The Susquehanna Virus Box Set

by Steve McEllistrem

  “Okay,” Rebecca said, with a glance at Tad.

  “Got it,” Tad said.

  “You have to hurry,” the dark man said as he checked the screen on his PlusPhone. “You might only have a few hours to get away from the lab before they find it.”

  “What are you going to do?” Rebecca asked Sally1.

  “What they expect me to do—fly away.” She smirked.

  “You think you can escape?”

  The dark man said, “We’ll protect her.”

  Sally1 said, “Get those canisters. This version of the virus is the most sophisticated yet.”

  “Thank you,” Rebecca said, trying to mollify the old woman.

  “Go,” Sally1 commanded.

  “Good luck,” Tad said.

  “I don’t need luck,” Sally1 replied.

  Rebecca nodded to Sally1, then pulled at Tad, hurrying him away. Neither spoke until they were around the corner.

  “Okay,” Tad said. “I’ve activated the dampening field and the scatterer on my PlusPhone. We can talk safely.”

  “I told you she was crazy,” Rebecca said.

  “I know, I know. I was wrong. But what do we do now? She probably has us under surveillance.”

  “We’ll head toward the lab for now. But I think we have to give ourselves up. Plead ignorance. Give them everything we have. It might be our only chance. You still have that canister of the antidote?”

  Tad reached into his pocket and pulled it out.

  “Good,” Rebecca said. “We may need that as a bargaining chip.”

  ***

  Manyara Harris called up the surveillance program on her PlusPhone. Tracking their progress, she noted with satisfaction that they were headed toward her hidden lab.

  Although it wasn’t imperative that Tad and Rebecca reach the lab, it would solve a number of minor problems. Manyara had rigged the lab to explode when they entered the access codes. And if they ran instead, the lab would blow anyway. She’d already set the detonator remotely. The explosion would occur in twenty-six hours. She’d meant to have it modified so that she could blow it at any time, but she hadn’t gotten around to it. No matter: it would explode just the same.

  “Why didn’t you let us kill them?” Wally1 asked.

  “An experiment,” she replied. “I wanted to see if they would obey me. And they’ll die soon enough anyway. Besides, they may still be useful.”

  “They could cause trouble.”

  “They don’t matter. Eli does.”

  Manyara engaged the cluster scrambler that Tad had devised for her and activated the Susquehanna Sally program, which modified her appearance, making her seem younger, more multi-racial and with a more soothing voice. Then she dialed up Eli’s private number at CINTEP, knowing that the connection would be monitored. A trace of the call would lead them to a series of cutouts in multiple countries. Eli needed to know his day of reckoning had come. This latest version of the virus was unstoppable. It would make all previous versions seem tame by comparison.

  “Hello, Sally,” Lendra Riley answered, looking tired and pale. “Or should I call you Manyara?”

  Manyara smiled. “Almost forgot about you,” she said. “Message for Eli.”

  “Eli is unavailable at the moment,” Riley replied.

  “Giving him a truth kit,” Manyara said, noting with satisfaction Riley’s slightly widening eyes, “won’t help you. He knows nothing.”

  Riley leaned forward, elbows on her desk. “Why did you call?”

  “Wanted to say goodbye.” Manyara chuckled.

  Riley stared at Manyara for a long moment, as if gathering her thoughts or accessing her interface. “You really think you can hide behind that scrambler program? We’re going to find you. Soon.”

  “How little you understand.”

  “We’re coming for you. There’s no hiding.”

  “Not worth our time.”

  Manyara disconnected.

  Wally1 brought up surveillance footage on his PlusPhone and showed it to her—Tad and Rebecca headed the wrong way. “They decided to run,” he said.

  “No matter. Once the virus escapes from the lab, no human will survive.”

  Wally1 nodded his satisfaction, knowing he would die, just like the rest of them, but not caring. The conditioning of his mind was a beautiful thing. If only every human could be programmed that way—the virus might not be necessary.

