Threat Level Alpha Read online

  But that didn’t explain the certainty.

  Bloch realized that she never would have made a dime betting against Dan Morgan’s hunches. The least she could do was indulge this one.

  Jenny grabbed Bloch’s arm.

  “Tell Shepard we’re sure. If he knows that, he’ll find it. That’s our problem, we’ve been chasing down every possible combination. It’s impossible to see anything when you’re looking for everything. Tell him we’re sure and he’ll see it.”

  Bloch turned and was out the door.

  Shepard’s eyes flashed when she told him they were positive the Chechens had used one or more buses. He didn’t ask questions; he just got right to work, as if Bloch had just given him the missing piece he was looking for.

  That was the test of a good idea or explanation, she had always thought. It made things simpler, made the details fall into place. This one seemed to do that. If they were lucky, it would also be true.

  For now, it had given Shepard and his group another boost.

  Bloch headed back to her office; she saw a small cluster of agents huddled around a large monitor in the mess hall. And then she saw why. A picture of Dr. Spellman was on the screen, along with the headline “Dr. Apocalypse Missing, Along with 20 of his Minions.”

  The anchor explained that no one had seen the professor or twenty of his students for an entire day. Beyond that they didn’t know very much. However, the report was followed by ten minutes of speculation.

  One theory suggested Dr. Apocalypse and his students had formed a doomsday cult and had gone somewhere to commit suicide. This was based on the fact that there were unconfirmed reports that two or three of the members of Spellman’s ‘secret group’ had previously tried to kill themselves. Another theory said they were secretly developing a bacterium that made biofuel. Of course, it didn’t even occur to the analyst to ask why they would need to do this in secret. Still another expert suggested they were working on a plague of some kind to cleanse the earth of humanity. That, at least, was based on Spellman’s viral lecture video.

  However, no one in the press had yet connected the disappearance with Chechen terrorists. In fact, there was no indication that anyone in the press even knew about the terrorist attack that Dobrynin had reported to them.

  The bottom line was that journalists were groping in the dark. To be fair, so was Zeta and half the Federal government.

  The only advantages Zeta had so far were a disgraced former Russian intelligence officer and the combined hunches of Dan and Jenny Morgan. It didn’t seem like much—certainly given the fact that the cost of failure could very well be the lives of every man, woman, and child on Earth.

  But it was all they had.

  * * * *

  The shouting was gibberish to Alex but it’s meaning was clear. Get up you Infidel dogs! Alex knew she was probably embellishing in her mind but she was sure about the get up part. The rest she inferred from the man’s tone.

  As Alex got up she saw that Karen was already up and watching her. The woman had clearly been awake for a while, though Alex wondered if she had slept at all. She assumed Karen O’Neal needed sleep but Alex had never seen her do it. Jason shook himself awake and said, “Hey.”

  For a civilian, Jason was holding it together pretty well. He hadn’t moaned and cried through the night like some of them. He also hadn’t retreated into himself, facing the world with a vacant stare like some of the others.

  Well, we are the third floor, we hold ourselves to a higher standard, Alex thought.

  She saw that Jason was looking at her quizzically. Then he grinned at her. She had thought his eyes were really something, but that grin was also very impressive.

  The fact that he was still able to find some humor here and maintain who he was even in these circumstances told her that he was someone she definitely wanted to know when this was over.

  If we survive to see the end of it, she reminded herself.

  Well, that was one more reason to make sure they did survive, especially if their survival meant they had prevented these terrorists from getting a virus that could destroy everything.

  Survival. One more thing for her to-do list.

  The Chechens herded them off to the kitchen area and showed the students what they would be eating. The kitchen was stocked with exactly four types of food: breakfast cereal, milk, boxed macaroni and cheese, and ramen noodles. Doing some quick math in her head, Alex figured there was less than a month worth of food there.

  Did that mean that the project would only take that long? Alex thought so. The terrorists could always restock the kitchen, but shopping would introduce an element of risk. And there was one thing that argued against the re-stocking idea: condensed milk.

  There was a good supply of the cans in the cabinets. That told Alex that after the milk in the refrigerators expired, they would be using condensed milk for a week or two.

  And then what?

  Presumably, the project would be over, along with their usefulness to the Chechens. Alex had no illusions about what would happen then. Whatever the terrorists planned to do with the virus after Spellman and his students created it, they wouldn’t live to see it.

  Whatever happened, Alex had to make sure it never came to that. For one, Alex was in no rush to die. But secondly and most importantly, the kind of people who would cut down a twenty-year old girl so carelessly should never have power over anyone—let alone over the whole world.

  Alex wasn’t hungry but she forced herself to take some cereal, choosing one of the “healthy” brands she detested. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of this place every time she sat down for breakfast.

  Of course, she’d have to defeat the terrorists and get out of here for that to be an issue, but she liked the idea of thinking about the future. Certainly, it wouldn’t do her any good to fret about the possibility of failure.

