A/N: Sorry that the updates are slow. Life and writer's block is getting in the way. So please enjoy and also thank you for sticking with the story :)
Chapter 37
Samantha stood in the corner of the President's office. She wasn't sure why she was here given it was a meeting for the Regional leaders to air their problems. The one of many reasons as to what she despised about politics. The never ending squabbling over ridiculously insignificant things just grated on her nerves.
"I noticed that our lone senator was conspicuously absent from this meeting." Oliver commented as he was seated behind his desk rolling through his paperwork while listening to the Regional leaders spoke over him. "Is he trying to send a signal that he's not in support of my administration?" he asked them.
"He's been dealing with powder keg situation up in Bellingham." Castillo informed Oliver.
"Among other things." Price said not slyly.
"If Beatty can't control his region then he should be asking the Military for assistance or the President to allow him to use the National Guard to quell the unrest." Samantha said in a bored tone.
"I'm not sure what your purpose is here." Alex said to Samantha.
"I could say the same of you; given your purview is international relations not domestic issues." Samantha replied with a slight smile as it put Alex in his place.
"I asked Colonel Nash here as it seems that the our Country is a mess. The people Michener pulled together can't seem to make it work." Oliver said looking to the regional leaders.
"Michener was a disappointment to us all as a leader. He plunged more funding into international endeavours we can't afford and put tight restrictions on us making our situations tenable at best in keeping our people happy." Price said.
"Maybe they don't remember what a mess we had five months ago, before Michener and the James came home with the cure." Oliver argued.
"No, they remember, Sir. And they're grateful for the cure, but that doesn't give the government a free pass for everything else, especially since people think that most of the decisions that have come out of here have been disastrous."
"Hell, you can't even prove you rescued your own people."
"The pirates broadcast their faces from a jungle across the globe, and you can't manage a Skype call from a $3 billion warship?"
"The Nathan James is currently engaged on a classified mission. I'm not going to dial them up on the phone just because a few people don't believe the government tells the truth." Samantha told them.
"That is my decision. I want those sailors' faces on the news. Their recovery will help blot out the mess of Michener's actions and the tragic murder of that poor woman." Oliver said to Samantha.
"Sir, with respect. You've been in that chair for less than a day. There are protocols in place to keep the military running at optimal efficiency. I'm not going to endanger those sailors lives for a meaningless puff piece. If you have a problem with that then reassign me but I promise the next person in my shoes will say the same." Samantha told him in a no nonsense manner.
"I would reassign you for such insubordination." Price said in a stout manner, Samantha winked at the woman and inwardly smiled as Price looked off put by it. She just wanted to see how much she could screw with the group as they all seemed to have a tenuous relationship. It wasn't that Samantha wan't to destabilise the country but she didn't like this little consortium before her. They were people that fought and sacrificed a lot to survive during the pandemic. She could respect that, what she couldn't respect was their greed and flash of power. All dressed in well cut suits, hair just so and travelling in style while their people suffered in poverty.
"But let's not lose the forest for the trees." Price added.
"Yes, we're all pleased that the hostages are safe, and we're sure the Colonel and her people will sort out the communications issue. The more pressing issue is our domestic policy. I think we can all agree that Michener jumped too quickly to federalize everything. If you were to curb some of his measures, I'm sure it would go a long way to smoothing things over with Senator Beatty and the American people." Price said, nods were shared around with the group.
"The ration-card program has been the chief cause of unrest, and the limits to bank withdrawals The people do not want the government interfering with how they spend their money." Alex said.
"Come on, Alex. It's all of it. The land-claim issues are just as contentious as the Ration card program." Wilson said in an aggravated and tired manner.
"President Michener started those ration cards, so that all of our citizens can have their fair share of what they need to get-" Samantha started in polite but commanding manner but was cut off by Price.
"Commander-" Ms Price started but Samantha spoke over her.
"It's Colonel, Ms Price. Don't insult my rank or intelligence given we're all aware of my station." Samantha said in a calm manner that made her seem polite and respectful when she was being the opposite.
"True and when we need your advice as it pertains to our military, we'll ask for it." Alex said in a patronising manner.
"Mmm, yet I'm sure you're all going to bring up the matter of giving local militias in your regions more power." Samantha said, she could see the reaction to her words as they resonated with the regional leaders. She'd struck gold on part of their plans.
