“What’s in the balance, Jeffrey? Try telling me that, and maybe I’ll do as you say.”
He sucked in breath between his teeth. “I know it sounds crazy and melodramatic, but the entire human race is at stake, Kaycee. No lie. I’m dead serious.”
“Have you been drinking? Did you fall and hit your head?” she asked, her voice disbelieving, but also lighter than when she’d answered again.
“I wish. No… I mean, yes, I hit my head, but no, I haven’t been drinking. I got a concussion when I was mugged, but that’s the least of my worries.”
“Tell me what’s going on, Jeffrey. No more games,” she said, suddenly all business.
“There’s a pathogen that’s going to be released at any minute. A flu that will kill almost everyone. It’s connected to the cattle mutilations. Your grandfather was completely right — that was medical experimentation and a cover-up. But this is the end result. A global reset.”
He could hear her on the other end, her breathing faster, and he knew what she was going through. A man she’d only met at gunpoint was talking like a lunatic, making wild-eyed claims that defied belief.
“What do you expect him to do about it, assuming you aren’t out of your mind?”
“That’s what I need to talk to him about. I need to pick his brain. See if he has any ideas or contacts. Because otherwise, in a matter of no time, we’ll all be dead, Kaycee. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. So please, put him on.”
She paused, and he sensed it could go either way, and then the line clicked. “You’re on speaker. My grandfather’s right here.”
“Professor. Sam. It’s Jeffrey. We spoke recently…”
“Yes, Jeffrey. I remember. I may be old, but I’m not senile yet. Or at least not that far gone that I don’t remember a week ago. You’re the Vietnamese cleaning woman, right?”
Jeffrey was taken aback, and then Sam continued.
“Little joke, there, Jeffrey. Sorry. But if you’re not going to torment the young when you get to my age, what are you going to do to pass the time, right?” Sam said, stifling a chuckle.
“I wish I was calling under different circumstances. It’s a good news, bad news situation, but mostly really bad news.”
“Lay it on me, Jeffrey. I can handle it. Believe me, nothing would surprise me anymore.”
“Well, it all starts back with the cattle mutilations…”
Ten minutes later, he finished. Sam and Kaycee were mute with shock. Sam spoke first.
“These people are psychopaths. Textbook cases. Living, breathing monsters.”
“I agree. But the question is, do you have any contacts that I could share this story with? The only way I can see this being stopped is if I can get the information into the hands of other governments — governments that would lose everything if the plan moved forward. I’ve thought it through, and come at it every way, and that’s the only hope. Nothing else makes sense. We can’t trust the media, and frankly, I don’t think the people behind this would care whether the public knows or not, once it’s done. What are they going to do — except die, I mean? Besides, who would the public even blame? The government would just deny it and run its propaganda machine to paint it as conspiracy tripe,” Jeffrey said.
“I don’t have any viable contacts any more, but you should talk to Kaycee,” Sam said.
“Kaycee? What are you talking about?”
The tone of the line changed and suddenly Kaycee was back on the phone, now off speaker mode. “I told you I’m a translator. In New York.”
“Right. I remember.”
“I never told you where I work.”
“Maybe now would be a good time.”
“I’m a translator at the United Nations.”
The words barely settled before Jeffrey’s mind was racing again. “But… so you know people?”
“You could say that. I guess the question is what proof you could get me and how soon. I can’t promise anything, but my hunch is I could get it into the hands of the Chinese delegation, and maybe a few others. I know one of their translators extremely well. We had drinks together and went dancing just before I came here.”
“I could get you an entire analysis from the Pasteur Institute, as well as a characterization of the virus. It would leave nothing to the imagination,” Jeffrey said.
“How soon?”
“Probably by midnight tonight. My time. No more than eight hours, tops. They’re already working on a report. Top secret, of course, but not to us.”
“I’ll give you my email.” She held the phone away from her mouth as she spoke to her grandfather. “Grampa, I may need to leave for a day and do this in person. Will you be okay without me?” she asked, her words muffled.
After another few minutes of back and forth, parsing logistics, he terminated the call. Kaycee’s network would be invaluable, assuming she could get the documents to the right officials. At this point, he had no better alternative, other than Bertrand’s contacts in the French government, but he wasn’t convinced they would move quickly — bureaucrats tended to duck conflict or anything problematic, so it was more likely that they would drag their feet rather than take immediate action. Fortunately, Bertrand had intimated that he too had back channels, and would be working those, just as Jeffrey was working his.
Now all Jeffrey needed were the documents.
He placed a final call, and Bertrand answered with a terse, “Oui?”
Jeffrey gave him Kaycee’s email, and told him to send the report from a blind, newly-created account as soon as he could.
Bertrand didn’t comment except to say “Oui” again, and the line went dead.
Now it was in the Frenchman’s hands. The fate of the world.
Hopefully, not too late.
FORTY-FOUR
Cats Out of Bags
“Mr. President.”
“Ambassador Sokolenko,” the president said, shaking the Russian ambassador’s hand, welcoming him into the Oval Office, his chief of staff standing by one of the book cases. “This is most irregular, but I was able to clear a few minutes from my schedule. How can I help you today? Your emissary said this was the highest priority.”
“Yes, it is. Time is of the essence, so if I may speak candidly…”
“Of course. Edgar here is fully briefed to the highest levels. You may speak as though you were in your own home,” the president said, the offer a hollow one. Every word would be deconstructed after the meeting. That was one of the reasons Edgar was there.
The ambassador removed a file from his briefcase and handed it to Edgar, knowing that the president wouldn’t touch it, on the off chance there was a poison or some contaminant on it.
“This is a top secret document from my government. It details a deadly new virus. A laboratory-created virus, which if released, would destroy the majority of human life on the planet. You can read the document and have your experts review it, but in the interests of time, my prime minister has requested that you be prepared to accept a call from him in twenty minutes. That should be enough time for us to discuss the basics of the file.”
The president and Edgar looked puzzled.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” the president said.
“This is a virus that was created in a biological weapons laboratory. In the United States.”
“Now see here—” Edgar said, but the president cut him off.
“As you are aware, we do no offensive biological weapons development, Ambassador. Only defensive, and that, very limited. We were one of the first signatories of the 1972 Convention.”
“Yes. We also signed that agreement. As I recall, there were some regrettable accidents that indicated that the Soviet regime hadn’t completely abided by the Convention. As unbelievable as that may seem…”