Project Deliverance, undisclosed location in Sudan
JP climbed out of the Land Rover in the underground parking lot of the Project Deliverance compound. He was tired and anxious to see Talia.
Zula exited the vehicle from the other side. Despite the fact that she had sat for three hours in a downpour in the Larnaca harbor and they had flown overnight, she looked fresh and alert. She took in the underground garage at a glance, her eyes sucking in details.
“Where are we?” she said.
JP gave her a tight smile. He had taken her electronics before they took off from Cyprus. “Sorry. Some things have to stay secret—even from you, Zula. This is a secure research lab for Recodna. You won’t find it on any company registers or even any maps.”
“Funded by the owner of the yacht?” she replied.
A heavy door behind JP opened with a crack of steel. Kasim, his head of security, entered the garage.
“What do we have here, boss?” Kasim said in his booming voice. “You bring me a gift?”
The big man moved into JP’s line of sight, his hand resting on the submachine gun strapped across his body armor. His gaze traveled up Zula’s body, his face a leer.
“Ms. Bekele is my guest here, Kasim,” JP said sharply. Too sharply, he realized. Zula could take care of herself. “Find her a place to sleep in the security quarters. We’ll be leaving in the morning.”
“She can share my bed, boss.”
JP laughed as he moved toward the elevator. “I’d like to see you try, Kasim. I think she likes to be on top.”
“Where are you going?” Zula said.
“The laboratory below is off-limits to security. The only person who’s not a member of the research team that has access is Kasim, and that’s only under my specific authorization.” He smiled at her sour expression. “Don’t worry, Zula. It’s safe.”
When JP exited the elevator into the upper-level living quarters, he expected to find everyone at breakfast, but the common room was deserted. He checked the security monitors, cycling through the screens until he found them. It looked like the entire team was in the viewing area for the level-four biosafety room. Most of the basic work was done in less secure labs. The BSL-4 lab, which required positive-pressure biohazard suits, was only used when they handled live viruses.
JP’s pulse raced as he hurried to the stairs. Talia had said they were close to a breakthrough on the next version of the virus. Maybe this was it.
He clattered down the steps to the lowest level of the compound, and strode toward the knot of people crowded at the end of the hall. He heard Talia’s voice, her tone excited, and a reply came through the intercom.
“It’s JP,” one of the women said to Talia.
When Talia turned toward him, her face was flushed with excitement.
“We’ve done it, JP!” She pumped a fist in the air. “We’ve done it.” She threw herself at him and planted a kiss on his lips. Her body pressed against him, her energy contagious.
The rest of the scientists crowded around them. They were like children, with their expressions of rapturous glee and the way they awkwardly high-fived each other.
“Okay, I take it the news is good,” JP said, with a smile. “How about you share your new toy with an outsider?”
Talia motioned for Greta to do the explanation. “She did most of the modifications, so I’ll let her explain.”
Greta beamed. “This is so exciting.” She took a deep breath. “Our first test proved we could control the latency of the Ebola virus, remember?”
JP nodded, recalling the test with the rhesus macaques.
“The follow-on work showed we could amplify a known strain of virus.”
JP nodded again. He felt Talia’s hand tighten on his arm as she reacted to the reminder of the discovered test in Yemen.
Greta continued. “Now we have successfully combined Ebola with the paleo-flu virus. We have aerosolized Ebola paired with a completely unknown flu-virus template. Let’s see the Blue Team figure this one out!” She high-fived Lakshmi again.
Talia touched the intercom button so she could be heard inside the lab where Dr. Lu and Faraj waited in bulky positive pressure suits. “Xianshan, can you show the microscope pictures again, please?”
She positioned JP in front of the high-definition displays. He saw the familiar tangled string image of the Ebola virus next to a cluster of spherical flu virus samples.
“This is what we started with,” Talia said. “The high-latency Ebola and the paleo-flu virus.” She tapped the keyboard, and the screen showed a sphere twice the size of the original flu virus, with large glycoprotein protrusions from the Ebola virus studding the exterior.
“And this is the finished product. A virus within a virus.” Talia’s eyes shone and she seemed close to tears as she gripped her lover’s hand. “A true chimera.
“This is it, JP,” she whispered. “I can feel it. This is it.”
“What about delivery?” JP asked. “How confident are you that it can be aerosolized?”
Dr. Lu’s precise voice took on a robotlike quality through the intercom. “With the flu virus as the carrier, this has the characteristics of an airborne virus with the theoretical lethality of Ebola. We don’t know for sure if we’ve retained the effectiveness of the Ebola virus until we test it on live specimens, but I see no reason why that can’t be achieved.”
“How long will that take?” JP asked.
“The latency in this version is three days,” Lu replied.
JP was already planning in his head. Three days for an internal test, but they would need a real-world test. Yemen was no longer viable, so he needed another test site.…
“JP,” Talia’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “You’re not listening to me.”
He realized the entire group of scientists was watching him. “I’m sorry. It’s just so overwhelming, such good news.”
“I think we all agree with that, but what about a name?”
“A name?”
“Yes.” Talia looked back at all the scientists, who nodded in unison. “We all feel like we’ve given birth in a way. Our creation deserves a name and since you’re the proud papa, we think you should be the one to do the honors.”
A thousand ideas flooded JP’s mind. Chaos … Shiva … the list went on and on.
“I think of this as our child,” Talia whispered. “Something we created together from the seeds of humanity. It’s beautiful.”
JP absorbed the inquiring looks of the team.
“You’re right,” he said, looking at the screen. “I think we should call her … Pandora.”
“Pandora,” Talia said, as if savoring the taste of the word on her tongue. “I think it’s a marvelous name.”
“We should get a sample to the Blue Team as soon as possible,” JP said. “Prepare a sample and I’ll take it with me in the morning.”