"You have to admit the Military is stretched a little thin of late." Price told her.
"You've been stoking unrest in your regions to provoke the President. Though I tend to think the fact you can't control your people shows just how inept you are at leading your people. That perhaps it is the people in this room who need to be replaced than militias given more power." Samantha told them all with unwavering confidence as she wasn't going to bend to their demands.
"We're in our posts because we saved our people and regions. Now we need more soldiers and weapons that the military can't and won't provide." Castillo told her.
"You're right- we won't provide them because the use of military on national soil should always be a last resort. In my opinion, we're not there yet." Samantha told them.
"Well, aren't you big for your boots." Price surmised.
"Let's calm down." Oliver said diplomatically.
"Anna," Tex prompted.
"Hmm?" Anna murmured as she pulled out of her thoughts. She forgot for a moment she was sitting at the table with Tex and Kat eating dinner. They had found a small restaurant near their hotel that was still open.
"You were spaced out there. You need to eat." Tex told her as he motioned to the food on the table. Anna gave a nod and picked up her chopsticks. Kat was in one of the bedrooms sleeping off her jet lag while Tex and Anna ate a late dinner.
"Yeah, sorry. My mind was elsewhere." Anna said, she kept trying to figure out why no one was picking up their phones.
"Kate will call." he assured her if reading her thoughts.
"She should have picked up to begin with." Anna said with a sigh. It had been a long and exhausting day. It wasn't just the flying but the heaviness of being in a country completely decimated by the virus. The grief and despair that was so thick in the air; one could eat it. The people just barely hanging onto life, and the survivors trying to protect what little they had and try to thrive.
"I'm sure she's fine." Tex told her.
"Yeah, I'm just worried about this development. I really wanted to speak with Rachel too, but no answer which is disconcerting given she's practically a hermit with the twins." Anna commented.
A few hours later,
"We're at 19.83 North by 112.5 East. Course 1-0-0, speed 20 knots, Sir." Gator said looking to Mike and Garnett as they stood at the Navigation station looking over the specs of the current mission and where the ship they were searching for could be hiding. The Helo had been making the rounds all morning trying to locate the ship they were searching for but no luck so far.
"There's a small land mass here which should provide cover from hostile radar detection while giving us a vantage point on the shipping lane indicated on that card." Granderson said pointing to a spot on the map. Mike looked at the lottery care in his hand and turned it over looking at the black spot on the back.
"Helo is standing by to execute fly overs. We expect many vessels to have AIS switched off on account of pirates." Garnett told him. Mike gave a nod as they all knew this wasn't going to be easy. He moved to his chair letting the others take up their stations before he looked over at Tom. The man had wanted to go out on the Helo but given the limited seating preference was Sasha over Tom due her linguistics skills. Mike was glad to be able to witness the sibling rivalry as it made for fun viewing, what he didn't like was being the referee. But beggars couldn't be choosers in their situation.
"She's Alpha Charlie Foxtrot 79831396." Burk told them, the atmosphere changing in the room as it could possibly be their ship. Mike looked at the card in his hand trying to match it to the lottery ticket.
"Any of the markings? Tom asked over comm.
"Uh, just a couple of dings from a bad parking job. No black dot." Burk replied.
"No dice." Mike said as he confirmed it wasn't the ship they were looking for.
"Is it possible the ship already passed this location?" Garnett asked looking to Mike and Tom as she was trying to make sense of their lack of success.
"According to Wu Ming's Intel, it was last pinged outside Hainan Harbor yesterday at 2200 hours." Tom said to her.
"Even a wave-piercing catamaran couldn't traverse this shipping lane that quickly." Gator surmised making it clear that they were in for a waiting game. It was at least a small relief that the ship hadn't passed them yet.
"Captain, radar's tracking small surface vessel approaching our contact point on the shipping lane." Lt Commander Burk announced over the internal comms from CIC.
"Nomad, vessel approaching south at 0-2-5. Initiate flyover." Tom ordered.
"Roger that, Nathan James.Making the turn." Jesse informed them, they waited for Helo to respond, the nature of the venture weighing on them as it wasn't just finding the ship. But also the questions it would raise if they found something connecting Peng to what was a conspiracy to say the least. Until they had proof, they had nothing.
"I don't know about this one, Captain." Green said over comm.
