Waterkill (Dave Henson Series) (5 page)

“Isn’t it likely the vial was broken and exposed to water?” pushed the man.

“No,” responded Aref firmly. “The vial was contained in a sealed thick titanium cylinder. It is very likely that it is still intact.” As he finished his sentence Aref looked over to his right at the man that held his eyes to the floor and continued to fidget.

The man who questioned Aref nodded his head in acknowledgement and full appreciation of Aref’s concerns. “You are right Aref. We need to find this vial quickly.”

“I have already started the wheels in motion for recovering it,” responded Aref. “I have been in contact with our colleagues in the United States and Canada. I have them listening to United States government and military channels for any reports on the downed aircraft. So far the aircraft has not been located. It is believed that the aircraft transponder was destroyed or non-operational when the aircraft went down.”

“From what our colleagues are telling me, because it was only a small aircraft on a private charter flight, both the United States and Canadian governments do not seem to be working too hard to find it. Our contacts have also put out feelers and asked around the region where the aircraft could have gone down. The only issue is that the search area is massive, remote, and very sparsely populated. So far they have obtained little information.”

“So how are we to help,” asked the same man.

Aref scanned the circle and said, “I want some of you to fly to the United States and find the vial. I trust all of you with my life, with the exception of one.”

All of the men but one looked at each other in a nervous silence, realizing that Aref was suggesting that there was a Judas in their midst.

A man to Aref’s left spoke up. “I volunteer to go to America and recover the vial of Waterkill. But what do you mean we have a traitor among us?”

“Thank you, Zand” responded Aref. “Your offer of service is greatly appreciated.” Aref and the others in the circle remained silent for what seemed like minutes, but was only a few seconds.

“It was not my fault,” yelled out the man who had been fidgeting nervously for the past several minutes. “Yousef came highly recommended and I fully vetted out his background before I sent him on the mission.”

Silence then returned to the circle. All of the men had focused their eyes and attention to the face of Saeed.

Again Saeed began to voice his innocence to them.

Aref interrupted him abruptly. “Yes this situation is directly your fault,” yelled Aref in a raging guttural tone. Aref’s face had become red and his eyes bulged outward on either side of his large nose. “If you had done what I asked, and what Zand just offered to do, we would not be in this situation today.”

“You,” pointed Aref as he stood up and walked to the center of the circle. “You should have gone yourself to the Great Satan and delivered the vial. But instead, you chose not to.”

“But I could not go,” whined Saeed. “My son is very ill.”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear any more from you Saeed. You’ve been like a brother to me. But you have failed me yet again. You have failed all of us.” Aref swept his arm around the circle.

“And you have failed Allah.”

Saeed lowered his head and began to sob.

“How dare you cry amongst us,” raged Aref. “We have all suffered. We have all sacrificed. We have all lost loved ones to the Great Satan and their European partners. Stand up. Stand up.”

Saeed slowly stood up. As he did, he felt his bladder release in petrified fear.

“Come to me,” Aref commanded.

Saeed nervously shuffled towards Aref with his eyes focused on Aref’s intense stare. As Saeed approached, Aref surreptitiously reached behind his back with his right hand and slowly wrapped his fingers around the hilt of a scimitar knife that was tucked underneath his belt. When Saeed was within arm’s length of Aref, in one lightning fast fluid motion Aref pulled the dagger from behind his back and slashed it across the throat of Saeed. The action was so sudden, such a shock, that Saeed did not immediately register what had occurred. Not until blood started to spurt from his throat and onto Aref did he seem to briefly realize what had occurred. He stared blankly into Aref’s eyes for a fraction of a second before his body fell forward. As it did, Aref stepped to the side to allow Saeed’s body to fall freely to the floor. Upon hitting the hard basement floor Saeed’s body bounced once and rolled partially over so that his head and lifeless eyes looked up at Aref.

