CH 90
"What do you think, MacGyver?"
"Someone's head's going to roll. I need to look over everything. I feel sorry for him… he asks for help, letting people know what is going on, but no one wants to know or…."
"Or what?"
"They have been paid to look the other away or to do up fake reports."
"Scorpion."
"It looks like it. Generations that live here are going to be wiped out for what? Greed and power. So, the question is, who's behind it?"
"Good point." When they returned aboard the ship, Hammersley left port and headed to home port.
MacGyver was reading and making copies of everything when Mike and Kate walked into the ship's office. "MacGyver, what's this?"
"Notes, emails, everything from the past six years Doctor Wallace collected. Sir, what he told Swain and I is alarming."
"Does it have to do with that body?"
"That's just the tip of the iceberg. He said this about the symptoms that they get with the unusual tumor," passing Mike a sheet of paper. He and Kate read it.
"This is exactly what the island monster had before he died," Kate said.
"Yes, there are forty-three known cases worldwide. That's not including the seven on Stokes Island. In the past three years, all but one died the same way," MacGyver said.
"Oh my gosh!" Kate said.
"Here, you will find this very interesting," passing them three sheets of paper. One for birth, death, and age bracket from when they died.
"There have been no births in the past five years," Kate noted.
"Twenty-nine couples went to be tested. All twenty-nine were infertile, and fifteen women had to have hysterectomies because they developed cancer."
"That's a high number," Mike said.
"Now, look at the deaths; it's very high compared to ten years ago."
"Wow. What else can you tell us?" Mike asked.
MacGyver told them everything she knew, including what the doctor had told her and Swain.
"I'll contact NAVCOM about this."
"Sir, can you ask RO to check out ships from the past six years? They go past Stoke Island with the shipping lane just ten miles northeast of the island."
"Sure."
"Thanks, Sir."
In Cairns, Mike, Kate, Swain, and MacGyver are called into Maxine's office to discuss the prisoner's death onboard. They listened to her going on about the effect it will have on the Navy if word gets out and that it will be a PR nightmare.
"Commander White," MacGyver said, causing Maxine to stop talking and look at MacGyver in anger.
"What is it, Chief Petty Officer?"
"You may think what happened on Hammersley is a nightmare. Till we get the autopsy report, you can't go around thinking that we were responsible for his death. I'll state my career that we had nothing to do with that young man's death."
"You're steaking your career…."
"Yes, I am. I believe that he died from a brain tumor."
"And what made you come to that conclusion?"
"Doctor Wallace, Ma'am."
"Ah, yes… He drinks a lot, from what I've been told from his homebrew. I wouldn't believe a word he says."
MacGyver turned to Mike, "the file, Sir." Mike opened his briefcase, got the file, and passed it to her. Then she turns back to Maxine and steps forward, dropping the file on her desk.
"What's this?"
"These are the records from over the past ten years of births, deaths, and the age brackets of each death and other things that shocked you, Commander." MacGyver opened the file moving the sheets of paper with the information.
"I don't understand," Maxine says.
MacGyver moves four sheets next to each other.
"Look at the Island's statistics, Commander. You can see that the last five years are alarming."
Maxine looked at the births from the last ten years, she frowned.
"Where are the last five years of the births?"
"Look at the death records."
Maxine looked at them all. "Is this a joke?"
MacGyver pulled out another sheet and showed it to her. It listed the causes of death and now many every year for the past ten years. When she saw the number of infant deaths caused by birth defects and cancer, she was shocked. She looks up at MacGyver.
"Within the next two to three years, everyone on the island will be dead because of cancer. They're just over six hundred people left on the island, and one-quarter have been diagnosed with cancer already."
"Are they getting treatments?"
"They are, but they are eating the contaminated fish and swimming in the sea. Before we left the island, I brought water samples and a whole fish back with me. I gave them to the corner so he can have them tested."
"When will we know the results?" Mike asked.
Just then, her cell phone rings. "Now," she said, answering and putting the phone on speaker.
"June Roth, hello…."
"June, it's David Price here."
"Hi, David. What have you got for me?"
"I've tested the water sample; it's contaminated."
"What is it?"
"There's high levels of mercury and arsenic."
"How high are the levels?"
"Ten times higher than normal levels."
"And the fish?"
"Full of it. Also, I noticed cancer cells in its flesh, brains, and organs."
"Can the cancer cells from the fish be passed onto humans?"
"I've got a friend of mine here; he's a marine biologist; I'll ask him.
He said he has no idea if they can be passed on to humans. He also said that he's never seen anything like this in his twenty-three-year career."
"We can answer that for you… yes, if the person or persons eat it."
"We noticed that the young man's stomach contents show that he ate the fish, which was full of poison and the presence of cancer cells."
"Can you tell me how he died?"
"Brain bleed, which was caused by an unusual cancer."
"Unusual as there are forty-three reported cases."
"Yes, that the one."
"I'm at NAVCOM. Can you email Commander White the results on everything and more about the brain tumor that killed the young guy?"
"Sure. June cancer was also found in his liver and lymph nodes."
"Thanks, David."
"Any time, June."
"So somewhere in the shipping lane, some bastard is dumping toxic garbage into the ocean and has destroyed many lives on Stroke Island, Commander White. There are four other islands in the area around the shipping zone. They might also be affected by this. We need to check them out."
"You can return to Stoke Island. Dr. Wallace has ordered four boxes of chemotherapy treatments for his patients. This is the third shipment to the island this month."
"Now you know how bad it is, Commander."
"Yes, I do. You leave as soon as the boxes are on board."
MacGyver turned to Mike, "Sir, permission to go to the hospital labs and pick up boxes of water testing kits. We can take samples from different parts of the shipping lane and find out how far this contaminated water has spread."