"What's wrong with it?" Tom asked.
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with it, if you're on spring break in Ibiza." Green replied.
"What the hell's that mean?" Mike asked with a frown looking to Tom who looked equally confused by Green's statement.
"It's 120-foot pleasure cruiser. No cargo hold." Jesse informed them.
"Wait a second. Alpha Zulu Bravo 79863 Lima 309." Burk said over comm. Mike looked at the lottery card in his hand.
"That's it." Mike confirmed.
"And we're staring at a big old dark side of the moon." Burk informed them.
"Bon Apetit." Hunter quipped as Michener sat down at their table with a tray of food. Though calling it food was a real stretch of the imagination. It was a white gruel like substance with orange and green indistinguishable chunks, bread that looked to be more mould than bread and piece of mystery meat loaf.
"This is appalling." Michener said as his stomach turned at the sight. He was exhausted after a long day of hard labour. He was used to office work and going for walks, maybe a bit of gardening in his old life. His new one as an unfairly imprisoned man was not easy, the men around him despised him not just for his past but also for the present as he wasn't pulling his weight. He tried, he just was not as fit as them. Yet. The only upside was that the work was gruelling enough that he could forget how he got there and the fact he was stuck.
"Yeah, not like them steaks you eat the White House aye?" Gunner asked.
"Welcome to the Real World." Gunner grunted as he ate the food as if he didn't have a problem with it.
"I know what the real world looks like." Michener said defensively.
"Yeah from the top. Now you're on the bottom with the rest of us. It's very different." Gunner reminded him.
"So how did you get here POTUS?" Carlos asked, Michener had been chained by the ankle to the Hispanic man in his 30s. He apparently been an enforcer for a prominent biker gang. He was also an ex-marine, it seemed that majority of men in the prison all served in the Military and held prominent positions in organised crime syndicates at some point. Or were active Military service members who'd been incarcerated for dereliction of duty.
"He murdered a Navy Dude's wife." Hunter reminded him.
"I didn't kill her-" Michener started as he hated that story. One thing men hated in what could be classified as a Military prison was a man who'd killed military spouses or families. Not that Michener had but they all believed he did thanks to the media and his lack of proof.
"News said you were high on drugs while you did it. Don't worry, happens to lots of drug addicts. Last year, my friend's cousin had a bad trip on some tainted PCP. She literally tore into her boyfriend and started eating his guts. So messed up right?" Carlos asked in a tone that told Michener that he was being baited.
"It wasn't like that and I was drugged. I do not take drugs." Michener told him firmly.
"Not anymore, though in here you might be able to score something but you gotta have money or sell your body. Given today's sloppy work, I don't think you'll get a good deal for your flat ass." Carlos told him, he and Hunter laughed at the poor taste joke.
"Maybe if you'd looked after the country better then people would've believed you." Gunner said casually as he took a sip of his drink.
"Like any of you could have done better." Michener grumbled.
"Please, we all got experience at being leaders of people and I know I could do better than you." Carlos told him, puffing out his chest and looking confident and proud.
"Tell me." Michener prompted. Carlos eyed him for a moment before he leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.
"First, you shouldn't have kicked Lassiter to the curb and broke up her business. She was hot, and stupid. She was giving everything away for free, paying people living wage. You know what that does? lowers the poverty, increases taxes and boosts the little people. When people are paid their worth they work hard to keep it and to make more. Which cycles more money through the economy and government. You forget that we stupid folk are the foundations of the society. She probably would've bankrupted herself but all that money filtered into the American economy instead of sitting in a bank doing nothing for us." Carlos told him.
"It doesn't really work like that." Michener told him as the men didn't understand the intricacies of how their government operated. But he listened as he preferred to not get shivved for being an asshole.
"It was working, you and your rich regional leaders didn't like it, cause they'd have to lose all the money they've been embezzling for months to actually help other people." Hunter pointed out.
"Yeah and screw the rest of the world, why the fuck would you brown nose President Peng. We got our own problems. Luckily,we're also blessed with a lot of land and enough people with know how to build, grow and maintain shit we need. Sure send out the cure as a token of affection but who gives a crap what China is doing in the South China Seas or if New Zealand is taking over Australia or whatever. Let them sort out their shit, we got to rebuild. America doesn't have the resources now to fight any wars over things that we don't need." Carlos added.
