Lauren just laughed and threw herself down on the mossy grass, too exhausted to reply.
Mason moved inland until he was in a small clearing with a clear view of the lightening sky. He pulled out his sat-phone, wishing he’d thought to wrap it in waterproof plastic. He dried it off as best he could and with a silent prayer turned it on.
He was relieved when the screen lit up. Quickly, not wishing to test his luck, he dialed the main number for the CDC in Atlanta.
Interminable moments later, he was put through to Dr. Grant Battersee, the man the team affectionately referred to as the Battleship.
“Hey, Mason, I didn’t expect to hear from you…”
“Grant, this is an emergency call. There are a group of men who’ve followed us into the interior of Mexico and I think they’re after the plants and blood samples that we’ve collected.”
“What plants and blood samples?” Battersee asked in a puzzled voice.
How could he not know about the plants and blood samples that Lauren and he’d come looking for? He’d left strict instructions for the staff at the lab to relay the news to Atlanta about a possible cure.
“Grant, there is no time to go into that just now, but we may have a cure for the plague, one that works immediately, as well as blood samples that may lead to a vaccine against the plague.”
“That’s wonderful news, Mason, but why wasn’t I told?”
Mason sighed. “I’m afraid that’s part of the problem, Grant. We may have a traitor on the Wildfire Team who is working at cross-purposes to us.”
“What? I can’t believe that one of our people…”
“I’m having trouble believing it myself, but that seems to be the only explanation for several things that have happened down here lately. Now, to make a long story short, Dr. Sullivan and I are trying to escape the men chasing after us by traveling down a river toward the ocean. I’m told the river comes out near a coastal village called Tehuantepec on the west coast of Mexico.”
“What do you need me to do, Mason?”
“See if you can get a military vessel to meet us there and take the plants and blood samples into custody. Grant, this could mean an end to the plague, so do your damnedest and don’t take no for an answer. I have no idea what these men want with these samples, but whatever it is it can’t be good for the United States or the world.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
“And Grant…”
“Yeah?”
“Tell them to bring a company of Marines with them and to come armed. I have a feeling these men following us mean business and won’t take kindly to their prey being taken from them.” He hesitated a moment, and then he added, “Also, I’d keep this under your hat and don’t share any of it with the authorities in Mexico City or with the Wildfire Team until we know who our friends are and who’s been working against us.”
Grant Battersee hung up the phone, wondering for a moment if his old friend and employee was losing it. Had the chronic overwork and stress of his job, not to mention the isolation and deprivation of his current assignment, finally gotten to him? Well, he thought, I don’t care what he says, I do not believe there is a traitor on the Wildfire Team. Hell, they’re some of my best and brightest people, all of whom have sacrificed more than the world will ever know to keep America safe and healthy.
Well, I guess the least I can do is give Mason the benefit of the doubt. For now, I’ll work around the group in Mexico and not alert them to this latest development.
He shook his head, but for the workers in the lab to have a possible cure for this worldwide plague and to not let me know about it? I just don’t believe it, and what could some men who are supposedly following Mason and Dr. Sullivan possibly want with the cure? Of what use could it be other than to cure the ill and dying?
He picked up his phone and thought for a moment. He didn’t know or have any significant contacts with anyone in the Department of the Navy, so who could he call to have a ship sent to the western coast of Mexico, and who would listen to him with all that the Navy and other military services had on their shoulders right now. Hell, the Navy alone was being tasked with evacuating hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens from foreign countries where the plague was even more advanced than in America and bringing them back to our superior medical facilities.
Suddenly he snapped his fingers. “I know,” he said to himself, “I’ll call General Mac McGuire. He’s head of the Army Chiefs of Staff and he is Colonel Blackman’s immediate superior at USAMRIID, and both are men we’ve worked with on many occasions.”
He checked his Rolodex and pulled out the card with General McGuire’s contact information on it. He’ll know who to call at Navy to get a ship to the location Mason mentioned, and then maybe we’ll be able to get to the bottom of this mess.
Less than fifteen minutes later, General Mac McGuire was on the phone and chewing great big chunks out of Colonel Blackman’s ass. “Goddammit Blackie, I give you a simple job and you manage to fuck it up beyond all recognition!”
Sweat popped out on Blackie’s forehead as he stammered, “What… what do you mean, Mac? I’ve got everything under control just like I told you yesterday.”
“Oh, so you’ve got everything under control, huh?” Mac asked sarcastically.
Uh-oh, Blackie thought. What does he know that I don’t? “I’m telling you, Mac, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, if you’ve got everything under control, how come I just got off the phone with Battersee, the fucking head of CDC, who says his man Dr. Williams is on the run from a bunch of men who are trying to steal a cure for the fucking plague?”
Oh, shit! Blackie thought. That goddamned Bear has fucked up again! He took a deep breath and figured his only chance was to brazen it out and pretend he knew what was going on. “Oh, that,” Blackie answered, trying his best to sound confident. “I told you that Bear and his team were following the doctor but that they had to wait until he had procured the cure before they moved on him or else they’d risk losing it.”
McGuire laughed harshly. “Nice try, Blackie, but you’re not fooling me for a minute. I know for a fact that your man and his team have failed miserably and that the doctor has managed to elude them and is even now on the verge of getting away with the cure and the blood samples that might mean a vaccine for our troops.”
Blackie pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped his sopping forehead with it. Bear must have really screwed the pooch for the doctor to be on the loose with the samples and able to contact the CDC for help. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “Okay, Mac, I’ll admit it. I haven’t heard from my team since yesterday, but at that time they said they had everything under control. The doctor was about to pick up the plants that cure the disease and to take blood samples from natives that our mole Janus said could lead to a vaccine, and after that Bear was all set to take them out.”
“Well, since then your team has managed to not only lose track of the samples, but to lose track of the doctor and his lady friend, too.”
“Shit!”
McGuire finally calmed down enough to chuckle. “Never fear, Blackie. Your Uncle Mac has everything under control. As we speak, the good doctor is headed down a river in southern Mexico that comes out into the ocean near a town named Tehuantepec on the western coast.”
Blackie grabbed a pen and notepad. “Slow down a minute, Mac. Spell that town for me…”
After he’d done so, Mac asked, “Are you still in contact with your man and his team?”
“I damn sure can be,” Blackie answered.