by David Archer
“One of our lab techs has identified it as a hemolysin, which is a substance that destroys the cell membrane of red blood cells. There are a number of chemicals that do this, but this one seems to do it faster and on a more massive scale than anything that’s ever been known before. It’s a complex amyloid protein, and it literally replicates itself in the bloodstream, almost as if it were alive. This is the type of protein that scientists now believe may have been the earliest form of life, or at least what led to life on our planet. The problem is that it replicates so quickly that it can affect the majority of the red blood cells within a matter of minutes, so the brain and organs aren’t getting the oxygen they need.”
“Good heavens,” Albert said. “Is there any kind of cure?”
“I’m afraid not, sir,” Millie said. “By the time you could diagnose the problem, it would already be too late. There’d be no hope for the patient at all, and we’ve had no luck finding anything that can destroy this particular protein in any case. However, there is a bit more information I should give you.”
“Well, don’t hold it back. What else is there?”
“The protein is delivered in a solution that is very similar to blood plasma, but it contains a wetting agent that prevents it drying for quite some time. This is why even a tiny amount administered to the skin remains active for more than half an hour, and capable of infecting other victims. The wetting agent literally prevents evaporation, by enhancing the natural molecular cohesion of the water molecules. Evaporation requires the molecules to separate, allowing them to convert to a gaseous form. Since this particular vector is designed to remain liquid and vital for up to an hour, it’s been difficult for many of the researchers to separate the protein from the other components, including those picked up from the victim.”
Albert’s mind was racing. “So, if this stuff were to be sprayed around, perhaps in a theater, it might still be dangerous as patrons come in and take their seats?”
“Very likely, yes. Another possibility would be to simply spread on to a piece of paper, which is then handed to the intended victim. Simply touching the paper would be more than sufficient to result in fatal contamination.”
“Dear heavens,” Albert said. “Millie, thank you. Keep me posted if anything else comes up.” He hung up the phone and hurried to Catherine’s office once again. She looked up as he entered, and the expression on his face told her that whatever he had to say was important.
“What is it, Albert?”
“We’ve identified the poison,” he replied as he sat down. “It’s actually an organic protein, one that can duplicate itself over and over so quickly that it spreads throughout the bloodstream in a matter of minutes. It breaks down the membranes of red blood cells, so they can’t carry oxygen. That’s bad enough, but it comes in a liquid matrix that is designed to remain wet for quite some time. What that means is that the protein itself remains active and deadly, so it would be possible to apply the substance to just about anything that a person might come in contact with. I suggested spraying it onto the seats of a theater, but the lab girl said it could be as simple as applying it to a piece of paper and handing it to the victim.”
Catherine’s eyes went wide. “Paper? What about currency?”
Albert shrugged. “I’m sure that would work just as well. Spray down a few hundred quid and toss it in the street, or let a vendor wearing gloves pass them out as they make change. I believe you are correct that what we’ve seen thus far is nothing but testing the formula. Whoever is behind this undoubtedly has much bigger plans.”
Catherine nodded. “I’m certain of it, now,” she said. “I’m going upstairs. C will want to know about this.” She rose from her chair and looked at him again. “Come along, he’s bound to have questions.”
Albert sighed, but did as he was told. He followed her to the elevator and rode to the top floor, where the director’s office awaited them. A receptionist looked up as they entered, her expression telling them that the boss was busy.
“Don’t say it,” Catherine said. “Tell him it’s urgent, on that thing he dropped on me this morning.”
The receptionist hesitated for only a few seconds, then picked up the telephone on her desk and pushed the button. “Catherine Potts and Albert Lingenfelter are here. She says it’s urgent, and has to do with the assignment you gave her this morning.” Her eyes widened as she put the phone down. “You may go right in,” she said.
Catherine smiled and walked past her desk, opening the door into the inner sanctum. Lambril looked up as she entered, followed by Albert, and waited until they had taken seats in front of his desk.
“Well?”
Quickly, Catherine and Albert repeated what he had recently told her, clarifying just how dangerous the situation was likely to become. Lambril listened in silence, waiting until they were finished before he even bothered to ask a question.
“Have we any leads on where this is coming from?”
“Not just yet,” Catherine said. “I’ve assigned Albert to lead the investigation, and I have every confidence…”
“Yes, yes, undoubtedly the best man for the job. However, we’ve got to bring this to an end as quickly as possible. The potential loss of life is bad enough, but the effect on public morale would be absolutely devastating.”
“I agree,” Catherine replied. “We’ll be checking in with his team as soon as we leave here, and I’ll be certain to let you know of any new developments.”
“You do that. I want something done about this immediately. Coordinate with five, we are actually playing in their field at the moment.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. The dismissal was obvious, so she and Albert rose from their chairs and left the office.
“I’ve not the foggiest clue how to find the person behind this, Catherine,” Albert said in the elevator. “Who can design an entirely new protein, one that would have such devastating results?”
