by Bobby Akart
“Just do it and we’ll figure it out.”
Kwon made his way to the back of the ambulance. He looked around through the cabinets until he found what he was looking for. He motioned to Harper. “Stay down!”
She slid against the side of the vehicle and lowered to one knee. Kwon took a portable oxygen tank and began to beat the two rear windows inset into the doors. They soon shattered and the glass fell onto the street behind them and onto the ambulance floor. He tossed the container out the back, startling the driver of the nearest pursuer. He unnecessarily swerved, but the distraction was all Kwon needed.
He rose and began firing his weapon at their pursuers. His magazine emptied and he efficiently dropped it to the floor of the ambulance and retrieved another from his cargo pocket. The Security Police vehicle sped forward, closing the gap. The passenger began firing at the ambulance.
After pulling the rear charging handle, Kwon returned fire.
“Bull’s-eye!” he exclaimed.
The bullets pierced the windshield, striking the driver in the head and killing him instantly. The passenger’s efforts to gain control of the car were in vain as the nose swerved to the right and T-boned the block retaining wall, throwing both men through the windshield.
The second car continued its pursuit. They fired upon the ambulance, riddling the rear doors with bullets, but none of them pierced the steel outer panel and frame.
Kwon returned fire, the hollow-point bullets tearing through the grille of the sedan and penetrating the radiator. The vehicle suddenly seized, causing the men to be thrown forward in their seats. With the vehicle disabled, Kwon conserved his ammo and turned his attention forward.
“Hold on!” shouted Yeshi.
The young man never slowed as he drove from the paved surface onto the rocky perimeter and crashed into the chain-link fence. The galvanized fencing ripped apart and tore at the sides of the ambulance. The steel top rail of the fence row shattered the windshield and then broke the plastic housing of the bar-mounted emergency lights on the roof.
Yeshi slammed on the brakes to avoid crashing into a metal storage building directly on the other side of the fence. Harper and Kwon were thrown backwards when he hit the fence and then forwards as he brought the vehicle to a sliding stop just within feet of the building.
Kwon found his footing first. He glanced at Harper, whose head was bleeding, but he kept his attention on possible pursuers.
“Keep going! Hurry!” He patted Yeshi on the back again and the young man responded with determination.
He pressed down hard on the gas pedal and the ambulance spun in the grass before lurching forward. He navigated through a few random boulders and then drove directly for the parking lot of the building.
Kwon turned his attention to Harper. “You all right?” He knelt down by her side. Her hand was pressed to her forehead, blood dripping between her fingers.
“Just peachy,” she replied with a smile.
Yeshi turned onto the road leading back to the main highway, fishtailing on the wet pavement. The light snow continued to fall, but it wasn’t sticking at the lower elevation. His maneuver threw Harper and Kwon back and forth, bouncing them against the cabinets affixed to the back of the ambulance. They regained their balance after Yeshi steadied the vehicle.
“Let me see.” Kwon slowly removed her hand and examined the cut. It wasn’t deep. “It appears worse than it is. There’s plenty of supplies in here to bandage you up.”
Harper nodded. “I’m sure I can—”
The sound of gunfire blocked out the rest of her sentence.
Bullets sailed through the rear windows and embedded in the ceiling of the ambulance. They were close.
“Where did they come from?” Kwon yelled his question.
Yeshi’s voice revealed his excitement. “Out of the side street. I see another one up ahead.”
Kwon reached for a handful of gauze that had fallen out of a cabinet onto the floor. He shoved it into Harper’s hand. “Here, keep pressure on it.”
He stood and fired off a couple of rounds through the window before ducking back down.
“There are more ahead of us!” shouted Yeshi.
“Dammit!” exclaimed Kwon. “We can’t outrun their radios.”
“I can help,” said Harper as she pulled bloody strands of hair away from her face. That, combined with the streaks of blood pouring out of the wound, made Harper resemble Sissy Spacek on the vintage Carrie movie poster.
