The Pilgrim Strain

by Edgar, C. P.

  Miller smiled and Einberg just shook his head as he pulled the desk away from the door. The door sprang open and Rainer walked through the opening flipping up his NVGs.

  “Coming in,” he announced as he crossed the threshold.

  Rainer saw Miller first and reached out with his gloved hand and they shook. He turned and gave a head nod to Einberg.

  “Glad to see you guys are still with us. You want a ride out of here?” Rainer asked looking down at the corpse lying face down on the deck before him. He noticed the doctor in the corner looking a bit pale. “Everything ok in here?”

  Einberg said, “Not the best day I’ve ever had. We’ll brief you on the road. Top, this is Doctor Manzak. Doc, this is our fearless leader.”

  Rainer approached the doctor with his gloved hand extended. She reached out with hers nervously but realized her hands were still gloved with soiled, blue disposables. She ripped them off and threw them in the far corner of the room. Her hands were sweaty but she reached out and shook his hand regardless, “You can call me Merissa sir.” She tried her best to smile but she was still in shock, her knees weak and she was shaking from head to toe.

  Rainer smiled, “Please don’t call me sir, it makes me feel old. My name is Rainer. Now if you don’t mind I’d like to get out of here and we can talk about what is going on and what we need to do to help you.”

  He placed his hand under her forearm and gently walked her out. Rainer knew that she was going with them. Brewster had wanted her surveilled which meant she was important to his plans in some way.

  Einberg and Miller followed them outside to where the rest of the team were in a defensive position around the two trucks. Miller was curious as to how the trucks had arrived without them noticing but realized that it was probably while they were fighting with Samir.

  Rainer placed Merissa in the rear passenger seat of his vehicle which was still running. He keyed up the radio and stated, “Let’s roll.” The rest of the team piled into the trucks and Kef was again in the lead. They turned on their standard headlights so they could pick up the speed.

  Merissa once again watched through her window as the camp passed by. Outside her window, she watched as refugees ran through the night in all directions. She caught glimpses of evil things in the shadows. She watched as the weak and frightened were brought down by something sinister. She saw fires in the distance consuming everything it could touch. She watched her world collapsing and wondered whether she had in fact made a deal with the devil. Surely, she had, hell was consuming all she could see.

  ***

  British Virgin Islands

  James glanced down at the satellite telephone sitting on the glass table next to his chaise lounge chair. He had been enjoying a moment of pause, a few meditative seconds away from his manic conscious. Its ringing was intruding on this tranquility.

  He was outside on the deck of the cabana. On his right was a laptop computer that was hardwired to an encryption server housed deep within the cabana’s substructure. The view from his seat of the Ginger Island coastline was stunning and had been the cause of his momentary relief.

  Below the hillside, resting in Wedgeo Bay was his massive yacht tethered to its mooring. He had been watching it shifting from side to side as some surf had picked up along the coastline.

  He had purchased Ginger Island a few years back for an exorbitant amount of money having first thought of it after reading an article in Forbes magazine about Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island. Branson had purchased his island for a stunningly low amount of capital in the late 1970’s and had turned it into an island resort and personal retreat. James, after some research, found Ginger Island in the same island chain which was part of the British Virgin Islands. Ginger Island had been one of the last privately owned islands around and James was forced to pay a mind-boggling amount to secure it. It was worth every pound.

  He had established this place as his sanctuary and it contained state-of-the-art facilities designed for long-term sustainability and survival. He was planning on riding out the coming storm here, away from humanity.

  The phone continued ringing, pulling James out of his semitrance. He grabbed the phone with some disdain and pushed the connection option. The phone sequenced and then signaled secure. James waited for the caller to identify himself.

  “The voyage has begun.”

  “I was expecting a call yesterday. What happened?” James asked.

  “It is spreading at a faster rate than originally planned. We had to move to another base of operation to get out of the area of influence. We are set to depart within the next hour or so. It will take some time to mask my movements but expect me to arrive in four days. I will be silent until then.”

  “I’ve been watching the progress from above,” James stated. He had commandeered an Egyptian ASN-209 UAV which had been flying a routine border assessment mission. The Chinese-made ASN-209 had been easy to hack because the Egyptian network infrastructures were weak and porous. Even so, James had to be sure that he used as many redundant covert relay sites as he could to throw off the Chinese counter investigation.

  He had tasked the ASN-209 to fly south into Sudan and then South Kurdufan to orbit the refugee camp from above. It only had a ten hour operating cycle and he had burned up two hours of that flying it nap of the Earth so it wouldn't get shot down by the Sudanese Air Force. Even though reports stated they only had ten Mig-29’s left in service and a small cluster of SAM sites mostly surrounding Khartoum, James wanted to be cautious and off radar.

  Using the ASN-209, James had watched the refugee camp explode into chaos and violence. He had been mystified by the action, both personally mortified by the sights and prideful in the accomplishment. He watched as the people in the camp spilled out into the countryside running from the sick inside the boundaries. It was like watching water spilling out over the lip of a tub. Bloody, infected water.