As the blood continued to gush from Saeed’s cut jugular veins the men in the circle remained silent and watched. Aref slowly scanned their eyes to study their reactions. There was immense fear in all of their eyes. Exactly as he had hoped. He had learned long ago, fear was the only way to lead men.

After nearly two minutes of watching the remaining life fade from Saeed, Aref finally spoke.

“So far only Zand has volunteered to go to America. Do I have other volunteers?”

Three additional men hesitantly raised their hands.

“Excellent. I will talk with Zand and the three of you separately. The rest of you, clean up this mess and get rid of this filthy swine.”

Aref stepped out of the circle of men and motioned his four volunteers to follow him upstairs and away from the ghastly scene. Aref then turned to go up to the main level of the home with the four men following obediently at his heels. He stopped suddenly in his tracks. He turned around and looked at the group of men once more and pointed to one of them.

“Abdul, please come with us as well.”

Abdul compliantly stepped forward out of the circle and walked up the stairs trailing Aref and the other men.

Chapter 6 (April 10, Monday 12:30pm, Austria)

It was just after midday when Dave and Dana placed their skis and poles on a ski rack and walked into a timber framed ski lodge to get some lunch.

They were skiing at the Obertauern ski resort near Saltzburg, Austria, a resort located in the heart of the Austrian Alps. They arrived at the Austrian ski village the previous Friday and were staying at the Hotel Lurzerhof Wellness and Spa facility. Due to their midafternoon arrival on Friday, they had decided to forego hitting the slopes that day, and instead, spent the afternoon sightseeing and shopping in the quaint alpine village, before ending the day with dinner at a small five star restaurant in the village center.

Over the subsequent three days, however, they spent most of their time on the slopes, enjoying the spring skiing and taking in the natural beauty of the alpine mountains. At the end of each day, they returned to their hotel and enjoyed the amenities of the hotel’s wellness and spa center before going out to dinner. So far the vacation had lived up to everything that they had hoped for.

The two walked out of the busy ski lodge, food trays in hand, and made their way to a nearby picnic table. They had decided to skip the crowded lodge and instead take in more of the bright sunshine and warm spring mountain air while they ate. After sitting down at the picnic table they immediately started devouring the food on their trays, which consisted of vegetable barley soup, fresh breads and cheese, and large cups of hot coffee. The strenuous morning exercise on the slopes, combined with the fresh alpine air, had made both of them ravenous.

“This view is just fabulous,” said Dana as she took a break from savoring her lunch and looked up at the towering snow covered mountains that surrounded them. “It is such a spectacular place.”

“It is indeed,” replied Dave as he paused from his soup and gazed up at the rugged mountain peaks. “I first came here ten years ago. By the time I left a week later, I was in love with the mountains and the relaxed feel of this little village. Obertauern, Austria is one of the main reasons I decided to uproot from the San Francisco Bay Area and move to McCall, Idaho to start NSurv. Though Idaho and its mountain ranges are not quite the Austrian Alps, it’s a close second place.”

“Yes, I’d agree with that assessment,” replied Dana. “Plus, Idaho is our home.” She leaned forward and reached out and put her hand briefly on Dave’s forearm.

As the two continued to eat their lunch and enjoy the beautiful day, Dave’s mobile phone suddenly began to ring in his coat pocket. After fumbling around for it for a couple of seconds he finally extracted it from his coat. He looked down at the phone number on the screen and saw that it was a call from Washington D.C. It was from his friend at the department of Homeland Security, John Bates, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology.

Dave tapped the answer button on his phone and raised it to his ear as Dana looked at him questioningly.

“Dave Henson.”

“Hi Dave, John Bates here.”

“Well this is a bit of a surprise hearing from you,” replied Dave, as he looked over at Dana and gave her a wry smile.

“Yes, I am sure it is, however, we have a situation that has arisen and that I need your help on.” John hesitated for a second before continuing. “Actually, Eric McDonald, the Director of Homeland Security, asked me specifically to call you.”

