Chapter Seventeen

Relating the horror of Tenerife and how the infection had spread to several countries made for a very troubled breakfast. James made Carolyn and John aware of what had happened in the other dimension and what was to follow here if not stopped. "They are desperate for a vaccine, any progress?"

"No, I've been working on it constantly. I analysed the constituent parts of the vaccine and separated the main ingredients but one ingredient I can't seem to get a handle on; also, there are a few more constituents I'm not sure of that need further analysis but with time I'm sure it can be resolved. I've spoken to a few of my colleagues in the infectious disease department and asked them to undertake further research, but they said it'll take a few days. Since you've been gone that's all I've been working on; I've had to put my other work on hold and told my department to only contact me in an emergency. One thing you need to keep in mind, love, before a new drug or vaccine comes onto the market, it's rigorously tested over months, sometimes years before release for widespread use. If we get it wrong the repercussions could be disastrous. Just think of the side effects of Thalidomide developed as a remedy for morning sickness in pregnant women and we all know how that turned out."

"From what I've seen of the damage Ebola does, it's worth taking a chance. We risk nothing, most of the infected will die in any event."

"James, a vaccine is to prevent, not to cure those who already have the virus and are suffering. Say something John."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'll sit this one out."

In truth, he hadn't connected the dots between a vaccine and a cure. A vaccine is a preventative to fight the virus before it gets a foothold into the body, a cure was something altogether different and he was angry with himself for not realising sooner. "Is there anything in the vaccine that could act as a cure?"

She shook her head. "You are asking for miracles and I haven't got any. We haven't even got a vaccine yet; we've just got something we think will work and don't even know what it contains. We're on dangerous ground to say nothing of what the law says using untested drugs and vaccines."

"When you see bodies dying on the streets, terror in people eyes, law and order breaking down, chaos, distrust, anger and pain, you'll try anything and sod the rest." His voice was intractable.

"Ease up, James, she's hardly slept since you've been gone. We're all aware of what is happening and know, without a cure or preventative vaccine, the world is balanced on a knife edge that is slowing cutting it apart. There is an answer out there and we've just got to find it. Hundreds of scientists, biologists, medical teams are working to find a solution."

James felt a little belligerent. "If a few terrorists can achieve a vaccine, with all our resources we should be streets ahead of them, instead, we are like vagrants grovelling in waste bins."

"Come on James, give her a little slack. A lot of vaccines and cures are often discovered by accident. Something strange is noticed in an experiment and an unrelated discovery is made by an individual or a small team working in another field. These Islamic terrorists have substantial resources with billionaire backers. You've seen how quickly they set up in Tenerife, the money they spent and the trained staff that worked there. Sis, let's have a recap of where we are and what we have learned to date, often ideas come just by talking together and exchanging viewpoints."

"What we know and understand is the virus is systemic in the way it attacks the body. Every tissue comes under attack, except our bones and skeletal muscles, manifesting in blood clotting and haemorrhaging. We don't know how the virus particles themselves attack cells. Taking a stab at it, I'd say Ebola haemorrhagic fever releases proteins that dampen down our body's natural immune system responses which allows the virus to run wild and attack our connective tissues and to multiply rapidly in collagen, the glue which keep our organs in place. The virus basically digests the tissues, causing blood to thicken and clots to form. It slows down blood flow around the body causing red spots to form on the skin which grow larger as the virus multiplies, affecting liver, brain, lungs, kidneys, intestines, breast tissue and testicles, in fact, no part of the body escapes its pernicious grasp which results in a traumatic and painful death.

"Within the next two months, thousands, if not millions, will be affected. Sorry to sound bellicose. Tenerife and the surrounding islands will be a disaster zone and other countries will follow them within weeks and I feel," he stopped speaking for a few moments and rubbed his eyes, "defenceless, helpless and afraid. One way to stop the virus from attacking the body would be to stop the virus particles from releasing proteins into the body, which dampen down the body's immune system. isn't it?"

"Partly, they attack body tissue and multiply in collagen."

"If my biology is correct, collagen is the main component which connects our tissues and makes up around thirty percent of our body's protein content in our tendons, ligaments and skin. Also, in corneas, cartilage, bone and blood vessels plus a few other areas. That is why the virus is so deadly. Am I making sense so far?"

She needed to collect her thoughts before speaking and took a few moments to reflect. "You are on the right track, but depending upon the degree of mineralisation, collagen tissues can be rigid, compliant or have a gradient from rigid to compliant. The Ebola virus doesn't differentiate, it attacks the lot."

James looked at her as if she turned into an encyclopaedia. "I don't understand what you mean by mineralisation.

"I'll take that," said John, "The process through which an organic substance becomes oxidised by inorganic substances."

"Sorry I asked," he grinned.

Carolyn gave him a loving smile. "A substance that changes its composition over time or by exposing, adding or subtracting something from it such as oxygen. In geology, it means clay turning over time into rock."

He nodded his understanding. He didn't really but felt it better to let them get on with it. "Following what you said earlier, why does the virus not attack our bones and skeletal muscles, logic would dictate that it should?"

She sat up. "Not sure."

"Don't you think you should research it?"

"Don't forget, the Ebola virus has been about for over five decades; the search for a solution has been exhaustive but it keeps on mutating into different strains."

"I have investigated how we are to survive in space and undertaken a few research papers with an astrobiologist colleague of mine. He lives locally, I'll give him a ring and ask him to come over. An idea has just struck me and I want to test it out."

