Genocide of One: A Thriller by Kazuaki Takano Read Free Book Online Page A

to English you speak French
     and Arabic?”
    Garrett wordlessly nodded.
    “Finally, Kashiwabara,” Singleton said, carefully sounding out the name. “You’re in
     charge of explosives. You speak Japanese and French, but can you handle English?”
    “I—think so,” Mick replied.
    Singleton looked a little concerned at the uncertain reply. “Let’s take a look at
     your schedule,” he went on.
    Their training regimen would include forty-kilometer endurance marches every other
     day, training in Swahili, and inoculations against a variety of diseases, yellow fever
     included.
    “Let’s move on to your area of operations.” Singleton walked over to a projector and
     punched up a PowerPoint presentation onto a large screen. The first slide was a map
     of Africa. He hovered his laser pointer over at the middle of the map. “You’ll be
     inserted into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known until recently as Zaire.”
    Yeager checked the location of the Congo. It was a large country right in the center
     of the continent, just below the equator. The country’s border was long on the west,
     as it followed the Congo River, which ran past the capital, Kinshasa, all the way
     to the Atlantic Ocean, where it ended in a narrow strip. The different colors of the
     map showed the concentration of tropical rain forest within the Congo’s borders. The
     country was covered in heavy forests.
    “Gentlemen, you’ll be inserted at the opposite end of the country from Kinshasa, in
     the eastern jungle region. It’s a search and destroy mission. Your cover will be that
     you’re working for an animal rights organization, so let your hair grow out. Your
     primary weapons will be limited to AK-47s and shotguns. We won’t be distributing squad
     automatic weapons. I’ll give details on the rest of your gear at a later briefing.”
     Singleton looked at Meyers, the former pararescue jumper. “Meyers, are you familiar
     with Ebola hemorrhagic fever?”
    “I am.”
    “Since this has to do with the mission, could you brief the team on this disease?”
    Meyers looked a bit taken aback, but turned to the other members. “Ebola hemorrhagic
     fever is the most deadly infectious disease known to man. The virus destroys the cells
     of the body, including the brain. The internal organs and muscles dissolve while you’re
     still alive. In a person infected with the disease all the bodily fluids infected
     by the virus gush out through the openings of the body—the ears, nose, mouth, and
     anus, and through the pores—and you die. The mortality rate for Zaire ebolavirus is ninety percent.”
    The soldiers listened without expression. Meyers stood and pointed to the map of the
     Congo on the screen. “The eastern region of the Congo, where we’re going, is surrounded
     by Ebola hot zones, including those along the western part of the Ebola River and
     the border with southern Sudan, to the northeast. Kenya and Uganda, to the east, have
     also seen substrains of Ebola.”
    Yeager raised his hand. “What’s the treatment?”
    “There isn’t any. Once infected, all you can do is pray.”
    “You said the mortality rate is ninety percent,” Garrett said. “What about the remaining
     ten percent?”
    “Their immune system somehow stands up to it, and they’re able to survive.”
    “Hmm,” Garrett responded softly.
    “You’ll be operating outside of the endemic area,” Singleton said. “But you’ll still
     need to take precautions. There’s a high possibility that bats can carry the disease,
     so make sure you don’t get bitten or come in contact with their droppings. Also, other
     primates can be infected, so stay clear of chimpanzees, gorillas, and small monkeys.”
    “If you get infected, what are the symptoms?” Yeager asked.
    “Fever, vomiting, and other symptoms resembling malaria. But Ebola particularly affects
     the eyes and testicles.”
    The men grimaced for the first time.
    “So if your eyes turn red,