The Leaves in Winter (54 page)

On the way back out, a decontamination shower came first. Janis extended arms and turned around as a spray of chemicals pelted her pressure suit and helmet.

After drip-drying and walking through an air blast, she stepped through into the Suit Room. There she took off the bulky pressure suit and double gloves and exposed the green scrubs worn underneath. Now she could pass into the Inner Work and Interaction Area, a mid-range confinement and security area that also shared a pressured door into the BSL3 lab space. After that came the changing room, a cramped space where every technician was required to shed their scrubs and walk naked into the second shower room for a less caustic spray.

After dropping her scrubs into a receptacle for soiled clothes, Janis welcomed the vigorous spray of water against her skin. After the required time, the spray ended and Janis passed through into the locker room. There she put her street clothes back on and headed out into the Outer Work and Interaction Area. Immediately upon stepping out, Janis was greeted by Alyssa running up and giving her a hug.

“There you are!” yelped Alyssa. “I thought you’d never come out.”

Janis smoothed back her daughter’s hair. “It takes a while to get in and out.”

Alyssa peaked into the locker room as the door automatically closed. “What’s it like in there?”

Janis smirked. “It’s like being inside a tiny submarine locked in a bank vault.”

Alyssa giggled. “That’s bizarre…”

“You’re telling me!” Janis headed off to her computer console.

“You have more to do?” asked Alyssa.

“I need to backup a couple things; that’s all. Don’t worry; it’ll take two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

Alyssa grinned. “Or two twitches of a bunny’s nose?”

“Exactly,” chuckled Janis. Her fingers sped over the keyboard and shifted the mouse. “Sorry about missing lunch today…”

Alyssa plopped on a chair and rolled over closer. “I know. It’s OK. I got to stay in and bug Faye.”

The first backup started and Janis shifted attention to a second monitor. “You two have been spending quite a bit of time together. I bet you’re learning a lot. Faye is a good teacher. I’ve seen her instruct newbies in the lab…”

“Oh, yeah,” agreed Alyssa. “The only problem is, she won’t answer all my questions.”

Janis furrowed her brow. “Really? Well, I’m sure there’s a good reason…”

Alyssa was direct. “She says when she’s done with her work, you’ll tell me about it.”

Janis was all too aware of the topic and Faye’s reason for being reserved about it. Faye’s research from bed was concentrating on the sterility issue. In particular, what about Alyssa had prevented her from becoming sterile and how might her genetic uniqueness be leveraged to find a cure for the rest of the world’s children. Given some of the subject matter, Faye believed it would be best if Janis was the one to explain the particulars to her daughter.

The second backup started and they could go. But Janis hesitated. Maybe it was time to let Alyssa in on the theory Faye had come up with. Perhaps an overview of what was being researched would be best; it might placate Alyssa’s curiosity while maturing for her the concepts of what the future might have in store for her.

Janis swiveled round to face Alyssa. “You know that for the past couple of months, Faye and I have been working on different things…”

“Yeah,” affirmed Alyssa. “You’ve been doing 2GenGEN…”

“A single-dose version of
GenLET
that’s spread by a cold virus…”

“And Faye’s been looking at the sterility thing.”

“That’s right. More importantly, she’s been looking into your role in solving the problem.”

“Me?” Alyssa stopped her fidgeting.

“I told you; you are special.”

“Yeah, I know. I can have children. Other kids when they grow up won’t be able to.”

“And why is that?” asked Janis but Alyssa could only shrug. “I was pregnant with you when I caught the Ghyvir-C cold. That Ghyvir-C didn’t have a sputnik in it so I didn’t get inflected with the damaging payload. Because of that, a special immunity got passed to you while you were still inside of me.”

“I know, you told me that before. But that’s not what Faye won’t tell me.”

“No,” agreed Janis. “Faye’s been working on some very complex computer models. No one knows about it but the three of us. For now, let’s keep it that way.”

“Your big boss doesn’t even know?”

“No, the Project hasn’t been using our computer models so we haven’t told them yet. Faye’s been putting gobs of data into her computer and defining lots of rules and constants and variables…and out the other end comes what-if answers.”

