The Viral Epiphany (27 page)

           
“I thought you had already told us,” Sheila said.
 
“They were sent by this Omega organization because you had received those letters.
 
They were a hit team right?”

           
“Yes, but there’s more,” Dan said, “a lot more.”
 
Sheila and Brendan leaned forward while Dan looked around.
 
There were no other customers within earshot.
 
“The two men confessed everything they knew.
 
Everything.
 
Apparently the
gardai
detectives are very persuasive.”

           
Sheila and Brendan were paying rapt attention but said nothing.
 
Outside the young boy was taking a small fish from his line.
 
He threw it back into the river.

           
“It seems that the letters didn’t tell quite the whole story about Omega.
 
It turns out that they have become a very large and powerful office in the U.S. Department of Defense.
 
I have no idea which branch of the military they report to or if they are completely independent. I do know this: they are on the verge of creating an extremely lethal bio-warfare capability.
 
It sounds like it’s already been tested!”

           
“What!” Sheila exclaimed, “They’re testing biological weapons?” She looked over at Brendan and saw that he too looked incredulous.

 
“Not exactly,” Dan said, “They used some sort of harmless material that they sprayed over a U.S. city with some kind of new stealth aircraft.
 
They were testing the distribution system.
 
I don’t know how far along they are in creating the actual disease. But I would guess that if they are testing delivery systems then the weapon is probably pretty well developed too.
 
I keep thinking about Tim’s letter, and how he wanted me to stop them.”

           
“Dan!” Sheila said, “What are you talking about?
 
There’s no way you could prevent them from doing anything, and besides, they’re already trying to kill you!”

           
“She’s right, you know,” Brendan said, “You should just lay low and hope they forget about you.”

           
Dan drank the last of his tea in a single gulp and then replied, “Don’t worry about that.
 
The
gardai
were able to send a false message back to Omega headquarters through the agents’ communications equipment.
 
Omega probably thinks the agents have succeeded and that I’m already dead.”

           
“What happened to the agents?” Sheila asked, “The
gardai
didn’t…did they?”

 
Dan smiled at the look on her face.
 
“No, the agents are being held in prison under the strictest guard.
 
No one from Omega will ever hear from them again.”

           
“Not ever?” Sheila asked with a look of astonishment on her face.

           
“I’m afraid they are in a game that is played for keeps, Sheila. No, not ever.”

           
“Even so,” Brendan said, “I think you should just keep a very low profile.
 
There’s no way you can fight them.”

           
“I know. But Tim was right. They need to be stopped.”
           
“OK,” Brendan said, “But what can you do? What can any of us really do?”

           
Dan looked out the large plate glass window again and saw the young boy with the fishing pole.
 
He was excitedly reeling in another small fish from the
Lee.
“I don’t know,” he said, turning back to Brendan, “but maybe, somehow, I have a role to play.”

           
“I think that’s true,” Sheila said, “but it’s not for us to see that now.
 
Meanwhile, you don’t have to worry about another attack from Omega, and that’s really good news!”

           
“You’re right,” Dan said smiling at last, “I think I’m safe there.”

           
“Good,” Sheila said with a look of relief on her face.
 
She finished the last of her tea and then looked from Brendan to Dan.
 
“Anyone want to go back and check the computer with me?”

           
“Sure,” Dan said standing up from the table. “Now, let’s say we find that the computer says it will be effective. What do we do?” They walked together out the door of the café and began walking towards the library on the upper campus.
           
“Good question,” Brendan said, “I only made a few doses and we don’t have the capability to make many ourselves.
 
Where do we go from here?
           
“Just down the street,” Dan said pointing towards the road to Wilton, “we have everything we need right down there.”

           
“What are you talking about?” Sheila asked as she looked where he was pointing. She could only see a line of cars caught in the usual traffic jam heading out of the city.
  

           
“The pharmaceutical industry. They’re just over in Wilton, and Bishopstown, and also in Mallow, and Fermoy.
 
They’re everywhere,” Dan said as his face came alive with a sense of vision. “Remember, years ago, when Ireland’s economy really took off and the rest of Europe began calling us the Celtic Tiger?”

           
“Of course,” Sheila replied, and Brendan said, “I was pretty young then.”

           
“They called us the Celtic Tiger because our economy was the fastest growing economy in the world. Remember why? The pharmaceutical companies, along with the IT industries, played a major role.
 
They moved here and set up enormous manufacturing plants all over Ireland, including a whole bunch around Cork city – and the plants were brand new.
 
That meant that they had the most modern production capabilities.
 
If the supercomputer shows that the vaccine is effective, these plants could make millions of doses very quickly.”
           
“And, you know what, they won’t have to use the old and slow, traditional egg method of making a vaccine either!” Brandon said feeling the excitement grow within him.

           
“Absolutely.
 
The genetic engineering techniques these companies use allow them to fabricate vaccines entirely synthetically.”

           
“And they’re all around us!” Sheila said looking back at Dan, “Dan we really can do this!
 
