Life Goes On by Tayell, Frank (large ebook reader txt) 📗

you do, where did you go, and what did you touch?” Avalon demanded, her voice muffled by the protective face covering.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Zach asked.

“You disappeared off radio,” Avalon said. “Who does that?”

“They deployed VX gas,” Hawker said. “We found about a hundred bodies by the harbour. Locals. They were poisoned on the waterfront.”

“It wasn’t gas,” Avalon said. “It would have been an aerosol.”

“VX, seriously?” Tess asked.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Avalon said. “If you’d touched it, you’d be dead already.”

“The captain’s recalled everyone to the ship,” Hawker said.

“What’s VX?” Zach asked.

“A nerve agent,” Oakes said. “One drop on your skin, and you’ll be dead in minutes.”

“Is there a cure?” Zach asked.

“Atropine,” Leo said, holding up one of the two bags. “But it’s not really a cure, so let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah, big needle, straight to the heart,” Oakes said.

“He’s kidding,” Clyde said.

“He is? Oh, good,” Zach said.

“The needle goes into your thigh,” Clyde said.

“You can continue winding him up when we’re back aboard,” Tess said, looking down at her hands. Assuming they lived that long.

Chapter 38 - Atropine for the Soul

Puerto Bolivar, Colombia

They had to catch a boat back to the ship, and not from the pier, but from a sandy stretch of shore four hundred metres to the east. Zach spent the walk exaggerating what they’d found in the tunnel, talking out of the same fear that kept her quiet. At the boat, they had to strip, with most of their gear left on the shore. Clothing and weapons could be replaced, though they kept the memory card, and the phone on which she’d been recording video since the helicopter had dropped them off. At the ship, they had to go through a decontamination scrub, after which she was exhausted.

“You’re clear,” Avalon said, handing her a towel.

“Are you sure?”

“You’d be dead if you weren’t,” she said, returning the atropine back to the case. “There are clothes here, and the captain wants to see you on the bridge.”

“Are you certain it was VX?” Tess asked.

“Either that, or something with very similar effects,” Avalon said without a trace of her usual logical stubbornness. “I’ll have a report for you and the captain within the hour.”

The shower-damp helped hide the fear-sweat as she made her way to the bridge. Leo and Bruce were already there, as were a full watch of sailors.

“I apologise, Commissioner,” the captain said. “Had we flown the helicopter over the pier first, we would have seen the dead flamingos among the bodies of the people.”

“Dead flamingos?” Tess asked.

“They must have arrived after the nerve agent was deployed,” Adams said.

“Probably an air-burst missile rather than artillery,” Leo said, “but I think it was deployed from the east. Doctor Avalon will provide a more definitive answer in a few hours.”

“Are you sure it was VX?” Tess asked.

“Yes. From the position of the bodies, how quickly they died, how mothers were shielding their children,” Leo said. “There are other indicators, too.”

“We’ll get to that,” Adams said. “Tell her about the recording on the memory card.”

“Did you watch it?” Tess asked.

“Yes, but I’ve seen the first half of the footage before,” Leo said. “The second half is the torture and execution of the three people crucified in the courtyard. The first half was uploaded online before the internet finally collapsed. Back in Canberra, I was collecting all the footage people had grabbed before the net went down, and found dozens of copies of this file. Thirty-six people all took it in turns to speak to the camera, to say a few words of encouragement. Not to each other, but to the world. The gist being that if we all stood together, forgot past differences, past enmities, we could defeat the horror. The clip ends with a priest giving a blessing, telling the camera, as much as his flock, that if they don’t give into fear, they can still restore this Garden of Eden. That’s when they opened the gates and attacked.”

“The defenders opened the gates?” Tess asked. “They wanted to die?”

“They wanted repentance,” Adams said. “They knew for whom they worked. I understand you found supplies in the tunnels. Assault rifles, medicine, and food. These locals dug those tunnels. They knew what was down there. Knew who had hidden it. I suspect they knew why, too.”

“There were more than thirty-six bodies at the pier,” Leo said. “A lot of them were kids. I think the message, and their intent, was as the captain said, but these people had a more immediate need to rescue their families who were trapped nearby. That’s why they attacked rather than fought a defence.”

“That’s the first half of the video?” Tess asked. “And the second half is the torture and execution of those three?”

“Yes, I’ve got it cued up here if you want to watch,” Leo said, pointing at a screen.

“No, I’ve seen the end result,” Tess said, though she reflexively turned to look. “Hang about. That’s the woman from the tunnel. Her, in the blue shirt. She’s… she’s not armed. But she’s watching the camera.”

“Watching the audience,” Leo said. “I’m certain there was one. I’ve not yet determined whether it was locals, or guards.”

“I’ll take a look at that later,” Tess said. In the still, a man in an immaculate white suit, with an equally immaculate goatee, held a long, thin, flensing knife above his head. With his arm raised, she could see the belt and holster, made of reptile-skin, which matched the boots on his feet. “Yes, I’ll take another look at this later. But was that blue-shirt woman in any of the earlier footage?”

“Not that I remember,” Leo said. “I’d have to look again.”

“Later,” Tess said. “We found crates of AKMs in the tunnels. Some medical