“They underestimated Exidor. They underestimated its nature. They thought they could control it. They thought they could contain it. But they couldn’t. The virus is…unique. In fact, it’s the most unique organism on the planet,” Lee said with sense of admiration in his voice.
“Why? What makes it so unique?”
“It’s the largest known virus of its kind. Containing the most complex sets of DNA sequences known to mankind. Larger than the original strain. And that makes it one hell of a damn intelligent virus. Capable of spreading faster and more effectively than any other carrier known to man. Invades the host in just a matter of hours. Then kills it within days.”
“Days?”
“Yes, Mr. James. Days. It’s airborne. And it grows exponentially. If it ever got out, the whole northern region could be infected within two months. The States. Canada. And in six, you could wipe out the entire western civilization. Give it a year, half of the world. Add another six months to that, we’ll all be extinct. The virus can’t be contained. It can’t be stopped. No one will survive. Not without the vaccine.”
“The vaccine?” said James.
A glint of joy flashed through Lee’s eyes.
“Yes. The vaccine. She’d discovered it. Tara had discovered it.”
* * *
THE MAN WALKED up to the information counter and checked the big LCD screen hung above the information booth. A string of lines displayed information on flight arrival and departure times. He thumbed through each until he found a U.S Airways flight ready for boarding.
“Terminal 5. That’s it. The International Terminal,” he thought.
He smiled a small grin and then approached the nearby desk that was stationed at the right hand corner of the lounge. A lanky lady sat behind the desk. She flashed a polite smile at him.
“Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?”
He smiled a roguish grin back at her.
* * *
“THE VACCINE, MR.JAMES,” he said, “The vaccine. I have the formula for it, right here, in this very tablet. Tara had given it to me just days before she’d died so tragically. And she wanted me to get it away from them as far as I could. Get it to the right people. But the Russians want it back badly. And they’re going to kill me to get…this,” Lee said, jabbing his index finger on the screen of the tablet furiously.
James fell silent upon hearing his revelation. He weighed in his words gravely. Then looked at the harmless looking tablet resting on the table top.
“No one else has the formula?” James said.
Lee shook his head without taking his eyes of James.
“No.”
“Christ.”
“Yeah. I know. Can you imagine what they would do if they ever got their hands on something like this?”
James contemplated the question. He knew what could happen.
“If the virus ever got out, do you know what this formula could be worth? They could launch a full scale bio-terrorism attack and hold an entire country hostage if they ever wanted to. Set a collision course between two superpowers at the price of a vaccine. All hell would break loose at that point,” Lee said nervously.
James eyed Lee silently.
“Shit,” he thought.
“Is that the reason you’re hiding here. Right here in the terminal. At the airport?”
Lee nodded his head in acknowledgement.
“It’s…it’s…the best place I can think of for now. They can’t bring in guns without going through the security checks, right?” Lee said.
James nodded his head. It was a good plan. But critically flawed in one aspect.
“Yeah. But you know you can’t hide in here forever, right?”
Lee didn’t say anything. He eyed James solemnly.
“Why can’t you go to the authorities? I mean right here in the United States?”
“Because Mr. James…,” he paused.
“It’s not just the Russians who want the formula.”
16
LEE DAWSON SLID the tablet towards James.
James looked at the tablet. There was a page long research on it. It titled ‘VACCINE EXCIPIENT & MEDIA SUMMARY FOR V-19-9-N145’. Beneath it, a chemical formula printed in bold subbed it. James looked at Lee.
“This is the formula for Exidor?”
“Yes,” Lee confirmed.
“Can you imagine Mr. James? There would be total chaos. The CDC is not prepared for this kind of situation. In the absence of a viable vaccine, it would be virtually impossible to contain the spread of the virus. And if this vaccine were to fall in the wrong hands, they could make all sorts of demand. And they don’t even have to launch an actual assault. Just the threat of the damn thing alone could send the government reeling down to their knees. Send the stock market spiraling into a free fall. Then they could hike up the price of the vaccine and provide them to the highest bidders on the black market. To terrorists. Extremists. Dictators. People who have no clue or idea about the ramifications of releasing such a virus into the world,” Lee said.
“But how did you get it?”
Lee fell silent for a brief moment.
“Tara?” James asked.
Lee nodded his head.
“They plan to use Exidor. Soon.”
James’ heart skip a beat.
“How…soon?”
“As soon as they get their hands on this,” Lee said, pointing to the tablet in James’ hand.
“Who are…they?”
“A secret underground agency. Call themselves the… Black Widow. They’ve hired the Russian Mafia to get the vaccine back from me.”
James felt his brow twitch.
“The former soviet terrorist organization?”
Lee was surprised at his admission.
