Stone Cold (40 page)

“So you’re not going to be deployed or be away anymore?”

“Mom, stop with all of the questions. He isn’t going anywhere at least for a long time so please just stop.”

Hannah knew her mom was worried that she and Conall wo
uld get married and that he’d have to leave her to go back to the Middle East. She worried about that too but there was no changing her mind now. They were together no matter what.

Over the next few months, Hannah and Conall spent every day together. They’d met each other’s extended family and friends and everyone thought they made a good couple. The only person Hannah hadn’t met yet was
Eden.

Eden
had taken a job as a commentator for a major television network. She was on assignment in Australia and wouldn’t be home for a few more months. Conall was hopeful that she’d love Hannah as much as he did but then again it was Eden. He wasn’t going to hold his breath either way and decided to propose to Hannah six months after they’d reconnected.

It was two weeks before his 27
th
birthday and he was more than ready.

He knew her taste in jewelry and
she would probably want something simple but to be safe he’d asked Lana and Gina if they knew what type of ring she wanted.

“She wants a half karat to one karat princess cut diamond with a white gol
d band in a size four and a half,” they said in unison.

He was amused that they knew every detail so well.

“I guess she did tell you what she wants.”

“Of course she did. It’s what we do, talk about things we like, jewelry, boys, weddings, you get the picture.” Gina had a smile from ear to ear.

The girls went with him to help him choose.

“When are you going to ask her Conall?”
Lana wanted to know.

“I’m not telling you the exact date but you have to promise
me neither of you will spoil this for us. I want it to be a total surprise.”

Gina said, “We promise but ther
e’s no way you can surprise her. She knows you want to marry her.”

“The whole world knows you want to marry her,” Lana laughed.

“Well, she doesn’t know I’ve bought the ring, so please don’t tell her. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and so has she.”

Conall swore Lana and Gina to secrecy but he didn’t trust them to keep it for long so the sooner he could pop the question, the better.

The next night, he took Hannah to a bonfire where they shared smores and hot chocolate and went on a hayride. It was a crisp fall night, the perfect weather for snuggling up with your honey which they did. They sat in the hay in a corner of the wagon. They shared a blanket and she drew it up over their heads so they could kiss in private. She wasted no time in getting down to business and Conall wasn’t fighting her. He waited until she closed her eyes when he kissed her, to pull the box from his jacket pocket.

When she opened her eyes, Hannah was in complete surprise. She looked between him and the box, her eyes wide with disbelief. She was speechless.

“Hannah, I have something to ask you.”

Conall leaned over and whispered something in her ear.

Without hesitation she whispered back, “Yes! A million times, yes!”

Chapter 33

About twelve
months after Conall was put on medical leave, Dr. Hamilton and his team of scientists returned to Iraq for further testing on their project. They were joined by a new scientist, Dr. Blake Richards, who had apparently been hand picked by Dr. Reinhart. He was replacing Dr. Reinhart who had somehow suddenly become ill with a very rare bacterial infection and wouldn’t be able to continue with the project until further notice.

The same s
pecial operations team was called back to protect them again but there were no army rangers involved this time.

About ten months
after the scientists arrived and two weeks before Conall’s wedding day, their testing was completed. The formulas had been successfully placed on the microchips and were frozen in ice and stored in the lab freezer. There was nothing more to be done and it was time to transport the bacteria and antidote to the proper authorities for them to execute the mission they were designed for. Dr. Hamilton went to the lab refrigerator to retrieve the bacteria and antidote vials and to his surprise, discovered they weren’t there.

Trying not to panic, he questioned the other scientists.

“Did any of you remove the bacteria and antidote vials from the refrigerator or the ice blocks with the microchips?”

All five
scientists denied having taken them and said they hadn’t seen anyone in the lab besides themselves, so he immediately alerted the special operations team and they locked down the building at once.

Since the building and everyone in it had been under such tight security, Dr. Hamilton and the special operations team suspected there was a mole among them.

Dr. Hamilton had never felt comfortable with the manner in which Dr. Reinhart had been replaced. As the lead scientist on this project, the protocol was for him to have been consulted before any changes were made. Instead, he learned about his illness and subsequent replacement along with everyone else when they returned to Iraq. This raised his suspicions about Dr. Richards as the mole and since he trusted no one, he decided to take action to protect their work at all costs.

Without telling anyone else, he made eight copies of the microchips and one fake copy.

Not long after they arrived, the special operations team had received orders to report to another mission and they were gone without replacement until further notice. Before they left, Dr. Hamilton ordered each soldier to secretly get what they thought was a booster vaccine given out to military personnel during their service. The vaccine gun really contained the microchips which he injected under each soldier’s operation dark dragon tattoo. He planned to inject Conall and Ryan with the remaining real copies of the microchips when they returned. Until then, he kept their microchips hidden on his own person. The frozen microchips were the fakes.

