Chapter 3
All characters, living or dead, and locations or events in this web novel are entirely fictitious or merely coincidental.
Yosemite National Park, California
Race thought about that day in Texas nine years ago as he
sat, legs extending into air, on a jutting boulder of El Capitan’s North Slope. This place, this mountain in the park was the
last place he and Terrance climbed together. Now it is the resting place of his cremated remains . Race needed to hike
before meeting General Langford in Nevada in two days; one more day in the park
to think about why he was chosen so close to retirement to monitor the parasitic
infection of a large town. No use
denying it; years of emotionless assassinations had made him the perfect candidate
for the job. Or so his superiors
thought. Race had no intention of riding
into the sunset with this last mission on his conscious. And neither did General Langford. There was a pervasive rot working its way
throughout all the U.S. intelligence Agencies.
A putrefaction call The Family. Objecting to the mission
however, would solicit immediate suspicions and take Race and the general out
of the loop of the Family's grand plan. Better to play the part, be
the good soldier, or Marine as it were, and see how far the Family’s influence
had metastasized.
Area 51, Nevada
At Las Vegas International Airport, Race met his military driver
for the 85 mile trip to Area 51; a detached outpost of Edwards Air Force
Base. The driver, an Air Force airman,
said nothing other than asking for his photo, written credentials and palm and retinal
scans once they were in the Humvee. An equally wooden co-driver rummaged
through his clothing bag and satchel; scanning for listening devices and GPS
tracers. When satisfied, the escorts
joined civilian vehicles on State Highway 93.
They all knew the routine; information was on a need to know basis and
besides, the airmen wouldn’t be given this assignment in the most heavily guarded
facility in the world if they were the congenial type. These two were the best of the best for this
job and would give their lives to safeguard Race because that was their orders
but this was as far as it went. They
wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if the order was relayed to do so in route. Race learned this lesson early in his career
and used it to survive during the purging
of agents to cover up lies leading up to the second Gulf War. After that he never failed to size up and
plan for immediate survival contingencies with whomever escorted him. His every move was monitored by the co-driver
on an in-dash TV monitor but Race gave the man no reason for suspicion. He only stared out the window at the Joshua
trees (Yucca brevifolia) in this
Mohave Desert while he drank from his Sigg water bottle. Rookies, he thought; they checked the contents of his bottle but
didn’t give it a field chemical analysis.
Had they, the analysis would fine more than just water. It fascinated Race to no end how much plants
intertwined with so many of his missions over the years and the Rogue Botanist
was his most important goner in this respect.
The botanist knew this assignment would put him in a precarious position
where his loyalty would be questioned with certain instruments used to
monitor signs of stress such as elevated heart rate and skin temperature. A concoction of fetid passionflower (Passiflora foetida) and corn salad (Valerianella
locusta) in his water would be
sufficient to suppress any acceleration in his vitals.
The Humvee tuned
onto Nevada State Route 375, then turning off onto a dusty road until stopped by a heavy iron gate. A sign on the gate read U.S. Air
Force’s Nevada Testing Range - a 4,687 square miles property with Area 51 at its
center. At this point no unauthorized personnel were
allowed and if anyone was foolish to test this rule they would not get far for
motion and visual sensors and vigilant patrolling by Wackenhut private security
guards would promptly have them in the custody of the Lincoln County
sheriff. These guards were present at
the first four checkpoints, giving as much scrutiny to Race’s escorts as
he. No words were exchanged, just a passing of papers, contents searching and scans followed by
a motioning to continue to the next checkpoint.
