The Pandora Effect Ch. 03

Garrett Brown jumped at the thought of what her idea of getting his attention meant. Adam once again grabbed his arm and shook his head, indicating that he should remain still. To calm him down, he gave the S.A.D. man a knowing wink of his eye.

With practiced speed, Kevin placed the muzzle of his weapon against Eason's knee and pressed slightly. Kristine circled the nervous man until she stood next to him but opposite of Alpha's point man. She placed her hands on the table and as she looked at the sweating director, her smile vanished.

"I don't get mad Eason, he does, so if you don't want to limp for the rest of your useless bureaucratic life, shut up and listen. You've lost two teams already and the Brits have lost one. I promised myself I'd never work for the CIA again because of paper pushers like you. Just because you're in charge doesn't always make you right."

"What's your name?" Eason asked in a shaky voice.

"Kristine Dawson, but my name was Duka before I got married to the team leader over there."

"Shit, I know who you are now. You're that pushy little Intel Officer that was stationed in Aviano Italy after the Predjama mission. I should have known you'd be back to cause me grief."

"I like to think of myself as assertive thank you very much. Here's how this is going to go. We help Garrett and Jake Newton catch this Soviet Major and bring down the three tangos you can't seem to get. I lead all Intel on the mission, and I do mean all, because if you do something to prevent the successful execution of the mission that leads to the death of my team, I'll make sure you don't see the sun come up in the morning."

The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. To her credit, Kristine never blinked as she held her ground, but inside she wondered if maybe she was a little dramatic. Finally, Tanner Eason looked down the table at Garrett.

"Fine, have it your way Brown, but understand this. You will sign a document stating that you accept full responsibility for the mission and that you are proceeding under protest from the Director of the CIA. This disaster isn't going to be pinned on me when it goes south," he said sternly to Garrett Brown.

"I figured as much, you'll have it on your desk within the hour."

Tanner Eason looked at the stern faces of the SEAL team members. He realized he was in no position to argue with these people any further, so he stood and walked quickly towards the door. As he opened it, he turned back and glared at the group. Now that he didn't have a gun pointed at his knee, he felt a little braver.

"When this blows up in your face Brown because you're using amateurs, I want your resignation on my desk the very next day," he spat at him and then rushed out the door.

An eerie silence hung in the room as the door slammed shut. Kristine turned and glared at the S.A.D. director. Garrett saw that the entire SEAL team was watching him to make the first move. He in turn wanted to say something, but was still stunned at Kristine's performance. Seeing his astonished face, Adam broke the silence.

He turned his head quickly to Kristine. "Your team? Since when did this become – your – team?"

"Oh honey, did you think I carried it a little far? I mean Kevin really wasn't going to shoot him in the knee."

"Yes I was," Kevin said quickly with a smile.

Garrett Brown got up and walked slowly over to Kristine. He had a stern look on his face that quickly turned into the biggest smile she ever saw from him. "That was one of the greatest things I've seen in my life. You have no idea how many people you just made happy."

"Thanks Garrett but the same goes for you too. I want my men back alive."

"Can we get back to the point where this became your team for just a moment," Adam said with a puzzled look.

Kristine looked over at her loving husband and blew him a kiss. "Still love me?"

"If you two are done playing kissy face, can we please get on with the fucking briefing?" Bob Holiday said in a stern tone.

The SEALs enjoyed a moment of laughter as Garrett walked to the front of the room. As he pulled a screen down, the lights in the room automatically dimmed to a soft glow. He picked up a remote off the table and pressed one of the lighted buttons on the panel. As a projector dropped from the ceiling, the screen came to life with the picture of Bashir Haddad.

Kevin realized that with all probability he was looking at the human form of a fellow werewolf. "Chasing down other werewolves is getting to be old. Why can't we just go after a nice human terrorist for a change," he thought.

"This is Bashir Haddad. He's the team leader of what we believe to be a single working faction out of Lebanon. He and two others have been training in Libya for the past eight years. We believe he is married to this woman, Rashida Turk.

