by Mark Donovan
“How is the weapon delivered?” asked one of the men.
Aref smirked briefly at the man before continuing. “That is the ultimate beauty of this new weapon. Simply pouring the contents of one or two small canisters of it into the head-end of a public water supply system is all that is required. Within minutes of coming in contact with the water supply the engineered bacteria will multiply a million fold and begin to wreak its havoc.”
“All those who consume or even simply come in contact with the contaminated water will become infected with the disease. And within a few hours most of them will die. And lastly, twenty-four hours after its deployment, the bacteria automatically self-destroys itself leaving no trace of it in the water system.”
Again, Aref stopped speaking for his final sentence to be fully absorbed by his men. There was total silence.
“So to conclude, we’ve developed a new weapon based upon a naturally occurring disease, that produces a high death rate and is easy to deploy, and leaves no fingerprints behind. It truly is the silent killer.”
“Do you have a name for this new weapon?” asked another of Aref’s men.
Aref turned his head to face the man that asked the question. “Yes, its code name is Waterkill.”
All of the men erupted in the room simultaneously and began repeating the word Waterkill. After allowing his men to express their pleasure for a few seconds, and for him to take personal delight in their praise, Aref waived his hands to silence them. Again, the men instantly responded to his command and quieted down.
“I am sure some of you may be dismayed that we tested this new weapon on people from our own religious community. I want to respond to your concerns before any of you even voice them. Though some of our Yemenis Islamic faithful brethren lost their lives in our conducted test, we should not feel guilt or remorse. They died in Allah’s name for the good of our faith. They will go down in history as heroes to our people, to Muhammad, and to Allah, for they have helped pave the way through their sacrifice for ridding the world of infidels and western arrogance.”
The men nodded their heads in agreement but remained silent.
Aref used the brief silence to pivot to the next topic on his agenda. The unfortunate situation that had recently occurred.
“The village outside of Mocha, Yemen was not meant to be the only test case for our new weapon. We also had similar plans to give the American westerners a sample dose of Waterkill. After the successful results in Yemen we had quickly developed a mission to introduce a sample of Waterkill into the public water supply of a small town in the northwestern part of the United States.”
One of the men seated at Aref’s three o’clock position fidgeted ever so slightly on his seat cushion as Aref explained the mission failure. Though Aref kept his eyes looking straight ahead the man’s fidgeting did not go unnoticed by Aref.
“Unfortunately the mission did not go as planned,” continued Aref slowly. “The man who was selected to perform the mission was supposed to enter into the United States by way of Canada. Regrettably he did not make it. He was killed in an aircraft accident while crossing the border between Canada and Alaska. Unfortunate for him, but even more so for us. Needless to say the mission was an abject failure. Not only was the sample of Waterkill not introduced into the small town’s water supply, but the vial of it was lost in the Alaskan mountains with our jihadi brother.”
With his peripheral vision Aref noticed the man at his three o’clock position fidgeting more restlessly on his seat cushion.
“If that vial is found by the United States government, two years’ worth of our work may very well be at risk. But more importantly, we will have lost our ability to inflict the greatest pain ever experienced on the Great Satan. Their engineers and scientists will analyze the weapon and could potentially develop an antidote for it. They will also be able to produce their own version of it, if they so choose.”
Aref slowly looked around the room at all of his men, establishing individual eye contact with each one. Only the man at his three o’clock position did not raise his eyes to look at him as he scanned the circle.
“We cannot allow the United States government to find this vial. We must locate the aircraft wreck and recover it before they do.”
The man directly across from Aref interrupted. “But doesn’t the weapon self-destruct within twenty-four hours?”
“Yes it does, but only once exposed to water,” responded Aref. “Water is the catalyst that enables it to become a mass killer, but it is also the agent that causes its own eventual death.”
“Isn’t it likely the vial was broken and exposed to water?” pushed the man.
“No,” responded Aref firmly. “The vial was contained in a sealed thick titanium cylinder. It is very likely that it is still intact.” As he finished his sentence Aref looked over to his right at the man that held his eyes to the floor and continued to fidget.
The man who questioned Aref nodded his head in acknowledgement and full appreciation of Aref’s concerns. “You are right Aref. We need to find this vial quickly.”
“I have already started the wheels in motion for recovering it,” responded Aref. “I have been in contact with our colleagues in the United States and Canada. I have them listening to United States government and military channels for any reports on the downed aircraft. So far the aircraft has not been located. It is believed that the aircraft transponder was destroyed or non-operational when the aircraft went down.”
“From what our colleagues are telling me, because it was only a small aircraft on a private charter flight, both the United States and Canadian governments do not seem to be working too hard to find it. Our contacts have also put out feelers and asked around the region where the aircraft could have gone down. The only issue is that the search area is massive, remote, and very sparsely populated. So far they have obtained little information.”
“So how are we to help,” asked the same man.