More bullets ricocheted off the back of the ambulance.
Yeshi’s voice was panicked. “Kwon! They are coming toward us!”
Kwon took the gauze from Harper and carefully wiped some of the blood off her face so her vision wasn’t impaired. He spoke to her in a soft, calm voice. “Okay, stay crouched down below the windows. Shoot at them Iraqi style.”
Harper smiled. She understood.
She slid on her knees to the back of the ambulance, disregarding the small pieces of safety glass from the windows. She sat up as tall as she could on her knees and fired a three-round burst through the window. The sound of screeching brakes and the bullets bouncing off the hood told her she’d found her mark.
Kwon settled in the passenger seat next to Yeshi. He rolled down the window and readied his weapon. Then he assessed the situation.
“Do not stop. I will move them out of the way.”
“You are the boss.” Yeshi gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. He leaned forward and furrowed his brow as if he was prepared to drive into them head-on.
As the two security vehicles approached from the front, Harper kept their pursuers at bay. Her periodic spurts of gunfire caused them to back off, allowing Kwon to focus on the vehicles that blocked their escape.
He fired.
The first four rounds ripped into the left side tires of the lead vehicle. They exploded instantly, causing the car to lurch toward the left and then flip. It rolled over and over in front of the ambulance and barely missed their right front fender.
The trailing security vehicle slowed, making it an easier target for Kwon. He fired again, this time aiming for the windshield. The bullets shredded the glass. Both front seat passengers instinctively raised their arms to avoid the flying shards of glass, but their flesh was no match for Kwon’s bullets. Their bodies exploded in crimson before the vehicle careened off the shoulder head-on into a lamp post.
Harper fired again, reminding Kwon there was still work to be done. He pushed his way through the seats and charged toward the rear of the ambulance. Harper was about to rise on her knees again to fire when Kwon shouted, “I’ve got this!”
He stood defiantly at the windows and took aim. Like the last vehicle, he obliterated the windshield and the two men behind it.
But was it over?
Chapter Forty-Nine
Lhasa, Tibet, China
Yeshi sped up to the intersection and the highway that would return them to Dr. Basnet’s home. He began to make the right-hand turn when Kwon grabbed his right arm to stop him.
“Not that way,” he said unemotionally. “We can’t go back.”
“What about your friends?” asked Yeshi.
Harper approached the front of the ambulance. She was dabbing the gash on her forehead to stem the bleeding. “Kwon, we can’t just leave them. We have to warn them or get them out of there.”
“No, Harper, we can’t.” He pointed to the left. “Go that way.”
“They’ll have no idea what’s about to happen,” she pleaded with Kwon.
“Go, Yeshi!” he ordered. His voice was stern as he ignored Harper’s request. He turned his body to her as Yeshi pulled out onto the highway. More sirens could be heard off in the distance.
“Kwon!”
He furrowed his brow as he spoke. “You are my only priority. For all we know, Dr. Basnet broke under pressure and they’ve sent the Security Police to his home already. Plus, our work isn’t done yet, and what we have ahead of us doesn’t in
volve them. You know that.”
Harper sat back onto the metal gurney and continued to dab at her forehead. The scowl that came across her face caused the wound to seep again. She was not happy. “Dr. Zeng and Fangyu got us this far. It’s not fair that we’ve left them to the wolves.”
Kwon continued to be emotionless. “It isn’t fair. I can’t disagree. But what we have ahead of us is bigger than Dr. Zeng and his nephew. They knew the risks and they’ve done their part. With a little luck, they heard the melee caused by the sirens and the gunfire. Hopefully, they took our car and left. There was a reason I left them the keys.”
“You did?” she asked.
“Yes.” He sighed and looked at the bits of glass that had fallen from their broken windshield. A gap was allowing the snow to slip through into the front seat. “Harper, I had to plan for all contingencies. If we didn’t make it out, they needed to be able to escape.”