Kevin's heart sank when he heard the news. She had to know her husband was a werewolf, or, given the damage to the last team, a werewolf too. This mission was starting to worry him, as he leaned forward and stared at the photo.

"Gentlemen, don't get any illusions about the fact she's a woman, she's just as capable as her husband is at killing. If you're pointing a weapon at her and she smiles, take her fucking teeth out."

After going over the resume of the three terrorists, Garrett brought up the picture of Nadia Karpov. The wolf whistles filled the room and Garrett smiled at the happy SEALs.
"Yeah I know, smoking hot isn't she, but this is one cold blooded bitch. She's a biochemists and she has transferred the deadliest virus known to mankind to those three terrorists."

"Shit I hate being right all the time," Kristine said under her breath.

John Balch had a hobby of studying known viruses and they all had some type of antidote of some kind. "Excuse me Mr. Brown, do you mean like the plague or something?"

"Oh yeah, you're the new medic aren't you? You should find this fascinating then. The virus is designated as VP-137. The Russians designed it during the cold war but always kept it in the testing phase. Trust me when I tell you this virus makes the plague look like a mild case of the sniffles." Adam suddenly wished he never met this man at the Officer's Club and worried that he just put his entire team at risk.

"What I'm about you show you is so fucking classified that the only way you could see it is with the President's approval. I'm about to disobey a direct order from him because I think you need to be aware of what you're up against. The knowledge of this films existence does not leave this room. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" he said as the SEALs all nodded.

Garrett pressed another button as a film started playing on the screen. The scene was a bright white laboratory where a large glass maze held a single mouse. He scurried around the maze until he found the small piece of cheese hidden in a corner. As the team watched the mouse enjoy his reward, Garrett paused the film.

"The virus is about to be released into the maze. If any of you feel the need, the trash can is in the corner of the room," he told them as he pressed the play button.

The small white rat stood up on its hind legs and began sniffing the air. It couldn't smell the deadly tonic, just a rush of air entering his playful home. After a few minutes, the mouse started to walk away from the piece of cheese. It appeared he was having trouble breathing and wobbled as he turned in the maze.

Within moments, pieces of fur started to fall from his sides. Replacing the missing fur were seeping sores that extruded small amounts of a white gooey substance. As the mouse navigated the maze, he started bumping into the clear walls as if it was his first time in the maze. He seemed confused and disoriented as he stumbled along.

After a few moments, the mouse lay on his side and tried to breath, gasping for any air he could get. Suddenly the chest expanded for the last time and he was dead. John just stared at the mouse and wondered why Garrett Brown mentioned the trash can.

"Wow that virus sure took effect fast. Did they create an antidote when they made it?" Balch asked.

"No. The idea was to destroy the virus and wipe all records clean. You'll understand why in a few minutes. Remember the trashcan is in the corner. What you can't see right now is the recycling of all air inside the maze, and removal of the virus."

The team sat quietly as the dead mouse started to decay at an accelerated pace. His small eyes sank back into their sockets and his remaining fur turned to a blackish stain. Next, they saw another similar mouse enter the maze. He was trying to reach the cheese left over from the previous lab rat, but couldn't because of a sealed doorway.

"What you're seeing here is the next test subject. He can't get at the cheese but knows where it is. He knows the only way there from previous attempts is through that door, so he sits and waits for the technician to open it."

After a few moments, Adam noticed a twitch from the dead rat's leg. "So the virus didn't kill him, his leg is twitching."

"Films not over yet, Dawson."

The disfigured mouse slowly rose and walked slowly around the maze. It no longer bumped into the walls as he made his way around. When he came upon the small piece of cheese, he sniffed it and walked away. The mouse soon saw his cellmate on the other side of the door. In a burst of speed, he moved quickly towards him and slammed his body into the protective glass.

Garrett stopped the film. "I want to remind you that the knowledge of this film does not leave this room. That deformed mouse that you see clawing at the door to get to the other mouse – is dead."

"That's impossible! You can see he's up and moving, pissed off, but he's moving," Adam said.

