Final Winter

Despite everything else, Vladimir was impressed with the young man. It certainly took skill to drive such a big rig, and to drive it on such a poor road, just dirt and rocks, indicated a rare talent. They had gotten here with the aid of a detailed map provided along with the other documents and, as before, the map had been right to the point, indicating a turnoff from the interstate near a town called Dayton, and yet another turnoff that had led to this dirt road.

‘Up ahead,’ Imad said. ‘We will have gone two point three miles. I see where we are supposed to go.’

Vladimir nodded, saw the spot. There was a large expanse of rocks and boulders that rose up to the left, in a sort of overhang. Imad maneuvered the truck underneath the overhang and switched off the engine. The sudden lack of noise made Vladimir’s ears ring. Imad opened the driver’s-side door and got out, and Vladimir followed from his own side. The dirt crunched underneath his boots. It was hot and the air was dry and still. He shaded his eyes from the sun and looked out. Nothing. He looked up at the overhang of rocks. Good choice. Hidden away from any prying eyes, whether it were a Cessna or a Predator or a Keyhole satellite thousands of miles up.

Vladimir said, ‘Feel like home?’

‘What?’ Imad said, coming over next to him.

‘The desert. Doesn’t it feel like home?’

Imad laughed. ‘What do you think, all Arabs are Bedouins, longing for the simple life of tents and camels and oases and the shits? No, thank you. I like the cities and I like electricity and flush toilets. And I’d like to get this job done before this damn air dries out my face.’

‘All right, then. Let’s get it done.’

They went to the rear of the truck, where Vladimir unlocked the sliding door. It clattered up and again he and Imad dumped the brightly colored boxes of Chinese toys onto the dirt. This would be the last time they would have to use these damn plastic trinkets. The black plastic cases came out and Imad unsnapped the lids, propping them open. Vladimir looked at the equipment nestled in the gray foam, and Imad said, ‘Who are they?’

‘What do you mean? Our paymasters? Our bosses?’

‘Yes,’ Imad said. ‘Who do you think they are?’

Vladimir said, ‘Does it really matter?’

‘No, not really,’ Imad said. ‘It’s just that…well, whoever they are they must hate America very much.’

Vladimir reached down to help the boy take the equipment out. ‘Then they have plenty of company, don’t they?’

~ * ~

Alexander Bocks was in his office with two members of the Tiger Team and Randy Tuthill, who was sprawled out in one of Bocks’s chairs and who didn’t look very impressed with what he had heard. Earlier, Adrianna had protested that she only wanted to make the presentation to the General and no one else, and he had not allowed that. He had said, ‘Randy knows my aircraft better than I do, and there’s no way I’m going to be able to pull this off without his say-so. Miss Scott, Randy stays or you can find yourself another airline.’

So Randy had stayed, right through a repeated briefing about the upcoming anthrax attack and the options the Tiger Team and the intelligence community had reviewed and rejected — save for one, the clandestine immunization of a large chunk of the American population. At that little gem of information, Randy had raised an eyebrow and looked over at Bocks.

‘So because of anthrax, the union got dental?’ he asked.

Bocks said, ‘What use is anything if the anthrax gets through?’

Randy shook his head. ‘What a cluster-fuck. All right, then, why am I here?’

Bocks looked to Adrianna, who looked over to Doctor Palmer, who was pale and seemed to be sweating. Palmer cleared his throat and said, ‘A section of the Centers for Disease Control has been working on the airborne immunization system for some time. The canisters with the vaccine are almost completed. They look like this.’

He reached down to the floor, pulled up his small case, opened it up. He pulled out the green canister — about the size of a large thermos bottle — and passed it over to Randy. The mechanic turned it around in his big hands and said, ‘The vaccine will be contained in this?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is it safe?’

Bocks felt uneasy, knowing that this was going to be a tough one.

No one answered.

Randy looked at each of them.

‘I said, is it safe?’

Bocks said, ‘Doctor Palmer? If you please?’

The doctor looked like he was in the dock of a courthouse. He said, ‘Like any type of vaccine, there will be side effects. The vast majority of the population exposed won’t suffer any ill effects, or if they do, it will be minimal. There will be others — statistically, only a few — that may suffer severe effects.’

Randy said sharply, ‘Up to and including death, right?’

‘Correct.’

Bocks said, ‘It’s tough, Randy. But there doesn’t appear to be any other option.’

Randy sounded grim. ‘Of course there’s always another option.’

Adrianna said, ‘And what do you suggest?’