“Is he spraying the fruit from the flower on his jacket?” asked Jacques.
“It appears so. We have several shots of this same man leaning over various misted fruits and vegetables at the Farmer’s Market in Notting Hill. It appears that all of the fruits and vegetables he sprayed are eaten with the skins left on, like grapes, strawberries, plums, and apples. He was in the market about two days before Notting Hill virus victims started filling the hospitals in London.”
“Bingo,” said Ian.
“It gets better. Because of the high density of surveillance cameras that have been installed in London since 9/11, we have this same man in the Heathrow Airport a couple of hours before his appearance at Notting Hill, then again a couple of hours after. And we have him riding the London subway from the airport to Notting Hill and back.
I searched the airline flight reservations data bases and discovered this man flew into Heathrow from Sao Paulo, Brazil and flew out to Munich, Germany six hours later. The time in London was spent riding the subway to Notting Hill, the time at the Farmer’s Market and the time riding the subway back to Heathrow. We have videos of him on the subway also, so we even know which cars he rode on. Outward appearances indicate his whole purpose in stopping in Notting Hill was to hover over fruits and vegetables in the Farmer’s Market. Like I said before, fruits and vegetables usually eaten unpeeled, like strawberries and grapes.”
Ian focused on watching the snippets of video, then asked, “Have you determined his ID?”
Alicia answered, “His name is Karl Brandt. He and his father, Rolf, own a pharmaceutical company in Sao Paulo. He has a son, Kurt, graduating from the Technical University in Munich, Germany. I would like to have him arrested, but we have no arresting authority, plus no conclusive proof of wrong doing. He could claim he was killing time between flights, and the mysterious mist between him and the fruits and vegetables was an anomaly in the misting system,”
Serena sat up straight. “No, don’t arrest nor question him. We have to dig deeper into the terrorist plot and Brandt’s role in it. He probably thinks he got away clean from creating a pandemic in Notting Hill, and we need to let him continue to think he did.”
“We’ve been monitoring his communications for the past two days and overheard him tell his grandson, Kurt, in Munich, that they will be taking their sailboat from Sao Paulo up through the Caribbean to Cuba when Kurt visits home in late July.” Alicia pulled up a map of Cuba and pointed at the screen. “This is probably where they’ll transfer the weapon. The Jamaran and the Tareq will probably pier up in Mariel, Cuba, and Brandt’s sailboat will probably pier up in Havana.”
“We can intercept them in Cuba,” Serena said, thinking out loud.
“You won’t create an international incident, will you, Serena?” asked Alicia.
Serena turned to address Ian, Jacques, and Desiree, “Have we ever caused an international incident?” she asked with a wicked grin.
“No, uhn uh, of course not,” they replied, each trying to maintain a straight face.
“We have another request,” said Serena. She handed Alicia the eyeglass camera and the control micro-switch. “Jacques has managed to photograph most of the crews of the two Iranian Peace Tour platforms. We need to identify each of them and determine which are known terrorists.”
“Wheeuw. You guys never let up, do you? You’ve already used gobs of my analysts’ time and computer assets to ID this Brandt character.”
“We know, and we appreciate your efforts. This request is as critical as the Notting Hill request. We need to confirm there are known terrorists involved so we can ask for deterrence assets.”
“Can you have the Chairman call me and make an ‘official’ request?”
“He’ll call the head of NSA today and express his thanks again for your fine work finding Brandt. The four of us personally thank you again.”
“You’re entirely welcome.”
Thirty-Two
Karl pointed to the Excel chart on the computer display and said, “These are gratifying results. The girl had an average fever of 103 degrees for nine days and the boy had an average fever of 104 degrees for eight days. Their cellular attributes from the time of inoculation until the fever broke show about nine and eight years of aging, respectively.” Karl switched displays to side by side photos of the girl before and after and added, “I estimate she was about sixteen years old prior to, and about twenty-five years old after the fever period. Accounting for her street life making her look older than she really was. What do you think?”
