by Laura Day
This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental
Hot Extraction copyright @ 2014 by Laura Day. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews
CHAPTER ONE
Ryker Evans steps off the diplomatic transport and follows the rest of the State Department weenies through the checkpoint, walking through queues of people without being stopped. He is in Lebanon with a low profile, coming into the country with the rest of the normal diplomatic traffic. Lebanon is, more or less, friendly with the United States, but having a SEAL in country on a SAR mission might get a little touchy if the Lebanese knew. His mission is a simple search and rescue operation. He is to get in, find Dr. Julian Baker, Ph.D., and get him out. And do it as quickly and with as little notice as possible.
Dr. Baker went missing twelve days prior and the CIA had finally provided intelligence on his location. Two days ago Dr. Baker entered into Lebanon, probably on his way to Syria. He and his daughter, Veronica, had been working on a cure for various genetic diseases.
While a noble endeavor, the virus they had developed to cure disease could also be used to create a bio-weapon. In another classic fuck-up, the Drs. Baker and their team had no protection and Dr. Julian Baker had been taken sometime over a weekend. It wasn’t until Monday, when he didn’t show up for work at his lab, that anyone noticed. When the missing person’s report went out, that’s when the alarm bells started ringing all over the Department of Defense.
A significant portion of the Bakers’ research funding has come from DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. While the United States doesn’t actively develop biological weapons, and the virus was not strictly a weapon, it never hurt to keep their options open.
But the rest of the international community may not have seen it the same way. Therefore, because of the touchy nature of the assignment, this is a low profile mission. In other words: what the Lebanese don’t know won’t hurt them. Unless the shit really hits the fan, Ryker’s will be the only boots on the ground.
As he and the other three members of diplomatic corps ride in the embassy car, Ryker doesn’t join in with the playful banter. The State Department and the armed forces rarely see eye-to-eye on anything, and once the two men and one woman found out he was Navy, they more or less shunned him for the rest of the trip.
That's fine with him. He's in country to do a job, not to make friends, and he took the time to catch some Z's. Sleep sometimes becomes a precious commodity on a mission and he had learned to grab it when he could.
Once he meets up with the other Dr. Baker, Veronica, he can begin to determine his options. Dr. Veronica Baker, Ph.D., is to meet him at the American Embassy and provide technical support for the rescue operation. This mission was thrown together with such haste they aren’t fully prepared to go, but to delay will possibly mean losing track of Dr. Julian Baker. The last thing he wants is to go into Syria to pull Dr. Baker out. That just adds a whole new level of shit to deal with. At least in Lebanon he doesn’t have to worry about being shot just because he is an American.
He’s also not thrilled to have a civilian woman mixed up in this, making this volatile situation even more so. His specialty is SAR, not biological warfare, and he knows he needs the backup and the intel, but it’s going to be a tense meeting.
It seems Veronica didn’t know where dear ol’ dad was getting the bulk of their funding. He has been warned she was not pleased when she found out she was working for the Department of Defense and had threatened to destroy all their work.
She did finally, grudgingly, agree to help, but before the DoD could squeeze her for information about the virus they had created, the CIA had a hit on Dr. Baker’s location. With so many pieces moving at once, they had bundled her on the first plane out of Berkeley and sent her to Lebanon to finalize the planning there.
Ryker smiles slightly, staring out the window as Beirut flows past. From the briefing he had received, it appears he has a double mission. First he will save Dr. Baker from Syrian terrorists, then he may have to save him again… from his daughter.
“Petty Officer First Class Ryker Evans,” Ryker says formally as the man behind the desk rises to greet him.
“At ease, Evans. Defense Attaché Thom Hargraves,” the man says, taking Ryker’s hand. “I’ve been briefed on your mission. Dr. Baker is already here. She flew in commercial last night so as to not raise any red flags. I have a secured room for the three of us to meet. I will be your contact while you are in country.”
“Thank you Colonel,” Ryker says.
Hargraves hands a holstered weapon across the desk to Ryker. “Your weapon. I had someone retrieve it from the diplomatic bag.”
“Thank you, Colonel. I was feeling a little naked without it,” Ryker says with a grin, taking the weapon and quickly checking it before tucking it away out of sight.
Hargraves’ smile widens. “Understood. I hope you won’t need it. As much as my Marines might enjoy a live fire exercise, officially the embassy is not involved. All we can do is provide some logistical and intel support. You are flying solo on this one, so don’t get into a jam you can’t get yourself out of.”
“Yes sir. Understood.”
“Shall we go meet Dr. Baker?” Hargraves asks as he steps from behind his desk.