"Do you need it?"
"Yes, Sir. We can keep a record of each location of where each sample we take for evidence."
"Swain, go with her."
"Yes, Sir."
"Thanks, Sir; see you both on Hammersley." Swain and MacGyver saluted Mike and Maxine before walking out of the office.
MacGyver got her phone out of her pocket and made a phone call. When they arrived at the labs, they walked in. "Sorry, you can't go in there," a male voice said behind them. MacGyver turns around and smiles.
"June!" he said, shocked.
"Hello David," they hug.
"Wow, last time I saw you was when you were assigned up here. Look at you! Chief Petty Officer now and Victoria Cross. You'll have to tell me how you got that one day."
"One day, but I'm here to pick up the testing kits."
"Got them here."
"Doctor David Price, Petty officer Chris Blake, Swain as we call him."
"Nice to meet you, Chris."
"You too, David," they shook hands.
MacGyver opened one of the boxes, opened the kit, closed it, put it back in its box, and closed the lid. "Thanks for all of these."
"Before you go, let me show you something." They walk through the double doors and over to the computer where he did some typing, then pictures pop up.
"Is that the young guy's cancer?"
"Yes, it is, but this cancer is not your normal cancer like the one on the left."
"It's more cream than pink colour… have you ever seen anything like this before?" MacGyver asked him.
"Russia, in the eighties, after the Chernobyl disaster. I looked at his liver, and at least five lymph nodes came back positive for cancer." He did some more typing then it showed the guy's CT scan.
"Green is cancer," David said.
"My gosh, it's in his bones. He must have been suffering for a long time," MacGyver said. "Thanks for showing us this, David."
"You're welcome." They walk back out into the other room where they grab the boxes. MacGyver signs for them and takes a copy of the papers with her.
They returned to Hammersley and sorted out the boxes, then got changed. Hammersley left port and headed back to Stoke Island. "MacGyver, are you ok?" Dutchy asked.
"I will be as soon as we get the bastards that are doing this." Everyone turns to her, including Mike.
"MacGyver…"
She turned to Mike. "David showed Swain and me a cat scan of the young guy; he must have been suffering for some time. The cancer was not only in his brain, but it was also in his liver, lymph nodes, and bone. He would have been in extreme pain."
"He's not suffering now," Mike said.
"But others are, Sir. The cancer that was removed from his brain is similar to victims from Chernobyl."
"MacGyver, here's the list of ships from the past six years. There's one you might be interested in; they carry palm oil," RO told her, passing her the list of ships. One was underlined.
"Do you know where the ship is?"
"In Cairns, they docked this morning."
"Thanks, RO. X, where is the shipping lane?"
"Ok, I would like to take the first water sample here," she pointed to the screen.
Mike saw where she pointed. "Ok, X, take us there." Kate gave a course change to the helmsman.
When they reach the spot, MacGyver tosses a rope with a plastic jug attached to it over the side and manages to fill some of it up. "Got it," she yelled out as she pulled the line in while wearing disposable gloves.
Swain took a sample of the water while two dads recorded everything.
"It is positive for mercury and arsenic," he put the results into the test tubes. Then he dipped a special stick into the water. When it turned colour he matched it with the color board.
"Ten percent," he said out loud, then put it in the test tube.
They cleaned up, rinsed the container and the part of the rope with seawater they got just as they were leaving Cairns. MacGyver types in her laptop the location and records everything. By the time they reached Stokes Island, MacGyver and Swain had collected over twenty samples. They all were positive for mercury and arsenic poisoning in the water.
After dropping the boxes off, MacGyver and Mike went to talk to Doctor
Wallace.
"Your back; I hope you some news for me."
"We have. You're right; there's a high concentration of mercury and arsenic poison in the sea. It's the same for the water and fish I took back with me. They also came up positive."
"So, that's what's causing the cancer."
"We found that the fish also have this cancer. The young man we took with us didn't just have it in his brain; it was in his liver, lymph nodes, and bone."
"My gosh, I didn't realize how bad it was." MacGyver showed him the autopsy report.
"What can I do now?"
"Post warning signs up about the fish and water."
"I don't think they will listen to me."
"Just try your best." Mike said, "that's all you can do.
"Any idea who's behind this?"
"We are close to figuring it out. We've been collecting samples since we left Cairns. All I can say is that it's not good news."
"I hope you find them soon."
"We will. We are going to check neighboring islands."
"Only one out of the four islands are inhabitable. The one island, Columbus Island, has been hit with cancer. I've got seven of their people in my clinic waiting for treatment. They told me that there are others that are too sick to travel. Can you go and make them comfortable? That's all we can do."
"We can do that," Mike said.
"Thank you."
"We'd better get going."
"Ok. Thank you for dropping the boxes off."
"No worries." They walked back to Hammersley.
"Sir Columbus Island is the furthest island from here. It looks like the toxin has spread to there."
"Question is how far has it spread?"
"I don't know, Sir. We are going to be needing extra supplies like morphine. Also, Melbourne should be on standby for assistance."
"Good idea."
Twenty minutes later, Hammersley headed to a village on Columbus Island. On the way, Swain and MacGyver took more water samples. Once they reached the island, the team checked on the people there. RO and Two Dads used their helmet cams to record their findings. They found many sick or already dead.
"Charlie eight-two, Sir, we're going to need lots of help with the sick and…. dead."
"How many are we looking at, MacGyver?"
"Everyone, and we will all be needing counseling when we return home."
"X, Swain, do you agree?"
"MacGyver right, Sir, I just saw two kids the same age as Chole, both dead, so are their parents," Swain said sadly.
"Copy that Swain." Mike contacted Melbourne, and they steamed towards the island to assist.
