2022 (19 page)

“The interrogation room has a two-way mirror.
They could watch from the other side,” Spencer said.

Sue agreed, and Spencer led them to where
they could observe Mikhail. He was strapped to a wooden chair in
the center of a dimly lit room.

“We need a table in there with a laptop that
connects to the public Internet,” Richard said.

“Right away,” Spencer said

Olivia, Sue, and Diane watched through the
mirror as the table and laptop were set up. Spencer returned to the
observation room and Richard entered the interrogation room.

“Mikhail,” he said as he walked in.

Mikhail smiled, “Well…Richard. Since you’re
not tied up beside me, I must assume that you were the one that
gave me up.”

“It wasn’t me, oddly enough. Though I did try
a while ago, but they didn’t believe me and thought I was in on all
of this with you.”

“It doesn’t really matter. As I told the
others, it’s too late. I would like to have been with my family and
lived to a ripe old age, but I’m ready to die for this cause. My
kids and grandchildren will have a much brighter future, the same
future that you envisioned for your villages.”

“This is nothing like what I’ve been working
for. There are core issues I’m addressing that you’ve ignored, like
the environment, economics, and government. Things may be better
off for a while, but the same cycle will happen again.”

“In maybe a thousand years. I’m sure that
future generations will work things out.”

“You‘re full of surprises, Mikhail. But I
have a few of my own. I want you to watch something.” Richard typed
a web address into the computer and opened several programs. He
took out his cell phone and dialed a number. “I have the feed. Pan
the camera slowly, and make sure to capture everything.”

The image on the screen displayed a group of
people tied to chairs placed in a circle. The cameraman stood in
the center and the video showed each person, stopped for a moment,
and went on to the next in a circular fashion.

“I can do what governments and law
enforcement can’t do, or would at least take a while to get
approval for,” Richard said. “I’ve gathered your closest friends
and your family too, as you can see in this video.”

Mikhail pulled against his restraints. “What
are you up to?”

“You may have control over the world, but if
this virus is released, I’ll make damn sure the last few days of
your life will be watching all of these people die a horrible
death. You’re not the only one with a lethal virus, and I’ll make
sure they get no medication to relieve the pain they’ll
suffer.”

“You don’t have the guts to do that.
Remember, you hired me to do your dirty work.”

“Who came up with the idea of the virus to
begin with? All I need to do is say the word to the person on the
other end of this call, and it’ll be done. Just like I did with you
several times. I assure you I’ll have no problem issuing that
order. One last thing—your wife, knows you’re in control of her
future. I’ll see to it when I give the order that I turn on the
audio feed so that you can hear her.”

Mikhail’s mind raced and all his pulses
drummed in his ears. He cared deeply for his family, but he had had
hundreds of his friends vaccinated. There would still be more than
enough to start a new world.
Would Richard actually give the
order?

“There
is
another option,” Richard
said. “You could stop the virus, and I’ll make sure that your wife,
children, and friends, remain safe. I’ve just spoken to the DIR.
She’s arranging for you to get away and not be charged. You will,
of course, be deported, but I’m sure your home country will take
you back. You and your family will live, you’ll be with them, and
your CURE organization will stay alive to fight another day. That’s
it—I‘ve got nothing more to leverage against you or to offer
you.”

“Is the deal to set me free in writing?”

“Sue is working on it now. From what I
understand, this will have to be a very limited time offer. You
have ten seconds, and if you decide against it, God help me, I’ll
shoot bullets into your legs until you agree.” He said as he pulled
his gun out from his jacket pocket.

“I’ll do it,” he said after only a moment of
hesitation, “but only after my lawyer reviews the paperwork. I
don’t want more trickery.”

It took several hours to reach his lawyer and
arrive at agreement on the wording of the pardon to his
satisfaction. The others watched tensely through the two-way mirror
as Richard reentered the interrogation room.

Diane felt the bulk of her revolver under her
coat as an inner rage built within her.
He’s going to get away
with killing hundreds of people, including my brother
.