“Really,” responded Dave questioningly as he sat up straighter on the picnic table bench. “What’s the issue?”

“Well to be honest Dave, I really can’t elaborate on the subject over the phone.” Again, John paused before continuing.  “Dave, I need for you to come to Washington.”

Dave hesitated before responding and looked over at Dana who was intensely watching him. She had also heard John’s request. She nodded her head slowly in support.

“Ah, so when do you need for me to be in Washington?” asked Dave, as he looked back at Dana with a combination of guilt and appreciation on his face.

“Immediately,” replied John. “We have an emergency that we really need your assistance on right away.”

“Dana and I are in the Austrian Alps on a ski vacation at the moment,” replied Dave. “It will take us a little time to pack up and rearrange our travel plans back to the states.”

“I apologize to the both of you for my request,” responded John. “If the situation was not so serious I’d tell you to come to Washington when your vacation was over. However, we really need to speak with you as soon as possible.”

“I understand,” said Dave.

“Don’t worry about changing your flight reservations,” replied John. “I’ll take care of that. I’ll charter a helicopter to pick up the two of you at your ski resort and take you back to Munich. When you get to Munich, I’ll have a pair of e-tickets ready for you to fly direct to Reagan International Airport.

“Okay, we’ll start packing,” replied Dave.

“Where are you skiing at?” asked John.

“Obertauern, Austria,” said Dave.

“Okay, I will have a helicopter there in two hours,” replied John. “Again Dave, I am truly sorry for the intrusion. Please give Dana my apologies.”

“No worries,” said Dave. “We understand.”

Chapter 7 (April 11, Tuesday 6:30pm, Washington D.C.)

Twelve hours later Dave sat bleary eyed looking across a large mahogany conference room table at John Bates and Eric McDonald. They were sitting in the Department of Homeland Security building in Washington D.C. Actually, it was more of a massive complex than it was a single building. The Department of Homeland Security complex sat on a one hundred and seventy six acre campus just five miles from the nation’s capital.

“Thank you so much for coming,” said Eric McDonald. “I sincerely apologize for interrupting your vacation. However we have a serious situation that is ongoing and we really need your assistance.”

Exhausted, but very curious to know what the situation was, Dave replied, “Okay, before I fall asleep why don’t the two of you fill me in.”

John looked over at the Secretary to get his approval to speak. Seeing the nod from him, John began to explain the nature of the situation and what had transpired over the previous couple of months.

“For the past two years we have been receiving bits and pieces of intelligence information that Al Qaeda has been working on a new terrorist weapon. A weapon that is not only capable of causing terror to the entire world population but also killing millions of people in a single use of it.”

“Have they created their own nuke?” asked Dave, his voice dripping in contempt.

“No,” replied John. “It is much more insidious of a weapon than that, if our intelligence is correct. And we have no reason to doubt our intelligence information at this point.”

“Al Qaeda has been working on the development of a new type of chemical-biological weapon,” interrupted Eric McDonald. “Something that has never been produced before.”

Dave shifted his tired eyes over to McDonald who had gotten up out of his chair and had begun to slowly pace back and forth in the conference room.

“Our intelligence reports out of the Middle East, and particularly out of Iran, indicate that there is an Al Qaeda cell who has been developing a synthetic disease for the express purpose of using it as a weapon of mass destruction. Or more specifically, engineering a chemical/biological weapon that emulates a known deadly disease.  However, unlike the naturally occurring form of the disease that kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, we believe this group’s version of the disease has an amped up kill potency.”

“So what is this naturally occurring disease?” asked Dave, the contempt in his question now ratcheted up a notch.

John looked over at McDonald once again to get his approval to answer Dave’s question, and again, McDonald gave him the go ahead nod.