  He had seen additional UN security forces arrive to reinforce those already inside only to be brought down by the thousands of infected. Most were overrun by the hordes of sick and consumed, although others were exposed through hand-to-hand fighting and then fled wounded along with the refugees. They would turn soon as well.

  The ASN-209 had mapped the movement of people away from camp into nearby villages as well as a refugee camp some kilometers south. Finally, the UAV had fallen to the ground having exhausted its power. That had happened just prior to receiving his call.

  “I’m excited about both the rate of infection and the casualty ratios. One is not generally higher than the other, meaning that it should be able to sustain itself and not burn out like Ebola. You should leave promptly though. We are already intercepting communications from local African epidemiology centers regarding the Sudanese hotspot.”

  He continued, “They don’t know what it is yet, but they are aware and sending resources. The WHO, ECDC, and CDC remain unaware of the outbreak. It will only be a matter of time before they receive reports and before quarantines are established and travel in and out of the area is forbidden.”

  “We will depart within the hour. I will see you soon, after I clean my tracks. I have to go.” Douglas terminated the connection from his end.

  James placed the satellite phone back in its original place on the table and closed his eyes. How long would it take for the world to reclaim itself and for all its resources to be his to take?

  ***

  Sudan, Africa

  Douglas sat for a moment at the table set in the middle of the hangar, going over the travel itinerary. He needed to commit it to memory so he wouldn’t have any documents that could be used for interrogation.

  He and his security element had purchased the use of the large industrial metal shed located on the eastern side of the Rumbek airstrip. Outside the shed, near the airstrip, was the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that he planned on using to fly to Juba.

  In Juba a Gulfstream G650 was fueling up. From there it was a few hours flight to Abu Dhabi where
he would change identities.

  Following an overnight stay at the Sheraton Khalidiya Hotel and a slight modification to his appearance he would take a flight to Cologne, Germany for yet another identity change and then take the train to Antwerpen in Belgium. Once in Antwerpen, he would meet up with a corporate jet service that would fly him to the most dangerous phase of the trip, to Miami by way of fuel stops in Iceland and Newfoundland.

  He always dreaded entering the U.S. and England covertly. They’re counterintelligence and anti-terrorism budgets were sky high and they had invested billions in facial recognition technologies as of late. It was becoming harder and harder to slip in and out unnoticed.

  When he got to Miami, he planned to meet up with yet another private corporate flight company and board an Adam A500 for the two remaining hops. The first leg to the Dominican Republic for fuel and the final leg terminating in Tortola. There he would find the boat waiting for him at Bluff Bay.

  He watched out the front of the open double doors of the shed as his small six-man security team loaded the last of their gear and supplies from the back of the Mercedes into the cargo hold of the Sikorsky. The pilots were in the front of the rotary aircraft going through their preflight checks. The sun was beginning to set and Douglas looked over the remaining area within the large shed to make sure nothing had been missed. He wasn’t terribly worried about being tracked down but old habits died slow.

  Out of the corner of his eye he picked up the movement low to the ground. Moving from his left to right, toward the helicopter and his security element, was what looked like a soccer ball.

  Douglas had just a moment to reflect that the duct tape holding the two halves of the soccer ball together probably meant bad things. It detonated sending a massive blast of pressure and hundreds of ball bearings off in all directions. The result was the shredding of his men and the rear tail of the helicopter.

  Douglas was down on the ground having been knocked backwards by the blast when the rear door of the shed exploded inward. He somehow found his feet just as the first of a series of flashbangs ignited around him. He shielded his eyes and took a knee grabbing for the Walther PPK hidden on his left ankle.

  He had just pulled it from the holster when he was hit in the chest with a force like a sledgehammer. He didn’t go down although he could no longer find any air and tried to raise the pistol searching for a target. His vision was blurred from the explosive concussion he had received and the lack of oxygen. He was hit in the right arm by the same force and then once more in the chest which knocked him backwards unconscious.

  ***

  Kef moved forward at the ready and kicked away the Walther. He flipped Brewster over and flex-cuffed him with his hands in the rear. He pulled a black bag out of his cargo pocket and pulled it over Brewster’s head, zip tying it around the neck making sure he could still get two fingers in-between to assure he had enough breathing room so he didn’t accidentally kill him. They definitely wanted him alive.

  Kef stood satisfied their target was secured and took up a secondary firing position. Rainer and Kef had breached the rear door and entered first followed by Daggan who was carrying the ARWEN 37 rotary launcher loaded with 37mm non-lethal foam rounds.

  “Tougher than he looks,” Daggan growled, amazed that it had taken three rounds to put down the old man.

  Outside the open double doors, they could see Einberg and Miller who were wearing balaclavas moving across from left to right checking the status of the security force. They had taken the ball bearing-laced Semtex charge at close range and it was improbable that any had survived.

  Both pilots had miraculously made it out of the helicopter unharmed though, and they were outside the aircraft on their knees with their hands interlaced on top of their heads. Clearly, they wanted no part of this fight.

  Miller flex cuffed and head bagged each while Einberg maintained cover. Satisfied that all targets were down or secured they entered the shed and rallied up with the rest of the team.

