Chapter 7: General Shrieve

CHINA, HONG KONG – MILITARY COMPOUND: 24 JUN 2013

SAH-HIM (OLIVER)

During the daylight hours, the compound was a bustle of activity. Hisan had gathered them to overlook the entire compound. They had identified several warehouses, an office building, and an open parking area. While scanning the area they could see activity on several of the vehicles, several military and one civilian.

"We must reexamine Shrieve's objective," Hisan declared as he pulled back from the edge. He turned to Maseo. "What do we know of the Alpha-Omega Virus?" he asked.

Maseo was frustrated. He wanted action. The lack of action was frustrating him. "It kills cities," he replied angrily.

"Yes," Hisan replied patiently. "How does it kill cities?" he asked in clarification.

Maseo sighed and thought back to the various briefings he had on the virus. "It becomes a vapor and is inhaled by the victim. It propagates in their lungs and they drown in their own blood," Maseo replied. "As they die, the virus is expelled through coughing and breathing."

"Alright," Hisan said while he thought. "Shrieve would need to release it in a public area with a large population. He would need to get them to breathe heavier. Inhale more virus. That means he will attempt to release it during the day. As people die, others will panic and breathe heavier. They will spread the virus further."

Maseo was surprised that his information had helped them to narrow down Shrieve's target. "If it is a vapor, it is in the air. The weather would be a factor as well."

"Yes," Sah-him replied with a nod. "Hong Kong is a port. Even on calm days, the ocean will create a gentle breeze. In the mornings the breeze blows to land. In the evenings, the breeze blows to sea."

"Very good," Hisan replied with approval. "The release will likely be in the late morning during lunch or in the evening around dinner. That makes the civilian vehicle the likely carrier. It is a civilian food truck."

"Damn it!" Sah-him swore.

"What of the other vehicles?" Tatsu asked. "They were preparing all of them."

"I am unsure," Hisan replied. "It is possible that Shrieve has learned of Director Waller's escape. Those may be to assist in hunting her and you down. They could also be diversions to distract Waller from the real target." He turned to Dafdae. "Place a tracker on each of the vehicles. This facility is too secure to strike during the day without being seen. They will not leave today since it is after the evening meal."

"It will be done," Dafdae replied and then slipped away.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Tatsu asked.

Hisan smiled. "Eliminate a few more of the terrorist conspirators," Hisan replied. "Meet back at the van when you are ready to return. We cannot finish this hunt tonight."

~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~

CHINA, HONG KONG – PORT MARKETPLACE: 25 JUN 2013

SAH-HIM (OLIVER)

After a brief rest at Mei's apartment, the group followed the tracker to the food truck. They found it early in the morning. Only one man was stationed on the truck, but they could see the men guarding the truck standing around the marketplace. They all stood out.

"We will take out the guards," Sah-him told the Yamashiros. "You get the guy in the truck."

Dafdae and Hisan dispersed into the crowded market. Sah-him had just finished darting his third man when the guy from the truck ran past him with the vial of Alpha-Omega in his hand. He immediately gave chase.

"Tingzhi!" Sah-him shouted at the man in Chinese. "Stop!" he repeated in English.

The man glanced back at him before he continued to try and dodge through the crowd. Sah-him was gaining on him. He reached out and grabbed the back of the man's shirt and pulled. The man whirled around and punched at him. Then he tried a roundhouse kick. Sah-him blocked his kick and delivered two vicious punches to the man's chest.

The man staggered, but stayed upright. The vial was still in his left hand. He had a dangerous look in his eye. The man then tried to attack with his right arm and use a forward snap-kick. Sah-him easily blocked the punch and dodged the kick while sweeping his remaining leg out from under him.

The man's shock at being bested so easily was overshadowed by his instinctive move to release the vial midair to use his left hand to catch his fall. Because of momentum, the vial was thrown away from where Sah-him was fighting the man.

Sah-him saw the man release the vial and tried to chase it. He jumped at the last second in a vain hope to catch the vial. It shattered on the ground just a foot from his sprawled body. The liquid in the vial immediately became mist and disappeared.

Sah-him stared at the shattered glass in horror as running feet caught up to him. The virus had been released. His heart beat a rapid tempo as he stared with dread at the shattered glass on the ground.

"Sah-him?" Maseo asked.

Sah-him slowly turned his horrified look to Maseo. Behind him, Tatsu had her katana pointed at the man on the ground.

Maseo turned to his wife. "We have failed, Tatsu," Maseo told her sadly.

Tatsu glanced up and took in the horrified look on Sah-him's face and the broken vial just out of his reach. She turned to the man on the ground. "Your evil will no longer plague this planet," she told him. Then she ran him through with her katana. The expression of duty on her face never changed. She only expressed sadness over the life of the man she was forced to kill.

"Come, Tatsu," Maseo replied. "We have to get back to Akio. It is time to leave Hong Kong."

The mention of her son got Tatsu moving again. They were joined by the others in the van and rushed back through the streets of Hong Kong as the city broke out in chaos.

People were walking slowly with blood dripping out of their eyes and nose before they collapsed in the street. Others were panicking and running causing more chaos. Cars crashed into buildings and street poles as their drivers succumbed to the virus. With each passing second, the chaos seemed to escalate.

~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~

CHINA, HONG KONG – VARIOUS: JUN 2013

The group remained armed with swords brandished to dissuade strangers from approaching them. They finally approached Mei's apartment and knocked. She quickly let them inside.

"Thank God, you are all okay," Mei replied. "The streets have turned chaotic in the last hour."

"I failed," Sah-him told her sadly.

"We all failed," Hisan added. "It was not your duty alone, Sah-him."

