The Chimera Vector

by Nathan M. Farrugia

  ‘That’s the one carried by fleas on rats, right?’ Jay said. ‘The bubonic plague?’

  ‘Officially,’ McLoughlin said. ‘But evidence suggests the Black Death was not the bubonic plague. It was a virus. And it disappeared right around the time smallpox hit.’

  ‘Sounds like the Black Death mutated into smallpox,’ Denton said.

  ‘You would be correct,’ McLoughlin said. ‘Have you heard of the panspermia theory?’

  ‘Hold up,’ Damien said. ‘Are you saying Sophia has smallpox?’

  Cecilia shook her head. ‘Sophia is carrying a genetically modified strain of the swine flu created at our very own Desecheo Island facility. I left her in Belize to be picked up by the Blue Berets.’

  Denton frowned. ‘Protocol dictates that, with the Desecheo Island facility destroyed and my loyalty in question, Sophia should be taken directly to the General.’ He shook his head. It looked more like admiration than disappointment, Jay thought. ‘Which is exactly what you wanted.’

  McLoughlin smiled, but only slightly. ‘Actually, I wanted her taken to the OpCenter, not UN headquarters. Nevertheless, she has infected all the personnel here. Some of them will visit the OpCenter.’

  ‘And then everyone starts dropping like flies,’ Denton said.

  ‘What about Sophia?’ Damien asked. ‘Will she die as well?’

  ‘She’s a Typhoid Mary,’ McLoughlin said. ‘An immune carrier.’

  ‘What about us? Are we infected?’ Jay asked.

  McLoughlin laughed. ‘No, no, give yourself some credit. All Project GATE staff and operatives are inoculated.’

  Denton’s hand disappeared into his hip pocket. ‘Why are you here?’

  McLoughlin clasped her hands behind her back. ‘The panspermia theory proposes that viruses travel from planet to planet. They hitch rides on asteroids and comets. They survive atmospheric re-entry and combine with bacteria and DNA. They mutate.’

  ‘You’re saying the Black Death was an alien virus,’ Denton said.

  ‘In a manner of speaking. But good things can come of this too. A jump-start in evolution. The psychopath, as you call it.’

  ‘You’re saying psychopaths came from a virus?’ Damien said.

  ‘That’s fitting,’ Jay said.

  ‘No, I’m saying the mutation came from a virus,’ McLoughlin said. ‘The Black Death killed off the weak. And it made the strong stronger. It made them psychopaths. Survival of the fittest. And it’s because of this the Fifth Column will be undergoing some restructuring.’

  ‘That makes us at the forefront of human evolution,’ Denton said. ‘I like that. Has a nice ring to it.’

  McLoughlin eyed him carefully. ‘You’re presuming that you’re included in this.’

  ‘I know I am,’ Denton said. ‘You see it in me. I see it in you. You’d be a fool to exile me. We’re stronger together.’

  McLoughlin’s expression didn’t shift. ‘What I see is that you don’t carry the genetic flaws present in most people. That makes you different from them. But not different from the paranoid, power-hungry, sub-standard psychopaths. Like the General.’

  ‘We’ve taken care of the General,’ Denton said. ‘He was insane, Cecilia. He ran this planet without any regard for the consequences. He was digging us into a hole that would lead to the extinction of . . . of everything. Even us.’

  ‘I won’t disagree with you on that,’ McLoughlin said. ‘And that’s why I’ve decided to change our arrangement. The Fifth Column do not need a ruthless, impulsive leader at their helm. They need someone who can guide them with vision. Someone much smarter. So I’m afraid that your services in their current capacity are no longer required. You will be replacing Sophia in confinement.’

  Denton inhaled sharply. ‘My skills are far more valuable to you outside of confinement. I’d suggest you consider a smarter alternative.’

  ‘I’ve considered everything. That’s why I’m the one screwing you over and not the other way around. I’ve known you long enough to know that if I give you an inch, you will take it all. And I’ll wind up just like the General. Dead. A victim of your purposeless pursuit of power.’

  ‘As opposed to me being a victim of your purposeless pursuit of power?’ Denton said.

  McLoughlin smiled. ‘Exactly. I knew you’d understand.’

  ‘What about the Chimera vector?’ Damien said. ‘That pretty much screws up your whole plan. You won’t be able to reproduce.’