“Back in February, there was a small village in Yemen where more than two thirds of its population was wiped out in a twenty-four hour period. The village was not attacked by any military or militia group, and there was no evidence of any type of conventional weapon used. Many of the people simply became violently sick in the span of just a few hours. A day later, all of those stricken by the illness were dead. The reports that we were able to obtain suggest the people died from severe dehydration brought on by acute diarrhea and vomiting.”

“All the symptoms of cholera,” interrupted Eric McDonald.

“How did they contract cholera?” asked Dave.

“We believe the victims contracted it through the community’s public well. It seems to be the only common denominator with the victims,” said John.

“However, water samples taken days later from the well showed no positive results for cholera, which leaves us somewhat conjecturing on the disease itself as well as its source,” chimed in McDonald.

“I thought there was treatment for cholera?” questioned Dave.

“Yes there is,” responded John.  “If rehydration and hydration salts are provided in a timely manner, victims who have contracted the disease are often able to recover from it.”

“So why not in this case?”

“This particular engineered cholera, which we know nothing about at this time, seems to be very fast acting and more powerful than the natural forming cholera bacteria,” responded McDonald. “Reports from the Yemenis government say that the victims who either consumed the water or came in contact with it began to experience violent symptoms within just a couple of hours.”

“Basically the villagers didn’t know what hit them,” said John. “And most likely they, nor the local Yemenis government officials, even had access to hydration salts.

“Also, the public well was the only potable water source for the community and it is untreated,” added McDonald. “The victims would have only accelerated their demise if they had attempted to rehydrate with the well water.”

“Which some of them presumably did,” responded Dave as he shook his head in sadness for the victims.

The three men remained silent for a few seconds before Dave spoke again.

“So why did you call me? How can I be of any service in this tragedy?”

“I am glad you asked. We were just coming to that,” responded McDonald. “Again, based on the intelligence reports over the past couple of years we know that Al Qaeda has been working diligently on a chemical/biological weapon. Piecing together the field reports and stitching in our own intelligent assumptions, we believe this cholera type weapon is using nanomaterials to help accelerate the delivery of the engineered disease into its victims.”

“Yes, carbon nanotubes are being used today in the field of medicine,” responded Dave. “However, they are typically being used to accelerate drug delivery into patients to help cure them of illnesses. For example, carbon nanotubes are used today in various types of cancer treatment. The nanotubes are coated with chemicals that cancerous tumor cells are attracted to. The coated nanotubes are then injected into the tumor tissue area. After waiting a period of time to allow the cancer cells to congregate around the coated nanotubes, an infrared laser energy field is applied to the tissue to excite the nanotubes. The nanotubes vibrate due to the applied energy field. As they vibrate they create a localized heat, or a hot spot if you will, in the cancer tissue. This causes the cancer cells to die and to stop the growth of the tumor.”

“We are familiar with this medical use of carbon nanotubes,” responded McDonald. “However, we believe Al Qaeda is employing a similar use of the technology to accelerate the delivery of their cholera weapon into its victims.”

“And to effectively make it more deadly to boot,” added John.

“So I agree with your theory,” responded Dave, “But how can I help? Do you have any of the weapon material to analyze?”

“Not yet,” responded John. “However, we think we know where there is a sample of it and we hope to recover it soon.”

“So why do you need me now if you don’t have any of the material yet?” questioned Dave as he looked at the two men.

“Because we need you and NSurv’s surveillance expertise to help locate the material,” responded McDonald.

“How specifically can I or NSurv’s technology help you find this material?”

“Last week a small aircraft went down over east-central Alaska,” responded McDonald. “We believe on board the aircraft was a member of Al Qaeda who was carrying a sample of the cholera weapon. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the aircraft went down in the middle of a blizzard in mountainous territory.”

“So if you know where the aircraft went down why haven’t you recovered the weapon?”

“We do not know precisely where the aircraft went down,” responded John. “Air traffic control radar lost the aircraft’s position shortly before it went missing.  The mountainous terrain, coupled with the heavy precipitation at that time, created so much interference and clutter that ATC lost radar lock on the aircraft.”