Alyssa screwed up her face. “What’s a what-if answer?”

Janis smiled. “What if you sit on your left leg until it falls asleep and gets all tingly then a bee comes after and you try to run. What will happen?”

Alyssa grunted. “I’d probably fall over.”

Janis nodded. “You just gave me a what-if answer. You’re able to answer that because you blended the facts of what you know with realistic rules governing a possible situation. Faye has done the same thing…
only about your children
.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened. “My children! I don’t have any kids!”

“Of course you don’t. But someday you might. And when you do, you’ll pass your genetic code to the next generation.”

“So why is that special?” asked Alyssa.

“That’s special because
you’re
special.” Janis leaned forward and took hold of Alyssa’s hands. “If a fix for sterility isn’t found, you are going to be the last woman who can bear children.” Janis couldn’t help but tearing up. “Faye and I tried to find a fix but our first trial failed. Faye believes her computer model might have discovered why.”

Seeing the emotion and seriousness on her mother’s face, Alyssa struggled to concentrate. “She got a what-if answer…”

“That’s right, but not about you – about your children. The computer model told her the reason why the first trial failed is because you are only half of the specialness we need. When you have children, your children’s germ cells will have that completeness. Using those cells, the computer model says the fix might work.”

“Germ cells?” Alyssa glowered.

“Not that kind of germ cells. The germ cells I’m talking about are special sex cells; they’re the kind of cells that allow us to reproduce.”

“So what are you saying?” asked Alyssa, suddenly concerned. “You can’t come up with a fix until I have children?”

Janis paused. “Unless we can figure out a way to simulate the same chain of interactions in the lab – no, we can’t. Even if we found a way in the lab, so much can go wrong. That’s why the best, the most certain way might be to derive the fix from your children’s germ cells.”

“But I don’t want any kids…” Alyssa pulled back.

“Of course you don’t; not right now. That’s why Faye’s working up new models to plan what it would take to do the same thing in the lab.”

Alyssa shifted nervously. “Is that everything Faye wouldn’t tell me?”

Details of the topic flooded Janis’ mind. So many of them were overly technical but one in particular had yet to be spoken. It probably would have little significance to Alyssa now, but the thought of what it might mean in years to come gave Janis pause. She tried to not let her inner anxiety show.

“There’s one last thing. To have a child, an egg and a sperm must come together. You have the egg, a special egg. For your children to have the right kind of germ cells, the kind of cells we can use to make the fix work, Faye’s model predicts the sperm must be equally special.”

The two of them had had the birds and bees conversation years before. Janis knew a lot of detail in this area wasn’t required.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and chuckled timidly. “How do you find special sperm?”

“It has to be from someone who produced the sperm before they were ever infected with Ghyvir-C. That part is critical.”

Alyssa huffed. “Well that rules out everybody!”

“No, it doesn’t,” countered Janis. “If the sperm was donated and frozen over thirteen years ago, before Ghyvir-C started infecting people, that kind of sperm would be special.”

The topic was turning sour for Alyssa. “That’s like weird. I have to get pregnant with old frozen sperm?”

Janis stood. “You don’t have to do anything. It’s a theory and like I said, Faye is trying to come up with a way to do the same thing in the lab. Besides, what are we still doing here? Didn’t Faye say she had snacks?” Janis forced a lighter mood.

Alyssa grinned. “They’re good ones too!”

Just then, a massive concussion buffeted the building above them.

A roar came from the ceiling.

The lights flickered and went out.

The two of them stood in pitch darkness.

Alyssa screamed as Janis rushed to hug her close.

Moments later, auxiliary lighting flickered on, then off, then on again.

All BSL4 labs have redundant, dedicated systems for just about everything. In the moment, Janis was thankful they were close to dedicated BLS4 power and fresh air exchange. She rushed to the phone and punched in the three-digit extension for the security desk.

She thought she heard a connection but couldn’t be sure.

“This is Janis Insworth in the sub-basement lab. What’s going on up there?”

Janis waited. Hearing no response, her heart accelerated. She listened to clicks and dead air before the line got redirected. After one ring, a frantic voice was heard.