  ‘That’s inconsequential,’ McLoughlin said. ‘Only the finest of the foxes will survive. And the fewer the foxes, the more rabbits to feed them.’

  ‘Feed?’ Jay said. ‘What, you’re vampires now?’

  ‘I’d like to think the vampire myth was based upon us, but no, Jay, I don’t mean it literally. In many cultures, blood is symbolic for life. Your emotions are our sustenance, not your actual blood. It’s one of the reasons we need you. Also, it’s highly enjoyable.’

  ‘Every parasite needs a host,’ Jay said.

  ‘Every queen needs an empire,’ McLoughlin said.

  ‘So you’re the future of evolution . . . and you just happen to be sadistic?’ Damien said.

  ‘Something like that. Plus, the Chimera vector isn’t the all-catching net you were led to believe.’ She turned to her Elohim. ‘Remove Sophia from her cell.’

  Jay watched as two pairs of Elohim entered the high-containment cell. Sophia was propped up on her knees, the black hood still over her head. The first pair remained at the entrance, their PEP rifles aimed, while the second pair slung their rifles over their backs and pulled Sophia onto her feet. They led her out of the cell and dropped her at McLoughlin’s feet. Kneeling and hunched over, Sophia was unnervingly still.

  Jay swallowed. ‘What are you going to do with her?’

  McLoughlin shrugged. ‘Well, the Fifth Column’s taken care of. All that’s left is the Akhana. Which shouldn’t be too hard since I know the location of every base.’

  Jay felt ill. She was going to take Sophia to every base and kill every last member of the resistance. He shook his head. ‘You bitch.’

  McLoughlin smiled. ‘And a good one, too.’

  She pulled the hood from Sophia’s head. Sophia looked exhausted, defeated.

  Four Elohim approached Jay, Damien and Denton, two on either side, keeping a safe distance. They gestured with their rifles for the trio to step into Sophia’s cell. Jay could hardly object. What good would it do anyone if he were lying paralyzed on the floor?

  The cell door began to close. McLoughlin turned to leave.

  Denton’s hand moved slightly. It was barely noticeable, but Jay caught it at the corner of his vision. He was holding his UFO-shaped grenade behind his back. Whatever he was planning, Jay hoped it would work.

  Through the swiftly closing gap of the cell door, Jay watched the Elohim move away after McLoughlin. A pair of them moved to pick Sophia up. The gap in the blast door was no longer wide enough for anyone to slip through. Already, they had been forgotten.

  Denton’s hand shot forward, his finger pressed down on the grenade, arming it. It left his grasp and skittered across the cell floor, just making it through the five-inch gap in the closing blast doors. It slid directly towards Sophia as the two Elohim bent down to grab her arms.

  Nothing else existed right now. Nothing but the grenade and Sophia.

  The grenade skimmed past her. Jay watched through the now three-inch gap, surprised as Sophia sprang into action. She pivoted on her knees and stretched one leg out. Her right boot clamped down over the grenade as though it was a hockey puck. She moved her leg in a wide arc, taking the grenade with it and shooting it in the direction of McLoughlin.

  The Elohim either side of her raised their rifles at her. The grenade slid across the floor. The blast doors closed.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Sophia wrapped her arm around her head to muffle the piercing sound that filled the donut-shaped corridor. Behind her eyelids, she saw the grenade’s xenon lamps
pulsing viciously. They made the corridor walls hot like the surface of the sun.

  She traversed the floor on her hands and knees and found herself halfway across the body of an Elohim. He writhed beneath her, blind and disoriented.

  All the Elohim had collapsed to the floor. Cecilia had fallen too. Her off-white trench coat was difficult to see among the white combat suits the Elohim wore, but Sophia found her. She collapsed beside her.

  The flashing dissipated. Sophia had five seconds before the Elohim’s vision would return. She guessed a further ten seconds before they gathered enough coordination to fire their PEP rifles, paralyzing her.

  While Cecilia was still protecting her eyes, Sophia took the opportunity to rifle through the trench-coat pockets with her good hand. She found a bulky wallet and opened it. Inside were four needles, four vials and alcohol swabs inside a pouch. Sophia could see four vials inside. Each one had a different color. One was amber, one was vivid blue, one was crimson and another violet. She recalled the Axolotl Chimera vector being violet in color and the Anti-Psychopath being blue. Cecilia was smart enough to carry a backup. One of those vials had to be the Chimera vector. Sophia held onto the wallet.