Aref scanned the circle and said, “I want some of you to fly to the United States and find the vial. I trust all of you with my life, with the exception of one.”
All of the men but one looked at each other in a nervous silence, realizing that Aref was suggesting that there was a Judas in their midst.
A man to Aref’s left spoke up. “I volunteer to go to America and recover the vial of Waterkill. But what do you mean we have a traitor among us?”
“Thank you, Zand” responded Aref. “Your offer of service is greatly appreciated.” Aref and the others in the circle remained silent for what seemed like minutes, but was only a few seconds.
“It was not my fault,” yelled out the man who had been fidgeting nervously for the past several minutes. “Yousef came highly recommended and I fully vetted out his background before I sent him on the mission.”
Silence then returned to the circle. All of the men had focused their eyes and attention to the face of Saeed.
Again Saeed began to voice his innocence to them.
Aref interrupted him abruptly. “Yes this situation is directly your fault,” yelled Aref in a raging guttural tone. Aref’s face had become red and his eyes bulged outward on either side of his large nose. “If you had done what I asked, and what Zand just offered to do, we would not be in this situation today.”
“You,” pointed Aref as he stood up and walked to the center of the circle. “You should have gone yourself to the Great Satan and delivered the vial. But instead, you chose not to.”
“But I could not go,” whined Saeed. “My son is very ill.”
“Stop, I don’t want to hear any more from you Saeed. You’ve been like a brother to me. But you have failed me yet again. You have failed all of us.” Aref swept his arm around the circle.
“And you have failed Allah.”
Saeed lowered his head and began to sob.
“How dare you cry amongst us,” raged Aref. “We have all suffered. We have all sacrificed. We have all lost loved ones to the Great Satan and their
European partners. Stand up. Stand up.”
Saeed slowly stood up. As he did, he felt his bladder release in petrified fear.
“Come to me,” Aref commanded.
Saeed nervously shuffled towards Aref with his eyes focused on Aref’s intense stare. As Saeed approached, Aref surreptitiously reached behind his back with his right hand and slowly wrapped his fingers around the hilt of a scimitar knife that was tucked underneath his belt. When Saeed was within arm’s length of Aref, in one lightning fast fluid motion Aref pulled the dagger from behind his back and slashed it across the throat of Saeed. The action was so sudden, such a shock, that Saeed did not immediately register what had occurred. Not until blood started to spurt from his throat and onto Aref did he seem to briefly realize what had occurred. He stared blankly into Aref’s eyes for a fraction of a second before his body fell forward. As it did, Aref stepped to the side to allow Saeed’s body to fall freely to the floor. Upon hitting the hard basement floor Saeed’s body bounced once and rolled partially over so that his head and lifeless eyes looked up at Aref.
As the blood continued to gush from Saeed’s cut jugular veins the men in the circle remained silent and watched. Aref slowly scanned their eyes to study their reactions. There was immense fear in all of their eyes. Exactly as he had hoped. He had learned long ago, fear was the only way to lead men.
After nearly two minutes of watching the remaining life fade from Saeed, Aref finally spoke.
“So far only Zand has volunteered to go to America. Do I have other volunteers?”
Three additional men hesitantly raised their hands.
“Excellent. I will talk with Zand and the three of you separately. The rest of you, clean up this mess and get rid of this filthy swine.”
Aref stepped out of the circle of men and motioned his four volunteers to follow him upstairs and away from the ghastly scene. Aref then turned to go up to the main level of the home with the four men following obediently at his heels. He stopped suddenly in his tracks. He turned around and looked at the group of men once more and pointed to one of them.
“Abdul, please come with us as well.”
Abdul compliantly stepped forward out of the circle and walked up the stairs trailing Aref and the other men.
Chapter 6 (April 10, Monday 12:30pm, Austria)
It was just after midday when Dave and Dana placed their skis and poles on a ski rack and walked into a timber framed ski lodge to get some lunch.
They were skiing at the Obertauern ski resort near Saltzburg, Austria, a resort located in the heart of the Austrian Alps. They arrived at the Austrian ski village the previous Friday and were staying at the Hotel Lurzerhof Wellness and Spa facility. Due to their midafternoon arrival on Friday, they had decided to forego hitting the slopes that day, and instead, spent the afternoon sightseeing and shopping in the quaint alpine village, before ending the day with dinner at a small five star restaurant in the village center.
Over the subsequent three days, however, they spent most of their time on the slopes, enjoying the spring skiing and taking in the natural beauty of the alpine mountains. At the end of each day, they returned to their hotel and enjoyed the amenities of the hotel’s wellness and spa center before going out to dinner. So far the vacation had lived up to everything that they had hoped for.