"It's true, let them fight out their shit so by the time they come to us. We're back to being King of the Jungle. Cause, right now we're that dude who empties the King's dookie pot." Hunter told Michener.
"Nomad, you're a go for approach." Garnett said over comm.
"All right, boys and girls, let's drop in for a cocktail." Jesse said as she steered the Helo around the cruiser, letting the man at the helm aware of their presence. When they came around for the second circle, the man pulled an assault rifle and pointed it up in the air ready to take his chances.
"Don't do it, buddy!" Green shouted over the comm, his voice booming through the Helo's external speakers. The man gripped the weapon obviously not listening to them. Jesse held the Helo letting it hover in the air above the ship. "We are US Navy. Lay down your weapons! We don't want to hurt you, but we will be boarding your vessel." Green announced. The man placed his weapon down at the announcement they were US Navy and held his hands up in surrender.
"Nathan James, vessel is surrendering." Burk informing the ship. Within minutes Jesse had the Helo hovering over the backend of the ship. They dropped down onto the deck and Jesse moved back up to a higher altitude.
Green took point as Burk and she went to the helm. They secured the ship owner's weapon and stopped the engines, dropped anchor. "Are there any more weapons on your vessel?" Green asked the pilot.
Sasha began to repeat it in Mandarin when the man spoke in hideous American. "I can speak English yo!. The name is Kai and you can't search my boat." he told them. He was dressed for a tropical getaway and had a gut that aid he hadn't missed an all you could eat buffet in a long time. He reminded Sasha of a comical Buddha who indulged in one too many vices given he was smoking a joint in front of them.
"You waved a gun at the US Military in International waters. So instead of being a punk, Kai; answer the question." Green told him.
"No one here but me and that gun is for my protection from pirates." Kai told them.
"Stay with him." Danny ordered Sasha, she gave a nod and watched the two men continue as they went to make sure there were alone. She could see on the horizon that the Nathan James had sent out two RHIBs with teams to help secure the boat and search it. She
"How long you been working this channel?" Sasha asked him.
"The only channel I'd like to work is yours. I'd work it hard." He said salaciously as he licked his lips. Sasha gave him a dull look as she couldn't be bothered to be disgusted by him and his advances given she was inure from years of such behaviour.
"I'm sure you would," Sasha drawled drily, as she pulled his M16 to pieces and tossed the firing pin into the ocean.
"Hey! you can't do that!" Kai protested.
"You'd be amazed at what I can do. Oops." She remarked as she threw another part of the weapon overboard. She wasn't a fan of littering but she was doing the world a favour by destroying Kai's gun as the man was a moron.
"Cooper, bring Kai down into the main cabin." Green ordered.
"On our way," she said in her comm before she looked to Kai. "Come on big boy." she said as she gestured for him to move.
"You know I'm big in all the right places." Kai told her in a salacious manner. Sasha gave him a dark smile.
"I'm a very destructive person. You sure you want me to do what I did to your gun to your ship or perhaps your face?" She asked him in a mockingly innocent manner.
"No." Kai mumbled as he was reminded about what she'd done to his weapon. So he gave a huff of resignation and started moving.
"Right decision." Sasha told him.
"Oh, what?" Kai protested as they came down into the indoor entertainment area to find the clear destruction of his ship in their search. "Is this even necessary, yo?" he asked, looking to Sasha.
"Tell us where Peng's cargo is and we'll stop right now." Sasha told him with a faint smile.
"Does this even look like a cargo ship to you?" Kai asked her incredulously.
"We tossed the whole vessel. All we found were a couple more M16s and a case of Cristal. " Burk said as he came into the room.
"See? What'd I tell you? No cargo ship." Kai told her as he saw her as the leader of the group.
"If you've got nothing to hide, then why run from a US Navy ship?" Sasha asked, reminding the man of how when the Nathan James had poked it's nose out from where it had been hiding, Kai had sped up to try and outrun them.
"It's the apocalypse, man. All kinds of people get in all kinds of boats saying all kinds of shit. You could have been pirates, for all I know. This is my boat! You can't take it from me!" Kai protested.
"Oh, yeah?" Green asked as he stopped overturning life vests to join the conversation. "You got bills of sales for those weapons?" he asked Kai, Kai frowned at him which told him that the man had no clue. "Well, then you're in violation of international maritime law. The U.S. Navy has a right to place you under arrest and commandeer this vessel." Green informed him.