  Chapter 24

  Sally23 had awoken from her nap with the sudden realization that she didn’t want to die; she didn’t want Brosk to die; she had made a terrible mistake aligning herself with Sally2; and she was a fool because there was no turning back now. How could she have done such a stupid thing? Had she wanted to kill everyone when she joined the group or had that desire been programmed into her? She felt a clarity of thought she hadn’t experienced for a long time, as if she’d just emerged from a nightmarish fog into a harsh reality. But she managed to hold herself together, show no sign of her unease.

  Before leaving for Hyde Park, Sally23 had helped Wally2 decrypt Sally1’s last message for Sally2, instructing the cell to disperse all reserves of the virus, and informing them that Sally1’s final creation—the ultimate killing virus—would be released in twenty-four hours. She couldn’t even sabotage the message because Wally2 knew enough to keep her honest.

  Now, sick at heart, she used the neuro-controller to guide Brosk’s movements as they walked through the park. Dark clouds threatened rain. Good. If it rained, people would stay home. Fewer would die—though she supposed they would all die of the virus eventually. She didn’t tell Brosk about Sally1’s newest strain. Let him die thinking humanity still had a chance.

  “I want to kill you,” Brosk said through clenched teeth. “I know I’ve been conditioned to desire that, but I can’t stop myself from yearning to strangle you. However, I’m now sure that Sally2 is Dr. Leah Shafer. She’s the only one who could have programmed my mind so completely.”

  Sally23 reached up and turned off the comm unit in her ear. “I know I deserve to die,” she said. “Somehow I got sucked into this. I can’t figure out how. that happened. How could I have wanted to wipe out humanity?”

  “You probably didn’t. Most likely, you felt a general hostility that she exploited when you first met, when she had you hooked up to a polygraph that was actually a machine designed to alter your mind with electrical impulses. She may even have slipped you drugs or nanobots to further accelerate the conditioning.”

  “Then why don’t I want to kill people now?”

  “Perhaps the conditioning was temporary and it’s wearing off.”

  Sally23 turned her ear bud back on.

  “What’s going on?” Sally2 asked. “I lost you for a moment.”

  “I don’t know,” Sally23 said. “Some glitch, maybe.”

  She spotted the Wallys, as well as Sally8 and Sally17, walking separately up ahead. The two Sallies were there to ensure that she didn’t try to run, as if running were an option. A faint, almost unnoticeable glow surrounded both Sallies, indicating their shields were activated. Both Sallies would be armed with Las-pistols.

  She herself carried no weapons, unless she counted Brosk. When his body exploded, the immediate kill zone would be twenty yards across, while the ensuing release of the virus would spread over a radius of nearly a mile within a few minutes. Even though Sally2 had excluded her from the strategy session, saying it was best that Sally23 not know how they planned to eliminate the CINTEP agents, Sally23 knew that much. She felt glad that she hadn’t pointed out the possible flaw in Sally2’s new version of the virus. Not that it mattered. By the close of the day, Sally23 would be dead too.

  Sally2 said, “I think you turned it off. I think you’re going to run.”

  “You can see what’s happening,” Sally23 replied. “And if you can’t, you ca
n check with Sally8 and Sally17. We’re right where we’re supposed to be.”

  The many cameras mounted throughout the park captured their movements, so the CINTEP agents ought to arrive soon. Brosk glared at Sally23, his eyes leaking tears of agony, as each step brought them closer to death.

  “I know you’ll run,” Sally2 said.

  “You sound like you want to,” Sally23 replied.

  She steered Brosk south toward the new band shell, which had been built a few years ago, and where a concert was scheduled to begin shortly. Given Brosk’s condition and Sally23’s unfamiliarity with the controller, the band shell looked impossibly far away. She knew that Sally2 had planned the attack for right after the concert began, when the park would be at its most crowded. Already thousands of people filled the park. Young and old, wrapped up in jackets and hats, they came out despite the weather and the threat of contagion. Like Londoners before them, they seemed determined to live their lives, enjoy themselves regardless of hardship. Sally23 couldn’t help but admire their spirit. This is what I used to want to destroy, she thought.