"What has that got to do with anything," James asked Carolyn as John phoned.

"John has something on his mind but I can't see what outer space has to do with Ebola, but take nothing off the table; a slim hope is better than no hope."

"He'll be over within the hour. Have the analyses and the experiments you have done over the last few days handy for when he arrives."

Forty minutes later, Professor Donald Williams was at the door. After the normal hellos and a coffee, the four sat in the lounge. "That paper we jointly wrote about living happily in zero gravity."

He grinned and gave a haughty laugh. "You mean super animal?"

John chuckled. "The mighty indestructible strange little animal you need a microscope to see with a strange morphology that closely resembles the bear with four set of legs with up to eight claws on the end; plump, bilaterally symmetrical in shape and a lot of the strains are asexual and feed on plant and animal cells, bacteria and viruses."

"They also prey on amoebas, nematodes and are cannibalistic and we know little about them other than they are all but indestructible and are given the pet name water bear."

James chuckled, "an indestructible water baby! Is this for real?"

"Bear not baby," Donald chortled. "They are not considered extremophilic because they are not adapted to exploit these conditions. This means that their chances of dying increase the longer they are exposed to extreme environments, but can be found in almost every habitat on earth from the highest mountain tops down to the deepest oceans. From tropical rain forests to Antarctica and are semiaquatic." He looked at John. "Do you want me to go on? It can get a bit technical."

"What has all this got to do with a cure for Ebola?"

"Let this play out James. Go on Don."

There are over a thousand identified species and because they need water around their bodies to permit gas exchange and to prevent desiccation, they can easily be found in water, on lichens and mosses, in sand dunes, soil and sediments; in other words, they cover our world. Just think an animal that can exist at the top of Everest and at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Can exist without water or oxygen and can endure radiation a thousand times greater than we can suffer, survive and breed in zero gravity of space. They are masters at adapting to environmental stress and when times get hard, they undergo a process called cryptobiosis; activity comes to a standstill and they can stay like that for over a hundred years and come back to life." He chuckled. "Boil them, deep freeze them, crush them, dry them out, blast them into space and the little tardigrade will survive them all and come back smiling for more."

"I have heard of these microscopic invertebrates and know they can survive in freezing temperatures, in boiling water and in outer space but how are they linked to the Ebola virus?"

"Are you aware that one-sixth of their genetic makeup comes from unrelated plants, bacteria, fungi and archaebacteria, what does that tell you?"

"They are unique," piped in James with a touch of jest. "You can boil them for a week, freeze them for a month, pack them to the top of Everest, let them dive seven miles under the water, and even let them vacation on the moon and they can return to earth and happily disco the night away," he chuckled.

Donald didn't find it in the least funny. "It tells me the tardigrade has not followed the normal evolutionary path of other organics nor has the normal DNA structure of other plants and animals on earth and have lived on our planet for over five hundred and thirty million years, way before the dinosaurs. Unique, that's what you said James, and you are right. They can withstand temperatures as low as almost absolute zero and as high as 151 oC (304 oF) so where did this remarkable creature originally come from?" looking up at the sky.

"That's fine as it goes, a biology lesson on what is impossible proving the possible but how does that help us?"

"That is where we should look for a solution to your problem, focus on the genus and DNA of the tardigrade. They have the strongest immune system known to man. You picked that up John when we worked together. There is something special in its fat cell structure that is impervious to disease. I have an equipped laboratory at the university and a load of Ph.D. students that would love to work on this project. What do you say?"

"I'll come with you and we'll work on it together, Carolyn can also get involved."

James' witty remarks didn't have the same witticism now and he felt a little foolish for treating it so light-heartedly. "I didn't mean to demean you professor with my earlier remarks, no offence was meant."

"None taken; the little creatures do look a little bit sweet and cuddly and do bring one to act with jocularity."

James was forced to keep his face serious, thinking they looked more like creatures from the swamps or outer space which brought a little smile to himself. "Yes, cuddly and sweet, it makes me want to kiss one." Carolyn shot him a sharp barbed look, but his remark soared right over Donald's head.

She looked at John. "Are you ready?"

"We're going somewhere?"

"Professor, can we start immediately? John and I, if you are agreeable, would like to join your team."

"You mean now?"

"Why wait, nothing like the present; let me get my notes and we can discuss what I've achieved over the last few days and go from there," and they departed, leaving James open-mouthed wondering what the hell had just happened.

Chapter Eighteen

Abisali, Eiliyah and Ghaziyah were in his flat. He thought he had stemmed the haemorrhaging of information but felt sad that he had to kill the three men. They were now with Allah and that gave him comfort, for when he too arrived at the great hall, he knew they'd be there to greet him with a happy grin and a welcome in their hearts. Still, this had not gone like he planned, they were now known fugitives; the authorities were raiding any known address they'd stayed at and their pictures were plastered over the media. It was lucky he had the foresight to stack bundles of money at various locations that could be easily accessed. He also needed to meet up with Hadi, Sadeen and Kanval who had gone to ground at three separate locations taking only the clothes they wore. Unable to risk using their bank accounts or credit cards, they needed money, new identities and a way to exit the country but air and sea ports were being watched so their options were limited and getting tighter. He had texted Fatik with the fifth address and was informed everything was scheduled for release of the virus within the next two weeks which fed his troubled mind with assuring comfort that Allah was with him in his endeavour to make the world a better place.