“GPAX
Mobile
One. Over.”

“This is Janis Insworth. I’m in the sub-basement lab…”

“Building Three?”

“Yes,” blurted Janis. “Who is this?”

The voice was out of breath. “Shit! Are you alone?”

“No, my daughter’s with me.”

“Stay where you are! Right now, you’re in the safest place!”

“What are you talking about? What just happened?”

“Listen! Don’t attempt to come to the surface! I repeat – stay where you are!”

Janis watched the lights dim then flicker. “We’re on auxiliary power but it’s been going on and off.”

“If the lights go out, you should still have emergency power for air exchange.”

“Who am I talking to? What’s GPAX?”

“Locate a fire extinguisher and get to a safe place away from heavy equipment...” The line went dead.

Again and again the concussions returned. The last blast shook ceiling panels down around them. Janis grabbed her cell phone off the desk and tugged Alyssa towards the entrance to the BSL4 lab.

“Come on!” shouted Janis. “Follow me.”

Cowering, Alyssa scurried alongside.

Janis yanked the heavy door open leading into the locker room. Scurrying inside, she closed the door then jerked a fire extinguisher from the wall and set it on the floor in between their feet.

Huddled together, the two of them listened as peals of thunder passed overhead. Behind the windowless room, they could hear debris falling.

Janis felt Alyssa shivering next to her in panic. To hide her own fear, Janis considered a hopeful irony – a lab designed to keep deadly things on the inside might also keep a perilous unknown on the outside.

“Remember what I said about a submarine in a bank vault?”

Too afraid to speak, Alyssa could only nod.

“We’ll be OK. We’re in the submarine.”

A moment later, auxiliary lighting failed.

Alyssa squealed and clung tighter in the dark.

In pitch blackness, Janis closed her eyes

It was all she could do to fight off terror and intense dread.

But far worse than the fear – was not knowing.

Chapter 51

Grounds Perimeter

GeLixCo Advanced
Research
Center

Under a moonless sky the flicker of roaring flame drew the eye to a patch of land in the distance. Sirens and small arms fire distressed the midnight hour. The narrow service road paralleling the perimeter fence led downhill into blackness. At the fence line a GeLixCo security vehicle sat pockmarked with bullet holes, the left side of its windows blown out. Inside, a pair of security agents manned what was left of their mobile command post.

Colin Insworth holstered his .45 pistol and hurried across the conquered high ground. Wincing, he grabbed his left bicep as blood soaked through the strip of cloth ripped from his shirt and used to tie off the flesh wound.

Nearby, a GeLixCo guard rummaged through the pockets of three dead men dressed in black. The bodies were strewn alongside weapons in a small field at the highest point of the GeLixCo property. Unzipping a satchel, the guard discovered a cache of rocket-propelled grenades. The guard brandished one for Colin to see.

“We got here just in time,” remarked the guard.

Colin reached out a bloodied hand. “Give me your binoculars.”

The guard complied and Colin adjusted the night vision lenses. Stepping to a rocky prominence, he took aim with a viewfinder tinged in surreal green. Zooming in, he had to squint. The fires consuming what was left of Building 3 flared white hot in the night vision field of view. Colin jerked away from the intensity and scanned the darkness. A warm engine flare from another GeLixCo security vehicle swept into view. Farther on, infrared outlines of two guards, sprinting with rifles at the ready, rushed past.

One of the security agents from the nearby mobile command post ran up to Colin. “Sir, we haven’t been able to secure all access roads...”

Colin held firm holding the binoculars before his eyes. “Have first responders been notified?”

“We’ve gotten through to central dispatch but we can’t be sure all field units have gotten the word.”

“Damn!” snapped Colin. Shifting binoculars farther afield, he searched the dim vastness on the edge of city lights where he knew city streets intersected. As he feared, the flashing red strobes of a fire truck dispatched from the city of
Aguadilla
came into view. As the truck snaked up into the hills from the city below, Colin searched the blackness around it for heat signatures.

“There’s one coming up the hill. Keep trying with dispatch!” ordered Colin.

