Three hours later, Dr. Byrd was seated at a long oval table in the center of a conference room, having a conversation with several other men, when the president entered with four Whitehouse officials in tow. President David Jarvis made a gesture for them to stay seated before any had a chance to get up.
“No time for that, gentlemen. Let’s get right to it, shall we? Mike?”
Colonel Spade went to the end of the room where he could be easily seen by all and began. “As most of you may already know, three weeks ago, China president Xi Jinping made the public threat to declare war on us, if we did not recall our troops from North Africa by the end of the month. We had reasons to believe the threats were serious and decided to comply with his demand. We have already pulled out more than half our troops and expect to have them all out by early next week. However, two days ago, the CIA received credible intelligence that the Chinese are planning something regardless. It would appear they have mobilized several thousand military planes, and if our sources are right, they intend to launch an attack on the US within the next few days.”
Everyone in the room was silent for a moment. Most eyes were scanning the faces around the table. President Jarvis spoke first.
“Gentlemen, I do not believe it is necessary to tell you how upsetting this report is to my staff and me. We have worked very hard for the past several years now to bring the Chinese president to realize how disastrous a war between our two countries would be, but I am afraid our efforts have failed. This is why we are all here today.”
Pointing at the man in the military uniform to his left, he continued, “General Glenn believes we must act immediately, and strike China’s military bases before those planes have a chance to leave the ground. What we do not know, however, is what these planes carry. The CIA report we were given this morning suggests we may be looking at chemical warfare, here. The copy of the report, in front of each of you, mentions several documents found in a highly guarded lab in Beijing. We were only able to retrieve a portion of the file, but we think we have enough to conclude the threat is very serious. Dr. Byrd, what are your thoughts on the chemicals mentioned on page eleven?”
The fifty-one-year-old bearded man brought his thick reading glasses to his nose and started reading. It didn’t take long before his facial expression changed drastically.
“Oh, my God… Oh my God!” he repeated several times while still reading.
“Dr. Bird? What is it?” asked the President. The scientist was too
Finally, after several passes over the same two pages, Dr. Byrd slowly took his eyes off the report, and staring unconsciously at the center of the table, said almost too quietly, “They’re going to kill us all.”
“What do you mean?” asked the man seated to his right.
“I mean they are going to k…” He paused. Turning back to the president, he continued, “Mr. President. I have seen this paper before.”
“You have? That’s not possible. This is classified. We just received the intel this morning.”
“I mean I know this portion of the report. I know it because… I wrote most of it.”
Everyone in the room was taken by surprise. General Glenn was the first to speak.
“You… You wrote this?” The expression on his face was one of true disbelief.
“Yes, General. I’m afraid so… Let me explain. Almost five years ago now, two colleagues of mine and I were working on an anti-virus hybrid. We were looking for a cure against the Brown’s disease that had caused so much devastation in south India the year before.”
“I remember hearing about that terrible epidemic on the news,” offered a stiff looking woman seated on the other side of him.
“Yes,” he replied, briefly looking at her. “So, we worked on a cure for several months, and although we were unable to find a way to kill the virus completely, we managed to create an anti-virus that minimized drastically its strength and reduced the percentage of death greatly. Within a year or so, the deadly Brown’s disease was under control.”
He paused briefly…
“But during the months following our initial research, still trying to improve the strength of the anti-virus, we also came across a new hybrid, a new version of the virus, itself so potent and resilient, we eventually gave it the name Mortis Fortis. Our subsequent tests became quickly conclusive. This was the most dangerous virus ever engineered.”
There, he paused again, grabbed his cup and gulped a mouthful of coffee, as he assessed the looks on everyone’s face around the room.
“You see, the virus is airborne and attacks blood cells. It is highly contagious, very resilient, and can spread very quickly. At first, we were fascinated with it for its ability to kill just about any other virus known to man, but soon realized how hard it was to destroy. After weeks of tests, we only found one way to kill it. Extreme heat or cold. Those are the only two things that seem to have an effect on it. It can survive temperatures ranging from -80C to +420C. And it thrives like crazy between twenty and eighty degrees. We studied this monster for almost eight months, all in all. Every test subject died within hours of being infected. We never found a cure, or a way to even slow its metabolism. We eventually agreed to destroy every trace of it. We incinerated every sample we had. Even the research was destroyed. I don’t understand how the Chinese got their hands on this. We had destroyed all our research; every last of it, including the lab itself. Only the three of us ever knew about this. This makes no sense.”
The entire room was silent. Everyone was staring at him, trying to comprehend what they had just heard.
“Dr. Byrd, who were the other two scientists working on this with you?” finally asked the president, breaking the dreadful silence.
“Well, there was Professor Ram—”
Suddenly, a man burst in the room with several others behind him.
“Mr. President! We have a code red, Sir. We need to get you to Air Force One now!”
“What’s going on?” asked the President dumbfounded.
“Chinese planes have just entered our airspace, sir.”
Panic struck the room immediately.
“What?” said General Glenn, jumping out of his seat. “That’s impossible!”
“Mr. President. There is no time. We need to go now, Sir!” repeated the man in the doorway.
“Very well,” replied the president. Getting off his seat, he addressed the group around the table once more.
“Gentlemen, it would appear time is not on our side, after all. Dr. Byrd, I’m gonna need you to come with me. General Glenn, Mike, I’ll need you as well.”
“But, I—” tried to interject Dr. Byrd, but the President was already leaving the room surrounded by several security personnel, General Glenn, Colonel Spade, and his head staff in tow. One man made a quick gesture for the doctor to follow.
In the hallway, as all were rushing to get to the helicopter waiting for them outside, the President asked, “Mike, I don’t understand. I thought you said the Chinese planes were still on the ground back in China. How can they be here already?”
“I have no idea, Sir. I am as puzzled as you are. My only guess is that those are different planes. Planes we weren’t aware of. I am calling my men right now. Let me see what this is all about. Excuse me, Mr. President.”
Colonel Mike Spade grabbed his cell phone and dialed a number.
Lisa was standing in front of her grandfather. He was struggling with her helmet. She didn’t look very happy about having to wear “this big ugly thing”, as she called it, but grandpa was absolutely adamant.
“All young girls must wear their head gear protection if they want to ride their bicycles with their grandpa. No two ways about it, young lady!” he had told her.