"What are we to do? Eiliyah asked him. "Have you talked with Adham, Abyan and Diya al Dir?

He felt it best to leave them in the dark over their fate. "They are safe."

"I cannot accept that one of them has been false to us."

"No, I had it wrong," he lied. "They are out of the country and we need not worry. There was no traitor just a set of circumstance where our faith was tested."

Ghaziyah looked at him with loving eyes. "You are a man of great integrity and I am proud to stand and die with you in Allah."

Eiliyah stood and held his hand. "I am with you and together we'll leave this world for a better place."

He nodded his head slightly. "It may well come to that for the net is closing around us and the holes are getting smaller. We will let Allah guide and direct us. I need to go. Do not leave, I will bring food when I return."

She let go of his hand, sat next to Eiliyah looked at him. "If you fail to return, we will know death has found you and will find us shortly after."

He left to see Hadi, a two-hour journey. He arrived as darkness fell and waited to make sure everything looked clear before tapping on the door. He was let in and took a seat. Hadi placed his handgun on the table in front of him. "We need to get you out of the country."

He grinned weakly. "That's not going to happen not with the world looking for us. They know who we are so I was thinking of ending it here or going out and taking as many infidels with me."

"You are a true soldier. Handing him a bundle of money. "We have succeeded in Tenerife and the fruit we have sown will shortly start to ripen."

"Allah be praised. I am ready to release the poison into me for it to take root and grow me into paradise."

He acknowledged the saliency of his commitment. "Not so quick, I'm trying to secure a passage out of the UK on a Russian freight ship. If we are caught, we release the poison into ourselves and we'll all meet again in the halls of the seventy virgins."

"When will the virus be released?"

"When all the cells are in place, eight to ten days, two weeks at the outside. Fatik is coordinating the release date."

"How many?"

"Twenty hopefully, but the way things stand may be half that figure." Leaving him he met up with the other two telling them very much the same thing, stayed the night and returned to his flat after first calling at a supermarket to purchase groceries. As he entered the two girls stood. "There is a ship leaving for Morocco shortly, I'm making arrangements for us to be on it leaving only Fatik here to see our project is completed. We have cells in other countries which will be releasing the virus around the same time."

Ghaziyah prepared the evening meal and they sat around listening to the news, smiling as they heard reports of the debacle unfolding in the Canarias.

"We are marked people and not safe no matter where we go. Our faces are known and there will be rewards for our capture. We should go out into the street and end our lives in a blaze of glory," suggested Eiliyah, "I am ready to die."

"I will stand by you and we'll die together."

"Hold on, I need you alive, we get out of the country, lie low and carry on the fight. If we are cornered and there is no way out, then we die."

"Allah be praised," they both shouted. "Take us as your brides, Ghaziyah said and let me give you my body."

"I also, take us both as you brides and we'll share together our love in each other."

"I have a bride in Saudi."

"Now you will have three. We need to share each other's bodies in love. We will be together for many days and to share pleasure in each other will make us one body."

"Already we are one body in Allah." He held both their hands and accepted them as his brides, kissed them both on the lips as they accepted him as their husband.

"We need consummation my husband, which one of us will be first? We are both ready to feel your warmth." Ghaziyah could feel her arousal building and touched herself reflexively between her legs. The sexual tension was not lost on Eiliyah as her nipples hardened and she could feel wetness start to pool. Both wore long black wrap-around skirts, bare legs with white button fronted shirt tops, no brassieres, feet unshod, vaginas unencumbered. They didn't believe in shaving either under arms or between their legs and had mounds of untrimmed black hair. Eiliyah was particularly hairy and had to part a mass of hair to see any part of her womanhood.

Abisali felt constrained as his hardness manifested itself while locked inside his tight trousers and felt the discomfort of restriction and adjusted his penis moving it upright. Pheromones bounced off each of them like little cupid arrows aimed at their noses.

"Undo your buttons but leave the skirts on," he instructed.

They gave each other a lustful smile, nipples clearly visible and hard poking against the thin white material of their shirts. Over the flimsy shirt fabric, using thumb and fore fingers, they twirled their nipples in little pinching movements making them stand out more. He stood looking at them mesmerised within the eroticism of the moment and rubbed his hand against his growing hardness bulging and stretching the front of his trousers. They unbutton the front of their shirts. Eiliyah had bell shaped rather slender breasts with large areolas, sharp, pointed nipples that seemed to reach out to him begging to be sucked and tongued, whereas Ghaziyah had large rosy red nipples pointing upward from rounded breasts that looked too big for her petite body. She placed both hands around them, pulled them apart and pressed them together the symbolism not lost on Abisali, reading her thoughts, here they are, I need your penis here, sperm my neck, pointing.

Standing they looked at him, open shirts, bare-breasted, faces lustfully mischievous, holding their stare against his gaze. Three bodies intertwined lusting for each other but for that brief second, statues holding posture. They lightly feel their breasts making feather like circles on their nipples with the palms of their hands.

"Sit," he lustily growled, "on the settee next to each other, slowly pull up your skirts and open your legs."
Abisali pulled down his trousers, removed pants and shirt and stood naked but for his socks, sat in a chair opposite holding his penis and slowly masturbated staring at black pubic hairs looking like miniature shaggy carpets. A thin line of sweat formed across his lips, pupils dilating, passions rising; not yet he thought, and moved his hands away from his aroused penis, resting his arms either side of the chair, penis hard, upright, a soldier readying to go into battle. "Do it, he uttered." They gazed at him unsure until he pointed between their legs and placed his right hand over his penis and slid his fingers along his hardness, cupping his testicles spreading his legs before removing his hand and resting it back on the arm of the chair.