"Hell, no! This is my baby! Y-You can't do this, yo!" He told them stuttering like an idiot who had no clue of his rights or how to argue them. Sasha almost felt sorry for him but knew the man was hiding something. So all sympathy was gone.
"We sure can, yo." Sasha said smugly. "So if you want to keep your precious ship, you start talking." Sasha told him firmly. He looked at her with a petulant look, and gave a sigh like she had told him to give her the keys to his favourite toy.
"Americans. You're so self-righteous." Kai grumbled he moved to the bar and turned one of the beer taps to the side. A click sounded and a panel in the wall behind the bar popped open. He pulled open the panel door wider to show it was packed deeply with drugs. Sasha exchanged looks with Green and Burk not expecting this kind of development. It also made no sense to her.
"Move. Well, that's cocaine. Heroin." Green said looking back to Sasha and Burk, Sasha looked to Kai to explain himself.
"How much more of this have you got?" she asked him.
"Five more crates. Come on, yo. This can't even be illegal anymore. The people have suffered enough. I'm just meeting needs." Kai said defending his source of income.
"Where'd you pick it up?" Green demanded as he and Sasha moved to the compartment space.
"An island off of Hainan. Chinese MSS dudes loaded me up. I don't want to mess with them." Kai told them. Sasha frowned in disbelief and confusion.
"Peng doesn't bother with drugs." Sasha said, she shook her head as it was too small of an industry for Peng to care. Why would he protect drug shipments to such a degree. So she pulled out the drugs in the hopes they were obscuring the real reason for all of this.
"Hey, what are you doing, yo?! You know what my suppliers will do to me if even one of those is missing?" Kai demanded from behind them but Sasha ignored him as she found herself looking at a panel. She knocked on the wooden panel noting the slightly hollow sound but it was the softness of the panel that got her interest.
"Shut up." Danny told him, Sasha pulled out her K-Bar and pried away the panel, her eyes went wide as she had expected a maintenance section but instead found packing straw. She pulled it away and found a missile.
"Holy Shit." Kai exclaimed, summing it up rather nicely.
Kate laid on the couch gently stroking the bridge of Scout's nose to his forehead and back down. The puppy sleepily thumped his tail in happiness as he laid sprawled on the floor.
Dinner had come and gone. It had been a fairly big affair as Lena cooked a large meal for them and Rachel, Sammy and Ashley. It had been a quiet dinner, the older children were quiet and in Zoe's case cranky from lack sleep. Frankie and the twins were also siding with Zoe's behavior sharing their displeasure of their new homes. But nothing could be done except to show patience and care.
The adults pooled their attention and resources to help one another as it was too easy to feel fried out by the events of the past twelve hours. Rachel and the kids went back to their house for the evening. Kate helped Rachel settle the twins before taking Scout for a walk.
When she got back it was decided that Lena and Zoe would sleep up in the loft while Maddy, Frankie and Kate slept downstairs. Scout just plonked himself down where he wanted which was on the floor below Kate's bed. She knew she should stick him in the bathroom but there was no gate and frankly she didn't like the idea of locking him up in such a tiny space.
But she did make sure the exterior of the basket that was Frankie's bed was covered in a sheet as they didn't need Scout poking his head in and waking Frankie up.
"I can't sleep." Maddy whispered from her side of the couch.
"Same, just have to wait for it come to you." Kate said as she left Scout to sleep and sank into her own bedding trying to relax.
"What will happen to us?" Maddy asked.
"I don't know, but your Dad will find us and everything will work out." Kate told her.
"The missile's clearly been retrofitted since its manufacture. Has to be a chemical weapon of some kind." Sasha said to Tom and Mike as they stood outside the decontamination shower room. It had been turned into a quarantine zone to investigate the weapon. Lt Bell and Ensign Nishioka slowly took the missile apart to study it. They were dressed in hazard suits and the air vents to the room had been sealed just in case. Tom had no clue what dangers laid in the weapon so they took what precautions they could.
"He picked up those crates 100 miles southeast of Hainan?" Tom asked Sasha as she had been the one to brief him. He knew Peng was hiding something and this looked to be pretty big but otherwise not incriminating given Kai the smuggler wasn't going to corroborate anything or give an official statement.
