The Anthrax Protocol

by James Thompson

  Joel shrugged and turned toward his communications cubicle. “I doubt it, but I’ll run all the diagnostics again to make sure there was nothing I overlooked.”

  Chapter 36

  Atlanta

  Grant Battersee was busy shuffling papers and taking phone call after phone call from doctors all over the country pleading for help in dealing with the plague. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could tell them except that the CDC was working as fast as it could to develop either a cure or at the very least a vaccine to prevent further infections and that in addition the CDC was releasing its stockpiles of antibiotics and other pharmaceutical supplies to help to ease the shortages that seemed to be cropping up everywhere.

  His phone rang again almost as soon as he’d hung it up from the previous call.

  “Hello!” he said, somewhat more stridently than he’d intended.

  “Hello, Dr. Battersee,” a pleasant male voice said. “I have Congressman Michael O’Donnell holding for you.”

  A moment later a somewhat deeper voice asked, “Dr. Battersee?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Congressman Michael O’Donnell, and I am a member of the House Select Committee on National Security and also on the House Military Research and Development Subcommittee.”

  “Hello, Congressman,” Battersee said in a more reasonable tone. “Of course, I know who you are and how important the work your committees do is to the nation’s welfare. However, if you are calling me to try and get CDC to work harder or to do more about the current anthrax outbreak, I’m afraid I’m going to have to disappoint you. We are working double and triple shifts and are . . .”

  “No, no,” O’Donnell interrupted. “You misunderstand the reason for my call.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’ve just gotten off the phone with a person who claims to be a spy working on one of your Wildfire Teams, and this person, code-named Janus, informed me that Colonel Woodrow Blackman along with General Mac McGuire have concocted a plot to steal some plants and blood samples from one of your doctors and to use these samples for their own nefarious purposes.”

  “What? You’ve got to be kidding . . .”

  O’Donnell gravely answered, “No, Doctor, I assure you I am not, and furthermore this information backs up a line of inquiry my office has been pursuing for some time into the activities of USAMRIID and Colonel Blackman. However, I have to admit this is the first time General McGuire’s name has come to my attention.”

  The congressman went on to tell Battersee everything that Janus had told him about the operation and the mercenaries involved.

  “Oh my God!” Battersee exclaimed. “Just a short while ago my doctor in the field in Mexico called to tell me he had specimens that he was sure would lead to a cure for the plague and that he was being pursued by a group of armed men. He asked me to arrange for a ship with a contingent of Marines aboard to meet him on the coast of Mexico to save him and the samples from the mercenaries.”

  “Good,” O’Donnell said. “Then maybe we’re not too late to foil Blackman’s plan.”

  “No, you don’t understand. The man I asked to arrange the pickup was General McGuire.”

  “Shit!” O’Donnell exclaimed, though he very rarely cursed. “Quick, give me the details of the pickup location and what your man needs and I’ll get the admiral in charge of Naval Operations to intercede as fast as we can. Maybe we can still get those Marines there in time to save your man.”

  Tehuantepec, Mexico

  As the chopper neared the place on his map labeled Tehuantepec, Bear could see that it was more of a large village than a city. The roads were dirt or gravel and none were paved, and there were no buildings over two stories high and damn few of them.

  He tapped the pilot on the shoulder. “Circle around to where the river merges with the ocean and let’s take a look.”

  The pilot nodded and banked the chopper in a wide turn, buzzing low over the small harbor where the river entered at one end and the ocean opened up at the other side. There were numerous boats on the river and in the harbor but they were all small and all seemed to be occupied by natives with no white people around.

  Bear nodded. Good, they’d gotten here in time and before the doctor could make it to the open ocean. He snorted. Not that it mattered since the ship the doctor was planning on meeting was not going to be showing up.

  “Okay, take us down to that beach just where the river begins to curve into the harbor.”

  As soon as the helicopter’s wheels touched down, Bear’s team had grabbed the Zodiac boat and thrown it to the sand, followed quickly by their duffle bags. The men jumped to the ground and within seconds had the boat floating in the water.

  Bear made a slicing motion horizontally in front of his throat and the pilot cut the engines.

  “Refuel the chopper and keep it shut down until I return.”

  “But, señor, I was ordered to return to Mexico City as soon as I let you off.”

  Bear rested his hand on the butt of his Glock .45. “Give me the keys,” he said, holding out his other hand.

  The pilot frowned but quickly complied. “And don’t even think of hot-wiring the engine, or I will hunt you down and shoot you in the face,” Bear growled.

  The pilot had no idea what “hot-wire” meant, but he got the idea Bear was conveying and shook his head. “Sí, I will wait here.”

  Bear smiled and turned to run and jump aboard the Zodiac. He pulled an MP5 machine gun from his duffle bag, inserted a thirty-round magazine, jerked back the lever to load a shell, and yelled, “Fire it up, boys, and let’s go fishin’!”

  Jinx grinned and pulled the starter cord on the forty-horsepower outboard engine.

  When the engine roared to life, he twisted the handle and the Zodiac leapt forward as if it’d been shot out of a cannon, Hoss and Psycho hollering “hoo-hah” as they held onto their hats with one hand and the boat’s gunwale with the other.