Using both hands they parted their vaginal lips stretching their vulvas wider revealing the pinkness of the inside. "Lose your fingers," he urgently cried.

They knew exactly what he wanted and inserted their fingers deep inside their bodies moving them into and out of their wet vaginas. "The top," he breathlessly panted, grinning lecherously. They returned his grin and, using their thumbs, massaged their clitorises exerting light pressure, breasts reddening, nipples engorging, faces contorting, shaking in a paralysis of ecstasy, their orgasms wracking though their bodies.

Catching the light at an angle, pre-ejaculatory fluid sparkled from the top of his penis, a precursor to a full spermal ejaculation. He hadn't had sex in a long while and his body ached for release. He stood, walked the few steps to Eiliyah, fell to his knees and buried his head between her legs breathing deeply her fresh smelling post orgasmic swollen vagina driving his sensual glans to yet greater heights as his tongue penetrated, her pubic hair catching in his teeth as he devoured at the tree of her sexuality. She placed her legs over his shoulders and closed her hands around the back of his head, thrusting her hips outward while pulling his head forward, her tension gathering momentum as his tongue drove even deeper into her womanhood stimulating her sensory nerve endings while her pungent smells and body fluids filled his mouth and nose. He licked and sucked her clitoris as she clenched his head between her thighs. She exploded with high pitched screams blitzing his mouth with her orgasm. He pushed her legs apart gasping for air, rose and kissed her hungry mouth with his soaked lips placing his tongue into her mouth that, but a moment ago, was locked between her legs and waited for her to come down from her heightened euphoria as her body relaxed and reality reclaimed her mind. He wasn't finished and dived back between her legs, needing again to taste her sexual juices and soon his tongue roamed inside her vagina sourcing her elixir into his mouth.

Ghaziyah was soon lying on her back stretched on the floor under him, head between his legs taking his hardness deep into her mouth, sucking at his shaft, stimulating his fore skin, hands cupping his testicles. She knew he was near orgasm and wanted his release into her mouth holding him tight inside and felt the sticky fluid flooding her cheeks and tongue spiralling her into her own orgasm without further stimulus. His face wet, black hairs stuck to his teeth, with a few on his tongue, he rubbed his lips and tongue against Eiliyah's leg to clear his mouth. Sated, they sat together on the settee, their breasts with enlarged nipples on full display, Abisali naked with his arms around their shoulders.

"I need to go out shortly."

"This late? Stay the night and let us carry on enjoying each other's bodies, we're still tingling for your touch."

"Ghaziyah, I need to complete the arrangements for getting us out of the country."

"Will Fatik come with us?"

He sidestepped her question. "He has seen eight of the cells and has a lot more work to complete." He stood, dressed and left, the two women sitting on the settee.

Eiliyah wanted more, wondering if she was turning in a nymphomaniac, perhaps she always had been and had repressed it until now and it took Abisali to release her inner dark passions. She began to masturbate, encouraging Ghaziyah and continued to pleasure herself while glancing occasionally at Ghaziyah who was busy doing the same, both realising their inner tigers had been freed and would never again be caged.

Chapter Nineteen

James had heard nothing from John and Carolyn since they departed the previous day. He rang her mobile and left a message for her to phone him. Two hours later she returned his call. "I thought you'd forgotten about me," he said rather miffed.

"Sorry about the delay, catching up on sleep. We haven't slept since we left the house and just caught a few hours, I phoned as soon as I woke."

"I missed you in bed last night. Sorry if I sounded a little short."

"I love you, and we did leave rather abruptly."

"Anyway, how is it going?"

"We have analysed the vaccine and isolated all the elements and are now on the second phase."

"I though you already did that here?"

"I did but Donald wanted to undertake the test again in case I'd overlooked anything."

"Had you?"

She smiled to herself, "no."

"I didn't think you would."

"There were a few variables I wasn't sure of but they've been sorted."

"I've been doing research and from what I've learned, when under adverse conditions, tardigrades go into a kind of forever hibernation until its preferred environment returns; it dies, but doesn't die if you know what I mean. I accept they can survive in extreme environments but are not considered extremophiles because they are not adapted to live in adverse conditions only to exist. I can't see how they'd be any use in solving the Ebola pandemic."

"It's their compositions, that's what we are focusing on. They seem immune to whatever is thrown at them."

"I'll be going back tonight and am not sure how long I'll be staying."

"I was wondering about that. John mentioned it so I was expecting it, but don't like it, we must do all we can to stem this assault on the free world. Phone or leave a message just before you go through."

"Will do. On another matter, have you or John heard anything about Courtney and the others?"

"She did phone me, so did Debra, but I haven't heard from Jennie. I've been meaning to phone them back. I will after this call. Why are you asking?"

"No reason, but the last time I was over there their doubles spent the night with me."

"You've already told me; do you want to try them this end as well. Aren't I enough for you?" she teased.

"More than enough, I just thought you may want to give yourself a break and spend a little time with them, relax you a little, I know how you like a little lesbian action. You always work better after a good session."

"My preferred action is always with you. It's game set and match with you, with anyone else it's just a fun game. If I get horny and I can't get to you I have John to help me out."

