all still out there and our people know who and where they are,” and he held up his sat-phone and scrolled through the pictures he’d sent Battersee. “But just to make sure, I sent pictures of the plants back to the CDC in Atlanta along with the coordinates to the village where we got the blood samples. Experts are even now working to identify them. It might delay their acquisition a few days, but right now other teams are headed to the region we just left to gather the same specimens we did. Of course, it’ll mean a few million more dead due to the delay, but at least the world will eventually get the cure and your man won’t.”

  Bear put his hands on his hips and stared around at the surrounding jungle. There was simply no way he could get back to the chopper and back to the village where the plants were gathered before the teams Mason had summoned could get there. And if they had pictures of the plants at the CDC they were truly fucked.

  Finally, after working it back and forth in his mind, he glanced up at Mason and grinned. “Man, I knew you had some gigantic stones, but I never thought you’d be this good. You’ve thought this all out really well.”

  “Someone, I forget who, once said that nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of imminent death. Whoever he was, he was correct.”

  “So, I guess I have no reason to follow this through and kill you.”

  “Not unless it’s for spite.”

  “I told you I was in this for the bucks, not for spite.”

  “Let me ask you something, Bear.”

  Bear shrugged. “Sure, go ahead.”

  “Would you really have let a billion or more people die just for money?”

  Bear laughed. “Hell no, Doc. I know you have no reason to believe me, but the plan all along was to give Blackman his plants and specimens, just not the entire batch. As soon as he’d paid me and my team, I was going to make a side trip to the CDC and make an anonymous donation of the rest of the specimens to your lab. So,” he sp
read his arms again, “the world would still get the cure it needs, me and my men would get amply rewarded, and Blackman would get royally fucked, as he so richly deserves.”

  Mason grinned and stuck out his hand. “Bear, now I’ll shake your hand.”

  As they shook, Mason whispered, “You know, Bear, as far as I know, Blackman has no idea what the plants look like, and all blood looks the same. Since it’s going to take me a while longer to get back to my team than it does for you to get to Mexico City, why not give the asshole what he wants: a basketful of pretty plants and some tubes of blood?”

  “And we’ll get paid and that asshole will still get fucked! Damn, Doc, you are not only smart, you’re a devious bastard, too.”

  “Now, Bear,” Mason added, putting his arm around Bear’s shoulders. “As one old sailor to another, the feds are onto Blackman, so don’t take too long to make your deal or you’ll have to do your negotiating through iron bars in Leavenworth.” He hesitated, “And I wouldn’t let the money sit in one place too long after tomorrow, ’cause the feds have a long reach and I have a feeling Blackman’s gonna be giving up anybody he can to save his skin.”

  Bear looked into Mason’s eyes. “Thanks for the heads-up, Doc. I’ll make sure not to let any grass grow under our feet when we make the deal.” He took a couple of steps and then he asked, “Do you guys need a lift back to your lab?”

  Mason shook his head, knowing as nice as his talk with Bear had been, he still couldn’t trust him with the samples. “I talked to my boss and he’s sending in the Marines, literally. They’re gonna pick us up at Tehuantepec. . . probably tomorrow.” He smiled. “That should give you time to get your samples to Blackman, get his money transferred, and to disappear.”

  Bear laughed and pointed his finger at Mason, “Once that money’s been wired, we’re gonna be like smoke in the wind . . . poof.”

  Mason edged closer and lowered his voice, “Bear, there’s one more thing I want to talk to you about . . .” He talked quietly for several moments, and Bear nodded his head once and they shook hands again.

  As Bear turned to go back down the hill and give the news to his men, he wondered briefly if Victor would be proud of what his uncle had done today.