The two walked out of the busy ski lodge, food trays in hand, and made their way to a nearby picnic table. They had decided to skip the crowded lodge and instead take in more of the bright sunshine and warm spring mountain air while they ate. After sitting down at the picnic table they immediately started devouring the food on their trays, which consisted of vegetable barley soup, fresh breads and cheese, and large cups of hot coffee. The strenuous morning exercise on the slopes, combined with the fresh alpine air, had made both of them ravenous.
“This view is just fabulous,” said Dana as she took a break from savoring her lunch and looked up at the towering snow covered mountains that surrounded them. “It is such a spectacular place.”
“It is indeed,” replied Dave as he paused from his soup and gazed up at the rugged mountain peaks. “I first came here ten years ago. By the time I left a week later, I was in love with the mountains and the relaxed feel of this little village. Obertauern, Austria is one of the main reasons I decided to uproot from the San Francisco Bay Area and move to McCall, Idaho to start NSurv. Though Idaho and its mountain ranges are not quite the Austrian Alps, it’s a close second place.”
“Yes, I’d agree with that assessment,” replied Dana. “Plus, Idaho is our home.” She leaned forward and reached out and put her hand briefly on Dave’s forearm.
As the two continued to eat their lunch and enjoy the beautiful day, Dave’s mobile phone suddenly began to ring in his coat pocket. After fumbling around for it for a couple of seconds he finally extracted it from his coat. He looked down at the phone number on the screen and saw that it was a call from Washington D.C. It was from his friend at the department of Homeland Security, John Bates, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology.
Dave tapped the answer button on his phone and raised it to his ear as Dana looked at him questioningly.
“Dave Henson.”
“Hi Dave, John Bates here.”
“Well this is a bit of a surprise hearing from you,” replied Dave, as he looked over at Dana and gave her a wry smile.
“Yes, I am sure it is, however, we have a situation that has arisen and that I need your help on.” John hesitated for a second before continuing. “Actually, Eric McDonald, the Director of Homeland Security, asked me specifically to call you.”
“Really,” responded Dave questioningly as he sat up straighter on the picnic table bench. “What’s the issue?”
“Well to be honest Dave, I really can’t elaborate on the subject over the phone.” Again, John paused before continuing. “Dave, I need for you to come to Washington.”
Dave hesitated before responding and looked over at Dana who was intensely watching him. She had also heard John’s request. She nodded her head slowly in support.
“Ah, so when do you need for me to be in Washington?” asked Dave, as he looked back at Dana with a combination of guilt and appreciation on his face.
“Immediately,” replied John. “We have an emergency that we really need your assistance on right away.”
“Dana and I are in the Austrian Alps on a ski vacation at the moment,” replied Dave. “It will take us a little time to pack up and rearrange our travel plans back to the states.”
“I apologize to the both of you for my request,” responded John. “If the situation was not so serious I’d tell you to come to Washington when your vacation was over. However, we really need to speak with you as soon as possible.”
“I understand,” said Dave.
“Don’t worry about changing your flight reservations,” replied John. “I’ll take care of that. I’ll charter a helicopter to pick up the two of you at your ski resort and take you back to Munich. When you get to Munich, I’ll have a pair of e-tickets ready for you to fly direct to Reagan International Airport.
“Okay, we’ll start packing,” replied Dave.
“Where are you skiing at?” asked John.
“Obertauern, Austria,” said Dave.
“Okay, I will have a helicopter there in two hours,” replied John. “Again Dave, I am truly sorry for the intrusion. Please give Dana my apologies.”
“No worries,” said Dave. “We understand.”
Chapter 7 (April 11, Tuesday 6:30pm, Washington D.C.)
Twelve hours later Dave sat bleary eyed looking across a large mahogany conference room table at John Bates and Eric McDonald. They were sitting in the Department of Homeland Security building in Washington D.C. Actually, it was more of a massive complex than it was a single building. The Department of Homeland Security complex sat on a one hundred and seventy six acre campus just five miles from the nation’s capital.
“Thank you so much for coming,
” said Eric McDonald. “I sincerely apologize for interrupting your vacation. However we have a serious situation that is ongoing and we really need your assistance.”
Exhausted, but very curious to know what the situation was, Dave replied, “Okay, before I fall asleep why don’t the two of you fill me in.”
John looked over at the Secretary to get his approval to speak. Seeing the nod from him, John began to explain the nature of the situation and what had transpired over the previous couple of months.
“For the past two years we have been receiving bits and pieces of intelligence information that Al Qaeda has been working on a new terrorist weapon. A weapon that is not only capable of causing terror to the entire world population but also killing millions of people in a single use of it.”
“Have they created their own nuke?” asked Dave, his voice dripping in contempt.
“No,” replied John. “It is much more insidious of a weapon than that, if our intelligence is correct. And we have no reason to doubt our intelligence information at this point.”
“Al Qaeda has been working on the development of a new type of chemical-biological weapon,” interrupted Eric McDonald. “Something that has never been produced before.”
