Chapter 10

Lee eased the door open and took a quick look inside. The door hid a large room with several smaller doors along the wall on the left. He scanned the space looking for any cameras and finally spotted one that panned slowly across the room. He timed the sweep of the lens and then entered keeping out of the camera's range.

Now in a better position he could readily read the labels on the doors. From left to right the door plaques read: Lab, Storage, Control Room and most disturbingly, Missile Room. Sent to obtain the contagion and/or the vaccine, his first choice was obvious. Lee moved quickly to the Lab door, turned the knob and eased the door open. He was greeted by the sight of a locker room outfitted with small lockers, benches, and a rack holding fully encapsulating work suits for lab operations.

He spied no one inside and entered. He walked across the room and selected the largest work suit there. It was so big he was able to wear his backpack inside the suit with him. As he zipped up the suit and was pulling the hood into position the outer door opened and another man stepped in. He barely regarded Lee and just nodded his acknowledgement. Lee returned the gesture and pretended to fiddle with his suit until the other man was ready and made his way to the door marked Clean Room.

Lee quickly followed after and the man held the door open waiting for Lee. "You're new here, aren't you?" he inquired.

"Yes," Lee replied choosing not to offer any more information than necessary.

"Thought so, though I usually work the day shift and rarely get a glimpse of you guys on the graveyard shift."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, that's true." Lee offered.

As they reached the center of the room there were a number of footprints painted on the floor. The man walked over to a set, stepped on them and raised his hands over his head. Following his lead, Lee copied his actions and assumed the same position. Seconds later a bright white light flared to life and bathed them from all angles, killing any stray bacteria or other organisms before they could contaminate the lab.

Once the process was complete, the door at the opposite end of the room slid open revealing a state of the art lab. There were only a couple of people inside, both totally engrossed in what they were doing and they paid no attention to the new additions. Watching the man he had entered with walk to one of the stations, Lee moved in the opposite direction to a station furthest from the rest of the room's occupants. He surreptitiously scoped out the room and spotted another door across the lab labeled as Cold Room.

Lee marveled at the fact that no one was the least bit interested in anyone else. There were no conversations, no interaction what so ever. Gamma had probably created a work environment that dissuaded collaboration and kept his minions focused on their unique piece of the puzzle. Taking a chance that no one would challenge him if he chose to enter the Cold Room, Lee strode purposely across the room and pulled open the door. As expected no one even appeared to look up.

He entered the room and pulled the door shut behind him. He was amazed at what he found. As advertised the room was cold, probably around 38 degrees. Along either side were niches dug into the rock and each one contained small vials stacked in racks. 'Bingo', Lee thought to himself. He quickly unzipped his suit, removed his backpack and pulled out the sample case. He selected vials from 4 different niches and then noticed the sealed niche at the far end of the room that was labelled Vaccine.

This one was different and warranted much closer scrutiny before he made a move to grab anything. He reached back into his pack and pulled out another device and flipped it on. It immediately began to hum softly as it scanned the area where Lee aimed it. Indicator lights illuminated at once indicating that there were security fields in place protecting this particular niche.

Lee frowned a bit then returned the device to his pack and pulled out yet another one. This one was designed to momentarily disrupt a large number of electronic security systems allowing an agent to quickly access whatever was behind the protection. He pulled out the two probes from the unit and gently affixed them to the front of the glass. The device immediately lit up and cycled through a series of lights until finally all indicators turned green indicating the fields were temporarily disarmed.

Lee wasted no time prying open the small glass door and removing two of the vials inside. He quickly secured the door, placed the vials in his case then shut and locked it. Just as he was finished the lights on the device flashed yellow, then red indicating the security systems were once again active. He snipped the wires from the probe so as not to jostle the glass any more than he already had. He replaced the probe and his case of vaccine and contagion in his pack, then pulled out a brick of explosive and the initiator.

He had a bad feeling about the room labeled Missile Room and decided to save the rest of his explosives to make sure whatever was in there went up with the rest of the complex. He took out his knife and cut the brick in half then squirted out enough of the gel to cover the painted half, slapped them together and hid the brick behind one of the vial racks in a niche furthest from the door. He then pulled the pack back onto his back and zipped his suit shut. The clock was now running and he had to finish up quickly.

He made his way back to the door into the lab and casually pulled it open. The two workers present when he first arrived were now gone and the man he had entered with was still busily working at his station. Lee nodded to him as he looked up and made his way back to the Clean Room. He went through the cleansing process and moved into the locker room and gratefully found it empty. He quickly ditched his suit and exited the lab to go check on the Missile Room.

