“Circumstances?”
“When you're locked in a bunker for three days without food or water you either kill each other, or you become friends for life. Guess which it was for us?”
“Chums.”
“You bet.”
Not knowing where to go from there, or whether I even wanted to keep chatting, I looked down at my tablet but got interrupted when Nate returned, bearing some provisions. I still sent him a dirty look even though I was quite happy to see a sandwich and bottle of water in my very near future, which he, of course, ignored. While I was busy digging into the food, he grabbed a stack of white paper from another desk, and lastly handed me a pen that he'd had clipped inside the pocket of his shirt. It was one of the Green Fields Biotech pens that the company handed out in their promo packages for visitors, quite ironically—or not.
“Anything specific you want me to look for?” I asked, not even sure that I could deliver on the offer.
“Just how committed to helping us are you?” he wanted to know in turn.
I pointedly sniffed through my now nicely swollen nose, glad when the resulting ache was barely more than a nuisance.
“Still a little conflicted, I guess you'll understand? Most of all, now I really want to know what is going on here.”
The wry grin he answered me with looked quite like a taunt.
“I don't really give a shit about your motivation, or how long you plan on feeling guilty for it afterward. Just answer the question.” I raised my brows at him, which seemed answer enough. “There are two things you can help me with, if you're so inclined. Our plan is to upload everything we've been able to scavenge from the company servers and the off-site computer about my brother's work. It will take only a couple of days for experts of all flavors to dissect everything, but it would lend the raw data a lot more credibility if we had a statement made by someone familiar with the material. You.”
That made me snort.
“I'm not sure how credible I am, considering that people will either believe that I'm talking at gunpoint, or that I've switched sides.”
The sound he made could have been a noncommittal grunt.
“Doesn't really matter, but the 'at gunpoint' part can be arranged, if that lessens your unease about being mistaken for an aggressor rather than a victim.” He said that as if it was something impossibly hilarious to him. I kept looking back at him blankly, eventually making him tone down his grin somewhat. “Just look through the files, then coordinate with Dolores here to get a few images together that we can splice into the video feed. It doesn't have to be on point with your dissertation defense, just say a few things about the who, what, where, and why it is so damn important not to let this virus out of its vault. The news stations will pick up the video as it is and lead everyone else to the road you're going to pave with it, whether to discredit you or underline your arguments. Doesn't matter which.”
I hated the idea of sitting in front of a camera, but I could see where he was going with it, and even agreed that it was a good point. It was the only thing so far that I felt I was even remotely qualified to do.
“And the second thing?”
That sardonic grin of his took on a slightly different tint.
“After we've wrapped up the video, you're coming down with me into the hot lab again so we can place remotely detonated explosives everywhere inside the concrete cocoon of the BSL-4 zone, and make sure we vaporize every single molecule stored down there when we blow up the building later.”
Chapter 20
Almost exactly two hours later I found myself perched on a barstool—scavenged from the visitor waiting area—in front of a camera that looked like it belonged in a studio, making me wonder if Nate would have let me decline his offer of “cooperation.” I sat awfully close to where Thecla had found her grisly end. The charred remains had been cleared away since then, but I could still tell where it had been; that image would forever be burned into my mind. In my hand I had two print-outs and three pages of hastily scrawled notes, and my heart rate was climbing steadily as I waited for the techie to give me the “go.” But it wasn’t stage fright, or the extenuating circumstances that gave me jitters. No, it was what I had found in Raleigh’s notes that had my heart seizing with anxiety.
It had taken surprisingly little time to find actual information within the files. I couldn't shake the suspicion that Thecla had been a very conflicted woman in the last months of her life, because she could have easily erased everything of Raleigh's that incriminated her. Yet all of his files had remained untouched since the week after his death, as Dolores had confirmed after a brief analysis. Thecla had continued to catalog the progress of the experiments, but the additional notes accompanying the raw data had dwindled to a bare minimum as more time passed. As had progress and success. Clearly, he had been the mastermind behind the work, and she barely more than the executing hand, pun intended.
In the context of her reactions during what had turned out to be her last hours, I couldn't help but feel like she'd known that her end had come, and maybe even felt that she deserved it. She must have recognized Raleigh's brother sooner than I did—likely instantly—and considering the message from the log, the conclusions she had to have drawn must have been grim. Once they'd dragged me into the cube, there was no way she hadn't realized that she'd just become obsolete, except for paying for her crimes. The longer I thought about it, the less I understood her reaction. Sure, Nate didn’t seem to have any inhibitions where beating the shit out of someone was concerned, but I doubted that he would have actually tortured her. That gave her death a somewhat uncomfortable connotation. Had she died to save herself—or someone else?
Considering that I’d likely never find out, it was easier to concentrate on what information I actually could come up with.
