Black Hawk Day Rewind: An action packed spy thriller (Mark Savannah Espionage Series Book 1) (40 page)

131

"Jago, good morning, please come to my office immediately. I'm forwarding you some frames taken by cameras at the Sion railway station in Switzerland. Send them to Anaïs as usual…find her and bring her here to my office, please."

A few minutes later, Jago C. Green knocked on the door of Colonel Reed’s office.

"Good morning, Colonel. Anaïs will join us shortly."

"Savannah is in Sion. How the hell did he get there without any agency noticing, but mostly, I wonder if he knows something?"

"I don’t see what he could be aware of...maybe it’s a coincidence, Colonel. At this point Anaïs will stay with you, as a precaution you should take her with you. You can arrange it in such a way that she stays around and thinks that this is just a typical encounter between agencies, and that she should capture Savannah completing her mission."

Skylinep92 was knocking on the door.

"Come in, darling, we have some news," the Colonel said.

"Anaïs, Savannah has been spotted at Sion. The file that Jago sent you contains the images captured by the cameras of the railway station. We'll be leaving tomorrow for Switzerland but for the moment, I'm afraid, you’ll have to postpone your vacation."

"Okay, Colonel, holidays can wait for now," Anaïs replied without batting an eyelid, smiling at Savannah’s stratagem that now allowed her to accompany and remain with Reed in Switzerland.

"Finally I can catch that bastard,” said Anaïs, “and maybe I can also go to Nicholas Mayer ahead of schedule!"

132

Jago C. Green was in his office reading the online morning news, when he sat bolt upright in his chair and felt his heart jump out of his mouth.

"What the fuck, but no, what the fuck! Fuck! It's a joke, but yes, it's a joke, what the fuck!"

Green jumped up and rushed into the vault room adjacent to his laboratory where there was direct access to the central unit Hecuba Omega 1. He got into the system on his second attempt; in fact, he was so upset that he had used the wrong access codes.

"Let's see, let's see, no…it's not possible he knows about it…Goodness, he knows! It can't be possible! Shit! He's right, he conned me, now what? God, what a mess!"

Drenched in sweat, he ran back into his office, he locked the door and called Colonel Reed who had just landed in Geneva with Anaïs.

"Colonel, I have received a message from Savannah…don't ask me, at the moment I don’t know, he knows all about "Brainexe" and "Transtem 1.1" and about their problems, he has also discovered the cause of the change in the brain waves…Yes he told me so, now I also know. He has violated my system Colonel! My God what a mess!

“He also told me the protocol for the production of the scaffold had been changed using nanorobots... No, it wasn’t Bain, it was the central unit… No, I’m not on drugs, believe me, it acted independently. Do you remember the Kubrick film, 2001: a Space Odyssey? I'll prove it sir…Absolutely!

“Now I’m going to reset the production procedures immediately to the original ones, and “ring-fence” Hecuba Omega 1 by disabling its dynamic learning ability. It will take me at least three days of work, night and day, but I'll do it…and the waves?

“Yes… Okay, I'll leave them at this level, after the transaction we’ll talk about it again, you're right… Meanwhile I’ll call Ransley Bain because he has to speed up the search for the antidote. Okay, see you soon, Colonel!"

133

"Anaïs, I just received a call from Jago,” said Reed. “Savannah was able to breach the Biosketch Technologies Inc. computer system. For the moment Jago hasn't found any damage, but it's definitely a warning. Tomorrow morning I'll be with the leaders of the Swiss Health Care Service and I'll start the press conference at 5:00 pm.

“It will be necessary for you to stay with me all the time, also because the next day I have a special appointment at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Lausanne at 10:00 am with the Israelis, and I don’t want any little surprises from Savannah. The fact that we obtained a stable avian virus that is transmissible from human to human means that we’re obliged to share the responsibility with another rigorous and reliable entity to prevent biological terrorism attacks."

"Will you give them the synthesis procedure?"

"No, just the antidote procedure, but I'll sign a clinical collaboration pact with them on the hemorrhagic fevers front.

“Savannah will try to attack me in some way, he will have heard about the press conference and if he has also gathered information about the meeting, well, he will be all yours and I’m not going to pull back!"

"Count on me, Colonel,” replied Anaïs. “Mayer’s laboratory is getting closer!"

They left the airport and took a taxi to the Hotel Auteuil in the city center.

Anaïs was nervous, she knew that the next two days would inexorably change her life and she hoped that Mark didn’t make hasty moves like when he had killed Richard Reed in a wave of emotion.

On the other hand, she might make a false move and find herself on trial for treason with all the consequences or she could be forced to kill Mark.

She went upstairs and checked that the place was clean: she even put the probe into the room’s ventilation ducts and conduits. When she was sure that there were no spy devices, she sent a direct message on Mark’s secure line. "Notre-Dame Cathedral, Lausanne, 10:00 am, the day after tomorrow."

She then took a shower, put on an elegant dress and high heels, and went down to the restaurant where Reed was waiting for her.

134

"Pavel, the first two tests were unsuccessful. I don’t understand, we checked all the data, the procedure and the whole logical sequence!" Jànos said disheartened.

"As a matter of fact, there are no additional checks that can be carried out. Do you have any suggestions or ideas?"

"I can only tell you that since we’re working on tests where we cannot evaluate the effects “in vivo” but only at the level of a virtual model, we have probably not entered all the parameters required to mirror the mechanisms of cause and effect."

"So what now? Tomorrow we have to inoculate an antidote using the web, there is no time left. I received a message from the neurology center, the situation is very tense and patients’ lives are at risk," Pavel replied.

"If the other two tests are successful tonight, then we’ll inoculate the one that gave the highest response or both of them. If, however, these last tests also fail, it means that the model hasn’t considered all the variables and parameters that are involved in the drive process…as I said before."