“Yes, sir.” The agent hustled back to the security vehicle.

Colin adjusted the zoom and night vision resolution. As he did, a wisp of a heat trace was detected. His eyes were drawn to it even as it streaked across his field of vision. The arc of heat traced a deadly path through the darkness. It only took a second for it to intercept the fire truck’s flashing strobes. A moment later, Colin’s green screen erupted with a fireball of destruction. A moment after that, the distant roar of what he had just witnessed arrived at his ears.

Colin jerked the binoculars down. He was too angry to yell, too determined to stay put. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he jogged back to the bullet-riddled security vehicle where two agents operated separate radios. Colin jerked open the driver side door and motioned to the agent.

“Stay here with the guard. Secure and hold this point.”

The agent hustled out of the way. “Yes, sir.”

Colin jumped behind the wheel and revved the engine. He spoke to the remaining agent in the passenger seat. “We’ve got to get down there. We need those roads open.”

The agent held a satellite phone to his ear. “There’s a Medevac chopper standing by, ETA ten minutes as soon as we give the word.”

Colin stomped on the accelerator and spun them around headed downhill.

“There are too many places in these hills to hide. We’ve pushed them back but now we have to go beyond the perimeter and finish them off.”

The tattered vehicle rumbled on one flat tire. The agent reloaded his sidearm. “They knew right where to hit us.”

Colin increased their rate of speed. “What’s the latest damage assessment?”

The agent braced himself with one hand holding onto the dashboard. “Municipal and onsite backup power generation was hit first along with key security substations. Next, a barrage of RPGs slammed Building 3 and its support sub-plant. None of the hits appear random. Strike locations were chosen surgically. At a minimum, somebody had access to plant schematics and floor plans.”

Nearing the main campus, Colin’s gaze gravitated to the burning and blown-away sections of Building 3. “They ignored the other buildings…”

“Luckily, the lab’s in the basement.”

Colin’s grip on the wheel tightened. “Any word from there?”

“Not since the initial call.”

“And no one’s been able to get downstairs?”

“Not yet. They’re still fighting a first-floor fire blocking the stairwell.”

“Is sub-basement air exchange still working?”

“On backup power. We’ve had to move a generator into position from building 2. The primary backup for building 3 was damaged.”

“What about communications?”

“We haven’t been able to reestablish the landline. We’re rerouting any incoming calls to Building 3 security to GPAX Mobile One.”

Colin paused to clear anxious thoughts. “Keep dialing the private line for Janis Insworth. We have to get through.”

“If she’s taken cover in the BSL4 lab, cell phone signals won’t work in there.”

“Do it anyway!”

“Yes, sir.”

Stopping the vehicle, Colin jumped out and motioned the agent into the driver seat. As the agent slid across, Colin held up the binoculars. “Where’s the RIDIS coupler for these?”

The agent lifted a flap on a shoulder bag and handed over a dark object.

Colin took it and made quick work of snapping it in place over the eyepiece. He gestured to the agent’s rifle. “Give me that too.”

“Where are you going?”

“Outside the line.”

The agent hesitated to close the door. “By yourself?”

Colin shouldered the assault rifle. “I know; it’s not standard procedure. I’m hoping that’s exactly why they won’t expect it.”

“Don’t you think most of them have already scattered? They’ll want to get off the island quick. It’s typical hit-and-run.”

“If these were professionals, I’d agree with you. But somebody just took out a fire truck. I think some of them want to stick around long enough to enjoy their handiwork.”

The agent wasn’t convinced. “If they’re out there, they’re risking a lot just to watch something burn. They have to know the hit was clean and surgical.”

Colin closed the door. “It shows you what inside information can do. Keep a GPS track on my phone. I’ll signal if I need support.”

The agent put the vehicle in gear. “Roger that.”

Colin watched for a moment as the agent drove off towards the flaming wreck of Building 3. It took all the discipline Colin had not to rush to the building and fight his way to the sub-basement. Not knowing the fate of Janis and Alyssa was both torture and impetus to fight on. There was only one hope to cling to. Everything hinged upon the unique protective features and redundancies of a BSL4 lab.

