Brad Thor - Blowback

“It’s Latin for man-made pestilence. That’s where our initial investigation is pointing. In fact, this is one of the first times Alan and I have both agreed on something like this right off the bat.”

“You don’t normally agree?”

“We practice two different brands of science, so we often have different ways of interpreting things.”

“I’m confused,” replied Harvath as Alan poured a little more wine into his glass. “I thought both of you were Jillian’s paleopathology professors.”

“Not exactly,” said Jillian. “I studied molecular biology under Alan in the graduate program here, and then he recommended me for Vanessa’s PhD program in paleopathology.”

“The brightest and most apt pupil either of us ever had,” replied Mr. Whitcomb.

“And I dare say we grew much closer to Jillian than any of our other students,” added Vanessa. “Even if we’d had children of our own, she still would be very special to us.”

“I don’t doubt it,” said Harvath as he began to better understand their relationship, especially Jillian’s role as a surrogate daughter. “So what about Jillian’s hypothesis?”

“I only know enough about Islamic science to know that I don’t like it. Though I can’t speak extensively to what relevance it may have to this case, I can speak to pestilentiae manu factae and say that they themselves have been used to affect society, political society in particular, for a long, long time.”

Harvath’s interest was definitely piqued. Taking a sip of wine, he asked, “How?”

“The term pestilentiae manu factae was coined by Seneca, the Roman philosopher and advisor to Emperor Nero, in the first century. It was meant to describe the deliberate transmission by mankind of plagues or pestilences. The ancients were very adept at manipulating their environment, and the history of the ancient world, particularly Roman civilization, is rife with stories of people who intentionally spread disease. In Rome, it often happened by pricking unsuspecting citizens with infected needles in order to undermine confidence in the empire’s leadership and topple unpopular governments.”

“Jillian said this mystery illness we’re dealing with resembles an entry in some kind of ancient Machiavellian cookbook called the Arthashastra?”

“Yes, it does.”

“I find it hard to believe that anybody in the modern world would be interested in something like that. Outside of academics, of course.”

“You’d be surprised,” responded Mrs. Whitcomb. “For some people, the Arthashastra still holds a lot of relevance, even to this day.”

Harvath looked at her. “Like whom?”

“I can give you a perfect example. As recently as two years ago, the Indian Defense Ministry began funding a study of the Arthashastra, hoping to uncover what they referred to as ‘secrets of effective stealth warfare,’ including chem-bio weapons, which could be used in the present day against India ’s enemies.”

“Such as Pakistan,” said Harvath.

Vanessa nodded her head and continued on. “Military experts and scientists from Pune University looked into things like a recipe of wild boar’s eyes and fireflies, which was supposed to give soldiers enhanced night vision capabilities. There was another recipe that called for shoes to be smeared with the fat of roasted pregnant camels or bird sperm along with the ashes of cremated children which would then give wearers the ability to march for hundreds of miles without getting tired.”

“No offense, but that’s ridiculous,” replied Harvath, at the same time wondering if the United States should be looking at a possible connection between the illness and India.

“Is it that ridiculous?” asked Mrs. Whitcomb. “It wasn’t so long ago that the American government was experimenting with mice and fruit fly genes in the hopes of developing some kind of magic potion that would allow its troops to go for weeks, even months, without sleeping.”

“If they ever find a way to bottle that, I’m going to be the first one in line, but in all honesty this just seems too far-fetched.”

“You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but it shows the lengths, even in this day and age, to which countries are willing to go to get the edge,” replied Vanessa.

“True,” said Harvath, “but how could a mere book have had so much power, even back then?”

Vanessa waited until Alan had topped off their glasses once more and then responded, “The Arthashastra was a very diabolical and much-feared corpus. It was infamous throughout half the world, just as its author had intended. Mere mention that a king was in possession of it was enough to make invading armies turn and flee. The knowledge contained within the Arthashastra represented enormous power, and we’re all familiar with the saying ‘Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’?”

Harvath nodded.

“Well, there were many kings and military leaders who couldn’t help themselves. Once they got a taste of the power that lay inside the book, they were hungry for more. It spawned a bloodlust. Many kings who had access to the book quickly lost all respect for human life-regardless of whether those lives belonged to their enemies, or even members of their own family whom they suspected of plotting against them. They killed indiscriminately. But even the most bloodthirsty among them were still terrified by some recipes in the Arthashastra-recipes they dare not toy with. One such recipe, I believe, is playing a part in what we’re talking about right now.”

“What is it? What is the recipe?”

“It’s for a very deadly poison, one of the only Western accounts of which comes from Alexander the Great during his campaign through Pakistan into Southeast Asia in the fourth century B.C. The campaign encountered something they had never seen before-a purple snake with a very short body and a head described as being as white as milk or snow. They observed the snake and didn’t find it to be particularly aggressive, but when it did attack, it did so not with its fangs but rather by vomiting on its victim.”

“Vomiting?” repeated Harvath.

Vanessa tilted her head as if to say, Wait, there’s more, and kept speaking. “Once, let’s say, one of your limbs was vomited upon, it would putrefy and you would die very quickly, although there was a small percentage of victims who were known to have died a slow and lingering death over several years, helplessly watching as their bodies wasted away with necrosis.”

Harvath, who had just lost his taste for anything, set his wine glass down and said, “I don’t see the connection.”

“You will,” replied Vanessa. “The breed of snake that Alexander described was completely unknown to science until the end of the nineteenth century. Paleopathologists and herpetologists alike believe that it is the Azemiops feae, a viper indigenous to China, Tibet, Myanmar, and Vietnam. There is still very little modern science actually knows about this animal.

“The author of the Arthashastra, on the other hand, knew quite a bit. The book cited the use of the snake’s venom for several deadly weapons. “Vanessa took a sip of her wine and said,” Now, here’s where I think things will start getting interesting for you. Extracting the venom from this snake was a very complicated process. While still alive, it had to be suspended upside down over a big pot to catch all of the poison as it dripped out.”

“Jesus,” replied Harvath.

Alcott saw the look on his face and asked, “What is it?”

“The village in northern Iraq, Asalaam-where we believed the terrorists tested the virus.”

“What about it?”

“In one building, people who had been infected with the illness were hung from the ceiling, apparently while still alive.”