  Alex chose one of the outer tables where the fewest people were gathering. The tables sat four each. Alex chose the seat looking directly out at the open lab. Karen sat next to her on one side and Jason on the other.

  When no one else joined them Alex was grateful, that meant that she and Karen would have a little privacy. Of course, there was Jason to consider but one thing at a time…

  There was only one Chechen guard nearby. If she could somehow silently coordinate all of the students to rush him at once—he would probably still be able to kill each of them before anyone got to him.

  And even if one of them survived and got a hold of his gun there were five more armed men in the building. She’d have to wait for a better time, and a better plan that didn’t involve group suicide.

  The remaining terrorists were walking Dr. Spellman around the lab. He examined all of the equipment and discussed it with Kattab—and only him. Alex suspected that the Chechen leader was the only guard who spoke English. That made sense—if the others could communicate with the hostages, there was a greater chance of distractions.

  And of course, if the captors and hostages started speaking there was always the chance of the guards sympathizing with their charges. Everyone knew about Stockholm syndrome in which, over time, hostages would develop a psychological alliance with their guards. Later, when they were freed, they sometimes still identified with their captors and even refused to cooperate with the authorities. However, Alex knew that the bond cut both ways. If the guards were expected to shoot any of the hostages, their leaders didn’t want them to be friendly with the infidels. They couldn’t take the risk of humanizing the students.

  It was the same reason the staff didn’t give names to animals at the pound: it made it harder to put them down when the time came.

  As he walked with his captors, Alex noted how normal Dr. Spellman appeared. He was nervous, scared even, but he was functional. In contrast, Avery was sitting by himself and staring blankly at the table. It was sad but norm
al. Margaret had meant something to the boy and had died right in front of him. He wore his grief on his face as clearly as he still wore some of her blood on his neck.

  Shock and grief were normal reactions.

  Spellman had lost her too. And Alex strongly suspected that Margaret had been closer to Spellman at the end of her short life than she was to Avery. Alex realized that she didn’t care much for Dr. Apocalypse; she didn’t care much for him at all.

  Alex saw that Spellman had a large bandage over one cheek. The bleeding seemed to have stopped but there was a large red spot in the bandage. He needed a couple of dozen stitches but he was functional and Alex had to admit that was a good thing for now. If the terrorists thought their project was making progress they would be less likely to start hurting their prisoners.

  At the end of the tour, Spellman approached the assembled students and said in a surprisingly normal tone, “Our…hosts have agreed to let me speak to you to explain why we are here. They are in possession of the sequence and other information relating to a virus developed by the Soviet Union in the late 1980s.

  “It came out of the Soviet work on bacteriophages, viruses that affect bacteria. As all of you know, most of my important work has been in this area,” he said.

  Important work. Alex marveled that, even now, he could be an arrogant jackass.

  He continued. “And as most of you know, the Soviet Union’s bacteriophage program was more advanced than anything in the United States at the time. A military project developed this phage for use as a weapon.”

  He paused, taking stock of the crowd. Up until now, he had gained confidence as he spoke, looking more and more like a professor giving a lecture. Now, he didn’t know quite how to proceed.

  A hand went up. To Alex’s surprise it was Avery. “What does the virus do?”

  “It reprograms bacteria in the human digestive tract to produce a modified form of the botulism toxin. It’s a brilliantly designed virus. As you know, the paradox that most viruses face is that they can either be very deadly or very easy to transmit, but usually not both.

  “This virus gets around the transmission problem because it doesn’t attack the human body, it focuses on usually harmless bacteria that are inside every living person. The virus also increases the bacteria’s resistance to antibiotics—ensuring that once symptoms begin to present, the host will be dead from the toxin before antibiotics would be effective in eliminating the digestive tract bacteria. Given the resistance factor, it’s doubtful that gut bacteria could be eliminated from a given population. And even if it could, the long term effects of that would be fatal.”

  Another hand went up. “What would the fatality rate be for an infected person?”

  Dr. Spellman swallowed once and then said, “Approaching one hundred percent. I suspect that if it were released in a population center with a reasonable amount of international travel, it would infect virtually all of the world’s population within a year or two.”

  There was grumbling as that set in.

  “Is there a cure?” another student asked.

  That seemed to take Spellman by surprise. “No. Since the virus would affect bacteria, there is no way a cure or a vaccine could be administered. The release of this kind of pathogen would be akin to the kind of virus we have discussed in our meetings. The result would be to…eliminate humanity.”

  “Do they share our perspective on the environmental rationale for that sort of release? And do we have any guarantees that the virus will not harm animal life?” still another student asked.

  “There is a possibility that the virus could affect primates and certain groups of mammals.” There was more grumbling at that. Interestingly, even Spellman seemed to be growing impatient with the questions. “Our hosts have not chosen to share their motives with us but—and I want to be very clear about this—they are very insistent that we follow their instructions.”

  The professor let that hang in the air. Then he added, “They will not permit any obstacles to reaching their objective.”