As an added precaution from the start, Dr. Hamilton had also
placed a secret gag order among the other scientists to keep anything about the special ink from Dr. Richards until further notice. He told them he planned to expose him as the informant by giving him a false piece of information about the ink and its whereabouts.

Looking into his cold, dark eyes, Dr. Hamilton said,
“Dr. Richards. As part of our protocol, I need to tell you something about our project in case I’m captured or killed. You cannot tell anyone else about it especially since the vials are missing.”

Dr. Richards was suddenly all ears.

“You can count on me to keep this information confidential. The last thing I would want to have happen is for it to fall into enemy hands.”

“I’m so glad you understand how important the secrecy is to this project
so I’m going to trust you with this information.”

Pretending to look aro
und for possible eavesdroppers, Dr. Hamilton proceeded to bait the hook.

“
There’s a special light that must be used in order to read the formulas on the microchips and it’s being kept in the lab inside of the hyperbaric oxygen chamber,” he lied.

“None of the other scientists know about this light. It was something Dr. Reinhart and I kept to ourselves
for security reasons. Whoever took the vials and the microchips will soon realize they can’t read the data on the microchips – that there must be something more that they need to help them decode the information.”

Dr. Richards was listening intently and waited for Dr. Hamilton to finish before he spoke.

“If you’re right, then all of us are in danger. Do you think any of us will be harmed by whoever wants to find out how to decipher the formulas?”

“
I have no doubt that if they’re part of the Taliban or Al Qaeda, then yes I think they will stop at nothing to get the information they need. They’ll kill us if they have to and we’re currently without the special operations team to protect us.”

“When will they be back? Can we call someone to replace them temporarily?”

“I can try to arrange for that to happen but no one will see us as being in danger because we no longer have anything of value – except for the special light that no one knows about but you and me.”

Dr. Richards appeared to be in thought for a minute before he made a suggestion.

“I think it might be a good idea if you went to the other lab to get the special light and bring it back here. When you get back we can get in touch with your main contact and ask them to send some soldiers to secure the building against a potential attack.”

“Th
at sounds like a good plan. It should work. I better go get it right now.”

Dr. Hamilton walked out of the building and proceeded to go to the lab with the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. There was a secret room in the lab that no one knew about and
he planned to hide in it. When he didn’t return, he was certain Dr. Richards would come looking for him and the special light and he would confront him at that time.

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes when Dr. Hamilton heard someone come into the HBOT room. He could see through an undetectable crack in the wall that it was Dr. Richards
and he was holding a handgun as he cautiously entered the room. He immediately went to the oxygen chamber and was looking all around it for the special light.

“I was right. He is the mole,” Dr. Hamilton thought to himself.

With his hand on the door handle, he was just about to open the door and confront Dr. Richards when he heard a number of voices speaking in Arabic. He waited and watched as at least ten Al-Qaeda soldiers joined Dr. Richards in the room. He addressed them in Arabic before speaking in English.

“He told me there was a special light in this chamber that would need to be used in order to read the data on the microchips. I can’t find it anywhere.”

The leader of the soldiers was clearly agitated.

“W
here is this special light? We’re out of time. I thought you understood how critical it has become that we find the formula for the antidote. Let me explain to you exactly what we’re dealing with here.”

The A
l-Qaeda leader motioned for the soldiers to keep looking for the light.

“A week ago, we took the bacteria vials that you stole and within a day had distributed them to our operatives around the world. They were instructed to secretly add it to the water supply of as many major communities as possible
which they did. Within a week, the bacteria had multiplied rapidly in waterways around the entire earth including those in Iraq and our allies.”

Dr. Hamilton could see that both men had their guns slightly pointed at each others chests.

“Our intent was the same as the American’s - to prevent our enemies in the world from producing males so that eventually there would be no more future soldiers being born to attack us or to challenge our control.”

His eyes stayed fixed on Dr. Richards.

“Our plan was a success. Nearly everyone in the world drank the contaminated water before anyone knew what had happened. Our plan was to make the antidote and give it to the Iraqi men and our allies. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to read the data on the microchips to make the antidote. If we don’t get that antidote formula, our people will cease to exist – in less than one hundred years, the Iraqi people and our allies will be nothing more than a memory!”

Dr. Richards couldn’t resist uttering a clever response.

“If we don’t get that antidote formula, in one hundred years, there won’t be anyone left on this earth to remember anything!”

“This is no time to make jokes. Where is Dr. Hamilton? Do you think he had time to get here and take the special light before we came in?”

“I don’t think so but he wasn’t here when I got here. I guess anything is possible.”

“We must go back to the other lab and take the scientists hostage
and force them to give us the formula. This should be an easy operation since we got rid of the special operations team. I can’t believe how easy it was to trick them with false orders to report to another assignment.”

Dr. Hamilton was holding his breath as he listened to the men talk.

He thought to himself, “I have to get out of here and warn the others. I have to get in touch with the special operations team and have them bring Conall and his spotter back to help us take out these operatives and regain control of our project.”