CHAPTER TWO
The door swings open to the small conference room and Ryker just manages to keep his mouth from dropping open. Rising out of a chair before him is the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen. This is Dr. Baker? He thought Ph.Ds. only looked like this in movies. Standing five-feet ten, Dr. Baker is heart-stoppingly beautiful, with rich auburn hair worn below her shoulder, generous curves, and long, long legs.
“Dr. Baker, allow me to introduce Petty Officer First Class Ryker Evans, United States Navy. Ryker, Dr. Veronica Baker,” Hargraves says, making the introductions.
Ryker steps forward. “Nice to meet you Dr. Baker,” he says, taking her hand. “I’m sorry about your father.”
“Evans is here to find and extract your father,” Hargraves says as he moves to the table and sits down.
Ronnie looks Ryker over, trying to take the measure of the man. Standing a little over six feet tall, dark of hair and eye, he projects a quiet confidence. He looks the part, too. Dressed in a set of tan slacks and a crisp white shirt, she can’t help but notice his well-developed upper body.
“Thank you, Petty Officer Ryker,” Ronnie says, releasing his hand.
“It’s Petty Officer Evans, ma’am. But just call me Ryker.”
“Ryker is your first name?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“What an interesting name. But please, stop calling me ma’am. It makes me feel old. Call me Ronnie. Or at the very least, Veronica.”
“Shall we get started?” Hargraves asks. “Evans, this is your show.”
“Thank you Colonel,” Ryker says, sitting down across from Ronnie. “Dr. Baker, what can you tell me about this virus that you and your father have created? The information I have been given is a little thin.”
Ronnie stares at Ryker a moment, trying to decide where to start. “What do you know about recombinant DNA?”
Ryker smiles. “Let’s assume I know less than nothing. Just start at the beginning, don’t leave anything out, but keep it to high-school level biology if you can.”
“I’ll try. Do you know what DNA is?” Ronnie asks.
“Sure. It’s the stuff in our
cells that make us who we are. It’s what gives you red hair and me brown, for example.”
“Correct. Our DNA controls every aspect of who we are, including what diseases we may contract. My father and I are working on a virus to deliver a DNA payload that eradicates these types of diseases. Our goal is to use a genetically modified virus to insert the payload into cells to repair damage or mutations. The possibilities are nearly limitless.”
Ryker frowns, trying to remember his high school biology. The only thing he knows for sure about viruses is they are a pain in the ass when you get one because you can’t take a pill to get rid of it. “A virus is that little bug that gives you a cold right? And antibiotics don’t work on it?”
“Yes. A virus inserts its genetic code into a host cell and corrupts its function. We have developed a way to use this natural interaction to deliver a payload into a cell. Except instead of making you sick, it will make you well. Actually, that is what we want to do. All we have so far is a modified virus that can deliver a payload. But we just had a breakthrough. We finally have a virus that is stable and can reproduce.”
“Meaning what?” Ryker asks. This is fast getting over his head.
“Meaning all our previous engineered viruses died and wouldn’t reproduce. In effect, we had to make each virus in the lab. That is impractical because we would need millions or billions of viruses to have any hope of this working. What we needed is a self-reproducing virus. We can engineer the virus, then grow the billions we will need in order to make a cure for cancer, for example. It will also mean once a person is injected, the cure will be permanent. Or at the very least, long-lasting.”
Ryker thinks a moment. “Why haven’t I heard of this? Seems to me if you have created a cure for cancer, then your name would be all over the news.”
“Because we aren’t there yet. Creating the virus is only the first step. Now we need to create the genetic payloads and modify the virus for the cells we are targeting. This is just the first stop on the road to the cure.”
“So let me make sure I understand this. You have a virus that you can load with a bit of DNA. The virus then attacks the cells in the body, and instead of inserting DNA to make you sick, it inserts DNA to cure some disease?”
“That’s a very simple way of looking at it, but essentially correct, yes.”
Ryker looks at Colonel Hargraves. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yes.”
“What?” Ronnie asks.
“That if the virus can insert DNA to make you well, it could just as easily insert DNA to kill you. To poison you from the inside or whatever. And because it is self-replicating, once it starts it would be damn near impossible to stop. Does the DoD know that you have successfully engineered this virus and it can reproduce, grow, or whatever?”
“The who?” Ronnie asks.
“Sorry. The Department of Defense.”
“I don’t know. We just had the breakthrough. I guess it depends on if Dad told them. I doubt it though. We are repeating the process to make sure the first time wasn’t a fluke.”
“But if you were successful, and can reproduce the results, then the virus is…what’s the word…?”
“Viable?” Ronnie asks.
“Yes, viable. Then the virus is viable and can be used to engineer a weapon?”
