The Leaves in Winter (55 page)

“Has a security team gotten to the basement of Building 3 yet?”

“I’m not sure. Last I heard, they were still fighting the fires.”

“Damn it! Get somebody down there! Do whatever it takes!”

Colin broke out in a dead run.

Chapter 52

BSL4 Locker Room

Sub-Basement Lab

Emergency lights had come back on minutes before but Janis and Alyssa remained huddled together in the windowless locker room. The smell of acrid smoke and caustic chemicals seeped in from cracks the room had suffered during a series of thunderous concussions. The explosions had stopped and yet there was no way to know what was on the other side of the door. Janis realized that opening it might release the last bit of fresh-air exchange provided by the isolated BSL4 systems.

Even as she found it difficult to move, she knew staying in place was equally untenable. The building’s landlines were dead and private cell phones didn’t operate within the shielded confines of the inner lab. If no one showed up to rescue them, there was only one way she could try to make a call to the outside world.

She’d have to leave the relative security of the locker room and step back into the Outer Work and Interaction Area. That area had suffered untold damage. She considered trying to venture out alone to attempt a call but up until now terrified Alyssa refused to leave her side. One thing was for sure: if no one was showing up to help them, they’d have to risk venturing beyond the locker room to help themselves.

Janis shifted in place, causing Alyssa to startle and clutch tighter.

“I’m going to have to try to make a call,” announced Janis.

“Can’t you do it here?” asked Alyssa.

“There’s no signal in here…”

“But we can’t go out there!”

“Shh-shh,” quieted Janis. “It’ll be all right. I’m just going to take one step outside the door. You’ll still be able to see me.”

“But what about the fire?”

“I’ll open the door a crack. If it’s too hot, I’ll close it right away.” Janis steadied Alyssa by grabbing her by the shoulder. “Listen, I’ve got to do this. We may be OK in here right now, but we don’t know how long that’ll last. Now stay put; I’ll be right back.”

Alyssa had no choice but watch her mother move away.

Janis drew near the locker room door and felt it. There was no heat so she turned the handle and gave a slight push. Through the open crack came darkness and the stench of fiery destruction. It appeared emergency power was only on in the BSL4 lab environments. There was no fire in the Outer Work and Interaction Area but the smoke level was dangerous for prolonged exposure. Janis poked her head out, finding conditions acceptable for the time it would take to make one call.

Janis swung the door wider and took a step into black. Mindful to keep Alyssa in sight, she activated her cell phone and redialed the security desk number from before. A series of crackles and line exchanges transferred her call.

To her great relief, a voice answered as before. “GPAX
Mobile
One…”

“Oh, thank God!” she sighed.

“Who is this?”

“Janis Insworth…I’m in the lab…”

On mention of the name, the voice interrupted. “Ms. Insworth, please stay on the line. We’re trying to get to you. We need to know your situation.”

Janis coughed away a lungful of smoke. “We have emergency power in the BSL4 lab. The rest of the floor is without power and heavy with smoke and debris.”

“We’re trying to get to you by way of the western stairwell. A chemical fire from the auxiliary plant has been blocking our way.”

“What the hell happened up there?” asked Janis.

“There was an attack. That’s all I can say right now. Please stay on the line. I was ordered to transfer your call in case we heard from you. Just a moment. Whatever you do, stay on the line. This is critically important.”

Janis ducked her head back into the locker room for a draft of fresh air before returning to the phone. “You don’t understand…I can’t stay on the line…there’s too much smoke…”

The call was already in the process of being transferred. For an instant, Janis considered ending the call and diving back into the more survivable environment of the locker room. She watched the fear in Alyssa’s eyes grow more serious as a stinging waft of chemical smoke triggered more coughing. Janis held the phone at arm’s length into the smoke while leaning back into the fresh air. In the silence of the smoky darkness, she heard a voice squawking through the phone’s small speaker.

She pulled herself back into the smoke and pressed phone to ear.

“…Janis…Janis…are you there?”

It was Colin’s voice, frantic and more serious than she had ever heard it.

“I’m here!”

He spoke as he ran. “We’re trying to get down to you…”

“You have to make this quick…”

“Then understand I don’t have time to explain. You have to trust me…”

“Trust you about what?”

“I’ve intercepted a call from The Project. You must act right away. They’re going to self-destruct the lab.”

Janis closed her eyes to prevent the sting of the smoke. “What are you talking about? Is the attack over?”

“We’ve secured the perimeter.”

“Who did it? Do you know?”

“New Class Order.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive but listen; what NCO didn’t destroy the Project intends on finishing.”

“I don’t understand. If the fire’s out, the lab is stabilized. Why would they want to destroy it?”

“You have to listen to me,” ordered Colin. “I was going to tell you and Faye together…”

“Tell me what?” Janis thought back to Faye’s plea to meet with Colin.

“Your plans for 2GenGEN…the last option for survivors...,” started Colin.

“What about it?”

“I found out The Project has no intention of following through on their promise. They only agreed to it to get you to synthesize 2GenGEN for them.”

Janis struggled to speak. “They’re not going to release it for plague survivors?”

“No – and now that your process for making it has been transferred on the mirrored servers to
Granite Peak
, they don’t need your sample. They can recreate 2GenGEN any time they want.”