A few months before his death, Raleigh had compiled an overview of his work and progress so far, yielding what I suspected was some kind of status update. It not only sounded like thousands of reviews in scientific journals that I'd read over the years, it was even formatted like one, including an extensive list of references. That file alone would have been enough to condemn him and Green Fields Biotech, no questions asked—if not for the conclusions that he had drawn.
He hadn't mentioned anyone but him working on the project, but another file had held endless columns of work hours, marked with two recurring initials—RM and TS. I doubted that he and Thecla had been the only ones involved as there were massive amounts of data to be sifted through, but it was unlikely that the lab techs who had done the actual work outside of the hot lab had known exactly where the samples had come from that they were analyzing. Heck, I’d even spent a couple of minutes checking that none of my research had turned up on there.
I'd found a few other lists, but no new names. Mike Jenkins wasn't mentioned anywhere so I remained with my suspicion that Raleigh had confided in him, maybe even as a backup plan should things go wrong. I hadn't known him well enough to say for sure, but if his last video log had been any indication, the thought of siccing his brother on the people who were responsible for his death must have given him at least a hint of satisfaction.
And somehow, I just couldn’t shake the suspicion that I was still missing one integral piece of data that would tie all this together. The longer I watched Nate’s operation unfold, the less it looked like the terrorist takeover I figured it was supposed to seem like.
Once I'd started reading through files, I'd pretty much blocked out everything else around me, but even so I could tell that things had been suspiciously quiet. Most of the guards in the atrium were positioned so that they weren’t easily visible from the outside, but except the door to the cube, there wasn't really anything to guard—in or outside of the building. Apparently, Nate’s prediction about the optimal time frame had turned out to be true. The techie had confirmed my suspicion that all the exits—barred by the explosions that had caved them in—were also guarded by both mercenaries and an array of mines, but
that still left the better part of thirty people unoccupied within the building. From time to time I thought I heard high-pitched, whining noises echo through the hallways, but that could have been my imagination.
The only real disturbance had—oh wonder—come from Gabriel Greene when he'd gotten up and started pounding on the wall of the glass cube closest to me, screeching profanities and threats that were only bothering me insofar as they dragged my attention away from my task. The Ice Queen had eventually shut him up by firing twice at the glass between them with a hand gun. The reinforced glass had splintered yet kept the bullets from their intended target, but still managed to shut Greene up for good. He'd looked scared shitless as he'd sunk down at his customary place next to the door, but I still couldn't find it in me to feel sorry for him.
As I sat there on my stool and waited for my signal, I wondered if what I was about to do made me a bad person. From my perch in the spotlight, I could hardly see anything besides the silhouette of the camera in front of me, but I knew that Greene must be watching me like a hawk. Deep down I was still unnerved by what he'd almost accomplished, but it was easier now to ignore that until later. Maybe that was because I had a task now and a definite end in sight. Maybe it was just my mind protecting what was left of my sanity. Either way, I really didn't give a shit anymore what happened to Greene, but I could sympathize with Raleigh on some level. If any of my actions yielded further grief to befall Greene, I would feel satisfaction, even if my finger wasn't pulling the trigger.
“Ready when you are,” Nate said from somewhere beside the camera, forcing my attention back to the here and now. I gave a jerky nod, trying to quell the bout of anxiety gripping me. His instructions had been curt and to the point, and I doubted that I could fuck this up whatever I said, but my stomach clenched nevertheless. I knew that if I survived this, I'd forever be associated with this video.
“Okay, going live in three, two, one, go!” the techie counted down for me, and I saw a bright red light flash on at the bottom of the camera.
Taking a deep breath, I cast a last glance down at my notes, then did my best to appear calmer and more composed than I'd felt since this whole mess had started. Donning a fresh, crisp white lab coat over my scrubs had helped a little with that.
“My name is Dr. Brianna Lewis. I've been working for Green Fields Biotech for two years now, in the immunology department. My specialty is highly infectious viral diseases, particularly coronavirus. You can easily view my credentials online and on the company website.”
I felt rather stupid rattling that off, but Dolores had agreed that it was important to stress that I knew what I was talking about.
The next part was all me.
“I don't know when you will see this video, but I expect that it will be after the accompanying data package has been made available to the press and everyone else with an internet connection. Feel free to make of the data what you wish, but this is my take on it. Several of my own publications have been cited in one of the files; I think I'm as close to an expert on hand as there is still left in this building.”
I cleared my throat and nodded at where I figured the techie was standing, ready to work her computer magic.
“This file is a sort of review of the unsanctioned work conducted in the biosafety level four lab during the last approximately six years. The project was started by Dr. Raleigh Miller and conducted further by Dr. Thecla Soudekis, who took over after his death.” I had to pause again, my throat suddenly parched. “After she murdered him, that is, with the very killer virus that he helped develop. As far as I know, Dr. Soudekis did not confess to this, but in the package you will find the unedited version of Dr. Miller's last video log in which he personally incriminates her.”