“Well, yes, I suppose,” Ronnie says. “But our virus has a very specific set of environmental requirements. It can only survive minutes outside of the human body. So it will be difficult to spread, even if someone were to try to do something like that, without a direct injection. You couldn’t pour into the water or something like that. Stuff like that only works in the movies.”
“But those requirements, they can be changed, right? The virus could be modified to become like a cold and spread through contact?” Ryker asks.
“Why would someone want to do that? Yes, I suppose it can be done, but it isn’t something you can do in ten minutes if that is what you are implying. It could take years of research to undo all the safeties we put into the virus and still keep it viable.”
“Safeties?” Ryker asks.
“Yes. We’re not completely naive,” Ronnie says in mild annoyance. “We are very aware of how this can potentially get out of control. The virus is designed to be fragile. It can only live in the human body. Outside the body, it dies quickly. Plus each virus will have to be engineered for a specific purpose. This one for breast cancer, that one for Hodgkin’s, and so on. Each virus will be targeted so it only infects the specific cells for each type of disease. In other words, the virus will die off quickly once the specific disease it is targeting is eliminated. If I were to inject you with the virus to cure breast cancer, and you had none of the corrupted cells, it would be like I injected you with plasma. Nothing would happen. The virus will die because it can’t reproduce, and you would eventually pass the dead virus from your body through your waste.”
“But it could be done? Your work could be corrupted and weaponized?” Ryker asks.
“Weaponized?”
“Could someone take your work and make it into a biological weapon?”
Ronnie feels herself go pale. “Sure, I guess. The virus will deliver whatever DNA payload it is designed to carry. But we didn’t design…”
“I understand,” Ryker says, interrupting. “But not everyone is as civil-minded as you and your father. If someone were to try to recreate the work, what will your father need?”
“Our computers of course. They have all the data on it. But he will also need gene sequencers and an incubator to grow the viruses. Oh, and time. This isn’t a quick process. It will be easier if he can start with our base virus. It is already stable and only needs to have the coding added so the virus can invade the proper cells. But then they—the bad guys—will still be limited by the fact that the virus can’t spread through contact. Or the air. It will be very difficult to spread. This is designed to be a medical procedure. The virus was designed to not spread on its own.”
“But you said that can be changed. Can he—your father—do it alone?”
“Yes. Probably. It would be faster if he had his team with him, but yes, he could probably do it by himself.”
“How much room will all this take?”
“You could do it in an apartment easily. A large room. It doesn’t take a lot of space. The largest piece of equipment is the incubator and that is the size of a large refrigerator.”
Ryker frowns. “Basically he could do this anywhere there is electricity is what you are saying.”
“Pretty much yes. Of course, the more room he has and the more sequencers, the faster it can be done.”
“What is your involvement in all of this?”
“I design the DNA payloads and I help with the coding of the virus. Dad can do it, but really, that is my area of expertise. Dad is more the virus expert. He’s the one that finally cracked the problem of getting the virus to replicate.”
“So it’s kind of a father-daughter team?”
Ronnie smiles. The first smile Ryker has seen, and it’s a very nice smile. “That’s right. We’ve been working on this for nearly ten years. He’ll probably win a Nobel Prize for this. Now that we have the virus we are well on our way to curing all kinds of medical conditions. Any type of genetic mutation, cancer, MS, Parkinson’s—we can probably cure or vaccinate against all of these, and many more.” Ronnie suddenly remembers what Ryker said earlier and her smile disappears. “Why would someone want to pervert something that can do so much good?”
“Because there are a lot of bad people out there,” Ryker says simply. “It’s always been this way. Develop a gun to hunt game to help feed your family and it doesn’t take long before someone is using it to kill people.”
“That’s a pretty cynical world view, Ryker.”
Ryker looks at Ronnie a moment. “That doesn’t make it any less true.”
Her face hardens. “That’s why the Department of Defense was funding us, isn’t it?
So we can make them a weapon?”
“No,” Ryker says. “I have no specific information on the funding, but the United States doesn’t do direct biological weapons research anymore. At least not to my knowledge. But a lot of good tech comes out of defense research. Think of all the vets who can use what you and your father are working on. A lot of trauma care was developed while helping soldiers on the battlefield. I would say it is unlikely that your funding is so you can develop biological weapons.”
Ronnie looks at Ryker. What he says is true, but she still doesn’t like the idea that war mongers are the ones paying for their research. “Maybe,” she mumbles, not wanting to be drawn into a fight with the man that is going to rescue her father. “I will destroy the virus and the data before I allow that to happen.”
“As you should,” Ryker says, and then focuses on Colonel Hargraves. “We need to report this. Have all the material in the lab seized and…”