"Paraiso Island." Sasha clarified for him.
"You sure that trafficker didn't know what was in them?" Mike asked Sasha.
"He was perfectly happy being a run-of-the-mill drug runner. Nearly wet himself when we found this." Sasha said, Nishioka and Bell removed plating from the side of the missile and slowly pulled out metal balls. "Those bomblets were designed in the '60s to carry Sarin." Sasha said as recognised them from her own background knowledge of the history of biological weaponry. She was trained for her position in D.O.D. to recognise all types of weaponry in the case she stumbled across them in her travels.
"What do you think the range is on that missile?" Tom asked the question was for the room than anyone in particular.
"Depending on the weight of those bomblets, my guess, it could release high enough to blanket a 20-mile radius." Mike offered.
"You wanted to see me?" Jesse asked as she came into the small observation room.
"Back in Hong Kong, you mentioned seeing some missiles." Tom said, he moved to the side to see if she recognised the missile in their possession.
"Yellow, with red tips. These are the same ones Peng was moving in Guangzhou. The day my brother was killed." Jesse said, a loud pop sounded from inside the room. Their attention drew into the small room where Bell was on the floor, a green mist covering the room obscuring their view. Mike called for Rios and a med team.
"Green mist." Sasha said in shock but it was gone as the room was doused by the sprinkler system. Nishioka was kneeling down next to Bell who's mask had cracked. He pulled off the mask in a reflex and coughed as the water doused them. Mike moved to the phone receiver on the wall and called for Rios and Hazmat.
"Everyone ok in there?" Tom asked over the comm. The water had shut off and the window cleared enough for them to assess the damage. Nishioka helped Bell off the floor and both gave thumbs up.
"Sorry Sir, I accidentally tripped the bomblet or it was faulty." Lt Bell said, his mask was off and he had superficial damage to his face; a few nicks and cuts.
"Rios is on his way, so sit tight." Tom told them.
Kate woke at the sound of the blender with a start. She looked around to see Lena in the kitchen with a smile looking at her.
"Morning." She said over the noise.
"What's the time?" Kate asked, wincing at the noise but also her own fatigue as she flopped back onto the couch and covered her eyes waiting for them to adjust to the brightness of the day. She'd definitely overslept as Maddy and Zoe were no where in sight and Frankie was in her crib awake as her arms were waving around.
"10 am." Lena said, the blender stopped and the room grew blissfully quiet with exception of Frankie who was making adorable noises.
"Where are the kids?" Kate asked a little bleary eyed as she turned her head to look at what Lena was doing.
"School." Lena said as she came over with a glass of what looked to be a berry smoothie but looks were usually deceiving. "It's beetroot, spinach, carrot and apple." she said as she placed it on the coffee table for Kate.
"School?" Kate asked surprised to hear as much.
"No point in them moping around in here. Utopia claims to have the best childcare and education system." Lena remarked as if she were reading a brochure but not quite being sold the pitch. "A happy helper dropped by and told me as much. So I went with them, stayed for a bit to make sure it was all well and then came back." Lena told her.
"Scout?" Kate asked.
"Well, it's show and tell at preschool today." Lena told her.
"Zoe's going to be popular." Kate remarked but she had to admit she missed Scout's presence and also the girls. She didn't like them being away from her in what was a foreign locale. But then they were being held here for a reason with the grandiose illusion to make them feel special. So she had to trust that they'd keep the illusion up to stop people from rioting.
"Yes, she is." Lena said proudly. "You need to get up." she added.
"Why? I'm not going anywhere." Kate told her, she had to admit laying down for the rest of the day sounded pretty good to her.
"Because, it's not good to lay around all the time. Also we need to scope the defences. Now drink." Lena ordered as she picked up the smoothie glass and held it out to Kate.
"Scope the defences?" Kate asked with a frown.
"Isn't that what you Military say? We have to know our enemy and we can't do that hiding out in here." Lena told her.
"Even if we did find weaknesses to exploit, we'd have no way of communicating what we know nor a chance to escape given all the obstacles in front of us." Kate argued, she felt defeated just because of her pregnancy and the babies. There was no way to be covert with babies as they were never quiet.
"We have to prepare ourselves for if a chance makes itself available." Lena argued, Kate looked at her and could see the woman was keen to get to work.
