Project Apex (16 page)

"Genaro?" Draven said.

"Yeah."

"How do you know that?"

"I heard them. After I was presented to the leader, I was pretty sure I was gonna die. Genaro was on the floor, bleeding from the arm. The leader, Joshua, asked me if I was a scientist. I told him I wasn’t and I’m pretty sure that's what saved my life."

"Smart move," Draven said.

"No, you don’t get it, man. Even if I was and tried to tell him otherwise, there was no hiding it from him. He has this intensity, this look in his eyes that lets you know he will see through any lie. Physically he wasn’t much to look at. At the same time, he's probably the scariest guy I have ever seen."

"What happened when you told him you weren’t a civilian?" Kate asked.

"Well, he believed me of course. Dressed in my overalls, I suppose it was easy. He told me he was sparing me because sometimes it took more strength and power to let live than to kill. He touched my shoulder and leaned close enough that I could feel his breath in my ear. He told me to prepare for the new world. He told me the end of everything we know was coming."

"Then what happened?"

"He looked at one of the others and they put me in the cupboard where you found me."

"Did he say anything?" Draven asked.

"No, they barely said a word to each other. It was almost like they could communicate without words."

"I have a theory about that relating to -"

"Sorry, we can’t discuss that. National security." Kate said, cutting Draven off.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Draven mumbled.

"Typical government. All take and no give." Herman grumbled.

"Standard protocol. Now please, you were telling us about Doctor Genaro?" Kate snapped, steering Herman back on track.

"Yeah, I was. So, they locked me in the cupboard and started ransacking the place, taking stuff with them. I could see a little through the gap in the door, and saw one of them pick the doc up and carry him out of here."

"Did you see any other hostages?"

"No, Just the doc."

"Any idea why they would take him?" Kate asked.

"I do," Draven said.

"Go on," Kate replied.

"At first, I thought they destroyed the lab and killed all those people to make sure nobody could look for a cure for Project Apex. Now, knowing they took all the equipment and the doc, I think there’s a good chance you were right and they’ve taken him for the sole reason of having them continue his work."

"My biggest issue with that is why would they?" Kate asked. "It's already proven to work. I don’t get what else they could hope to gain from it."

"To make it better," Herman said, taking the words right out of Draven's mouth.

"Go on," Kate said.

"One thing I gained from all my snooping around and uh, my research is that the doc was under pressure from the people further up the ladder. They were happy with the basic virus, and yet the doc was hell bent on making it better. Improving the formula."

"Unlikely," Kate said. "He told us in a meeting recently he had ceased all Apex research."

"I promise you he hadn’t. Up until yesterday, he was still working on the possibilities of mutations. New strains of the virus designed to give specific abilities or traits."

"That’s surely not possible, it would take years of research," Draven said.

"Agreed. And in fairness, as far as I could tell, the doc was struggling to make any headway. It was just too complex."

"Well, that's one thing at least. God knows we have enough to deal with." Kate replied.

"Don’t be so sure. I have a theory of my own if you want to hear it." Herman said.

"Go on."

"Okay, let’s just say the only reason Genaro wasn’t having any success was because the skill to do so was beyond him. By that I mean as brilliant as he is, his natural ability has stonewalled him."

"Okay, that seems plausible."

"What if the reason they've taken him and his equipment is to change him into one of them so he can continue his work?"

Draven felt ice rush through his veins. "Jesus, I think you might be right," he said as he turned to Kate. "We know what the Apex virus can do to an ordinary man. It boosts their natural traits. Even on a common soldier, the research papers you presented to me showed a marked increase in intelligence. What if the Apex virus was given to someone with an IQ at the level of Genaro’s? What kind of avenues could that open up?"

"There's more," Herman said as he walked back towards the sitting area. "Come take a look at this."

Kate and Draven followed as Herman grabbed the TV remote. "Have you guys been watching the news lately?"

"I've been out of the country. I haven’t seen any TV for weeks." Draven said.

"What about you?" Herman asked Kate as he switched the television on.

"I’m too busy for TV. A lot has happened lately."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should take a few minutes and look at the bigger picture."

Herman switched to the news channels and started to cycle through them. On every station were reports of disturbances in cities the world over. At the bottom of the screen, the yellow news ticker scrolled across with headline reports of skirmishes and rioting at street level in locations the world over. Paris. London. Russia. Iraq. As they watched, more news broke, the ticker announcing unconfirmed reports of mass shootings in Iraq by a group of unidentified men. Eerily similar reports were coming in all the time as the watched.

"Jesus," Draven said, perching on the cracked faux leather seat.

"This is happening now people," Herman said, eyes wide as they watched the news. "We might be watching it on TV, but you can bet your asses it will be happening outside our windows soon enough."

"You think this is all related?" Kate asked Herman, for the first time without condescension.

"Absolutely."

"That’s impossible," Kate said, joining Draven on the sofa. "There are only a small number of Apex operatives out there right now. It isn’t enough to coordinate something like this."

"No, it actually makes sense. You know how when you found me in Mexico I was studying ants?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the reason was to consider a theory that the monkeys were using a similar system. In essence, they exist solely to serve a queen, or in this case, an alpha male."

"Joshua," She said.

"Exactly. His DNA is a part of them now. What if some primal instinct has bonded them to him?"

"I get it," Herman said. "Kinda like when birds or whales migrate. They don’t know how they know where to go, they just get there."

"Exactly," Draven replied.

"But for what purpose. Even if they are doing this, there are so few of them that any kind of resistance would be futile. It's only a matter of time before they are stamped out."

"It would be if they weren’t contagious. I mean, that's why you people are involved, right?"