"He was tested afterwards in that same condition. He has no heartbeat, no instinct to eat the cheese he left behind. The only thing left behind is a driving desire to attack the uninfected mouse."

"Holy Mother of God," Bob Holiday whispered.

"The virus is nicknamed Pandora. What your about to see next is called the Pandora Effect. The trash can is in the back of the room."

As the dead rat attacked the glass, the other mouse became nervous and began to move away from the doorway. It seemed to sense danger and retreated to a safer distance. As the glass door slid up, the dead mouse ran after the uninfected one quickly. The uninfected white mouse scampered around the maze as he tried to find somewhere safe to go, but to no avail.

When he fled into a corridor with no exit, he turned and faced the attacking mouse. As the two of them fought, the uninfected mouse received several bites and claw marks and soon succumbed to the amount of damage the other inflicted. As the bleeding mouse collapsed, the dead mouse started to eat. He first used his large front teeth to rip into the abdomen of the bleeding corpse.

As the intestines spilled out onto the floor of the maze, it appeared the dead mouse was ravenous and continued to claw and dig more of the inside out. When the abdominal cavity was empty, he began picking up the pieces and devouring them.

As the horrific scene unfolded, Dan Vasquez couldn't hold it any longer and quickly moved to the corner of the room and delivered the contents of his breakfast to the bottom of the trashcan. The smell of V-man's regurgitated breakfast filled the air, which caused everyone else to fight back the rising vile in their own throats.

"Don't feel bad V-man, I still feel the same way every time I watch this. The films not over so if you feel you need to stay there, be my guest," Garrett said with real sympathy.

Once the decayed mouse had his fill, he moved away slowly and wondered through the maze aimlessly. Kristine almost joined him and had to place her head in her hands as she watched the torn up mouse start to try to crawl through the maze. When Adam saw him dragging what was left behind of his intestines, he turned away and told Garrett to stop the film.

Garrett pressed a few more buttons and the lights came on as the projector rose back up into the ceiling. As he tossed the remote on the table, he moved over to Adam and looked down at him. He was pale and Garrett could tell he was ready to join V-man at the trashcan.

"If it means anything Adam, my entire team lost it as they watched the ending. Your team did a good job handling that," Garrett said as he placed his hand on Adam's shoulder.

"Don't pack me on the back just yet, the day's still young," Adam replied as he tried very hard to lose his own breakfast on the large table.

"Okay Brown, let me see if I have this correct. This Russian bitch concocted a virus that first, makes you sick, then kills you, then the damn shit brings you back from the dead so you can kill someone else and then transfer the virus to them so they can attack someone else?" Holiday said.

"That pretty much sums it up Chief. Now you can understand why Eason didn't want any help on this one. If this got out, there would be mass hysteria around the world. People would arm themselves to the teeth and shoot anything that wondered towards them – human, or zombie."

"So where do you want to start Garrett? We can't waste any more time," Adam said as he stood up.

"The guard down the hall will escort you to security where you will all be issued a clearance badge. After that, I want you and Kristine to meet me in office and see if we can come up with something I might have missed. Chief can take the rest of the team and meet up with Jake to go over our weapons. I'm sure there's some down there that you've never seen before."

"Alright everyone, you heard the man let's get going. V-man, you gonna be able to perform or do I need to replace you?" Adam asked as his sniper stood up and wiped his face.

"I'm good to go Boss, but I think I'm going to skip lunch if you don't mind," he replied as he moved towards the others.

"Adam, can I have a word with you and Kristine in private," Kevin asked.

The team moved out into the hall and spotted the guard. As the door closed, Kevin turned to his team leader and friend. Other than his girlfriend Laura, they were the only ones he trusted with his secret.

"L-Tee, you should know something. The three tangos are probably werewolves and since they have their hands on a virus that will kill every living thing it touches I know what they're planning on doing."

"Go on Dvorska, I'm listening."

"They want to kill all the humans on the face of the planet and repopulate it with werewolves. They wouldn't have to do much except sit around and wait for us to kill each other. However, here's the scary part, what would happen if a werewolf was infected like that? Can you imagine the amount of carnage a zombie-like werewolf could cause?"