  The way Brosk navigated under the controller drew stares from fellow pedestrians. They gave him looks of fear and pity, no doubt assuming he suffered from some malady and that Sally23 was his caregiver. Would death be painful? Most likely it would be quick enough that she’d feel nothing. She planned to stay with Brosk when Sally2 detonated the nano-explosives in his body. She’d sit next to him on a bench, enjoying the music, trying not to focus on the inevitable.

  Up ahead on the path, she saw her mother pushing a pram. Mum! Then she realized it was just a woman who looked like her mother. The woman wore a coat exactly like her mother’s, and she walked in a similar fashion, rolling a little as she moved. Sally23 regained her composure and continued on. She concentrated on working the controller properly as she walked Brosk south. Glancing behind her, she spotted Wally 5 and Wally6, spreading out. Each carried a canister in his hand, either the virus or some sort of explosive. She couldn’t find Wally2 or Wally3 in the crowd. Up ahead, Sally8 and Sally17 stopped just north of the new band shell.

  Brosk’s breathing became ragged.

  “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “Heavy,” Brosk replied. “Everything hurts.” He inhaled and exhaled several times, then said, “Awful chest pain. And I want to kill you more than anything in the world, more than I want to take my next breath.”

  “Trogan,” she said, “I . . .”

  “Save it, bitch.” The intensity of his emotion unsettled her, even though she had steeled herself for his hatred.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Brosk exhaled sharply in what might have been laughter or pain. Then he took several deep breaths. “You betrayed me,” he said. “Drop that controller for one second and I’ll break your neck.” Brosk grunted as his feet continued moving. He managed to turn his head and look into her eyes. For a brief moment the hatred there dissolved into something like understanding. Then the hardness returned to his eyes.

  Again he breathed deeply, building up oxygen in his lungs before trying to speak. “I think I remember Sally2 making connections in my brain.” He paused as if he’d just run a mile. “But I definitely remember you infecting me with the virus when we slept together. Is that an accurate memory?”

  Sally23 turned off her ear bud. “No. She programmed that into you.”

  “I suspected that. I still hate you. I’ll still kill you if I can. I can’t fight that. It’s odd to feel this much hatred and have some detached part of my brain realize that the feeling isn’t real.”

  “So you can tell you’ve been programmed?”

  “Kind of.”

  “Yet you can’t stop the desire?”

  “Maybe if I had more time to fight it.”

  Sally23 reached up and turned on the comm unit again. “Hello?” she said. “Hello?”

  Sally2 said, “I ought to blow you up right now.”

  “Why? Because you gave me a defective ear bud?”

  “I don’t know what your game is,” Sally2 said.

  “I don’t know what yours is either,” Sally23 replied. “Why aren’t you here with us? Planning to run away? Live to fight another day?”

  “Oh, I get it,” Sally2 said. “You want me to kill Brosk now. You want me to detonate him before the CINTEP agents arrive. Your last noble act?”

  “I just want you dead.”

  Sally2 laughed. “Finally some honesty.”

  “Why don’t you be honest with me? You plan to live, don’t you?”

  “Where would I go?”

  Again Sally23 turned off the ear bud.

  “Sally2 is planning to run,” she said to Brosk. “Any idea where she would go?”

  Brosk’s head dropped a few millimeters. Again he took a few deep breaths. “I don’t know.” His jaw quivered. “I can’t think. I want to kill you so badly. Is that what it feels like to be a Sally? Do you want to kill everyone?”

  Sally23 looked into his dark brown eyes. “Not anymore.” She reached over and wiped the tears from his cheeks.

  Somehow Brosk grabbed her jacket sleeve, gripped it tightly, almost causing her to fall. She struggled with her balance for a second and adjusted the controller to keep Brosk walking. He said, “You’re going to die today.”