These companies can create enough vaccine to protect every person in Ireland!”

           
“Maybe even more,” Dan replied, “Maybe our industries could even ship vaccine to other parts of the world.”
 

           
In their growing excitement they began walking more quickly towards the Boole Library.
 
As they climbed the stone stairway to the courtyard a sudden gust of cool wind brushed Sheila’s long curls across her eyes.
 
She brushed them back with her hand and she looked up at the sky.
 
Clouds were beginning to move in now and a lone blackbird was flying away to the east.
 
While they had been enjoying their tea the wind had changed and it was now blowing in from the west.
 
“We’d better hurry, I think,” she said.

           
They hastened their pace and were only fifty yards from the library entrance when the rain began falling, softly at first, but then, within seconds, large drops of rain began to appear.
 
They sprinted the last twenty yards and reached the doors as the cloud burst and heavy rain began splattering on the courtyard and tiny rivulets of water started running across the paving stones and down the stairway to the quadrangle.
 
The high tower of the administration building grew darker as the rainfall wetted the old rock and it took on an even more brooding and forbidding appearance.
 

Inside the library, the three friends turned their backs on the glass doors and happily brushed off the few raindrops that had landed on their coats. Barely able to contain their growing tension, they almost ran to their computer terminal.
 
The screen showed that the program had completed its execution several minutes earlier.

           
“Oh, my God!” Brendan shouted, “Look at the numbers!”
 
Dan and Sheila looked at the display.
 
After testing Brendan’s vaccine against the thousands of possible likely variants of the original virus, the program had estimated that the vaccine would be at least 99.3% effective.
 
“That’s incredible!” Brendan said.

           
Dan couldn’t contain his joy.
 
He happily hugged Brendan then shook his hand wildly.
 
“Congratulations, Brendan! You’ve done it!
 
We can beat this disease now!”
 
He turned to Sheila and he swept her into his arms and kissed her and he felt his kiss returned.
 
He slowly let go and looked into her eyes and in that brief moment he saw hope and joy and a love that mirrored his own.

           
A moment later there was a loud boom and a bright flash as lightning struck the tall battlements on the Administration building.
 
Sheila looked around to the window but the old tower was undamaged.
 
It had been struck many times in the past and it was still unscathed; however, the rain had now increased to a downpour.
 
She watched as the west wind began to blow harder and the towering trees that hung over the courtyard began to sway violently to and fro.
 
She shivered slightly and turned back to Dan and said, “Hold me tight, Dan.
 
I’m afraid there is some nasty weather ahead.”

Twenty-Seven

           
The fast attack submarine, SSN
Seawolf,
was submerged and cruising far from its homeport of Bremerton, Washington.
 
It carried a full supply of torpedoes and cruise missiles, with two sets of interchangeable warheads for each missile.
One of the sets was made of conventional warheads, similar to those that had been used in the Iraq war.
 
The other set was nuclear.
 
The
Seawolf
had been on patrol for slightly more than two months and was now fifty miles due south of Nantucket Island.
 
As it prepared to change heading for an extended trip to the north Atlantic, it received an urgent message. Captain Donald Andrews took the folded paper from the communications officer and checked his watch before he began reading.
 
It was six o’clock in the evening, Eastern Standard Time, too early for the normally scheduled message traffic of the day.

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TOP SECRET
                       
           
TOP SECRET
         
           
           
TOP SECRET

MESSAGE PRIORITY: FLASH
           
                       
           

URGENT MESSAGE TO CMDR SSN SEAWOLF:
 
ABORT CURRENT MISSION.
 
REPEAT, ABORT CURRENT MISSION.

PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO SUBASE NLON TO TAKE ON VIP PASSENGERS.
 
PASSENGERS WILL PROVIDE DETAILS OF NEW MISSION VERBALLY ON ARRIVAL.
 
ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OF PASSENGERS IS 0400 TOMORROW AT SUBASE NLON.

JOINT COMSUBPAC/COMSUBLANT SENDS

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What the hell?
Captain Andrews said to himself.
Whoever heard of a message coming from both COMSUBPAC and COMSUBLANT?
 
That’s a Pacific command admiral and an Atlantic command admiral!
 
Two admirals sending joint orders to me? This can only be trouble, big trouble…

           
He thought about the message for only a few seconds more and then shouted “Helm!” as he put the message down on his lap, “Come to new heading 230 degrees.
 
Proceed to SUBASE New London, Connecticut at maximum speed!”

Beneath the gently rolling surface of the eastern Atlantic Ocean, as the Cunard Lines
RMS Queen Mary II
passed almost directly overhead, the most advanced nuclear submarine in the world abruptly changed course. Its single, multi-bladed propeller rapidly increased its rotations as the submarine’s nuclear reactor easily generated the needed power.
 
A minute later its fleeting form, like an underwater ghost, was racing towards the mouth of Connecticut’s
Thames
River while the passengers on the Queen Mary II enjoyed their afternoon tea.