Game changer, p.41
Game Changer, page 41
“Well you were wrong!” said Rachel in disgust. “What you did is unforgivable. And when I said you can’t do this, I wasn’t speaking literally. Of course the virus will work. I was saying you can’t do this because of its impact on humanity. You know it will affect all religions, all supernatural beliefs.”
“Of course I do,” he replied, returning the small vial to the case and setting it back on the table.
“Do you have any idea what that might do to our species?” she said. “The unintended consequences? The scientist in you knows this propensity is there for a reason. We evolved it. It’s an integral part of the human condition.”
“I agree it’s an evolved feature,” said Kovonov. “But so what? It’s vestigial. We evolved tonsils, an appendix, and wisdom teeth. These are no longer needed. Same is true of religion.”
“You couldn’t be more wrong,” insisted Rachel. “Our fear of the unknown is as great as ever. Our need for religion as great as ever. It’s a tenet of human nature as fundamental as sex or hunger. And you’re just going to rip it out by its roots? Erasing these areas of our brains might ramp up the neuroses of our species to unsustainable levels. Do you really think this is a good time to take that chance?”
She forced her expression to soften. “I get your frustration with religion,” she continued more calmly. “It has caused a lot of harm. But the importance of spirituality in human existence can’t be overemphasized. Only when this spirituality impulse becomes entwined with a restrictive and dogmatic religious creed are we threatened.”
Rachel paused, deciding on the best way to press her argument further. “Do I wish there weren’t extremists who interpreted their religion as a call to send civilization into the Dark Ages, to kill all non-believers, to bring about the Apocalypse? Of course I do. And I wish I didn’t have to go through long lines at airports, or learn about a terror attack somewhere in the world almost every day. But what you’re planning isn’t the answer. Religion can become bastardized, but so can everything. Islamic extremism is a cancer on religion. But if you can’t excise the tumor, you don’t vaporize the entire patient. You contain the tumor and wait for an immune response to kick in.”
“This isn’t just about a too-literal interpretation of Islam,” said Kovonov. “Throughout history every religion has been antagonistic to every other. Because if one divine faith is true, every other must be a lie. The history of our species contains endless examples of religious tribalism, of conquests justified in the name of a Creator, spurring on our violent tendencies and leading to massive bloodshed. Do you know how many millions of people have been murdered in the name of Christ? In the name of a savior who preached love and compassion and turn the other cheek?”
“The crusades and pogroms were many hundreds of years ago,” said Rachel defiantly. “The Christian religion has now become the peaceful religion its deity intended. Through time, the same will happen with Islamic extremists. If you could limit this to only the most rabid extremists, stripping them of their core beliefs, of their passion for jihad, this would be one thing. But you can’t. And I promise you that removing all religiosity from the human species will only end in disaster. It will leave a gaping hole in the human psyche that can never be filled.”
Kovonov smiled icily. “I guess we’ll soon get to find out.”
“Even if you strip religious belief from the jihadists,” said Rachel, “this won’t stop the jihad. Not anymore. It’s been set in motion. For many it’s all about their faith, but for many others it’s come to be about more than this. About revenge, and hatred, and power. Once there is death and destruction on both sides, it becomes self-fueling, the reasons that it began not important anymore.”
“Now this is something I can agree with,” said Kovonov. “Which is why the virus is only step two. Step one is to wipe out the current generation of jihadists like so many cockroaches. Wipe the slate clean. Then introduce the virus to prevent this cancer from ever growing back.”
“How do you plan to exterminate all jihadists?” said Quinn.
“I don’t. I plan to leave that to the most powerful military force the world has ever seen. It’s your country that will end this worldwide threat, once and for all.”
“Not a chance,” said Quinn. “Our people—our leaders—haven’t shown an appetite to devote the boots on the ground and financial resources needed to even dent this threat, let alone eliminate it.”
“They just haven’t been properly motivated yet,” said Kovonov ominously.
Quinn had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Are you saying you’re going to supply the motivation?”
“I am, indeed,” said Kovonov smugly. “In just about two hours from now, the instant the clock strikes midnight in your nation’s capitol, the San Francisco Bay Area will no longer exist. It will suffer a nuclear detonation. For a brief instant, it will become hotter than the sun, with only a mushroom cloud to mark where a thriving city once stood.”
He stared at Quinn with a grim intensity. “How’s that for proper motivation?”
69
Quinn was reeling. Could it be? Was this madman’s true plan even worse than the elimination of all religious belief? It was too horrible to even contemplate.
Just a short time earlier he and Rachel had thought they were on the brink of stopping Kovonov cold. Now Quinn knew his own life expectancy could be measured in days, at most, and that not only was Kovonov untouched, he was crazier and more dangerous than ever.
Quinn shook his head as he came to his senses. What was he thinking? Of course this last threat wasn’t true, regardless of how resourceful and formidable Kovonov had shown himself to be.
“You’ve finally gone full bore delusional,” he said. “Just getting a nuclear device into San Francisco would be all but impossible. But you’re asking us to believe that you not only managed this, but also orchestrated events so ISIS will take the fall for it?”