  Rainer motioned toward their target who was still unconscious on the deck, “Pick that fuck up and get him into the truck.” He depressed the pressure switch activating his radio, “Sierra One, how are we looking?”

  Chek came back, “No follow-on forces spotted, no local response yet. You are clear to move, over.”

  Helechek was on the western side of the airfield tucked into a grove of trees. He had crept in a few hours prior after they had located Brewster’s position using the GPS tracker. Chek had been relaying the scene since his arrival and was up on the T-76 when the assault had gone down, just in case he needed to take out the helicopter’s tail rotor or the shaft drive of the rotor blades or engage the small security force he had spotted. Obviously, none had been needed.

  Kef had come up with the plan to use the remotely detonated explosive charge and Chek was surprised at how effective it had been although he was pissed that he had to give up his soccer ball for the trick.

  “Ok, start your stalk out of there and we’ll pick you up at your extraction point, out.” Rainer watched as Daggan effortlessly lifted the old man's still limp body from the ground and tossed him over his shoulder. He carried him out, and for the walk back to the trucks that were parked about three hundred meters away. They saw no one on their way out and were amazed that all the noise hadn’t at least brought a small crowd into the streets. Everything was silent.

  ***

  Douglas opened his eyes and blinked for several moments. He immediately had a dump of adrenaline which sent his heart racing thinking that he was blind somehow. It took a moment longer for him to comprehend that he had something over his head. He could just make out some light coming in around his neck area. His entire body throbbed with pain. He tried to move but was bound by the hands behind his back and seemed to be strapped down although he believed he was in a seated position.

  He bumped and swayed with the vehicle as it motioned forward. It made a hard left-hand turn pushing his body up against the door and then braked suddenly pitching him forward only to be stopped by the seat belt . The engine was shut down and he heard doors opening and closing. He heard muted talk away from where he sat but could tell that someone was still in the vehicle with him. He could hear the person breathing shallowly.

  His door was ripped open and his seat belt released. The person in the vehicle with him pushed him out and he fell sideways onto the hard ground outside the truck directly onto his head. His legs were still inside the truck.

  Someone outside grabbed him by the cloth on his back and yanked him free allowing him to fall fully out of the truck. He lay on his side, the pain on his arms and wrists excruciating but he remained silent.

  Douglas was pulled to his feet and dragged indoors and thrown to the floor toward the rear of the building. He was left there for a moment before being pulled to his feet once more and slammed down onto a wooden chair. He could feel shackles being applied to his ankles and could hear the clinking of the chains. He felt a knife slip in at the rear of his neck and he froze. It wedged into the space and then cut the zip tie. The hood was ripped away washing his face in light. He tried to shield his eyes from the beam of light being thrust into his face but his hands were still bound. He found that if he just looked down at his feet it was tolerable.

  “Hello Brewster.” He clearly heard Rainer say. He could make out the man’s boots and figured he was sitting in front of him about four meters away.

  “Rainer, you stupid son of a bitch! You have no idea what you have done. Let me go, now!” He spat.

  “That’s the problem Brewster, I have no idea what I have done although I think you know. So, tell me. What have I done?” Rainer asked using a calm and overly controlled voice.

  Douglas remained silent. He was trying to think a few steps ahead but nothing was presenting itself.

  Forcing himself to look into Rainer’s eyes, he replied “Which time Rainer? Which contract? You’ve done many things for me in the past. Are you talking about the time y
ou assassinated the head of North Korea’s RDEI Philippines Bureau? Or the time you infiltrated NordGen and copied the sample and depositor database? Or are you talking about your current mission? The one where you were asked to report on the activities of a female doctor who has ties to Chinese intelligence agents in the area. Chinese agents that are funding the removal of the native people so they can claim the resources found under the soil, mainly the gold, copper, uranium, and iron ore? What Rainer? What have I made you do?” He seethed through his clenched lips.

  Merissa spoke up from the back of the room, “Mr. Trecato, or is it Mr. Brewster? I’m really confused, because last we spoke you told me I could simply call you Douglas. So Douglas, when did the Chinese become my benefactor?”

  He had been unaware that Doctor Manzak was present and he immediately realized that his bluff was going to be called. Rainer stood and delivered a solid punch to his right clavicle, fracturing it. The pain was immediate and intense.

  After a minute of hard breathing, and pain management, Douglas recovered enough to raise his head. He knew how this was going to end. He hadn’t brought up the time he had used Rainer to torture out a confession from a scientist on their payroll who was acting as a double agent with British Intelligence.

  That event had almost unraveled everything right at the beginning. He hadn’t brought that up because he didn’t want to give Rainer any ideas. He knew what Rainer was capable of though and was resigned to his fate. Douglas couldn’t fail the Sandean family though, he was bound to them. He would try and hold out for as long as possible.

  Rainer watched the man set his jaw. He knew he had just resigned himself to resist.

  “Give him the water. He’ll talk.” Rainer said to Einberg and Kef. He walked over to Merissa and escorted her out of the room.