by Ian D. Moore
As they left, Evie heard the chatter and the low tones of the officers, discussing their plans with the C.O. The colonel briefed Major Sower on changes to camp organisation as a result of Evie's briefing and the immediate withdrawal of all night supply sorties. Major Sower was tasked with seeing to the base defences and setting up the secure lab facility within the Military Police buildings, and following the chain of command, the orders were passed down for implementation.
The C.O. walked past Corporal Simms with a nod at her salute, before turning to speak to her.
“Corporal Simms, would you be so kind as to have Sergeant Cross and Staff Sergeant Stewall report to my office for 1900 hours please?”
“Yes, Sir, I will see to it,” was the rapid reply.
“Thank you, Corporal, that’ll be all.”
“Sir!” she said, with another braced-up salute. The officer nodded again before leaving.
*******
Suspicions
The children, particularly Tom, were apparently starving, as if it had been a week since they last ate, instead of just a couple of hours. Nathan shielded his tired eyes from the glare of the sunlight, making a mental note to find some tinted glasses on the night’s mission. He was sure that here would be some very long days ahead, with little chance of sleep. Walking hand in hand with Tom and Holly towards the cookhouse, they almost collided with a man in a suit, who seemed to have some sort of stomach pain. Nathan paused with the kids, checking to see if he needed help.
“Are you alright, mate?”
“What? Oh yes, yes, I’m fine, thank you,” replied the skittish-looking man adding, “Just a spot of turbulence below is all I think. Maybe something I ate.”
“The nearest toilet is that way, fella,” said Nathan, pointing in the opposite direction to the man.
“Oh, oh yes, I know, but I have allocated quarters in the main building, so I prefer to use those facilities. They are not open to … everyone else. If you’ll … err, excuse me,.” he said, distastefully.
He seemed too keen to be away from the prying eyes of the man and his kids. Nathan watched the hunched-over figure as he made his way to the residential block; something wasn’t quite right about that man, he thought.
“Come on, Naffam!” Holly pleaded.
Back at the wellhead, Doctors Goedricht and Simmons analysed the data and images from the drone that had been sent down the wellhead borehole, before packing up and joining the team at Dishforth.
“There are some very odd readings from these traces. Do you see?” said Kate, handing the strip reading to Hans for a second opinion.
“It’ll be picking up trace elements of the virus, I should think. There seems to be some sort of field distortion too. Some kind of underground reactor would cause that,” he said.
“If the town has its own power generator, just what kind of town is it?”
“Kate, if Dr. Fitzgerald wanted us to know the full details, then he would have told us, don’t you think? Let’s cover this up as you say, and get ready to leave for the base.”
“Wrap this up, Hans, wrap this up,” she said, smiling at his error.
***
In the makeshift mortuary, Dr. Mo. Sighal was busy cleaning his instruments and packing them away ready for transport. The bodies would be coming with them, he assumed. He had just completed the post mortem examination of the small child, estimating her age to be six years old. The procedure, even for one so experienced, had touched him, and he felt sorrow for the young victim as he washed her body clean and combed her matted hair before proceeding with the operation. In each of the subjects, he had found similar symptoms: blackened eyes, slight brain shrinkage, and the jelly-like substance that should once have been blood.
He'd worked on biological weapon strains in his own facility farther north but he had never seen anything as effective as this. He'd be sure, when he arrived at the base at Dishforth, to seek out the scientist who worked on this; he wanted to learn more about it. Having taken blood, tissue, and fluid samples from the three victims for analysis, he made sure they were all labelled and sealed before placing each vial into a protected carrier that was airtight and then locked in a transport box. Carefully, he placed each body into a zip bag; they couldn’t stay here and the Dishforth team may need to do additional tests if they had better facilities at their disposal than he had, he thought.
A small group of uniformed men arrived to move the bodies, and they did so silently, respectfully, and without comment or expression. The whirring rotors of the helicopter as it touched down signalled the men to load up the deceased before they boarded. His colleagues appeared grateful to be out of the bio-suits as they had spent two days inside of them, almost around the clock. Kate stood, watching the men load the tiny mortuary bag. She placed her hands over her nose and mouth, stifling an involuntary shudder. She expected more young bodies to be found in the next few weeks, months, and possibly even years, if they could not find a way to stop its spread.
“You okay, Kate?” asked Hans, noticing her discomfort.
“Yes, just, well, you know,” she said quietly.
“It is never easy, especially with those so young. We go now,” he replied, and the Austrian twang of his accent seemed stronger for a moment.
With everything loaded, they finally boarded. Turning north and gaining altitude unfolded the war-torn scenes below as they passed over small hamlets and villages. The dead littered the streets and the carnage and wrecked vehicles filled every arterial road. Farmhouses smouldered, having burned for days, casting plumes of smoke into the sky. It was impossible to tell from the air how most of the victims had met their end, but it seemed that some had simply fallen where they stood.