“Yes. But how did you…,”
“Not good. These people…they’re trained professionals. They’ll find a way to get to you. And if they find you at this terminal they’ll kill you and your family on the spot once they get what they want. You have to get away,” James interjected quickly.
Lee’s eye shimmered with terror. Felt his weedy limbs shake and tremble as a paralyzing fear washed over him. The color in his face turned a shade paler than it already was.
“Do you have any idea what they’re planning to do?” James asked.
Lee nodded his head slowly. Then swung his head over his shoulders to check on his kids. Nancy was there. But Tim wasn’t.
He panicked. Got up. Looked around hastily. Then looked at his daughter.
“Nancy, did you see your brother? Where is he?” he asked her, “Why didn’t you tell me where he was going?”
Nancy gestured toward a small body that walked towards them.
“He’s over there. Coming out from the restroom, see? I told you, dad, but you weren’t listening. You were talking to Mr. James.”
A few seconds later, Tim reappeared at the table again and sat himself down contently: unaware of the panic he’d just caused his father.
Lee shook his head and then sighed in relief. Then turned his attention to James.
“Thank God. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them,” he proclaimed.
Then sat on his seat. Then abruptly got up again.
“Excuse me, Mr. James. Could you excuse me for a second?”
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll watch over…”
Lee dashed off. Didn’t hear him. Pushed and shoved chairs and tables out of his sight. Held his hands tight to his mouth. Ran at breakneck speed towards the men’s restroom.
“He’s going to throw up,” James thought. “Then again who could blame him? Not everyone could stomach a situation like this.”
It was a lot to handle.
* * *
THE TABLET LAY on the table. James eyed it and then picked it up. Stared blankly at the dark screen. It was turned off. He slid his finger to the top to click the power button but noticed something in the reflection of the screen. There was a man. A lofty man, draped in a long black overcoat that was
watching him from behind. Up on the second floor, standing beside the passenger lift. Staring down intently at him, holding a plastic cup and sucking a straw stuck in it. Observing his every move and action keenly.
James switched on the screen calmly. Pretended as if he hadn’t noticed a thing. Made a mental note of the man behind him: black suit, red tie, about five-feet-six with a fairly athletic stature. Dark haired. Dark shades. Military gait. No doubt about it.
He was a hired gun.
* * *
LEE RETURNED TO the table looking only slightly better than he’d left. The color in his face returned slightly. But he still looked like he’d seen a ghost. His eyes twitched and his hands trembled anxiously.
“Mr. James, I’m sorry for that. It’s just too much to handle,” he apologized. Then fished out a clean white towel from his pocket and swiped it across his perspiring forehead.
James nodded his head lightly.
“That’s just the start,” he thought.
17
THE MAN WATCHED him eagerly. Lee sat down in front of a man whose back was facing him. Couldn’t make out his face. But at least, he knew, he wasn’t dressed up like a cop. Didn’t look like the professional type either. He was dressed in a pair of old jeans and dirty tees. Scruffy looking. Raggedy-ass. No luggage whatsoever. And even with his back against him, he caught the ripped hole in his tattered jeans.
“What, is he like a hobo or something?” he thought, “And what the hell was Lee doing with this guy?”
He wasn’t made aware that Lee was with someone else other than his family. Or was he? Looks could be deceiving, he knew. Even the most seemingly innocent face could hide the cruelest of intentions. Maybe this guy was an operative. Maybe another interested party? Maybe Lee was selling the package to him?
“They seem to be bouncing the tablet back and forth,” he observed.
The thought lingered in for a minute or so and then it struck his mind.
“They’re negotiating the price,” he surmised.
The man took a sip of his iced café. Decided to lay low for the moment. Just observe. Survey. Watch them. Keep an eye on the target, like an eagle watching its prey: undetected. Find an opening. Then go for in the kill. Grab the package. Kill the target.
* * *
“WHY NOT JUST destroy it?” asked James.
“They can’t release the virus if they don’t have the vaccine, right?”
Lee nodded his head. Then shook his head from side to side. The nod told James that he’d acknowledged the question and he’d considered it. The sway from left to right told him it wasn’t an option.
He took the tablet from the table and pressed a button by its side. The dark screen flickered to life. Then he clicked a few buttons and hit enter.
“Look,” he said, placing the tablet back on the table.
James looked down at the screen. A somewhat ghostly green model of an eerie set of intertwining helical structure appeared. It floated aloofly in three dimensional space.
“The vaccine is unique. First of its kind,” Lee said, his voice still shaky and agitated. “It’s still in the experimental phase but the test data is extremely promising. Shows close to a hundred-percent immunization rate. A hundred percent, Mr. James. Even in the presence of a severely weakened immune system. Do you know what that means Mr. James?”
James shook his head.