“You’re dealing with a biochemist,” Catherine said. “I read an article just recently, something about ‘protein-folding.’ This is the realm of the biochemist, so that’s where you need to start. This protein might’ve been discovered by accident in university, or you could be dealing with someone who feels he’s been treated unjustly, that his work has been stolen from them, or perhaps he’s been terminated from a position he feels should be his own. There’s got to be a motive somewhere, something that drives a person to become that sort of monster. If we can determine the motive, that will help lead to the perpetrator.”
Albert shook his head. “I feel like a detective in some flashy novel. Aren’t they always the ones that come up against impossible odds and still find the answers?” He sighed. “Meet me in the conference room, I’ll gather my team.”
The elevator opened and Albert went back to his office to call his team together. Ten minutes later, they all joined Catherine Potts in the conference room.
“There’s a new development,” he began. “Our lab has managed to isolate the substance and determined that it’s a complex amyloid protein. It seems to be capable of duplicating itself extremely rapidly, and it breaks down the cell membrane of red blood cells. That eliminates their ability to carry oxygen to the rest of the body, and so the victim dies rather quickly.”
Angeline was the first to catch on. “It must be a new protein, then,” she said. “Otherwise, it would’ve been recognized rather quickly. If that’s the case, we need to be looking at pharmaceutical companies, bioengineering companies, that sort of thing. Biochemistry, of course, that’s where most of the work is done with new proteins and organic molecules.”
Catherine smiled at her, visibly impressed. “Very good, young lady,” she said. “Are you familiar with such organizations?”
Angeline nodded. “To an extent, yes. I read a lot, you see, and I’m fascinated by biology. Most of the work in new proteins is designed to developing medicines and delivery systems, but there are also proteins that are designed to have certain deleterious effects
. For example, there’s a new insecticide coming on the market soon that uses a protein that causes chitin to disintegrate. The protein is absolutely harmless to all other forms of animal life, but deadly to insects.”
“Well, this protein is particularly deadly to humans,” Albert said. “That makes it an incredibly powerful tool for terrorism, which is why we are involved in this situation. Can you imagine the terror that would settle in if the people realized they could be exposed to this absolutely anywhere? You have an entire population afraid to leave home. People would starve to death in their own houses, terrified of opening the door to even receive a grocery delivery.”
Liam waved a finger to get attention. “If this is supposed to be making some sort of political statement, we can expect a large-scale attack to come sometime soon. I suggest we start warning the police about the dangers.”
“Are you mad?” Charles asked. “You let the word about this get to the coppers, it’ll be all over the street ten minutes later, and sound a whole lot worse than it really is. Coppers are human, boy, and they’ll naturally want to tell their wives and kiddies. Do you honestly believe any of them will keep it secret?”
Liam glared at the older man. “I think it would be best to prepare those who will be the first to deal with it, don’t you?”
“They’re already as prepared as they’re going to get,” Catherine said. “Police and paramedics have already been warned that this poison is extremely dangerous and that prophylactic measures must be taken. I don’t think giving them a science lesson is going to help the matter any, so we’ll leave things as they are for the moment. Now, the fact that this is a protein gives us new approaches. As the young lady said, we need to be looking at biochemists. Somewhere in the city is a biochemist who is angry for some reason, and who believes that turning himself into the bogeyman is the way to appease whatever demons he has raging inside himself. The first thing to do is compile a list of all former employees of such companies who might be capable of creating this protein, and then determine where each one of them is at the moment. If we can find the reason they no longer are employed, or some information regarding why they might be angry, that could help to narrow our search. Are there any questions?”
All three of the team members shook their heads, so Catherine told them to get to work. They got up and left the conference room without another word, and Catherine turned to Albert.
“Protein or no, this is one of the most deadly poisons that’s ever existed. That makes me think that we might consult experts on being deadly. I’m going to contact E & E, I know that one of their teams is in country at the moment. They might be able to offer insight on the situation, and I don’t think we can afford to overlook any possible source of aid.”
“I know who you mean,” Albert said. “Same ones we had to deal with a month ago. The bloke is all right, but that girl—I’m almost afraid to let them learn about this stuff.”
“Don’t be squeamish, Albert,” Catherine said. “We’ve all known people who would benefit the world by leaving it. Camelot simply helps make the world a better place by assisting some of those in their exit.”
“Yes, but he has the decency to do it face-to-face, with a bullet. Imagine if he could simply send his target a greeting card and know with certainty that his mission would succeed. Nobody should have that much power, nobody.”
Catherine nodded. “I agree, which is why want to bring them in. Albert, this is not a criminal we can lock up and hope to rehabilitate. When we find the person or persons behind this, I want them brought to a sudden and final end.”
Albert, his face leaning down, looked at her from under his eyebrows for a moment. “And you’re taking that upon yourself, are you?”
“Not a bit,” she replied. “I spoke with Her Majesty an hour ago, briefing her on the situation. It was she who contacted the Home Secretary, who then called me. I was instructed to request the elimination of the perpetrators as soon as they are identified, but you interrupted before I had the chance to make the call.”