He laughed. "If, you mean when, you're always horny."

"It takes one horn to know another," she giggled, using her seductive voice. "If you want to have a session with the others let me know and I'll set it up providing I'm there to play as well."

"Of course, my dear," chuckling, "wouldn't have it any other way."

"Seriously James, I worry about you when you are over there. I can't live without you, you are more than a soul mate to me, no heroics and wear a condom if you play.

"I always try, there's no way I would risk anything."

"I must go, I love you."

He looked at his blank phone screen and smiled. They held a seamless relationship; unusual, he had to concede that as a truism, but the love, respect and honesty between them had always been there from their first meeting. To anyone looking in from the outside without knowing them, they would see an element of perversion in their relationship, especially with the rapport she carried with her brother, but James didn't see it that way. Sex was a part of life. To them a play tool, and they loved to play, but love, real love, they held only for each other and in that love, he also included his good friend and brother in law. They were always open with each other and sought agreement on what was acceptable. If one of them felt uncomfortable or said no, that was the end of it without further discussion. What they hadn't discussed in detail but both knew, if he failed to stop the terrorists in the other dimension it would soon come to pass here. A kind of blocking impasse had developed between them.

Rather than face the fact of what they both knew he must do, they fell back on the old tried and tested don't risk scenario of protect yourself with condoms. What she really meant was, stay away from Ebola. Stay away from the terrorists. Don't get caught by the authorities. He knew that when she stopped work, she would reflect and depression would set into her psyche; she would become introverted and he was glad John was there to help her cope. She was the stronger one in their relationship but he was the glue that held her together when self-doubt, worry and uncertainty gripped her consciousness. This was one of those occasions; she knew the danger he faced, knew what he needed to do, knew he wasn't trained, unlike her, and it petrified her. John understood and shared her worry and would be there to comfort her through the uncertainty and through her grief should the worse happen. The two men had discussed it in detail and she needed to be kept busy and reassured, but there was a failure percentage, and it was high of him not returning from whatever needed to be done; still, he had to do it irrespective of the outcome, or this world would fall into barbarism and chaos. Measuring that against his life did not equate as anywhere near equal and he was prepared to pay the price, even his own death.

That evening, he walked through the window and hurried to his flat. He undressed and was soon in bed but a foreboding had gripped his heart and he couldn't sleep. He got up and went into the kitchen, made himself a cup of tea and glowered at his closed laptop as if it represented an ominous portent of doom and to touch it would poison his soul and shook his head against his irrational feelings. How can an inanimate object hold any fear? He grabbed it, took into the lounge, sat down and opened it.

He was right to be fearful, within the few days he'd been away the world had moved further down the road toward Armageddon. The situation in the Canarias was out of control; thousands were dying with no end in sight. Europe was also in turmoil, thousands of confirmed cases were reported in several countries, even China and India had been infected. At least America looked to be safe, he thought. They had virtually closed their borders but that thought was soon squashed as breaking news reported the first confirmed case of Ebola had hit American shores. Spain and Germany were suffering from mass unrest; murder and violent incidents had exploded exponentially and was still on an upward trajectory. The UK had sporadic outbursts of unrest but nowhere near the scale compared to the other two countries. Travel restrictions were imposed across Europe with other countries planning the same constraints. It was so bad in the Canarias that bodies were left in the streets and doctors and aid workers were leaving, and who could blame them, he reasoned, as the pandemic, like the sickle of death, swept all who stood in its wake. Work across continents was slowly grinding to a halt; ships refused to dock to unload; food was hoarded with supermarkets restricting mass purchases as supplies dried up. Delivery drivers stopped work and stayed at home behind locked doors. The more the press and government reassured, the more disheartened and depressed everyone felt, a black melancholic cloud of doom had swept over the world with no end in sight. More breaking news. Two of the terrorists has been killed in a shootout in Morocco. Abyan and Diya al Dir both wore suicide belts and when they were cornered in a flat where they were hiding, blew themselves up, taking two hostages they held as bargaining tools with them.

There were several calls from both Jennie and Debra to call them urgently. He phoned Debra and she was distraught. "Thank God you phoned, James," she cried, "I've been trying to get hold of you for days." Luke, Jennies' husband, fell victim to the disease and was taken to an isolation hospital, and as a precaution, she can't leave the house for the next couple of weeks.

He tried to comfort her using soothing words but at times like this, words morphed into platitudes and banality and seemed superfluous and he asked when the symptoms first showed.

"Two days ago; he was feeling sick and had a headache. All these symptoms now are reportable events and within the hour he was taken and the house quarantined."

"I haven't phoned Jennie, is she coping?"

"As far as I know, I spoke to her last night." She wanted to ask him about the vaccine and many other things but knew her phone and all correspondence were being monitored as standard procedure and to mention anything out of the way would result in James being brought in for questioning and that was the last thing she wanted. "How is work going?"

James picked up on the coded message. "Fine. Marketing for the product looks promising."

"With all that's going on you must find work difficult."

"Yes, we all do, but work goes forward, and a conclusion will happen shortly. You take care now and I'll speak with you later."

"James, you take care as well."

The following morning, he phoned Debra asking if they could meet, and an hour later, she knocked on his door. "Nice to see you again," he said. She kissed him on the cheek and he brought her up to date on what had happened and about the vaccine.

"Where do we go from here?"

"It's too late to stop the virus, our only hope now is to find a cure and a vaccine."

