by Nick Mariano
All the preparations were finally complete and Bob and Hassan took a panel truck from the garage and headed down the road to see if they could locate some test subjects. Hopefully some homeless people could be found but Bob said they would abduct anyone they saw alone and along the back roads. Even if a person was reported missing, the group will have concluded their business at the safe house before anyone came along searching for him. Bob planned to relocate to a second safe house before any major attack took place and they would be out of the area in a few more days.
Bob and Hassan drove up and down the back roads without any success and then Bob decided to head down to the bridge where he had seen some homeless camped out a week before. When they arrived at the bridge the area looked deserted but just as Bob was ready to leave, Hassan spotted someone sleeping a short distance away. The area was totally isolated and the roads in this area had very little vehicle traffic. Bob took out some ketamine in a bottle that Alim had brought along from the hospital and withdrew a small amount into a hypodermic needle. The powerful drug could knock out a man in a matter of seconds. The two men exited the van and approached the sleeping person. Bob injected him even before he realized that there were any people next to him. They picked him up and quickly moved him to the van and secured him in the rear section. Hassan ran back and picked up the man’s belongings in case anyone came looking for him. If neither the man nor his belongings were there, they might think he had just moved on to some place else.
Bob and Hassan continued to drive around the back roads but finally decided that they better get the drugged man back to the safe house before someone spotted them. They could always return later to look for another victim.
The man appeared to be in his forties and in fairly good physical condition. They quickly got him into the house and down to the basement where they secured him firmly to the chair in the clean room. Alim brought down his medical bag and gave the man a quick exam. He checked his heartbeat, blood pressure, and pupils to see if he might be on drugs and finally determined that he was in sound condition for their experiment. He didn’t want any outside factors influencing their test. He had already opened the first valve on one of the canisters so that the virus could interact with the air and then when he was sure they were ready to begin, he opened the second valve and pressed the release button. A small vapor like mist exited the canister and settled around the man’s face. The man had since regained consciousness and struggled against his restraints as he inhaled the vapor. He looked at Alim and finally screamed, “What are you doing to me?” Alim turned off the canister valve, replaced it in the outer container and exited the room. When he entered the outer chamber of the clean room, he stripped off his clothes, leaving his mask on, showered with soap and water, placed all his clothes into a container, sealed it and exited the room. He then removed the mask and secured it in an another container. He then went upstairs and rewashed with hot water and a disinfecting soap from the hospital that he used before surgery. The man in the clean room sat staring around and wondering what was happening to him.
DAYS 1-5 OF THE TEST
Robert Preston was an Iraqi vet who had seen his share of death and suffering while serving two tours in Iraq with the Special Forces. He had lost many of his friends and felt more pain and suffering when he returned home and saw how the American Government was handling the drawdown of that war. He thought of the wasted lives and couldn’t believe that the current government had all but abandoned the country in order to end their involvement there. He had wandered from place to place after spending a few months at VA hospitals where they tried to get his head back on straight. He had nightmares and night sweats and couldn’t hold down a job after getting home. Most of his high school and college friends were either killed in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan or had moved on with their lives and lost contact with him. Now he found himself strapped into a chair in a plastic room with a man entering in some sort of chem/bio suit and spraying some sort of aerosol mist on him. How did he get here and what were they doing to him? Was this some sort of government conspiracy and were they further punishing him for his role in these wars? His last memories were when he found a secluded spot under a bridge on some backcountry road and decided to sleep there before continuing his journey to who knows where. He felt confused and tired and his throat was starting to hurt.
On Day 2 Alim donned his chem/bio suit and reentered the enclosure. He checked the subject’s blood pressure and heart beat and found both to be elevated. He wasn’t sure if this was due to the virus or just the anxiety of being strapped to a chair for the last 24 hours. The subject’s pupils were slightly dilated and he was starting to get a pasty look to his skin. The subject looked at the man in the strange suit and couldn’t figure out what was happening. He again asked the man, “Why are you doing this to me?” , however the man did not respond and left the room. Preston sat there and tried to figure out how he could escape. His chest, arms and legs were all bound with strong straps and when he tried to rock the chair he was in, he realized it was firmly secured to the concrete floor. He finally gave up his struggle and drifted into a peaceful sleep.
Alim and the group met upstairs to discuss this experiment and also to see if they should attempt to find a second test subject. It was agreed that if this experiment was successful there would be no need to abduct a second person. The person they had in the basement was obviously a drifter and wouldn’t be missed by anyone and if they snatched someone else who had family in the area, it might lead to the police getting involved. So far Day 2 was just as the notes had stated, no real changes in the test subjects. Day 3 should be the start of major changes, if the virus had retained its potency.