Harper shook her head as Yeshi continued to drive west toward the Himalayan Mountains. “They would never have left us.”
“You’re probably right, but that is beside the point. We would never have taken them with us now, either. The thing is, we both know what needs to be done. I’m not sure how we’ll do it, but we need to get clear of the brawl we left behind. We have to trust in Dr. Basnet to protect all of us, and Fangyu to protect his uncle.”
Harper looked to Yeshi. “Do you know how to message them on WeChat?”
“Yes.”
“Pull over! Do it now!”
“Harper,” Kwon began to protest.
“Swap drivers, please.”
Kwon relented and Yeshi slid off to the side of the road. In less than a minute, Kwon was driving away and Yeshi was composing an urgent message to Dr. Zeng to get out of the Basnet home.
“Thank you,” said Harper sincerely. “So I assume we’re going to Everest.”
Kwon checked his mirrors to determine if they were being followed. The road was clear. “Yes, but we need another vehicle. Yeshi, will you help us?”
“Of course. Do you think I would miss out on this excitement?”
Kwon looked around at the deserted countryside. He presumed to know the answers to his questions, but he asked anyway. “What about another vehicle? Is it possible to rent one?”
“No rentals, but I do have friends here. They are also sherpas.”
Kwon continued. “Can you and your friends help us get to Mount Everest?”
“I can ask. They are thrill-seekers like me. Our lives have no action. Not like yours, anyway.”
Harper rolled her eyes and then glanced through the broken windows of the back door. “This was a lot of action. No doubt about it. We can arrange for payment.”
“That is not necessary,” he said. “I promise, we will enjoy this despite its danger. Please understand. Bodies that fall over the edge are usually left there for a reason. It is very dangerous to retrieve them.”
Harper didn’t want to risk any more lives. She wasn’t sure she needed the entire body. If she could simply retrieve more tissue samples, she’d be able to connect the cases together. It was a morbid form of contact tracing but was required to locate patient zero.
She sighed. “We can make do with samples of blood and tissue, but we’ll need to find some means to extract the samples while also preserving the specimens.”
Kwon pointed toward the red biohazard bag. “I thought about this while we were in the autopsy room with Dr. Basnet. I placed half a dozen sterile vials and two scalpels in the pack. It’s not ideal, but if we can obtain a long hunting knife, I think we can harvest a portion of the organs.”
“The lungs and heart are most important, but they’ll be protected by the thoracic cage,” said Harper.
Kwon grimaced. “Will the kidneys or even a section of the carotid artery help?”
“I’ll take what I can get,” she replied. “The way this disease attaches to the body, most of the abdominal organs will be compromised. The carotid will help with blood analysis.”
“Slow down up here and turn left at the stacked stone columns. He lives in a hut with several others. They are what you Americans might call free birds.”
Harper chuckled at the reference to the 1970s hippies who grew up without a care in the world but with an abundant supply of marijuana at their disposal. She wondered if that was what Yeshi was referring to.
Kwon drove up the hill until the gravel road made a series of winding turns. The snow was accumulating now, and the tires of the ambulance began to spin. At the top, several Tibetan retreat huts were lined up overlooking a vast valley. The retreat huts, often used by the locals to separate themselves from the secular world, had no electricity or running water. They were made out of stacked stone using mud as mortar. The roofs were similar to a cedar shake system but couldn’t possibly prevent leaks as several gaps were readily apparent. Each of the structures had a stone chimney with smoke wafting into the sky.
Kwon parked the ambulance and the three occupants exited simultaneously. Harper was the first to notice the pungent smell of marijuana.
“Whoa! And to think a Rocky Mountain High used to be the ultimate state of mind of hippies. They’ve got nothing on these guys.” She pulled her shirt up over her nose.
Kwon shook his head in dismay. “Yeshi, I am not sure I can count on these guys with what we have in mind.”