  The grumbling ceased. Alex wondered at the students here. They had joined a club whose sole purpose was he elimination of all human life on earth. Then, when confronted with the possibility of actually fulfilling that goal, they wanted to know if there was a ‘cure’. And then, when confronted with the idea that their work would destroy them, their families, and everyone they ever knew, they were primarily concerned about whether or not animals would be harmed and whether the terrorists were doing it all for the ‘right’ reasons.

  “Because of the time-frame for this project, we need to work fast, but our procedures in the lab need to be impeccable. Typically, work of this kind would require significant HAZMAT safety equipment. Unfortunately, our facility here does not have such equipment so it is up to each one of us to ensure safety.”

  Safety? Alex wondered. How did you measure safety in a project whose purpose was to kill everyone? Certainly, releasing the virus accidentally early would kill them all a little sooner but the end result would be the same.

  Of course, Alex assumed that the terrorists wanted the virus to hold the world hostage to some particular demands. If the Chechens released the virus in a closed environment—like an island—the danger of what they had would be obvious to even the most clueless world leaders. Of course, there was always the possibility that they really wanted to wipe everyone out. They wouldn’t be the first religion or ideology to form a doomsday cult.

  Alex knew they had to do something. Otherwise, the best-case scenario ended with the entire world held hostage to these murderous thugs. Unfortunately, these murderous thugs held all of the cards—and the guns.

  “Today, we have some work to do to set up the lab. I’ll need Karen O’Neal, Steve Dunaway, and Brianne Barker. Then we will divide you into groups. By the end of the day, we need to have our lab up and running, because tomorrow morning the real work begins.”

  Kattab leaned in to Dr. Spellman and spoke directly into his ear. The professor addressed the students once more. “Before we begin I need to remind you to obey our hosts. They expect full cooperation at all times and will not allow any trouble. I have been told to inform you that anyone who causes any problem whatsoever will end up like Margaret.”

  The professor spoke normally but Alex noticed that Avery winced as if he’d been struck at the mention of her name. Avery still wasn’t all right, but he looked less like a zombie. That was something. With luck he’d live long enough to be back to his old, hostile self.

  “I’ll need my grad students,” Spellman called out to the group.

  As Karen got up, Alex grabbed her hand and said, “Be careful. We need time.”

  Karen said, “Of course. And I am always careful.”

  While Spellman conferred with Karen and the other two grad students, Alex noticed that there was a low hum of conversation throughout the room. That was something. Their captors were loosening up the rules, presumably because conversation and coordination would be needed to create the virus.

  The gunmen could always shoot any student who spoke to anyone else, but they would soon run out of staff for their lab. Fortunately, this development would also allow Alex and Karen to coordinate their plan—whatever it turned out to be.

  “I can’t say that I think very much of your club,” Jason said.

  “My what?”

  “Your apocalypse club or whatever you call it,” Jason said evenly.

  Alex grimaced. “I haven’t really joined yet.” She surveyed the lab and continued, “I’m not impressed by their initiation.”

  “I hear that. I also don’t think much of their…gunman,” Jason said. Then he added, “Look, I don’t want you to worry. We’ll get out of here. All we have to do is not get shot.”

  “Or expose ourselves to the world-ending virus we’ll be making at gunpoint,” Alex added.

  “Right, that too—
good safety tip. But I’m serious. We just have to last long enough for them to find us. There’s too many of us. We’ll be missed. The police are probably already looking for us. There’s no way they’ll get away with this.”

  Alex wasn’t so sure. Certainly, the local authorities would be looking for them. And Zeta was definitely on it by now. That actually made Alex feel better, knowing that her father and the rest of the team would be looking for her.

  However, she couldn’t afford to relax and wait. Kattab and his terrorist friends had planned this carefully. The stakes were high for them.

  She and Karen would have to act on their own.

  “You don’t look convinced,” Jason said.

  Alex merely snorted.

  “I was just thinking.” Jason was looking at her with earnest concern and she realized that even now that the Chechens allowed them to speak to one another, she and Karen wouldn’t be able to make any meaningful plans when he was around.

  Apparently, he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight. He was sweet, but he was a civilian, and he was a problem. However, right now there wasn’t much she could do about it. No, that wasn’t true. There was one thing. It was desperate but her gut told her that it was the right move.

  “Listen, Jason. I’m not a regular student. I mean, Karen and I are not regular students…”

  Chapter 24

  As Morgan and Dobrynin left the diner, Morgan came to his decision. The instructions from Bloch were simple. Hold up somewhere nearby and wait for a break. He was mildly surprised when she didn’t ask him to come back and rejoin the team at Zeta headquarters.

  But then again she knew him too well.

  Alex was in the area—maybe not close, but in the area, he could feel it. Bloch could send a Tach team here to wait with Morgan and Dobrynin, but Morgan would not leave California. That was probably a good idea. Even if they got a break, Boston was still six hours away, maybe five if the pilot cut a few corners and didn’t care about how much fuel he or she used.