Effected Intent, page 29
There were only a couple of minutes to go and the room was feeling the calm before the storm. Over five hundred people were expected to come through the door the rest of the day. As it got to the top of the hour, a man came through the door with a Homeland Security badge on.
“Our first customer is here.” The CDC doctor said to Darren, who was looking around the room.
Darren whistled and before anyone could blink there were ten agents blanketing the room with automatic weapons, resembling aliens in appearance. “Everyone stay put, nobody move a muscle. This is a takedown, step away from the tables and get up against the wall.
“There’s obviously some kind of mix up here, we’re working on something top secret, you should think twice before interrupting this operation.” The FBI agent said, growling through clenched teeth.
Robert was panicking, this was not supposed to happen. There was no way he could be taken alive, didn’t want to face the consequences. He reached for his phone to alert the others and was caught across the jaw by an automatic weapon, knocking the phone from his hand. Mickey reached for his gun to defend Robert and was shot, now chaos was taking over as people were screaming. Darren called for calm and quiet and it took about one minute for everyone to listen to him. “We have information that this material isn’t a vaccine but actually live smallpox in those little spheres. We’re not positive but there’s no way we can take that chance folks.”
A CIA agent stared at Darren, green around the gills. “I just took the vaccine, most of us did. Are we going to die?”
Darren was working on a response when he noticed the man with the broken jaw reaching in his coat again, a gun coming out aimed directly at him. The man’s black eyes were filled with more hate than Darren had ever seen for the second before his head exploded from the tactical team member’s shot. Darren pulled his gun and put it to the remaining man’s head until they had him cuffed. Someone needed to be alive to talk and this geek was as good as any, didn’t look like the violent type anyway. He called back to the office and told them there had been two casualties and several people had been inoculated with the suspected smallpox. Instructions were given to isolate those who had been given an injection and to take the prisoner to the White House, where a special interrogation room had been set up.
It happened so fast that Steve could hardly tell what happened, at least until Robert’s head exploded and there was a gun in his face. He was cuffed and they were leading him out of the room when he stopped. “I will help, we can save the ones who took the injections. They aren’t contagious either.”
Darren looked at the dejected man, who was tall, lanky and old. “You must be the chemist, let’s go talk.” He was happy that they had the man behind the spheres, it would help them get to the bottom of things faster. As the tactical team escorted him to interrogation, Darren called the office to report in, even though he was repeating some of what was told earlier. “Two out of the three terrorists are dead and it appears that about ten people received injections before we interceded. There was no communication back to the project site and we’re taking one survivor to custody. He appears to be cooperative and has provided details about the vaccines, it seems we might be able to save those who were injected.”
“Great work Darren, looks like your source was accurate after all. Thanks for believing in your gut.”
“Thank you sir.” Darren walked with Steve, who hung his head low, not saying anything else on the walk over. Inside the interrogation room Steve was asked about the contents of all the live smallpox and he confirmed that it was all in the spheres with them, with the exception of the batch that was sent to Korea, which was all used in the bottling plant attack. He told them how the spheres worked, the CDC representatives recording the information and transmitting it real-time to their lab in D.C., where they would investigate whatever the chemist revealed. They talked about the project site and Steve was open about all of the exit points, the lack of neighbors, and approximately how many people they’d find at the site and where they’d be working. Darren drew up a brief schematic that the chemist validated and it was sent to the team on the ground in Independence Ohio.
An hour later word came that the Ohio site was contained and all prisoners had been taken alive, no casualties. The CDC was in route to Ohio to validate the lack of smallpox at the site, which was quarantined.
Steve cried as he talked about their plan to take the government down, why they were doing it and all of the steps along the way. He couldn’t believe it when Darren told him that Robert had never served in the military, must have been using it to recruit volunteers for his project. “Turns out he was a very sick, twisted man who just wanted to make a mark on history.” Steve was in shock, wishing that he’d also been shot in that room, wishing he’d never invented the spheres or met the evil little bird man. He was locked in a special cell somewhere in the city and put on suicide watch. There were no phone calls, no way to let Claire know that he was ok. He wondered how she’d view the news when it came out.