“Believe what you want,” said Kovonov. “But that’s exactly what is about to happen.”
“How?” said Rachel.
“Glad you asked,” replied Kovonov. “Remember Kim Jong-un? He may have been a psychotic imbecile, but he had some people working for him who were exceedingly competent. You’ll find this hard to believe, but they managed to sneak nuclear devices into six of your cities several years back. Israel learned about this at the eleventh hour from our fly drones. We were just able to stop them in time. And then we killed Kim Jong-un. You have Israel to thank for averting a catastrophe and removing an enemy from the board. But these nuclear devices remained in place.”
Quinn whitened. This threat had suddenly become much more believable.
Kovonov studied his prisoners with great interest, noting that both of them now looked like they had seen a ghost. “Wortzman disclosed this to you already, didn’t he? I can tell from your reaction.”
Quinn nodded woodenly. “He did.”
“Interesting,” said Kovonov. “I never guessed my old boss would come clean about so much. Good. Now you know I’m telling the truth. To continue, we only managed to stop North Korea because we were able to get the detonation codes and change them at the last moment. We later managed to remove five of the six devices in secret and transport them back to Israel to add to our own arsenal. Which took some doing, I might add.”
He raised his eyebrows. “The sixth, in San Francisco, had been embedded in the foundation of a skyscraper that was being constructed at the time. There was no way for us to remove this one without being obvious. Wortzman was adamant that we not tell your government about stopping North Korea, which meant we couldn’t say anything about the device. If we did, Wortzman worried it would raise too many questions about our capabilities that he didn’t want to answer.”
“So you just left it there?” whispered Quinn, feeling hollow, sickened.
“Why not? We were the only ones with the activation codes and we wouldn’t use them under any circumstances. Only a few people in all of Israel knew that this was the case, and the codes were deleted from every database we had. All except one.”
“Which you found,” said Quinn.
Kovonov nodded. “I’ve had them for some time now. But very recently I freed a member of ISIS’s military council who was being held here in America. A man named al-Bilawy. He’s still in this country, and I’ve programmed him to set off the nuke. But before he does this, he’ll make it absolutely clear to your government that he and ISIS are responsible.”
He paused, seeming to enjoy the horrified reaction of his audience.
“Not that he wouldn’t have been thrilled to do this without any programming,” continued Kovonov, “but I wanted to make sure he got your attention in the proper way. In just a few hours, he will kick awake a sleeping giant. I’ll admit, the kick will be much more painful than I would have liked. But then again, the giant is in a coma.”
He nodded proudly. “Once America is awake, your country will flip on the light switch to reveal the full extent of the cockroach infestation, and you will exterminate them once and for all. You will finally worry more about the future of civilization than about political correctness or possible collateral damage. America will turn its awesome might to a scorched earth campaign deploying every missile, plane, and pair of boots on the ground available to it.”
He paused for several seconds as if visualizing this glorious future in his mind. “Then, once you’ve wiped the slate clean and destroyed the caliphate, I’ll release my virus and make sure this tumor never grows back.”
Kovonov nodded slowly. “And it all begins in just a few hours in the City by the Bay.”
Tears welled up in Rachel Howard’s eyes. “How can you do this?” she whispered, barely managing to get the words out. “How can you kill millions of innocents like this?”
“If that’s what it takes to wake the US up to the threat, I’m doing you and the world a favor. Believe me, if not for Israel, San Francisco would have already been lost. Along with five other American cities. And if I didn’t initiate this, the real jihadists would very soon. The global caliphate has been allowed to grow too strong and too bold. Your leaders have their heads buried so deep in the sand it’s inevitable. I know you think I’m a monster, but I’m just speeding it along, amputating an arm to save a life. Like Hiroshima, I’m taking innocent lives to spare even more.”
“Yeah, you’re quite the humanitarian,” spat Quinn.
“Just so you know, I did set this up to give your country an out. But Davinroy failed to take it, as I knew he would. He’s a jackass and a weakling. I made sure al-Bilawy gave him plenty of notice. I made sure Davinroy knew that he couldn’t stop the detonation. In this case, the only option he had was to begin a preemptive strike against ISIS. Throw everything at them, including nuclear weapons, until they agreed to call off their dog.”
“But this al-Bilawy isn’t their dog,” said Quinn. “He’s yours.”
“True, but your president doesn’t know that. Had he acted quickly with a preemptive strike, I would have stopped al-Bilawy myself. But of course Davinroy did nothing. He continues to live down to my every expectation. And San Francisco will have to pay the price for his incompetence, his inaction.”
“You will go down in history in the same breath as Stalin and Hitler,” said Quinn.
“I don’t care how history judges me,” said Kovonov. “These other men sought global domination. I do what I do to prevent global domination.”
He shook his head. “As much fun as this has been, Agent Quinn, it’s time for you to leave. While I prefer to have companionship while I await America’s awakening, Dr. Howard will do just fine. And with you here, I can’t help but feel like a third wheel. I’m sure you understand.”
