The house, more like a mansion really, was enormous. The stone work was immaculate and a massive porch wrapped itself around the length of the mansion. The Humvees pulled up in front on what was now a brick laid driveway circling a large fountain. Major Bradley and Captain Morris exited their vehicles signaling to the others to keep their eyes opened. Chester, with Stephen in tow, stepped out of their vehicle as well and quickly disappeared around the side of the mansion.
Major Bradley and Captain Morris quickly ascended a wide flight of stairs under an archway arriving in front of two heavy wooden doors. A large burnished knocker hung from each door, Major Bradley grabbed the one to the left and knocked three times rapidly. As they waited, both officers looked into the floor to ceiling windows on either side of the door but saw nothing as the curtains were drawn tightly across both. Finally, as Major Bradley prepared to knock again, he heard the sound of someone unlocking the door. With a groan the doors opened inward and revealed a short stout man with a grey beard and white hair dressed in a dark suit. Slightly taken aback by the two military men standing on the porch, the man took a minute to collect himself while looking the Major and the Captain over.
“Welcome to the Worthington residence, my name is Winston, how may I be of service?”
Extending his hand Major Bradley replied, “I am Major Charles Bradley of the United States Army and this is my senior officer Captain Morris.”
“Pleasure to meet you gentlemen,” replied Winston, shaking each man’s hand.
“We were hoping to meet with Mr. Worthington,” continued Major Bradley.
“Ahh, Mr. Worthington. Well I am afraid to tell you that Mr. Worthington is out of town currently. He has been for several weeks now and we are not sure when to expect him back.”
“Of course he is,” Major Bradley replied with a chuckle.
“Do you have any way we can contact him?” asked Captain Morris.
“I am afraid not, I am sure you can appreciate Mr. Worthington’s need for privacy.”
“Well if Mr. Worthington is not available, perhaps we can speak with Dr. Sanderson,” said Major Bradley looking straight into Winston’s eyes.
A hint of recognition and then surprise crossed Winston’s face before he could compose himself and answer the Major.
“Dr … Dr. Sanderson did you say? No, I am not familiar with that name. I know all the staff and guests who live and work here and there is certainly no one by that name here.”
“I see,” replied Major Bradley.
“I am sorry I could not be of more help to you gentlemen.”
“Yes, so are we,” answered Major Bradley. “Perhaps we can leave a message and our radio contact information so that when Mr. Worthington does arrive we can speak with him?”
“Ah yes, that will do just fine.”
“Let me go speak to our radio Specialist to get the frequency we are using.”
“That won’t be necessary Major. I can assure you that Mr. Worthington will gladly contact you at Fort Carson once he has returned.”
“How did you know we came from Fort Carson?” Captain Morris inquired.
“The patch on your shoulder Captain, of course,” Winston answered.
Captain Morris glanced down and looked at his uniform.
“If that is all gentlemen, I bid you a good afternoon,” Winston said as he turned and slowly closed the doors behind him.
Major Bradley and Captain Morris moved down the stairs back to the Humvees silently. Reaching the first Humvee both men turn back around and stared at the mansion.
“Think he is telling the truth about any of that, sir?” asked Captain Morris.
“I doubt it Captain. When it comes to situations involving Worthington it’s hard to know who to trust or what to believe.”
Just then, coming out at a jog from around the house was Chester. He slowed to a walk and approached the two men at the Humvees.
“Ah … Mr. Boone I see we are still up to our old tricks,” said Major Bradley with a half-smile.
“Some habits die hard Major,” Chester said gruffly.
“So, did you find anything of note?” asked Captain Morris.
“The place seems to be free of infected and locked up tighter than a drum. I don’t think he is here.”
Just then Stephen appeared from behind one of the large topiaries.
“I see hanging about with Mr. Boone has rubbed off on you son,” said Major Bradley.
“I guess so sir.”
“What do you have for me?”
“Well, Major I found what looked like an extravagant garage. Two vehicles appear to be missing,” replied Stephen.
“I guess it is safe to say they aren’t here,” said Major Bradley.
“I guess there is no need to storm the mansion then,” said a somewhat disappointed Captain Morris.
“Yes, no need. Let’s mount up and get back to Fort Carson and report our findings. My bosses aren’t going to be very pleased with this after all the strings I had to pull,” said Major Bradley as he climbed back into his Humvee.
“I believe this is where I say I told you so Butch,” said Colonel Jepson after hearing Major Bradley’s mission report.
The Colonel and Major Bradley stood in a large command and control room in NORAD, underground in the Cheyenne Mountain complex. The hum of the generators powering the complex could be heard in the silence as Major Bradley waited for the Colonel to continue.
“The president is not going to like hearing this. And you are sure he wasn’t there.”
“As sure as we could be sir; short of searching the mansion. We drove past his private airstrip on the way back and checked it out. His private jet wasn’t there so it’s a safe bet he is somewhere else; and he probably has the doctor with him.”
“Well if this doctor has found some kind of cure it’s almost a certainty that Worthington has it hidden somewhere with him.”
“I agree sir.”
“The question is how in the world how are we going to find him. Any thoughts Major?”