"The research notes said it wasn’t airborne. I had considered the possibility it could be transferred by a bite or scratch. But again, it was speculation. I was hoping to speak directly to Genaro to confirm it.” Draven said

"Forget the notes, they were wrong."

"You’re absolutely certain it can be transferred?"

"Hang on, it’s easier if I show you," Herman said, hurrying to the converted bedroom and snatching some documents off the wall. He returned and handed them to Draven.

"This virus not only bonds with its host, it also replicates. It’s almost like a parasitic organism. It's the replication which makes the Apex virus work in the way it was intended."

Draven skimmed through the pages handed to him by Herman.

"Where did you get these?"

"Genaro’s wastebasket. You wouldn’t believe the sort of stuff people throw away. I’m supposed to take them straight to the incinerator, but I always look first, just in case there's anything good in there."

"What's happening?" Kate said, peering over the shoulder of Draven at graphs and equations which made no sense to her.

"According to this, we have a hell of a bigger problem than we first thought. In the monkeys I discovered, the healing and resistant properties were genetic. They were a part of the creature itself. Genaro tried to isolate this aspect and administer it as an injection in much the same way as a person might get a flu shot. A little of the virus was injected, just enough to allow it to become part of the host's system. Genaro assumed the virus would give the desired effects, the strength, the resistance and then dilute away. The initial program called for repeat injections of the virus to top up the effects, almost like a booster jab of sorts. What he didn’t know was that once administered, the virus was aggressive enough to self-replicate exponentially."

"So what does that mean in real world terms?"

"Well, for one it explains the aggression. The increase in testosterone from repeated injections was because the virus had never diluted or faded. Every new injection simply boosted its effectiveness. The downside for us is the virus will by now have infiltrated the body of the host in every way. Every cell will be adjusted. In essence, those who received the injection are the virus. "

"Holy shit, this is bad," Kate said. "So let’s say you're right and like we suspect, they're contagious and making more of their own kind is their agenda. They would need needles and the virus itself, right? Samples of it at least."

"No, they don’t," Herman said, pointing at the paper in Draven’s hands. "You have to understand. The virus is part of them. A scratch, a bite, anything where cells or fluids can transfer from infected to non-infected will do it."

“This could become an epidemic?"

"Worse. This could be the end of the world as we know it." Herman said.

An hour earlier, such a statement would have been shrugged off as another one of his outlandish, conspiracy theory led ideas. Now nobody was laughing.

"I think we need to keep this in perspective. End of the world seems a little extreme.” Kate said more to convince herself than the others.

"Just look at the TV," Herman said. "This is only the start. It's like a giant game of chess. Joshua is working on getting his pieces into position before he delivers the killer blow. Think about it from their point of view. If you were genetically superior in every way to your fellow human. Stronger. Faster. More intelligent. If pain and fear of death were a distant memory. If you were a god on earth, and you looked upon the rest of us, people like you and me, what would you see?"

"I don’t know what you're saying," Kate said.

"I do," Draven cut in. "Think about it. To them, we are inferior in every way. Parasites. If you look at it objectively, we - the regular bog standard human being - are now obsolete, and in my experience, nature always finds a way to get rid of the obsolete species. The bottom line is we're in big, big trouble."

"I need to call this in," Kate said as she walked towards the door to the trailer.

"Robbins?"

"No. We need to go higher. This is a game changer."

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BAGHDAD SEWER SYSTEM

IRAQ

THE BAGHDAD SEWER SYSTEM had fallen into disrepair. Despite promises from the US government that the military presence would lead to a better quality of life for the residents of the city, if anything things had gotten worse. Several sections of the sewer section were severely blocked and spewed their contents onto the streets. Others were cracked and broken, waiting for the inevitable collapse which was to come. Akhtar and Youness walked deeper into the darkness, both able to hear the screams and gunfire from above. Youness had calmed and held his brother’s hand as they delved deeper. "Not long now," he whispered to his brother. "Soon we will be home and safe."

Youness didn’t reply, he simply allowed himself to be led deeper, completely trusting of his brother. Akhtar should have been happy; however the fact his brother was so trusting scared him, especially with what was happening up on the surface. He had no concept of right or wrong, of who to trust and who not to. He would trust anyone who was an adult. Akhtar's thoughts turned to his parents, and not for the first time, he wondered how they were and what they were doing amid the chaos in the streets. He prayed they were safe. A dull explosion at street level rocked the sewer pipe, and the two brothers drew closer to each other as they inched further into the darkness. Youness emitted a whine, one of the involuntary sounds which Akhtar always took for granted on the surface. Down in the sewer, however, it was an incredibly loud sound, and it rolled away from them, echoing from the walls.

"You have to be quiet Youness," Akhtar whispered.

Youness responded with a blank stare, still not understanding what was going on. Akhtar was starting to think that was a good thing.

They went on, trudging through ankle deep water and trying to ignore the things which touched their legs as they waded. At every access ladder to the surface, Akhtar would pause and listen, trying to gauge what was going on up on the streets. It seemed that as lost as they were, they were definitely heading away from the violence. The explosions which had seemed frighteningly close were gradually growing more distant. The tunnel inclined ahead before levelling out, and Akhtar thought it was as good a place as any for them to rest. At least the higher ground would get them out of the filthy water for a while. Leading his brother up the slope, Akhtar slid down the wall, stretching his legs out in front of him. Youness also sat, exhausted and unused to walking for such long distances. Usually, he was kept in his wheelchair because it was easier to travel that way. Such luxuries were behind them, though, and Akhtar mentally chastised himself for leaving it behind. The brothers sat in silence for a while, listening to the steady drip of water and the distant rumble of explosions and chatter of gunfire.