Matthew Reilly - Area 7

that world of gray, I have to make decisions—often difficult

ones. Sure, Kevin existed long before I became President,

but once I knew about him, I had to make the call to continue

the project. I made that call. I may not like it, but in

the face of an agent like the Sinovirus, tough decisions are

necessary."

There was a short silence.

Book spoke. "What about the prisoners downstairs?"

"And the animals. What are they used for?" Juliet said.

Schofield frowned. He hadn't seen Level 5, so he didn't

know about any animals or prisoners.

Herbie Franklin answered. "The animals are used for

both projects, the vaccine and the 7th Squadron augmentation.

The Kodiak bears are utilized for their blood toxins. All

bears have extremely high blood-oxygen levels for use when

they hibernate. The blood enhancement research for the 7th

Squadron came from them."

"So what about the other cages, the water-filled ones?"

Janson asked. "What's in them?"

Herbie paused. "A rare breed of monitor lizard known

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as the Komodo dragon. The largest lizard in the world, about

thirteen feet long, as big as a regular crocodile. We have six

of them."

"And what are they used for?" Schofield asked.

"Komodos are the most ancient reptilian species on

earth, found only on the scattered middle islands in Indonesia.

They're great swimmers--been known to swim between

islands--but they're equally fast on land, easily capable of

running down a man, which they do regularly. Their internal

antibiotic system, however, is extraordinarily robust. They

are all but impervious to illness. Their lymph nodes produce

a highly concentrated antibacterial serum that has protected

them against disease for thousands of years."

The President said, "The Komodo dragons' blood byproducts

have been reconfigured to match the structure of

human blood, and as such form the basis of Kevin's immune

system. We then harvest Kevin's genetically constructed

blood plasma to produce a serum that can be inserted into

America's water supply--a serum-hydrate solution--thereby immunizing the general population against the Sinovirus."

"You spike the water supply?" Schofield said.

"Oh, it's been done before," Herbie said. "In 1989,

against botulinum toxin, and in 1990--because of Iraq--

against anthrax. Although Americans don't know it, they're

resistant to all the world's major biological weapons."

"What about the human prisoners?" Book II asked.

"What are they here for?"

Herbie looked to the President, who nodded silently.

The little scientist shrugged. "The human prisoners are

another story altogether. They're not here to provide any sort

of blood by-product or serum. Their role is simple. They're

guinea pigs for the testing of the vaccine."

"Jesus Christ," Gant breathed when she saw the list of

prisoner names.

After Herbie had told them the purpose of the prisoners

downstairs, he had brought up a list of their names on one of

the laboratory's computer terminals.

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There were forty-two of them in total, all multiple lifers

or death-row candidates who had somehow escaped the

chair.

"The worst of the worst," Herbie said, nodding at the

list of names.

Schofield had heard of many of them.

Sylvester McLean--the child-murderer from Atlanta.

Ronald Noonan--the Houston baker turned clock-tower

sniper. Lucifer Leary--the serial killer from Phoenix. Seth

Grimshaw--the notorious leader of the Black League, an

ultra-violent terrorist organization that believed the U.S.

government was preparing America for a United Nations

takeover.

"Seth Grimshaw?" Gant said, seeing the name. She

turned to Juliet Janson. "Wasn't he the one who--?"

"Yes," Janson said, glancing nervously at the President

over on the far side of the lab. "In early February. Just after

the inauguration. He's a genuine 18-84."

Gant said, "Oh, man, do I hope their cages are sturdy."

"all right. great," schofield said. "which brings us

back to the here and now. We're shut in here. They want to

kill the President. And because of the radio transmitter on

his heart, if he dies, fourteen major cities go up in smoke."

"And all right in front of the people of America," Janson

said.

"Not necessarily," the President said, "because Caesar

wouldn't know about the LBJ Directive."

"What's the LBJ Directive?" Schofield asked.

"It's a feature of the Emergency Broadcast System, but

known only to the President and the Vice-President. It's essentially

a safety valve, brought in by Lyndon Johnson in

1967, to stop the BBS from being used too soon."

"So what does it do?"

"It provides for a forty-five-minute delay of any broadcast

sent over the system, unless a presidential override

code is entered. In other words, except in the most urgent

circumstances, it stops a panic broadcast from being sent

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out, effectively allowing for a forty-five-minute cooling-off

period.

"Now, since it's 8:09, Caesar's initial broadcast has got

out there, but if we were to find the BBS transmission box

inside this complex, we could stop all his subsequent transmissions."

Schofield pursed his lips, thinking. "That has to be a

secondary consideration. Something to do only if we happen

to be in the right place at the right time."

He turned to Herbie. "Tell us about this complex."

Herbie shrugged. "What's there to know? It's a fortress.

Used to be NORAD headquarters. When it shuts down, it shuts down. The thing is, I don't think anyone ever expected

it to be used to keep someone locked in"

"But even a total lockdown must have a release procedure,"

Schofield said. "Something which opens the doors

when the crisis is over."

Herbie nodded. "The time lock."

"Time lock?"

"In the event of total lockdown, a timer-controlled security

system is activated. Every hour on the hour, those people

still alive inside the base have a five-minute window

period to enter one of three possible codes."

"What kind of codes?" Gant asked.

"Remember," Herbie said, "this facility was intended

for use in a full-scale U.S.-Soviet nuclear exchange. The

codes reflect that. As such, there are three possible entry

codes.

"The first code simply continues the lockdown. The nuclear

crisis is still going, so the facility remains locked

down. The second code assumes the crisis has been resolved.

It calls an end to the lockdown--armored blast doors

are retracted and all entrances and exits are reopened."

"And the third code?" Gant asked.

"The third code is a halfway measure--it allows for

messenger escape. It authorizes title opening of individual

exits and entrances for messengers to leave the facility."

Schofield was listening to Herbie carefully.

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"What happens when no code is entered during the

hourly window period?" he asked.

"You're fast, Captain. You see, that's the kicker, isn't it?

If no code is entered, the complex's computer is warned that

the facility may have been taken by the enemy. It then gives

you one chance to reenter one of the other codes at the next hourly window period. If no code is entered at that time,

then the computer assumes that the facility has been taken

by the enemy, at which point the facility's self-destruct

mechanism is activated."