“What about the aircraft’s electronic locating transmitter?”

“The aircraft’s ELT was not working or was turned off,” replied John.

“So Dave, we need for you and your company to help us locate the aircraft,” summarized McDonald. “And time is of the essence. Al Qaeda radio and internet chatter since the aircraft went down has been elevated. Al Qaeda is trying to locate the aircraft itself. We need to find the aircraft and their weapon sample before they do.”

“Do you have any idea what the bioweapon is contained in?” asked Dave.

“Based on a suspicious corpse found just a few kilometers southeast of the small Yemen village, we believe the weapon may be being transported in a small metal cylinder,” responded John.

There was a momentary pregnant pause in the room before McDonald broke the silence, “So can we count on you and NSurv’s support Dave?”

Dave looked at both men and nodded his head in agreement while he scratched his chin with his thumb and index finger. He was already formulating a search plan to find the missing bioweapon cylinder. “You have my full support,” responded Dave. “In whatever capacity you’d like to use NSurv and my services, they are at your disposal.”

“Thank you Dave,” responded McDonald. “The Department of Homeland Security is convinced that Al Qaeda was planning to infect a public water supply in the United States with the cholera weapon sample that this aircraft was transporting. Besides the lost aircraft situation, we also have intelligence that Al Qaeda has impending plans of deploying this cholera type weapon at other targets in the United States and Western Europe. So again, it is imperative we locate the downed aircraft and weapon sample before Al Qaeda does. If we can get a hold of the weapon sample, we can study it and possibly find a way to detect and neutralize any additional deployments of it.”

“So when do we leave for Alaska?” asked Dave anxiously. “It sounds like we don’t have a lot of time.”

“We have already deployed a search and rescue Border Patrol Special Ops Group to the eastern mountains of Alaska,” responded John. “Unfortunately they’ve had no luck so far in locating the aircraft. The search area is massive. Based on its altitude and air speed when ATC lost radar contact with the aircraft, it could be anywhere in an area the size of the state of Connecticut.”

“We’d like to get you on a military jet to Fairbanks by tomorrow,” said McDonald.

“I’ll need to pick up some equipment at NSurv headquarters,” replied Dave. “I’d also like to bring along my colleague Ron Blackwell if that is okay with the two of you?”

Dave and Ron Blackwell had been inseparable friends and colleagues since their days at Stanford University. Ron had worked at previous companies with Dave and was currently NSurv’s Director of Engineering for its Nanotechnology Electronics division. Also, at six feet four inches and two hundred and fifty pounds, and an ex-tightend football player at Stanford, Ron had also proved his value out in the field in other ways. Besides being extremely fit, he was also an experienced back country hiker and an excellent marksman. 

“Not an issue,” responded McDonald. “We will fly you and your wife out of Andrews Air Force Base early tomorrow morning and stop in McCall, Idaho to allow you to pick up whatever and whomever you need.”

“Okay, I will call Ron and let him know to be ready and to gather the necessary equipment.”

“Excellent. Plan for a Homeland Security Agent to pick you up at your hotel room at five o’clock tomorrow morning,” said McDonald. “He will escort you to Andrews, and get you and your wife seated aboard the jet.”

McDonald opened up the door to the conference room and said goodbye to Dave and John.

“I am sure you are exhausted,” said John. “I’ll take you back to your hotel where you can make your phone call back to McCall and prep Dana for the early morning flight tomorrow.”

“Thank you John. I am pretty tired, but I doubt I’ll be getting a lot of sleep tonight.”

John turned off the conference room lights as the two exited the room. Thirty minutes later John dropped Dave off in front of his hotel and the two said their goodbyes. As Dave made his way up to his hotel room he was already formulating a list in his head of what surveillance tools would be most appropriate for finding a crystal ball in a mountainous snow field.