"What you hear on the news is but the tip of the iceberg. We are in the middle of a major world catastrophe; we have a three phased protocol and I have had to sign the Official Secret Acts not to disclose. We are presently in the first protocol, isolating the infected in secure units and treating them, but there's not much that can be done other than to keep them hydrated and sedated. If the numbers carry on multiplying hospitals and staff will not cope, there will be chaos and violence and a breakdown of the entire system with bodies pilling up as crematoriums overflow; already, a lot of ancillaries, nurses and doctors are shy of going anywhere near a contaminated person.

"In the Canarias, they are at the last protocol, and that is a forerunner of what will happen here; medical staff are going into hiding in remote parts or getting in boats and leaving; if they don't turn back they are shot; everyone is becoming ruthless, it's a dog eat dog in a battle for survival. The authorities are staying behind barbed wire fences and if anyone tries to enter, they are shot and left to rot where they fall or dragged away and dumped somewhere out of the way. The smell of rotting corpses, uncertainty, fear, shortage of food, lack of law and order are making people do stupid things. If you are out on the streets after curfew, you are shot. Houses are being barricaded against entry and as soon as someone is infected, they are pushed out in the streets to fend for themselves and are found dead the following morning filled with bullet holes. The news reports have dumbed down eighty percent of what is actually happening."

"I thought you said you are muted from saying anything," giving her a sad smile.

"Sod that, I trust you and hope you'll be our salvation. The second protocol will be placing the infected in secure pens behind electric fences away from the main population to very much fend for themselves. There will be staff available but as it gets worse... what can I say? There'll be armed guards outside and if anyone tries to leave without the correct passes, the ensuing result will be obvious."

He knew something along those lines would have to happen but hearing it personally created quite contrary emotions and played heavily on his conscience. "It's like being stranded out at sea in a boat and there's only enough water for three people to survive but there are five in the boat. What do you do? All die or save three? An age-old conundrum that has been around since time immemorial but a truism when it comes to naked survival."

She acknowledged the truthfulness. "Under protocol three that is exactly the situation. Already, senior government officials and armed forces and other essential personnel are preparing, if the worse happens, to move into safe underground locations. Anyone infected will be left to fend for themselves. At this level, we will be facing extinction of our species; it's down to pure survival. Those that come through it will find a radically changed world."

"I assume, because you know, you are one of those selected."

"Yes, plus immediate family. If you are not selected you are told another scenario that everything is under control and to follow government instructions. But everyone I talk to knows it's a pack of lies woven into more lies. If we reach the third protocol, we'll be living in hell as deep as Dante's Inferno."

"You are not there yet. Obviously, you're aware the virus is spread by the deliberate action of religious fanatics and those who wish to change society, or what is left of it, towards their image of how life should be lived. Islamic terrorists and extreme Muslims are behind this terror." He frowned, "the mosque is where they worship. Seriously, they call themselves Muslims; I have used that term and Islamist, but I don't treat them with that level of respect anymore. Using those words demeans and degraded what the religion stands for and the people that peacefully practice it and show tolerance and understanding for other beliefs. I disagree with the doctrine and disagree with Sharia Law, with the Quran, Hadith and Sunnah, dispute their understanding of how they classify Jesus, but they have a right to believe what they believe and I will defend that freedom of expression as a pinnacle of my belief in a free society. These terrorists are as far away from Islamism as the Spanish Inquisition was to Christianity. Both are murdering bastards."

"Succinct, James, I'll give you that. These people must be stopped. The world is in a tailspin, so where do we start?"

He had no idea, but he couldn't say what he felt. He needed to give her hope even though he felt little of it himself. "We need to go after the virus and stop it spreading." It sounded trite and wooden but he had to say something. "There are layers underneath those names I gave you and Jennie; they are the foot soldiers. We need to find and destroy them before they destroy us."

"I have it on good authority the police have caught three of them and they used a spray from an ordinary pressure can to send the virus into the air; two died under interrogation by taking poison but I haven't seen the pathologist's reports. The other showed Ebola symptoms soon after he was arrested and is now critical. When cornered most of them will commit suicide. They have a fatal poison embedded into their teeth and when activated it will kill them quickly, but if there is a chance, they will try to take as many innocents with them using whatever measures are available." She was only telling him what he already knew.

Her phone pinged. As she read the message her face grew strained. "Jennie's husband has just died. I'll phone her later. What are we going to do?"

"The others are long gone from the country but they are marked people and will be found and killed."

She sighed despondently. "That doesn't help us."
He had nothing to say. How could he give hope when hope was slowly seeping out of him one drip at a time?

"We need a cure; you said you had something, can we use it?"

"I said we're working on a solution but we're far from the finishing post. What I can tell you is the virus lasts no longer that about half a day in the air."

"We know, in its present form, it only lasts a few hours, as you say, but in that time, anyone nearby is contaminated and because of the speed it metamorphoses, who knows?" She sounded desperate. "It could mutate and last for days in the air. They are going to spray the islands over the next few days from the air, wind permitting. They are distributing leaflets as we speak and giving radio and television warnings for everyone to wear masks and protect their eyes and stay indoors and spray their houses with the aerosols that are being distributed throughout the islands."

"Can you get me a list of when the first cases were reported and the exact locations?"

"That's easy, give me access to your laptop and I'll have what you want in a few minutes." He went to make a cup of tea and when he returned, she had the information he required.

