Of Spies and Squirrels

Evil Plans, Always Evil Plans

twenty-first. The encasing specificity was designed so that the activation would be as simultaneous as possible."

"What is the transmission route?" Elizabeth asked. "Human beings don't usually, as a group, come into contact with living squirrels. So how does the virus make the leap? Is it airborne?"

Alton sipped his water. "Multiple paths. Airborne, contact with contacted items, and other ways I don't even understand. But you must realize that the leap will be simultaneous, in many places, around the globe, but at the same moment in time. The virus is shed constantly, and continues to mutate based on its programming until it finds a host. The virus is programmed to seek out an appropriate host, in the shortest amount of time. The leap will happen. Quicker than we can imagine."

I went to the frig and brought back a water for myself and Elizabeth. The smug cad had not thought to be gallant, but that, too, was like him.

"Okay, Alton. We're all going to be infected by squirrels. But what does the virus do? Kill us? Or make us really like nuts?"

Alton finished his water. "Nothing fatal. Making people dead is very easy, you know. Well, maybe not as easy as the two of you thought a few years ago. But still, the vast majority of people cling to life by a fragile thread, and severing it is not difficult, if it needs done to advance some cause. No, death is easy; control is hard. And control is what this all about. Compliance. The virus disrupts, then destroys the portion of the brain involving free will."

"So you wind up with the dictator's dream. A perfectly subservient population. Diabolical!"

Elizabeth drank her water. "Once people realize what's going on, they're find an antidote. The mutation of a hundred generations has to take time; there will be people going to doctors, tests run, vaccines." She shook her head. "Some people are going to get hurt. Maybe a lot. But it won't work."

Alton smiled and wiped his mouth. "Your reasoning is as faultless as your skin, Elizabeth, but your conclusion is off the mark. Yes, people will realize something is happening, and clamor for the government to provide a fix. They always do. That's being counted on. The vaccine is already developed and ready for distribution around the world. And when the people demand it, they'll be given it. But the vaccine is the virus, encased in the penultimate shell. It will activate at the same time as the virus picked up in the wild."

I crushed my plastic bottle. "The squirrels are just a start, and a trigger. People are going to do this to themselves."

"That's the plan."

How does one go about starting a panic? If it's a crowd of women, just drop in a man with the looks of Corbin Bersen when he starred on L.A. Law, the voice of Sean Connery, and the smooth cool of the Dread Pirate Roberts. If it's a crowd of men, a Superbowl ticket tossed into the midst should have the same effect. But for the general public, there's nothing better than to make people want something, just prior to withholding it. It appeared the government, or someone in the government had engineered just such a crisis.

The virus made the leap just as Alton had send. We were still in the safe-house when the news broke of the first infections.

"Watch this."

I opened my eyes. Alton was standing beside my cot, and the television on the wall was turned on, and tuned to CNN. I don't usually watch CNN in the morning; their shows are too thin and entertainment oriented. The story was quick, and short, and Alton had to flip back on the DVR for me to catch the import. People all around the country, just a few here and there, but over the whole nation, hundreds. All of them had been taken to local hospitals in a semi-comatose state, and the symptoms were the same. The announcer gave the usual spiel; the government was working a solution, the best remedy was to wash your hands frequently, and there was no need to panic.

I knew from long experience that Suzy Snowflake on channel ten can't even predict an inch of snow without my entire city ransacking the storms for each loaf of bread, jug of milk, and every roll of toilet paper. I don't know why; maybe storms make people hungry for plain bread sandwiches and milk. The one sure way to start a panic was to advise people not to get into one.

I sat up. "Have you been up all night? Where's that squirrel?"

Alton used the remote to turn the television off. The news would just keep running the same story over and over, with speculative commentary in between. It was what all four twenty-four hour channels did. We knew more of what was going on than the media, anyway.

Alton answered me. "I got a little downtime, about four o'clock, The hundred mutation, and the jump, took place about six this morning. The jump was immediate. Most the of the people who are hospitalized were probably joggers encountering the virus in parks or trails."

I finished waking up. "Alton, it was must have been almost immediate. I thought we had a little time, a few weeks, even. How can it mutate that fast?"

"It probably isn't. These people may have been especially vulnerable, or maybe the whole story is a plant. There's no way to know. The important thing is the game has begun, and we're still lying in bed."

I turned and put my feet on the floor. It was cold. "We should have turned the heat on last night," I muttered, and went to the bathroom. Even Superman, I believe, had to do that once in a while.

Elizabeth had coffee on the burner when I returned. I felt a little bit more human, and the coffee finished the job. How Elizabeth looked so drop-dead gorgeous, just after getting up, and without her usual array of beauty tools, was beyond me. "You look great," I said, between sips of the steaming, hot coffee. "And this is good coffee."

She smiled. "Did Alton tell you about our squirrel?"

I jerked my head up. I had forgotten the contaminated little creature was still around. "No. Where is it?"

"We have a containment unit here," she said. "I put it in there last night, just before I went to bed."

"And when was that?"

"About four."

"So. So." The last I remembered, it had been about two. "Did he drug me? Because I don't remember any of that."

"No. At least, I don't think so."

"So. Did the two of you catch up on things, then?"

Elizabeth stopped and put her cup down. "Are you jealous?"

"Should I be?"

"No. Of course not. Alton and I were a long time ago."

Alton came into the room. "She's right, old man. Besides, its hard to carry the torch for someone who tried to kill you. No offense, Elizabeth, but it is the truth.

A tall, richly built woman came into the room. Alton smiled. "May I introduce my assistant, Odval. She's been helping me each step of the way in this investigation and project. And, she's my wife."