  “We’re all going to die today,” Sally 23 said. “This is the final push. The Sallies are dispersing their remaining supplies of the virus. Sally2 injected a series of nano-explosives into your body, and your clothes are filled with the virus. You’re rigged to explode soon—maybe an hour. If we try to run, she’ll detonate you remotely. And when the CINTEP agents arrive, she’ll blow us up.”

  “She can detonate me remotely?” Brosk asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then maybe I have a solution.”

  “It’s too late to stop the virus from being released.”

  Brosk shook his head. “I might be able to block her signal.”

  Hope flared up inside her—a tiny straw in a current of despair.

  ***

  Curtik worked his mechanical hand while shuffling his feet to The Viral Death Dance by the Crystal Skull Bangers: their newest song, celebrating the end of the known world. He wished he could fight someone. He no longer had the urge to kill mindlessly, but God, a fight would feel good. He’d love to test out this new hand.

  “Curtik,” Zora said from the doorway.

  Curtik lowered the volume on his implant and cursed himself for failing to hear her approach. “What?”

  “We’ve located Brosk again.”

  “Another trap?”

  “Of course.”

  “Major Somers?”

  “Ned’s setting it up with him right now. Let’s move.”

  “Woo hoo! Action.” Curtik trotted for the door. As he caught up to Zora, he swatted her ass with his mechanical hand.

  “Ow! What are you doing?”

  “Just havin’ a bit of fun. Come on, Zora. We’re back in the game.”

  “It was your impatience that cost you your hand last time.”

  “And I’d do it again in a second. This thing’s plowing fantastic.”

  “Yes, but next time you might cost me a hand. Or Ned. Or you might get some innocent bystander blown up.”

  “Oh, the horror!” Curtik raced ahead, beating Zora to Major Somers’ office off the lobby, where Jefferson and Major Somers stood inside the door. He slowed as he reached the room, stopping before the two older men. He tried to hide his broad grin but ended up giggling. Major Somers shook his head as Jefferson continued watching video of pathways in a park.

  “This isn’t a game, son,” Major Somers said. “This time it’ll be to the death.”

  Jefferson turned to Curtik, nodding his agreement. “They’ve brought out an unknown number of people. They claim they’re
spread out across Hyde Park. Probably all armed. Probably all carrying the virus.”

  “The Viral Death Dance,” Curtik said. “Gimme a Las-pistol and let’s kick some ass.”

  “We can’t go in big,” Zora said. “We got a message from the local Sally cell. They say they only want us.”

  “You and me?”

  “And Ned. They know what we look like, so no masks. They’re bringing Brosk to the park. A big concert starts soon.” She pointed to the video, which now displayed a band shell, filling with people.

  “They’re threatening to release those canisters of the virus if we don’t show,” Jefferson said.

  “And if we try to clear the park,” Major Somers said, “they say they’ll also release the virus. So far, our mini-drones have been able to identify only two hostiles in addition to the girl with Brosk.”

  Zora gestured to Jefferson and Curtik. “I think we have to go in lightly, maybe sacrifice ourselves, keep a larger force off site in case we’re taken.”

  Jefferson shrugged. “They’re obviously going to release the virus anyway. But they clearly want to take us out as part of their strategy. They’ve heard about Jeremiah’s immunity and they’re afraid all the CINTEP people have it. So we’ll give them a target to shoot for. And Major Somers can have his people take them out once we identify them. Regardless of how we fare, we can’t let them walk away to infect the larger population. Win or lose, it ends here.”

  “Agreed,” Major Somers said. “I already cleared that with Downing Street. And you go in with the SAS security squad.” Curtik must have looked confused because Major Somers added, “Similar to your Elite Ops troopers.”

  “They’ll just disperse the virus if they spot your troopers,” Zora said.

  “Yeah,” Curtik said. “Zora and I are immune. Better that we go in first.”

  “As far as you know, you’re immune,” Jefferson corrected him.