The low thump, thump, thump of another aircraft mingled with the noise of theirs, and they each looked out to see a huge Chinook double-rotor transport helicopter drifting slowly past. It had a container attached to the bottom with steel cables. That helicopter housed clean-up crews, demo teams, and engineers assigned to make the wellhead site disappear forever. They would seal the boreholes for all time, and by the time they left, it would be impossible to tell that anything had ever existed there at all.
***
The chief engineer of the SGFC kept his distance from the gaunt outline of the man ahead. Not wishing to be seen, he used the cover of buildings, vehicles, or other people to mask his progress. Entering the makeshift dormitory that had once housed aircraft for repairs or servicing, he had lost sight of his target. Instead, he picked up a young female corporal, recognising the double flattened “V” shape of her rank badge when she turned to the right. She was also staying out of sight of Colin Snape.
What could she possibly want with him?
He waited, making sure that the young non-commissioned officer didn’t notice him. Now, watching her, he held back to see what would happen. Perhaps the actions of Snape had aroused her suspicions? The young corporal moved from one side of the hangar door to the other, moving carefully, so as not to be noticed. Then she backed off, just before the assistant executive officer emerged, easily recognised by his gait. Snape seemed to have a problem, and Brian noticed Snape's right arm across his stomach, as if in pain. No, not pain; could it be that he had found the missing laptops? Brian decided to find Meriam; he needed to be sure it was a laptop the man hid. He would need Snape distracted for a few minutes, long enough to carry out the rest of his plan.
Walking slowly back to the main residential building, making sure that his boss reached it well before him, he stopped as a man with two children chatted with Snape. After a few seconds, Colin disappeared into the foyer and stairwell of the block. Knocking gently on Meriam’s door, Brian waited for the response, not wanting to make any noise as the boss’s room was directly across the hallway. He heard the footsteps as she came to the door. He placed his finger to pursed lips as a warning to be quiet when she opened the door. She nodded, understanding his meaning as he stepped inside.
After the lightest of kiss
es to his mouth, she pulled at his arm and lead him to the toilet, as it was farthest away from the door and they would not be heard talking.
“Hey, you, good news, I think. I’ve been tailing the boss from a distance. I think he’s found the missing laptops, but I can’t be sure. Are you up for a little charm initiative?”
“Really? You think he’s found them already? What do I have to do?” Meriam said, smiling at him.
“Well, I could do with about twenty minutes alone with that laptop, and that means we need to get Snape out of there. Right now, he’ll be trying to turn it on and delete files, but it doesn’t matter if he succeeds. The data on it can be recovered, and he's not clever enough to do a real wipe. It would be better if we got to it before he does, though.”
Meriam nodded as he spoke, slowly understanding what it might take to get Snape to do as they wanted.
“Look, Meriam, I don't like asking you this,” Brian started.
“But,” countered Meriam. She knew what was coming.
“Well, do you think you could charm him into having dinner with you in the cookhouse? You know, take him away, errr … entertain him somehow?”
“He’ll be putty in my hands, you just watch,” she said, not relishing her duty. He pulled her close and kissed her softly.
“That's my girl.”
Meriam gave Brian a very coy, old-fashioned look.
Hell, she’d only have to look at me that way and I’d pretty much do what she asked.
Meriam stood before him, straightened her blouse and popped the top two buttons, just enough so that if she moved in a certain way, it could prove to be revealing.
***
Colin was sure that he'd made it back to his room undetected. He retrieved the machine from his waistband, almost letting it slip from his fingers accidentally, before looking at the lettering and company logo on the front.
It was one of the missing laptops. What a stroke of luck.
Sitting on the bed, he placed the laptop on his knees and flipped up the folding LCD display. His thumb pressed the “on” switch and the computer began the boot process. He stared at the screen, impatient for it to boot. Finally, a light blue background flashed into view, followed by a name at the top of a small box in the middle of the screen. The name was Brin Garrett. Laughing, he typed in four zeros, pressed enter and waited.
ERROR. INCORRECT PASSWORD.
THREE ATTEMPTS REMAINING.
Three attempts, he thought. The company laptops allowed five attempts before locking the computer completely; only a computer engineer or hacker would then be able to fix it.
Three attempts remaining. Think, come on, think. What would that pathetic bumbling idiot foreman have used?
He was about to press the keyboard to try another password when there was a soft knocking at the door. He rose, closed the lid of the laptop, placing it beneath the bed sheets out of sight, before making his way to the door. On opening it, he saw Meriam, showing her cleavage with just enough to allow the lace edge of her bra to be seen. The door opened and Meriam smiled at the red-faced and flustered little man who stood before her.
Supercilious git. How I'd like to wipe that look off your face.
“Colin, uh, sorry, Mr. Snape, I wonder if you have a minute. There is something I need to run by you,” she said, trying to sound convincing, “it’ll just take a minute.”
Snape eyed her up and down, lingering at the open neck. His delirious brain was already undressing Meriam Stuart right there in the doorway.
“Please, call me Colin,” he said, obviously drooling and standing aside to allow her to come in.
“Sit, Meriam, please; there is no need to stand on ceremony here.”
She strolled to the edge of the neatly made bed and sat on the concealed laptop, which prompted her to jerk upward.
