Extinction Level Event (30 page)

Taking a great chance by assuming that one of his
first theories is correct and that the numbers are the key to
GeneZTech, Krishnan wastes no time rushing back to his office with
Konovalov's phone, collecting his keys, jacket, and other items,
before bolting out the door. He walks out of the campus and gets
into his car, revving the engine and quickly howling out of the
parking lot onto the 405 heading south. Twenty minutes later he
barrels across LAX's terminal towards a Ticket Counter. "Hi. Can
you get me on the next available flight to Houston?"After a minute,
she answers, "We can book you on Continental 202 departing in five
hours." "That's fine." Five hours of critical thinking and
magazines later, Krishnan is on a flight headed back to
Houston.

The trip goes smoothly, leaving Krishnan at George
Bush Intercontinental Airport three hours later. Finding his blue
Honda Accord safely tucked away where he left it in the parking
garage, Krishnan heads towards his friend's business. Approaching
eleven o'clock at night, Krishnan wonders for a moment if he should
head home and do this tomorrow morning. Realizing that the longer
he waits, the longer whatever is in the files is left exposed, and
that the night would provide the ideal cover of darkness for
entering the laboratory discreetly, Krishnan presses forth. He
stops by a gas station to grab a coke for the caffeine, being one
who finds coffee repugnant. The caffeine and sugar mix should keep
him slightly on edge and alert, as at this time of the night
walking, or even driving alone around Houston is generally not the
wisest of ideas- especially when your goal is to break in. Gulping
down the remainder of the coke, Krishnan continues his journey.
Another twenty minutes of driving leaves him slowly entering the
parking lot of the dark hexagonal double-story structure that
houses GeneZTech. Krishna scans around one hundred-eighty degrees,
looking for other suspicious people, police, and dogs. He lowers
his headlights, pretending to slowly spin around the building as if
he were a lost driver in the middle of the night. Seeing nothing
out of the ordinary in the vicinity, Krishnan parks the car a few
meters from the building. He grabs a flashlight, gloves, and
Konovalov's company card.

In ten seconds he is at the door, sliding the card
down the scanning slot by the glass and steel-crossed door. Red.
Krishnan tries again. The light blinks to green. Krishnan grabs the
handle and yanks the door open, slipping inside and gently closing
the door behind him as quietly as possible. No security systems
have sounded, no alarms have gone off, and the interior is as
deathly quiet and eerie as a graveyard. Having been inside the
building before as a guest, Krishnan conjures up images from his
previous trip and mentally maps the rooms. Turning on the
flashlight, he slowly begins walking past the reception desk
through the corridor. Making a left turn, he walks down a long,
dark corridor, ears pricked ready to hear the slightest whisper,
eyes darting around for the slightest hint of movement not his own.
Walking another ten meters, he reaches a staircase. Tiptoeing as
quietly as possible up the stairwell, he rounds a corner and
flashes the light down to the end of the corridor along the second
floor. Seeing nothing, he makes his way through the near pitch
blackness towards Konovalov's office. Remembering his office was in
to the left again, Krishnan stops at the door. Looking down at the
door knob, he sees a combination lock.
Ahh, thats what its
for
. Krishnan punches in 0-7-8-4-5-6-8-2-0, and sure enough the
door unlocks with a low
kluck!
Krishnan walks into the dark
office and closes the door.

With a click Konovalov's monitor hums to life,
quickly asking Krishnan for a password. Krishnan, praying it works,
types in the code again. ~Error.~
What? It must be!
He types
it in again. ~Error.~
Shit.
Desperate, he punches in the
numbers backwards. ~Welcome Viktor~ With Konovalov's home screen in
front of his eyes, Krishnan wastes no time. Searching through the
files for Project Deniability, he quickly locates a massive folder
with hundreds of items. Copying the information onto his portable
flash drive as well as sending himself a copy, Krishnan scans the
computer for other relevant files. The download lasts four minutes.
Seeing none, and already feeling like somewhat of a thief, Krishnan
retrieves his flash, shuts down the computer, and slowly makes his
way out of the office. Creeping through the eerie hallway, he
gently makes his way back down the stairwell. He misses one step
and trips, falling down four steps before catching himself on the
side rail. The flashlight drops out of his hand, clinging against
the cold tiled floor.
Curses
. Taking a few deep breaths to
calm his racing heart, Krishnan picks up his flashlight and
continues towards the entrance. Coming to the door, he opens it
slowly, cautiously, taking a look outside as he steps back into the
fresh night air. He notices an odd car parked at the far end of the
parking lot, but is unable to make out the build. Taking the ten
second walk to his own car, he hurriedly unlocks the vehicle and
jumps in. He pulls out of the parking lot and rams the accelerator,
speeding past trees and around concrete blocks on the way out. Once
back onto the double lane main road Krishnan slows down to the
speed limit and plots his way home. Forty-five minutes later he
finds himself back in the safety of his own home.