The rapid progression of his illness flashed through my mind as I went on, trying to stay as objective as possible.
“Dr. Miller was one of the leading virologists in the field, and he got tempted to play God. He was working on a virus made up of the combined genetic material and proteins of three of the most deadly viruses known to mankind. In its last, stable iteration this virus appears to have been lethal within forty-eight hours of infection.
“Movies always make it appear as if that is a normal, maybe even slow progress, but most viruses, even those causing hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, take up to two weeks to kill, and several days for the symptoms to appear. If this virus was ever set free on the population of a large city, millions of people would die before anything could be done. Because of the short time frame, I doubt that it would spread to become a pandemic, but in the hands of terrorists, it would be a weapon of mass destruction.”
This time my pause was for dramatic reasons.
“This is why such a virus cannot be allowed to exist, even sealed away in a vault. It is my conviction that any means necessary are acceptable to ensure that it is destroyed. And I think Raleigh Miller held the same conviction, because his research shows that he was working on an antidote.” Another pause, this one because the jitters made my throat close up. “A vaccine. Dr. Soudekis did not continue to develop it, so we will never know if it would have been effective, but that doesn’t change the fact that this virus, if ever set free, would cause a devastating loss of life.”
Now I could only hope that no one had the brilliant idea of leaking this video before we were out of the building, or there might be some problems with whatever exit strategy Nate had up his sleeve.
After another nod to Dolores, I went on.
“As you can see here, and on figure two in the review, the molecular structure of...”
I kept droning on through my notes, hashing over most facts but trying to speak in layman's terms where I could stress what was really important. How exactly Raleigh had built the virus, the vaccine, a progress graph of the earlier versus later versions, a time-lapsed view of one of the victims.
My voice sounded hollow in my own ears, but I figured that was just as well. The more I'd read about Raleigh's progress, the more the reasoning behind his brother's actions had become clear. I hated to admit it, but even now, knowing what I did, there was a part of me that was so fascinated by the project that it was hard to justify destroying it all. I stood by my conviction that it could not be left in active form, but it was a shame to completely destroy everything except for the files. At least the vaccine should have been developed to later stages, and for that, eventually, testing would have been necessary—
Nate was right, and he was doing the only morally acceptable thing. If not for Raleigh's death, I would have ended up with the potential blood of millions on my hands. Only that now he was making sure that would never happen.
After about ten minutes I reached the end of my notes, and there was only one thing left for me to say. Taking a moment to collect my thoughts, I did my best to stare into the camera, unblinking.
“Raleigh Miller and Thecla Soudekis have both played God, and they have died for their sins. Some things are not meant to be done even if they are possible. As scientists, we so often forget that.”
I allowed myself a brief pause before I launched into the last bit of hopefully damning information.
“Evidence of who has been involved in this Project Destiny, as it was called, is scarce, and I'm afraid that with Thecla, the last person who knew about everyone's involvement has died without being able to offer a confession first. What we know is that Raleigh Miller finalized the current version of the virus, and he was working on a vaccine. Thecla Soudekis took over when he got squeamish, and was project leader until she died yesterday. Records indicate that Elena Glover, head of the Green Fields Biotech human resources department, was responsible for rounding up the victims. I personally don't know about her qualifications, but the fact that she got this job after Project Destiny started the first round of human trials is condemning. Concrete evidence of who provided the finances has not been included in the data, but information has been found that directly incriminates Gabriel Greene. As much as I would l
ove to put the sole blame on that son of a bitch, his involvement in his father's company doesn't reach back long enough. We have no information on who helped Miller start the project in the first place. I don't believe that anyone else was involved; the amount of data gathered is indicative of a small team, one to three people, working part time over the space of years.”
When I fell silent this time, my throat raw from talking so much at once, it had a feeling of finality to it. I thought about what else I should tell the world, but nothing came to mind.
“I do not condone the actions of terrorists. I do not think that violence is a solution for anything. I have no idea how many people have been killed in this attack so far, and I cannot predict how many more will die before it is over. Until yesterday midnight, I’d never heard of this virus, but the evidence I've just shared with you is compelling. I personally, as a virologist, as a human being, cannot let anyone use this virus as a weapon, not even as a means of defense.”
The red light on the camera went out ten seconds later, and with it I felt part of the conviction I'd tried to put into my words leave my body. What was left was a mixture of confusion and fear, but also hope. Hope that, come what may, this nightmare would end today, once and for all.
Don't they say that there are some things out there worth dying for? I might have just found mine.
Chapter 21
“Guess that's a wrap?” I heard Nate say just as they turned off the lights, casting me in momentary darkness until my tortured eyes got used to the absence of several megawatts burning into my retinas.
Green Fields: Incubation Page 19