  * * *

  Mason noted that the river was slowly narrowing and thus the current was quickening. “Motzi, do you know about how far until we reach Tehuantepec?”

  Motzi glanced around and then behind him toward the mountain the river had wound around and then he gave his usual shrug. “Maybe one . . . two hours.”

  Lauren began to awaken, yawning and stretching as she gazed around at the thick jungle on both sides of the river.

  “Did Sleeping Beauty have a nice nap?” Mason asked with a grin.

  She yawned again, trying to cover it with a palm. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Since you macho men left nothing for me to do I decided a nap was in order.”

  “And did you have pleasant dreams?”

  He was surprised when Lauren blushed a deep crimson. “Why . . . uh . . . yes, I did in fact,” she answered.

  Mason smiled and shrugged. “Well, I would have let you paddle with Motzi, but you know what they say about women drivers.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, and I know all about men drivers who would rather get lost than ask anyone for directions. If we were anywhere but on a river with but one destination, five will get you ten you would’ve gotten us lost.”

  Mason laughed with her. “I plead guilty to rarely asking for directions, since it is unmanly and since it is infinitely more fun to get lost if you have the right company.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it, since in my business, getting lost often means you don’t find your way back.”

  He frowned and held up his hand, “Listen,” he said urgently.

  She cocked her head and could hear the high-pitched whine of an outboard motor from up ahead of them around the next bend.

  “What do you think?” she asked, a worried look on her face.

  “Since that is the first outboard motor we’ve heard on the entire river, and since I doubt very seriously if there are any gas stations in this part of the jungle, I don’t think it is good news. In fact, I think the best thing we can do is get to the shore as fast as possibl
e and try to make ourselves scarce.”

  He and Motzi put their backs into it and began to paddle toward the right bank of the river as fast as they could, but the current was so strong it was several moments before they could get the nose of the boat pointed in the correct direction.

  Suddenly, it was too late. A bright orange Zodiac came careening around the bend just as they nosed into the bank.

  Mason could hear shouts as the men on the boat saw them, and seconds later the Zodiac was headed straight toward them.

  Mason and Lauren grabbed their bags and rifles and ran into the jungle, following Motzi as he led them up a narrow, ill-defined trail away from the river.

  Jinx shouldered his M-16 and took aim, but Bear forced the barrel of his rifle down. “No, don’t shoot. We might hit the blood samples and that would really piss our boss off.”

  Jinx snarled. “But . . .”

  “What?” Bear shouted. “You afraid we can’t run down a couple of civilians and an Indio boy in jungle terrain?”

  Jinx relaxed. “Well, when you put it like that . . .”

  He put his rifle down and twisted the throttle of the outboard motor and ran the nose of the Zodiac up on the grassy bank.

  Bear jumped to the ground and turned. “Hoss, you stay with the Zodiac and keep an eye out in case they try to circle back around and get to their boat.”

  “Why do I have to stay behind and miss all the fun?” Hoss groused.

  Bear smiled and shook his head. “Because a three-hundred-pound behemoth wearing size-fourteen boots isn’t the most agile creature to go chasing through a jungle on a trail barely two feet wide. Hell, they’d hear us coming from a mile off.”

  Hoss smirked. “Guess yore right, boss.”

  Bear pointed at him. “Keep your guard up, though. This doctor has already proven to be plenty smart, and I wouldn’t put it past him to try to sneak up on you to get the Zodiac and leave us stranded here.” He looked toward the jungle and shook his head, “And I’ll swear I saw them carrying what looked like rifles when they lit out.”

  “No worries, boss. I’ll smash a hole in their boat and then I’ll take the Zodiac over to the other side of the river and wait for your signal. If they appear back here, I’ll fire a volley of three shots in the air.”

  Bear nodded. “Good thinking.” And then he punched Hoss in the shoulder. “I guess you’re not just a pretty face after all. We’ll see you soon.”

  * * *

  Running as fast as they could through uncleared jungle trails soon tired Mason and Lauren out. Motzi looked as if he could run forever, but Mason could see sweat pouring off Lauren’s face and could hear her panting like a steam engine.

  “Hold on,” he gasped, stopping and leaning over with his hands on his knees. “We can’t keep this pace up much longer, and we’re making way too much noise.”

  Lauren did likewise, her chest heaving as she looked around. “You’re right, but I don’t see any place to hide where they won’t spot us instantly.”

  Motzi dropped his backpack and quick as a fox shinnied up a nearby tree. When he got to the top he looked around in a complete circle.

  Seconds later, grinning, he dropped to the ground. “Follow Motzi,” he said and grabbing up his backpack took off at a slant through the jungle.

  After a couple of hundred yards Mason noticed the ground began to rise and it felt as if they were moving uphill.

  Sure enough, after another hundred yards the jungle thinned and they could see a hillock rising out of the jungle ahead of them. As they climbed it, Mason noticed the jungle gave way to knee-high grass for the last hundred yards up to the top of the hill.

  When they reached the top, they found several small boulders and fallen trees that made a natural fortress of the height.

  Motzi grinned and shrugged. “If cannot outrun bad men, can maybe stay here until help come from ship.”