Rolf studied the photos and replied, “I agree, the girl appears to have aged about one year for each day of high fever both in cellular change and physical appearance. I’m sure the Notting Hill results were the same, even though the media didn’t mention the aging effects.”
“The male drug dealer’s results corroborate the girl’s results. I think we’re ready to take our product to the ship. The delivery vehicle will be arriving in Cuba prior to hurricane season,” Karl added.
“I wish we had an antidote before we unleash this little beauty on the world at large.”
“We don’t, and our sponsor would be severely displeased if we don’t hold up our end after they’ve sent two ships halfway around the world. Besides, the virus is only viable for one to two days once it’s launched into the water-borne environment. It will spread person to person like any other virus through coughing, food, and water handling and can be contained with the right kind of safeguards. The beauty of this exercise is that no one will be expecting it, and they haven’t developed any antidote yet. The United States will be in chaos for weeks afterwards and our sponsors will be mightily pleased.”
“Not to change the subject, but Kurt will be arriving here in a couple of days, and we can sail to Cuba with our delivery a few days later. He’s excited to be able to take a short break from his internship and go sailing. He was surprised to be able to have permission to take a leave.”
“You didn’t tell him we pulled some strings?”
“Of course not. He doesn’t know Doctor Krause, his internship mentor, is an old friend.”
Rolf continued, “Kurt wants to discuss his choice of specialties with you.”
“Good. I hope you explained to him how busy I am, but we’ll have some one-on-one time together on the yacht.”
“I did. He hinted he would like to do some tourist sightseeing in Europe prior to taking on a specialty. He said he’s spent his whole life studying and preparing to become a doctor and is looking forward to our sail through the Caribbean.”
“He’s a young man, and it’s good for him to enjoy life as long as he keeps his eye on the goal.”
“We need to explain his role in the Select and the glorious future that awaits him.”
Karl stopped staring at the computer display and looked at Rolf. “I’ve put off telling Kurt of his future role for a long time. I’m not as good at father-son talks as you were with me. I understood my place in the plan right away, but Kurt is a modern thinking youth and doesn’t appreciate our heritage like we do.”
“We’ve picked out the perfect wife for him to rule the Select by his side. Kurt, Aloisia, and their offspring can be god-like immortals, kings and queens, ruling a world without pollution, without mongrels, giving the earth back its pristine glory. We’re grooming a fourth elite generation of Select with power, influence, money, connections, good breeding, and are intellectually and physically superior to the rest of the world. How can anyone think that’s not worth having?”
“A race of immortal Selects is our dream, but remember we haven’t developed the immortality serum yet, and haven’t even developed the antidote for some of the pathogens we’ve already created, including this Notting Hill virus.”
“All in good time my son, all in good time.”
Karl returned to studying his little nano-machines of death, alive yet not alive, mindlessly replicating, following their own biological software-like algorithms. Karl loved
, if he could love anything, his beautiful amoral creations.
Kurt felt relieved and disappointed when Heinrich picked him up at the airport rather than his father, Karl, or his grandfather, Rolf. Heinrich wasn’t much of a conversationalist, but he did ask Kurt if he was looking forward to the upcoming trip. Kurt told Heinrich he always looked forward to the summers at sea. Heinrich dropped Kurt off at the sailboat and told him to get a good night’s rest.
The next morning Kurt checked out the boat’s readiness for sea, inventoried the pantry, topped off the fuel and oil for the auxiliary gasoline engine, checked the electrical generator, topped off the fresh water tank, conducted radio checks, inspected the sails and rigging, and performed all the ready-to-sail checks he had learned over the years. He dove under the boat with scuba tank, mask, and fins, inspected the keel, and picked off a few barnacles with a Bowie knife.
Working on the sailboat in the fresh salt air wearing only boat shorts and sandals invigorated Kurt after years of study at university. He served as the sailboat’s co-captain, navigator, engineman, and general tar, the last five years. Fortunately, his grandfather liked to cook and maintain the galley, so Kurt didn’t also have to be the chief cook and bottle washer. Karl liked being the captain, but spent the majority of his time conducting business over satellite internet and reading on deck in shorts and sandals. Karl did enjoy snorkel and scuba diving with Kurt, especially when he managed to spear an edible fish.