"Ok," Kate said pushing herself up and taking the glass from her. "But no Military talk, it'll just get us in trouble." Kate told her.
"How's Bell?" Tom asked Rios as the man stepped into Mike's stateroom.
"He has a low grade fever and fatigue. So I'll be keeping him in the infirmary for the time being." Rios said to him and Mike. Tom could see Rios was concerned and looking unsettled; something that wasn't a good thing. Given that whatever was in that Bomblet; Lt Bell had inhaled a good portion of it before they had hit the decontamination button.
"Should we be worried?" Mike asked Rios.
"I'm not sure, I collected some blood and mucous samples from Lt Bell and the bomblet looked under the microscope that Diaz found in our storage. Apparently not all of Dr Scott's things were removed from the ship as I first thought. Lucky for us. May I sir?" He asked gesturing to Mike's computer. Mike stepped away and nodded.
"Thank you," he signed in under his own name and brought up files. "Now I need you to understand that this is outside of my wheelhouse. I can only make suppositions which could be incorrect." Rios stated.
"Just say whatever it is." Mike said not wanting to waste time.
"Ok, The substance in the bomblet looks like nothing much. But once it hits liquid; bacteria starts to grow at an exponential rate. So I think when it's inhaled it goes into the alveoli of the lungs and propagates before it seeps into the blood stream somehow. I checked and found this same bacteria is Kyoko and Takehaya's blood." He opened a picture on the screen that looked like lots of globs except some were clumped together.
"What are we looking at?" Mike asked.
"That bacteria is wrapped around the cure cells. It's blocking the cure from doing it's job and consuming it. Lt Colonel Cooper asked Kyoko about the mist, she said it was days before the cure arrived in Japan. I think and remember this is with no real proof that if this mist is inhibits the cure. So when the cure is introduced, the body this bacteria latches on it and stops the cure from working." Rios told them, it wasn't as eloquent as one would expect from a doctor but then they were asking a lot from Rios.
"So the cure is useless." Mike surmised as it made sense as to what was going on.
"It's my theory." Rios said not looking impressed with himself but sticking to his guns.
"What about the rest of us?" Tom asked him as last he heard Lt Bell wasn't doing well.
"I don't know, Lt Bell could be just fighting off a reaction to the chemicals or I don't know. I can't say as his blood was clean. We'll have to wait and see and hope for the best." Rios said uncomfortably as it meant they were potentially in a very dangerous situation. Mike and Tom exchanged looks not liking the situation at all.
"How's Takehaya and Kyoko?" Mike asked.
"Not good, Sir. They are deteriorating, but I don't think it's the virus that's killing them." Rios said.
"How so?" Tom asked.
"They're displaying symptoms that the first human trial of the cure showed. Liver failure, rashes, poor circulation. As I said I don't think they are dying from the virus but I just can't prove it. It's just a gut feeling." Rios said clearly frustrated.
Half an hour later,
"Kyoko, in her fever... She was murmuring about a green mist that came in the night." Sasha said as she sat at the couch in Mike's stateroom, Mike sat in his office chair while Tom took up the single seat arm chair looking down at the map on the small coffee table. They'd come together to just wrap their head around everything they had learned.
"If we go off of Rios' theory, then we know why Peng was hoarding the cure. He could fire those missiles over uncured populations, so when the cure finally does arrive... It doesn't work." Mike said.
"That boat was headed to Taiwan on a run. Jesse saw the missiles near Vietnam." Sasha said pointing to the map they had the on the table.
"By the time we got to the ports to receive the cure, it was already too late." Tom said looking down at the map trying to figure out what Peng's mission objectives were so they could make a counter move.
"We were welcomed as heroes in Vietnam. Everyone came out of hiding to get the cure. If they were exposed to this..." Mike drawled,he felt sick to his stomach knowing that their efforts were thwarted. That no one had been saved if anything they helped expedite the virus in taking more victims.
"They spread out across the country to pass on the contagious cure, and if they were exposed to the red flu... they spread that instead." Tom said in mild disbelief as they'd come so far with transporting the cure only for that work to be unravelled.
"That was 10 days ago." Sasha stated, angry at the situation as she'd been so close to the information but it had still been outside of her grasp. If she'd known maybe things could've been different.
"And we don't know how many of these missiles there are." Mike said.
"So... now we know what Peng's plan is. It's genocide." Tom said.