Zimbabwe

 

Lat = 19 degrees, 48.2 minutes South

Long = 32 degrees, 22.3 minutes East.

 

Shakira walked over to the largest of the three buildings, a guard was standing guarding the only access, Shakira entered the building and it was brightly lit with several technicians in white smocks working.

There were no windows, however it was cool from the air-conditioning unit, a large extractor system was hanging from the roof, which was giving off a constant hum.

The building was a well-equipped laboratory; one of the men turned and walked over to Shakira.

This man was Basil-Al-Sahem, born in Iraq, a biochemist, educated in America and Britain. It was whilst in the west that Sahem acquired a gambling addiction, which left him owing large amounts of moneys.

He had fled back to Iraq, however his addiction to gambling brought him more trouble, in the form of bad horse racing debt’s to some heavy hitters, as a result, and he went into hiding.

Fourteen months ago a contract had been put out on Sahem; Mustapha had been tasked with carrying it out.

One month later Mustapha finally tracked Sahem down in a Beirut suburb.

His sadistic nature would not permit him to kill Sahem outright, so he decided to have some fun before killing him.

It was during this torture that Sahem convinced him about his discovery.

Mustapha contacted Shakira and they met up in Beirut, Shakira listened to Sahem explain his discovery, Mustapha smuggled Sahem out of Beirut to the safe house in South Yemen.

Mustapha convinced the people whom had hired him to kill Sahem, that the job had been done; he collected the bounty from them and returned to the safe house.

“Everything is on schedule,” Sahem said.

“Good, we will be in position to deploy the devices in four weeks’ time,” replied Shakira.

Shakira walked over to one of the devices, it certainly looked impressive; on the table nearby were the polymer globes and he picked one up and examined it.

Sahem’s discovery had saved his life! He had created a strain of Ricin one hundred times more powerful than the normal substance and gone onto develop a formula for mixing Ricin with Lanate to create a lethal toxin with no known antidote.

Arsenic generally takes one hundred granules to kill someone; Ricin takes one to two granules.

Or when injected into the body causes widespread damage to most organ systems and a combination of pulmonary, liver and renal.

Ricin is a toxic material, which if ingested, inhaled and immunological failure may result in death.

No antidote is known: treatment can only be supportive. Although not normally contagious, the strain Sahem had developed was contagious making for a highly effective poison.

Lanate is part of the Organophosphate pesticide family, these pesticides affect the nervous system by disrupting the enzyme that regulates acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. They were developed during the early Nineteenth century, but their effects on insects, which are similar to their effects on humans, were discovered in nineteen thirty-two. Some are very poisonous; they were used in World War 2 as nerve agents.

Sahem had successfully combined both agents together to create a Binary Munitions’, by placing them in the clear polymer globe a small explosive charge would explode breaking the globe; the combined agents would disseminate becoming volatile airborne particles. This effect would create a Non-persistent agent, dispersing rapidly and present an intermediate but short-lived hazard.

One globe would affect an area of fifteen square miles; it would affect every creature exposed to it, humans and animals. If it gets on someone’s cloths, wherever they go for approximately several hours other people will be exposed.

After the initial strike it would remain in the atmosphere for a maximum of twelve hours, before it would break down and dissipate.

Shakira replaced the polymer globe back on the table. “You are sure there is no antidote for this?”

“Believe me it will take a long time to find one,” responded Sahem.

“I want a fully armed and operational unit ready for deployment tomorrow morning.”

“It will be ready.”

“Excellent; now don’t let me keep you from your work.” Shakira turned and walked out of the laboratory.