The Beginning of the End (Book 1): Toward the Brink (3 page)

“Well, the egghead says the worst is over, and considering how much things have quieted down, I’m inclined to agree. What do you think, Langlie?”

Langlie was nothing more than an educated thug in Baer’s estimation; however, he was well educated, and his opinion in these matters was always appreciated.

“I do agree somewhat, Phillip,” Langlie said. He was the only employee to call the boss by his first name. “The thing that worries me is that he said, ‘We can probably assume,’ and
that
doesn’t fill me with a lot of confidence.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Let me put a contingency plan in place in case things don’t go as well as our
esteemed
mad scientist believes. You know as well as I that if the public ever sees any pictures of those deformed kids and a link is established with fast food fries and our growth hormone, well … Let’s face it: Baer Industries will be well and truly fucked!”

“What can we do about those children? The mothers all think they died in childbirth, don’t they?”

“Precisely.”

Baer saw the evil glint in his henchman’s eye. He remembered that was exactly why he’d hired this man and why he paid him so well.

“Just leave those details to me; I’ll take care of it.”

“Elliot! Hey, Elliot!”

Elliot Goodwin was strolling through the car park of Blue Lakes Shopping Mall when he heard the female voice call to him. He turned towards the voice and was surprised to see his high school sweetheart, Cindy Baker, who stood next to a red Honda Accord not ten feet away.

“Oh hi, Cindy.” Elliot looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. “How—how are you?”

“I’m good, Elliot, but you know, I got sick of waiting for you to call.”

The two had made quite the couple in the last year of Twin Falls High School. They’d planned on going to the graduation as a couple, but all that changed when Elliot’s mother died a week from the event. Cindy knew the family was close and gave Elliot time to grieve. When two months had passed and he hadn’t called, Cindy realized it was time to move on.

“I know. I’m sorry; my mind has been elsewhere.”

“Elliot, it’s been over three months.”

“My dad suffered a mild heart attack about a month after the funeral. We had just opened the store, and we needed to establish ourselves. We closed it for two days; then I reopened and ran it myself. When Dad was feeling better, I let him answer phones but nothing else.”

“I’m sorry, Elliot. I didn’t know about your father.” She lowered her voice and stepped closer. “That would have been another good reason to call. I have had experience working in a store, you know.”

Elliot liked her a lot, and he knew she liked him even more, but the grief about his mother, the new store, and his dad falling ill all had taken a toll on him. He knew a relationship wouldn’t survive all that. He liked her too much to risk hurting her.

“I’ll keep that in mind if I need help again.” He switched his weight from foot to foot awkwardly. “You look just as good as when I last saw you.”

“I’m not going to let you off the hook that easy, Elliot Goodwin.”

He was trying to think of something to say when a loud voice amplified through a bullhorn came to Elliot’s rescue.

“What the heck is that?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s the demonstration coming down Blue Lakes Boulevard. You hadn’t heard about it?”

“No, I didn’t know anything about it. What’s it over?”

As soon as she mentioned the target of the protesters was Baer Industries and its widespread use of the growth hormone, Elliot felt ice cold fingers of fear take a firm hold of his balls.

“It was organized some time back,” she said, “and there are simultaneous demonstrations in other cities across the country. I’m surprised you didn’t know about it. You always kept up to date on current events.”

“That was until my mother died. I haven’t had much interest after that.”

“I’m so sorry, Elliot.” She reached out and grabbed his forearm.

“Thank you.” He realized how much he’d missed her touch.

“Elliot, I’ve heard the rumors about the growth hormone, but I’m not sure if I believe them or not. They’re too terrifying to be true. What do you know about it?”

Elliot thought about it for a few moments.
Should I tell her the truth or protect her from it?
He decided on the former.

“It is terrifying, and it is
true
. The purpose of the hormone is not to feed the world, Cindy, but to make a profit! Trust me.”