"I need to get this information back tonight."

Debra left and for the rest of the day, he surfed the internet and news channels gathering information. Late that evening he returned to his own dimension. The house was empty and he phoned Carolyn leaving a message and settled down for the night. Early the following morning she phoned. She'd been working throughout the night and desperately needed a few hours sleep. He brought her up to date on what was happening over there but it came as no surprise. Her teams already had their own protocols in place which were practically identical to what he said. Have you made progress?"

"Some, we're still astounded by how the terrorists developed a vaccine."

"Let's call it lucky. It's unimportant anyway," feeling impatient. "Progress, where are you?"

His voice niggled her. "Hold on James, I've been working for the last few days without much sleep so ease up on the impatience."

He had the message. "I'm sorry but the entire world is fracturing."

"I'll pass on the locations you've given me and they'll assign undercover agents to watch the areas."

"Anonymously."

"James, stop it! We have caught five of the terrorists."

His eyes opened wider. "Alive?"

"Dead. A shootout, but we have retrieved a number of aerosols and other materials. On the vaccine front, nothing more, other than those who produced it in the first place knew a lot about the virus and must have spent months if not years in developing it. Serious money has been spent for them to have advanced this far."

Another piece of the jigsaw fell into place. The attack had been planned for years. "These terrorists have been secretly working on a vaccine for years. If it works, why are you waiting?"

"It's not that simple. Professor Donald Williams has ten post-grad students working round the clock, but one known and one unknown complication has been identified. We could run with the vaccine now but we need to check a few variables. A vaccine will do little for those originally infected. We know the tardigrade holds the answer, or a part of the answer, but there rests the problem. We can inject them into the blood stream as a part of the vaccine but the stumbling block is the physical size of a tardigrade; some about 1 mm long and .4 mm wide but most are much smaller.

"Tardigrades circling the body could cause a physical blockage leading to a heart attack, stroke, or even a lack of oxygen to the brain. Normally, upon entering the blood stream, a foreign body would be surrounded by red and white blood cells and destroyed. The immune system is incredibly adaptive at deciding what it needs to attack and destroy but it doesn't always get it right and that's where we are at present. The great unknown. Donald is concerned that if the cells don't attack, the tardigrades will circulate the blood stream unimpeded. When the virus enters the body, the immune system cells carry the virus to lymph nodes where further reproduction of the virus takes place. From there it enters the blood stream and lymphatic system and is spread throughout the body. However, the vaccine needs to be in the body first."

"That's quite a mouthful, and the known complication?"

"Easily solved, we need to breed millions of tardigrades which we are doing."

"You could have just said you're not sure the body of the creatures would breakdown so its unique DNA can be used to poison the virus."

"Yes, I should have said it like that," unable to control her laughter.

"I will stay here today and going back tonight. I miss you."

"You take care. I need to go. Love you, ring me before you go through tonight. If I'm working leave a message."

He placed his phone next to him and sighed.

Chapter Twenty

Abisali left their flat and made his way across town still thinking of the delights he had enjoyed with his two wives. Getting out of the country would prove difficult. Besides, Fatik still had to complete his work and with the authorities on alert, the task was more problematic, but at least he'd stopped the leak. He'd had to kill his three lieutenants; two were innocent but he didn't know which two so the three had to die.

He met up with his contact from the Russian ship, but something didn't feel right. He wanted thirty thousand pounds up front for each person to get them out of the country dropping them off at Morocco and from there they needed to make their own way to Saudi. He gave his assurances the money would be delivered in the next few days. His contact gave him a phone number to call but when Abisali asked when the ship was due to sail his answer was vague which rang more alarm bells. What was stopping him from taking their money and then turning them in to the authorities for the reward of a hundred thousand pounds each.

He had a contact in the Saudi Embassy, made his way there and sat in a coffee shop contemplating his next move. He knew most days Emran would eat lunch away from the Embassy. He had a married girlfriend he met twice a week in a hotel room and hoped this was one of those days. Luck was on his side. Emran left the embassy on foot and Abisali followed wearing glasses, a flat cap, jeans, and a t-shirt with a picture of a dog printed on the front. He watched Emran enter the restaurant and stayed back to see if anyone followed.

A tall woman with red hair entered, waved and sat at his table. Abisali took a seat a few tables away, ordered a coffee and waited. They spoke quietly, touching and smiling, oblivious to anyone around them. Their happiness soon turned sour. A well-dressed man walked in and stood in front of them. The smile on the woman's face turned to tears and he heard the word why. Emran stood and left, followed by Abisali. The man threw his wedding ring on the table and walked out leaving her crying.

"Do you fancy a coffee?"

Emran looked suspiciously at him until recognition dawned. "I need something," he snarled, "but not with you. What are you doing here? You've become toxic. Get away from me."

Abisali ignored his vitriol. "I need help."

They walked to a nearby café, sat at a corner table and ordered coffees. "If I'm seen with you it'll cause an international incident. What do you want?"

"I need a new identity and to get out of the country."

"You are the number one suspect for all that's going on. No way can I get you out of the country. Lie low for a few months and then get out. Get a boat and leave when things die down. What are you trying to do, kill the world?"

"I am working with Allah's blessing."

"Don't come anywhere near the Embassy."

"Come on Emran, I know the procedure. You want to live under a caliphate as much as I do. We grew up together and often talked about it."

"Yes, but I also want to be alive when it happens. What you are doing will see us all under the ground. I'm not ready to meet with Allah."