"And then, damn it?!!"

"So we’ll inoculate all four of the impulses tested, they are not antagonistic to each other, and they don’t combine with each other to become a single potentiated impulse. If there is no other choice, let’s go ahead rather than risk killing people. I have no doubts."

"I hope not. At the moment no one actually knows the effects of these new technologies. Four is too many to control; it really scares me. Let's hope we don't have to inoculate all four together."

135

Mark had received Anaïs’ message and, remaining hidden, he had moved to Martigny in order to get close to Lausanne. He had exchanged the car for the helicopter and was now ready; he just had to wait a day and a half.

In the late afternoon he decided to go sightseeing for an hour and went to the Roman amphitheater on foot. He would have also liked to visit the Pierre Gianadda Foundation, but it would have been too risky, therefore, after putting on a peaked cap and dark glasses, he walked directly towards the archaeological area.

Arriving at the site, he checked that no one was around, sat down on a bench and dialed a cell phone number from his secure line:

"Dora? This is Mark Savannah. I'm fine thanks, and you? I'm traveling for work, always the same, are you still working for the CDC or are you back in the UK? Perfect, I hoped so. I have a bomb for you that I want you to forward to your department in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases: genetically modified and stable H5N1 that is transmissible from person to person, a recent discovery of Biosketch Technologies Inc., who you certainly know about.

“Have a look at it. I’m sending you the protocol and all of the data. If you find it interesting, I would like the news published in the world’s major newspapers, so you can deal with this matter at the official level, and you can remove it from the CIA and the Defense Department and prevent it from becoming a biological weapon. What do you think? Can you get it published the day after tomorrow? Open your secure connection and I’ll send it to you. Let me know how your colleagues react. I don't want anything, just see to it that the news is published in Europe the day after tomorrow in the morning edition newspapers, not tomorrow, thank you, talk to you later."

As soon he had hung up with Dora, a message appeared on his device. It was Pavel asking to be contacted on the secure voice-communication line.

"Mark, two tests haven’t achieved satisfactory outcomes, the results are neutral. The other two tests are ongoing but in case they give us the same result, Jànos has proposed inoculating all of them. They aren't antagonistic impulses and they cannot be aggregated into a single potentiated impulse. I’m not in favor of this proposal. And you? What do you think?"

"I think,” replied Mark, “if we don’t act, Green will first normalize the imbalances connected to the "Transtem 1.1" project with an antidote and then he will disarm Hecuba Omega 1. However, he will take no action at all on "Brainexe" for the moment. In fact, they want to study how to gain full remote control of the soldiers. Can you imagine? I hope the results of the last two tests are positive. Otherwise, I agree with Jànos, I don’t think the impulses that we’re testing could have even more destructive effects and, unfortunately, we don’t have time to prepare and perform new tests."

"Okay, Mark. I'll let you know as soon as I have the outcome. So is the inoculation confirmed for tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm, Sofia local time?"

"Yes, it's confirmed. As soon as you get the results call me please, goodbye Pavel."

"Talk to you soon, Mark."

After the last call, Savannah wasn’t in the mood to visit the archaeological site, the uncertainty about the frequencies worried him because the decision was absolutely critical. Was it really worth it? And if thousands of people were killed? Did it make sense to take such a risk and, perhaps, only partially stop Reed?

He decided to walk around the city and afterwards to return to the hotel, he was in a foul mood and he had to make choices that would determine the fate of many people, including lives.

An excited Dora Jones called him back a couple of hours later when he was already at the hotel to confirm that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would step in on the matter and lift the veil on the military secret.

The official version, the one that would be published, would be that Biosketch Technologies Inc. had obtained an avian virus that was transmissible from human to human and had demonstrated that this was achievable. And, as a matter of global health security, they would work on this issue together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leaving the CDC with full responsibility for the monitoring of the project.

At that point, Mark hoped that the tests carried out on the light impulses would yield positive results. Dora had done a great job, Green was definitely struggling with Hecuba Omega 1 and he was aware of Reed’s next moves: if no other unexpected new factors came into play, he could do it.

Pavel sent him a message, it was almost half past midnight and he was already asleep; he woke up to the sound of the signal and read the contents.

"Tests complete, both with positive outcome. At this point if you agree, we’re going to proceed with both."

"Ok, you can proceed…from now on silence, I'll contact you. Run like the wind my friend and be careful not to leave any clues…keep your guard up. Green is angry, he's definitely looking for our trail in Hecuba Omega 1."

For once fate had smiled upon him and with relief, after having drunk a glass of water, Mark turned over onto his stomach and went back to sleep.

136

Anaïs hadn't slept a wink the day before, she had been vigilant during the entire meeting with the representatives of the Swiss Institutions, and she was next to Reed during the press conference. She felt exhausted and the jet lag certainly didn’t help the situation.

The Colonel had been satisfied, the agreements had been signed and, even if he had feared a sudden attack from Savannah, he had quietly managed to hide the tension and face a difficult press conference with journalists who had asked many questions that were quite challenging to answer.

Afterwards Walton I. Reed had been a guest for lunch at the American consulate and he had stayed there all afternoon, leaving Anaïs free to take the remaining part of the day to rest and prepare the schedule for the next day. At the consulate, Reed ran no risk.

In the late evening, Reed and Anaïs were taken to Lausanne to spend the night at the Hôtel de la Paix, which was located in the city center.

The next morning, Anaïs would see Reed at the restaurant at 8:00 o'clock for the day’s briefing. He would meet with Grigoriy Kozloy, who was posing as part of the Israeli secret services at 10:00 am in front of the cathedral of Notre-Dame, and from then on, everything would be a leap in the dark.