"No I can't Kevin so just do me a favor and don't get infected."

"The other sticking point is if we come up against one of them, they will change in order to fight us off. The team is going to find out, and you and I both know that Jake and I will have to change in order to win."

Kristine looked puzzled. "What do you mean you and Jake?"

At that point, Kevin knew he screwed up. If they did have to change, she was going to find out sooner or later. "Sorry Kristine I let that slip, but now it's out there. Jake is a werewolf just like me. Don't worry about him though, he's on our side."

Kristine looked back and forth between the two Navy SEALs. "This just keeps getting better and better all the time. Remind me to slap you both the next time you want to help someone."

Outskirts of Zernove, Ukraine.

General Nicholai Pudovkin cursed the situation he found himself in as he listened to the instructions from President Loginov. He wanted to retire last year and enjoy his grandchildren as he sat on his front porch. The President talked him into one more year as head of the elite Spetsnaz unit. Now, at the end of his career, he was forced to follow the most horrific order ever given to him.

"...I know Mr. President, and as soon as I have any information I'll pass it on. I still have four teams clearing the area. They should be back soon, but we've lost radio contact with them," he said and then nodded his head slightly as he listened to the President.

"Yes Mr. President, I know this is a delicate matter for you and I will do my best..."

Suddenly, from the edge of town, General Pudovkin saw one of his Spetsnaz teams walking towards the containment line. "Mr. President, I'll have to get back to you. One of my teams is exiting the town now and as soon as I get my briefing, I'll contact you again on this line," he said and then quickly hung up his satellite phone.

As the three men approached, he wondered where the others were. Each team had five members, so where were the other two? Just before they reached the containment line, one of his team leaders, Captain Gavril Moryakov, dropped to his knees and removed his gas mask. Even though his commanding General was approaching, he couldn't help it when he placed his hands on the ground and vomited. His other two comrades soon joined him.

Pudovkin waited for the three to finish. He saw the tape that the research scientist made but he never saw what effect it had on humans. He took pity on the men that had to go into the town and clear it.

"Gavril, where are the other teams? We lost radio contact and I couldn't risk sending more men in without a situation report."

"They're – we – we were overrun Sir. Those of us that weren't dead but only wounded stayed behind to buy us time to get out," he said as he wiped his face and looked up at Pudovkin.

"Sir, I know this will remove me from the Spetsnaz, but I will not go back into that town under any circumstances. My God General, they were eating them while they were still alive. What the hell happened to them?"

"It's okay Gavril, I understand Comrade. Did you get the video out, or is it with one of the other teams?"

Gavril removed his backpack and pulled a small video recorder out. As he handed it to the General, he had trouble keeping his hand from shaking. "The good news, if you can call it that, is that there are only about a hundred or so residents left. For some reason they seem to be gathered around the church in the center of town."

"Thank you Captain, you've done a great service to your country today," Pudovkin said as he watched his team leader place his hands back on the ground and continue where he left off.

**********

Kevin and the rest of the SEALs followed Jake Newton down the long bright corridor. When they came upon a door with large box on the wall, they stopped and watched as Jake leaned down and placed his eye on a small hole. Within a few moments, they heard the door unlock and open slightly.

"Jesus kid, what kind of security device is that?" Bob Holiday asked.

"It's kind of a James Bond type thing for the weapons locker. It's called a retinal scanner and you can't trick it or bypass it," he replied as he walked through the door.

As V-man and John Balch followed, V-man leaned over to John. "You can if you have someone else eyeball with you," he said with a grin.

"Is it just me Dan, or are you always this disgusting?"

"Calm down there GQ, it's just a little medical humor."

"I don't get it, aren't SEAL medics nicknamed Doc?"

"Yeah, but the way you keep checking on how you look, I think GQ fits you better," V-man said with a laugh.

Except for Adam, the team assembled around Jake and then looked at the numerous shelves and storage units. This was by far the largest weapons locker Bob Holiday had ever been in, and it showed on his face as he looked around.