  The Elohim stirred around her. Cecilia reached down with one hand and took her P99 pistol from under her trench coat.

  An Elohim grabbed Sophia’s leg, pulled her flat onto her stomach. The wallet slipped from her grasp. Cecilia sat upright, gripping her P99. She pulled back on the slide.

  Sophia crawled to her knees and elbowed the Elohim who was grabbing her. His grip slipped. Cecilia reached for the wallet. Sophia whisked the pistol from the Elohim’s hip holster and aimed it at Cecilia.

  They were aiming at each other.

  Sophia squeezed the trigger.

  So did Cecilia.

  Cecilia’s round struck Sophia in the chest. Burned through her skin, her lungs, blew out her back.

  Shuddering, Cecilia collapsed where she lay.

  Sophia turned over, onto her knees, breathing hard. Her right lung had taken the round. She almost passed out. Breathing felt like swallowing lava. She was too scared to feel her back, see how much flesh was missing. She didn’t want to guess how many minutes she had left before death.

  Cecilia’s gloved hands were wrapped around the wallet. Sophia shoved the pistol between her knees and pulled at the wallet, but Cecilia wasn’t going to give it up so easily. Sophia’s peripheral vision told her the Elohim around her were starting to recover. She was running out of time.

  Forcing herself to stand, she half-ran, half-staggered to the cell door that imprisoned Damien, Jay and Denton. She found the General’s severed finger on the polished concrete floor, picked it up and pressed it into the fingerprint scanner. She heard the Elohim behind her reaching for their PEP rifles.

  The red light above the fingerprint scanner faded and the green light blinked on. The cell door opened.

  Sophia collapsed. The pistol slipped from her grasp. She saw Damien and Jay rushing towards her. They checked her wound.

  ‘We need first aid!’ Jay yelled at Denton.

  ‘That’s not going to happen,’ Denton said.

  Sophia tried to hang on, to stay conscious. She followed Denton’s gaze to the Elohim standing on either side of Cecilia, PEP rifles aimed in her general direction. And there was Cecilia, also standing, seemingly unharmed.

  ‘These bullet-resistant vests,’ she said, ‘it’s not like the movies. One little bullet and it feels like I’ve been hit with a sledgehammer.’ She ripped the Velcro to remove her vest and inspect the damage. ‘And that one little bullet compromises the whole vest. If I want to stay protected I need a new one.’ She discarded the vest and reached for her wallet. ‘Or I could inject myself with the Chimera vector.’

  ‘I’m guessing you’re not planning on having children then?’ Denton said.

  ‘Actually, that only works for women carrying the dormant psychopath gene.’

  ‘That’s a bit sexist,’ Denton said. ‘For the men it doesn’t matter, but for the women it has to be dormant. Are you sure you got your science right? You know, in case you plan on putting a bun in the oven later.’

  Cecilia smiled. ‘I have to be sure. Inability to metabolize ammonia. Massive immune response. Organ failure. Brain death. That’s the last thing I want.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Sophia said, her voice weak, short of oxygen.

  Cecilia’s smile grew wider. ‘Oh, I suppose you thought it was just a little sterilization for those poor, poor women,’ she said. ‘I lied. It’s a little more than that.’

  She tossed the wallet to Sophia.

  Jay snatched it and opened it.

  ‘Inject her with both Chimera vectors,’ Cecilia said. ‘We don’t want her dying on us just yet.’

  ‘Which one?’ Jay yelled.

  Cecilia smiled. ‘Take your pick.’

  Damien took the wallet from Jay, then used sign language to talk to him so Cecilia couldn’t eavesdrop. ‘Two are Chimera,’ he signed, spelling the word letter by letter. ‘What are the other two?’

  ‘One has to be the flu cure,’ Jay signed. ‘She can’t have Sophia sick forever.’

  Damien handed the violet syringe to Jay.

  Jay pulled off the plastic cap and squirted some of the fluid into the air.

  It might be a Chimera vector, it might be the flu antidote, or it might be lethal, Sophia thought.

  Jay pulled back the sleeve of her Fifth Column-issue pajamas, found a vein and injected slowly. Then the crimson syringe.

  Damien passed Jay the blue one. ‘What’s the fourth one?’ he signed.

