Dead Drop - Stolen Secrets

Chapter Six

Hayley stared at the spot Cooper had occupied a few moments earlier. Why didn't they believe him? Before the SHFT, she didn't pay much attention to the conspiracy theories he talked about, but after everything they'd been through, how could everyone act like they didn't believe him? No one was talking or even looking at each other.

Alex took off her goggles and placed them on the table. Even though she wasn't like the other infected, her eyes gave Hayley the creeps. Her nearly transparent skin was creepy, too but fascinating at the same time. The arteries, veins, and capillaries created a roadmap of her circulatory system sort of like the diagrams of the human body in her science book from last year and in the human anatomy books her mom used to have back in California.

Her mom would have thought it was cool and wouldn't have been scared to look at Alex. But she was gone and would never get to meet Alex or any of the others. Hayley refused to cry anymore even though she thought about her mom and what had happened to her every day. Her fourteenth birthday was only a couple of months away. She was too old to act like a crybaby, especially in front of these people.

She lifted her head and looked into the blood red eyes. Alex's face softened, and she winked. Hayley widened her eyes as her stomach fluttered with excitement over the small gesture.

When Alex started to speak, no one else looked at her. Hayley could tell that they were trying to avoid making eye contact. Alex was smart, even smarter than her dad about some things. She hoped they would listen to her.

"The Rapture virus originated in the U.S. as a weaponized subtype of the A/H5N1 virus. It was deadlier than the 1918 Spanish influenza virus and perfect as weapon of war in a contained area but not as means to start a pandemic."

"We made Rapture?" Michele asked. "And you knew this when you came to Tucson?"

"Yes, Rapture originated here. And yes, I knew about it, but I only found out about it the day before I was sent to Tucson. As I told most of you when we first met, my team and I were trying to find out why Rapture had mutated into Dante's influenza. We were also tasked with finding a cure. But after we arrived in Tucson, the virus was already spreading at an alarming rate. At that point, we knew that millions of people had already been infected.

"Before I was infected, my assistant and I discovered that there was more than one virus at work. But shortly after that, I was infected. The rest of the team died from the virus or were killed by the infected or by gang members who came to the hospital looking for drugs.

I had no idea who had introduced the H2H rabies virus into the genetic material of the A/H5N1 virus until today."

"So who turned it into Dante's?" Michele asked.

"According to the documents, the weaponized H2H rabies virus was a failed Iranian bio-weapon that had very little effect on healthy individuals. But for individuals with an already compromised immune system, the virus was lethal. The researchers concluded, and I agree, that the Iranians added their weaponized H2H rabies virus to Rapture to give it more bang for the buck. They also thought they had developed the cure and were using it as leverage."

"Other documents show evidence that the CDC in Atlanta found traces of the H2H rabies virus in blood samples from several known Iranian terrorists. Their bodies were recovered from JFK, LAX, and Hartsfield airport in Atlanta before the pandemic had been officially declared.

"The Iranians were paid to send a group of bio-martyrs to Mexico. The Gulf Cartel in Mexico smuggled them across the border into the U.S. After Iranians reached their destinations, they infected themselves with the modified virus and infected the travelers and airport personnel at all of the major airport hubs across the country.

Michele was about to speak again, but Alex held up her hand. "Dante's Influenza is a mutation. It's not even a type of flu. It's closer to the rabies virus, kind of a sixty to forty mix of weaponized H2H rabies and the A/H5N virus. The cure the Iranians thought they had wouldn't have worked."

"So, the Iranians started this?" Jake asked.

Hayley spoke before Alex could answer. "Weren't you all listening to my dad?" The group called the World Federated Nations is responsible."

"That's exactly right. A few top Iranian officials may have been members of the WFN, but Iran was essentially a pawn used to deliver the virus. And when evidence pointed to them for tampering with Rapture, it gave the WFN an excuse to nuke them, especially after Iran decimated Jerusalem."

"Israel and Iran were nuked? Shit," Kevin said.

"The WFN hit Iran with at least ten nukes about thirty minutes after Iran attacked Israel. They nuked other countries, too." Alex picked up a folder and opened it. "According to this, they nuked all the major cities in every Middle Eastern country as well as the major cities in North Africa. Most of the missiles originated from the U.S. Two Russian subs and a couple of their missile cruisers also participated."

Hayley watched for everyone's reaction. Their faces were unreadable. Julie hadn't uttered a word since her dad had left the room.

"This still sounds like conspiracy theory bullshit." Everyone turned to look at Katrina.

Alex slammed her fist against the table. One of the folders fell and some of the documents inside slid across the concrete floor. Hayley retrieved the folder, put the documents back inside, and returned it to the stack.

Alex lowered her voice and spoke with a calmness that was not apparent on her face. "Look at me. Do you see me? Do you see what they did to me? From what I've seen and heard, Cooper hasn't been wrong yet. I've heard some of you call this a Zombie Apocalypse. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. This was supposed to be a mass genocide. Whatever else that happened and what is still happening was calculated. These are the facts so you better damn well get used get used to them."

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