Page 41 of The Phoenix (Spy Girl 6)
I spend the next twenty minutes wandering the halls and handing out bread. Learning about each person who has been afflicted, hearing stories about those who have already passed, and getting hugs from complete strangers. It’s interesting how, when faced with death, differences cease to exist. People from every nation, of every color, and sexual preference mixed with young and old are here helping each other because this virus has affected us all without prejudice.
When my bag is empty, I pick up another and make my way to the royal suite, praying that everyone is doing okay. That no rashes have appeared.
But what I’m most worried about are these vaccines.
It just seems … too convenient.
I stop in the hallway, take out my phone, and do an internet search of the PureGen company. And, just as I suspected, it’s part of the pharmaceutical conglomerate owned by Marquis Dupree, an Echelon member who only recently had acquired eight nuclear backpack bombs in preparation for Montrovia’s fall.
I rush down the hall, stopping a few doors down from the royal suite, where I run into President Spear and Mike Burnes.
“Huntley,” the president says, “you’re about to witness history again.”
“What’s he talking about?” I ask Burnes as the president enters a room.
“Let’s go watch,” Burnes says, “but we must stay off camera.”
We go into the room, which has a podium with the presidential seal of the United States on the front, probably taken straight out of Air Force One.
“We’re live in three, two, one,” a single cameraman says.
“My fellow Americans,” the president says in greeting. “I’m here in Montrovia, seeing firsthand what this illness can do, how fast it’s spreading, and how fast loved ones are dying. We are witnessing a historic disease, the kind that, if it continues to ravage our world, it is expected to kill … well, almost everyone.
“And it’s not without great thought that I have chosen to do something that has never been done in the history of our country. In the history of our democracy. I am using my executive power to enact martial law.”
At that, I gasp, quickly covering my mouth. The debate over martial law is probably why Hillford Senior ordered the hit on his own son.
“I’m sure you are all shocked by this,” the president continues. “I know, when it was presented to me, I about fell off my chair.
“We are at war—not with another country, but rather an extinction event. Similar situations will be taking place in countries around the world. But, as you have probably heard, there is good news. We’ve discovered what we believe to be a cure in the form of a vaccine. This vaccine must be taken by all our citizens. Please stay where you are. National Guard and other military healthcare professionals will be going door to door. All Americans—and I repeat, all Americans—will be given the vaccine that will save your life. And this is important. You will have two choices: take the vaccine offered to you or be arrested and taken to quarantine, where you will await your death.
“As you can imagine, inoculating our population within a short period of time is a daunting task. Know that our military has been given shoot-to-kill orders in situations where there is civil unrest. If you want to spend your time looting, protesting, or getting in our way, there will be no arrests, no due process, and no trials. You will simply be shot.
“That concludes my speech. We’re sending you over to the White House, where our secretary of defense will be answering any further questions. I ask that all news outlets forget about politics and help us with this daunting task. May God bless you, the United States of America, and our entire world. May you all be cured.”
As he ends his speech, my mother’s words echo in my brain.“’Cause it’s The Cure. Something no one should want.”
I realize that she knew all along what was going to happen. It doesn’t matter they changed the way in which they spread the disease from poisoned grain to fireworks. What matters is she knew it wasn’t the cause of the disease that would kill everyone—it’s the cure.
And I have to convince everyone she was right.
I follow the president into the patient room where Daniel, Lizzie, Ari, and Allie are being cared for.
Lorenzo is also here, sitting by Lizzie’s bed.
“It’s not the cause, Lorenzo,” I say. “It’s the cure. Don’t you think it’s a little suspicious that they just happened to have a worldwide supply of vaccines for a virus no one has ever heard of?”
“We were told that Disease X was so deadly when it was discovered that they felt it was the only responsible thing to do,” Lorenzo states.
“And you believe them?” I ask, getting in his face. “This is one of Marquis Dupree’s companies we’re talking about.”
“I don’t have much of a choice at this point!” Lorenzo yells back at me in frustration. “People are dying! We’re on the brink of war!”
“And you know that something was supposed to start in Montrovia. In case you haven’t figured it out, this is it!” I throw my hands up in the air.
“Unless you have proof, I need you to back off, Huntley,” he says sternly.
“Yeah, give it a break,” Daniel says. “Who cares who has the cure? We all need it.”
“Everyone is so desperate that they are taking this company’s word that it will work. Has it been tested? Do you even know?”
“The World Health Committee—” Lorenzo starts.
“Which is funded in large part by Dupree’s pharmaceutical companies,” I fire back.
“Has declared it to work,” he says, hitting the bedside table with his fist in frustration. “Who am I to argue with the scientists?”
“The king who is going to save his country,” I reply.
“What are you talking about?” Mike Burnes asks me. “What do you know about Marquis Dupree?”
“I know that he was a member of a group of powerful men called The Echelon. I know that he is the one in Britain who had acquired the backpack nukes. I know that my father, Ares Von Allister, w
as part of the group, and their goal was to follow the Georgia Guidestones rules to reduce the population. I know that the group tried to take over Montrovia six years ago by backing a coup where Prince Alessandro was supposed to kill his brother, King Giovanni. And I know that one of your agents died while investigating it. I know that she figured out who was behind the coup. And I know that former president John Hillford, who was the leader of The Echelon at the time, ordered the hit on her because she’d told General Agueda what she knew instead of the king. And I know she was killed by the assassin known as The Priest.”
The director of the CIA’s mouth hangs open. “How do you know all that?”
“Because I’m Calliope Cassleberry!” I yell out in frustration. “The girl you never found.”
Mike Burnes studies me more closely, but I catch movement out of the corner of my eye.
Lorenzo stands up and gives himself a shot in the arm.
“Stop it, both of you,” he says, dropping the syringe into a waste receptacle.
I look at him in horror. “What did you just do?”
“PureGen sent a few doses of the vaccine early. I gave one to myself. I can’t give it to my people without first knowing what it will do.”
“But you aren’t even sick!” I exclaim.
He just shrugs at me and sits back down in the chair next to Lizzie’s bed.
“You realize that you just committed suicide,” I say to him.
I know this is it. They never could have gotten everyone sick, but make up a fake virus and have some people die, and then they truly control who gets killed off.
“This is bigger than all of us,” Lorenzo says softly.
“How could you do this? How many times have I saved your life?” I sputter out as tears flood my eyes, imagining a life without him. “And this is how you repay me?”
“I can explain,” he says as a nurse comes in to check on the patients.