Nazari said that he wanted to start thinking about how they might use this weapon if the virus was still working and produced the hoped for results. Should they try a small-scale attack in some rural town before unleashing the virus in a major city? The consensus was yes. Bob said there were a number of towns nearby that would make ideal test sites. They could release the virus in an area with a number of people and then if it worked, as the notes indicated, the virus would spread from person to person just like the flu bug. Eventually, after a week’s time, most or all of the town would be infected. The only drawback was that the authorities would definitely be alerted if something of this magnitude popped up, even in a small town. Doctors at the local hospital would surely notify the CDC of the epidemic and eventually the Federal Government would become involved, especially if the rabies portion of the virus started to produce zombie like people roaming the streets. Once they were sure the virus was truly affective they would have to move rapidly to a major city and get the ball rolling.
Alim entered the enclosure on the beginning of Day 3 and the subject was starting to look sickly. He could barely talk because of what appeared to be a badly swollen throat and sweat was running down his face and into his eyes, which were dilated, and very red. His skin had begun to discolor and black and blue blotches had appeared on his face and arms. Alim tried to talk to the subject to see what he was feeling but he refused to communicate. He just stared at Alim with a look of hate in his eyes. Robert Preston knew something bad was happening to his body and he thought back to Day 1 when they had sprayed some substance in his face. He thought about how he could escape his bonds and get out of there. Easier said than done. He felt extremely tired and just wanted to sleep some more.
Alim went back upstairs and told the rest of the group that so far the virus seemed to be performing like Mengele had outlined in his notes. The next two days should really begin to manifest the most outward signs of infection. The group began to plan their next step and finally decided that since Bob was from NYC they would return there to launch their big attack on the American homeland. They could use Bob’s house there as a base of operations and Alim could then return to work at the hospital but be nearby to assist, if needed.
Back at the New York Field Office Howard and his task force were hitting
a brick wall trying to locate the ISIS group. They had some luck with the rental car and even though the license and credit card used to rent the vehicle were stolen, some of the surveillance cameras at the rental location had been in operation and they had a photo of the person who did the car rental. Police and Federal agencies were busy running the photo through their data banks and Howard hoped that someone would come up with a hit. Neither the people nor the vehicle license plate numbers that were distributed came up with any hits and it was like they had fallen off the face of the earth after leaving Wilmington.
Robert Preston sat in his basement chair and wondered why he was feeling so terrible. His whole body ached and his throat felt dry and parched and he could no longer speak. Large black and blue discolorations were appearing on his arms and some had formed boils, which burst and were oozing a yellowish pus and others seemed to be leaking blood. Besides the pain he felt overly aggressive and if he could get loose from his restraints he would rip the head off the man in the chem/bio suit if he ever got the chance. He also felt an increased hunger and could eat anything he came across. He worked at trying to loosen his restraints and one of the arm straps seemed a bit looser than it had been before.
On Day 4 Alim descended to the basement, suited up in the chem/bio suit and entered the clean room. The stranger really looked terrible today. Large boils and sores had popped up on his face and arms and many were oozing a yellowish substance and some even looked like they might be leaking blood. The man appeared to be in a daze and occasionally he struggled with his restraints but they still appeared to be tight and holding fast. Alim again checked his blood pressure and his heart beat and noticed that his pulse was racing at close to one hundred beats. His blood pressure was also much higher, 140/120. If Alim had this man as a patient he would immediately hospitalize him with those readings. The man’s eyes were a yellowish color with blood shot veins running through both pupils. He watched Alim very closely, he seemed to have a guttural growl sound as if he was trying to talk. Alim was amazed at the rate the virus had progressed in just four days. According to entries in Mengele’s experiment notes, Day 5 should have this person either dead, on the verge of death or having turned into some type of zombie creature. Alim had never seen anything like this in his entire career as either a physician or a chemist. He doubted that such a virus could even be engineered during the present day and if it could, what use could our government possibly have for it. Would the United States ever entertain introducing such a virus onto the battlefield even if it were losing the war? Hitler on the other hand had not only manufactured this super virus but had made plans to actually launch an attack on the United States using it. Alim couldn’t envision what was going to happen when they released a canister of the virus on an unsuspecting rural town in New York State in the next few days. It would be like some kind of horror show with the semi-dead roaming the streets and attacking any people they came in contact with, infected or non-infected.
Upstairs the group talked about the next phase of their experiment. By tomorrow they would know what the final results were but so far the virus looked like it could do what the Nazi doctor had said it could. The fact that it could travel through the air like the flu bug meant that hundreds of people could become infected within one week or so . In a larger city this would mean that thousands could be infected or die in less than two weeks and that the virus could travel to other locations through infected people who left the immediate area. The results would be staggering. The U.S. Government wouldn’t know what was happening. ISIS would strike a blow to the U.S. even more lethal than the 9/11 attacks. Entire parts of the country could become infected in weeks or months. Alim said that he doubted the doctors would be able to treat people as the combination of the three viruses would be immune to most modern days medicines currently available.
