Ryder agreed with Song, but decided to say nothing. He moved on. “As inmates, once inside, we probably won’t get the chance to escape before they use us as their guinea pigs. We may even get jabbed as soon as we enter – Grace?” He looked at the doctor for confirmation.
“More likely separated into groups relating to age, gender, blood type, etc,” she quickly answered. “Then a stand-down period to decide what test regime is appropriate for each individual. That could take days, even weeks; much like we do with monkeys. If we’re isolated in monitored cells, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get out without alerting somebody. If we cannot escape, I dread to think how we’ll end up. Probably get searched in there too. Not a good idea to enter as an inmate in my opinion.”
Ryder glanced at the others. “You agree?”
They did.
“Okay, we look for another way in. Any ideas?”
Song reacted first. “Vent outlets? Air intakes?”
“The American sats picked up nothing – infra-red, ultra-sonic, heat probes… all negative,” said Bom.
“That may be, but we now know an underground facility exists; it has to have air intakes,” said Ryder, beginning to appreciate the magnitude of what they were contemplating. He felt a surge of fear. Now at the sharp end, he knew to keep cool. Fear could be the worst enemy if he let it, which could mean the difference between success or failure, life or death. Grace spoke and suddenly the surge was gone as quickly as it came.
“Any hot zone would have to include specialist air-con equipment – self-contained, not connected to any main system. We need to avoid intakes that lead directly into the specialist system for obvious reasons.”
“Be hard pressed to tell the difference,” said Ryder.
“More likely to be small,” Grace shot back, gaining her stride. “The main system would have fairly large intakes at a guess.”
“And probably large fans inside as well,” added Chol.
“I agree,” said Grace.
Silence prevailed, broken by Song. “Maybe we could hi-jack a supply truck and bluff our way in?”
“Could wait a long time for the right vehicle to show,” Ryder countered. “And we won’t know if it’s going to the camp or lab, unless we take it on the spur. That could be risky,” he paused and looked at the others in turn before reaching a decision. “We’ll search for vents and hope to get lucky.”
“Assuming we find a way in, what’s the MO?” Chol asked.
“Greg, Dan and myself will go in with Grace to watch her back. Cam, you wait at the point of entry.”
“And if something goes wrong?” Chol ventured.
“Wait forty-eight hours, then make your way back to the RV.”
Silence for a few moments, then Ryder looked steadily at Grace; she seemed deep in thought.
“Do we have a problem?”
Grace gave a slight start. “Not sure. Contemplating what we might find.”
“The virus?”
She nodded and fixed Ryder with a fearful look. “I’m hoping it’s not what I suspect it might be.”
“Like what?” he asked.
All eyes fell on Grace. “Engineered smallpox,” she answered, voice slightly shaky.
“What’s that?” shot Bom.
“The human IL-4 gene fused with natural smallpox virus would create what we call a super variola, totally immune to any known vaccine and super lethal to humans. This variole, Major, as far as we know, does not exist on the planet,” she answered with an edge to her voice.
“Variola?” questioned Chol.
“Scientific and medieval Latin name for smallpox,” Grace paused, looking intently at each of the men. “To my knowledge, no one has successfully created a super virus. If they have, believe me it would be devastating if let loose on humans. Suitably weaponized Interleukin-4 smallpox would be very, very dangerous indeed to the future of mankind. If the Koreans have managed to manufacture it, then we have a real scary situation on our hands.”
“Presumably they would have some kind of vaccine?” Song asked.
“If the Koreans are developing a super pox, then they would also be working on a vaccine. To do that, they would need to experiment on a lot of people to see if it worked.”
“That would not be a problem with the number of people we saw shunted into that mountain,” cut in Bom. “The commies don’t seem to care shit about human suffering.”
Grace nodded and continued. “Briefly, in layman’s terms, when the IL-4 gene is added to a poxvirus it stimulates the production of antibodies – too many, in fact. It confuses the host’s immune system, causing a drop in white blood cells and destroying the host’s cellular immunity, which allows infection to firmly take hold, much like AIDs, only a thousand times quicker. In theory, this principle should shut down the immune system, but, as yet, at least unofficially, no one has attempted, or managed, to insert the IL-4 gene into natural smallpox virus to make a super pox.”
“Except maybe the Koreans,” said Ryder, a little lost with the technical aspect; he suspected the others were too. Nevertheless, it added to the daunting task they were about to face, in particular Grace, who would have to get close and personal with the virus if they were to establish it existed. His respect for her grew.
“That’s why we’re here – to find out,” she replied. Her calmness returned, which reflected in her voice. “Smallpox itself was officially eradicated in 1979. They had removed from nature what we doctors considered the worst human disease of all time. It is the most dangerous virus known to man and generally believed to have killed more people than any other infectious pathogen – a billion people in its last hundred years of existence alone. You can imagine the devastation should an engineered smallpox be let loose.”
Silence descended, each of the men lost in his own thoughts.
Eventually, Chol asked Grace, “What can we expect once inside?”
“In terms of layout, your guess is as good as mine, but the first thing we have to do is find where the ID tags, masks, hats, lab overalls and boots are kept.”
“We’ll wear the uniforms we have,” Ryder intervened, pointing towards the sacks. “We need to take out a female tech to get stuff for you.”
“Yes,” she replied. “Then we look for the hot zones. I suspect the testing labs will be relatively small; it may come down to only one of you accompanying me. I will be looking first for the likely lab either making the virus or testing it. Once in, I will need to focus intently on what I’m doing. Everything else I’ll leave to whoever’s my minder. Depending on what I find, we may have to go search for a vaccine too. If we have to enter a Level 4 zone, which I suspect we will, make sure you wear a space suit; your life will depend on it. Follow exactly what you learned at the briefings. Clearly understand: if you become contaminated, we will have no choice but to leave you behind.”
The men all glanced at Grace; they knew that should one of them go down, including the doctor, they must not be left behind alive to the mercy of the Koreans.
“And if we are questioned or challenged?” Song asked.
Ryder replied, “Talk your way out or discreetly eliminate the problem. We are here to give Grace every opportunity to complete her work and that’s what we’ll do, come rain or shine.”
“If we get the opportunity, do we destroy anything?” Bom asked.
“The prime objective is to get out with a vaccine for any virus we find – if one exists,” Ryder shot back, looking at Grace. “To do any real damage, explosives would be needed, which we don’t have.”
She nodded. “However, if the power and air supply can somehow be taken out, this will go a long way to halting the production of any virus.”