  ‘If it’s in the wallet, it can’t be too bad,’ Jay signed back.

  Jay injected the blue one. Damien passed him the amber syringe, and he injected that too.

  ‘OK, good,’ Cecilia said. ‘Enough with the pointless sign language. Get back in your cell, boys. You too, Denton.’

  Sophia’s vision cleared. The fire in her damaged lung was receding.

  ‘And ever an ill death may they die,’ Denton said.

  The Elohim aimed their PEP rifles at Cecilia.

  Sophia turned her head to see Denton smiling.

  ‘You should’ve killed me when you had the chance,’ he told Cecilia.

  Cecilia looked surprised at first, then angry. Her jaw worked and her lips pursed firmly together. She drew her pistol.

  Before Sophia knew what she was doing, she had her pistol in her good hand. She squeezed a double tap through Cecilia’s heart.

  Like a discarded marionette, Cecilia slumped backwards.

  Sophia was on her feet, a new-found reserve of adrenaline burning through her. She moved away from Damien and Jay and aimed her pistol at Denton.

  ‘How did you do that?’ she said.

  ‘A little anti-Cecilia mojo. I had Adamicz install it separately, just in case.’

  ‘Does that mean we have it?’ she said.

  Denton shook his head. ‘It decays soon after you’re deprogrammed. It only works if an operative is reprogrammed before it can decay. Which, it seems, is what Cecilia is doing with her bodyguards.’

  ‘Was doing,’ Jay said.

  Denton walked over to Cecilia’s body and picked up her pistol. ‘If you want to leave, I suggest you do it now.’

  ‘You’re letting me go?’ Sophia said.

  Denton checked his pistol magazine. ‘How else will these boys get their payment for helping you?’

  Sophia lowered her pistol. ‘What if I come back to kill you?’

  Denton grinned. ‘Then I’ll have to stop you, won’t I?’

  Sophia didn’t return the grin. ‘What are you going to do now?’

  Denton looked down at Cecilia’s lifeless body. ‘Clean up this mess.’

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Sophia stepped out of the elevator and into the secret lobby. It was only hours ago that Blue Berets had brought her through here with a hood over her face. Damien and Jay emerged behind her, silent excep
t for their boots on the marble floor. Sophia had her pistol and Jay had Cecilia’s. The Elohim didn’t seem happy parting with their PEP rifles, so Damien went without. Sophia held her pistol in both hands and used her elbow to slowly open the door and step into the public lobby. Damien and Jay followed.

  Outside the building’s main entrance, the plaza was unnervingly quiet. Six UN soldiers were stationed beside a Land Cruiser and what looked like an M1117 ASV, a favored choice for US Marines in Iraq. Unlike Humvees and armored Land Cruisers, the ASV was impervious to small-arms fire and weathered improvised explosives pretty well too. It had four fat, ribbed wheels and was shaped like a cut emerald. This one was painted white, with UN emblazoned on its side in pale blue. It seemed overkill for the UN headquarters.

  Beyond the UN soldiers and vehicles, the front of the plaza was a sight to behold. On the right, a Chinook had toppled into a temporary chain-link fence mounted in concrete. Behind the makeshift barrier, a gate stood open. A Speedhawk helicopter—presumably the one Denton had ferried Damien and Jay in—appeared to have crash-landed into the building’s front gates. On the left of the plaza, a ramp curved below ground.

  ‘Basement parking lot,’ she said.

  The parking lot looked to be directly underneath the plaza. They had to get to it.

  ‘Six UN soldiers,’ Jay said. ‘We could take them.’

  ‘Or bluff our way through,’ Damien said.

  ‘Look at their weapons,’ Sophia said.

  It was hard to identify them because the soldiers were facing the other way. But she could tell from the ends of the barrels that they weren’t ordinary assault rifles.

  ‘Elohim,’ Damien said. ‘How many does Cecilia have?’

  ‘Enough. If we can get into the parking lot, we can take a vehicle up the ramp hard, through the hole in the concrete barrier and out the open gate.’

  Just as she spoke, a Land Cruiser pulled out through the open gate and onto First Avenue. The gate closed behind it.

  ‘So much for that idea,’ Jay said.

  ‘Before our helicopter was shot down, I saw another gate further along. At the northwest end,’ Damien said. ‘Like I said, we could bluff our way through.’