“Yes sir, on the trip back here I was discussing the problem with my men. Spc. Simmons wondered if this installation had the ability to track the movements of Worthington’s plane.”
“We have had the radar up and running for just over a month now hoping to contact anyone who flies into our airspace from another country.”
“Well if your radar technicians are keeping logs we should be able to track his plane or at least the one being used by the doctor we met at Fort Campbell.”
“Good thinking Major,” Colonel Jepson said turning to look around the room.
“Jackson, bring the radar logs for the past couple of months up here on the double,” Colonel Jepson yelled.
“Yes sir,” came the reply as Pvt. Jackson scrambled to gather the requested charts and paper work.
Taking the logs from Pvt. Jackson, Colonel Jepson and Major Bradley quickly laid them out on the table.
“What are we looking at here son?” Colonel Jepson said gesturing to the maps.
“Well sir, whenever we have a radar contact we record the date, time, and location and then plot its movements on this map overlay. We also record any contact we have with them and the outcome,” Jackson said.
“Alright then, all you need to do is find the entries for when my men and I left Fort Campbell four weeks ago. You should have a radar contact flying into and out of Fort Campbell’s airfield. That is the one the doctor was on,” said Major Bradley emphatically.
The three men started sorting through the log papers looking for the date in question. Jackson found the prize and laid it out before the Colonel and Major.
“Sirs, this looks to be the contact coming out of Fort Campbell at 8 p.m. on Monday the 2nd. It flew into the airfield earlier that evening,” said Pvt. Jackson.
He continued, “Funny thing is we had been tracking that same plane up and down the East Coast for a few days but never made a successful contact.”
“So where
did it go after leaving Fort Campbell?” asked Colonel Jepson impatiently.
“Let’s see. Looks like it flew to Colorado but the abruptly changed course and headed south through New Mexico,” replied Jackson.
“And?” said the Colonel.
“And then it disappeared from our radar shortly after it crossed into Mexican airspace.”
“So what does that mean?” asked Major Bradley.
“It looks like they were descending, probably to either land or avoid further radar contact,” replied Jackson.
“Well it looks like Worthington is on the run with something. Maybe this doctor of yours was on to something,” said Colonel Jepson.
“So what do we do now sir?” asked Major Bradley.
“We survive, Major. That is all that there is left to do.”
“Survive without a cure … unlikely,” thought the Major.
Chapter 40
Reunion
Dr. Sanderson followed Benton out the lab door and turned right down the hall. Benton remained a few steps ahead as they passed the first two examination rooms. Benton arrived first and opened the door to examination room three. Without a word he motioned for the Doctor to enter as Benton followed behind.
The Doctor moved inside as Benton closed the door behind them. He saw Number 5 lying on a hospital bed in the middle of the room. He was still strapped down and appeared unconscious. No real change from the last time the Doctor was here. The room had a small sink along the far wall encased in a vanity with cabinet doors. A silver tray and a stand that held a variety of medical instruments stood off to the right side of the bed. The major addition to the room was Dr. Werner Ehrlich, who was standing just off to the left side of the bed.
Dr. Sanderson looked at Dr. Ehrlich and then back to Benton. He was about to speak when Benton beat him to it.
“Have you met Dr. Werner Ehrlich, Doctor?” Benton asked.
“What the hell is going on here?” Dr. Sanderson demanded even though he already knew the answer. He ignored Dr. Ehrlich.
Dr. Ehrlich extended his right hand.
“Doctor,” he said.
Dr. Sanderson continued to glare at Benton pretending he did not even see Dr. Ehrlich.
The half-smile that Benton had on his face when they entered the room was now gone. It had been replaced with a serious demeanor.
“Please tell us about this,” he said raising his right hand holding one of the SOD1 pills between his thumb and index finger.
“Where did you get that?” Dr. Sanderson inquired.
“From your knapsack upstairs, of course,” Benton answered.
Dr. Sanderson was stunned. He thought he had been so careful. He immediately saw his plan beginning to unravel before his eyes. His mouth opened but nothing came out. His mind began to race. He needed a plan B and quick.
Benton saw the look on Dr. Sanderson’s face and knew he was thinking of a way out of this room but was not concerned. He was not a man who left a lot to chance.
“I have paid you the courtesy of not underestimating you Doctor but I fear you may have underestimated me,” Benton said.
“Overestimated I would say,” Dr. Sanderson replied.
“There are people dying out there Doctor so I will ask one more time; tell me about the pill.”
“It still needs more testing,” the Doctor said. Which was true; he felt confident that it would work but the side effects, if any, were still unknown.
“Perhaps you’re right. The only problem is where to find a suitable test subject,” Benton said looking in the direction of Number 5.
Dr. Sanderson realized immediately what Benton was thinking. He was not entirely sure what would happen if SOD1 was introduced into an infected organism. He had trialed with only a few cells at a time. The experiments concluded absolutely that the SOD1 cells destroyed the infected cells; they did not heal them. But how a larger system, like Number 5, would react as the SOD1 slowly made its way through the body, was an unknown. It could be very dangerous.
“It’s an antidote, not a cure,” he said.