Turning into drifting embers and dust, Colin scampered off down the road and into the brush. Navigating by the position of city lights twinkling at the base of the hills, he headed into the area where he had watched the RPG arc into the fire truck. Most of the time, he crept with night vision binoculars before his eyes. Analyzing the slope of the hillsides, he estimated the best observation and launch-point for the projectile and angled his advance for a position upslope above it.

After several minutes of stealthy approach, Colin crouched down and trained his eyes on the green display in the viewfinder. No heat signatures displayed. Sweeping the area, all was clear. Patiently, he waited. Lying on his stomach, he kept a steady gaze on the key area of interest.

After ten minutes, the beat of helicopter blades approached from the north. Colin tensed. The Project must have ordered the Medevac despite the risks. As the chopper made its descent towards the GeLixCo campus, Colin drew extra alert on his field of vision. Off to one side, two specks flashed on the infrared. Angling over and zooming in, two bodies could be seen rising up from behind a rocky outcrop. On the shoulder of one of them was poised a RPG.

Colin noted the range to target in the binoculars’ viewfinder. He then shifted to the assault rifle, knowing full well that it lacked night vision or scope. It would be a shot in the dark but hopefully enough to prevent them from firing.

Taking aim as best he could, he squeezed off several shots.

Shifting back to the binoculars, he watched as the two forms scurried away down the hillside. He hadn’t hit them but the near approach of a sniper had changed their plans.

Colin stood and activated the RIDIS coupler. With viewfinder pressed to his eyes, his fingers deftly manipulated the controls. Just as the calibration was complete, the fleeing pair disappeared on the other side of a ridgeline.

Colin took off in a sprint down the hillside. Brush and brambles snared his legs and scratched at his arms. By the time he reached a better viewpoint, the escaping pair had reached a motorcycle hidden off road. In the distance, Colin could hear the bike’s engine throttle up. The white front light and red taillight flared into view.

Colin drew a steady bead on the light source with the binoculars. With fingers poised at the coupler controls, he tracked the bike’s movement as it sped away. The bike’s driver hunched over the controls. His passenger held on from behind. Before the two of them could zip out of view, Colin activated the RIDIS beam. Locking on, pulsating green crosshairs divided over the subjects and snapped back together. On snap, the crosshairs turned red, signaling RIDIS capture was complete.

A second later, the bike sped out of range and was gone.

Looking back over his shoulder, Colin watched the helicopter settle down for a landing in GeLixCo’s parking lot before shifting his attention back to the coupler in hand. Thumb-pressing the controls, he activated a request for transmission and analysis. The command was picked up by satellite and relayed to
Granite Peak
.

Drawing his sidearm, Colin raced back up the hill to the spot where, in his hurry, he had left his rifle. Shouldering the weapon, he noted a blinking receive indicator on the coupler. He pressed activation of the heads-up overlay and a drop-down readout appeared in the night vision eyepiece. Crouching on the ridgeline, he watched as RIDIS database confirmation returned from
Granite Peak
.

DPG/GPI RIDIS IDREPORT / 11:09:49PM MT

Field scan data received via NVCD/64/1-2M

[18.4274454 -67.1540698]

Subject-1……………………..André Bolard

Subject-2…………………......Noah Labon

Match%-99.99999

Colin didn’t have time to react. In his pocket, his phone vibrated. “This is Colin…”

“Sir, you wanted to be informed of any transmissions with
Turnberry
Tower
…”

“That’s correct.”

“In the last half hour there’s been one call out and one call returned.”

Colin lowered the binoculars to his side and turned back towards GeLixCo. “Who made the call out?”

“One of the three new security agents you instructed us to monitor.”

“Can you sum up the exchange?”

“Yes sir. The outcall informed Turnberry of tonight’s attack.”

“And what was the response?”

“It just came in,” stressed the caller. “It was brief…”

Colin started walking back to the campus.

The caller finished. “…All it said was:
Decision Point Self-Destruct
.”

Colin halted, letting the phrase find context. As possibilities coalesced around all he knew, he stepped forward. With every step, a slow burn of anxiety caught fire.