Los Angeles, CA

McCarthy had just settled in to his new job and got
off the phone with the Mayor of San Diego when the phone rang
again. An unknown and gruff voice on the other end asks, "Director
McCarthy?" "Yes." "This is Special Agent DiNapolitano calling from
FBI Headquarters. I am calling to inquire as to the whereabouts and
current assignment of Dr. Krishnan, recently reassigned from CBEID.
Is he working under your supervision?" "Uhh, yes, he was requested
by the USDA during the initial stages of the EWK-1 investigation.
Why?" "I'm not at liberty to discuss details Mr. McCarthy. All I
can tell you at the moment is that we have an Agent who would like
to talk to you about your relationship with Dr. Krishnan in a few
minutes time. He should be there shortly." "Ok." McCarthy, puzzled
by the fact that the FBI has shown sudden interest in members of
the scientific team, is left with little choice but to go with the
tide.

He hangs up and continues to go over reports from
several of the relief centers. Soon enough, a tall tanned man in a
polished and pressed business suit and sunglasses knocks on his
open door. "Special Agent Todd", he introduces himself as McCarthy
waves him over to the seat directly in front of him. The Special
Agent takes a seat while removing his sunglasses, hanging them on
his breast pocket and bringing out a few papers from his
briefcase.

"We have reason to believe that Dr. Krishnan is
guilty of treason. As such, an arrest warrant has been issued for
him.", the Agent states rather robotically. "An arrest warrant?"
The man produces a copy of the warrant and places it on McCarthy's
desk. "Here it is, authorized by the Dept. of Homeland Security."
"We just had Dr. Konovalov arrested about two days ago. Now you
want another one of our most important scientists?" "This isn't up
to me, sir. I have three Agents heading to UCLA to arrest the
Doctor as we speak. How long have you known Dr. Konovalov?" "I
didn't know him until two months ago, when we started working
together after the outbreak.", McCarthy admits, "for the past two
months we have had a cordial business relationship, you might say.
I don't interfere in his work, and he doesn't really have much to
do with mine." "Did you notice anything suspicious about the man?"
"Odd that you ask, I would have rather have been more suspicious of
Konovalov, as he
is
from the former Soviet Union. No, from
my experience both of them are ordinary, but brilliant, pioneers in
their fields." "What do you know of Dr. Krishnan's private life?"
"Not much, honestly. He has family in India, that's about it.
Mentioned he met his wife here, at Harvard maybe?." "I see.", the
Agent jots down several quick notes, although McCarthy has no doubt
that he is taping the conversation out of sight as well. "That
should work just fine.", says the agent reassuringly as he finishes
off a pen touch. A phone rings, and the agent reaches into his
breast pocket to retrieve a small razor-thin device. He listens
quickly to the other end of the line, his outwardly demeanor
quickly going sour.

He turns away from the cellphone and asks McCarthy
coldly, "Krishnan is not present at UCLA. Do you know where he is?
He
is
supposed to be doing his job, isn't he?" McCarthy,
surprised, answers, "Yes. . . I suppose, you know, he is supposed
to be there. He’s there every day." "Find his assistants, and
question them.", orders the agent over the phone.