“It means not only is the vaccine able to immunize a person against the smallpox virus, but, at some basic level, it’s able to repair the immune system as well. This vaccine could serve as a base immunization for other infectious diseases as well. Not just for the small pox or a variation of it, you see. But maybe HIV. Or H1N1. Or the Avian flu, for example,” Lee said with a tinge of admiration in his voice.
“Mr. James, if this smallpox virus ever got out, even by mistake, and we do know that it has happened before, we need an effective agent to combat it. This is probably our only hope to contain the breakout. But more than that, it also represents the potentiality of eradicating all known infectious diseases. Once and for all,” he said.
“Jesus,” James exclaimed.
18
THE MAN STOOD, silently observing his target. Like a hungry wolf watching its prey from a concealed distance. Sure that they didn’t notice him. Sure that he was well placed and hidden from sight. On the upper floor of the atrium, beside the lift. Sure that it provided enough cover to hide himself from their direct line of sight. With easy access to the lower floors if needed.
He saw Lee slide a tablet towards the mysterious man sitting in front of him. Pointing to an image that flashed on its screen. The man’s lips creased into a thin smile. The package.
Then the mysterious man in front of Lee got up. Headed away from Lee. Didn’t take the tablet with him. Instantly felt a wave of relief and delight hit him. Whatever deal the man was offering Lee had fell through. And he’d walked away from it without getting what he wanted. And neither did Lee. Foolish man, he thought. He should have accepted whatever offer the man was peddling. Beggars were no choosers. He was lucky enough at that stage to be alive. But all that was about to change soon.
Lee stood up a few minutes later. Then put the tablet back into his bag. Slung it over his shoulders and sauntered over to bar.
“Now’s my chance,” he thought.
The man darted into the elevator, punched a button and waited for the doors to close. It slid shut promptly and the lift scooped down to the lower floor. When it reached the lower atrium, he stumbled out, turned a corner and spotted Lee returning from the bar with a cup of coffee in his hand. He moved towards him, but a towering stranger blocked his path and shoved him back forcefully into lift. Then slammed a button and the doors reeled shut.
He instantly recognized the stranger. He looked taller than he was sitting down. The mysterious man whom Lee had been talking to before.
“You…”
The stranger looked at him squarely in the eyes. Then leaned his head in towards his ears and growled, “I’m going to tell you this only once…”
“Leave him alone.”
The man cried a cynical laugh.
“Or…what?”
“Or…you’ll never walk again,” the stranger threatened.
He chuckled, then placed his right hand on the man’s left shoulder.
“That’s my line,” he said. Then swung a powerful upper cut into the stranger’s torso. But the stranger sidestepped his swing deftly and launched a powerful jab into his throat. The blow instantly crushed his larynx like a bale of paper being smashed into a thin piece of pulp. He felt the blood gurgling in his throat. Then tasted the ferum that spurted upwards into the chamber of his mouth and choked on it.
He fell to his knees. Hands wrapped around his throat with his mouth gaping wide open. Desperately tried to suck in a breath of fresh air. But the stranger swung his heavy boot straight into his lower jaw and forced it shut with a loud snap. It instantly shattered three of his molars. A powerful shock wave reverberate through his skull and then saw his vision darkened. His senses fell numb and he lingered between the states of conscious and unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered thinking before his face hit the hard slab marble was: who the hell was this man?
19
JAMES PRESSED A button and the doors of the lift scraped wide open. Before he stepped outside, he clicked another button and hopped out before the steel doors could shut in on it selves.
The unconscious man lay inside the lift. Someone would discover him soon. Then alert the security officers. Then call in the paramedics. Rush him to the ICU. Maybe call his time of death. Bury his cold dead body. Or if he was lucky to be alive, someone would be feeding him liquid down his throat for the rest of his life. That someone was sure as hell wasn’t going to be him.
A voice spoke at the back of his mind.
“So that others may live.”
The cardinal rule that he’d strived live by. He thought about it long and hard. Was his actions rig
ht? Leaving a man like that for dead? He was still breathing, last time he checked. Should he have just ended his life? Save everyone the trouble of letting a bad guy like that live. He wasn’t sure. “Should I play judge, jury or executioner?” he asked himself. He finally gave up trying to answer the question. He shoved the thought aside. He didn’t care. That question wasn’t worth asking for a low-life scum bag like him.
The familiar dictum played again in his head.
“So that others may live.” The cardinal rule of the Angels.
That rule applied to the innocent, he reasoned. He turned the corner and spotted Lee muttering something to his two children. Arms wrapped tenderly around their little frames. He squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head beside theirs. Then saw him breathe a long heavy sigh. Like it was the last time he was ever going to see them.
“The others,” muttered James.
Could he save them? The others, he thought.
He felt a cold chill traveling down the back of his spine. It was Afghanistan happening all over again.
Cardinal Rule: A James Kendrick Thriller Page 5