Heinrich picked Kurt up in the early afternoon so they could buy the perishable supplies needed for the month-plus long cruise. They delivered Kurt’s purchases to the boat, and after Kurt stocked the pantry and the refrigerator, Heinrich drove Kurt to Karl’s jungle house outside of town.
That evening Rolf served Karl and Kurt one of his gourmet quality dinners of delicious smelling and tasting grilled Brazilian meats and sautéed vegetables, fresh salad, and a chocolate frosted chocolate cake. Kurt noticed that each summer his grandfather’s cooking improved and so did his girth. Kurt considered that if cooking delicious meals made him happy, then so be it.
Kurt patted the letter from Leora he carried in his shirt pocket. He wanted to and was going to announce that he was in love with Leora. He had read her letter so many times he could recite it, but he needed the right conditions before he could mention Leora to his father and grandfather. They would have a difficult time understanding. They seemed hell-bent on directing his future.
Kurt helped Rolf clear the table and place the dishes into the dishwasher.
When they returned to the living room Karl opened a safe behind a professional copyist’s rendition of the 1887 painting of the Four Horsemen by Victor Vasnetsov using the numbers 16, 21, 19, and 45, Karl’s lucky numbers. Karl envisioned himself as the Pale Rider of the Four Horsemen with his brass quiver full of poisoned arrows.
Karl extracted a leather bound book from the safe and handed it to Kurt. “It’s about time you read our most highly prized book. It contains highlights of the history of our family, the Select and our mission. Read it carefully and we’ll discuss what you’ve learned and answer all the questions you may have. Lock it back up when you’re through. Your grandfather and I are going to play a game of chess, have a night cap, and call it an evening. We have much to do tomorrow to prepare for our trip.”
Kurt sat in an overstuffed leather-covered armchair, flipped the pages of the heavy book to the Select family section, and read about the Dietrichs, a German pedigreed family living in Argentina who own a large cattle ranch, which they bought with WWII stolen gold. Another German family, the Webers, left Germany near the end of WWII, then returned to start a yacht building company. They had built the 65-foot sailing yacht Karl owned.
Another family, the von Hapsburgs, owned a munitions factory specializing in foot soldier weapons, such as rifles, handguns, grenades, tasers, and night vision devices. A recent addition to the von Hapsburg’s write up featured an article describing their startup venture to build unmanned aerial vehicles.
The family patriarch, Baron Frederich von Hapsburg, claimed a pedigree reaching back to Henry V, who was the King of Germany from 1099 to 1125 AD. More interesting to Kurt was the Baron’s daughter, Aloisia, whom Karl had attempted several times to encourage Kurt to pursue. Kurt had met Aloisia in many formal and informal venues, and had seen her around campus. He should have been attracted to her, since she was beautiful, intelligent, and athletic, and possessed all the attributes to be Miss World. Perhaps his father’s pressure to pursue her and her privileged and haughty attitude turned him off.
Another family, the Hahns, had a mid-level German politician as its patriarch. Kurt was surprised at the number of Select families and how diverse their interests were. He recognized that a characteristic of each Select family was that the family members tended to follow the same professional lines, whether they were lawyers, doctors, manufacturers, or whatever.
Kurt’s clear blue eyes widened as he read the chapter entitled, “Final Solution,” which declared the Select were destined to inherit the earth, and all the mongrels that rape and pillage the ecology were to be destroyed when the Select takes over stewardship for the earth and serve as immortal kings and queens. Kurt heard a noise and looked up to see his father standing nearby dressed in his night robe with his traditional bed time glass of warm milk in his right hand.
“What does the ‘mongrels will be destroyed’ mean?” Kurt asked.