  Mason nodded. “Great idea, Motzi. I’ll get on the phone and see if Battersee can contact the ship and have them send reinforcements. Meanwhile, you two get down behind cover and get ready to hold off a charge if the men decide to try to take the hill.”

  * * *

  They were moving so fast up the trail that they almost missed the signs, but Psycho noticed a bent and broken limb just off the trail to the left.

  “Hold on, guys. I think they went this way.”

  Bear stopped and looked around. “Why in the hell would they leave the trail and head off into thick jungle where they won’t be able to move as fast?”

  Babe moved over next to Psycho and took a look. “I don’t know, boss, but they sure as hell went this way.”

  “Okay, let’s get after them, but be careful. This thick jungle is an ideal place for an ambush.”

  Psycho snorted. “You think this civilian doctor has got the balls to try and ambush a superior force?”

  Bear shook his head. “I don’t know, but I’ve already underestimated this man once. I don’t intend to do it again.”

  He hesitated, “But since you don’t think it’s possible, why don’t you take point, Psycho?”

  “But . . .”

  Bear’s hand fell to his Glock. “I said take point. I won’t say it again.”

  “Yes, sir,” Psycho said and he turned and began to follow the trail through the jungle, but Bear smiled to himself as he noticed Psycho was moving at a much slower pace and his head was swiveling back and forth as he checked the jungle ahead for a possible trap.

  * * *

  In less than twenty minutes they came to the edge of the jungle where a grassy embankment rose to the apex of a hillock up ahead.

  A clear trail of trampled grass led up the sides of the hill to the top where an outcropping of boulders and fallen trees blocked their view of what lay waiting for them up there.

  “Shit!” Bear growled. “They’ve taken the high ground.”

  “But boss,” Babe said, “There’s only two of them and one of them’s a woman. We can surround the hill and rush it all at once and it’s damn sure they can’t get all of us.”

  Bear looked at Babe as if he were crazy. “Yeah, you’re right, Babe. We do know however that they have at least two rifles up there. What we don’t know, however, is what kind of rifles they have, if they’re single shot or semiautomatic, how much ammunition they have, or how well trained they are. For all we know that ‘woman,’ as you put it, can shoot the balls off a gnat at fifty yards.”

  He looked around at the others. “Now I don’t know about you boys, but I personally am not inclined to rush a fortified position, uphill, through at least a hundred yards of open ground.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know where you boys got your combat training, but my old instructor would kick my ass up to my ears if I suggested a harebrained battle plan like that.”

  Babe’s face flushed bright red. “You’re right, boss. I wasn’t thinking.”

  Bear put his hand on Babe’s shoulders. “That’s all right, Babe. You are correct that we are up against amateurs, but even amateurs can get lucky, especially with modern long guns in their hands.” He shook his head, “Trouble is nowadays everyone goes to the gun clubs and they all think they’re Buffalo Bill.”

  “So, what do you want to do, boss?” Psycho asked. “Wait until dark and then try to sneak up the hill?”

  “Maybe eventually, but not just yet. Why don’t we see what a little reasoning might accomplish, especially after they lay up there in the sun without any shade for a couple of hours? The way they took off from their boat I’ll bet they didn’t take a whole lot of water with them.”

  “Reasoning?” Jinx asked skeptically.

  “Sure,” Bear said, and then he pulled them all together. “Now here’s what we’re gonna do . . .”

  Chapter 37

  Mason turned on his phone and called Grant Battersee.

  “Hello.”

  “Grant, this is Mason. What the hell happened to the ship and our reinforcements?”

  “Oh, thank God
it’s you, Mason. I’ve been trying to call you but I keep getting voicemail.”

  Mason took a deep breath, puzzled by Battersee’s greeting. Dealing with bureaucrats almost always gave him a headache. Most of them had their heads up their asses, but none of them had ever thanked God when he called. “I’ve had the phone turned off to conserve battery power, Grant, but just answer my question, where in the hell is the ship with Marines on it I told you I needed?”

  “I screwed up, Mason. I don’t know anyone in the Department of the Navy so I called General Mac McGuire instead since we worked with him before.”

  “You mean you dealt with the General McGuire who is Colonel Blackman’s boss?” Mason interrupted. “The man who has tried to hijack every bug we’ve ever found and use it as some sort of biological warfare agent?”

  “You don’t have to yell, Mason. I know now that it was a mistake. Congressman Michael O’Donnell just called and said that McGuire and Blackman have inserted a mole named Janus in our Wildfire Team and that they are the ones who sent a team of mercenaries after you to steal the specimens. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you when you said you suspected a traitor on the team, Mason. It might have made a big difference in how all this turned out.”

  “Why did this Janus decide to change sides?” Mason asked.

  “Janus found out Blackman planned to tie up all the loose ends, including killing Janus as well as the rest of the Wildfire Team.”

  Jesus, what a clusterfuck, Mason thought. “What else did this congressman say?”

  “He said his committee had been investigating Blackman and USAMRIID for some time, and that he would use his influence to see if he could get a ship with some Marines on it to your location as fast as possible but that it might take some time.”