“How do you know, Elliot? I mean, these people are claiming on the Internet that it’s responsible for thousands of people getting sick all over the country. They’re also claiming that deformed babies have been born then secretly whisked away by some government agency. Can you believe it? I mean, that just has to be bullshit, doesn’t it? If that many people were sick and disfigured kids were being delivered, it would be headline news, wouldn’t it?”

“You would think so, but the media doesn’t always tell us what we need to know anymore. They tell us what
they’re
told to.”

“What do you mean ‘told to?’ Do you believe the media is controlled by a higher clandestine power?”

Elliot didn’t answer at first, but he didn’t shy away either. He was vehemently opposed to the insidious growth hormone and believed its use must be discontinued. He was embarrassed over his failure to call Cindy and had definitely attempted to avoid the fallout, but had no intention of backing down over this.

“Of course, Cindy! Do you really think a government that had as its first priority the wellbeing of the people would allow things to get this far if there wasn’t another power behind pulling the strings?”

“And who is that
power,
Elliot?”

“That’s the easiest question you’ve asked. Money and the people who control it.”

“All this caused by French fries … It’s hard to believe, Elliot. I’m sorry.”

“French fries are the means. The cause is far greater.”

Elliot saw that she didn’t understand his twist on words, but at least she’d stopped asking questions. He knew she hadn’t accepted his word, but maybe she was giving it some thought.

# # #

The Twin Falls rally intensified as they neared the medical center, which was their rendezvous point. The Baer Industry offices were on the edge of the city, and the organizers felt they wouldn’t get enough exposure there. Besides, there was ample evidence that the medical center was complicit in the cover-up. The demonstration heading toward Filer Avenue was the least of the medical center’s concerns at the moment.

Another outbreak had begun, only this time it was far more severe than anything previously seen. In a historical context, this could be labelled the defining moment when the human race’s journey to the brink of destruction commenced.

# # #

“My God, what in the hell has happened?” Nurse Bronden yelled.

She had received a call late in that morning requesting her attendance at the medical center. She was told it was extremely urgent. She hadn’t been home long from finishing a night shift she’d done because of staff shortage. There was no time to eat. She made a thermos of coffee then dashed to the car. She was still in uniform, which saved her a few minutes. On her way in, Bronden thought it must have been a major car accident resulting in multiple dead and wounded and that a busy morning awaited, but when she ran into the ER doors, her jaw dropped and an empty ache started boring through her guts like a drill. The green puking illness had returned.

“It started a couple of hours ago. They started coming in with complaints about stomach pains,” the nurse at the counter said. She raised her voice so she could be heard above the bedlam of the groaning sick that filled the entire area of the ER.

She drew Bronden’s attention to the four teams of cleaning staff busy at work.

“They started throwing up soon after,” the nurse screwed her face up. “A rank-smelling, green …”

“Foamy bile,” Bronden finished.

“How did you know?”

“Never mind. I’ll tell you later.” Bronden looked around the ER. “Is Dr. Morrisey in?”

“Yes, he’s with a patient just over there.” She pointed to the drawn curtains nearest her.

Bronden thanked the nurse before moving off to see Dr. Morrisey.

“One more thing,” the counter nurse said. “At least ten patients have died so far.”

# # #

“Doctor, we need to speak!” Nurse Bronden flung the curtains back.

Dr. Morrisey wheeled around. He was prepared to rip the intruder a new one until he saw RN Bronden holding the curtain back.

“You’re damn
right
we need to talk. You take care of that, okay?” Morrisey said to the assisting nurse.

Morrisey and Bronden strode to the back garden where staff would eat under the shade of the tall trees during the good weather. The weather today was good, but there wouldn’t be any time for eating. Not today and probably never again.

“Where have you been? I’ve tried calling several times,” the doctor began as soon as they stepped outside.

“I got the call from the hospital less than an hour ago and came straight in. I had no calls from you.”

“I called your cell.”

“That thing hasn’t worked properly since I dropped it. Anyway, have you informed Mr. Lang?”

“No, not yet. I wanted to speak with you first.”

“Why? Why would you wait? The nurse just told me that ten patients have died since they started coming in, and …”

“Thirteen.”