(olooo

Lee entered the main room and walked over to the door marked Missile Room and carefully pulled it open. He was greeted with another tunnel similar to the one he'd found leading from the elevator but this one was much shorter. In addition to a large door at the opposite end of the tunnel, there were two others, one on each side of the tunnel. He moved rapidly down the hallway to the main door and cracked it open to garner a look at what it concealed.

What he saw made his heart nearly stop. So this was how Gamma intended to infect the world. In the center of a cavernous room were at least 20 intercontinental ballistic missiles staged and ready for launch. At the top of the room was a retractable door to hide his activities from prying eyes but would allow a ready launch pad when he was ready. Gamma had to be an aficionado of the works of Ian Fleming; what he lacked in originality he made up for with pure wealth and ravenous aspirations.

As Lee regarded the view below he noticed that the payload capsules on a couple of the missiles were still open and he saw hundreds of vials like the type he'd collected in the lab lining the inside of the cones. It was quite obvious Gamma intended to launch those missiles at his various targets and when they arrived eject the contents to fall to the ground and disperse amongst the populace.

He gently shut the door, closed his eyes and quietly cursed. "Bastard!" Given the number of people on the missile room floor and those working on the capsules, there was no way he could directly sabotage those weapons of death. Trying hard to think of another means of preventing their launch, he moved to the door to his right and peeked in. He was rewarded beyond his wildest dreams. Inside was yet another large room, but this one contained huge storage tanks containing the liquid oxygen and propellant used to fuel those birds for launch.

Lee smiled evilly and pulled the pack off his back once more. He removed the second brick of explosive and cut it in half. Next he made his way cautiously down the stairs from the platform his was on, to the base of one of the large tanks several stories below. He uncapped the gel, but this time applied it to the untreated side. He couldn't risk even one of those rockets making it out of Gamma's facility. He slapped the two halves together, stuck them to the base of the LOX tank, then beat a hasty retreat up the stairs.

He once again cracked the door and peeked out into the hallway. Spying no one in the hall he eased his way back out and began retracing his steps to the elevator and freedom. He had little time to spare so he moved without worrying about who might see him slinking about. He ran back through the large room off the main tunnel then out the door. He entered the main tunnel and walked quickly down the path. About halfway to the elevator his luck ran out. He heard "Hey! Halt!" yelled at him from behind. Lee broke into a dead run aiming for the elevator at the other end of the hall.

Whatever deities look after submarine captains and ONI agents smiled on him that moment because as he reached the elevator door, it slowly slid open and two workers stepped out. Lee bolted in behind them and repeatedly pushed the close door button and the top floor button. He quickly tucked into one corner of the car as bullets pinged off the walls and the slowly closing door. The elevator rose rapidly up to the top. He just hoped that there would be enough time to reach the top and the outside door before someone stopped its ascent and recalled the car to the lower level.

As the car ascended, Lee jumped up and knocked open the trap door in the roof. If this thing suddenly stopped, he wanted a ready escape route. His luck seemed to hold as the car pulled to a gentle halt and the door slid open revealing the concealing panel in the temple. He quickly pushed against the panel and is swung open. He stepped out just as the elevator doors began to close, sending the car back down to Gamma's troops below.

Lee pulled his weapon out of his holster and cautiously eased forward to the front of the temple. Working his way to the entrance, he was greeted by the first rays of morning light as the sun began its journey across the sky. The lanterns on the corners of the building were still lit as if reluctant to cede to the dawning day. If he weren't in need of an immediate departure he would have loved to stay and appreciate the play of color and light across the water, land and sky as the dawn unfolded. At least he'd be able to see where he was going.

Spying no one in the vicinity, Lee jumped down from the temple and sprinted across the open area around the temple to the brush and jungle surrounding the plain. He now had to make it across the island and hopefully to the water before his explosives detonated. As he ran he pulled the small radio from his back pocket and made his call.

"Owl, this is Pussycat. Repeat Owl this is Pussycat," Lee signaled as he ran down the slope.

The response to his hail was immediate. "Pussycat this is Owl, go ahead."

"Satisfied curiosity, delivered my gift, and heading home. Need to sail out to sea, reaction to gift will be much larger than expected, in approximately 10 minutes. Boat in danger. Will call when everything settles down."

"Negative Pussycat, will be waiting with a candle in the window for you," replied Nelson.

"Negative Owl, boat in danger. Go far, go deep. Pussycat, out!" Lee responded and severed the connection before Harri could try and talk him into a compromise. Once the explosives detonated on those tanks of liquid oxygen and rocket propellant this whole island would most likely be consumed. He was not about to risk his gray lady or his crew just to save his sorry hide.

(olooo