At the last checkpoint Race keened in on a portable radio news report
about two missing linemen of the University of Nevada Wolfpack football team –
“No word on the whereabouts of Chad Stevens and Aleki Tulafono, both reported missing after
last seen together at…”
Inside Area 51
proper the escorts drove to an unmarked, 3 acre cinder block building with no apparent
stories. When
the vehicle stopped, two guards exited a lone air conditioned shack near the
entrance. These guards
were more animated only in they needed to explain to Race his possessions would
enter the building through an x-ray tunnel built into the exterior walls. This was the last time Race was given the
same search and credential-verifying protocol. Inside, Race retrieved his bag
and satchel but his bottle was thrown into a natural gas incinerator built into the floor. Another military
escort of two airmen led him to a hallway with doors coded alpha numerically. The senior enlisted of the two opened the last door,
D-5, and motioned for Race to step inside.
Inside he was relieved to see General Langeford in the presence of two middle-age
women in lab coats. Scientists he presumed. In the shadows beyond the reach of the florescent lights stood a thin man in a dark three-piece
suit. A gold crucifix hung around his neck.
He said nothing, just gazing intensely at Race. They stood around a table with a digital projector
displaying on the wall a slide presentation depicting what appeared to be
microscopic protists stained with cobalt-blue dye . The temperature in the room hovered around 55
degrees; making it easier for body heat sensors to measure detectable changes
in Race’s vitals. Somewhere in the wall
Race was sure there were ultra-sensitive listening devices to monitor his heart rate
and breathing.
General Langeford
broke the silence.
Agent Banner, I’m glad you could make it to the base on such
short notice. These women (gesturing to
the scientists) will fill you in on the background of the Toxoplasma I discussed briefly with you
last week. They will remain unnamed for
security purposes.
Langeford had yet to acknowledge the thin man. Scientist #1 began the discussion.
Langeford had yet to acknowledge the thin man. Scientist #1 began the discussion.
Agent Banner, we
are here to show you the latest developments on the effects of our latest variant of the Toxoplasma gondii. The next
slides will showed the pathway the parasite takes in the human body after it is
ingested as a cyst which protects it from from the stomach's digestive acids. Here, it releases sporozoites which
differentiate into tachyzoites, invading cells and multiplying until the cell
membrane bursts. At this stage the
tachyzoites reform into cysts in the brain, imbedding in the frontal cortex.
We are still researching the mechanisms behind its ability to control
the host but we do know that at this point the host body will
exhibit a lack of response to external stimuli until it is in the presence of another
human. The first person they see in this
state will become the only person they slavishly obey. We still don’t understand why and also
unexplained is the ability of the parasite to manipulate the neuropathways to produce congenital analgesia or
inability to feel physical pain.
The slide show
ended. Scientist #2 continued.
Agent Banner, please follow me down the
staircase. The perimeter of
the room was an optical illusion; twenty square feet partitioned by a four foot
concrete wall at its center. Another wall was thirty
feet further on. Between these walls was
a 40 foot drop into pit with a wall-bolted, metal spiral staircase leading down to the floor. As Race decended the
stairs he viewed the entirety of the pit and two very large men standing side by
side along the wall. In front of them was a table displaying two hatchets and
machetes. Both stared forward blankly. Banner further observed
both men to weigh about 350 plus pounds with a height of at least 6.5 feet. Their arms were festooned with tattoos of
wolves and the logo of the University of Nevada. One was Caucasian, maybe a farm boy Race mused, from the dwindling desert farms that had dared to squeeze water out of sand. The other was of Polynesian
descent, possibly Samoan with black hair beyond his shoulders. Immediately Race solved the mystery of the
two missing linemen but played it cool.
Nearing ground level the last of the stairs were raised from
the floor by hydraulics. The scientist stopped
to push a button which released the last five feet of stairs to the floor. Stepping down, they
approached the men.
Scientist #2: These
test subjects consumed our latest genetic variant of the parasite with the
ability to reach the brain in approximately 2 hours. Race listened intensely, observing the men
but silence and the sound of footsteps made him turn his head to see the
scientist quickly ascend the stairs and retract the staircase. Above Race the thin man peered over the wall,
calling out to the two large men at the table.
Gentlemen, kill the
man in front of you using the weapons on the table.
