The Genesis Plague (2010) by Michael Byrnes Read Free Book Online Page A

participation in a most egregious act with consequences that potentially threatened humankind’s existence. That should get their attention, he thought. Maybe then the scientists would learn how they’d unwittingly participated in a sinister plot that would make the Manhattan Project seem like child’s play. Maybe then they would rally together and seek justice. The possibility gave Roselli hope.
    Finally … full disclosure, he pondered.
    Next, he prepared a second e-mail message, but assigned it a later delivery time. This one was meant for Stokes. What would prove to be Roselli’s shocking final message from the grave. When he finished the draft and read it over a final time, he couldn’t help but grin, despite the bleakness of his predicament.
    Roselli edited delivery instructions for the two messages to ensure completion of two tasks: attempt delivery every minute until a signal is obtained and delivery confirmed; auto-delete the messages upon successful transmission.
    The wheezing was heavier now; his vision, spotty.
    From his pocket, he withdrew a tiny glass vial filled with white powder and uncapped its rubber stopper. With utmost care he sprinkled the tacky granules over the PDA’s keyboard and control buttons. Then he slipped the empty vial back into his jacket pocket, followed by the powered-on PDA.
    He let his arms drop limply to the floor. The room seemed to be crushing in around him.
    Burn in Hell, Stokes, he thought.
    A minute later, darkness crept in from the corners of his vision. Then everything slipped into oblivion.

7
IRAQ
    ‘Keep back from the opening,’ Jason reminded Jam. ‘Let’s not have you catch a bullet with your face.’
    ‘Yes, mother,’ Jam replied.
    Having clambered to the highpoint of the rubble heap that blocked the cave entrance, Jam had pulled away enough debris and stone to enable Camel - straddled beside him - to punch five feet of three-inch-wide conduit clear through to the other side. Not hard for Jason to imagine someone on the other side attempting to put a few bullets through the PVC pipe.
    ‘Good to go,’ Camel reported. ‘Pass the line up.’
    The sand-coloured armoured flex cable hung in long loops from Hazo’s crooked elbow. The slight-statured Kurd passed Camel the business end of the line - a shielded optical lens tip. The cable’s other end connected to a toaster-sized portable command unit that was mostly lithium battery.
    Camel began threading the Snake through the PVC.
    ‘Clear?’ Jason asked.
    ‘Yeah, it’s going through,’ Camel said. ‘Smooth as a colonoscopy. Keep it coming, Hazo.’
    Meanwhile, Meat flipped back the device’s lid, which doubled as the LCD viewing screen, and powered on the unit. The setup was similar to a compact laptop: full-size keyboard, touchpad mouse, some simple controls. From the carrying case, he retrieved what looked like a videogame joystick, plugged it into a port on the unit’s rear panel. With the touch of a button, the halogen floodlight mounted on the Snake’s tip lit up. The streaming video came through bright and clear.
    ‘We have eyes,’ Meat reported. He reached into the case again, grabbed the unit’s headphones and put them on. Then he adjusted the audio level on the integrated microphone.
    Jason came over and crouched beside him to get a look at the images coming back from inside the cave.
    As Camel pushed more flex cable through the pipe, the camera advanced further down the bumpy slope of rocks until it found gravel.
    ‘Hold it there,’ Meat said. He pulled back on the joystick while pressing his thumb on the control button. Like a charmed cobra, the cable curled at the tip (an integrated hydraulic balance kept the camera level). The first clear pictures immediately shone bright and clear.
    ‘We’re in,’ Meat said. Just behind the blocked entry, smooth parallel walls set roughly two metres apart tapered off into the darkness. ‘Not your typical cave.’
    ‘No, it certainly isn’t.’ Jason