Olivia felt mentally exhausted. The last few
days, in particular, had frayed her nerves, and although disturbed
that Mikhail would stay unaccountable for his crimes, she was
relieved that the virus would not be released. She moved closer to
Spencer for support, but he wanted nothing to do with her and seem
mesmerized by the scene unfolding on the other side of the
mirror.

Sue was glad it would be soon over. She
glanced down at her vibrating phone and saw the DIR security team
number displayed. Not wanting to miss the interaction between
Richard and Mikhail, she ignored the call.

“The deal is in place, Mikhail. What more do
you need to call off the release? I don’t want you to just postpone
it for two days. The agreement is to call it off completely. It
isn’t stated directly in the agreement, but I’m telling you now
that none of your family or friends will be released until all the
virus cylinders are returned and accounted for.”

Mikhail pointed to the computer that still
showed his family and friends bound to chairs. “I assumed as much.
I’ll enter the code to have my people return the virus. By the way,
my compliments on adding something for yourself in the agreement by
negotiating to keep your villages safe. Nice touch.”

“Yes, I thought so too,” Richard said. He
unbound Mikhail and followed behind him as he moved towards the
computer. As he placed his hands over the keyboard, the two-way
mirror shattered. Three gunshots exploded in quick succession.
Mikhail slumped to the floor with the bullet holes in a tight
pattern on his chest. Bright red blood spread across his shirt and
quickly started to form a pool on the floor. In the seconds it took
for everyone to understand what had happened, Spencer had placed
his gun on the floor, raised his arms, and put his hands behind his
head.

Richard bent over Mikhail’s slumped body and
could see that he was dead. He looked up through the broken mirror
and shook his head.

“Spencer! What have you done?” Sue
screamed.

“My job,” he said. Two soldiers entered the
interrogation room and fixed their weapons on him through the
splintered mirror.

“Are you crazy?”

He brushed his hand across his face. “It was
almost comical listening to you brag about the spies you had all
over the world when I first came on board. My loyalties are to a
small Asian nation. The ruler is tired of western corruption and
politics and attempts on his life. I knew I had discovered the
answer for him in the virus and vaccine. When I gave you the
samples, I had already sent the same to him. My entire country has
been vaccinated against the virus during the last few months.”

“You’re a traitor!”

“Only from your perspective. In my country, I
am a hero.”

“Why did you give the information to me in
the first place if you wanted Mikhail to release the virus?” she
asked.

“We needed as much information as we could
get on what Mikhail was up to, and the DIR was the perfect means
for that. There was also hope that the government would get
involved and stop his vaccination program. And it did,” Spencer
said smugly.

“And if we had stopped the release?”

“Then my country would have made more of the
virus and released it themselves. It would take longer, but it
would have had the same result.”

“Wait a minute. Where did you get the vaccine
sample?” Olivia asked. “I discovered it myself just a few months
ago.”

“From your lab when I visited
Percipience.”

“That was the original Virtuesh! The one
Mikhail has is another much more potent strain. Your vaccine is
useless.”

He twisted his mouth into a sneer as he
looked at Olivia. “You’re lying!”

“No, she isn’t,” Richard said. He walked
towards the broken mirror from the other room. “You’re going to be
responsible for the death of nearly every person on the
planet.”

Sue, Olivia, and Diane moved closer to where
Richard stood on the other side of the broken mirror. Spencer
raised his hands slowly and hid his face. He dropped to the floor
and his screams of rage soon became sobs. No one had anything to
say.

“What should we do?” Diane asked after
several minutes.

“I don’t know,” Sue replied. “It’s too late
to use the vaccine we got from Mikhail’s lab. The virus will be
released in a day, so coordinating anything would be chaos.”

“That’s true,” Olivia said. “Even if you did
manage to distribute it, the human body takes about two weeks after
getting vaccinated to build up enough anti-bodies to ward off the
virus.”