By late afternoon they knew the composition of the spheres and validated what the chemist had told them. They gave vaccines to the ones who’d been injected and isolated them until they were certain that they didn’t get infected. It was going to be a long month for those folks. There were no signs of smallpox in Ohio and that site was completely locked down so it posed no threat. Darren couldn’t believe how close they’d come to destroying the bulk of the United States government.
Chapter 29
Wrap Up and a Hint
There were two dead bodies, nine prisoners and ten people in medical isolation; no way this would be completely buried from the media. The American public wanted answers about smallpox and needed assurance that the threat was gone. The first stories broke the next morning, with ‘unnamed sources’ talking about the terrorist plot and takedown. It was front page news all over the country and Bill heard about it first thing in the morning, before he had a chance to log on to his computer.
“They were working nearby, in the prison.” Rich James said.
“So close, hope none of that stuff got out around here.”
Bill listened intently, finding out that they were busted in D.C. and also here in Ohio, with nine in custody that would likely receive the death penalty for the terror they’d caused. “It could have been so much worse, I hope they keep that stuff locked up tight.” Bill added to the conversation.
“I’m sure they will, from what I heard on the radio this morning it was a real close call and a few people had received injections that might have infected them if not caught in time. The plan was to wipe out the entire government and give citizens the real vaccine to cause a new revolution.”
Bill left the kitchen and checked the news sites, learning all that was discussed and more. They were not releasing the name of the chemist who’d been captured, apparently the technical brains behind the method of attack. Bill knew who it was and wondered how the man was doing. He knew what it felt like to kill and to pay the price for the crime. There was a certain amount of pride knowing that he’d had a role in bringing down the plot and he wished that he could call Darren Ward and introduce himself. To him it was retribution for some of the things he’d done and all the pain he’d caused others. He thought about parole, wondered if that was something he would ever really pursue. It was time to get back to work, there was plenty he needed to do for the prison, time to leave the detective work to the professionals.
Steve Pfister sat in isolation in his cell, wondering if the world knew what he’d done. An attorney had come by who would represent him but the evidence was so great that the only real hope was for life in prison.
“I’m going to plead guilty.” Steve told him.
“That’s your choice but you do have options.”
“Tell them I’m guilty and I waive my right to a jury trial.” The attorney seemed to understand and asked if Steve wanted him to talk to his wife.
“Please tell her what I’ve done and that I don’t expect her to come to the trial. Most of all tell her I love her and I’m sorry.”
The attorney agreed and left the visitors room, Steve taken back to his cell, which reminded him of all he fought to escape in Vietnam. There was no way he was going to spend the rest of his life here, would kill himself if the government let him live. He was completely numb, especially with the knowledge that he’d been used by Robert.
Before moving back to work there was one more thing Bill wanted to do. He opened his anonymous remailer program and put Darren’s address in. He thanked him for believing in him and for taking down the terrorists before a tragedy occurred. Bill toyed with the idea of giving him his identity, thinking that Darren might keep it quiet if he asked him to but decided he couldn’t do that. “If I ever get out, I’ll look you up” was the last line of the email and he signed it J.T. (Jack of all Trades). He was smiling as he sent it, knowing that it would drive Darren crazy thinking about it.
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Just another Day at the Office
Chapter 2: T.G.I.F.
Chapter 3: Scientific Method
Chapter 4: Field Trip
Chapter 5: A boy named Jack
Chapter 6: Senioritis
Chapter 7: When Steve Met Robert
Chapter 8: Dead Man’s Curve
Chapter 9: Bill Gets a Part Time Job
Chapter 10: Steve Starts Work on the Project
Chapter 11: Robert’s a Loose Cannon
Chapter 12: Bill Strikes Gold
Chapter 13: Robert and Steve Make Progress
Chapter 14: Bill Gets In
Chapter 15: The Ties That Bind
Chapter 16: Bill Finds Something Odd
Chapter 17: An Evil Plan is Born
Chapter 18: Bill Finds More Information and an Ally
Chapter 19: Testing Begins
Chapter 20: Homeland Security
Chapter 21: The Plan Emerges
Chapter 22: Pulling it all Together
Chapter 23: Final Planning and Korea
Chapter 24: Darren Gets Enough
Chapter 25: Korean Impact
Chapter 26: The Past Collides
Chapter 27: Last Minute Planning and Go Dark
Chapter 28: D-Day
Chapter 29: Wrap Up and a Hint
Alan Ross, Effected Intent
