Omega Pathogen: Despair (28 page)

The result was an uncontrolled spin. The centrifugal force caused Colonel Azarov and the passengers, doctors Kosktov and Levenon, to black out as they made the death spiral to the earth. The canister containing the samples of the previously unknown rabies virus and the case with the research notes were not strapped in like the human occupants of the aircraft, and were flung away prior to the explosive impact with the side of the mountain.

To the pleasant surprise of the reaction team that arrived at the complex not long after the snowstorm had dissipated, they were able to locate and recover the virus samples and the files. The doctors had followed protocol and packed the precious cargo in lead-lined containers. After cleansing the location of intelligence and evidence, the team transported the prize to their superiors.

If the colonel and the doctors had survived the helicopter crash, they would have died with all of those involved in the recovery operation. Each died of various complications related to their exposure to radiation. The men had been promised that their families would want for nothing after their deaths.

The State had said the recovery operators' loved ones’ needs would be taken care of because of their heroic actions. But the truth was that any of the family members that could possibly know any information were taken care of in other ways by the State. The KGB insured that they could never speak of the last mission their husbands, sons, fathers, or brothers had taken part in.

The samples and the documentation were assigned to a new team and research continued. As the understanding of DNA and RNA grew over the years, new techniques were used to study and alter the virus. The best group of scientists in the fields of virology and biological warfare the Soviet Union had were assigned to study, improve, and weaponize the virus. They had a near perfect weapon already but as science progressed, they knew they could make improvements.

The virus mutated rapidly; unlike the rabies virus the scientists were familiar with, this form had a double tail. They had found out from samples taken from victims infected earlier on that the virus had mutated and grown even more tails. The highest number of tail growths from mutation they had encountered was seven from a subject that was one of the earliest to be exposed.

The scientists had studied images of their subjects' brains, and discovered changes in areas that controlled fear, hunger, and other basilar instincts. The brains of those infected longest showed small web-like patterns spread throughout their brains. As long as the brain remained undamaged from trauma, the growth seemed to be continuous.

Work on the virus slowed as the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics neared. The funds committed to the research and those conducting it had been falling. The fall of the Berlin Wall had come in 1990. By 1991 many of the State’s scientists, who had already seen salaries steadily decline over the previous years, soon found themselves without jobs. Included in this massive unemployment were some scientists specializing in biological warfare. One particular doctor had found work in the emerging private sector, but nothing that he thought was worthy of his skills and nothing that paid as well as his position had with the State.

A man had contacted him that had sought him out because of his knowledge of the Siberian Cannibalistic Aggressive Rabies virus. At first, the doctor feared for his life and denied any knowledge of any such virus. But the doctor decided to listen to the stranger when the man mentioned an interested buyer. The doctor had questioned how the buyer had learned of the virus, but received no answer. The doctor didn’t care.

Security procedures after the Soviet States had dissolved; they had grown weak and lax. The doctor learned he could still access the virus and its latest research. His research. He would deliver samples and copies of the files and even videos that catalogued the effects of the virus on test subjects.

The price the doctor had been offered would have ensured that he and his family would no longer want for anything. The doctor kept his part of the bargain. He brought the virus and research material when he met with the buyer’s agent again in Chechnya. The agent did not keep to his part of the agreement. He couldn’t let the doctor speak of his client’s acquisition of the virus. The doctor was killed and his body was never found.  

The virus had been obtained by an organization headed by a man bent on destroying everything that did not meet with his twisted interpretation of a religion. The group spent many more years working on delivery systems for the virus. The Soviets had been lacking in that regard. The way they had planned to deliver the virus was to infect a subject or tens of them, and then release them on a battlefield or city to spread the disease.

Despite numerous attacks around the world using explosives, airliners, and other methods to cause terror, the group’s leader withheld the use of the virus. He waited, but he did plan for it. He handpicked two hundred and fifty men and women that received special training and instructions. People he had assembled – some against their will – were able to develop a better delivery system. The delivery of the virus could be done on a larger scale and, he hoped, unnoticed until it was too late. For reasons only he would know and die with, his special divine soldiers were finally ordered to go to predetermined locations around the globe and release the virus.

The man that had been revered as a holy man by millions had released hell upon the earth. He watched everything unfold on television and gleefully rejoiced in his accomplishment. Twelve hours later four satellite-guided bunker-buster bombs destroyed the cave he had lived in and entombed his body forever. The punishment for his crime was swift, but most that knew of it would argue it was not harsh enough.