The Liger Plague (Book 1) by Joseph Souza Read Free Book Online Page A

for fear of spreading the disease to the mainland. Cooke’s would have to be totally quarantined until the severity of the threat was established and the contagion could burn itself out.
    The director of the festival approached them. “Nice to see you, Tag. You’re not going to believe this, but there’s a phone call for you.” She held up the cordless phone and handed it to him.
    “Who is it?” he asked the director.
    “I have no idea, but could you be a dear and hang it back up when you’re through?”
    “Sure,” he said, watching his wife return to her booth. “Who is this?”
    “Hello, Colonel. I’m so thrilled that you made it to the island in one piece,” the generated voice said. “I knew all along you could do it.”
    “Who the hell are you?”
    “Take it easy, Colonel. I thought the point of being on Cooke’s Island was to unwind and relax? Get rid of all that unwanted stress in your life.”
    “Thanks to you, that’s not going to happen.”
    “Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself. Are you going to let an itsy-bitsy virus ruin your day?”
    “How did you get over here? All the ferries have been shut down.”
    “I passed you on the highway, and boy, did you create a huge traffic jam by trying to outrun the state police. By the time I got in my little dinghy and crossed over to the island, the ferries were all still operational. I commend you on shutting them down. I knew you had it in you. It’s why I chose you of all people, Colonel. You know how to get things done.”
    “Did you send that glass sculpture to my wife?”
    “Beautiful work of art, don’t you think? Did it myself. Tell your wife thank you so much for bringing it over to the island and activating the virus delivery system. She’s a real trouper.”
    “I thought you sent it to the island?”
    “Oh no, that would be way too easy and far less fun. Besides, FedEx doesn’t deliver overnight to the island. I had her and your daughter take the ferry over to the mainland and pick it up at her gallery. Makes the game a little more fun, don’t you think?”
    “What did you put inside that sculpture?”
    “Ingenious device. A battery-operated virus dispenser. Just press the button, and a beautiful aerosol fills the entire room. The viral organism is specifically engineered to contain glass crystals, Colonel, insuring that the agent will float in the air, recirculating for long periods of time and eventually lodging in clothing, where it can then be easily inhaled into the lungs and attach itself to the membrane walls.”
    “So what kind of agent are we dealing with?” Tag said, walking away from two art patrons within hearing range.
    “Relax, Colonel, you’ll soon find out. This organism has been engineered to produce symptoms extremely quickly in its victim, even by your standards. It’s one of the trade-offs I had to make in order to create my beautiful liger.”
    “I’m begging you to tell me what kind of agent we’re dealing with!”
    “Begging does not become a man of your stature, Colonel. All the same, I’ll give you and your family a little head start just to make things interesting, and because you’ve been such a good sport,” he said. “Listen closely. Take your wife and daughter back to the house immediately, and make sure that they don’t leave until the liger burns himself out.”
    “They’ve no doubt already inhaled the infectious agent. You released it into the room.”
    “Actually, your wife and daughter released it, but that’s neither here nor there. Trust me on this, and get them back to the house,” he said. “By the way, Colonel, I love the tony island get-up you’ve changed into for this event. Pick that wardrobe up at L.L. Bean? Very fashionable. Much better than that drab army uniform you had on at the conference.”
    “Please tell me what we can expect.”
    “You can expect to kill millions of innocent civilians if the authorities make it onto that island before I give permission. You