"We have a vaccine."

"There is no cure from what I understand."

"True, but prevention, I'll get some for you and your family. What's with the woman?"

"Been with her a few months but I think it's over now, she means nothing to me. They're all prostitutes in any event. It's time for me to move on."

"You destroyed her marriage from what I saw."

"Her fault for opening her legs," he said with not an ounce of compassion. "Took me a while to bed her, but that's what they're like. I can't help you."

"Can you get me a passport in another name, diplomatic immunity, anything."

"You'll be caught at the airport. I can't take the risk. How did you get onto their radar? I thought you cleverer than that. You were merrily working as a consultant when all hell broke out against you and a few others."

"I think we were exposed when in Tenerife."

"How? If they were on to you no way would they let you go to Tenerife."

"Somehow I accumulated a traitor. It's sorted."

"You're normally so careful. How are you sure you've sorted the problem? If you are that keen to get out, why can't you get on one of the foreign freight ships?"

"With a price on my head, they'll make more by ratting me out."

"Offer them more. I can't help you other than to get money to you. I still recommend you stay here and remain hidden. I need to go. My face is known to the security services and if I'm seen talking with you that's it. Only contact me if you need money."

What Emran said made a lot of sense. As much as he wanted to get out of the country, he knew there was little hope of leaving and had made up his mind to take the Russian ship off the table. He'd pick up some more provisions and return to his flat. His mind was shifting in the direction of having surgery to alter his facial appearance and then to get out of the country. When he returned to the flat, he always walked past the entrance and sat for a while outside a nearby pub and watched. Two large vans were parked in the street, one with two wheels on the pavement. That was not unusual, but they were parked on double yellow lines and a traffic warden walked by totally ignoring them and two cars further down the road; two people were sitting in each vehicle. His first reaction was to phone the flat but he realised that if it was under observation, they could be recording what was said inside or even track where the caller was located, so he ordered a beer and sat it out. Workmen arrived and pretended to work taking measurements. Still nothing happened. They knew he wasn't there and suspected they were waiting for him to return. The street was cordoned off and out from the two vans poured armed police wearing full protective gear and moved toward the flat. Abisali slowly walked away.

Carrying his provisions, he took a taxi to another of his flats forty minutes away and turned on the news. A journalist was showing pictures of the street and reporting that the police had surrounded a flat and shots were heard. He knew they wouldn't be taken alive. The noise would have alerted them that something was afoot and they would have immediately donned suicide vests. A huge explosion blew out the front of the building, debris scattering across the pavement and road below. If there were any police inside the building they would have been killed and among the pang of grief he felt for his two wives, an equal pang of pleasure radiated that they had sent a number of infidels to hell as they themselves were entering through the gates of paradise.

How did they know the location of the flat? No one knew of the flat only himself and the two women, and they didn't know about it before hand. The only explanation, someone living there must have had suspicions and reported it to the authorities. The picture of the two were plastered over the papers and on the news channels and he concluded it was bad luck. He would miss the sex but the battle must go on.

Later that evening he text Fatik to let him know he was still around. He would have seen the news and knew that the two girls were dead. Within a few minutes he had a text back saying the great release, as they called it, would be in seven days. He knew other cells in other countries were also readying to go. He text Kanval and met her the following day outside Reading train station and booked into a small hotel as husband and wife.

He got straight to the point. "Five of our pillars are dead."

She showed no surprise. "I know Eiliyah and Ghaziyah are in paradise. Fatik is still alive. Hadi and Sadeen are in hiding."

He looked deeply into her eyes. "The other three are with Allah. We are ready; it happens in seven days. It has started in Tenerife; confirmed cases have been reported. The vaccine, how many vials have you produced?

"We have around five thousand. I haven't contacted anyone other than you. I have been expecting the police to turn up and have worn my suicide jacket to bed. If they break in at least I can take a few with me."

"Allah be praised."

"You have another location?"

"Yes, but I won't tell you where."

"I wouldn't ask or want to know. How are the authorities so knowledgeable?"

"Don't know. I have tried to get passage out for us but it's not going to happen, not in the short term anyway. Within the next six weeks, the world will know our power."

"They are randomly stopping and searching cars, lorries and other transportation. You know the location of the vaccine. What do you want me to do?"

"We wait until the virus is released here and take it from there. How many vials are in Sierra Leone?"

"I'm not sure, maybe thirty thousand. I'm afraid to contact our laboratory there in case calls are monitored."

"They almost certainly would be."

"Allah be praised. The virus is going to rip a hole across the Canarias and here. I don't know about the other countries, I'm too far from the centre."

He smiled at her lovingly. "It'll be the same, the reports I'm getting are positive."

"There is something I'm concerned about, with all the checking and searching going on, how do we get the vaccine to the faithful?"

"We don't until the virus has taken hold."

"It'll be too late for the faithful who are infected."

He shrugged his shoulders. "A price worth paying."

"At least we've all had the vaccine."

"Our priority when this corrupt western ideology breaks down is to get the vaccine into Muslim countries."

"Hadi and Sadeen are staying together."

"They each have their own locations. Do you know where?"

"Stop probing! No, I don't and they don't know mine. If one location is compromised, they have another.

"Makes sense, but they should have informed me."

"Less is more, it's safer that way. The more we communicate using technology, the greater the risk of being heard. When the virus spreads then we'll have our chance to escape."