“Within that time a great deal of people will
have had exposure to it,” Richard said. “And look at the time of
year he planned this for—the busiest travel week, Christmas. The
virus is going to spread like wildfire.”

Diane remembered Hope’s appearance after
contracting the virus. “I think we should all go to Percipience,”
she said. “I don’t want to be here or close to any major population
center when the virus spreads.”

The others nodded their heads in agreement.
Richard made a call to order the release of Mikhail’s family. Then
said, “I’ll get the helicopter to take us there.”

“I think I’d prefer to drive back,” Diane
said, “You can fly if you want to, but there’s room in my RV for
everyone.”

Sue’s phone vibrated again and showed another
message from the DIR security team asking if she knew Spencer’s
whereabouts. He had sent several encrypted messages over the last
several hours.
If only I had picked up that first call.

“What should we do with him?” she asked,
gesturing towards Spencer.

“Leave him. It doesn’t matter anymore,”
Olivia said. She walked in the direction of the building
entrance.

The RV was eerily quiet as Diane pulled out
of the parking lot and started towards the highway. Before they
left, Richard had convinced Sue to join them, and Olivia had
everyone helping to load boxes of drugs and medicines into the RV
from the foundation lab.

“How long will it take for the virus to take
hold?” Sue asked no one in particular.

“It depends on how many dispersion points
Mikhail set up,” Olivia said. “I’ll guess that within a few months
the impact will be felt everywhere in the world.”

“How lethal is it? And what percentage of the
population do you think will make it?”

“From what I’ve seen,” she said, “it’ll take
out everyone. There may be a few people left, but it’ll be very
few.”

Richard nodded his head as she spoke then
headed towards the back of the RV to make a series of calls. He
spoke with the construction supervisor of each village and gave
instructions to send all employees home right away, regardless of
the cost. Then he called the lead elder in each village and gave a
condensed version of what had happened. His last call was to his
assistant whom he told to make sure that all his employees across
all of his companies, including her, received a month off with pay
in advance, effective immediately.

Sue gave Richard a hug when he returned.
“That was a wonderfully decent thing to do.”

“It seems so little,” he said.

Olivia beckoned to Sue as she pulled out a
vaccine dose from her backpack. “Give me your arm.”

“I thought you said it was too late.”

“Well, it’s taking a chance, but we’re pretty
isolated in Percipience, and if we keep you in isolation for the
next few weeks, you’ll probably be okay,” she said as she applied
the vaccine.

The drive went smoothly and as they pulled
into the Percipience site, the last busload of construction workers
was leaving to go home. Olivia led Sue to the nursing station.

“This’ll be your home for the next while,”
she said. “I’ll bring you food and will be working in the lab down
the hall, so I won’t be far away if you need anything.”

Richard assembled the other Percipience
elders and had those from the other villages on speaker via his
cell phone. There was a debate about whether the virus release news
should go out to the rest of the villages. It was agreed that
nothing would be gained. After the discussion, he informed Diane,
Olivia, and Sue of their decision.

“It seems terribly unfair,” Sue said. “They
all have loved ones out there.”

“They all expect that they’ll never be seen
or heard from again anyway,” he said. “It’s better that they
continue to think everything is normal. I don’t know how they’d
react if they knew the truth, and especially now we need every
available person. Though the critical supplies are at each of the
sites, there’s a lot of uncompleted work to be done.”

Any hope that Mikhail had been bluffing about
the virus release was dashed within a week as news trickled in on
the radio that the elders now monitored constantly. The flu virus
that had started only months earlier had suddenly showed up in
hundreds of locations around the globe and appeared to have mutated
into something airborne and even more lethal.

Hearing the news, Richard called the director
of the Mars mission and convinced him that despite the outbreak, he
had to continue with the launch that was scheduled to occur within
days. The director eventually agreed when Richard said the vaccine
he had sent was experimental but seemed to be effective on the flu
virus that was circulating.