“Yes, you can. They are the best. Please trust me on this.”
Two completely bald young men exited the first hut and waved. They wore a smock-style outfit with no shoes. They slowly approached Yeshi, undeterred by the rock soil beneath the thin layer of snow.
“Tashi delek, Yeshi-la!” One of the men used the traditional Tibetan greeting to friends. It was meant to convey wishes of blessing, good health, and luck. It was common to add -la after a friend’s name to show respect.
“Tashi delek, Kunga-la!” Yeshi shouted back.
He then proceeded to explain his new friends’ presence in his native tongue. After several minutes in which Harper and Kwon stood there listening to the back-and-forth conversation, Yeshi turned to them and interpreted, “They will help, but they do not want money.”
“Great,” said Harper.
“There is a concern,” continued Yeshi. “They will not be allowed to ascend to the summit through the north face base camp. The route is still closed because of the accident.”
“Can we get there another way?” asked Kwon.
“Yes, by snowmobile and rock climbing. It is dangerous but possible.”
Harper looked at Kwon before asking, “Where do we get snowmobiles?”
“There is a military outpost at Gangga in Tingri County.”
Kwon shook his head. “Do you think they will give us snowmobiles?”
“No. You must take them.”
Kwon had no choice but to go along with the plan. “How long will it take us to get there?”
“Two days, normally. Twenty-four hours in my friends’ cars. Let me show you.”
Yeshi led them past the first two huts and down a slight incline toward a lean-to barn. When they crested the hill, Kwon stopped in his tracks.
“Really? This is what they drive?”
Inside the barn were five different colored street racers. All the popular motor brands were represented, including Mazda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Subaru, and Honda.
“They purchase the cars and parts with the money they make as sherpas. They race along the highway from Lhasa to the Tibetan Plateau in the west. This is their life.”
“As free birds,” quipped Harper.
“And we can trust them?” asked Kwon.
“With your lives.”
NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON: VIRUS HUNTERS PART 3, the final installment in the Virus Hunters trilogy. You can purchase it by following this link to Amazon: VIRUS HUNTERS PART 3
A Note from the Author
First, let me take a moment to thank you for reading my first novel featuring Dr. Harper Randolph and the Virus Hunters! These
characters and their story have been planned for three years since the success of my Pandemic series published in May 2017. During the course of my research, I became thoroughly convinced that our world was wholly unprepared for a global pandemic. Here’s why.
In the mid-twentieth century, a new weapon, the atomic bomb, shocked the world with its ability to destroy the enemy.
For centuries, another weapon has existed…
One that attacks without conscience or remorse…
Its only job is to kill.
They are the most merciless enemy we’ve ever faced…
And they’re one-billionth our size.
Be prepared to become very, very paranoid.
WELCOME TO THE NEXT GLOBAL WAR.
Over the past half century, the number of new diseases per decade has increased fourfold. Since 1980, the outbreaks have more than tripled. With those statistics in mind, one had to consider the consequences of a major pandemic and now we’re living the nightmare.
Death has come to millions of humans throughout the millennia from the spread of infectious diseases, but none was worse than the Black Death, a pandemic so devastating that uttering the words the plague will immediately pull it to the front of your mind. From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death reshaped Europe and much of the world.
In a time when the global population was an estimated four hundred fifty million, some estimates of the death toll reached as high as two hundred million, nearly half of the world’s human beings.
This plague’s name came from the black skin spots on the sailors who travelled the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes that traversed the Asian continent, connecting East and West. The Black Death was in fact a form of the bubonic plague, not nearly as contagious and deadly as its sister, the pneumonic plague.
Fast-forward five centuries to 1918, an especially dangerous form of influenza began to appear around the world. First discovered in Kansas in March 1918, by the time the H1N1 pandemic, commonly known as the Spanish flu, burned out in 1919, it took the lives of as many as fifty million people worldwide.
