Helen looked surprised as she turned to listen.
“Eyewitnesses in both accounts, with the plague and with the Spanish Flu, claimed to have seen dark figures outside their villages and towns before the illnesses struck. I don’t know what that means. It could be nothing.”
“Are you talking about extraterrestrials, Joe?” Helen made it sound like she was disappointed in him.
“Not necessarily. The accounts merely suggest that someone or something was behind the outbreak, that’s all.”
Dr. Solomon felt the pocket to make sure the vial was still there. “Well, I better get inside and check this out. If it is something like what happened in 1918, the implications would be far worse now. The world is so interconnected, a bug like that would have catastrophic effects on the population. Literally, billions could be at risk.”
“Thanks for helping us with this, Jenny,” Joe said and gave her a last, quick hug. “Call me when you know something.”
He and Helen were getting in the car as Dr. Solomon walked away when she stopped and turned around. “By the way, Mac.” He stopped just inside the passenger’s side door. “Be careful. I’ve heard some strange things about people who tried to cross paths with Biosure. Nothing was ever proven, just stories. But when you hear something more than once, it makes you think.”
“Will do,” he assured. “Thanks again.”
Helen started up the car as Joe slipped into the seat. “Looks like we ought to sleep with the light on tonight,” She said and steered the car back out onto the road.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “And with a bullet in the chamber.”
Chapter 42
DeGard had overstayed his welcome with Lindsey. But the annoying Frenchman didn’t seem to take the hint. Will and Kaba had finished cleaning their weapons and had prepared a simple meal over a few small camping stoves.
“You really did come prepared,” DeGard gazed at the supper with wide eyes.
Lindsey slurped some hot soup peered over his glasses at the archaeologist. “We were ready to set up a dig site. Don’t you normally have things like this for an excavation?” He enjoyed seeing the epiphany smack DeGard in the face.
“Of course. I had not really thought of it that way. So you were ready to be here for a few weeks, non?”
“That is correct.”
DeGard waited for Will and Kaba to get their soup from the small pot before helping himself to a bowl that had been set out on a makeshift table. He poured the rest of the steaming liquid into the bowl and grabbed a spoon from nearby.
“I suppose this isn’t the kind of fare you’re accustomed to, eh?” He dug the spoon into the noodles and broth, heaping it into his mouth like it was a shovel.
“Not at all,” Lindsey disagreed. “When I was young, I was part of a boys group that went on many camping expeditions. And this,” he motioned to the tent around them, “is much more luxurious than what we used to sleep in. And these mattresses are far better than sleeping on the hard ground like we did in those days.”
“Ah,” DeGard swallowed the soup, surprised at how hot it was and at the interesting back story to his employer’s life.
Unexpectedly, Lindsey’s cell phone began to ring on the cargo box next to him. He frowned for a moment, wondering who was calling him. Will was in the same room, and only a few people had his personal number.
“How do you get service out here?” the Frenchman interrupted the internal line of questioning.
“Satellite phone,” Will answered for his boss.
Lindsey reached over and picked up the device then glanced at the number after re-adjusting his spectacles. It was an Atlanta area code. Biosure headquarters.
The people in charge of the pharmaceutical company had been ordered not to try and contact him unless it was an emergency. The vice presidents he had appointed were both members of his council, so he knew they could be trusted, especially after what had happened to his two adepts a few weeks before in Utah.
He hit the green button on the screen and put the device to his ear. “This is Lindsey, what’s the problem.”
“Sir, we have a problem,” the man’s voice on the other end reported.
“Well, what is it?”
“We had a security breach in our Atlanta facility. Somehow, the database was hacked. We believe it happened earlier today.”
“They didn’t wreck the system did they?” Lindsey asked in an almost dismissive tone.
“No, sir. Nothing was touched in the database.”
Lindsey appeared wary. “Then what is the emergency?”
“It seems whoever hacked into the system created security codes and then broke into our facility. It happened about an hour ago. We still aren’t sure how they got past our additional security protocols, but we are investigating every possible lead.”
The old man’s face turned even more ashen than was natural. “Who was it?” his voice carried a tone of righteous anger.
“We have a positive ID on the suspects and have a team en route to their location now.” The voice seemed confident, but to Lindsey it felt like the man was leaving something out.
“What did they do?”
There was a momentary pause for a few seconds before the man answered. “It seems they broke into the warehouse and took a sample of the flu vaccine.”
Lindsey said nothing at first. His face continued to lose color even though his blood boiled. Will and Kaba stared at him, concern filling their faces. DeGard seemed unaffected, continuing to slurp soup into his mouth.
When the old man spoke, his voice was gravely, carrying a sinister tone. “Kill whoever is responsible for this. And see to it that the sample is recovered or destroyed. We cannot let this get into the wrong hands.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lindsey hit the red button to end the call and laid the device back down on the makeshift table.
“Problems?” DeGard asked with half-full mouth of broth and noodles.
Old, tired eyes peered through the Frenchman’s soul. “Everything is fine,” he lied. “I have it all under control. At sun up, we need to continue the search. If we have to go back for more fuel, we will. We will do whatever it takes.”
Chapter 43
Sean stared at his phone. His feet were propped up on the church pew’s worn cushions while his back was leaning against the armrest on the end of the seat. He figured his casual treatment of the sanctuary’s facilities and furniture wouldn’t do any harm. After all, it wasn’t a church anymore. No one had probably held a ceremony in the room in the better part of three years.
His eyes were fixed on a picture of him and Tommy. It was a day the two boys had been dressed in their little league baseball uniforms. Their parents had thought it would be cool to take a few pictures. It was hard to remember a time when Tommy wasn’t around.
He wondered when he would get another report from his friend, but that would drive him crazy. Sean had to put it in the back of his mind for the time being. Tommy was in good hands, he assumed. And he would be fine. But there was something else that kept nagging at Sean.
With all the talk about retiring and leaving IAA, he had started to feel somewhat guilty about the whole idea. A big part of him kept saying it was his responsibility to protect his friend and take care of him. Why, he had no idea. Even though he and Tommy had been great friends for much of their lives, they were both grown adults. Each could take care of themselves. Or so Sean believed.
The fact was, Sean had always watched out for Tommy for most of their lives. When his parents had been mysteriously killed, Sean and his family took him in, making the boys more like brothers than ever before. Sean had always treated his friend like a little brother and done all he could to protect him.