Janis struggled to comprehend and maintain her position in the smoky darkness. “But why destroy what we’ve already created?”

“The attack tonight was a surprise but they’ve decided to use it, to give them a way out, an opportunity to accelerate their schedule. It’s what they always intended.”

“What do you mean?” gasped Janis.

“They want sole control of single-dose
GenLET
. With your sample gone, they can be certain your final option won’t take place. It’s just as you suspected; they plan on distributing 2GenGEN according to a select plan. Not everyone will get it…and Janis…from what I’ve overheard this past week – it’s clear the same holds true for the sterility fix. They plan a phased and selective application of the sterility fix.”

“You can’t be serious!” Through the smoke, The Project deception became clear. Janis jerked around and stared back into the locker room but saw beyond it. “Then we have to save what we have. The rest of the world will need time to discover the problem and solution on its own – independent of The Project.”

“There may not be enough time. We have no way of knowing what kind of self-destruct device they’ve planted or when it’ll go off. We need to get you two out of there right away!”

Janis only had a second to consider her options. “Get down here and evacuate Alyssa. I’m going back in and save 2GenGEN.”

“No! It’s too risky. We’ll find some other way…”

“From what you’re saying, The Project won’t let that happen,” snapped Janis. “When will they ever allow me to have
GenLET
, 2nd Protocol, and 3rd Protocol all together again to work with? What are we working for? What good is coming up with a sterility fix if they’re not going to give it to everyone!”

Colin knew a direct and true answer would only feed Janis’ resolve. “If you die in that lab, there’s no chance of recovering anything you planned.”

“If I don’t recover the sample of 2GenGEN, everyone may die before humanity finds an answer to sterility. If The Project is the only one with answers, we can’t trust them to do the right thing. We all agreed – the survivors need more time!”

“Stay where you are! We’re coming down to you. The fire by the stairwell is out. There’s debris blocking the way but we’re removing that now. It won’t be long; we can have you out – just hang on.”

The smoke was becoming too much. Interspersed with coughs, Janis strained to say enough to end the call. “Hurry up….you need to get Alyssa out of here…she’s in the BSL4 locker room…I’m going in.”

Janis didn’t wait for a response. She ended the call and rushed back into the fresher air of the locker room. Intent on a single purpose, she flung open a locker door and crouched down. Rummaging through emergency supplies, she found a flashlight then turned to face Alyssa.

“Stay right where you are,” ordered Janis. “They’re coming down for you.”

“What about you?”

Janis leaned down and held her daughter’s face. “There’s something I have to do. It’s very important.”

“I want to stay with you…” Alyssa started to get up.

“Listen,” snapped Janis. “I don’t have time. Where I’m going you can’t go. They’re coming for you. They expect to find you here.” She bent forward and kissed Alyssa on the forehead one last time and hugged her close. “…I love you.”

Alyssa made the most of their parting hug. “…I love you too.”

Energized with purpose, Janis stood and stripped all her street clothes off as Alyssa watched with renewed apprehension. In her eyes were questions Janis had no time to answer. Quickly naked, Janis hurried the door open to the shower room and lunged forward.

With the door shut behind her, the sudden isolation of her task weighed heavily upon her. The gauntlet of BSL4 intake procedures were now a deadly obstacle course. Running them on a time limit would have been bad enough. But having to rush in and out without knowing which moment might be her last made every second critical, every breath a gift that might become her legacy.

Janis looked up at nozzles. Shower water never came on. An ominous sign.

Gripping the flashlight, she raced forward. Beyond the first shower room was the changing area where normally she’d put on scrubs. To save time, she ran right through it. The only thing she really needed to wear was the pressure suit at the end of the line. As strange as it seemed to be passing through various lab sections naked, the thought of a self-destruct device about to go off gave single focus to her advance.

Inside the Inner Work and Interaction Area she found intense heat coming off the door that connected to the BSL3 lab space. Emergency lights were dimmer here and trace smells of smoke scented the air. Dodging around furniture, she sped on.

Next, she entered the pressured suit room where a row of light blue body sacks with attached helmets hung on hooks in a row. Grabbing one of them, she rushed to put it on but found the fatigue of the day fighting against the adrenaline driving her task. The bulk of the suit was cumbersome as never before. Worst of all, the feel of it against her body’s bare skin was cold and peculiar.

She stretched her fingers into place. The double layer of neoprene gloves was so familiar and yet, under these conditions, they seemed better meant for some alien world. By the time everything was on and she had passed through the chemical shower, she wound up charging into the final lab out of breath and sweating.

Adding to her nervous sweat, lab conditions gave her pause. It was darker and warmer than any of the other compartments. She had hoped that the progression of dimming lights and rising temperature she had found on her way back in would not lead to such circumstances. Not only would the dim emergency lights make her task harder, the rising temperature was a certain threat to kill the live virus she was trying to save.

She lumbered across the room in her deflated pressure suit and grabbed one of the coiled air hoses dangling from the ceiling. Quickly connecting it to her suit, she expected the whoosh of intake and inflation that normally occurred.

This time air flow was minimal. Something was wrong.

The weak stream of air was never going to fully pressurize the suit. The little bit of air that did manage to flow in was tainted with a burnt metallic odor. In reaction, she instinctively jerked her head from side to side to get away from the stench but she knew the reflex was futile.