Page 126 of Viral Justice

“Prepare the materials. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Akbar paused in the doorway. “If either of you attempts something heroic, these men will kill you.” He left.

Max swallowed hard and approached the counter. He stared at it unblinking for a moment, then said to her in an undertone, “Are you okay, Ali?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. “My neck is sore, but I’m able to help. What do you want me to do?”

“Could you help me unpack the supplies we just got? I need to sort through it for more syringes and stabilizing agent.” He showed her what the agent looked like. A glass bottle with a blue cap, containing about half a cup of clear fluid. The syringes were small, only two milliliters in capacity.

There were other things packed into the Styrofoam package. Vials of flu vaccine, alcohol wipes, one hundred doses of an antiviral medication that was widely available in the United States but hard to get in this part of the world, a sharps container for used needles, miscellaneous first aid supplies, and a few MREs.

They had a couple of goons watching them, but could they hide some of this stuff?

Akbar strode into the room again. He came over and looked at the supplies, picking up a vial of the vaccine and a box of the antiviral medication.

He grabbed all of the vaccine and left with it. A few seconds later he came back for the medication and left with that too. He was gone a lot longer this time. Long enough for Max to complete his preparations before needing the eggs.

They sat down on the floor to wait.

“What did he do with the vaccine?” she asked softly.

“I suspect he destroyed it. Threw it in the fire. The medication, he might actually keep for his own use or for some of his men.” “Max,” she began. “What does he want?”

“I think he wants to understand how dangerous this flu is. Perhaps he stumbled on it and now needs to know how to reproduce it.”

“How can he fool around with something this deadly and not know what he’s doing?”

“He’s a chemist. He knows enough to get the job done.”

“But the jobisdone, isn’t it? He’s got his killer pathogen. If he’s achieved his goal, why does he need to understand it better?”

Max didn’t respond right away. “I don’t know.” And that made him look worried.

“You can’t show him.”

Max shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if I show him or not. He’s already got the virus.”

“If he had control of it, he wouldn’t need to know how to grow more of it. You can’t show him.”

“He’ll kill you, those kids, our men, everyone.”

“No, he won’t. He needs enough people alive who have the virus or carry the virus, so he can spread it faster.”

“He will kill someone.” Max stared at her, his gaze heavy. “He’ll kill you.”

“It’s a risk, but it’s one I’m willing to take. Youcan’tshow him.”

“Can’t show me what?”

Akbar walked into the room with two more armed men. He grabbed her by the neck again and pulled her away from Max. “Continue with the vaccine.”

Max injected the eggs with virus and set the timer. “In about forty-eight hours the virus will have multiplied and can be extracted by syringe.”

“What is the next step?”

“Mix it with the stabilizing agent.”

“Excellent.” Akbar told one of his men to take the inoculated eggs. “Thank you. I don’t need you anymore. Any of you.” His smile was grotesque in its anticipation. He dropped Ali and walked up to Max until there were just inches separating them. “You are...disposable.”

He began giving orders in Arabic, telling his men to destroy everything in the building and kill everyone. He wanted Max to watch while his men raped Ali and gelded Max. Then they were to kill everyone else in front of Max, killing him last.

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