“Are you alright?” Snape said, realising what she'd done. He cleared the wooden seat and ushered her over to it, before he took up a position between her and the machine under the cover. It was clear that something was concealed there.
“Yes, it’s okay. I’m fine,” she replied; she was now certain that he had the laptop.
“My folder, I … I was doing some paperwork before you knocked. What was it that you wanted to see me about?”
“Ummm, oh yes, that,” she said.
“It’s about what happens in the future, I mean for us.”
“Us, Meriam? You mean you and I?”
His ego was massive so he latched on quicker than Meriam could have hoped. Anyone else would have been confused by Meriam's timely advances but not Snape; for Snape, everything centred around him. Meriam coughed at the realisation that this was moving faster than she'd expected. She hoped she could cope.
“Us, meaning you and me Colin,” she said and turned slightly to her right, which ruffled her blouse just enough to reveal the strap of her bra; his roving eyes made their way to her cleavage. Snape rose from the bed and stood in front of her, able to see clearly down the front of her blouse and admiring the delicate curves within.
She stood, bringing her body up close to his and purposefully brushed against him. His hands found her hips as he pulled her into his body. She swallowed hard, bile rising in her throat in revulsion. Before his mouth could try to find hers, she pushed him gently away.
“Now, now, Colin, I’m not that easy. Doesn’t a girl at least get to have her man take her to dinner first? A little chivalry would be lovely,” she said, trying to control her breathing.
“Of course, I was just in the middle of something though. Shall we say this evening, at seven?”
“How about now? I don’t know about you, but I’ve not eaten today so far, and I think the break from company business would do you good. Come on, humour me …” she said and pouted. Becoming proud of her performance, her confidence growing, she turned up the charm incentive a notch.
“It’s been awhile since I had a real man take me to dinner.”
He was hooked, she thought, and she was right.
They walked to the main stairwell. A few seconds after they left, Brian opened the door to his room, peered around it to check that the corridor was clear, and stepped out. He'd been waiting for the two of them to leave before making his move. He took a small black plastic case from his laptop bag, pushed open the door to Colin Snape’s room, and crouching on all fours to avoid being spotted through the window, he made his way to the bed.
He recognised the shape covered under the blankets; it wasn't difficult. He slid the laptop out, being careful to note its position and mindful not to ruffle the sheets unnecessarily. It took him a further ten minutes work, using the contents of the small black box he'd brought, to complete his task. Replacing the laptop in the same spot, he straightened the cover and crawled back to the door, tentatively checking outside before leaving.
Meriam had done it; she really was a star.
***
In the cookhouse, Nathan looked up from the table as the children attacked their second portion of ice cream. He’d had a word with the duty chef and pulled a few favours for their treat and the refill. He would be paying back those favours in the future without a doubt, but it was worth the extra guard duty to see them smiling. A stooped, gaunt-looking man approached that he recognised as the man who’d had the stomach problem. What was odd was that a pretty young woman accompanied the man.
She must be staff; surely, not with him.
“Look!” he shouted to Holly, pointing over her shoulder, knowing that she would turn to see. He then helped himself to a spoonful of her ice cream, playfully but not entirely concealing his guilt.
“Oi! Naffam!” she said, giggling.
With the children ice-creamed out for the time being, they stood, cleared the empty bowls, and took them to the wash area. With an appreciative wave to the senior duty chef, they turned to leave, making their way back to the children’s play hangar. He hoped he would find Steve and Janey, and they would be happy to keep an eye on the children for at leas
t the next three to four hours. He really needed to sleep.
*******
Preparations
Evelyn packed away the rough notes she had made for the meeting and then took a moment to think.
What should the next course of action be?
Colonel Connell would have the strategy covered; she knew that. Evie wrestled with her thoughts.
Should we be able to capture some of the infected alive, would it be best to keep them here or take them to the facility? No, it would be safer if we could have at least a couple of the infected ones at the facility. Damn this virus, this was never supposed to happen!
That would work only if the rest of her team were safe and well, and she didn't know if they were. Using the facility's advanced equipment would speed up the process of examination and testing, for sure. Evie made her way to the base’s lab facilities to introduce herself to the team and to try to understand their fields of specialisation, since it was likely they would be working together closely in the coming days.
An approaching aircraft caught her attention. Briefly, she paused to watch the helicopter as it made its final descent onto the landing area at Dishforth base. Without waiting to see who disembarked, she pushed her way through the doors to the lab.
As the engine began to wind down and the rotors spun to a standstill, the flight crew opened the door from the outside. Standing to greet them, Dr. Fitzgerald was eager to discover what they had found at the wellhead and would want Evelyn present when his team made their reports.
The three doctors disembarked, walking over to Charles and greeting him both as a friend and colleague. As chief medical officer, Charles had maintained a level of discipline but also encouraged a relaxed and informal approach with his team and it was mutual. Charles believed it improved productivity, and their results suggested he was right in his assessment and management style. First, he would let them freshen up and eat. Three days of ration packs, with sufficient nutrients, vitamins, and minerals but little pleasure, was enough for anyone.