“Fuck you!” spat Quinn.
“No thanks,” said Kovonov. “But when Dr. Howard makes this same offer, you can believe I’ll take her up on it.”
Quinn fought against his restraints, even knowing it was useless, but retained just enough presence of mind to stop before he injured himself.
Kovonov waited patiently for him to settle back down. When he had, Kovonov reached into Quinn’s front pocket and removed his cell phone. “While I was spying on Plum Island I heard McLeod tell his men that the phones he issued to you were untraceable, even by him. I asked my men not to destroy your phones when you were captured so I could study them. Just curious how these compare to Israeli models.” He smiled. “In case you didn’t know, I happen to have a PhD level of knowledge in electronics, cryptography, and counter-surveillance.”
“Of course you do,” said Quinn.
“I also want to study you, Agent Quinn. So I set up a makeshift lab a half mile from here. I’m going to have one of my hired guns take you there now so I can complete a few choice experiments.”
“Do these experiments include torturing me to death?”
“Maybe,” said Kovonov with a shrug. “I guess we’ll just have to see how cooperative you are.”
***
Kovonov sent a text to one of his mercenaries and a few minutes later left the prisoners alone so he could meet with the man in the pitch-darkness beyond the cabin.
“I want you to come inside and remove Kevin Moore from the premises,” he explained. “I told him you’d be escorting him to a separate lab facility. So pretend that’s what you’re doing. If he thinks he’ll be allowed to live he won’t be inclined to try something desperate.”
“What do you really want me to do with him?”
“Take him to the banks of the river. To the grave your men dug for my, ah . . . fallen comrade earlier today. Then kill him. The hole is big enough for them both. I didn’t have you fill it in earlier for a reason.”
“Any other reasons to leave it open I should know about?”
“None,” said Kovonov. “Finish burying the bodies and make sure the gravesite blends in with the surroundings.”
He paused. “On another note, I trust everyone on your team is currently manning their posts?”
“Of course.”
“Good. I don’t expect any trouble, but I tend to be overcautious. I need you and your men on high alert until midnight. After that you can get by with a single sentry while the rest of you get some sleep. ”
“Understood,” said the mercenary. “But back to this execution. You do realize that every kill triggers the hundred grand bonus, even if the target is wrapped up with a bow. You can do this yourself if you want to save the money. Your call.”
“I’m aware of the terms of our agreement,” said Kovonov. “If I wasn’t planning to pay your bonus, I wouldn’t have given you the assignment. Just get it done as soon as possible. No hesitation.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
70
As the mercenary led Quinn away from the cabin the darkness became a living entity, enveloping and relentless. The man became impatient as his prisoner’s pace slowed to a crawl, the lack of even starlight forcing Quinn to pick his way forward like a blind man without a cane or guide dog.
The merc finally shoved a penlight into Quinn’s hands, which were cuffed tightly together with a zip-tie. “Use this,” he instructed, backing up and continuing to keep a gun pointed at his prisoner’s back. “We don’t have all night.”
The man Kovonov had assigned to take Quinn to an offsite lab was wearing the latest night vision goggles, so advanced they were no longer bulky but looked like goggles a swimmer might use, not to mention being more effective than past models at turning the night into a neon green day.
“Stay close,” he told Quinn. “If we get separated by more than two yards you’ll be killed. And not by me.”
“What?”
“Never mind. Just stay close.”
They continued walking through the woods, the night air a perfect temperature. Quinn shined the penlight on the terrain in front of him as he picked his way between trees and over aboveground roots that bulged up from the dirt like giant worms. The buzz of insects and the hooting of an owl punctuated the silence, and Quinn thought he could hear the faint rush of a river from the direction they were heading.
“What’s your name?” said Quinn after several minutes had gone by.
“Why? So we can become buddies?”
“So I don’t have to address you as hey fuckhead.”
The mercenary couldn’t help but smile. “I’m Daniel Bell.”
Quinn wasn’t sure this was his real name, but it was as good as any. “Thanks, Daniel. How much do you know about your boss? The man you call 302?”
“I know he pays ridiculously well. That’s all I have to know.”
“Actually,” said Quinn, “you need to know more. I assume you aren’t aware that he’s about to nuke San Francisco. In just under two hours it will be slag, and millions of people will be dead.”
Bell laughed. “Sure they will. He’s going to nuke California from his cabin in the Pennsylvania woods. Let me guess. He’ll be launching an ICBM from his bedroom.”
“I know how it sounds. But it’s true. Why do you think he wouldn’t let any of you in the room while he was talking with us? So you wouldn’t know what he’s really doing. The device is already there, and he has a guy who can set it off remotely. At midnight our time. But your boss knows where to find this guy, so it isn’t too late to stop him.”
Quinn halted and turned to face the merc. “Help me,” he pleaded. “Help save millions of lives. Help yourself. What do you think the US government will do to reward you for saving San Francisco? I promise you at least ten times what your boss is paying you. Not to mention you get to save more lives than any man in history.”