"The virus was released," Mei stated, reading Sah-him's guilt.

"It was," Tatsu replied. "Maseo and I spooked the food truck driver. Sah-him was able to stop him, but the vial broke on the ground."

Mei gave a huge sigh of relief. "The vaccine must work if you were all that close to the release point. You would have received a higher dose of the virus. You do not appear to be showing any symptoms," Mei said with relief in her voice.

Hisan called their attention. "I have reported. Our people are going to remove the source of evil during this chaos. Dafdae, Sah-him, come," he ordered.

"We need to leave Hong Kong," Maseo replied. "It is no longer safe."

"We can drop you off on our way to the compound. It is near the edge of the mountains," Hisan replied.

"I want to help," Mei replied. "I can shoot a bow. My father taught me."

"You are welcome as well," Hisan replied. "You may seek justice for your city."

Mei ran to the closet and gathered her bow and quiver. She joined the group as they trooped back to the van and piled in. Tatsu kept Akio in her arms in the crowded van. Sah-him and Dafdae crouched in the back with the remaining weapons. They had already strapped their quivers and swords on their backs. They armed up with as many darts and knives as they could carry in their civilian clothes. Their League gear was still back at the safe house.

"I'm not feeling so well, Okasan," Akio said in a subdued voice to Tatsu.

"It's okay, Akio," Tatsu said and immediately raised her hand to her son's forehead. He burned with a fever. Her eyes widened. "No," she whispered. Just then a drop of blood started to fall from Akio's nose. "No, no, no," she chanted.

Maseo looked over to see Tatsu start to panic as Akio was showing obvious signs of having become ill. His own eyes startled. "How can this be?" Maseo demanded. "Have we not done everything the gods desired? Why must they take our son?" he said angrily.

Mei looked over at Tatsu and Akio. She saw the blood. "Oh, Akio," she whispered. "I was hoping you had enough time. I was so glad the vaccine worked for the others."

"What do you mean?" Maseo demanded.

"Children do not have a very efficient immune system," Mei explained. "They need to be exposed to a vaccine for longer than an adult to gain immunity to the virus. I was hoping… I was hoping that Akio had enough time. I am so sorry."

They continued to drive in silence through the chaotic streets. "Stop!" Tatsu shouted.

Hisan slammed on the brakes at Tatsu's request.

Tatsu opened the door and carried Akio inside a pharmacy. Maseo followed her, but he could not just watch his son die. "If Shrieve developed a vaccine, he must have developed a cure. I will go get it from him. I will save our son," he told Tatsu. He stood up and climbed back into the van. "Go! We will interrogate Shrieve. He made a vaccine. He must have made a cure," Maseo told them.

Hisan started the van again. "We will see," he replied.

"I hope he did, Maseo," Mei told him. "But… don't get your hopes up. Vaccines are easy to develop. Cures are not."

"I will save my son," Maseo told her firmly.

The van slowly made it to the compound. Hisan checked his phone. "The others are here. We can attack at any time. I have told them to leave the source for us," he told the group. Hisan finished arming himself with his swords and his quiver before taking his bow.

Hisan nodded to them and they spread out and began to systematically target and shoot every person in the compound. Maseo could see several of the other figures in the black outfits he had seen in Starling City. They also used bows and swords. They did not seem to be affected by the gunfire directed against them. He approved.

Hisan's group moved to clear the office building. It was in this building they found General Matthew Shrieve smoking a cigar.

"About time you showed up, Yamashiro," Shrieve barked gruffly. "My men have had a hell of a time trying to find you and that little pixy of a wife of yours."

Maseo just shot Shrieve in the leg and pushed his desk further away. "Nice try, General," Maseo said as he picked up the gun Shrieve had dropped to the floor. "We have a few questions," he said.

"Like why did I do this?" Shrieve asked. "I'll gladly tell you that. China is too big. Too strong a military power. They own too much of the USA. I won't stand for that," he declared fanatically.

"We already know why you did this," Maseo replied. "We even know about your vaccine. We want to know about the cure."

"The cure," Shrieve said with caution.

"You made a vaccine. Surely you made a cure," Maseo declared with hope in his eyes.

"Of course," Shrieve replied, making note of Maseo's hope. "It's in my safe. We didn't make a lot of it."

"Open it," Maseo demanded.

"Why should I?" Shrieve asked.

Maseo responded by pulling the injured general out of the chair and pinning his left hand on the floor. Then he shot off the man's pinky finger.

"I'll do it," Shrieve gasped in pain.

Maseo dragged him over to the safe. Shrieve typed in his code and the safe swung open. Maseo pulled the general away before he could touch anything.

"It's right there," Shrieve said. "Those bottles."

Mei stepped forward and pulled out the bottles before reading the names on the vials. She looked at Maseo. "He is lying. This is insulin medication." She checked the other vials. They were all the same. She shook her head. "It is all the same," she replied.

Shrieve started to laugh. Maseo punched him several times before Hisan pulled him away. "Do not give evil the pleasure of your pain. Let us end it instead. Replace his evil with death," Hisan told him.

"Gladly," Maseo replied. "I hope you burn in hell." Then Maseo shot Shrieve in the head. Shreive's brains spilled out the back of his skull. Maseo continued to stare at Shrieve's body for a few minutes before he turned to the others. "I need to return to Tatsu and Akio," Maseo said solemnly.

"I can take him," Mei said.

Hisan nodded. "Yes, you should be with your family," he told Maseo. "Dafdae, go with them. We will need the van returned."

"Yes, Hisan," Dafdae said as she stood to one side.

Once they had left, Hisan turned to Sah-him. "Let us finish cleaning this compound of evil," he told Sah-him.

~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~AU~