Albert nodded. “Very well,” he said. “You never know, they might actually be able to help.”
The two of them started to rise from their chairs, but suddenly Catherine’s cell phone rang. She took it out quickly and looked at it, and then her eyebrows rose as she put it to her ear.
“Yes?” she asked. She listened intently for a long moment, then said, “I understand. We’ll get someone out there immediately.”
She ended the call and dropped the phone into her pocket, then looked at Albert with her face ashen.
“Scotland Yard has received a letter,” she said. “The clerk who opened it died only a few moments later, before an ambulance could even arrive. The letter appears to be from our perpetrator, and contains several photographs of people that the writer claims will be targeted and killed within the next twenty-four hours.”
Albert’s face was as dark as her own, but he took out his phone. He dialed one number and said, “Get the others and meet me at my car.” He ended that call and dialed another number instantly. “Millie? Albert Lingenfelter. I need the most brilliant lab technician you’ve got, one who understands exactly what we are dealing with. I’ll come by and collect them on the way to my car.”
He dropped the phone into his pocket and turned to Catherine. “Make your call,” he said. “I need all the help I can get.”
FIVE
Sarah and the other girls arrived an hour later and Noah brought them up to speed on the situation. He’d been following the news constantly and had just heard about the letter received at Scotland Yard.
“Whoever is behind this has some sort of agenda,” he said. “According to the news, the letter was contaminated with the same poison, but it also contained photographs of unidentified people who are supposedly going to be targets, and who will be killed within the next twenty-four hours.”
“This is some bad stuff,” Marco said, a bit of his Cajun accent sneaking into his voice. “A poison that kills that quickly, and something that can be targeted directly at specific people?”
“I’m more worried about what it could do in a large crowd,” Noah said. “This thing could conceivably be used in aerosol dispersal, or some sort of spray system. Hundreds, possibly even thousands could die in a matter of minutes.”
“It’s terrible,” Sarah said. “There could be children in a crowd, even babies. God, what kind of monster could do something like that?”
“Monsters like that are everywhere, nowadays,” Jenny said. “That’s one of the reasons we exist, remember? We take out the monsters before they can hurt anybody else, or at least to make sure they can’t do it again.”
Noah started to reply, but his cell phone suddenly vibrated to indicate an incoming text message. As he took it out to look at it, he noticed all of the others looking at their own.
Teleconference, ten minutes, the message read. Noah didn’t have to look at the number to know that the message came from Allison.
He looked up at Neil. “I hope we’re all ready to go,” he said. “I have a feeling this is connected to the news we’ve been watching.”
They filed up the stairs together and went into the teleconference room that Neil had set up. As soon as they were all seated and in place, he activated the computer and connected to the teleconference channel.
It was nearly five minutes later when the computer signaled an incoming call, and Neil quickly accepted. A moment later, Allison and Donald Jefferson appeared on the screen together.
“We can see all of you,” Allison said. “Are we coming through okay?”
“Yes,” Neil said. “The connection is good, and properly encrypted.”
“That’s good.” Allison’s eyes turned so that it appeared she was looking directly at Noah. “Noah, have you been hearing anything about what’s happening in London?”
He nodded. “Yes, the poisonings. We were just following the news on it when we got the message for this conference. Any updates on the si
tuation?”
“Nothing good, I’m afraid. I got a call forty-five minutes ago from Catherine Potts, asking for our assistance. Apparently the Home Secretary believes it would be best if the person behind this poison were to simply be eliminated. We have an official request from the British government for a sanction on the individual, as soon as he, she or they are identified. Needless to say, that puts you and your team up for the job.”
“So much for the vacation,” Marco grumbled.
“Vacations are for when the work is all done,” Allison said. “In a case like this, when one of our closest international friends requests our help, then it’s time to get busy. Noah, you’ll need to contact Catherine and offer any assistance, because it’s likely they could use your help even in the investigation phase. Something tells me that Neil might be helpful with his computer skills, and you, Marco and Jenny all have experience in ferreting out information. It’s time to put those abilities to work. Sarah, you’ll coordinate transportation of course, and Renée can station herself with Catherine to act as your direct contact. Any questions?”
“Do they have any leads at all?” Noah asked.
“At this point,” Jefferson said, “they are working on the hypothesis that the perpetrator is a biochemist. This poison is organic in nature, a protein that breaks down the membrane of red blood cells. It’s entirely new, something that’s never been seen before, so that indicates that it had to have been created by someone with a great deal of knowledge in biochemistry.”
“What about the letter Scotland Yard received? Have they found any kind of trail that it might’ve left behind?”
“Not when we last spoke to them,” Allison said, “but that’s an area where Neil might be helpful. I doubt their people are half as skilled as he is in the digital sciences. He might be able to find something they miss, or at least narrow down the list of possible suspects.”
“All right,” Noah said. “It’s getting a little late in the day, so I need to call her soon. Anything else before we disconnect?”