Benton looked over at Dr. Ehrlich as he nodded in agreement to what Dr. Sanderson was saying. It was now clear to the Doctor what Dr. Ehrlich’s purpose here was. He was here to ensure the Doctor did not lie to Benton.
“How long, once ingested, does it take to circulate through the body,” Dr. Ehrlich asked, speaking for the first time since he attempted to introduce himself.
“I estimate about twenty minutes,” Dr. Sanderson answered.
Benton extended his hand holding the pill in the Doctor’s direction.
“Do you require a glass of water,” he asked.
“What?”
“I see no better test subject than the person who created it,” Benton said.
Dr. Sanderson did not know how to respond. He instinctively reached out and took the pill from Benton. He thought about bolting for the door. It was not far away but Benton had strategically placed himself between the Doctor and the door. It would be two against one and the two were both younger and stronger than him. Not to mention they could be concealing weapons. He pleaded with himself to come up with a plan B. Nothing came.
“Not necessary,” he said as he swallowed the pill. If nothing else it would buy him some time.
Benton looked at his watch.
“We’ll give it twenty-one minutes, just to be safe.”
“So,” Dr. Sanderson said “how much will you be charging for the antidote. How much exactly is a life worth, Benton?”
“We will let the market determine the price … I’m nothing if not a capitalist,” Benton said.
“You’re a sick, greedy, bastard.”
“I was hoping we wouldn’t resort to name calling Doctor. I think we’re above that.”
“You can’t get rich if there’s no one left to get rich off of,” the Doctor said. “How much is enough?”
“Wealth will be defined in a different way going forward. Currency will no longer be the standard. Power and influence will rest with those who have what people want. I intend for that to be me.”
Dr. Sanderson said nothing. He was reassessing the man in front of him. It appeared that Captain Bannon and the Major were right after all. This was a megalomaniac who cared for nothing and nobody but himself. Dr. Sanderson was fooled into thinking that simply because the man funded countless types of medical research he was trying to help mankind. He may have been, but for a price.
“Was this the plan all along?” Dr. Sanderson asked.
“The plan, as you refer to it, has taken many forms over the last month,” Benton answered, “but you have been at the center of it from the beginning.”
The Doctor felt an anger rise in him that he had not felt for a long time. No one liked the feeling of being used, he was no different. It was especially galling given that so much was at stake.
“You think this is some kind a game, Benton?” the Doctor asked.
“On the contrary Doctor, it’s deadly serious,” Benton responded with a steely gaze.
Several more minutes passed as no one said a word. Dr. Sanderson evaluated his situation. It was not looking good. Maybe he could make his way over to the surgical tray and pick up a scalpel. Dr. Ehrlich, however, was unfortunately blocking his way. He tried to figure out exactly what this crazy billionaire had in mind. Benton checked his watch for a third time.
“So what happens in seven minutes,” the Doctor finally asked. “Do you give me a physical; run a battery of tests; have me pee in a cup.”
“Of course not Doctor, we don’t have time for that. I have spent the last month setting up a distribution chain that will get this to the most amount of people possible,” Benton said.
“Yes, but for a price.”
“To answer your previous question Doctor, in approximately five minutes we will test the effectiveness of your antidote,” Benton said.
“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” Dr. Sanderson asked.
The half-smile ret
urned to Benton’s face. He looked directly into the Doctor’s eyes causing a shiver to travel the length of Dr. Sanderson’s spine. He paused a moment and then looked over to the hospital bed.
The full horror of what Benton had in mind was now apparent. Dr. Sanderson felt his face blanch. His knees started to buckle and he felt faint.
“I … wont … do it,” the Doctor managed to stammer.
“I don’t see how you have much of a choice Doctor. Where is the courage of your convictions?” Benton replied.
“You can’t be serious,” the Doctor said with a little more confidence this time.
“Perhaps with the proper motivation, you’ll see things differently,” Benton said.
He took a few steps toward the door and knocked twice sharply on its surface. A few seconds later the door opened. Gunner walked into the room; his huge frame barely fitting through the opening. It was, however, the two people he brought into the room with him that shocked Dr. Sanderson.
He watched as his daughter Zoe somehow broke free of Gunner’s grip and ran full speed toward him. Gunner quickly moved forward attempting to grab her when Benton raised his right hand signaling Gunner that is was alright to let her go.
“Dad!” she screamed.
The Doctor opened his arms as Zoe leapt into them. He wrapped them up pulling her tight against his chest. She began to sob tears of joy. As he held his daughter he looked over at his wife Holly, standing in Gunner’s shadow. Her eyes were moist and her lower lip was quivering slightly.
Looking down his eyes met his daughter’s.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Yea, we’re … fine,” she managed to get out.
“Where have you been?”
“We were in Vancouver when they started evacuating,” she said. “They moved us to some military base near Brackendale. We were there for a week or so when they were about to move us again. Mr. Worthington showed up and told us he could bring us to you. So Mom and I left with him.”
Dr. Sanderson glared at Benton and then looked at his wife. Benton turned around and nodded at Gunner who let Holly Sanderson go. She walked quickly toward him. A second later all three were in an embrace in the middle of examination room three.
The Zombie Principle Page 34