While Justice Sleeps(106)
The video ended, stilled on the final image of the bunks. “What the living hell just happened?” Noah demanded. “How did they do that?”
“Based on the symptoms, I’m guessing those men were dosed with a bioengineered viral vector that targets haplotypes and edits genes to limit clotting factors,” Ling answered hoarsely. “With a side of hemorrhagic fever, like some supercharged version of Ebola or Marburg. But they went from exposure to death in less than thirty-six hours. That’s insane.”
“How long would it usually take?”
“When the transmission is aerosolized? Maybe up to five days for initial symptoms. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Shaken, Avery swallowed hard. “See if there’s another video, Jared. Please.” She and the others waited as he scrolled through the directory.
“There are sixteen more videos,” Jared warned. “Labeled Tau one thirty through one forty-five.”
Avery clasped her hands, pressing them to her forehead. Ani had told them the truth. More than three hundred people murdered in the name of a perverted science that weaponized their religious heritage. Bile strangled her as she stared at the screen. “You all can go, but I need to watch these. All of them.”
No one moved.
* * *
—
They made their way through the horrific videos, until, at Tau 142, an American soldier entered the laboratory and stooped next to a body, his mask firmly in place. A scientist joined him, and he waited silently for the American to speak.
“Control groups?”
“Genetic testing is not foolproof. We have found crossovers in our experimental groups and our controls. However, in nontargeted haplogroups, the incidence rates for the infection are below eight percent. The survival rate among our targets is twenty-four percent.”
“And it looks like an aggressive form of Ebola or dengue fever?”
“Exactly.”
“Am I at any risk?”
“Not unless you have been lied to about your heritage.” The scientist pointed to the concealed panel. “We can continue discussion in the clean room while the attendants see to the test subjects.”
In the clean room, both men removed their masks and disrobed. The tall, slim Indian man was a new face. But the American was absolutely familiar.
“My God, that’s Vance,” Avery said quietly. “That’s him. Let’s see what else Ani gave us.”
* * *
—
Nearly an hour later, Avery’s mind was reeling.
They had pored over the files on the drive and handed out assignments for one another. She now had proof of a massive scheme to murder millions, but she couldn’t reveal what they’d learned until she figured out what else Justice Wynn had left for her.
They had proof of the crimes against humanity and concrete evidence that the United States had outsourced the project. They had chromosomal grants, the videos, and carefully detailed records saved by Ani. She could prove what Justice Wynn suspected, but the damned man expected even more from her. Until all the riddles were solved, she wasn’t finished.
Even if she published Dr. Papaleo’s memo and the financial information and showed the video from Dr. Ramji, who was to say anyone would believe what they read and saw? Accusations against governments sprouted like kudzu on the Internet, the lifeblood of conspiracy theorists. Deep fakes had become de rigueur, and gory videos could be produced by anyone. What they had could take years to validate. In the meantime, she would be dismissed as simply one more lunatic media whore who had been discredited and wanted redemption.
“Avery?”
She looked up and saw Noah frowning. “What?”
“I asked, what are we going to tell Agent Lee?”
Wearily, Avery responded, “I don’t know yet.”
“The information on this drive corroborates the files you received, so we have to give it to Agent Lee,” Noah stated flatly. “You’re an officer of the Court.”
“For God’s sake, President Stokes has committed treason,” Ling said. “Genocide. We have to tell someone.”
“We can’t prove that,” Avery countered. “We can’t really prove anything. All we can show is that Vance is in a video, but without authentication from the authors, no court will accept it. We don’t know if this goes anywhere above Vance. Again, based on documents we cannot authenticate, the only thing we can confirm is that the money and direction were from Homeland Security and that Vance is involved, based—again—on a video that could be faked. And not one shred of evidence implicates the president yet.”
She had most of the pieces—the pawns, the rooks, the bishops. But she couldn’t quite maneuver around the strongest pieces left on the board. Vance was protecting the king. She had reached a stalemate.
“Until we have a plan that lets us use what we’ve found, we can’t move.”
“Agreed,” Jared said. “But we know we’re right. My contact at the Pentagon came through and confirmed it—prior to joining the Secret Service, Major Vance served in the CBIRF.” He named the unit in a tight, hard voice. “He’s a highly skilled specialist whose bread and butter in the military was figuring out ways to anticipate the next anthrax or sarin gas attack.”