“They’re in the process of destroying themselves. Our part of the effort is key to the Select’s eventual rule. We’ve been working on a replication error elimination virus which will eliminate errors from cell duplication. We’ll become immortals who do not age. We’ve been developing viruses for over seventy years for a variety of purposes, cell duplication error acceleration, cell duplication error elimination, pathogens to kill the general population, and pathogens to kill specific ethnic groups.
We’ve also been developing antidotes for everything we’re working on, but we do not have a full set of pathogens or antidotes yet. We have developed some pathogens that are currently unknown to the world . . .” Karl paused to let the information sink in, then continued, “Well, good night. See you early in the morning.” Karl turned and left the room before Kurt could respond.
“Good night,” Kurt replied in Karl’s absence. Kurt tried to control his revulsion to their schemes, knowing full well that their plans for the Select might trump his plans for his own individuality and his life with Leora due to patriarchal consideration. He had seen signs of their mentality often in his upbringing, but didn’t realize how deep or wide their madness reached. The fact that his father’s and mother’s marriage had been arranged seemed like some old world tradition, not a conspiracy.
He had always wondered about the secrecy that his father and grandfather had about some aspects of their work at their pharmaceutical company, their out of country trips for days and weeks at a time, and the building that Kurt suspected was a secret laboratory behind the jungle house. They kept the gate locked which led to the suspicious building, and he had never been invited inside.
He’d spent his youth in military academies, prep schools, and universities. He only came home to visit during holidays and one month during the summers prior to going to university, and only for a month during the summers since starting university. He knew Karl and Rolf had both spent time in Africa and in the jungles of South America to hunt big game, but there were only two antelope head trophies in the den representing several safaris. His father had explained that he preferred to hunt with a camera, but Kurt knew his father was an expert marksman with pistol and rifle, and there were few photographs of animals or landscapes to corroborate Karl’s story.
Kurt loved his father and grandfather. They had always treated him well and provided the best for him. They had been too busy to spend much time with him, but the time spent was for the most part quality time. He had lived at home for the six years of elementary school, then Karl enrolled him in a prestigious mil
itary college preparatory school for the last six years of junior and senior high school. The two main reasons he had been sent off to military school was his mother’s death and his father’s inability to function as a nurturing parent, not necessarily in that order.
Apparently, his father and grandfather had his future planned like a pawn in a larger scheme of things. Kurt obtained his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering at Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München, or LMU in Munich, because he enjoyed science and technology, then with his father’s and grandfather’s somewhat overbearing encouragement, he switched over to medicine at LMU, which was also one of Germany’s finest medical research universities. He had less than a year to go to complete his medical internship. His father and grandfather encouraged him to become a medical doctor focusing on research rather than a general practitioner.
Once he completes his specialty training, his father intends to teach him how to run the pharmaceutical company, and his father and grandfather intend to teach him all they know about virology, genetics, and microbiology so he can continue their work. It all seemed so cut and dry, but they never took into consideration what he wanted to do, and now that he knows their end purposes, he must dissuade them from including him in their plans.
Kurt noted the stacks of Euros in the safe, but left them untouched. He locked the book in the safe and pushed the Four Horsemen painting flat against the wall. He headed toward his bedroom, but couldn’t stop thinking about all he had learned this evening. He always looked forward to sailing their yacht around the Caribbean every summer when he was home from school.
He vaguely remembered two summer treks where he observed them providing medical care to an indigenous Brazilian tribe. Were they helping the tribe or using them as guinea pigs? Now he wasn’t so sure. He couldn’t accept that they were evil men with an evil agenda.
During his time at the Munich University he had heard about Hitler and the Nazi plan for the super race, but it all seemed surreal. The people he knew distanced themselves from Germany’s dark past as though the Nazis and the Holocaust happened in a different universe, and tried to focus on Germany’s bright future. His father and grandfather always seemed superior to him in the nose to the grindstone dedicated to their work kind of way, but not in the Nazi kind of way. He never expected to be trapped in a dystopian future of madness in his own family.
The Honorable Knight Page 24