"He's supposed to be working on engineering or
breeding a new species of earthworm", explains McCarthy to the
un-amused agent, "I don't know why he isn't there. Did you ask Dr.
Wang or one of his other associates for his whereabouts?" The agent
doesn't reply. However, he quickly takes the advice and asks for
Dr. Wang to be brought to the phone. Two whole minutes later, he
barks, "Dr. Wang?" The man undoubtedly was jabbed out of his
laboratory and dragged to an suitable place for a private cell
phone conversation. McCarthy listens in while pretending to look
for files in his drawers, even though he could only hear Agent
Todd's side of the conversation. "Look, do you know where he is?
Very simple. . . Ok. Where did he go? You don't know? Possibly
Houston? Where else would he go? CBEID is where he works at
normally, University of Texas. . . I see." Todd slams the
blade-like phone shut, looking over at McCarthy. "Unusual case. Why
would he go to Medical Branch at UTexas?", he asks McCarthy as if
he knew the answer. Taking it as a rhetorical question from the
Special Agent, McCarthy just gave him a stare before Todd decided
to abruptly leave the premises and find out what was going on for
himself. Shaking hands with McCarthy, the FBI official makes as
quick an exit as he made his entrance.

Soon enough, McCarthy's desk phone rings again.
However, this time it happens to be Wang. "Yes?" "Hello? This is
Dr. Wang. Sorry to disturb you, Dr., but, what is all this
commotion about? We are under investigation for something? First
one, then another of our team being arrested? Many of us being
questioned, what is going on?" "Relax., everything is fine, it's
most likely simply a misunderstanding", reassures McCarthy, trying
to dismiss the issue.
The last thing we need is for all the
scientists to start getting paranoid that they're next.
Regardless of the poking around the FBI would likely do today
amongst the scientists, McCarthy was forced to wonder why two of
the best scientists in the country were ordered arrested, and what
it might have to do with the secretive agendas and desires of
individuals at NBACC and in Washington.

07 CATCH HIM IF YOU CAN

Houston, TX

8:00am. The alarm goes off, sending Krishnan rolling
out of bed and into the shower. After a steamy plastic enclosed
waterfall and hot breakfast Krishnan dons a business suit and tie,
preparing himself for the flight back to Los Angeles. There he
intends to go through every GeneZTech document regarding
Project
Deniability
and look for clues which would help FEMA and the
Feds halt the progression of EWK-1. He checks himself in the mirror
once more, splashes some cologne and goes into his car.

Driving back to Houston's George Bush International
Airport, Krishnan parks his blue Honda in the multistoried parking
garage for multi-week parking. Taking out his dark brown suitcase
out of the trunk, he stretches the handle and heads to the Shuttle
pick up for passengers heading to the terminal. A brisk fifteen
minutes later the Shuttle leaves Krishnan at the entrance of
Terminal C. Krishnan heads towards the Continental Airlines
counters, picks up his boarding pass that he reserved yesterday
afternoon online, and gets on an escalator taking up to the second
floor to the Monorail, heading for Terminal A.

His phone rings. "Hello?" "Hi, Dr. Krishnan? Its
Wang. Its urgent." "What is it?" "Where are you?" "About to board
my flight back, Wang, what could be so urgent now?" "You're a
wanted man, Doctor." "What do you mean, a wanted man?", asks
Krishnan, paling. "I had a call from the FBI asking whether you
were here, followed by several agents who came here looking for
you. I don't know why they want you, but they're after you."
Krishnan's gut knots. Gulping, silently doing a breathing exercise
to keep himself from breaking out in sweat, Krishnan thinks
quickly.
I have to get back to LA. No, wait, I can review this
material anywhere. Someone must know I'm out of LA, and about to
review Konovalov's records on Project Deniability. Someone wants to
stop me from looking at this. But who?
"I need to talk to you
and the rest of the team. Keep up the team until my return." "When
will you be back?" "As soon as possible."

Krishnan, now knowing someone wants him. . . . needs
him behind bars, discreetly ditches his cell phone in the nearest
trash can.
I can't get on this flight.
He glances at the
large lines waiting to get past security, and weighs his options.
He quickly figures that since the alert had gone up recently for
him, it would be a major risk trying to board his flight, as
security may now be actively watching for him. The best option
would be to try to talk to Onassis directly, get himself cleared,
and review the flash as soon as an opportunity presents itself.
Since his laptop is in his suitcase which was already handed over
to the airport personnel, some other anonymous computer would have
to be located.