The group talked some more and decided that if Day 5 turned out as Mengele’s notes indicated, in the next two days they would drive to Tannersville, NY, with a population of 530 and release the virus there. They just had to figure a way to release the virus without getting infected themselves, as they couldn’t walk into town wearing chem/bio suits and start spraying people. Maybe they could release it remotely. Maybe they could find a state fair or public event where a large portion of the town’s people was present. They would see if Tannersville had anything happening soon or perhaps use another town if some large event was taking place and it was not too far from the safe house. Bob said they could watch television for any news and he also had some CB and police radios so they could monitor radio traffic. Surely something would hit the local news if the spread of the virus went as planned.
Aisha did a quick check of the Internet and found that nothing was taking place in Tannersville, NY, in the next few weeks, however, she found that the Broome County Fair was taking place the following week in Whitney Point, NY, which was fairly close by. Another internet check revealed that Whitney Point had a population of 964 people during the 2010 census and so would be an ideal town for their next experiment.
Hassan said he had studied the canisters a bit more and was confident that he could fabricate a mechanical device to activate the canister. He thought he could also connect a timer devise to an activating switch and then the devices and canister could be placed in a backpack and carried to where they wanted to disperse the virus. The backpack could easily be hidden in a large area like a county fair and they would simply preset the timer and leave their package and wait to see what happened. The virus would disperse into the air and passersby would get exposed and eventually they would infect other people in town. The virus might also spread to some out lying areas as a county fair would attract a number of outsiders to it. Hassan said he thought he could have the devices made and tested in the next few days plus the fair didn’t start for a another four days. They would do a one-day practice run on the fair and then place their device. They just needed to see how Day 5 went, however, so far the virus was everything the Nazis had said it was.
On Day 5 Alim donned his chem/bio suit and entered the enclosure. The subject looked extremely pale, however, when he saw Alim he became highly agitated and struggled with his bonds as if trying to get free. Alim waited a few moments and when the subject had settled down, Alim approached the subject to check his vital signs again. He checked his heart rate and found it to be over 160. A normal person would be going into cardiac arrest at that rate. He strapped on the blood pressure sleeve and his reading was 210/170. Alim thought to himself, this man should be dead. Just as he began to undo the pressure sleeve, the subject let out a shriek and suddenly broke lose from one arm restraint. Before Alim knew what was happening, the subject grabbed his arm in a vise like grip and pulled him toward the chair. In the next second he bit down on Alim’s arm and drew blood. Robert Preston felt renewed strength and continued to bite down on the man’s arm. He thought to himself about how much he liked the taste of the blood. He bit down again and again while holding on to the man who screamed and struggled to get free. A piece of flesh came off and Preston chewed it and thought how good this food tasted.
Upstairs the group watched in horror at what they were seeing. Bob jumped up and grabbed a 9 mm pistol from the desk and ran toward the basement door. He descended the steps two at a time and came to the clean room. He didn’t have time to don a chem/bio suit but he did put on a protective respirator and entered the enclosure. The subject was still biting and chewing on Alim’s arm while he screamed in pain. Bob raised the pistol and shot the subject twice in the head. Only then did he relax his bite and grip on Alim. As Alim sunk to the floor with his arm in tatters, Bob again raised the pistol and shot him in the head twice. Alim was dead before his head hit the floor. Upstairs Nazari screamed “What the Fuck!” while the group watched in horror at what had just transpired. Bob exited the clean room, showered and took off the respirator and returned up stairs to finish decontaminating.
TRACKING A TERRORIST
The NY Task force was fin
ally making some headway on the Wilmington Group. The New York City Police Department had made an identification of the mystery person who had rented a car and driven to Wilmington to meet with the ISIS group. A photo analysis revealed that the person was an Alim Maloof, who was a noted physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC. A check of intelligence agencies failed to confirm that he had any affiliation with ISIS and over the past ten years he had never traveled outside the United States. Just how he related to this group was still a mystery to Howard and his group, however, the fact that he met with the group, who were confirmed ISIS members, must have something to do with this operation. Howard and Foster met with the US Attorney to see if he would get them a search warrant for Alim’s house based on the slim evidence they had so far. The Attorney was finally able to find a sympathetic judge who issued a one time only search warrant of the doctor’s home and office.
Howard checked with Mount Sinai to see when the doctor would be on duty and found out that he was on sick leave and the hospital had no idea when he would be back to work. They provided him with the doctor’s home address and Howard, Foster and his group headed downtown to pay the doctor a visit at home.