“What? Look at all the people out there. This could develop into an epidemic!” Bronden brought a trembling hand to her mouth. “We can’t keep covering it up now. We don’t know who is responsible, but we have to let the authorities know.”

She paused a moment as her last inference sunk in on her as much as the doctor.

“My God.” Bronden stared straight ahead as if a ghost had just revealed its presence to her. “What if this is happening across the
whole
country?”

“It’s not,” Morrisey said.

“What?” She turned back to face her ‘cloak and dagger’ colleague. “How do you know?”

“I called around to other hospitals. It’s only occurring here in Idaho.”

“You had time to call other hospitals but not enough time to inform Lang?”

“That man scares me,” he finally admitted.

“And people vomiting green sludge doesn’t?”

The doctor had no answer. He was guilty as charged.

“What the hell is that racket?” Morrisey heard the yelling coming from Filer Avenue.

“A demonstration against Baer and the hormone. Their website said they had information from an ‘inside source’ about the amount of sick people. It even mentioned the birth defects.”

“What, how? No one knew about them outside of the select staff!”

“I assume it was that damn young nurse. I should have kept a closer eye on her, but that’s all moot now.”

Bronden took charge, taking Morrisey’s cell phone. She would place the call to Mr. Lang that the doctor should have done long ago.
Wretched lazy man!
She would also call the CDC. There would have to be a quarantine placed on the center.

“Get back to the ER, Doctor.”

# # #

“Mr. Lang.” Langlie used his alternate name when he answered the red cell phone. “Yes, Miss Bronden, what can I do for you?” he said after the caller identified herself.

Bronden informed him of the disaster unfolding at the medical center.

“Is that so? Well, that’s disappointing isn’t it?” Langlie’s less-than-surprised response told his caller that he obviously had prior knowledge.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?”

Langlie heard the distaste in her voice.

“Yes, I was informed earlier that a few individuals had returned to the center with symptoms that …”

“A FEW INDIVIDUALS?” Bronden yelled. “Are you crazy? We’ve got hundreds of patients in here and thirteen
dead
at last count. Thirteen, Mr. Lang, or whatever your name is. I’ve covered up a lot, but no amount of money will cover up murder!”

Langlie’s demeanor changed now that he realized the full extent of the situation. There was a long pause before he finally said to his informant, “Thank you, Nurse. Thank you very much for that information. You won’t be forgotten about, I promise you.”

He wouldn’t forget about her at all. In fact, she would be a priority now that she had ceased being of any use. Langlie ended the call without giving the nurse a chance to say anything more. He made a series of phone calls immediately.

“Doug? Get the plane ready. We’ll be leaving soon,” was the first call.

“Sir, the walls are coming down around us. It won’t be long before even your highest friends abandon you. We have no choice. It’s time to leave,” was the second.

For his third call, he retrieved yet another cell from the top drawer of his desk. After connecting this to an encryption device, he made the call. “You on the scrambler?”

On receiving confirmation, he continued. “The job I mentioned; it’s a go.”

A pause.

“Yes, their names are Doctor Morrisey and Nurse Bronden at Filer Avenue Medical Center … and don’t forget the movers.”

Langlie stood and looked around the lavish office he had built in his home. It would be a shame to burn this down, but burn it he would.

# # #

Elliot bought a couple of sodas and handed one to Cindy while they watched the demonstration go by.

“From the time my mom got sick, I’ve avoided anything with potato—especially fries. You know, my mom never lied. She saw it firsthand.”

“Saw what exactly, Elliot?”

Elliot’s answer had to wait as he was interrupted by sirens from several police cars.

“That’s coming from the street behind us. Let’s go take a look!” Elliot grabbed Cindy by the hand and headed for Fillmore Street, getting there just in time to see three police cars escorting a series of Army Humvees down Fillmore toward Filer Avenue.

“Why would the Army be called, Elliot?”

“I think it would be the National Guard, and they were medical teams,” Elliot said. “Only the governor can call in the National Guard.”