Apart from the glove testing, we spent a bit of time with Irene and Yana discussing the next step in the mission, which was the actual virus elimination. I remember one sunny October afternoon when we were all sitting outside, enjoying our short break and hot cocoa. I wondered if there were any updates from “the other camp251.”
“What have the bad boys been doing all this time?” I asked Irene and Yana.
“Working on new variants while we’ve been busy on our glove,” Irene said. “People get sick around the world and we’re picking up some disturbing tendences.”
“The good thing is,” Yana said, “with the new little toy Albert invented, theoretically, it does not matter how many variants they’ll produce. The glove’s antiviral impulse isn’t specific to one virus or protein on its surface, so it will destroy new viruses that emerge straight away and will overcome the development of any resistance. Potentially, this technology could make all vaccines obsolete.”
“Sounds lethal” Marco said, gently sipping his hot beverage.
“It is,” Irene said. “So, we want you, Lizzy, to be extra careful while using the glove because we don’t entirely understand whether there are any negative implications on the carrier. Needless to say252, we don’t want it end up in the wrong hands either.”
“It’s been all right so far,” I said. “Apart from slight headaches, I’ve been ok. Besides, Shawna and Latosha are recording every step I take – even when I go the bathroom.”
The lack of privacy was something I had to get used to, but I felt that this little sacrifice was for the right reasons. In a way, it even made me feel protected.
“It’s their job,” Yana said, smiling. “Have you been sleeping well?”
I had mentioned my insomnia to the research team to make sure they had the whole picture of my health situation. I omitted253 the fact of seeing the man in a black kimono… who stopped showing up in my dreams since I started working with the glove.
“I have. Sleeping like a baby,” I said and winked at Marco.
Then Irene showed us the plan that showed the places of virus production Marco and I were going to visit and the details of how we were going to get in. In order not to draw any attention to our mission, it had been decided that it would only be the two of us handling the viruses. We would get some assistance from the Committee’s people on the ground and Albert’s team online.
There were three centers altogether.
I felt both nervous and excited about it. The fact that the Committee trusted us meant a lot to me, but I was not really sure that I was up for the job. Marco seemed to be confident that we could do it and, gradually, his confidence sifted through my uneasiness into my mind, making me feel less worried.
Three centers to go.
According to our “traveling itinerary254” (that’s what Marco called it), our first target was a few hundred kilometers from us. In fact, the place was not too far away from the cave in the Adirondack Mountains where my father had stepped from the green, pulsating ball of light. Marco and I drove there in the minivan that was equipped with all the necessary gear and supplies that we could possibly need during the trip, including a powerful police-edition taser255 and a gun.
The hub256 was situated in a rural area and was hidden behind a green fence with a line of densely planted pine trees behind it along the perimeter. It was impossible to see what was behind the wall, but we were not too worried about that because, thanks to our contact inside, we had a detailed plan of the area, down to the combination of the lock to the room we needed to get into and while Albert and his team would hack specific cameras inside.
We arrived two hours before we were supposed to meet with our contact, Consuela, and parked a few hundred meters away from the entrance point and the security cameras. That gave us enough time to prepare the glove and go over the details of what we were going to do inside and have a light snack. It was getting dark. When we were finishing our sandwiches, a female silhouette appeared in the rear-view mirror with a flashlight. She flicked it three times. That was our contact and the signal for us to disembark257.
Consuela, a pleasant-looking woman in her thirties, was still wearing her working overalls with an embroidered258 with the words “Paws of Love,” the name of the veterinarian research center and our place of business for tonight. She led us to the back door through a patch of pine trees.
“Everyone has gone home,” she said. “I haven’t activated the alarm system yet. I’m supposed to throw away the trash in the large garbage bin outside at the end of each working day.”
“Will the security get suspicious?” Marco asked.
“Nah, I’ve been doing it for some time now for them to get used to it. I would go out for a minute and come back. With each trip, I would just make that minute longer. Speaking of which, we must hurry up.”
We quickened our pace and soon were at the back door. “What about the cameras?” I asked her.
“They won’t you see in this,” she said, led us to a large shopping cart, which looked like a large shopping cart.
We climbed in it and Consuela covered us with a canvas cloth.
“Here we go,” we heard her say as we felt the movement of the cart.
After a few minutes of rattling259 and a short elevator trip, we stopped, and she let us out. We were in the maintenance room260 in the basement of the center.
“Do you know how much time you have?” she asked us.
“Three minutes,” Marco said, remembering the instructions we had received prior to the mission, and pressed a button on the electronic watch Albert had given him, activating the stopwatch. “The cameras in the area will be showing empty corridors for a minute or so, right?”
“That’s what Albert told me, and I hope he’s right.”
Consuela opened the door of the room, peeked outside, and gave a thumbs up. It did not take us a long time – a few turns down the grey-walled corridor – to get to the door we were looking for. We made sure that our faces were not exposed to the camera above the door just in case. The door had a code lock. Marco punched the digits 19260474, and it clicked opened. We quickly entered and shut the door behind us.
We found ourselves in a dimly lit lab261 with two rows of animal cages along the walls. At the other end of the room, there was a big glass container, the size of a refrigerator, with vials in it. It looked remarkably similar to the one I was practicing with back in the center. As we were carefully walking toward the container,